any MNetters do very long car journeys on their own with kids?

[dinny]

am planning to take kids home to my mum and dad's at Easter - it's a 6-hour drive (at least) and am not sure I'll cope! hate motorway driving, so am doing dual carriageway (longer but less stressful). am I mad or will dd (4) and ds (2) miraculously behave impeccably in the car?

don't do long journeys terribly often, but when we have done i have been exceedingly thankful for in-car dvd players...

I do a lot of singing

And they do sleep some of the way.

agree
we bought a portable dvd player for trip to france last summer and it's been great - our kids are 5 and 2

you can get them fairly cheap now, ours was about £60. it's not great quality, but does the job

Get lots of kids CDs to play, stories, songs etc

have snacks, toys etc on passenger seat so easy to hand back as and when.

Plan breaks...places of interest?

have to say that I don't envy you.

We have made a lot of 2.5 to 3 hr trips to inlaws and sometimes had to stop en route.

You will probably need to stop every couple of hrs for toilet/drink/food/stretch legs

are they expensive, Tutter?

we usually do the journey at night so they sleep, but don't want to if I am without dh.

oh, and theree is a 3-hour boat trip at the end of it! but can handle that no prob (last time had to look after a puking dd, ds and dh) eek!

big box of toys/water/snacks in box inbetween them (I have plastic ones that just fit, from Ikea)
lots of stops
cds/tapes
try not to stress about how long it will take

no - as hana says you can get them for around £60

a wise investment i would say

Fantastic.

I'm getting one.

yep, deffo. where from?

got ours from currys

I do lots of 3 hour journeys with ds (2). I just got him a reasonable DVD player from woolworths online. Know where the services are and stop every couple of hours.
Lots of songs/ooo look at that type convo's and spot the tanker are our favourites at the mo.

we play "which animal will i see in the fields next?" (when you see it, you moo/neigh/baaa)

ah bundle, you've taken me back to pub sign cricket

diff to play now that most long journeys are on motorways, but we used to love it as kids

We used to drive to northern spain when ours were that age. Just remember to stop every two hours. Use motorways as it's so much quicker. twisty a-roads only make the journey last longer and drag out the agony.

Take colouring books. And wheels on the bus type tapes. And bananas.

tutter did you count the number of legs?

yes, bundle - and dreamt of the day we found a pub called The Stampeding Centipedes when i was in to bet

or bat, even

I used to do a 3.5 - 4 hour trip with the dd's on my own. Always tried to set off at bed time, but in the summer they wouldn't go to sleep as it was still so light and so were very whingey and tired. Awful. They always got through a lot of breadsticks. Then this Christmas we had another long trip and I panicked and sent dh out for an in car DVD player. I think it is one of our very best investments Our journey was almost enjoyable. Sorry, but I do think it will keep you sane. Good Luck!!

Message withdrawn

don't they make them carsick though (the dvd players)?

No my two were fine, but then they haven't been car sick before either.

I did last summer-w ent on a 7 hr journey on my own. Stopped twice for a proper run around and loo and also agree with the incar dvd player