Overnight ferry then long drive - tips??

[FusionChefGeoff]

Should I take a picnic for ferry (Portsmouth - St Malo)? We leave at 8pm kids are 5 and 2 and we'll have been on the road for 3 hours before that.

We've got a cabin - what do I need apart from pjs and toothbrushes?

Is there anything I can take for a picnic lunch on the drive to the Vendee or will it all be disgusting 24 hrs after we've left home??

Any other tips?

We go overnight on the ferry. We usually try to have a hot meal at lunchtime, then take picnic stuff for the evening/breakfast to eat in our cabin. You could take a coolbox up if you have one, or a coolbag with freezer blocks will be fine. We take bread/crackers/cheese, salad, crisps, snacks plus brioche/little cereals for brekkie. Take paper plates or napkins/kitchen towel plus any cutlery you need- a sharp knife etc. I also take a couple of 2l bottle of water and cups, plus squash if you like. Some cabins have tea/coffee but we have taken a small travel kettle and our own tea/coffee stuff. TAKE CONVERTER plugs as cabins equipped with 2 pin sockets. Take wine, beer or gin in a tin! And a corkscrew if needed.

Lots of the picnic bits will be fine for the next day's journey- especially if you use a coolbag with cool blocks.

Have you travelled on a ferry before? There are a number of steep stairs to climb from the car deck to cabins, and your 2 YO may need a hand. You can always go back to the car but you will be going against the tide of people and whatever you take up you'll need to get back down.

We just pack overnight stuff in rucksacks- so our hands are free for the stairs- get the kids to carry small ones too! PJ's, teddy, washbag (towels are provided), few games/colouring books, dvd player from car plus dvds.

We have older children and tend to eat in the restaurant on board. The restaurant prices for under 12s are reasonable and they get a goody bag. In your case travelling with younger children on a ferry leaving at 8pm I would eat a main lunch at home and have a picnic tea either at a service station or when you get on the boat (depending on your children's bedtime). Then you could either take a bag of croissants to have in your cabin in the morning or have breakfast at the restaurant on the ferry. Check on the BF website to see if your cabin has tea making facilities or not. If not one of you could grab some coffees from the café onboard for you to take back to the cabin.

For the drive through France we tend to stop at service stations for food and look out for the ones that have Paul bakeries and grab sandwiches there. Google Paul bakeries at service stations in France. I think there is one somewhere north of Poitiers. Depending on your view of Mcdonalds drive through, there are quite a lot of those in france. I am not a fan of them but my daughter is! You can also pick up cheap lunches eg. pizzas in the cafes attached to hypermarkets like Carrefour. Obviously you could also take your own sandwiches in the cool box as mentioned above. We also usually end up taking the remaining contents of the fridge to use up on self catering holidays...and quite often find that we have found more enticing things in French supermarkets and brought the bag of carrots home again!!

yes coolbox with sandwiches/breakfast stuff.
freeze some yoghurt pots, milk, juice etc to keep it cold.
take a flask of coffee/tea as well.

On long journeys I take a big flask with my own coffee and sugar, we stop overnight at hotels so pilfer some fresh milk from breakfast to make up our flask for the next day. Biscuits as well cos at some toll booths its a dead stop so we have a bourbon and a coffee whilst in the queue to keep us going.

For picnics I freeze capri-suns, these keep the food fresh but when they defrost they can be drunk.

I take blocks as well but they are reserved for the frozen sausages and bacon in their own coolbox.

We did overnight on the ferry once with the kids, the engine noise was beyond so take earplugs and eyemask.

Enjoy, the Vendee is fab.

We were mega skint just before our last ferry trip so I took the end of a small thing of mayonnaise and some tinned tuna then bought two plates of chips in the restaurant. They let you take them back to your cabin (have plate covers on). Then bought a big bag of brioche for breakfast the next day.

Thanks everyone, we're off tomorrow and I've got a feast of a picnic planned. Love the tips about freezing milk / juices etc as ice blocks, and I've also done an experiment with frozen filled rollls so that will be interesting / soggy!