Tips for surviving car/ferry/car to France?

[hiveofactivity]

We've never done this sort of trip before - 2 hr drive then 6 hr ferry then a 200 mile drive in France to a campsite.
We didn't really think it through and probably should have flown but too late now...

Dp will have to do all the driving (I can't drive). Oh and dd (5) will be sitting in the front as she gets badly car sick (even when dosed up on the drugs).

Any tips for saving our sanity?

We drive Dunkirk to Germany regularly and DS1 (4yo) sits in the front. We've never been challenged. When we checked he just needed to be in his normal car booster seat.

Unless you're travelling on a busy Saturday, you'll probably find that 200 miles is not too bad. There are lots of service station areas, some with just picnic areas, some with decent restaurants. We usually hop our way along, stopping lots. They have a lot of local stuff (little museums etc).

It's not like the UK. Unless it's Saturday, the roads are usually clear, and fast.

Does your campsite have a restaurant or takeaway? Worth checking for the first night.

We have a 13 hr trip including a ferry journey before we get to the south coast ferries.
Regular stops for us were key... usually 2 to 2.5 hours for us. We usually did on short stop (toilet stop/ stretch legs) followed by a longer stop for a picnic.

As others have said, uk roads can be congested, slow and more stressful. French motorways were excellent, and you can easily average 70mph if you avoid being near large cities at rush hour.

The longest single journey trips we have done (from home to accomodation) have been as far south as the Spanish border on the Atlantic coast, and lake annacy in the east.

Enjoy the adventure!

Watch out for the migrants on the way back through Calais if it's evening or night time. They will swarm around you like zombies! F* scary!

Doing this exact trip tomorrow tonight with a car sickly dd. Dreading it! Hoping she'll sleep for most of it to be honest.

We've been going across at least twice a year for years and years (and DH works in France a lot too), and we've never seen a migrant. Usually Eurotunnel, so not sure if their security is tighter.

This could turn out to be the most ill thought out holiday ever 🙁

We've tried everything with dd and the best we've achieved is max two hours with her feeling sick but not throwing up, with a combination of cinnizine and no food 3 hours before.
Otherwise it's vomiting every 30 mins, bringing up bile, tears, screaming, trying to get out of the car.... This has been going on for two years, every time she has a very bad journey she becomes anxious and distressed about getting in the car for weeks afterwards, pleading with us not to make her go.
She's so going to hate us for this!

And we can't stop off as will be in a rush to get to campsite before their cut off time for check in.

Did I mention we'd never done this before?

Flight would involve a one hour drive either end. Yes we are complete idiots.

hmmm.... I may have used the power of placebo with my children when they have been v anxious. ( i know some people may view it as lying- but it does help).

So tell her you have a new medicine and that it will work really well... ( even if it is just cinnarizine but you could try something like phenergan instead).
There is probably an element of anxiety with the nausea and vomiting given her age and past experience the power of placebo will help. Teach her how to do the accupressure thing for nausea too, and tell her how well it works. You could also tell her car sick people tend not to get sick on ferries especially if they spend time out on deck in the middle of the boat.

Then explain if she is sick you have bags ready and a drink to take the taste away and a change of clothes so you can sort it out asap and then deal with it as calmly as possible iyswim

good luck

We drive south most summers. One of my kids is prone to sickness too-make sure change of clothes/wipes etc. are easily to hand.

As others have said the service stations are pretty good and motorways often clear. We have the sanef tag which saves time and hassle, although not money.

We have travelled back through eurotunnel and various ferry routes and have never had people swarming around our car.

I think walking around the ferry is a good plan. Will it be dark or will she be able to see the horizon? Our son has been worse after overnight ferries where we have slept in inside cabins-he is fine on the boat, but his balance goes off kilter once back on dry land.

Try not to worry about it too much and enjoy your holiday.

We did Switzerland all the way back to Brum in one very long day last year. Top tip is to stop every two hours en route. Lots of garages along the motorways.

Otherwise it's vomiting every 30 mins, bringing up bile, tears, screaming, trying to get out of the car

and knowing this, you booked a trip consisting of 2 hr drive then 6 hr ferry then a 200 mile drive why would you even consider this??

If she's that bad I'd visit your gp and see if they can prescribe something more effective.

Jeff - because we wrongly as it turns out thought we could put her in the front seat (after reading the RAC guidance that I linked earlier). Am guessing you haven't read the rest of the thread, it didn't start out as a car sickness thread!
She never feels sick in the front seat. She's never been on a ferry but has been on other boats, planes, trains without feeling sick so the ferry was worth a go.

Really bad - we've been to the GP twice and have tried phenergan, hyocine and cinnizine. There us nothing else a 5, yr old can be prescribed.

Name changing - sadly dd now thinks everything is a placebo as I keep giving her tablets and promising this will make it better. She was ok when she used to throw up only once but since it's become multiple vomiting it's quite upsetting.

its a pity the RAC guidance wasn't a bit clearer!

Have you tried the sea bands? You might be surprised about how well they can work.

I read on here that listening to music or a story through earphones helps.

Is there a way you can drive after dark? I used to suffer terribly wth car sickness as a child and never felt sick when it was dark outside.

French roads are very straight too which helps.

As much as I agree that driving in France is a completely different kettle of fish (lots of experience!) I can tell that you are now worrying and stressing.
As the car sick child (couldn't travel a mile down the road at 1 point) I agree that young should book flights and swallow costs. If of course you can afford it.

Car sickness is horrible. I still at 42 get car sick. I will do all possible to not ever sit in the back of a car ever. 🤢

What time does the ferry hit France?

Seasoned French driver here. I doubt you will be stopped if she sits in the front tbh but would give phenergan, have frozen water, good audio books.

How difficult is it to remove your rear seat belts.

Another thought and it's a contradiction, French cars have easily switchoffable front airbags to facilitate children/shodties in the front. Other cars don't. Am pretty sure I've seen my best friend's children in the front seats albeit ten years ago (they live in France).

I might give the French Embassy a ring if I were you.

We're doing this and have done before. It's no problem.

Food on ferry is excellent, Brittany ferries.

Email campsite and ask what's open at 8pm, most have a restaurant and takeaway

She could just as easily be sick on the plane. Have you tried a dvd with the screen mounted on the back of the head rest so she's lookin ahead and not down?

definitely don't do the driving. it will just compound her anxiety around this. when you get back it might be worth investigating something like cranial massage or hypnotherapy as its possible its the anxiety now causing this rather than the travel sickness iyswim.

one of my DC gets severe sea sickness. except if he is sailing the boat in which case he is fine. if he isn't then I cant even do short ferries without him being green.

We have done approx 6 holidays like this over the years
I get car sick myself as well as one of my children
To to get the ferry we travel for 10 hours (we stop half way and stay in a travelodge)
We then take an overnight ferry sleep onboard I always feel sick on this but I'm never actually sick if that makes sense
Travelsick child is ok on the boat
When we get to the other side we travel for 200 miles on fantastic roads
My tips are have plenty of snacks with you eating little and often helps
We use travel calm tablets from boots and they seem to be the best we have tried
Also make time to stop regularly even if you don't need to
Enjoy you will all be fine

Right so after investigating flights we can get back by plane but not get out there by plane without reducing the holiday from 6 days to four.
So we will go out as planned by ferry and car and then dd and I will come back by plane, which is the best we can do.

Will dose dd up on cinnizine which seems to have worked better than the other drugs, Inc Kwells and phenergan. Will limit food to bread type stuff.

Am also thinking we might put her in the front and plead ignorance if we're stopped. The air bag is switched off.
Even if we're fined it's worth it. And we'll never do it again!
Everything is closed at the campsite by time we get there so will be taking provisions.

I've lived in France for nearly 5 years and my youngest, who was 6 when we arrived, has always sat in the front. Never once been stopped. For that The gendarmes are mostly only interested in stopping you for speeding.

DD2' s car sickness greatly improved once she got specs. So worth getting eyesight checked if you haven't already.

Ancien - thank you, that gives me hope. I do think we'll try that, it can't be uncommon for parents to not realise the child seating age is different in other European countries.

Dd's eyes are fine - she just seems more resilient to the drugs than the average child!

hive, I've no words of wisdom to share. However I would echo what other pps have said and say that there will be entertainment on the ferry if you are going by Brittany Ferries. Geared towards small ones, my two love it and the sail, er, sails by.

Also, again repeating what others have said - roads in France seem to be much clearer than ours, especially the motorways. We have 2 weeks stress free driving in France and then usually hit traffic when we disembark in Portsmouth.

Definitely time to compile your eye spy answers now and with a bit of luck DD might be distracted enough to make it a little less stressy than you think it might be. If your campsite has a restaurant, book that or hit their take away on your first night rather than scrabbling to get to the shop when you get there. Get a good cool bag and chuck a picnic in, there are loads of aires in France where you can have rest stops, some have playgrounds, many have a hole in the floor for the toilet so be prepared for that.

On the plus side, when you get there, the wine is cheap . Hope you all have a good one.