How mad would it be to consider driving from the west of Ireland to manchester with 3 under 5's ON MY OWN?

[PinkTulips]

have been invited to a wedding in june... need to rsvp by may 2nd

would love to go and dp is all for us scraping the money together to do it.

HOWEVER dp is just finshing an IT course and wil be looking for a job next month... if all goes well he will have just started a new job in june and can't feasibly ask for a 4 day weekend within weeks of starting.

so unless he fails to get work which i'm hoping won't happen i'd be on my own.... with a 4 year old, and almost 3 year old and a 4 month old (bf) baby.

it's insane isn't it?

thing is, i have a largish extended family over there and i know they'd do their best to help out so the weekend itself would be doable on my own.... the drive/ferry there and back though.........

taxis would work out as a small fortune i think... i vaguely remember it being an extremely long drive from manchester airport to where they all live and it's even further again to the wedding venue judging by the map.

having the 3 kids with me would mean only 2 of my cousins could give me lifts in their cars, both older brothers of the groom and heavily involved in the wedding and have 3 kids each themselves... bit much to ask really.

p&l.. typed the details into a couple of car hire sites and they come up with details for dp but when i type my age in they come up 'no cars meet your requirements'. how would insurance on that work anyway... i presume that would be on top of car hire price or is it included?

Insurance is normally included, but there will be an excess. You can normally pay an extra waiver to reduce the excess/give you extra cover.

Look at Budget (although you'll have to Google to find out which cars will fit three car seats).

plus... taxis and lifts still leaves me with a major car seat issue... i'd have ds2's on the plane but dd and ds1 need highback boosters at least

definitly think ferry is the best option, the weekend will be far more enjoyable if i'm not relying on others to haul us all around too.

So long as you're happy with a 4.5 hour drive from Pembroke, it's probably the best option.

thanks p&l will have a look

Sorry.. but would they allow 1 adult with 2 under 3s on the plane. I thought that there would need to be one adult for each under 3 as they are expected to sit on knees.
I could just be stupid though

I think it's under-2s, dizzy.

ouch... 80odd for car hire and 75 for car seat hire, plus insurance excess and it mentions that you might need to pay extra if you're under a certain age, contact rental location directly to find out.

ferry it is

dizzy. it's under 2's as they need to sit on your lap if you don't buy them a seat... you can opt to buy a seat and bring a car seat for them though if you want.

Just to add, Manchester airport to Stockport is about 10-15min drive so not far at all.

£75 per car seat, blimey! Ferry in the middle of the night sounds better and better!

Drug them

Or go for a late evening run when they will be asleep ...

myred.... they're in hazel grove, so far side of stockport... it definitely took longer than 15 mins when they collected and dropped me a few years back.

£25 per car seat, but i need 3

quattro... i like your idea...

I have driven from West Cork to Bristol twice with 2 under 2 and in all honesty it wasn't that bad. We set off early had a break on the ferry and then drove off as they were snoozing. The last hour was hard but not intolerable!

Pink, hazel grove is actually nearer the airport than the rest of Stockport. Honestly,I live in Wilmslow which is very close to that end of Stockport. From HG, go through Bramhall, along the A555 bypass for 2miles and you're there. If you got a taxi they maybe heard your lack of a local accent and took you on a detour! I've had that when they hear my soft southern accent.
DH has just said maybe 20mins in traffic.

Anyway, sounds like a ridiculously expensive option when you factor in car hire etc. Def go with the late ferry. I agree that the thought of it is worse than the actual event.

Yes, get some medised but make sure you say it's for the older one!

No, not Pembroke! We did Manchester to Pembroke once. And Rosslare is further than it looks on the map from Cork. Liverpool to Manchester is my best bet.

how slow does my cousins wife drive then? i distinctly remember it being a longish drive as i felt really guilty that she was having to take so long out of her day to ferry me around. anywho... don't have to worry about it now as i'm set on the ferry!

stleger... yeah, i've been examining the map more closely and think for the extra few quid the dublin-holyhead is proably my best bet... will have a root around all the ferry companies and see if i can't get a better deal than stena line.