Sorry it's long.
We've been summonsed to go visit FIL who lives twj hours away. We don't have the best relationship with him. FIL's general modus operandi wrt seeing his gc (and dc for that matter) is to give us a date and expect us to be available. If we aren't - say we're on holiday - no alternative dates are even discussed and it's "Oh well, see you next year then". He never phones, texts and only emails when he's telling us he's coming.
We've said umpteen times over the years that we're happy to go down to him. He's been doing a major renovation project for about 8 years so always responded with "No you can't as you can't stay here". We don't expect - or particularly want tbh - to be put up and would either do it in a day or find a local Premier Inn etc. It's really no big deal.
FIL's renovation project is finally done and he wants us to see it. He's put an unremarkable extension on an unremarkable house and has shown us 100s of photos. Apparently though we need to see how amazing it actually is.
He told us we'd be visiting on x date. We're away. SIL's been ordered to go too. He offered one other date and informed us we'd be staying Sat/Sun. We have hobbies we don't want to miss - myself included and the particular thing I'm doing has been in my diary for a year. Plus we have a elderly cat who'd need boarding.
So we have said we'll leave early on the Sun and drive the two hours to him, then drive back later. The whole fecking family think we are mad to be doing this sort of journey. We regularly see friends who live similar distances in one day. We live in the nw and holiday in the sw. Our dc can do long car journeys. Ffs we've even done long haul with a toddler admittedly not recommended-.
SIL is going to "stop off half way there" overnight to break up the journey.
AIBU to think that if we're willing and able to travel so that FIL can see his gc it's nobody's business?