To not want to drive this far?

[Frickles]

MIL lives over 200 miles from us and it usually takes 6+ hours to get there when we visit once you factor in traffic, breaks for the DC (and us). We generally go there maybe once a year and the rest of the time she comes to us on the train (she doesn't drive) which is about a 3 hour trip.

She is turning 70 this summer and wants to have a big party, she's booked the date and wants us to go. Fine, except it's the Saturday before we go on our family holiday which was booked in December, long before we knew about the party. We leave for our holiday on the Tuesday after the party and are driving to a site in France over 2 days, it'll be a good 10 hour journey all in.

DC are 9 and 7 and not great car travellers, between car sickness, bickering, boredom etc it's not much fun but as an occasional thing we can all muddle through. However if we all go to MILs party we will end up sitting in the car for around 24 hours in 6 days which I think is too much. I'd be ok for us to take the train up and use public transport to get around as needed as the train is easier to manage (though it's quite pricey) but DH is insistent that he wants to drive and if I don't want to I can stay home 'to prepare for the holiday'

So AIBU, would you do all that driving?

Let him drive with the kids and you go one the train?

Have you tried the trip using the A1 instead of the motorway? My parents used to use it to get to Dover from the north, it was actually quicker. If you are going from London to anywhere north of Sheffield try it, lots of it is motorway now and where it isn't you can still often go at 70.

Australia

Depending on where you need to be the A19 is usually quieter than the A1, although the Silverlink roundabout after the Tyne Tunnel is horrible just now with long term roadworks.

I live in Australia. Driving for hours is nothing to me. It takes 12 hours to get from one city to the next at a conservative estimate.

Australia has 1/3 the population of the UK and 31 times as much space.

Driving for hours and getting somewhere is not the same as driving for hours and not getting anywhere and only being able to see the back of the truck in front.

That explains it. Your roads are nothing like as congested as ours. We were sat in stop start traffic for ages on the A1 yesterday. How often does this happens on major roads between towns in Australia?

I routinely commuted for 4 hours every day for years, spending hours in traffic over the course of a week.

Your argument falls flat when I say our cities are 12 hours apart at minimum and you guys grizzle about driving 3 hours to get somewhere. Traffic is irrelevant to that.

Driving for hours and getting somewhere is not the same as driving for hours and not getting anywhere and only being able to see the back of the truck in front.

Welcome to Sydney, sunshine.

"I routinely commuted for 4 hours every day for years, spending hours in traffic over the course of a week."

Well, bully for you. You clearly enjoy driving in traffic far more than I do. Life is too short to spend most of it in traffic jams. I would far rather spend those lost hours doing something I enjoy.

There would be no question I was going.
70 is a big birthday!

Well, bully for you. You clearly enjoy driving in traffic far more than I do. Life is too short to spend most of it in traffic jams. I would far rather spend those lost hours doing something I enjoy.

Life is also too short to huff about going to a family member's milestone birthday. To say on one hand the kids don't cope with drives and on another to say "Oh but we're happy to drive to France!" just reeks of selfishness.

But hey, whatever helps you sleep at night.

I used to spend 4 hours a day in traffic commuting too. I've also grown up being driven across Europe and America, as an adult drive my kids on multil day journeys. Last summer I spent a month on a European road trip with them, I love driving distances and so do my kids now. So what?

It doesn't matter how long any of us think he OPs journey should take, particuarly if we don't konw the route. It doesn't matter if us or our would be happy to drive, or if our kids would be happy to do 3 days of longish journeys all within a few days of each other.

The OP has kids that get travel sick and aren't currently that amazingly patient on long journeys.

So the OP would prefer the train because she thinks it would make life easier. Her husband insists on driving.

6 hours to drive 200 miles suggests you're taking far too many trips. Use the train or travel at night so kids just sleep on the journey.

Life is also too short to huff about going to a family member's milestone birthday.

You could always read the OP's posts. Or just least Huldra's summary.

Despite all the righteous indignation and huffing and puffing about a weeping, neglected, 'elderly' relative the OP has never once asked if they should go to the event. She simply wants to take her car sick prone kids by three hour train journey rather than a six hour each way car journey.

Whether you, I or Jensen Button think we could do the distance faster or travel 20 hours each day in the commute or use magical incantations to stop travel sickness etc is entirely irrelevant to the question actually asked.

I would ask my 70 yr old baby boomer neighbours how they feel about being 'elderly' and feeble if they were not currently walking and climbing in the Pyrenees.

Fwiw I would definitely get the train op, my 2 are reasonable car travellers (for 7 and 2 anyhow) but with the French trip (

Welcome to Sydney, sunshine.

Been there, done that, no comparison.