| rosalie |
| (member) |
| 05/09/2008 17:08 |
"Vacances en France - PAR VOITURE!
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MY OH's idea of a holiday is to drive from Stranraer down to Folkestone, through the Euro Tunnel, and across France to the Swiss border - in 2 days, then the same on the way back. (800 miles) He reckons that we could stop for just 4 nights outside Annecy, meaning that he would only have to take 6 days of annual leave.
Of course this is my idea of hell! LIke good wine, I don't travel well, but I'm fine when I have arrived, so there have been many arguments over the last few days. A compromise might be that I fly to Geneva where he can meet me! But I will have to go back with him, as the return airfare to Geneva is £300
I'm sure there must be many of you who think nothing of travelling through France and beyond by car., and actually enjoy it - have you any tips to make the trip easier? I would add that he will do all the driving, & that he is very reluctant to take breaks - once he has his foot down, he could drive all day without stopping, despite my protests!
He has decided that he doesn't like flying, and that if he takes his own car, he can fill it with bottles of wine!
| merc1 |
| (member) |
| 05/09/2008 18:50 |
Re: "Vacances en France - PAR VOITURE!
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Rosalie,we drive down to the Languedoc at least once a year and this year it was twice.It is 170 miles to Dover and 700 miles in France.We take the ferry to Calais and he reads the papers and I fetch him a coffee etc!!!We usually stop in Beaujolais or Burgundy for the night and make it part of the holiday at a Logis.
My OH drives a great deal and it doesn't bother him.He will take breaks thankfully though he is very keen to keep to schedule!!No lie in in the mornings!!
I try to sleep but he likes me to keep him awake.We have to get all the car numbers for the regions!!!!!!! never managed the lot yet(90 odd) and there is an area of forest by the motorway where we spot hunting birds that sit on the fence posts!! Some good CDs from the 60s or Rod Stewart....
Are you getting the picture??LOL I love him really!!!
This probably doesn't help you but I thought you might find it mildly interesting!! merc.x.
| Vicky123 |
| (member) |
| 05/09/2008 20:47 |
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Re: "Vacances en France - PAR VOITURE!
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Hi rosalie - I can totally understand your dilemma but have to say that we have driven through France four or five times now and I am getting to really enjoy the journey (500 miles down from Calais) (am not a good car traveller myself). All I would say is that I have yet to find a decent service station so pack a cool box full of sarnies/wine/nibbles - particularly if your OH is one to put his foot down and drive straight through (my OH likes to do that too). By the motorways there are several picnic areas which benches/tables and toilets and actually quite pleasant as they are just off the main roads (have spent many a snooze in the sun at these picnic spots).
Anyway thats my advice - also backing up merc1's advice re some good CDs too. I also read a book although I know some people cannot read whilst in a car (it would make my OH sick).
| Quicksilver |
| (member) |
| 06/09/2008 04:07 |
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Re: "Vacances en France - PAR VOITURE!
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join the best car recovery scheme you can. My nephew's car just lost its gear box, had to towed to the ferry and on to his uncles in brighton to be picked up by lowlader this weekend.....no cover past first garage!!
you could use the voucher codes site and get a better deal on the airline - return option. http://www.vouchercodes.com/vouchers/excelairways.htm
you could use crosscountry trains http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/ to travel to south coast cheaply ferry tp bilbao hire a car for the rest of the journey through france
| AllyL |
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| 09/09/2008 21:57 |
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Re: "Vacances en France - PAR VOITURE!
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Hi Rosalie - I do sympathise - in June we drove from Cumbria via Dover-Calais to St Gallen in eastern Switzerland in 2 days. OH and I shared the driving, but it was exhausting and stressful. I hated living out of a suitcase too!
To make the journey more bearable, do take plenty of CDS and make sure they are accessible. We once drove all the way from Beaune to Calais with just the Corrs to listen too! I do like the Corrs, but you can have too much of a good thing!
There are plenty of picnic areas on the French motorways, so make sure you take time to stop and rest. Oh - the tolls are pretty expensive, but you do make more progress than on the other roads.
We used to drive to OH's family home in southern Austria - but I really object to 5 days of my precious holiday being spent on the autobahn. So for the last two visit we've flown and hired a car from the airport. Perhaps when we retire ...... but only if we can take our time and stop off in interesting places.
Hope you can come to a reasonable compromise and enjoy your holiday!
| ChrissiFi |
| (member) |
| 11/09/2008 16:48 |
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Re: "Vacances en France - PAR VOITURE!
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For us it's usually the best part of three hours down to Portsmouth for the night crossing (always a cabin so we get some sleep and a shower) and then work our way down through France the next day. We usually go to the coast beyond Bordeaux so it's an all day drive but we take plenty of breaks so never drive more than a couple of hours at a stretch and take it in turns to navigate or map read. We could do the journey much quicker but try to find some interesting places to see on the way rather than keeping to the motorways.
| miclor |
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| 11/09/2008 21:39 |
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Re: "Vacances en France - PAR VOITURE!
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We have had loads of driving holidays in France and Spain too. The number of nights at each stop and daily miles driven depend on how far the furthest stop is: when we drove down to Cordoba we had 3 x overnight stops along the way and then 5 nights in Cordoba followed by 3 x 2-night stops on the way back, so it wasn't too tiring. Not sure I would want to do all that travelling again though.
We stayed in Annecy one year as part of a trip around France and went from there to Beaune for overnight, then Beaune to Calais which is straightforward but takes about 5 hours plus stops.
| Appleblossom |
| (member) |
| 15/10/2008 09:32 |
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Re: "Vacances en France - PAR VOITURE!
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When I was married we used to take our family holidays in the South of France every year. I would thoroughly recommend the ferry that goes from Hull to Zeebruge overnight as it would take some of the mileage off your journey. There is also a ferry running from Zeebruge to somewhere in Scotland but unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the line.
| HappyTigger |
| (member) |
| 15/10/2008 12:52 |
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Re: "Vacances en France - PAR VOITURE!
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I would say to your OH that you are quite happy to do the holiday and maybe the drive BUT with stops.
We travel down to the Vendee with the kids (who are 8 and 11) and we have at least 3/4 stops on route, its along way to go with out stopping and it would break up the journey for you and be less stressful.
Me thinks he has to compromise somewhere here.
