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

When we are planning our longer journeys we always look for somewhere to stop where the children can really have a break. We used to love stopping off at Clumber Park as part of our drive down to Dover as it has a great adventure playground.

We also listened to lots of audio books that we borrowed from the library during the journeys. Now that the children are older they have their phones etc to entertain them.

I have covered 400 miles with my 2 DC visiting family this week so feel qualified to respond. Too much time on the iPad for DS1 (3.5) but we also counted down the junction numbers to our exit, searched for wind turbines (or "windmills" per DS) and looked at the variable speed limit signs as he is very interested in learning numbers at the moment.

• a in car DVD player is brilliant! put on a music DVD or a cartoon to keep kids occupied. we always have a little bag with snacks and a bottle in too and let them pick a favourite toy.

the older one sits on his Nintendo ds most journeys with no issue from him! I travel on my own with the kids so need to concentrate on driving so can't always occupy them

I make sure we leave with enough time to make several stops if needed. It's nice to be able to get out and stretch your legs.
Oh and sweets of course!

My DH had a SEAT when we first met - I remember that car well ha!

Anyways, travelling with kiddies. I once tried to take iPad and it worked whilst we were on the drive, but I'd forgotten that it relied on the internet to power Netflix so that was a non-starter!

My 4y/o loves being bribed with chocolate Freddo's from the petrol station, playing a torturous amount of eye spy and a good colour/sticker book.

We play "song lotto". Everyone chooses 4 songs off the iPod, we put them onto a playlist and press shuffle. The winner is the one who gets all of their 4 songs played first. Plus everyone gets a say in the music we listen to. Ds2 with special needs loves choosing and that can take 1/2 hour while he deliberates his choices and we try and work out which songs he means from random lyrics .
Also totally agree with audiobooks.

Lots of snacks suitable for not upsetting tummies while travelling. Bottles of water. List of fun verbal games which can be played - anything which can be played without looking down or reading. Spare set of clothes, wipes, bowl just in case. Keep car cool and the air fresh - windows slightly open are best. Lots of breaks - preferably before anyone actually says they need one. Tapes of music you like to sing along to.

Snacks and juice help. Also I spy type games. We used to try the trick of leaving really early and hoping DD would fall asleep, but it didn't work. All we got was a grumpy toddler!

we take their scribblers, play car games like eye spy, the children also have their own games they have learnt from school that they play. They used to read but it can make them car sick so we try to avoid that now. They love listening to music and audio books.

Plenty of drinks and snacks, plenty of books (audio books in particular), kindles, comfy cushions in the back to encourage sleep.

Time it just before nap time. I know if we go somewhere after lunch, the kids are bound to fall asleep... that can always give you a couple of hours grace. Plan stopping points along the way to break up the journey a little.

Some people swear by those portable DVD players, all I can say is that DD has travel sickness so for us, this is not a good idea!!

Food and sick bags. I am the master of my fate.

Travel at night / in the dark if possible, and preferably after young children have been awake for ages.
No sugary treats.
Distraction games involving sleep simulation where possible.
If all else fails, audio books.

Where possible, drive at sleep time, interesting breaks, audiobooks, an endless repertoire of songs and snacks

Pick up hitch hikers. Sit them in the back with the children, and they'll feel obliged to entertain them in return for the lift :)

I like my cousin's tip the best - she comes to us at Christmas with the children's toothbrushes, PJs, dressing gowns and snuggly blankets, so they're all ready to drift off on the journey home and can be carried straight to bed when they arrive.

Snacks that aren't messy, setting off to coincide with any naps so their snoozing for the first part of the journey.
Then we resort to the iPads, and make sure we've downloaded lots of new stuff on them before we go.
Then we pray no one needs the toilet every ten minutes and no one gets car sick!

Put some well known tunes on and all sing along karaoke style!

I have lots of activities for DS such as colouring books, reading books. But I also have my phone and ipad on the ready in case he gets bored which is pretty often. As it is, I hate driving.

We like word association games and I Spy.

We sing songs, play with stickers books and sleep.

For a long trip I snacks and drinks so we don't need the time consuming & costly stops at service stations. To keep is occupied I the dvd player, dvds, colouring book & pens, but I make sure the joke book is left at home - several hours of continuous poor jokes is unbearable :)

Travel at night...we used to do a trip from Wirral down to Surrey with our three children (in the back of our Ford Fiesta) for the day to visit my parents at Christmas until the eldest was 10 and the twins 7......the journey was done in the dark both ways, they had a duvet over the three of them, there was nothing to do so they just fell asleep as they'd excited the night before, gone to sleep late and then been dragged out of their beds at 3am.

Audio books are a must. Dvd for sleep times and iPad for parents need a break times!

If we have to do any long distance journey's in the car, we always travel during the night, as our two tend to sleep.
We always pack bottles of water and a few finger foods, such as raisins and bread sticks.
The kids have a small back pack each and pack they're Nintendo 3DS with a couple of games, a reading book, a sticker book and a teddy.... So they don't get bored :) xxx