To think this is too far to travel for a day trip?

[Blackcat1989]

Due to Covid DH’s family who live 4-5 hours away want to meet up but we’re trying to arrange to meet in the middle somewhere. They’ve found a national trust place that’s 2 hours 20 mins away. DH thinks that’s reasonable for a day and obviously we’d be returning the same distance later on. So over 4 hours of driving altogether.
I’m not sure what the alternative is at present except to not see them, but it feels like a lot of driving for one day. Thoughts?

It's really not that far

@Blackcat1989.

We used to do it regularly to visit the Ex's parents & i hated it, but it was FAR preferable to staying over. There days I no longer have the energy/interest in working that hard to win people over and in the same situation I'd just stay home BUT I did like the time alone with him in the car to talk.

It's not 'too much driving' to do something you want to do. It's FAR too much driving to do something you don't want to do.

That would be fine for me for a day trip. I wouldn't want to do it every weekend but for a special reason it's doable.

It's fine. About it takes to drive to my brother's. He sometimes has room for us to stay and sometimes not so we would do that in a day without considering it particularly onerous.

I don’t understand posts like this.

Have you never driven for 2.5 hours?

Driving for 2.5 hours for a day out feels like... going for a day out.

Leave at 8, there for 10.30. Leave at 4, back by 6.30. Or leave at 8.30, back by 11.

How is this a problem?

@myhobbyisouting

"We used to do Liverpool to Wales for a day trip"

That's half an hour!

Depends which bit of Wales surely? It's quite a big place :)

That's absolutely fine. I clicked on this thread thinking it was going to be 5-6 hours each way. 2 and a half hours is not far at all.

I’ve done it on the odd occasion and with 3 really young kids in tow too! It’s fine for a one off

We drove that distance at the weekend to see my parents for a day trip. In other times, we would never go for just the day. But things are different now and it meant a lot to my Dad who is supporting my mum who has dementia. We took a fire pit, cooked a BBQ and stayed outside. The driving was fine.

I didn't have a car until a couple of years ago and my parents' house is 2 hours away on public transport. I regularly made that trip when visiting for lunch/dinner and then I'd do the same back that evening.

You are doing half the journey to meet up at the half way point

Surely you have nothing to complain about ?

Unless you have money or time constraints

Not so pleasant when it is winter weather

We have sometimes done a weekend trip, but sometimes just done a day trip for lunch and gone home again, to family who are 2.5 or 3 hours away. Depending on how busy we are and how long since we've seen them. So if we don't have time to go for a weekend, we might go down on a Sunday morning for lunch and home that evening, which can take up to 6 hours driving, depending on which house we visit and what traffic is like in the evening (there's generally a mass "return to the capital" flow every weekend as lots of people leave their work life to "go home" to see family down the country and then return on Sundays for work on Monday, and worse at times around holidays or particular feasts/festivals (Christmas, Easter, Halloween, local festivals...) - so it is very often a lot heavier traffic going home than going down).

The thing that would make me hesitate right now is Covid and the need to reduce transmission. We are being asked to not even see our neighbours, and currently there are restrictions on all of us to stay within our county. So we haven't seen family in months, we had 1 weekend visit for St Patrick's weekend before lockdown, and then another in early summer when lockdown eased, and DH made 1 day trip recently (just before restrictions were strengthened again) to move things between houses with DD but I couldn't go. So we have only seen them twice (or 3 times for DH/DD) since New Year.

But we are not making any plans to see them soon. This virus is too serious to mess with, and I don't want to cause problems for us or for them because we have travelled to see them.

It wouldn't be a problem for us, but we live in the back of beyond and are very used to travelling. DH's parents live 2.5 hours drive away. In fact depending on traffic it can be a lot more. DH and DD both travel a similar distance for work several times a week (well, they did pre Covid). I regularly take my children to afterschool activities over an hour's drive away, and weekend fixtures can be a lot further. If we didn't travel those kinds of distances in a day we'd never do anything.
But, as I say, we are used to it. My children have never known any different. Even school is over 20 miles away and many of their school friends live a similar distance in the other direction. They have grown up expecting to travel quite long distances regularly. I can understand that if you are not used to long car journeys it could seem daunting though. I'm loathe to admit it, as it was something I vowed we wouldn't do, but I found having a dvd player in the car an absolute godsend when my children were younger. We did play games etc as well, but there's a limit to how long anyone can stand I Spy or Yes & No so being able to stick a film on made all our lives easier.
Alternatively could you book a hotel somewhere near the place and turn it into a mini holiday?

What is it with people so desperate to meet up when you know there’s this virus out there?

There are always viruses out there, and this one may be with us for some time yet. People haven’t seen family for months, and the restrictions are only likely to get tighter over the coming weeks. Is it really that strange that they are keen to meet, especially given they are planning to do so in as safe an environment as possible?

If you must though, perhaps consider making sure you have a bag in the boot with a change of clothes for all (in case they get wet/muddy when visiting so they have clean, dry things for the journey home) or maybe even PJs and blanket (so smaller DCs can be popped into them and hopefully sleep on the way home and be transferred to bed, allowing you to stay longer if you want and have less pressure on having to leave at a certain time). We've done that more than once, both visiting family and heading on holiday etc. and it works fine.

Pfffft - we’ve been known to do London in a day which is around 3 hours away. We regularly travel around 2-3 hours to go somewhere different

I’ve done this plenty with DH but I wouldn’t take DS 18 months on a day trip like this. So it depends if you have kids and how old they are a d how well they travel. If we really wanted to see them nowadays we’d do a stop over.

If you live where I live that would be a short trip!

I regularly drove further than that and back in a day for work and also to visit family, so for me it is perfectly doable. But if you're not used to it, understandable that it seems a long way. Plan around having a stop for coffee and a leg stretch each way. Maybe in a pretty little place half way on or just off your route so you feel like the day is more of a day out.
However, if it is that you really don't want to go and are looking for an excuse, then I'm sorry it's not far enough for that excuse to have legs.

I think that is totally fine and do-able.

I do day trips to may parents quite often, 3.5 hours each way. Not with small kids in the car though.

It is a bit long but I wouldn’t mind tbh. I would just make the most of it. Could you take the train?

We did exactly this, with similar timings, over the summer. It was worth it to see my family, who we'd normally stay with in non-Covid times. We stayed outside and maintained social distancing. Left at 8am, got there by 11, left at 4pm and home by 7 - sorted.

Blimey. I do this regularly to meet friends and family for lunch. It's what you do if you want to see people that don't live near you!

Eyesight test

it's hardly a long distance to drive, 2 1/2 hours each way ?