Driving overnight with 2 kids (8 hour trip)

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Could do with some advice as we haven't tried this trip (Hull to Inverness) with 2 kids before nor have we attempted it driving overnight. DS1 is 3.6, DS2 is 7 months.

We have done it 3 times previously, and each time have set off at 8pm when ds1 has had his bath. Drive until 11/12 then stop at a hotel like Travelodge. Then do the rest of the trip in the morning after breakfast at the hotel. Last time we made it to Glasgow city centre, fine, except ds1 wouldn't go back to sleep until 2am and woke again at 6am so not much sleep all round esp when I slept on the floor and he fell off the bed onto me! He was then a complete PITA the rest of the way and whinged for about 3 hours.

We thought we would try the whole trip overnight this time cos it seems so much hassle to drag 2 kids into a hotel at midnight and hope they go to sleep again. Also ds1 never stops talking now and we want most of the time in the car with him asleep (yes, awful parents, but it's just louder in a car).

We thought we could set off at midnight with the car packed etc, and just transfer the kids then drive (swapping regularly) until they woke in the morning. Stop for breakfast at a service station and hopefully keep on driving with 1 further stop until we hit inverness. Does this sound reasonable? Visiting my dad in inverness so he should help out with childcare when we arrive (we hope!). Can anyone who's done a trip like this offer some advice? Thanks!

alot older child 11 year old (but same problem with the talking we do Dorset to stirling overnight, taking it in turns to drive one drive one sleeps, then ggps take her out when we get there and we sleep, its about a 10 hour journey for us.

you'll need to both rest the day before the drive as well!

This trip about 8 hours? We've never done quite that long, but since 2002 have regularly hauled dd1 and 2 (similar age gap as yours)between forfar and pickering(6 hrs when done legally) for family visits. Have to admit, our preferred method at that age was: Primary driver disappear to bed, while second driver (generally me) clears 6 months worth of crap out of the boot and footwells of the car in order to finish packing it...set off 11ish (we left it later as it was a shorter journey - you'd maybe prefer earlier)and most times the motion of the car kept them asleep. I generally sat in the back with them with ready bottles of expressed milk to suppress baby grumblings and it seemed to work (rose-tinted memory?)

We generally fed them light lunch, kept them up later than normal, but not so late they were out and out crabby, then filled smallest member of the party with as much milk and carbohydrate as she could stomach (this may have been a personality thing...porridge just made her sleep for hours..)and dd senior with warm cereal and LESS MILK THAN USUAL - by 3.6 dd1 was well out of night nappies, and without being cruel, we didn't like dragging her out of the car at service stations (Note on that point - when travelling, buy super cheap nappies, take a potty, line it with a nappy bag, line the nappy bag with a super cheap nappy, pop child on - if neccessary in footwell or boot of estate, but have a care!!! Saves a lot of ructions for baby if big bro/sis can get the neccesary done and dusted in a lay-by in thirty seconds)We found if you offered older child liquid only on demand on this journey, they slept much better. But to get back to the point, eventually, yes, we found overnight was by far the saner option, just took industrial strength flasks of coffee for drivers, and a days recovery at the other end. Now, when they're 4 and 7, you want to be setting off at 5am....... Hope this long-winded waffle has been of some help!

PS We always let them fall asleep in the car, during the journey, but again, this might just be our kids, they woke up really easily if you lifted them or decanted them anywhere.

I would go through the night. Same as yours, after a few hours' sleep no chance of getting ds to sleep for at least an hour, esp in a strange place. We came back form hols on Sun night, landeda t my Mums at 2am, ds soooo excited to see her, wouldn't go to sleep, I ended up giving him ready brek at 3am! And knowing the A9 so well i would defo do it in the night! Though easy for me to say, dh is a lorry driver so he drove while I slept .

We leave after an early tea (no dary due to travel sickness) and before bedtime and put the portable dvd on. They watch that, fall asleep to Cinderella or whatever (NOT Power rangers - that seesm to keep ds awake!)and wake up in bonny scotland!! That's Northampton to Ayrshire - about 7 hours and we do it quite a few times a year. It also works for France! It means you get a good chnk of the driving in in the early evening while they are awake and watching a dvd. Then they sleep and you can be there by midnight so not so knackered. A hotel stop would screw us up!!!
This has worked since they were babies - although didn't use dvd then - very annoying Cbeebies cd did it then - not recommended as I had it in my head for 2 weeks! They're now 4 and 5 and 4yo dd always used to be sick so we use Joy rides which (everything crossed!!) seems to work.
Good luck!!! Recommend headphones......

ooh, great, thanks for all these tips. We do'nt have a portable dvd, although I could borrow one I suppose. We have a porta potty, will take that, good idea.
Any more tips? tia...

We did that journey several times when ours were toddlers, right up to the NW of Scotland, 2 hours beyond Inverness. We'd leave at about 7pm, take turns driving, after about 1pm DP would just drive and the rest of us would sleep in the car. Our children would sleep better in the car than trying to transfer them to a hotel or similar. When DP got tired we'd all sleep in the car (near Inverness), wake up the next morning and carry on. And sleep a lot the next night. but it only worked cos DP likes driving at night.

Once we booked accomodation at Loch Lomond but cancelled it and just carried on, as it's so much easier travelling when the children are sleeping than in the day when they're awake.

Oooh fennel I'm 2 hrs beyong Inverness! Gairolch. Where did you go?

Sorry for hyjack.

Gairloch don't even know where I live now!

Sorry again!

"Visiting my dad in inverness so he should help out with childcare when we arrive (we hope!). "

I think that's the key of the problem. You will be knackered while your children will be up, fresh and running. This is the perfect recipe to get a jetlag (and therefore some misssed days) even when you are not travelling long haul.

But if someone can keep an eye on them while you catch up with missed sleeping hours, everything will be fine.

We regularly did trips from N Scotland to the south of England with our dc. With an eight hour trip, I really wouldn't bother stop overnight, too much hassle.

Experience meant we soon ruled out overnight trips as we'd be so tired the next day. We also found getting up early was counterproductive as by 2pm we'd feel very sleepy and needed to stop for a nap ourselves which wouldn't necessarily be possible if the dc weren't sleepy!

In the end, we found it best to leave a normal time in the morning, while the dc were still bright and cheery. We'd do as big a chunk of driving as we could, at least 3hrs, if possible, until a comfort stop was required. We'd never stop if the dc were asleep!! Then we'd eat, have a run around etc. Back into the car, swap drivers and the non-driver and dc hopefully would snooze. Then another stop a bit later on, swap drivers again, etc.

We find that we need more stops the further we travel. Eg, when we drive from Aberdeen to Kent nowadays we drive a 4/5 hr chunk to start with but have to stop every 90mins/2hrs near the end.

To keep your 3yr old occupied, have you tried a CD player with ear phones? It keeps them busy but you don't have to listen to the endless stories/songs!

Bramblina, we quite often go to a campsite north of Lochinver, a place called Achmelvich. DP and all his extended family have been going there for 50 years, every year, so we know the journey rather well.

Gairloch is very nice. I've stayed around there a few times too.

We're leaving at 7pm, getting the euro tunnel car thing at 9pm, arriving in France at 10pm and then driving down to the south of France. ETA 6am.
Oh god we must be mad. But just can't bear the hassle of flying/car hire/car seat hire/carrying everything with us.
PLan is that the children have the dvd players and are in their jammies once we get off the train, and then hopefully nod off. DH will drive 2 hours, then me, then him, until we get there.
Am very nervous! However, when we get there my father and step mother should be able to step into the breach. We will be in house with lovely pool and patio, so can laze by the pool and potter until both children have an afternoon nap (and us too). And an early night.
Fingers crossed!
We've thought about it a lot and think the dcs should be fine. DS still in nappies. DD will use loo on train and then should be fine - but obv can stop (will take potty) if she gets caught short. Have purchased a reclining car seat for her. DS is already in a pretty reclinable seat anyway...
Do kind of long for the days when my parents would put the seats down, chuck duvets and mattresses in the back of the car, and we'd sleep all the way to cornwall. Was so exciting. Obviously not doable now, but fond memories....

Good to know we're not the only ones to obsess about every detail and way of doing it! Thanks again, given us some food for thought. As we've got my dad at the other end, I think we'll be alright overnight as we can both get a break during the day. Quite frankly I only get a few hours sleep a night now due to both of them waking up, so it's not going to make much difference to me! I find sepia (homeopathic remedey) really helps with tiredness so I've been taking it for a few days.
It's the last time we're doing this trip as my dad's moving back to Australia. I'm not planning to trek down to Cornwall anytime soon!
We did these long trips in Australia and there were 4 children, so god knows how my parents managed. I thought they were great though, specially stopping at a motel overnight!

good luck with your trip, too Pooka! Sounds really lovely, rather that than rainy Inverness (well, the Black Isle actually).

Hope your trip goes well. Thanks for the sepia tip -will give it a go. Does it contraindicate with red bull and copious flagons of coffee?

Hopefully should be fine - and hope the weather holds out for you.

probably! I can't unfortunately have caffeine as I'm breastfeeding and ds2 doesn't like it!