Travelling night before, or on the day...

[spukalili]

This isn't really a huge deal, I'm just looking for opinions on the best way to move forward, as this is probably the longest drive we've ever done since having children.

We've booked a very affordable caravan holiday just outside St Ives, at the very end of June. No half term, so traffic will probably be fairly bad, and it should take us around 7 hours (with a break) from where we live, which is just outside Manchester. We have an almost 2 year old (who still naps) and a 4 year old (who does not). Both kids are good travellers.

I've had recommendations of booking a hotel close to our destination the night before we're due to check in, and set off at the kids bedtime. With any luck, they will fall asleep, then when we arrive at the hotel we can have a trouble free transfer, grab some sleep ourselves, then wake up in the morning around 10 mins drive from the caravan site. We can grab some breakfast (kids eat free) to set us up for the day, then explore the local area before checking in.

Husband thinks we should set off at 6am on the day of check in, drive half way and have a break, at which point one of the kids should be ready for a nap, then aim to arrive there early afternoon for check in at 3pm.

I think both options have their advantages, but reckon the hotel option works best for us. It's only £31 for the night, and it means we're there on the morning and not spending all day driving, then ending up knackered for the first day.

Husband is adamant that it's a riskier option, and has read horror stories about children waking up during car transfer, then jumping around the hotel room until the early hours, leaving everybody grumpy and tired on the first official day of the holiday.

I could convince him, but I thought I'd reach out to some experienced mums who might have other suggestions, or have first hand experience of either way.

I am being unreasonable - drive down on the day, leaving early morning

I am not being unreasonable - hotel the night before, drive through the night (from 6pm)

I'm in the Midlands and every time we've done a Cornwall break we've gone for a 5.30am start to aim to be the other side of Bristol by 8am, then have a reasonable stop.

Our DC would be awake at 5am excited, then sleep on the second leg of the journey even when they were little.
Then we'd arrive 10ish and have a wander and some lunch.
It's quite a wait before check in but I'd rather be down there waiting than stuck on the M5/A30 later in the day when it's busy.

I would just go on the day. I wouldn’t want to drive a good chunk of the night. I would rather just get up in the morning and crack on and make the journey part of the adventure. Also, I live along the A30, which you will take through Devon and Cornwall and there is often road works, especially in Cornwall close to St Ives, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you ran into nighttime road closures driving past 8pm ish.

We'd probably just set off on the day but I think this is a good option. I'd leave around lunchtime though. Hotel halfway. Time to wander round, have dinner, get a good sleep and do the last 4 hours the next day.

I'd stop over but somewhere on the way down e.g. near Exeter.

Or go to Bristol - to the zoo...

I'd not stay so close by St Ives because if the weather is vile, you've nowhere to go.

We live nearish you (Peak District area) at were near St ives last year. We broke up the journey as one year it took just over 11hrs, that was North Cornwall.

We used to set off at 1am for Cornwall as kids, was an adventure but as an adult I think why???

Is it a Friday or a Monday? If so it could take you 1-2 hours just to get past Bristol, it's a nightmare (I live there and avoid the m5 like the plague using cut throughs instead). If you can set off earlier the day before eg 2pm on a Thursday id actually book a hotel somewhere like Taunton which should take you 4 hours then continue the next day

If I was going to do a hotel stop I would make it half way so drive 3ish hours the day before day from lunch time. Do a local activity/food followed by early night. Then travel the rest of the journey the following morning arriving early afternoon.

In fact if you can set off even earlier the day before id recommend the premier inn or Go2 where I live, especially the later as right by the marina, lovely restaurants on your doorstep and good play area to burn off steam. My dc loved a hotel at that age, actually still do, played building en suites with their LEGO (we didn't have one!)

When my children were small ( this was 20 years ago now) we used to have to drive up to north Wales regularly - a 7 hour journey. We used to load up the car the night before and then head off at about 5.30 having carried the children to the car straight from bed and still in their pyjamas. They would just go straight back to sleep and, because of the motion, stay asleep until after 8.00 at which point we'd stop at one of the bigger service stations, get them dressed, and have breakfast and a bit of a runaround before heading off again.
But really it depends on the child. I was blessed with good sleepers (after 2, as babies, not so much!)

Leave at 430am and you'll be there for lunchtime - you can't check in too early afternoon anyway

This is what I would do, have an afternoon out somewhere half way, stop over and complete the journey in the morning

Both options sound like a military operation. I wouldn’t be disrupting sleep patterns with bonkers early starts, overnight drives or hotels.

I’d go with a more chilled option. Treat the journey as part of the holiday, a nice day out.
Get up at your usual time. Have a nice breakfast. Drive until lunchtime and stop somewhere nice to eat. Find a park, let the kids have a run around.

And then complete your journey arriving in time for tea and bed for tea/wine.

as above, it depends on the kids.

Mine would have settled just fine, even if it had meant putting on a movie or something.

Spending so long in the car from early morning to afternoon with kids is NOT enjoyable! Not for them, not for you!
We did it too, but had to stop properly to let them run around a bit. The trip takes forever. I wouldn't force my dog to be still for 7 hours, so I wouldn't impose that on my own kids.

I vote for those suggesting split the journey and travel down the day before but in the daytime so that you are closer to St Ives.
Agree with the suggestion of Bristol Zoo Project, just off the M5 so easy to stop at on your way. Alternatively there are some national trust properties you could go to - Tyntesfield near Bristol or if you wanted to head on further there is Kilerton (Exeter) or Saltram in (plymouth).
I would set off early, stop at one of these places, then stay overnight in that area before finishing the journey to Cornwall the next day.

(This is assuming you can actually take the full day before to travel).

We've done both. We did the whole distance once. We booked a hotel room halfway on the way home. We have split long journeys ever since. The kids won't sleep when you think they will and having tired kids on a long journey is horrific. I'd pay ten times that £31 quid to avoid an 8 hour trip with small children.

Plus "leave at 6am" means you need to get the kids up early, get them ready, and that's the start of their day.

Having did both in the past i think staying over a night an hour-2 away (if not too expensive) is the better option. Just like a premier inn so up earlyish, have breakfast and arrive about lunch time gives the full day. I don’t tend to stay over on way back as it doesn’t matter what time we get home but about 7 years ago we did Glasgow - south hampton & we did it about 4 years previously leaving about 5am & we got there for 3pm but that time we left at 6.30am & due to an accident and delays we didn’t arrive until after 7pm. Worst journey we’ve ever had. We did Glasgow - Cornwall a couple of years ago. Left about 9am on the Sunday, stopped about 5pm for an overnighr & dinner etc. arrived in cornwall before 12pm following day so now i usually look for a stop over on way down.

How many car sleep transfers have you done with your children? We've done a lot, either when coming home or checking into hotels at midnight and it's 50/50, sometimes it works like an absolute dream and other times they are bouncing off the walls in the middle of the night. By far the most successful are the ones when home, hotels are trickier as one of you needs to go in checkin and get to room, that delay can risk them waking in the car park, and you need to be very swift at getting them into the room.

We do both often and it doesn't put me off, but reality is it may not work, but we tend to favour it as can have a lazy morning the next day if needs be and that still wins out for me over a very early start with kids in the car for a long time in daytime

This reminds me of when dd was young and we did your idea. We had it all planned out and it was working perfectly, she was asleep etc. Then dh had an unplanned toilet stop and shut the car door too loudly. You can sense I haven’t forgiven him!

I'd meet you both somewhere In the middle!

Leave at bedtime and drive half of it. Stay in a hotel halfway there and then get up slowly and drive the rest the next morning after rush hour. Arrive for lunchtime, find somewhere for a run around and lunch (often sites will let you access pool etc before check in).

If the kids don't settle well the driver gets to have a good nights sleep in a hotel and the non driver gets the earlier night on arrival - when they are also likely to be over excited 😆

We did similar with a nearly 2 year old a few years ago. Only one child.

The hotel idea sounds mad to me! How are you going to transfer two kids from a car to a hotel room without waking them. Thinking it through logically you'll need to check in, get key cards. Find the room, hope bed set up is fine. We've sometimes had to make up a pull out sofa or whatever. Corridor lights are bright which will wake them.

I'd make a day of the travel. We left early. Aimed for lunch at a national trust just outside Bristol had an hour or so wandering round and a picnic. Then in the car. She napped for about 2 hours and then we were nearly there.

If you're going to do a hotel book one about half way and aim to get there early evening.

I would book a hotel half way. Leave about 6pm and do the second half of the journey the next day early.

We tried a couple of different ways when our kids were little, going to St Ives from Liverpool. We mostlywent in one go, leaving by 8am. But after one horrific journey which took 9 hours and we still had to do a food shop when we got there as hadn't taken any food, we then tried a couple of years of breaking up the journey by getting a travelodge near Exeter for the night before arrival day, and just leaving the house a little bit later on our first day of travel. That was quite nice as added to the holiday a bit, kids enjoyed a meal there. It also meant we were in St Ives for lunchtime, parked in the public car park and then went to have fish and chips down on the front, a wander round town to get in the holiday mood, off to do a food shop and then check into the accommodation. Coming back we did it in just one go.

(I can't understand people who leave the night before departure day by the way. Doesn't it feel like you're wasting the last day? We have always been down on the beach on our last day, treat it like a normal day of our holiday. Or be off on a long walk and then enjoyed a nice last meal in town to round off the holiday before going back to pack for an early start next morning. The thought of cutting your holiday short by a day sounds a bit depressing to me)

I'm afraid I don't think your idea is a good one. You'll both be tired from doing hours of driving late into the evening, the kids will have been overexcited all day waiting to depart, they'll fall asleep in the car and then when you get to the hotel you'll be knackered but they won't be because they will have had a few hours sleep, and they'll be all awake again. You'd be getting there at what, 1am, ish? What if there is an issue with the room, sometimes there is, and there are no proper daytime management to sort it out.

Then next morning, if it's pouring down the whole day, what are you going to do while waiting to check into your caravan?

I'd either leave early and do it in one go, or do the hotel stay further away from your destination. If doing it in one go we found it useful to take frozen home made pasta sauce or curry in a cool bag, and dried pasta or rice, to have as a quick meal when we got there without having to do a full food shop that night. All you'd need to pick up on the way to check in is a quick pint of milk and something for breakfast and you can relax then the evening of arrival.

If you want to break the journey, leave late afternoon the day before and get to the hotel about 9pm. But it's probably introducing a level of excitement that isn't necessary.

Leaving on the day I'd leave at 5am. Early start should mean your 4yo sleeps in the car as well.

And look out for seagulls in St Ives because they will take food out of your hand (and I mean aggressively not in a cute petting zoo type way!)

Joining the people voting for this third option of setting off the day before but making it a daytime drive. Otherwise you and DH will be tired even if the kids aren't.

Leaving at 4-5pm is when the traffic is at its absolute worst, though. Then you'll have to stop for evening meal soon after, and you probably will have hardly got anywhere.

I agree with you about night driving though. I wouldn't want to do it through choice. It's not safe unless you're in already in a routine of working nights.

We live in Cornwall and when our friends visit from up on the England/scotland border they leave in the small hours and the kids sleep the whole drive.

my kids wouldn’t sleep in the car at any time, day or night, so we’d travel during the day with plenty of stops.