UK - Milan car trip in 3 days with 9 month old - Is DH mad!!!????Please help.

[oystercatcher]

Dear all - DH has come back with an itinerary for our holiday - I think I have burst his bubble by saying that we will need to stop every 2-3hours for an hour or so to make sure dd is ok. Any advice welcome. Dh thinks we can get to Lake Como in 2 days????Sure it would be possible if it were just us two but with dd it is ambitious - if I am being over cautious let me know - help!!!

I don't think you are going to have to stop for an hour every 3 hours, but certainly 15-30 minutes every 3 hours is a possibility.

I know people who drive a long way for holidays and they set off at bedtime to get a really long drive in through the night. They are Doctors though and so being up all night is something they are used to.

I wouldnt.. I live in Milan and when I come back to uk I fly with my twins (16mths now)
On Ryanair it is so cheap and you'll be there in an hour and a half, you could hire a car to drive from the airport to Como.
I think there would be tons of tolls to pay on the way from Uk to Italy, it'd cost a fortune. If you flew you'd have so much extra time to relax.
My babies go bezerk in the car and pull themselves out of their carseat straps, perhaps your little one is better behaved?
Good luck x

There was an article in yesterday's Sunday Times about a car-transporting train from The Netherlands or perhaps Belgium (all those foreign countries look alike to me ) to Italy, I can't remember exactly from where or to where but I'll see if I can find the link. Possibly that would be easier for you, especially if you went overnight.

I just checked and it wasn't the Sunday Times, I definitely read it this weekend though so if you're interested let me know and I'll have a look for it.

info here

Well, I lived in Milan (no just outside) and yes, it has taken me 2 days to drive down, but that was in a camper van and there were 3 of us taking turns driving and we stopped very little. However, we took the "cheap" routte which possibily was a bit longer - Harwich-Ostend, through Belgium, Holland, Germany, a tiny bit of France at Mulhouse (the only bit of free motorway they have apparently), Switzerland (Basle to Chiasso) and popping out at Como. I do think you're mad with a baby, but then when I was very small my parents drove down in an old 60s Austen with no child carseat and I somehow survived the experience, but then they probably took ages.

I agree with Mandaybagpuss about flying, although I would not advise Ryanair as I found them really terrible, they fly to Bergamo and not Milan, plus with all their extra charges they actually cost more than their rival. I prefer Easyjet, Gatwick to Malpensa and from Malpensa you're just a short drive from Como.

HTH

It will be fne.

We drove down to s spain with a 5 mond old and the follwoign year S France with a 18 mo.

He was fine - it was us that suffered! We did drive as much as we could and let LO dictate the stops. We drove through the night on the first night on both occasions. It works but the early hours are a killer. If you do that take ear plugs and a cushion sot aht the non-drier can get a little sleep.

Ds slept an awful lot and was happy enoguh most of the time jsut lorry spotting.

I wold so it again. I just like having all of our stuff with us.

Thanks for that Chippy - I read loads of newspapers and mags this weekend so that's saved me from going through the lot to find the article.