driving to Portugal from UK with kids in tow... anyone ever done it?

[sammyjayneex]

It's all in the title really. Just wondering if anyone has ever done it. DH has been invited to a family wedding In Portugal (Lisbon) and wants us all to go. He doesn't want to fly because of all the fiasco that comes with flying for example... Luggage allowance and all the extra costs, the flight tickets cost so much for 4 children and 2 adults and trying to keep children quiet and occupied on a plane ect and also because it's just after Christmas and the wedding was announced last minute it's going to be difficult to get flights at short notice. Also he said it's an experience because kids will get to see parts of France and we will spend the day in Spain on the way back and sleep over there. He also wants to do something special as it's our daughters 5th birthday on the 29th December.

Now I'm worried about it all. He's said he's thought it through and has every bit of the trip planned. I don't want to say no because I never went on any trips and never went abroad when I was a kid and I want my kids to experience things. He said we will be getting the ferry at Dover and we will sleep over in small hotels on the way and one of them will be in France. On the way back we will stay in a hotel in Spain too. Accommodation in Portugal is being sorted out by his family.

It's a long journey but I'm prepared to do it for my kids and we will make lots of preparations and make regular stops. He doesn't mind driving and has drove to London and back on the same day ( picking his family up at airport). Has anyone ever done it and how was it?

We have had a lot of problems recently and I'm actually surprised he's suggested us all to go.

Is it a stupid thing to do?

I told my mum and she said its sounds exciting and will be fun for the kids if planned properly and their dad has said she's welcome to come along ( if she can contribute to her hotel costs ect). if she can get time off work and it's extra help for us with kids. ( he has a 7 seater car)
She likes the idea of coming too.

It's actually cheaper adding it all up than going by flight and with us sharing the cost too.

So has anyone got any tips or ideas I would be grateful.

From the website www.gov.uk/uk-border-control

Your passport or identity card will be checked when you arrive at a UK port or airport to make sure you’re allowed to come into the country. It must be valid for the whole of your stay.

H and m customs is the Gov.uk website. That has been linked to above

An expired passport is expired. That means invalid, kaput, binable. It's like travelling on a sweet wrapper.

Don't you think they would just say child passports are valid 10 years instead of 5 if you can travel for 5 valid and 5 invalid years

NannyR has a good point. Even if some muppet at customs has given you duff info, the ferry (train, or plane, whichever form of transport we are on now...) can require something different, such as a valid, in-date passport. So that will be your issue, regardless of what you claim the customs phone line says. No in date passport = no travel, if thats what the ferry wants.

I drove non-stop to Slovenia two years ago (10 minute breaks to switch drivers and use the loo but that was it). In the summer with good road conditions. According to google maps it should have taken us 14hrs. It ended up taking 23.

I also recall summers going to the south of France as a child - service stations were disgusting, the motorways incredibly monotonous and I hated every minute of it. Even worse was knowing I had to go through the same to get home again.

I definitely wouldn't make this journey personally but wish you all the best if you do.

OP, do at least check with the ferry company. Just because HM customs says it's ok doesn't mean that the ferry company will agree.

One minute your saying I need a in date passport to leave and enter UK. I prove that i don't by ringing Hm customs and now your backtracking saying it's something else what's the point ?

Oh and this.

No-one is backtracking?

You do need a valid passport. No form of transport out of the UK is going to let you on without seeing it, and bleating that "customs told me it was fine" isn't going to cut any ice with the ferry/train/plane.

Even if, strictly legally, it was true you can enter and leave without a valid passport, its irrelevant, as the ferry will want to see one.

Also your crossing France/ Spain and portrugal so it's not just the issue of then valid for the ferry. But that at any time travelling abroad you can be stopped by police or customs. What will you do if there's customs between Spain and France? They won't let you cross even if the UK government gave you permission as they couldn't care less what anothe r country said or didn't say

Honestly, I think the best solution is for your DH to fly alone.

I have done a few long drives (London to Alps) and the feeling of fatigue, the grottiness of being cooped up in the car (and we have a super-clean high end car) and the frustration of sitting traffic knowing that you are still hundreds of miles from your destination - it is not great at all and, dare I say it, miserable even for older children. They love an Ipad for a few hours, but it doesn't last forever.

if you travel with an invalid passport then it invalidates your travel insurance. this is a little known fact tucked away in the small print of all travel insurances - they all say that it is your duty to ensure that you comply with all relevant laws and if you don't it invalidates your insurance. so for example if you were trying to rob a bank in spain on your holidays and hurt yourself insurance wouldn't pay out. You are also likely to find it invalidates any europ assist type things that you might have in place because again you are not complying with the law.

neither the ferry company nor the chunnel will let you travel on an expired passport.

if this were wrong then no-one, NO-ONE, would bother rushing to get passports renewed before they travel would they. its common sense.

All ports and airports are on high alert at the moment due to the terrorist threat. one imagines if the govt vote for airstrikes this readiness will increase further.

passport control will therefore be looking to see who does/does not have a valid passport.

Quite frankly the fact that you might even consider travelling on an expired passport at the moment with all the heightened security appalls me. because whilst officers are faffing about dealing with you they aren't stopping the real people that we don't want coming into/going out of the country.

Speak to your travel and car insurance people. speak to the ferry and chunnel people directly. all of these will support what I and many others are saying.

I'm surprised it's cheaper in view of tolls and fuel to be honest. Plus hotels and restaurants at least 2x a day.

2000kms. 24 - 30 hours driving time minimum depending on mountain weather conditions. Plus that route has lots of roadworks currently. Plus you will hit rush hour at some point every day.

So 3 - 4 days travel time roughly in each direction. 150€ per day in food and hotels.

230€ petrol each way. 142€ tolls.

So total cost is 6 days in a car +1300 to 1600€. Personally my idea of hell, particularly through the snow in the mountains.

This has all the makings of a classic AIBU!

OP : AIBU?
Mumsnetters : Possibly but your plan won't work to due legal border restrictions.
OP : YOU'RE ALL WRONG!

The flight from London to Portugal is 3 hours. if you think that its going to be difficult to keep them quiet and occupied on a 3 hour flight then how on earth are you going to do this on a 2 - 3 day car journey where they will be much more crammed in than in a plane.

jollyjester perhaps we should ask for the thread to be moved. the aibu crowd would be a lot blunter about this than the holiday lot.

I do feel a bit sorry for the OP. she clearly isn't an experienced traveller and is being fed a pile of horse shit by her partner about lots of aspects of this trip.

he doesn't mind driving and has drove to London and back on the same day this actually made me laugh out loud, that you can equate a journey of this length to one cross country. if he is doing all the driving then he will be absolutely exhausted.

Thanks for all taking the piss out of something that was important to me
It's looking likely me and the kids won't be going anymore
I bet your all happy now

This Tripadvisor thread suggests that people do get into France with children's expired passports, because the French take the view that EU Nationals should meet no undue obstruction to getting into an EU country - i.e theirs. But in this thread it is also stressed that emergency papers from the embassy will be needed to get back into the UK.

The difference between driving and flying is that via the ferry the French immigration officials are at Dover, so once you drive onto the ferry you are already through French border controls. When flying you don't go through passport control to immigrate until you reach the other side - and if they won't let you in the airline then has the responsibility to fly you straight back at their cost. And gets fined.

IF the French authorities decided to let your 2 kids through without valid passports from Dover, your bigger risk would be the UK border controls in Calais demanding that you get emergency papers before allowing you back into the UK.

You can get a rush passport renewal, you know. My mum got it done in two days once - she had to travel to Liverpool but she did it!

You've got 3 weeks, there is still time.

No-one here is happy about you not going, but I'm a bit relieved that you seem to be listening to the overwhelming majority of CORRECT ADVICE.

Why should we be happy now? We have all spent time on this thread trying to help you - doing research, posting links, relating our experiences - it was obvious it wasn't a goer before we even got to the passport bit

I'm just relieved that you and the children won't have got your hopes up for nothing, and won't have had to experience a frankly hideous journey through Europe in mid-winter

A bit of thanks wouldn't go amiss either

Take on board the advice and plan a PROPER holiday for next summer.

See, here: www.gov.uk/get-a-passport-urgently

The Fast Track service means your passport is delivered to your home address within 1 week of your application being accepted.

Renew or amend a child passport: £87 for FastTrack service

However your appointment with the passport service may be up to 3 weeks from the date you call them so you'd better call now!

Sammyjayne - we are but ladies on the internet.

You can still make your own decision.

You can believe us and decide not to go - hardly our fault if what we say is actually true.
You can believe us and decide to go anyway - fair enough, just be prepared for the trip and enjoy yourselves, just come back and say 'I tld you so'.
You can not believe us and decide to go - fair enough, just be prepared for the tri and enjoy yourselves and come back and say 'I told you so!'
But if you don't believe us, and decide not to go you can hardly blame us if you decide to follow advice you don't believe!

It's £87 PER child for a renewal and you still have to get it counter signed so it's over £200 so not possible anymore now

Ok, right. Any chance your DH's family would offer to loan you the money as it's a wedding and they probably want you there?