10 day UK/Ireland road trip with 6 & 2yr old

[DreamingOfSleepAndCoffee]

DP and I are planning a 10ish day road trip with DC (6 and 2) around a family member’s big milestone birthday (don’t worry it’s in the school holidays!).

Driving from south east England to Ireland via ferry, to the event, couple of down days nearby, then seeing friends in another part of Ireland, then onto south Wales via ferry to see other friends, followed by one final stop somewhere just for us before heading home (considering Bath or Glastonbury).

The plan is to keep the driving fairly gentle and broken into manageable chunks rather than powering through long stretches. The kids are generally very good in the car, thankfully.

Accommodation will be a mix of one very fancy hotel for the event, staying with friends, cheap and cheerful chain hotels in between.

Planning to take a travel cot for toddler and hoping to find somewhere with a pool along the way.

We’ll basically be living out of the boot of the car for 10 (or more) days 😅 and trying to make it feel more like a relaxed adventure than an endurance test.

Would appreciate any tips, tricks or things you wish you’d known.

Particularly interested in:

– Ferry crossings with toddlers, anything that caught you out?

– Hotel stays with two young kids, must-haves or things to look for?

– Driving in Ireland, anything noticeably different or stressful?

– Any general sanity-saving tips?

Thank you!

Take a large box of toys. Magnatiles, books, cars, and small remote control cars that have usb chargers have worked well for us. I'd sacrifice pretty much anything else to have the toys - makes a huge difference to the whole issue of same shit, fewer resources situation.

We plan our long drives (South Wales to the north east) around farm parks, miniature railways, decent parks and things like that. Breaks the journey up loads and makes a day of it as you can do four hours (or even six with two good stops) pretty effortlessly.

I'd also keep a grab bag of Dettol, kitchen spray, toilet paper and dog poo bags (they are the perfect size for being sick in, collecting tissues and crusts in the car, all sorts of things) as it's mad the number of times you need to clean something up in the hotel and can't.

Fantastic tips @Lifeisexpensive, thank you!

We often did National Trust places for stops, normally space enough to run around, having a picnic and decent loos.

Get a cool box you can charge with the car.

The cool box is a great idea @reluctantbrit, didnt consider that.
Also National Trust stops are a good shout.
Thank you

Check the NT guide before you go @DreamingOfSleepAndCoffee . In SW Wales in particular many NT places are protected countryside/coastline - very beautiful - but rather bare in the facilities front! There's a lot of great places in SW England though, we've been to a lot of them.

I'd check Google maps to see if there are any country parks (quick stop) or attractions (make a thing of it) just off to motorway to break your journey rather than always stopping at the services.

Are your kids into audiobooks? We got through A LOT on drives like that. Various providers have them these days. I guess it depends on the attention span of the 2yr old, but when our DD was about 6 (up until she was 11!) we got through so many stories during long drives in the car.

Night light. Blackout curtain. Selection of medicines. Travel sickness tablets. Travel pillows, blankets in car. Porta pottty with those pee catching bags in bottom.

Sounds amazing ! We travel loads with the kids like this

we camp though instead of hotels !

I find we really don’t need a lot (kids are 2 & 5)
they have a Tonies box each - I bring a box of Duplo and some games like dobble and uno for the bigger girl

buckets and spades for the beach

a football

I usually drop the routine a bit and let the kids up later and they tend to start sleeping in a bit later

love the ferry to don’t need anything - some of them have soft plays on them and cinemas so plenty to do !

Ferry crossing with kids are easy. There are playrooms, easy access to food etc and depending where you go from only 3/4 hour crossing.

Driving in Ireland is easy. Roads are quiet and countryfied when out of the ports or large towns. Plan your routes as there aren’t many motorways so the distance between your two events is key to plan around.

toilets stops etc will largely be in super markets. There are public facilities dotted around but not through the villages. Nearly all large supermarkets have a laundromat too with high speed wash and dryer so you don’t have to pack 10days of clothes.

There aren’t as many national trust style places there. Old castle ruins and occasional farm park. Most tourist facilities remain along the coastline so again depends on the route you’re taking

if you have any further info I’m happy to offer more details.

When mine where little I made them party bags for longer journeys. A toy or 2, drink & snack, then refill when stopping. Toys I would rotate. Also make sure that the toys you take are ok for them to be left behind somewhere.

Thank you all, some great suggestions on here. Will put them all together and make sure we cover all bases. Thank you x

Driving in Ireland feels ridiculously stress free compared to UK.

We drove from Dublin to Galway and there were times when we couldn't see another car. Just remember the speed signs are in km!

Had a nice day in the Burren - there was a bird of prey centre that was really good.

Don't trust too much in advertised opening hours - when we went to Coole Park the visitor center was open even though it wasn't supposed to be.

A small picnic set with a sharp knife and board included. A few small Tupperware containers. Prepare a snack box and a sandwich box in the morning.

I would put a towel over dc’s legs as things had a way of disappearing. A towel at least gives a uniform surface.

Pillows between the children’s seats gives them an extra surface at arm height.

When you stop for a wee somewhere, park at the other end of the carpark so they get the leg stretch before you carry on driving.

Talking books. Enid Blyton talking books.

If you are driving west from Dublin https://loughkey.ie/activities/adventure-play-kingdom/

This looks fun! Thanks will add it to the list

Great tips, thanks! I was wondering what we would do about food (I wanted to try and keep it as easy as possible for myself). A picnic set up is a good shout with packed boxes at the start of the day (my kids are always hungry!)

Good idea about the leg stretch too

Thank you

That’s good to hear! Does sound like a more relaxing drive than where we are 😅