Motorway "Rip-off" stations...

cougar_3

french motorways are killers - £1.30 for a can of coke!

Zziggi

I can't understand why people even buy anything from motorway service stations. Everyone knows they're well overpriced. We've always got a supply of fruit juice cartons, cereal bars, couple of small fleece blankets, wet wipes and couple of spare nappies in the boot so even if we take an unplanned long-ish journey, there's enough in the car so we can avoid service station prices. If we're taking a planned journey then a couple of bottles of pop, sandwiches, fruit etc in the coolbox and there's very little need to buy anything from those service stations. OH recently invested in a travel kettle, large evian water bottle and coffee/sugar sachets so he could even have his warm coffee for free on journeys. Only problem is the kettle takes about 10 mins to boil when running from the car ciggy lighter. Mind you it can take you more than 10 mins to get served in some of those service stations - at least he gets a smile (for me) when he gets passed his coffee, more than you get from a service station worker.

Zziggi

truscott_uk wrote:

french motorways are killers - £1.30 for a can of coke!

not to mention french motorway tolls as well!

Zziggi

xtreem wrote:

No more rip-off prices for us. We've just bought The Great Motorway Secret from https://www.thegreatmotorwaysecret.com . We saved more than the cost of the book the first time we used it. It lists about 100 big superstores which are close to motorways. .

wouldn't your saterlite navigation do this (if you have it)? spend a little time punching in the postcodes of asda/tesco stores from the store info that is available on their websites. Then when planning a journey the sat nav can tell you when you're near some other place that you've stored in the memory (or at least ours does).

Fran

Zziggi wrote:

not to mention french motorway tolls as well!

Not to mention not being able to get petrol after 9pm in a big town (city) and having to drive in the wrong direction for a few kilometers to get some cos your chip & pin wont work in their "24 hour" card garages!

Poppycat

Wonderful Britain (not). One of the world's worst transport system, rip off CDs and DVD although slowly improving and rip off motor charges. I vote with my wallet and don't pay there prices.

Wig

I take sandwiches and a bottle or two of squash.

I also on a recent trip stopped at various Tescos which are literally minutes from the junction M6, J43 Carlisle Tesco's is right there.

Some people have given soome good ideas here,

"5 minutes away"

&

"the greatmotorway secret" :money:

elona

Whenever we travel as a family (of six) then we drive a little farther to get to an Asda , Tesco etc and get an all day breakfast etc - much cheaper.

Wig

I have also been known to look at a map and choose a nearby scenic spot to stop at, it's much nicer to sit in a woodland (with chirping birds) or a hillfort, stone circle, whatever than to sit in a motorway services. Ready made sandwiches are required.

curriej99

A bit similar to the '5 minutes away' post - but we use 'The Good Pub Guide' whenever we are making journeys. Pubs have to be of a high standard to get into this guide, and we have only once been disappointed. This pub in question in this case turned out to have changed hands some months previously. The main thing however, is that you don't leave feeling as though someone has put your soul through a mangler.