long car journeys

rachbc

red_devil wrote: »

Does anyone hate long car journeys to see family etc?

My parents live hours away, its a boring drive with no motorway but needs must.

Does anyone refuse to do them?

Nope

Do you have breakdown cover?

Nope

Has it become a problem in your family?

Nope - hubby and I share the drive, sometimes I take the kids by myself which is more of a pain but.

Have you ever had a horrendous breakdown while travelling?

Not when going to my folks - we've had other horrid experiences - a bike flying off the car in fornt and boucing of the bonnet most notably! I've also had 6 hour delays on the train with dd but you can't let a 1 off out you off doing anything

I think expecting you family to pay for breakdown cover is a bit OTT to be honest.

Gloomendoom

red_devil wrote: »

I am thinking maybe they should pay for cover for us as a gesture as we make all the effort now as they cant?

Are these the same parents that raised you from a baby to adulthood?

Unbelievable!

NEH

red_devil wrote: »

The only way we get to see my parents now is if we travel to them. We had a problem with car this weekend and had to turn back home and never got to see them. Wasted journey and wasted petrol and alot of stres.

It was stressful trying to find someone to help us on Sunday and at one point we didnt know what was going to happen. They are the only long journey we do. We dont do alot of mileage. Its put me right off. We dont have any breakdown cover as oh does not think its worth it as they are the only real journey we do and its not often.

I am thinking maybe they should pay for cover for us as a gesture as we make all the effort now as they cant?

You have a car, it's your responsibility, unless you're very hard up why should family pay for your break down....

You could pay for pay as you go breakdown

http://www.autoaidbreakdown.co.uk/

Is it that implausible in this day and age that people actually want to go and see their parents...:(

Ilona

I don't mind long journeys, I'm an ex lorry driver so I am used to driving long distances. My family live 100 miles away so it's only a hop skip and a jump down the motorway. I will also drive a few hundred miles on holiday.
I have always had breakdown cover, for peace of mind. Have called them out a few times in the last 28 years, nothing that they couldn't fix at the roadside. I always buy the best car I can afford, save up for it, and update it every 3 - 4 years. Presently I have a Vauxhall on a 57 plate.
Ilona

bylromarha

Love em.

My family a 6 hour round trip. Travel up for mum is hard, so easier for us to go down.

OHs family 4 hour round trip. Do this less these days than previous - but that's a long story as to why! They rarely come to us, even though they can.

Often will do the 6 hour trip in a day as can't bear staying overnight.

Kids have been trained since they've been old enough to understand that long car journeys are part of our life.

So glad I did as the 10 hours round trip driving doing the day trip to Disneyland meant they knew how to keep themselves amused for that length of journey aged 3 and 5.

Fun journey for all. No DVD players or personal music players either!!!!

VJsmum

Why can't they have a DVD or ipod? They have been a godsend for us when the kids have done long journeys.

We used to drive down to mum and dad's alot when mum was alive. To be honest now it's just dad it is easier all round if I do most of it alone as he can be difficult. I take the kids 2 or 3 times a year but I go once a month or so. But we get free train travel (OH works for railways) so that cuts a lot of the car journeys.

We go away with the caravan alot - last year we took the ferry to Denmark and then drove to Stockholm - a round trip of somehting like 2,000 miles. We do have breakdown cover and will share a lot of the driving.

Our worst delay wasn't a breakdown, but a 6 hour stop on the motorway due to an accident. But there but for the grace of god and all that. THe worst of it was that once the traffic started moving (after midnight) we then hit roadworks that weren't expecting hours worth of traffic so we got held up for an hour or more again getting through that! But we weren't that far back and if we'd been a minute or so earlier, I might not be sat here typing this...

System

When we bought our caravan, hubby wanted to site it a lot closer to home but i told him if he bought it for holidays then i refuse to class a holiday without the sea a holiday.

It is sited 230 miles away, not far from the sea but i'm beginning to see the benefits of having it closer to home. I dont like long car journeys (and i'm not the driver).

When my daughter lived in this country we used to visit her on the way to the caravan as it was along the same stretch of motorway, before carrying along on our way.

Hubby always takes out breakdown cover as his motors have to cover a lot of miles due to work.