Any thoughts on driving holidays?

Oh I would love it ! My late DH and I did just that when I retired so I was 64 , he was 67 . But we did take a 24 hr ferry to get to Santander and then 2- 3 weeks to drive back through France . Maybe suggest that to him? We had an amazing time ,loved the ferry, cabin and dolphin -watching . We took very few motorways and stayed in small hotels and logis, a few days in each place. We booked on line a day or two ahead , deciding which place would be our next stop, we never had any issues with the bookings . We also went late May/early June ( beware of lots of public holidays then!) not unbearably hot . Great fun but certainly not glamorous as my wardrobe was limited and often crumpled and my hair suffered from constant wind blowing !

France is nice for driving, buy yourself a scarf and a warm coat, you’ll be fine, don’t drive too far each day. Try to make each stop 2 days visiting places of interest around each stop, you choose the hotels, or at least vet them, book in advance. Enjoy it, on your terms, Italy is good too, Switzerland lovely but hotels expensive.

If it’s an oldish sports car make sure he has proper breakdown insurance

SusieB50

Oh I would love it ! My late DH and I did just that when I retired so I was 64 , he was 67 . But we did take a 24 hr ferry to get to Santander and then 2- 3 weeks to drive back through France . Maybe suggest that to him? We had an amazing time ,loved the ferry, cabin and dolphin -watching . We took very few motorways and stayed in small hotels and logis, a few days in each place. We booked on line a day or two ahead , deciding which place would be our next stop, we never had any issues with the bookings . We also went late May/early June ( beware of lots of public holidays then!) not unbearably hot . Great fun but certainly not glamorous as my wardrobe was limited and often crumpled and my hair suffered from constant wind blowing !

I’ve suggested exactly that! My thoughts now are booking a couple of stays in Wales where we went last year and driving round there. Then France next year ??

Go for it but have a good book and lots of good music to listen to.
We drove backwards and forwards to Bulgaria twice year for 5 years ( car and motorhome.
Visited every country in Europe. Driven a fare way in Morocco.
The longest trip was from La linea ( near Gibraltar) to Turkey.
What I would advise, is, buy a copy of The lonely Planet. The books are invaluable.

Sounds great to me - go for it! We had a driving holiday in New England and drove all around the six states staying in lovely hotels along the way. We drove about 800 miles in total, but it didn't seem like it. The autumn colours were stunning and we had lovely chats along the way and never got bored throughout the whole trip. France is beautiful too so I'd say you'll enjoy it.

grannyrebel7

Sounds great to me - go for it! We had a driving holiday in New England and drove all around the six states staying in lovely hotels along the way. We drove about 800 miles in total, but it didn't seem like it. The autumn colours were stunning and we had lovely chats along the way and never got bored throughout the whole trip. France is beautiful too so I'd say you'll enjoy it.

I’ll whisper it quietly... we don’t ‘chat’ ?. Not really. He’s the silent type. Meryl - I can’t read while travelling as it makes me sick but think an audio book would be good.

I think if you enjoy journeys in cars then it sounds a lovely holiday. A lot of the pleasure will be in the planning too.

For me? No. I’m not keen on travelling in a car. Even travelling around the U.K. drives me mad, although it is worth it in the end to get to where we want. This year our first break - covid restrictions allowing- is in Northumberland and we will be travelling from the South Coast. My idea of hell! Every minute in the car is a minute away from the sun and air. I guess it would be better on empty roads?.

We’ve done a couple of long drives in the states.
New England in the fall and a round trip from San Francisco we went via Salt Lake City and Yellowstone, Vancover, Banff and back down the coast again.
Fantastic.
The New England trip didn’t involve the huge distances that the eastern side did and was much easier.
I should think that you would enjoy France enormously. Just have lots of hotel breaks on the way.
Your hat and a cover for your knees are a must along with factor 50 just in case the roof gets stuck! It happened to my sister in her husbands car on the M25 on a very, very sunny day. They were in a traffic jam for about 2 hours.
She said it was very hard keeping up appearances ?. It’s quite a posh car!

It depends - if he wants to drive on motorways then it could be boring.

However, taking more time on the scenic routes, meandering through France with stops at interesting places, could be lovely.

Long drives that reminds me, San Diego to Death Valley. no rooms, on to Mt Whitney that was a veeery long day.
These days we book in advance, maybe I am loosing my sense of adventure. LOL.

Sounds amazing. I would definitely go. Having 'done' camper vans I would rather drive in a car and stay in hotels any day. Much more my idea of fun, especially if only the two of you.

My concern is the overnights - will they all be booked up given that everyone seems desperate for a holiday?

NotSpaghetti

My concern is the overnights - will they all be booked up given that everyone seems desperate for a holiday?

Oh we’ll probably book places before we go. Plan a route etc. It’ll be next year now. UK this year

I often do some knitting or crocheting on long journeys. I am slightly paranoid about the outcome of then being in accident but it would, as Bill Bryson says in one of his books, be an exciting death. ?

We’ve done long US trips, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, LA, and the Pacific Coastal Highway. The long haul to LA from Vegas was a bit boring. There are only so many cactuses, tumble weed and freight trains you can comment on.

In 2019 we went to Australia and took a campervan from Melbourne to Adelaide. The drive was exhilarating but shall we just say that I’m not cut out for camping, even in a mobile home.

We have had some wonderful holidays driving through France. We use the RN ( route national) routes and take our time.
Empty roads, lovely villages attractive towns great food. Out of high season it’s easy to find a hotel or chamber d’hote (b and b).
What’s not to like? France is a beautiful country. Enjoy!

I am slightly paranoid about the outcome of then being in accident but it would, as Bill Bryson says in one of his books, be an exciting death. ?

I think you'd be safer as long as you weren't driving at the same time SueDonim ?

You think, Callistemon? I can get the back of a jumper knitted whilst driving through the roadworks on the M6.

It sounds lovely to me. Since you are not planning for this year, you have plenty of time to route-plan, and find things to see along the way.

In advance, you can decide what your limit for driving is, what sort of accommodation you like and what your budget is. We frequently do road trips (takes ages to get anywhere here!) Having all meals out can get tiresome, so we pack a small cooler for sandwiches and beverages, and also bring along thermos mugs.

If you or he have any special interests like wineries, Roman ruins, gothic cathedrals, you can do a little research and find wonderful sights along your route. We always like to end our vacations with 3 days at a beach before heading back. Planning is all part of the fun for me!

One year we did our 'hot springs road trip' and enjoyed different hot springs in southern BC. Some developed spas, others just rocky natural pools.

As for your silent type, you may be suprised and learn more about him, or you may be in charge of the ultimate road trip playlist and find some great driving music. We have signed up for satellite radio before a trip to enjoy all the offerings.

I hope this thread gives you a little glimmer of confidence that you may enjoy this type of holiday.

NotSpaghetti

My concern is the overnights - will they all be booked up given that everyone seems desperate for a holiday?

Make a plan book in advance, it’s easy everywhere is online, have 2 nights or more at each stop, it’s much more relaxing, not having to repack every day.
Traffic in France (outside Paris) is much quieter than UK.

We have done a couple of US road trips planned by our travel agent which included long stretches each day. My DH hated the driving, and, even if the scenery is nice, it did get boring. Apart from which, you find you are driving past things you want to stop and see.

So the third time, we planned our own route and just asked them to pick the hotels for us but in the places we chose. That worked out much better and we didn't drive more than 200 miles a day.

The most important thing to remember:

When you stop at a hotel, always stay for TWO nights. That way you are only driving every other day and you get a chance to see the place you are stopping at - on foot or hire bikes for the day - , get some washing done, and not have to rush over breakfast.

Start as early as possible. If you have a long drive ahead, especially, try and get on the road by 8 am.

Personally, I don’t like driving holidays which involve driving a RH drive car in a LH drive country, especially if you are in the passenger seat, with the driver asking you ‘Is there anything coming?’ when they want to overtake.?

We’ve driven through France and Italy slowly and enjoy finding lovely places to stay. We usually had an end goal where we would stay for a week or so, but we made the journey part of the holiday. Go slow on the D roads and you’ll pass through some beautiful countryside and lovely towns and villages. We drove 3-4 hours a day then stopped somewhere for lunch or bought a picnic from a boulangerie then headed for a historic town or wherever we were staying that night ( we did book beforehand but you really don’t always have to) arrive mid afternoon, , check into hotel, have a rest, go out for a walk, find somewhere nice for dinner, have a leisurely breakfast . Maybe stay longer in a larger town we wanted to explore. Lovely. Make sure you take underwear that dries quickly as I often had to rinse out undies overnight and dry in hotel bathroom. Quite often treated ourselves to the hotel laundry to do our washing when running low of clean clothes, I used to joke that I could tie my knickers to the wing mirror and they would dry as we drove along ?

We’ve done it a few times, mostly for 3 weeks at a time. I love it. The distances here are huge and not so much traffic so you can get a long way in a day. We have driven right up the Queensland coast, to West Australia and also across the middle to Broken Hill. Thousands and thousands of kms. Usually we book the more popular places ahead via email but sometimes we just rock up in the small towns if we like the look of them. What we do is fly somewhere en route first and hire a car when we get there. So we would fly to Sydney and drive up to Far North Queensland, for example. Sometimes we would drive a long way, dump the car at an airport and catch a plane back. Saved retracing our steps.

Well, the classic holiday with a car like that is a tour of the Lake District or the Cornish Riviera. It immediately speaks of those elegant men (complete with pencil moustache and blazer) and women( Cindy tall and slim) that featured in holiday posters of the 1930s. As with anything, practice is needed before a real big endeavour. So try the road tour out with trips to Cornwall and Cumbria, to iron out all the irritating little glitches.

France is much bigger than you think for. Calais - Nice is around 750 miles, then you must add the journey from Yorkshire to Dover, another 300 miles.

!,000 miles. That is 4 days to get to Nice, just driving each day. 6 - 8 days if you take in a bit of sight seeing and a lazy lunch,

Why not suggest you tour an area of France a little closer to Britain as a taster and if it is manageable do Nice next year.
How about the Loire, the great wine making region. Once again, a touring holiday that very much fits the sports car image, or possibly Brittany.

I suggest you persuade him to a couple of shorter trips first and see how it works.

Katie that doesn’t sound very enjoyable!
When we set off from Sacramento to Salt Lake City we were interested to see the scenery but after hours and hours of the same thing......boring. That’s the trouble with the US it’s so big.
France won’t be like that.