Share your top tips for surviving long car journeys with SEAT for a chance to win a £300 Love2Shop voucher!NOW CLOSED

[ZaneKhan]

Painfully long car journeys, we all have them! SEAT have asked us to find out Mumsnetters’ tips for surviving long car journeys.

Here’s what they say, “The new Alhambra can’t settle family arguments like where to stop for lunch, but everyone is bound to agree that long journeys feel shorter in the new Alhambra. Maybe that’s because it’s as big on technology as it is on space. It’s packed with features to keep you comfortable, entertained and in control, from the SEAT Media System to Park Assist. All you have to do is find a song the whole family likes.”

So how do you cope with those insufferably long journeys? Do you have an iPod playlist at the ready to keep you all entertained? Maybe you give in and hand your DCs your iPad to keep them happy and quiet? Or perhaps you just break the journey up by making some stops along the way? Whatever your tips are, we’d love to hear them!

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a draw for the chance to win a £300 Love2Shop voucher!

Thanks and best of luck.
MNHQ

Both my children get car sick so unfortunately I can't give them a DVD to watch or a DS to play!

So we have lots of audio books to listen to, we play quizzes and games like going through the alphabet and thinking of an animal beginning with each letter.

Audio stories, I spy, the animal/girl name/any other topic game (think of as many animals etc as you can beginning with the letter a until you run out then work through the alphabet. No repetition), lots of snacks, DVD player/tablet, toys in th car to play with, bring out new small toys during th journey to keep interest.

When my sister and i were younger we had code words for each different colour car and we had to shout out said code word (and be the first one) to do so when driving past it. We added to the game over the years as it got more complex. Rare colours etc were worth extra, so if we saw a learner driver car we'd both shout out 'watch out mister' and if we saw a pink car we'd shout out nelly (as in nelly the elephant). Every colour had a rather strange warped logic and story behind the name.

Stickers, magnadoodle, and the pick a song bag whilst the small is, well small. She's just getting in to eye spy though, so hopefully more games to come as I used to love car games as a child.

My tips are lots of sweets and snacks and making sure that everyone knows and understands the plan. I explain how long I expect the journey to be, where the stops will be and what will happen when we're there. I shut down any whinging en route with 'No, we're not nearly there. It's still ages yet' as I've tried coaxing them along the last 1.5 hrs/100 miles before and it's crazy-making. I have 5 DC and not much patience left!

I was talking about his yesterday with teen DD as we have a long journey coming up on christmas eve. We'll be alternating choice of play lists- christmas theme -1 hour each. Interdispersed with stops for chrismassy coffees on the way.

We bring lots of snacks, stop every couple of hours for at least 1/2 an hour, play I spy, and bring music mixes we all like.

CDs. Unfortunately DH, who does the driving, doesn't like spoken word CDs, so we have a large repetoire of singalong music and we take it in turns to pick what we want to listen to.

On long trips we try to be flexible about breaks, so at each possible break point we ask "are is anyone starving/desperate for the loo right now, or shall we push on for an extra 25 minutes?"

Leave really early in the morning or really late in the evening so they fall asleep.

Travel sickness medicine can make them sleepy also.

Technology is a wonderful thing.

Stopping off at random towns along the way and going to the park. Wearing them out for half an hour helps.

Audio books are essential.

I do a list of things for the DD's to spot - a bridge, a yellow vehicle, a kayak etc. And a map of where we are going so they can mark where we stop for a break etc. Lots of snacks and drinks.

iPad, cd and plenty of snacks

Audiobooks have saved us. I picked up a whole batch of Famous Five and Secret Seven at a jumble sale, clearly had come free with a newspaper and not only gave us many happy hours but were passed between cars on an extended family trip across France (when we had stopped, of course, we didn't pass them between cars at 80mph on the autoroute).

Our local library lends children's audio CDs with no charge, so I recommend trying your library to save yourself money and clutter.

On longer journeys we try to stop at a "brown sign" attraction to break the journey, even if we don't really know what it is until we get there. We've often done it randomly and so far there has always been a cafe or restaurant. We have ended up feeling like we've had a cracking day out somewhere interesting with a bit of driving either side, rather than just sat in the car all day. A proper road map helps, once you have exhausted all the animal parks within a few miles of the A1.

we play A-Z of simpson's characters. Its really hard.

( top tip U for Uter the german Foreign exchange student)

We have a toddler so night time travel is best, but when a long day time trip is needed we pack a bag of treasure, we let her chose some toys to put in and then add some surprises too.

The best distraction is if we can offer a lift to a friendly aunty or any novelty adult! They get to spend quality time chatting and playing and we get an easy drive...win win!

Also a fan of audio books or children's podcasts here, ideally something everyone can enjoy. snacks and little toys with us and make sure that they are comfortable so the children can have a good snooze if they can.

We also have great fun playing the snazzily named roof box game-whoever is first to spot a roof box gets a point and we tally up as we go along...it gets quite competitive though and DH and I have found ourselves shout out 'ROOF BOX' loudly when in the car with a work colleague or friend!

Aside from timing journeys to get children to sleep as much as possible I would agree with films on the iPad! We tend to download several programme from BBC I player.

twin dvd players and love film

My first response was "Don't use the SEAT". That's because we have an Ibiza and the length of journey we can tolerate is going down in proporiton to the children growing taller. After a very long day going to Durham we now use DH's car and I'm not allowed to mention the fuel economy...

Agree on CDs, snacks and of course be prepared for emergencies.

5p for every yellow car spotted!

Two very young DCs, so we get up at 2am and drive through the rest of the night!

I pack a fun travel backpack with things to entertain my daughter.#It will have a favourite travel companion (teddy, doll etc), a tablet to play games, little toy figures and travelling snacks.
This keeps her entertained for most of the journey and then we play spot the mini-car and make up goofy songs to whatever is playing on the radio

'Are will nearly there yet?' 'No we have got ages yet, just go to sleep'.Even if we are about 20 miles away.

I take plenty of drinks and snacks. The first half of the journey we play I Spy on the way. We always try to break up the journey and have a toilet break on the way with the added excitement (on the proviso of them being good on the journey) of buying a treat for them when we stop (small bag of sweets from service station or garage/shop). The second half of the journey is usually a film on the iPad.

I load up the iPad with programmes from BBC I player and a new game, plus find a new audiobook so far Charlie and the Chocolate factory is the clear favourite. Plus snacks that take a while to eat readily to hand.

We travel regularly from the Cotswolds to n Ireland via Scotland - 7 hours!

Always leave late evening to catch the early morning boat so the dc tend to sleep for the best part of the journey - means they are also awake and rested when we get on the ferry!

Plan toilet stop and leg stretch about half way up - usually the Westmorland services on the M6.

Plenty of snacks and water.

New games on the iPad, new tunes to listen to as well.

Audio books are a must too.

Each dc brings a pillow and blanket so they can snuggle down.