Long car journey - toddler and a teen

[2daughters82]

Due to go back to France for holiday in July and already planning and prepping

We did it 2 years ago but toddler was a baby 11 months and slept loads and now she's talking/potty trained and doesn't nap in day so although she may have a nap in the car she needs some entertainment!

Kids will be 3yrs and 13 yrs by then so looking for ideas to keep them entertained

9hrs journey total

Day 1 we have a hotel half way so we plan to do 2hrs drive, lunch then 2hrs hotel timing ish and we will stop when needed for stretch of legs and toilet breaks

Day 2 - 2 hrs drive then lunch then 2hrs arrive at villa for a week then same for return - a hotel stay on way home

We have -

Colouring in pads
Over seat organiser on teens side so she has all the bits and pieces like drink, wipes etc
I'll have a bag of snacks/drinks in front with me
iPad for some of the journey so they can watch films etc
Pillows and blankets for comfort
Travel potty in footwell as didn't think much of some services toilets so least toddler can use potty
We have a large boot but we are taking condiments for the villa to save shopping the first day and to bring the kids fave food home from home then we will top up with the local markets when there
We bought NO food last time and found it hard work shopping with the French markets as we were out the way and was a chore
But staying somewhere different this time

Any tips for travel?

We felt a bit unorganised last time
( dummy dropped and couldn't find it ! So
Will be packing lots spares, NO internet connection other than my husband phone which he needed for sat nav so will download some of their fave things )
Stopped far too much so will try and keep to a minimum this time

I don't want to rely on the iPad for the while journey really - teen is fine it's more our toddler

To add
Hanging toys from window and one of those scribble pads that you press and refresh
She loves those

Audio books
Mine used to love travel I-spy on long journeys - used to make up sheets with pictures of things to spot and they could tick them off. So animals, road signs, tractor, ambulance etc. If you know you are going a particular route with iconic things on the way you can include those eg Eiffel tower etc

We do books and audiobooks. Audiobooks are on the Yoto player which 3 year old listens to on headphones and everyone else can listen to something different on the car stereo. He also has a slim basket tucked in between his seat and back door which holds about ten books and a water bottle.

Also highly recommend this. No small parts to drop. I bet your teen will like it too.

amzn.eu/d/1MUfwyo

We do this journey about 4 times a year and our youngest child is 3. My advice would be don’t restrict the ipad, it’s just making your life harder for no reason, and I would allow it unlimited except for any stretches of windy roads where it might cause travel sickness. It’s not a normal day and if it was a long haul flight instead of long haul drive you surely wouldn’t consider limiting access to the entertainment system so I think not wanting to rely on the ipad the whole journey is bonkers really! Load it up with movies and favourite TV series. By all means have the other stuff too for variety but I let them watch as much TV as they want. It doesn’t create addicts, the ipads stay in the car all holiday except to charge for the return and they don’t even ask for them, but it does keep the journey calm and relaxing! Have loads of snacks. Avoid stopping between 12 and 2 if you can because the service stations get really busy and you can be queuing for ages for petrol. If your route goes through Lyon pre empt that with a loo/snack/petrol break before because the traffic can be awful in summer and you can’t easily stop until you’re out the other side.

We did a 13h drive through France this summer with an almost 4 year old.
We got some padded potty training pants on eBay to protect against dribbles if we couldn't get to a toilet in time.
We did 3h stints and had 2 adults in the back and had a collection of books and games, colouring /activity books to play. We had some films downloaded and loosely did 60-90 minutes of non tablet activities and then a film for the rest of the stint which for us was a good balance of keeping her occupied and avoiding 13h of tablet usage.

I was going to say if you've got a Tonie box that would keep your 2 year old occupied especially if the can play with the spare figures whilst listening to the audio book

We've been driving Dts to La Rochelle since they were six months old. Mostly just food / snacks / sticker books. They had the to have the dog in the middle of them too. They had in car dvd players back in the day but they were a bit shit tbh and then they graduated to kindles / iPads. We don't stop much just prolongs the pain.

Perhaps I’ve read this wrong but is it only 4hrs of driving each day with lunch breaks in between?

If this is the case, I honestly wouldn’t worry much as it’s so quick. A few sticker books for the toddler. The teenager can read or chat with you or just look out of the window. They should certainly sort their own entertainment out tbh. At most I’d get some car DVD players or an iPad and some headphones.

We also don’t stop much, we drive 4hrs in one go without stops.

Quick wee and grab a sandwich and then back in the car.

If they whinge, and they normally do circa 90 mins, they just need to pull themselves together 😀

Is your overnight stay booked as I would change things a little and have a big drive day and then a shorter one

So for example set off at 9am and plan to stop at 12 for a couple of hours then drive 2pm - 6/7 pm (with a short break) - still time for a walk and dinner at the hotel and then the next day a much shorter drive and time to get to a hyper market for a big food shop before reaching your villa - as that way you'll get most of the driving done in one day - the second day will be much more relaxed and useful and likewise on the way home - not sure which crossing you are doing assuming your coming from the UK.
I would avoid doing the big drive on a. Saturday and any Saturday travel in peak periods could be impacted by traffic/ queues at intersections/ toll booths etc

We found one big day far easier than 2 mid days - lots of games / sticker books - those table things that fold down - swap the spare driver and teen over for some relief / change of playmate for the toddler

• soft big headphones for audio books / music / sing alongs - we did a Spotify playlist of favourite songs so that we each had something we liked coming up and it wasn't just toddler focused

If you have space for a car hoover - worth it for crossiant crumbs
I also froze bottles of water to keep them cool and added squash to make them like a slush and more fun to drink

Lots of spare clothes - and a pottie - nothing worse than stopping for a desperate wee and finding the aire either has huge queues or footprint toilets

Thank you, I meant I don't want to rely on the iPad alone not that I'll be restricting it! Like you say it's between for a relaxing journey
I'm all for that. It's not near Lyon but that's a good point about stopping
We found we spent so much time in service stations queuing for food/toilets last time! So want to avoid that next time
Attached the route

This is good going and our journey slightly shorter

Love this idea we don't have one but happy to invest! In fact it's her birthday the day after we go and we are buying her an iPad to open at the services before boarding the train ( and have it all set up beforehand )
So this may be an extra pressie

Love La Rochelle - we will be having a visit to there as our villas a short drive so maybe a day out in the week we are there

Yes around 4 hours driving time it's 7.5hours
Hours from Calais to villa so we will be breaking up half the journey with a hotel so all approximate on traffic etc
Still a long time with stops and waiting around for check in the tunnel etc

Last time we had a 1.5 hr delay due to a bad accident

Funnily enough we did all the way down in 2023 and found it too much
( we were in a minibus with another couple
And their baby ) and everyone's wee
Breaks were not synced! And 1 crying baby, iPad not set for my eldest and lost dummies!
We were not prepared so this time we want to stop half way ish
Plus it's our own car and just us so will be less stressful already!
Good idea yes the potty and padded pants is a good idea

Hotels booked for both ways but flexible so
Could amend

We live right next to the shuttle so we need to allow a couple of hours for check in, travel to France it self etc so those timings would make it a very long day

Also to bear in mind we can't check in until late afternoon so that's why we figured on day 2 we will get up, go for a swim and have a good breakfast and leave for around 1030 for a good travel day on the road and hopefully still get some time to stop somewhere for some food but maybe save main shop for another day

We travel on a Friday a day before the kids break up here

Love the idea of frozen water bottles
I'm so doing this

Honestly it'll be the gift that keeps on giving because you'd start off with the tonies for toddlers and you get new ones as they grow up. There's like 258 to choose from and they love the figurines. Perfect that it's her birthday. If you go on the Tonie website you can get the box and different bundles cheaper than buying separately

@Devilsmommy fan idea ! I love love love this
I saw my friends the other day and thought I must get one

I find a 2-3ish hour drive, stop and 2-3 ish again and Ds ( now 4), but have done lots at 2 and 3 years actually doesn’t need much. I haven’t used iPad yet for fear of car sickness

Even though he doesn’t nap at home, mine and hopefully yours will nap for at least 1 hr.

Tips:
let them burn off energy before drive and at lunch stop. If service station may have small parks and it’s worth letting them play 20 mins. Otherwise we try and take picnic lunch and stop at an actual small attraction for kids. Ie see if there’s a small farm on route around half way. We have stopped at castles, lakes for a swim, playgrounds, on route. Sometimes it’s just nicer just adding in a proper 2hr stop as it’s then just part of the journey and you get to see a new place on route. Toddler gets knackered for next leg of journey, everyone has picnic and toilet, can grab hot coffee or ice cream.

tegu travel magnetic blocks. They do a small travel pouch. Handy in car to pass 15 mins

you can also get a wooden small transport toy from Amazon that’s good to fiddle with and no small pieces to lose

Eye spy. We do eye spy colour x. As he can’t spell yet.

Nice snacks.

@2daughters82 I've PM'd you