We’re in Leicester. We’re seeing a band in London on Saturday, that will end at midnight (curfew midnight we’re told). We have to be in Cardiff at 10am the next day to do the whitewater course.

The original plan was for me to drive home from London, get home at 2am, get up at 6.30am, then drive to Cardiff. I don’t think this is a good idea.
So,ok, a night in London. Until we looked at the prices – £120 is the cheapest ‘reasonable’ place we can find. That plan is out.£20 a hour for the use of a bed is not my idea of keeping costs down.
So the next idea, drive a hour out of London, and sleep in the car. Anyone done this and recommend it/ or never do it again?

Hostel?

how much sleep do you think you’d get in a car? perhaps if an estate you could put a blow up bed in the back.

Leave London at midnight, having booked a Travel Lodge (or similar) somewhere around Newbury/Reading. Arrive, sleep, get up, drive on.

Depends how tight you are! An hour of not being able to sleep in an uncomfortable car would probably have me wishing I spent the money on the Hotel.

quite often sleep in my car; did it weekend before last and it was ok, even though it’s gone a bit colder at night now. I was pissed so CBA putting up an inflatable mattress; but I’d recommend it. Along with a duvet rather than sleeping bags. Put the back seats down flat and you’ll be fine. Slept three of us in my old Civic last year; not recommended.

Drive an hour from London to a cheap travel Lodge or similar ?

£65ish for two adults in Swindon, bed only, according to an app that lets you book rooms, late. Seems a no brainer to me; **** sleeping in a car overnight in late October!

“I” have slept in the back of an estate car on many a night because I’m properly tight about hotels.

It’s the “we” bit I’m not so sure about, for 2 people I think it’s a no. It’s not exactly comfy and a certain amount of wriggling is required.

I think CFH has it. The Travelodge at Chievely services is OK. Probably £50 on a Saturday.

I’ve slept the night in a car a few times. Hugely comfortable? Nope. Better than spending £120 for 6 hours? Yes. Take a pillow and blanket and it isn’t too bad.

Much better than driving home for 4 hours in your bed.

Easy enough to fall asleep in a warm car if you’re tired enough. Might feel a bit rough when you wake up but that soon passes. 120 pounds would sting!

all the motorway services have travelodges / premier inns

M4 Heston from £54 (Travelodge)

M4 Reading from £41 (Travelodge)

and that’s per room so if there’s two of you and share a room, £20-30 each

I was pissed so CBA putting up an inflatable mattress

Drunk in charge – year’s ban at least.

Streatley has a youth hostel.

We’re about an hour out of that there London, and it’s cheap. Might have left it too late though; it’s walking season here.

airbnb room?

Must be a different audience to the wild camping threads. Sounds civilised compared to sleeping in a bin bag in a field.

Drunk in charge – year’s ban at least.

Heh; no way was I in charge 😉

There’s a church at Hammersmith that lets people use its car park, available via Just Parking, which someone here kindly pointed out for me.
I would suggest parking around there because it’s dead easy to get out of London via the Great West Road onto the M4, then straight on to Chieveley.
Depending on where the venue is, it can easily take nearly an hour to make your way back to your car, Hammersmith is as easy to get to as anywhere, and is probably the quickest way out of the city, and the most direct to the West.
I’m in North Wilts, and used to going to gigs in London, and I’ve found its easier to park as close to the West than to try to get close to a venue in the North or East of the city, it just takes so long to drive round the North or South Circular, then it parking, and getting back into the city to do something during the day.
Just had a look, it was The Order Of St. Augustine’s, 55 Fulham Palace Road, but they don’t seem to be showing up at the moment, but there are plenty of other parking places around there:
https://www.justpark.com/search/?filter=1&order=&q=Fulham+Palace+Road%2C+Hammersmith%2C+London%2C+United+Kingdom&ac_country=GB&place_id=ChIJt-sck6QPdkgRqDavnANIgWs&location_name=Fulham+Palace+Road&source=autocomplete&coords=51.4815201%2C-0.21819010000001526&start_date=30+Oct+2016&start_time=08%3A00%3A00&end_date=30+Oct+2016&end_time=18%3A00%3A00&no_of_spaces=

‘slept’ in the front of my 1994 fiesta once after a party. I couldn’t afford a room at a lovely hotel where all my mates were staying. It was cold and uncomfortable not surprisingly. Woke up looking and feeling like death – staggered in to the hotel and blagged an excellent breakfast so made it worthwhile. No one seemed to question that I still had last nights DJ on…

CountZero +1 then Chievely travelodge £49. You’ll be there in 45 mins or less from Hammersmith. Leave at 7.30 Sunday for Cardiff.
Out of interest, where in London is the gig?

Holloway Road.I don’t think there’ll be a problem parking, loads of side streets around there. Do hotels allow people to check in at 1am? As that’s the time we’ll be arriving. Even then, it’s little sleep, as we’ll be away at 7am.
Just me and the OH, I was thinking of sleeping bags, and folding the seats down.

Travelodge sounds like the best idea, though to answer the original question, yes I’ve slept in my car a few times. Though my car is a big estate and I can lie flat in the back with the seats folded, so with a thermarest and sleeping bag I get a decent night’s sleep. I’ve done it in January/February before catching an early morning flight, so a 4 season sleeping bag!

If you were still considering the idea of sleeping in your car https://goo.gl/maps/PfRBPXwHqxx is the best spot I found near to Heathrow which might work for you – after the first time I did it I spent a while on streetview finding somewhere quiet without passing traffic or streetlights.

as above, premier inn or travelodge somewhere between london and cardiff.

you’re right ref. going back to leicester afterwards, that would be a bad idea!

I can’t believe no one has suggested a T5 California yet 🙂

Travelodge, Premier Inn type places, probably – they seem to have somebody on the desk all night and you only need to pick up a key. I expect it’s easy enough to check.

…I was curious and it took about 30s
http://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/faq/arriving-and-departing.html

i’ve checked into plenty of hotels at 4am before now. it’ll be fine.

Agree with all the above about stopping somewhere like Swindon.

Frankly, if you’re out of the gig sharpish and want to make progress, the M4 will be dead and you could pretty much get to Cardiff by about 2.30. Er, or so I’d imagine 😳

Went to see Pink Floyd at Earls Court in ’94. Left Glasgow at 3 am and drove to Heathrow. Dumped the car at 11 am and got the tube.
1st mistake was getting off at Earls Court ‘to get our bearings’, then deciding to walk into the the city centre ‘it can’t be that far’ we thought. Spent the day sightseeing in the big city and got to the gig no probs.
Gig finishes and we miss the last tube to Heathrow. Got a late bus that took forever, got to the car and drove to the 1st services which if mind right was somewhere around Oxford.
Four of us in the car so not ideal. Got to sleep about 3 am and woke about 6:30 like a burst couch with most of a 400 mile trek still to go.

Never again.

Get a bed even if you have to drive to Cardiff.

I’d drive to Cardiff and stay at a Travelodge. You’ll appreciate not travelling in the morning, regardless of what time you check in.

Don’t under estimate how cold it can get sleeping in a car if you do go down that route. I used to love car-camping, but it takes a bit of experimentation to get a truly comfortable nights sleep

TiRed – Member

I’d drive to Cardiff and stay at a Travelodge. You’ll appreciate not travelling in the morning, regardless of what time you check in.

I’d do this. Leave the gig, grab a large coffee & drive to Cardiff – book a travel lodge/premier inn/Ibis or whatever down there and get your head down there, rather than having to get up early & drive.

Not much different to the much revered on here pass time of sleeping in a van

Personally I’d take my bivvy out and get away from the car. Cars seem to be cold magnets

I suspect it’s the glass. My insulated van on the other hand is a decent place to spend the night.

rather than having to get up early & drive.

Not that early start needed to make it to Cardiff WW for 10 from near London. It depends how wired the coffee makes you – personally if I’d drunk enough to make me safe driving at 2am then I’d not be getting to sleep for a while, A short drive to somewhere to kip is doable without stimulants and you’d then be ready to sleep, have the coffee in the morning.

+1 for the Travelodge halfway idea – if you are out the door sharpish you could be well on your way to Cardiff by 1.30 -2.00am.

I’d have probably slept in the car in my 20’s but at 43 no chance!!!

I’ve given up and booked a Travelodge for £52 at the Severn Bridge services. On Thursday the bulk of prices were £78 -£90, I checked again yesterday, and got this one for £52, so am happy paying that.
If I look today, (I wont!) will the price go down again?

Lightweight 😀 I regularly used to sleep in the back of my Saab 900 at open meetings.

Big enough for me to lie down with room to spare, comfor table with an airbed and warm enough with the right sleeping bag. The rear windows were hinged to allow ventilation.

Much less hassle than a tent.

It all went remarkably well in the end. I was also charged £11 less than quoted for the Travelodge – bokked at 52.40, charged 41.40 on arrival.
6 hours sleep in the end, arrived at 2am (the ‘old’ 3am) got up at 8am.
What is it with London traffic?
Holloway Road is shut – it says on the sign for 3 years due to a bridge replacement. 3 years! Is it a new Severn Crossing they are building?
So, after the band, we went south along Holloway Road / Camden to catch the Euston Road to get to the Westway. It was like rush hour traffic – solid around Camden, luckily we took a wrong turn, and was traffic free around Regents Park, until the mile long queue along Euston/Marylebone Road – at 1am!
It cleared soon after, but was still busy all the way out to Maidenhead, from where the road was very quiet. The last 20 minutes was hard, I was getting really tired then. I’m glad I didnt sleep in the car, it would have been a horrible journey in the morning.
Thanks all.

Heh; no way was I in charge

Guy I used to work with got busted by this. Planned to go clubbing and sleep in he back of his car. Bedded down after a skinful, knock on the window a few minutes later. Keys in pocket = “in charge” despite him being flat out on the back seat. Year’s ban, massive fine and marks on his licence for ten years.

I’ve heard that about sleeping int he car when pissed. I don’t doubt it but how does sleeping in a camper van any different?

In my younger years i’ve slept in the car in a pub car park a few times after a night out when i’ve not been able to bed down at a mates for some reason. Not very comfortable in the passenger seat fully reclined at all and chuffing freezing, so not done it since. However on a couple of MTB weekends i’ve considered doing it in my SMax. I can easily get a camp bed in the back with a decent sleeping bag. I should think it would be at least as comfortable as tenting.

guy I used to work with got busted by this. Planned to go clubbing and sleep in he back of his car. Bedded down after a skinful, knock on the window a few minutes later. Keys in pocket = “in charge” despite him being flat out on the back seat. Year’s ban, massive fine and marks on his licence for ten years.

.

Sounds like a yarn spun to hide he fact he was actually in the drivers seat with the heating on becaus the was cold or so the radio could be on……I mean by your definition.of in charge I could be nicked for going out to the car to get beer out the boot.