More dimbo travel questions from Enid - can you take a travel cot on a plane? and a buggy? how much baby crap are you allowed to take on these days?

[Enid]

as flying to Bordeaux and hiring a car seems sooooooooooo much more preferable that spending 2 days getting to our mate's house

shite a mingo!

does that sound crap?

we do a 5 hour drive to brittany no probs

I will double check about ferry nearer the time

just for a week it sounds crap - will only have 5 days

Hi Enid
Honestly, it is fine. We drive further than that all the time with little ones. As long as you have a cheap, portable DVD player in the back to keep them amused, its fine. There are tons of service areas all the way down, most of which have play areas so that when you stop to stretch your legs, they can run about and have a bit of fun. From our many experiences, it is definitely the way to go!

How about leaving the night before you had planned to - leaving home about 4pm. Get the Eurotunnel over and then stay just outside tunnel terminal in Calais. Then, on the day you'd planned to leave, get up early, have breakfast and you'll be there late afternoon.

yes I had thought of that

sorry aznerak I keep asking you q's - how long do you think it will take from Calais to cahors?

enid go somewhere else
this hwoel things osudns apita

well people DO go on holiday to the south of france! we are going for 9 days so we'll have a week there

yes nto wiht a tiny baby though
sorry will butt out

What about using a western channel crossing to cut down the driving? (Didn't we have a convo about this a few weeks ago?)

(haven't read whole thread so apologies if this has been said).

Last time we flew (at christmas) we had to pay a small amount for dd (£30 or something) but what that meant is she got a 10kg hold allowance which covered the travel cot so it didn't have to come out of our allowance. Were also allowed a buggy on top of that. This was with BMI.

yes they do

she'll be one and she is very easy-going

can't believe it will be that much of a nightmare

Right just read the thread and you're not flying now so ignore my post - sorry

lol chippy

the ferries are full on the days we want to go

I will look nearer the time and if we can get a ferry crossing we will

we drove for 6 hours tow eyars ago
so ds3 was...2.5
ti was ok but dh got there knackered( he drove) adn was irritable for the firts few days
we wer ehtere 14

Enid- Leaving Hull at around 6am and driving down to Dover can reach Cahors around 11pm with plenty of stops (our family has a house around there done it many a time)

don't suppose you have tesco points?

we got our car hire free with these

I reckon from Calais to Cahors will take about 8 hours. So, my suggestion of doing a late crossing the night before is a good one - you can then get up on your original travel day, have quick breakfast and shoot off - leave at 9am be there around 6pm - just in time for them to have prepared you a lavish dinner with plenty of good wine!
Coming back, I'd bite the bullet and do it in 1 day. Get up at 6am, stop for lunch north of Orleans, south of Paris (can recommend good services in that location with play area and lovely child friendly, reasonably priced restaurant), then set off around 2pm and get the Eurotunnel about 5.30pm. You gain an hour coming through, so you'd get into Folkestone at 5pm UK time. Drive like the clappers and be in around 9pm. Pop the kids in bed and order a takeaway!
That way, you minimise travelling. This is what we do when we drive for 1 week. Its hard, but worth it for the extra time on hols.

what about gong to St Malo by boat or down to the top of spain (can't remember name of place - biarittz/)

Not that I've done it with a lo yet but in September......

If you did fly to Bordeaux though it is only 3 hours drive (Gran in Bx!)

santander

Santander will be no cheaper than that horrific flying cost
Enid I can recommend a nice-sounding hotel that we are overnighting in June, just south of Le Mans, but I suspect it will be too far West for your purposes
Is Motorail from Calais to Brive or Narbonne all booked up too?

Motorail costs a bomb if I remember rightly - it'll be fine driving Enid. Can recommend hotels either in Calais if you go for that option or Orleans if you do other way

Check out this table that lists some of the regular airlines flying to France from the UK with baggages allowances and excess baggage charges