Tell Hertz about your experiences of travelling as a family - 5 tickets to Disneyland Paris (worth £277) prize draw! NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

Hertz have asked us to find out what Mumsnetters' experiences are of travelling as a family.

Here's what Hertz say, "Hertz has a car for every occasion. With one of the biggest car hire collections in Europe, we have the cars to match your needs, mood and budget.
The Hertz Family Collection comprises a range of family and holiday-friendly cars for 5-7 people. Every car in the range is 5-star NCAP safety-rated for added reassurance and has all the space needed for the children, bags, holiday extras and the kitchen sink."

So, what do you find the pains and joys are of travelling as a family? What tips would give to ensure that, when on the road, longer journeys go smoothly? Maybe you have lots of different games you play as a family in the car? Or is the key making sure that you have enough ready made snacks to take with you in case your DCs get grumpy hungry? Have you got any travel plans for over the Easter weekend? We'd love to hear about any plans or experiences you have.

Everyone who adds their comments to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one Mumsnetter will win 5 tickets to Disneyland Paris worth £277, valid until the 28th of July 2014. Tickets are valid for both Parc Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

We have just got back from a week in the Vendee and having done the 9 hour drive with our two year old and 6 year old I think the biggest pain about travelling as a family is the amount of toilet stops needed- you can be as organised as you like and equip yourself with any amount of potties, wet wipes and changes of clothes and yet you can still guarantee that a toddler will wait until you have been back on the road for five minutes before announcing 'I need a poo...now'! Last year was the first year we were restricted to taking our holidays in the school holidays and the queues at the service stations on the way down through France were unbelievable so if we are lucky enough to be able to go again this Summer I will definitely forward plan our stops and breaks better.

I think the biggest joy of travelling as a family (other than arriving!) is the chance to spend lots of time together, chatting, singing and playing silly games in a way that you probably wouldn't at home.

We pass the time with favourite cd's, eye spy, spotting Eddie Stowbart trucks in the UK and ND trucks in France and then the children each have a backpack full of goodies- sticker books, stories, colouring sheets, pencils etc that I have packed up a few days beforehand and they won't have seen. I also keep a selection of snacks and water bottles in the car ready to hand out- starting with healthy options and moving on to bribes such as chocolate buttons for the breakdowns that inevitably happen about 50 miles from the final destination!

I definitely try and drive during nap times. If I don't manage this then audiobooks and frequent stops where I try and wear DD out.

I travel abroad frequently and one thing that worries me and stops me renting a car sometimes is a concern about the type of car seat available and wondering what condition it would be in. Travelling by train with arm fulls of bags and monitoring a toddler is hell though.

We have a mixture of music on in the car so that everyone is catered for. We take healthy snacks and drinks and take regular toilet stops to stretch our legs and get some fresh air.
We play games looking out of the window and also take kindles for the dcs to read as we travel.
An empty bottle in the car is always a standard in the car for emergency wees!
A comfy neck pillow is also a good plan in the back so the dcs are comfortable enough to sleep.

good comfortable car seats are essential for long journeys, for younger children something recline so they can sleep comfortably, if you are travelling in the summer or in a hot country make sure you have sun shades on the windows so children are not in direct sunlight which is not comfortable and they can get burnt

Easy to eat snacks such as fruit, biscuits, drinks in cartons, regular breaks for a stretch and to use the loo.

Plenty to entertain the kids, my youngest is 5 now so we have a dvd player, and they play games on ipods, listen to music or audio books.

Timing is also important, if you time the journey right then kids can sleep for part of the journey

Also dont pack loads of stuff around people, it is not comfortable

Thank God for tablets (no not the sleeping type), journeys are now a lot less stressful!

i love travelling with the kids, we do rely a little on sat navs to negotiate the way out of airports as it always takes a bit of a while to get used to driving in a strange city, especially as I travel alone with the kids.
I usually make sure I have stocked up with snacks. The kids cant read in the car, but they do on planes. We often load stuff onto the ipad or kidle to save space, and DS is happy with his DS.

So, what do you find the pains and joys are of travelling as a family?
I would say that you need to be flexible and take into account the ages of children, and what we have done in the car when my daughter was young, might not necessarily work for her now (age 7) For example, I found that when my daughter was young what would work for a long journey would be to get up really early in the morning (5am), take her from her bed still in her pajama's and let her sleep in the car, that way it was possible to break down a journey of 6-7 hours with her sleeping at least 3 of them!

We play lots of games, we have the Melissa and Doug travel hangman which we love; we make up guessing games, we use the animal packs of cards and ask questions to try and get each other to guess the animal, listen to cd's or music, and I also like so many others have mentioned pack a backpack ... this includes water, juice variety of snacks, pencil, crayons, magazines, some books, and I also shove all the party bag toys in here as they come in handy! I sometimes pack the Innotab as well.

Other than that a stop at a service station, walk around, does wonders for my mood as well!

With a young toddler my tips are to be organised and flexible with journeys.

On a long journey I make sure we have food and water to hand, the car is nice and tidy (I hate litter and rubbish in the car) and anything my toddler might need for comfort like a blanket.

Oh and I'll never hire from a Hertz again. Terrible, terrible customer service and months after returning the car I had charges appear on my credit card.

When our dd's were younger we had books with pictures in, the idea was that they had to tick off the things they see on the journey.

Also, take lots of food and drink.

I've found that car seats supplied by hire car companies are inevitably dirty, old and unsafe. Oh, and the hire costs more than they'd cost brand new. Thankfully dc is now old enough to use a bubble bum inflatable booster in an emergency. Brilliant idea, fits in your hand luggage and is sturdy enough to take the weight of my backside.

My top travel tips are easily accessible snacks, drinks, change of clothe, and activities that don't involve constant adult interaction. As much as I love playing the alphabet game or I spy, I really appreciate half an hour with a trashy magazine and a bag of sweets ( my travelling guilty pleasures).

For longer trips I buy a few little items such a sticker books or craft kits (nothing involving glue!) and wrap them up. (lots of Sellotape so it takes them ages to open.) The promise of a dip in the lucky bag works wonders on fractious children.

i prefer to travel at night so the kiddies hopefully will sleep.

We're careful what they eat before a long car journey, once too often we've been left with ice-cream, chocolate etc vomitted down the back of our seats! A reasonable amount of fresh air coming into the car helps too.

When we travel for long journeys, my kids, through experience, know it's best not to have any milk products for breakfast, as inevitably they reappear. Dried fruit snacks are good and a bottle of water essential as if they're thirsty they'll drink it but wont guzzle as not their favourite drink minimising toilet breaks. We like to play the A-Z game spotting things outside of the car, which can get slightly out of hand as my son swears she can see things no-one else can . I always have a bag for each child with a change of clothes wipes, kitchen towel etc. just in-case. We also say there's no room in the boot for the buckets and spades so they have their buckets near by if they feel ill but don't get paranoid about them being near by. I don't let them read as that can make you feel ill. Hopefully they just fall asleep!

Download as many cbbc programmes as I can onto the ipad! New Sticker books and surprise magazines to pull out when boredom levels peak.

Audiobooks, carefully planned playlists, and when I get really desperate the fisher price apps on the iPad. We all get travel sickness so can't read in the car. I like the idea of a goodie bag regina I think I'll start doing that as we travel a lot.

We have 3 aged 14, 12, 10. When they were little driving long distances with them awake was hell. We used to drive late at night while they slept.

These days they are still not the most patient car travellers, we do prefer ferries or trains when we can (though they are impatient on trains too, but ferries are good as they can move around. The 20 hr ferry to Spain last year was surprisingly pleasant).

The most useful thing these days is that none of them gets carsick (luck of the draw as someone says up thread) so they can all just read. (I can't read in cars so I am quite jealous of this). We've resisted dvd players and tablets as I am a bit strict on screen time, I expect it would make travelling easier though.

Even at their relatively easy ages, driving with children is a chore we try and avoid. so we arrange our holidays not to involve too much time in a car.

Talking books, an updated sat nav which won't get confused and try to direct you on to a bridge which lo longer exists, a varied supply of sweets and apples, tiny cartons of juice carefully rationed, blankets for when the weather turns British.

Be sure to put on your stiff upper lip/or channel your inner girl scout.

This is how long car journeys work for us:

Split the journey into two, longer part first.

Plan to stop at a National Trust or English Heritage place for a good long time, two hours ideally. Advantages: beautiful place with lots of space for running around, and good food.

Then on to the second (and shorter) part of the journey.

We always used to travel in the evening when ours were v small, in pjs with blankets etc. made for quiet journeys but v v late arrivals.

Now we just go for it in the day, stop fairly often for toilet and leg stretching. I often pack a lunch we eat when stopped but lots if snacks that are easy to eat.

And in car DVD players have been a life saver!

When we travel abroad I am v v v strict about not packing too much stuff. It's a pain cramming it into the car and just adds stress at the airport. Also keep hand luggage to an absolute minimum, buying stuff in airport/motorway shops is part of the fun. Just factor in a bit of extra money so you don't feel quite so ripped off.

We are a family of six. Our in-laws live hundreds of miles away so often treck up to see them. I'm not sure we've ever had a good journey but learn something new every time!

Set off about half an hour before baby's nap time. Takes him about half an hour to sleep then the hum of the car keeps him asleep for longer than usual. We get a good proportion of the journey done in this first stretch.

We are able to remove seats in our car so we always remove the one spare seat on a long journey to give everyone more space.

Sit the children next to each other who get on the best.

Let the children each pack a small bag of things to bring to amuse themselves.

Regular pit stops. Try and pick places where the children can walk/run around for a while.

Lots of food and drink and snack easily accessible for all. We have a chilled glove compartment for keeping things cool which is soooo handy.

Eye spy. Who can spot the most coloured cars (everybody chooses a different colour). We have a flash card app on the phone which we play a guessing game with. Lots of music and singing too.

And wherever possible, if we can afford it we stop over night on the way to break the journey up a bit.

Always have books and toys available - DS1 will play games on a tablet or whatever and DS2 would watch TV on a tablet too, but I keep that back for emergency boredom.
Always have drinks and snacks available.
Always have a sick back available near each child!
We have those organiser pockets on the back of the seats so they can stash any 'bits'
I keep an emergency empty water bottle too in case of a wee scenario when we are somewhere we can't stop the car. No good for me but fine for the kids!
I-Spy games work for a bit.

Never, ever, ever have anything other than water to drink in the car. Always in sippy cups or sports capped bottles.

Have a supply of bland crackers or oatcakes available to settle queasy stomachs.

Have a supply of sealable sick bags easily accessible to the person who is prone to needing them.

A clean-up kit including sealable bag for used sick bag and collateral damage, wipes, sandwich bags for wipes used for general stickiness (ie juice!).

A good way to deal with "Muuuum I feel siiiick" is to sing. Proper singing, not just shouting a song, with everyone joining in. Not only does this distract the person from their nausea, but it regulates their breathing and prevents hyperventilation. Hyperventilation makes nausea vastly worse. A dining person is also more likely to focus their gaze on distant objects, which also helps.

We travel alot by car, and currently stuck with bloomin' Frozen soundtrack of repeat.
I can't decide whats worse,the repeating of the the songs or DD's voice over

I like driving, and once the weather is ok,and the kids are fairly good for playing DS's or fighting to stay occupied.

We have a dog guard for the boot ... Even though we don't have a dog. It allows all the camping gear etc to be stuffed in the boot without fearing the DC's will be conked on the head.
Handy snacks, drinks and toys are all obviously a must and a map reading passenger has their uses(let's face it Tom toms do have hiccups). However if you don't have a satnav or map reading passenger you can use a white board marker to scrawl road numbers on the window.
We did a 10 hour drive last summer down to the Pyrenees. Forward planning meant we went on an evening ferry, stuck the kids in their pyjamas in the car before driving through the most part of the night. They slept, we had peace and quiet - no are we nearly there yet, or I need a wee! We pulled over in a service station for a couple of hours snoozing before finishing the last 2 hours the next morning.

A car seating 5 can be hired abroad relatively inexpensively but in my experience, the cost for a car seating 6 (more usually 7) is disproportionately so much more expensive.