Mumsnet users share their best and worst travel stories with Arla BIG Milk

[JustineBMumsnet]

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Whether you’re going on a day out or on holiday, the journeys to your destination and back can make or break the entire trip. They help to determine if you have memories of a BIG adventure or a disappointing day. Arla would like to hear about your best and worst travel stories.

Here’s what Arla Big Milk has to say: “We know how important it is to get your little explorers out in the world around them, so we’ve partnered with Magic Light to bring you yearlong BIG Adventures. We’re also running an on pack monthly prize draw, available across UK grocery retailers, to give you the chance to win an amazing trip to Chessington World of Adventures Resort. Helping to fuel these BIG Adventures, Arla Big Milk is simply fresh whole milk that’s enriched with essential nutrients. So, if you want to join in on the adventure, come visit our site to explore activities for your Easter holidays.”

Do you have any travel stories that were memorable for all the wrong reasons? Perhaps you’ve experienced the misfortune of a child vomiting all over the back seats of the car or all over you following too many sweets? Perhaps you checked into your hotel and found that you’d got the date wrong? Have you had to fill time after your flight was delayed playing a dreaded game of eye-spy for hours on end?

Or, maybe you’ve been lucky in your travels and you managed to sleep throughout an entire journey, arriving bright eyed and bushy tailed at your destination? Perhaps you remember a journey where your children gave up bickering and actually liked each other for once? Perhaps you’ve been unexpectedly upgraded to first class or premium service and lapped up the free luxury?

Share either your best or your worst travel story on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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A lob journey with our then 1 year old. DP came to pick me up from work, we had travelled a little way when dd started wailing. We stopped and I took her out and she vomited all over me and herself. Of course I had spare clothes for her, not easily accessible ones for me. I cleaned us up as best I could but kept smelling vomit. When we got to our destination and I undressed I had a pool of vomit down my cleavage 🤮

best ever journey was a family road trip to Scotland, 5 hours (mostly) along beautiful roads with a sound track of specially picked holiday tunes!

Dream trip to Zanzibar arrived to beautiful resort every member of our party got food poisoning within 12 hours, left on a very bumpy sweltering hot catamaran at 6am the next morning, hellish trip

Worst was arriving in America after a long trip to discover the code we'd been given for the villa booking was wrong, had to hurry round finding the nearest hotel in the middle of the night and cost a bomb. Best was our flight being changed on way home from Italy but notice emails failed to send so we were put up for free in a fancy hotel, all expenses paid for another day in the sun

Worst journey was on the way to our honeymoon. Husband started vomiting on the first flight (during landing no less), and continued pretty much until we reached our hotel. Didn't think we would actually make it, thought we would be stranded half way!! We later found out that one of our wedding guest's children had been vomiting the morning of the wedding and proceeded to spread his germs to most of our wedding party. Thankfully the actual honeymoon and the journey back was much less eventful!!

I don't think there is a holiday in my memory that doesn't involve vomit somewhere. Me as a child, always car sick. My children, always car sick. I've even made myself car sick once even when I was the bloody driver. Need to get some holidays that don't involve cars I think.

My best travelling story is when my sister and I travelled to Scotland from London on a holiday with our dad. I was about 7 and my sister 5 and my mum had packed us a goody bag of activities and sweets to keep us entertained for the very long car journey. My worst was when my sister was car sick we were both travel sick a lot! I was known to be sick when we were just pulling into the driveway from a short trip out. This occasion was memorable because my sister had just eaten a packet of fizzy luminous yellow chewits! The sick was very bright and very smelly!

Best was travelling to Greece to see my mother when my eldest was 9 weeks old. He fed on take off slept the whole flight until we started to descend when he fed again. He was a dream and everyone that passed us on the way off the plane said how good he'd been.

Worst was again travelling back from Greece after visiting my mother. Flight delayed 14 hours so we hung around in the taverna with where my mother works until literally the middle of the night. Dc were 1&2. 1 year old refused to sit on my knee on the flight back, screamed during take off when he had to sit on my knee and screamed again for landing. I spent the hours between the 2 standing half crouched over him unable to sit anywhere. We had flown from Birmingham airport despite being from Newcastle because it was a last minute cheap deal. So now we're both exhausted but have to drive back home. It was horrendous and we both swore we would not do a foreign holiday with a child under 5 again. We bought w tent and are now happy campers instead!

Once sat in the back of the car on the way back from holiday sat with my granny and sisters I felt really sick so told granny I was going to be sick so she quickly whipped out a bag which I vomited in in fairly copious amounts may I add and then instantly felt much better. Well done Gran, prevented disaster!

I got all cleaned up with wet wipes mum had in a little pack and all was good, until Granny had the marvellous idea of getting rid of said bag of vomit of which, without warning she suddently wound down the car window (we were on the motorway at the time) and threw it out. Instantly that bag boomeranged back towards the car hurtling at some speed and ended up coming back into the now open window covering the entire family from top to bottom with my vomit.

We'd used all the wet wipes so didnt have anything to clean up with so had to continue the last hour of our journey like that.

This is the sole reason I am never eating blue doritos before a car journey ever again.

Went to the Alps which involved a three hour minibus transfer from Geneva. DD (18 months) had explosive diarrhoea most of the way, leaking onto several pairs of clothes and the hired car seat. Stank out the minibus. Poor lad driving it kept pulling over for lay-by stops and DH saw him retching at one point.

Travelling 5 hours on East Coast mainline, I'd booked tickets for me and my DSs using a Family Railcard and I'd reserved seats.
However, the train company had given us 3 separate seats all over the carriage. DSs aged 4 and 9 were supposed to sit on their own, next to strangers for 5 hours. I was seated with a stag party, already with their cans out at 10am.
The stags turned out to be fabulous and when I explained what had happened, they swopped their seats so we could all sit together.

On our way to a uk holiday park and both children came down with some sort of bug thankfully only the runs and not vomiting however it stunk the carriage of the train out and there was literally nothing that could be done at all in that small train toilet

Lovely competition win of a 4 night stay in a forest lodge... ruined by me getting food poisoning from the first evening!

Worst trip was coming home from holiday; 30mins after leaving, DS was sick in back of car. Had to get everyone out then search through bags to find clean(ish) clothes for him, give car as much of a clean as possible then drive the next 4hrs with a car stinking of sick.

Oh dear, Worse journey was when my daughter vomited in the car due to concussion, on our way to the hospital to get her checked over. It's very fraught driving an ill child. I already had vomited on my lovely yellow occasion dress as she'd been ill once already. Once she was checked over and monitored (thankfully not requiring a CT scan) and we could return home I still had to travel home, over an hour away, wearing my sick covered dress. Never been so happy to get home and peel myself out of it.

Best journey was definitely the journey home with her our first night out of hospital, I mean there was hormonal tears etc as a new mum with a C-section but definitely very happy to have my baby girl.

Worst journey is a toss up between my first solo flight with number 1... drove to airport and she vomited- projectile- all over the car, herself, back of my head. I had to stop and beg loo paper from a random shop to try and clean up. The flight was a nightmare and I must have smelled awful. She had a change of outfit but I had nothing. That was only just worse than travelling with all three on my own on a flight with a connection... three young kids, two suitcases, a car seat and two boosters plus a pram. It took me the entire holiday to recover as the luggage couldn't be checked through to our connecting flight. I refused to fly solo with them from then on.

Worst was a ferry trip to Ireland years ago when a below deck store room on the ship caught fire in the middle of the sea.
No casualties or anything, and it was a very small fire, and totally contained and dealt with, but the ship went into lockdown and we obviously were terrified - in the middle of the night as well, which made everything seem a lot worse.

Was never more glad to feel my feet on solid ground - well, the car wheels anyway - when we finally disembarked in Dublin, surrounded by loads of personnel from several emergency services and blaring sirens, flashing lights, the whole shebang!

Worst was a flight to the US where I came down with a D&V bug on the plane. By the time we arrived I was shivery and could barely stand, but then had to queue for three hours to get through immigration as they only had one desk open. I spent the first two days of the holiday dashing between bed and loo and felt like death.

I was working in Stafford, I live in Wolverhampton. I wasn't feeling too good so instead of driving I went by train, I treated myself to first class so I could get free coffee.

On the way back I was about to go into the first class lounge but noticed there was a London train on the platform so got on.

I was given a glass of wie and asked if I wanted something to eat, I said I wouldn't have time because I was getting of shortly.

I didn't know that some trains from Stafford don't stop before Euston.

The steward handing out drinks just put the bottle of wine on my table as he walked past.

The guard started to write me a note so that I could get on a train at Euston (standard class), then they arranged transport to the correct platform (I'm disabled) I can walk but I am slow and can't go far.

As we were pulling in I was told the physical train I was on was going back to Birmingham.

A quick word between the staff leaving the train and the ones getting on and I was left in first class and given more wine.

What should have been 20-30 mins journey took over 5 hours.

In terms of time it was a bad journey, it terms of wine consumption it was fine.

I've previously had bad experiences with Virgin so I was really surprised.

Went on a boat trip to small med. island in middle of summer. Freak rain storm. No shelter. Sat in rain in sorts and t shirt for 3 hours til boat came to take us back.

We did a long haul trip when my first child was a baby. I was breastfeeding and took a sickness bug the fatty we were going home. Nightmare! Testing to juggle holding a feeding baby, being sick and feeling awful was not fun at all!

Best - taking 5 and 8yos on the sleeper train from London to Inverness. They snuggled with me on the bus and tube to Euston, being nearly bedtime. Bought hot chocolate and cookies at Euston, which we had in our cabin. Kids loved having their own interconnecting cabin, got in pyjamas, settled in, and when the train set off at 10 pm it lulled them to sleep beautifully.
Guard brought coffee and two glasses of milk at 7.30am,and we watched the Highlands go by. Couldn't have been better.

Worst was probably driving 3 kids to a birthday party. 90 min, usually. Child 1 had to get out to avoid puking twice. Luckily we got off the motorway with no vomit, only 15 min to go, when child 1 puked. Got him changed and back in the car when child 2 puked, followed by child 3 puking on child 1. Sorted all that out and headed onwards, when child 1 spewed on child 3, child 3 puked on child 1 again, and child 2 just burst into hysterical screams (couldn't blame him). We'd brought two changes of clothes for child 1 and one for each of the others, so had to improvise with least-splashed clothes.

Arrived an hour late with a full load of washing.

I had one journey, where coffee was split all over our clothes and on the seats of the car. It was a nightmare and hard work cleaning the clothes and car seats.

Worst travel journey was going on a shortish journey on M25 - hadn't prepared for long journey - and we got stuck behind an accident for hours (lucky not to be in it, obvs). Son started feeling super sick and clutched a sick bowl the whole way back. Daughter wailed 'are we there yet' and I thought I was going to pee myself the entire time.

Getting on a train with the kids on my own, before the youngest was born so me and my two DDs. Train was packed but I'd reserved us seats with a table so it was all good. Started getting their things to keep them busy quiet out and (non-smelly) lunch for the three of us. Got everyone sorted, sat down and as my bum hit the seat they said there was a problem with the train/line, everyone off and run over to platform the other side of the station to catch a different train 😵

So I was frantically shoving things in bags getting in the way of people rushing to get off the train then had to grab all of our luggage and two DDs and rush across the station. Got stopped halfway to have ticket checked, where had I put the tickets, seriously? They seriously need to do this now knowing about the problem with the train? So I found them, went through and as we got to the platform we had to show them again so I'm juggling bags and trying to watch two DDs and get tickets out.

Finally got on the train but obviously it was even worse than the other one because it had passengers that were supposed to be on it and passengers that were on the cancelled train. I'm disabled and really struggled standing, DDs had hold of me because there was nothing else to hold on to. We were only on it for about 15 minutes but it felt a lot longer, especially after struggling to make it to the train before it left

Then we had to get off and rush to another platform in a station I'd never been to before, got stopped once for tickets again. We were originally on a direct train but we ended up having to do two journeys to get around the issue they were having. Finally got on the train and managed to get seats, which was good because this journey was a long one, no table but at that point we didn't care we were just glad of a seat and a rest

By the time we got off at our destination I think I'd aged at least 10 years! We ended up scrapping our plans and just chilling for the rest of the day to recover from the nightmare of getting there