To think DD can't drive to Wales yet (18 and passed her test last month)?

[HaHaItsRosa]

We live in London. DD, has randomly booked this little cabin thing in Wales!? It's for tomorrow. Plans on leaving tonight and staying in a Travelodge or similar and then arriving tomorrow. This is her first ever trip away on her own... she also only drives to work. She starts uni extremely soon and "wanted a peaceful getaway before it starts". I'm a bit hmm. I know she's 18 and she can go on her own and she's obviously no longer my daughter so I shouldn't worry about her no but seriously, I'm really worried. She's a sensible girl, she really is, but Wales!!!! Tell me I'm too involved and she'll be fine.

A month after I passed my driving test I did an hour each way on the motorway due to an important appointment that was awkward to get to without driving. The rain on the return leg was AWFUL, everyone was at 40mph and I was behind a huge lorry which sprayed dirty water all over my windscreen for miles on end. I survived!

Go the head of the valley road (pretty much A40 all the way)

I’d rather drive on a motorway than in London tho

stop panicking. Where will she be driving from?
If you are in North London, M4 would be silly. Better to go M1 and turn left at Birmingham onto the M6, then onto Shrewsbury and the Welsh frontier..:)

ye Forest of Dean and Heads of the Valleys..

Honestly, doubt she's meeting someone. I know most of you will base it off the average 18 yo, but that isn't DD she's very quiet and enjoys her own company + it's a cabin thing with a little hot tub, in some woodlands, it does seem lovely. I just don't like the idea of her going

It's from Dagenham.

Of course it's normal to be nervous for her. Ask her to keep in touch (a quick text not an hours chat) and you will both be fine.

Only on Mumsnet do you send your teenagers off into the world without a second thought for them. In real life most parents are nervous about their young adults "first times"especially on the roads.

YABU. She will be fine. She’s passed her test so is capable.
I drove from the south coast to blackpool a week after passing my test! It took me slightly longer as I took quite a few breaks, but absolutely fine.

Great way to build her confidence as a driver and her understanding of road geography, but natural for you to worry! Could you take her out for a motorway drive before she goes, for practice?

I’d be anxious as well OP, particularly if she’s had no motorway driving experience. My dad was a driving examiner and wouldn’t let us (me and DB) motorway drive for a good while after we passed our tests - although we were using his car so that was his call more than it would have been had we had our own. His view was very much that the driving test is very easy - in so much as you can be taught to pass the test without being a good driver (and he had to pass them). We both had a number of months of lessons - probably 40-50 hours, even though he knew we have passed after about 15, and even then we had additional motorway driving lessons with him after passing. I think I’ll be similar with my dc in a few years.

of course you are nervous, it is a hell of a drive.
Right, from Dagenham, the best thing you can do to get to Wales is M25/M1/head north.

if she doesn't want to use the motorway then it's into London, North Circular, then onto the A1.

i'd be worried about her going on a motorway if she's never done it before. DH took DD on the M26 and M1 for a couple of hours up and down, practicing slip roads, overtaking, distances etc.

She might be doing it to prove to herself she can. She'll have a phone, she'll be fine. All part of becoming an adult. When I passed my test I couldn't wait to head off on my own.

Also, she's 18. If not now, when?

One week after passing test DS2 drove from Washington state to Washington DC! Nearly 3,000 miles he took 5 days and said he learned more on that drive than all his lessons.

I wonder if her instructor could fit her in for a quick motorway lesson?

Oh I'm really worried about the motorway now. Her instructor said she does recommend a lesson on it after test but as DD was sick on the day they planned her instructor never got back to her and so DD hasn't done it. Someone else told her it's similar to a 3 lane A road, so I don't think she's that worried. Which worries me even more.

I love in Wales and I would never take the M1 from London to get here. And Powys is a very big county. The southern tip is 10mins from me, the northern tip is a 2.5hr drive. Exactly where in Powys will inform if she needs to use the bridge but I'd think it likely.

She's leaving this evening! Don't think there's any time to fit anything in.

It’s really important that you and dh wave her off with a cheerful smile. She’ll call if she needs advice.

Its a kind of safe recklessly impulsive plan, and I like it when else in life can you just split and go to a cabin in wales?

She'll be fine I'm sure. About a month after passing her test my then girlfriend, now wife, drove us from the south coast to the western isles.

Is this supposed to be a parody of some insular London idiot who thinks the third world starts at the M25?

She’s going to Wales. Hard though it may be for some Londoners to believe, they do actually have electricity, running water, phones and supermarkets there. It isn’t Kabul.

Has she got breakdown cover? Sat Nav?

As long as she understands the principles of motorway driving and is sensible she should be OK especially with an overnight stop.

she will be fine. a month after passing my test i went from s yorks to london, then to harwich to get the ferry to amsterdam then 2 weeks later back.
i was also only 19 at the time and had 4 generations travelling in the car

Great to hear about a confident 18 year old who wants to have a quiet break by herself, to draw, read and enjoy nature. I would encourage that to be honest.

It’s wales not a war zone! Chill your boots

She passsed her test so is safe to drive, she drives to work and is still alive! At some point she will have to drive further than work so why not now? Give her a map/sat nav and send her on her way

She’s 18, going to uni shortly and is growing up and I always loved my own company even at 18 so this trip would of been my ideal. Hope she has a lovely time