[Closed] Driving to Italy.....with kids.......in August

Are we nearly there yet? Are we nearly there yet? Are we nearly there yet? Repeat.... You'll have earned your holiday by the time you get there! Good luck.

We did it... We stopped at Annecy, spent a few days there.

Tolls, i rekon 80 euro each way

Don't forget the Mont Blanc tunnel which was 45 euro each way too

Roads were fairly quiet mostly.... nice...  We went to Bologna and Maranello.

Rumour has it that Italian drivers are crazy, not my experience a bit enthusiastic but better and less aggressive than here.

It it will be hot so a cool box in the car is essential. Just take your time and enjoy the scenery.

I've driven to France several times and onwards to Italy once with the kids, the return journey from Italy was horrendous, everyone was so bored of being in the car on day 2, and without the anticipation of the holiday tempers frayed, if I did it again I would definitely plan better for this part .

Make sure you have some good games planned and loads of stuff downloaded to tablets. Maybe plan a few 30 min times breaks for run around time?

Hi

Thanks, €80 each way isn't too bad. Do I pre pay or do that contactless or something?

Between books, tablets, the Nintendo switch and breaking it into 2 days with an afternoon off in between I think the kids should be ok. Annency could be a good shout, may also do a different route on the return journey so that the stopover can be in a different place, but yes, fully expect the journey home to be worse than the journey out.

Am buying a roofbox, have a coolbox sorted already, and yes, I am looking forward to the journey and do not intend to rush or put myself under any time pressure so we can stop and see a few things on the way

On the way back we stopped at Chamonix... Don't do that... it's crap

We just pay tolls at the toll using a pre-paid CC. I'm sure there's other ways too.

Done it a few times, last time it took 27 hrs from Calais to Salo due to traffic/accidents - that was the French way and there was an accident in a tunnel which buggered things up.

I prefer the Swiss route but we often stay a couple of nights in either Germany or Lux on the way back to break the journey.

My advice is drive it at night if you can.

For tolls we have a SANEF tag as it saves all the falling out of the passenger window, waking up the passenger, arguing about cash etc as you just drive straight through and get a bill about a month later.

We drove to Verona last June and it was a solid 2 days, we stopped in Macon on the first day and then the next day through the Mont Blanc tunnel.

We've returned via Austria going over the Brenner Pass which is pleasant and a bit different, we stopped near Garmisch Partenkirchen on the way back and then in Reims. But it still ends up being a lot of driving.

We do 600 miles non-stop to Cornwall and back every year with three kids.

Invest in an in-car DVD player. They don't need signal, don't use data and you  can carry  loads of films in a CDwallet without using up all the memory on the kids tablets.

Keep a bag handy with a change of clothes for the kids and plenty of baby wipes......there might be puking, especially if the kids aren't used to sleeping in the car and then eating breakfast.

Also some big sealable food bags for puking in. Get ones that are suitable for holding soup.

Also have a wide necked empty drinks bottle ( Oasis or some such ) for emergency motorway pee incidents.

......and more baby wipes. You can never have too many baby wipes.

We have done this a few times.  French tolls are best done with the automated tag system - I can’t remember the name, but it is much easier!   I did not look for a similar one for Italy, but I will be searching this year.

You plan seems fine, certainly similar to our own approach.  I would recommend stopping somewhere with something to do - e.g. a pool, as this can really help you unwind and relax the body as well as the mind.  Annecy as mentioned above is a good choice of stop over.  If you stop in Folkestone the night before, you could stop somewhere like Dijon and then a second stop in Annecy.

Have a wonderful time and make sure you go to Bardolino!

Hotels with swimming pools can make a short stop into a great one especially if it really has been boiling.  Some of the Ibis hotels have them and aren't too expensive.

There are plenty of kids in Italy. Sell the ones you have and buy some more when you get there.

Europa Park.With an overnight in Freiburg.

The outward journey will be OK because... well... you are on your holidays with 2 weeks of fun and sunshine to look forward to. The return journey will be less fun, as you will only have work and a long drive to look forward to. There is no way around this.....

Via.micehlin website will give you toll details.

Make a cool bag with lunch and snacks. Stop at aire rest areas every couple of hours so the kids can have a run around. Using the main toll roads means that traffic shouldn't be that bad although on a trip of that distance, you'll hit a contraflow and an hour queue somewhere.

Leaving early will help but you'll be fine. Driving in Europe is way better than here and relatively stress free.

For the overnight, I'd look to stop somewhere smallish. Your route is quite ambitious so you're unlikely to get much downtime for the stop. Dinner and a stroll around a little town. Colmar could be good.

Definitely get a Sanef tag, saves loads of hassle and you can then use the 30km/h lanes so you don't have to stop. You also don't need to worry about having change or finding your card etc.

Eurotunnel have the usual discount on getting a tag  https://www.saneftolling.co.uk/Eurotunnel-Le-Shuttle-Offer-Landing-Page

Looking at our account the toll totalled £180 for our trip last summer.

We did Sheffield to Riems in one day then after about two weeks driving around set off back from Avignon. We stopped at about an hr from Calais on the way back at a F1 hotel which are fine and all a long the road. In hind site we could easily have carried on to Calais and made it back to Sheffield. The worst bit of the whole journey is the Folkstone to home. Driving in France is so easy, helped by Adaptive Cruise Control!!!

It does really help if the kids are good in the car and kept entertained with DVD's etc. If they are quiet then the hours can fly by.

Seconded the ViaMichelin app - it not only gives you a break down of tolls you can add a few minor details and it wil estimate your fuel cost. The Michelin Man must have a heavy boot though!

Can you order a SANEF thing here?

Can you order a SANEF thing here?

Yeah, as the post above yours shows, sanef have a UK website for people who want to buy one here. We got one last year. It really does save a lot of faffing and the inevitable unmanned booth where none of your cards are accepted.

However,

you can then use the 30km/h lanes so you don’t have to stop

Won't apply if you're driving with bikes on the roof or an SUV with roofbox (I'm not sure about lower slung cars with roofbox tbh). So you'll still have to queue, but if you're lucky you'll be able to use the "t" only lanes in any case - and these often move a bit faster than the card/cash/t lanes.

If you're driving without any shite on the roof, you'll be fine and I'd definitely recommend getting a tag. No idea about Italian tolls. I did get an email from sanef this week advertising that they now have tgs available for Spain so maybe they do Italy as well?

Use your luggage to build a wall between them - this helps with the "arrgh - he/she's in my space....."

OP - we have worked out a system over the last few years where I drive with all the bags & everything else for the holiday, leave a couple of days earlier, take my time and get a few hours riding in each day and then collect Mrs R and similarly aged kids to yours from Geneva (or convenient) airport on the way. That way, I get some peace & quiet whilst doing the miles and they get the 'bonus' of going on a plane on their holiday.

Two weeks later, we do it all backwards.........

OP – we have worked out a system

*checks flight prices to Bergerac this Summer. That sounds like bliss.

.....it was a pick-up from / drop-off at Limoges airport that set the whole thing going

Tell you what... .that's not a terrible idea that 🙂

Cripes, I could fly them for the Saturday to two weeks later Saturday to Bergerac, half an hour from campsite for a couple of hundred quid. Wish I'd have thought of that ages ago!

Swiss research says cruise control kills. Use a limiter but not crusie control on a long journey because if you do start to get tired one of the first waarnings is youlll find yourself slowing down. If you do get to that point open all the windows, turn the radio flat out and enjoy the argument that is provoked until the next junction/aire/services. One of the main causes of accidents in France is people dozing off. It's a big country with long journeys on autoroutes that require very little attention most of the time.

My current plan is to set off early so the kids will sleep for some of the journey

Good luck with that! We tried it and the result was that by the end of the day they'd all been awake since 5am and were all grouchy and shattered. That was only driving York to Cornwall but it was enough.

Drive and fly the kids out, or how to mximise your carbon footprint.

We drive my kids* (4&7) to the Alps, french side. It's 13 hours door to door, I set off at 9:00pm, take shifts through the night and get them there for midday. They feel like they've only been in the car for a few hours as the spend a lot of it asleep and although we're knackered, a very early night and up for the fun the next day and it's all good!

DVD's / Tablets / Tag system (30kmh works with a roof box or SUV), snacks and wipes. Keep on top of the admin, everything in it's place, makes it so much easier to sort whilst driving. Oh, and the tolls are worth it, seriously easy driving huge distances with little traffic. The non toll roads bear the brunt of the holdups.

*disclaimer: we've always traveled with our kids, 3 hours driving to see friends for lunch and then same back again later that day is fairly normal. Ours are very used to it. My brother in law who did the same journey as me this year went through hell!

Did a drive/fly last year as was taking a load of stuff over to new place in Alps, wife and daughter flew. Wasn't too bad frankly but a long way from Edinburgh! This year - flying.

my usual message - please check carefully the traffic forecasts on the following site :

http://www.bison-fute.gouv.fr/previsions,10564,langen.html

Do not travel on black days unless you know what you are doing - France is like a massive bridge in August with everybody on the roads - Saturdays are really to be avoided if you can , or plan around.

Drive and fly the kids out, or how to mximise your carbon footprint.

The plane's going anyway, may as well fill a few extra seats and reduce the CO2 per passenger.

Do not travel on black days unless you know what you are doing – France is like a massive bridge in August with everybody on the roads – Saturdays are really to be avoided if you can , or plan around

Go to France every year in August to burgundy. Never once seen ''traffic' as such. We come back every year on a Saturday.

Finishthat's advice is good. Whilst traffic is rarely, if ever, as bad as on the M4/M25 on a bank holiday it's worth avoiding the black spots on black days. The "chassé-croisé" weekends, especially 15/8, turn the autoroutes south from Paris into giant parking lots.

Valium in the kids breakfast and some amphetamine in yours... Just drive.

Try not to break the speed limit.

I was that kid multiple times in the 1970s (Comos Driving Holidays). We survived despite no air con (shorts on leather seats not good!) and no iPads. We used to take about 4 days to get to northern Italy or Yugoslavia which meant the driving days weren't too long. The only exception was when we got a really bad hotel in Germany and my dad drove us all the way to Calais in one hit.

Summary - short days with stopping anywhere interesting on route can make it fun. Just try to avoid crashing into an ambulance in France whilst arguing about directions.

I've just done a similar trip on my motorbike.

Left Leicester at 7am Saturday morning, arrived at Lake Como around 5pm on Monday. We were in no rush, as we tend to do only 250-300 miles a day. In a car, I'd definitely do more. We stayed in Brussels then in Sausheim, France, around 25 miles from the Swiss border at Basel.

I'd be looking to get to the Swiss border early in a car, as the queues were really long to get in. Also, the Gotthard tunnel had a queue maybe 5 miles long. We went over the pass where we saw maybe 3 other vehicles! There are some brilliant views from the top, there's a cafe just over the summit going south which is good.

Andermatt is lovely, a good place to stop for dinner. You will need a Swiss Vignette. £33.50 from Swiss travel service in London. Get it before you go, as the queues to buy them were long at the border. The fines are out of proportion if you get caught without one - 200 swiss francs, - £180ish.

I'm going against the grain here with the SANEF tags, I wouldnt get one. I looked into getting one, but it worked out more expensive overall, and you only really save 3 minutes at each toll booth.

Look at doing Calais/ Brussels/Luxembourg/west Germany to get to Basel, it is only around 20 miles further, but toll free, and the scenery is better.

As for stops on the way, we always stop at De Panne, in Belgium, just over the French border, helps to relax once you are on the continent, have a drink/snack, take a walk around. Then in no particular order, all of these are decent places to stop at - St. Quentin, Reims, Troyes, Annecy,Bettembourg just South of Luxembourg,Schengen,Saarbrucken,Strasburg and Sausheim. Thats a lot of choice depending on what route you take.

I'd be looking to get close to Strasburg on the first day, the next day is easy as the scenery is brilliant once you get into Switzerland.

We've done the toll tags to death. I'll persist in saying the difference is about 30seconds most of the time, which is perhaps why only about 6 million people have tags in France. Stop, ticket in machine, credit card in machine, take card back, go - less than the time it took me to type it.

Never seen big car queues going into Switzerland from Germany.

If you go through Germany one way then Speyer technik museum is a great stop with an OK on site hotel.

First did it when kids were 3 and 5 without aircon. Rotterdam to Freiburg was about an hour too far....

We drove from Rome to Calais when the Icelandic volcano ****ed our flights.  Hour drive, then overnight stay in the Bates Motel followed by 16hrs pretty much straight the next day (deadline was tight for getting back to work)

Don't do that.

But if you do, take a random stranger you met at the airport - it'll stop your kids from being too much of a pain in the arse.

Go to France every year in August to burgundy. Never once seen ”traffic’ as such. We come back every year on a Saturday.

OK - you are lucky , but honestly , as a French national (ok and UK national) I would , when travelling in France , perhaps to our family house in the Alps (Near Annecy just round the lake), not travel on a Saturday in August if I could avoid it.

I have a Sanef tag , just for fun really , if there are delays at the tolls it will save you about 2 minutes , you will be in a Q for about 2k  just to get to the toll . As per Edu its really not that common to have one, there seems to be a distrust of them , much like credit cards , a complete no no in France until comparatively recently .

So many on this thread feeling the fallout of their poor life choices. 🙂 That's a smilie face btw.

Drove to Lake Garda in the van last summer. We went through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and the Brenner Pass. Stopped a night in The Ardennes region of Belgium (which was lovely) then in Germany then stayed in Dolomites for a while before heading to Lake Garda. Returned via a similar route but spent more time in Austria. As far as I can remember, we avoided tolls except the vignette to get us through Austria. Really liked the Tirol region. Also it's interesting how the language and culture change gradually - there is much more German spoken in northern Italy than I expected.

We’ve done the toll tags to death. I’ll persist in saying the difference is about 30seconds most of the time, which is perhaps why only about 6 million people have tags in France. Stop, ticket in machine, credit card in machine, take card back, go – less than the time it took me to type it.

its not about the time, in a rhd car it’s about the stopping, waking up your passenger to pay and the kids waking up because the cars stopped and the window is open or if solo, clambering across the car to pay. It’s a ball ache. Get a tag.

having said that, I’ve made up an hour on the BiL between Borg St Moritz and Leon just by not needing to stop at the tolls when it was busy...

We were planning the same trip with kids from Edinburgh, but  as suggested above I found Edi - Basel flights for the wife and kids for £52 all in, so it was a bit of a no brainer. I'll leave a couple of days early and scoop them up in Basel before a final 3.5 hours across Switzerland to the lakes. It will actually save us cash as they can easy spend £50 in a single service station stop!

I'm planning to go through Belgium/Lux/Germany to avoid the peage tolls.

I generally drive to France alone and pick up the wife, kids, kids friends etc at various Ryanair destination airports in France. It generally works out about the same in money terms as you spend far less when on the road and save the ferry passenger costs.

Also you get the car to yourself, can control the tunes at any volume you like, stop when you want and pull the bike out out and go for a cheeky ride.

I'm doing it the first weekend in August. I prefer to get the 6:30am ferry and pootle down to Mulhouse and stay overnight there, but i couldn't get in the Dover Premiere Inn this time so it's a 12:00 ferry. Push on the next day through Basel and St Gothard tunnel. But I'm heading to Lake Maggorie.

For the return I stop at Reims, about a 2.5hr drive to the port from there.

its not about the time, in a rhd car it’s about the stopping, waking up your passenger to pay and the kids waking up because the cars stopped and the window is open or if solo, clambering across the car to pay. It’s a ball ache. Get a tag.

I've done long journeys through France with and without the tag. I reckon it's a very minor benefit at most. I can see the point if you're travelling solo but the OP will be with his family.

I’ve done long journeys through France with and without the tag. I reckon it’s a very minor benefit at most.

It's hardly a disadvantage though is it? I've had one of the machines eat my card too, which left me trying to explain this to the man on the crackly intercom, with French which is certainly far from perfect. That was in a LHD hire car too, wouldn't fancy repeating that in a RHD car.

having said that, I’ve made up an hour on the BiL between Borg St Moritz and Leon just by not needing to stop at the tolls when it was busy…

That's some mangling of the language there! 😆 Bourg-Saint-Maurice and Lyon?

We've done the trip to Salo in Garda each year for about 4 years with the kids Lake Annecy for a few years before that. As mentioned DVD screens and DVD supply is useful. As are tablets, phones, Spotify etc. Recommend European breakdown cover also. We had to use it last year for the first time. We stop over in Novatel outskirts of Dijon over night on the way there and back. Account for delays on the approach to Mt Blanc tunnel (worse on weekend) and tolls coming off the motor way on the road approaching the lake especially if its a Friday afternoon / evening. Can also be busy around Milan, Bergamo and towards Brescia. Cool bag with drinks and a big snack bag in the front is  recommended.

We tried going through Switzerland one year but the motorways aren't as good and the St Gotthard tunnel wasn't the best, long delays. Watch when going past Geneva on the way home. We've ended up going into Switzerland following the satnav, haven't paid the tax and spent the journey trying to avoid being stopped by the Swiss police. A bit like the Great Escape. Plenty of places (services and parking areas) to stop on French motorways. Not such good motorway services and stopping points in Italy. Luckily the kids don't get car sick so not had deal with this. Kids don't sleep, factor in stops regularly for stretch legs and kids to run around. We're doing it again in august this year so not been put off. Great scenery travelling through the Alps. Don't forget the Hivis vest breathalyser, spare bulbs etc. required for European travel.

Erm, yes, but you got what I meant Njee! only slightly embarrassing...

Bookmarked

there might be puking, especially if the kids aren’t used to sleeping in the car and then eating breakfast.

Also some big sealable food bags for puking in. Get ones that are suitable for holding soup.

Also have a wide necked empty drinks bottle ( Oasis or some such ) for emergency motorway pee incidents.

……and more baby wipes. You can never have too many baby wipes.

Perchy - remind me never to get a lift in your car 🙂

We did the same journey to Garda a few years back.  In the days before my car had aircon.

I rigged up a video player in the back and we drove the 1st day until I wanted to stop.  We stopped at Combeaufontaine and got a room.  It was lovely.

When we used to drive to Spain and the Alps the nippers always loved driving through the night.  As Mrs BigJohn was OK with that too, we shared the driving/napping and it worked brilliantly.  Cooler and no traffic.

The only issue we had was that in France the signs to Basel say Bale.  Before satnav that confused us mightily.

Why are people taking about tolls in France and the Mount Blanc tunnel?

Avoid French tolls and the rip off tunnel  by going via Belgium-Luxemburg - Stuttgart - Garmisch... Ignore buying the Austrian Vignette and tootle along the road to Reschen, roll through Vinschgau and pick up the Autostrada at Meran. Then just an hour or two to Rovere to and Riva. That'll cost you about 8€ in tolls.

Google suggests Calais to Riva avoiding all tolls is 13h40m as opposed to 12h9m with tolls via France. Km wise there is nothing in it.

If you get onto the Autobahn at night there'll be little traffic and you can easily make up time whilst seeing how fast your car goes.

The drive through Austria /Tirol is very picturesque.

This avoids the French tolls and the Swiss Vignette and a lot of Italian autostrada.... €€€€

Perchy – remind me never to get a lift in your car

That’s  just me. The kids are even worse.  😉

Buy a comprehensive French road atlas. If the roads are bad you can plan an alternative route.

Around 2008 we stayed in the Ardeche and returned to my in laws house in Burgundy on the first Saturday in August. We drove along smaller roads, where we had frequent views of the Autoroute. The traffic jams were 10s of miles long.

As stated be wary of travelling on Saturdays in August. Over the years we have found that if you take smaller roads it's a longer but far more pleasant trip. You could plan a few stops on the way

We've done Yorkshire to Ancona the last couple of summers with 3 kids and no probs at all (except running out of diesel on the run into Calais). As a guide, we normally leave Friday afternoon after school, through the tunnel around 11pm, and I can get to Reims before stopping at about 2.30am Sat. We've a camper so just bed down in the motorway services. The next day is a full day driving, but we can then do the rest of France, straight through Switzerland and Italy, into Ancona late Saturday night ready for our ferry to Greece Sunday lunchtime.

First tip, use your tesco vouchers for the tunnel.

Toll Tags. We use a APRR tag, it's the same as the sanef tag you can order over here, but it works out cheaper and they deliver to UK, Google translate the website. It costs €3 per month that you use it over the actual toll cost, and they bill your credit card so you won't actually need to pay your tolls until September. We wouldn't do France without one now,  It's just so easy. Straight through at 30, no queuing, no looking for euros, no getting out/leaning over/waking the wife. It's a no-brainer.

Use Via Michelin to work out your toll costs, but remember it'll include the £40 for your Swiss vignette which you'll only need once. Buy that at the border, but have the 50 francs for it, their exchange rate at the border is criminal.

Italy comes as a shock after how easy and quiet the French and Swiss systems are. The Milan ring road is the worst, the drivers to improve the further away from there that you get, but they love their horns, tailgating and undertaking. Flashing your lights means get out of my way, they don't flash to let people pull out.

Lots of dvds and treats for the kids. Plenty of snacks, lots of rest stops (most services have big picnic areas and playgrounds).

I wouldn't stop in Basel, it's very industrial (at least the bit near the motorway). We stopped in Strasbourg on the way back last year and it was nice, there's a massive park down by the river with a footbridge across into Germany. The kids loved walking to Germany before breakfast.

Most of all, enjoy yourself, and stop before you get tired

If you have time a wander around le parc de l'orangerie in Strasbourg would kill an hour or so. BUT it's a bit of a diversion into the city from the nearest motorway type roads if memory serves me right.

In terms of journey length with that age of child we have done 400+ mile each way journies in both the last two years with ours. Yours is longer and if I were doing it I might be tempted to split over two days of that was an option.

First time they didn't have any electronics and played "death wish airlines" for a large chunk of the day and sang songs.

Last year we had dvd players in the car which kept them quiet when they weren't fighting over which film to watch. 🙄

Imst Austria to Carlisle in a day. About 1100mls, Google it!  2 X kids, me and a mate and my Mercedes Vito camper.  Set off at 10am.  Got off the ferry at about 11pm and decided to blast home.  Got back about 5am.

Wouldnt recommend it tbh.  Next year it's just me and my daughter so we will stop a couple of hours into France and sleep over.  Same on way back.

Multiple trips down through France on the toll roads. At a conservative estimate I've racked up 25,000 miles on those roads.

In all that time I've never once encountered road works, traffic jams or road rage on those toll roads.

For that reason alone, it's worth the money

Michelin planner says 150E tolls each way to Pietra Ligure which is a bit of a git. I'm not missing any tricks here am I? Will be going via Dijon both ways

I'd agree with SANEF being pointless - just make sure you have a CC that doesn't charge transaction fees abroad, and use that. I've never queued for more than a minute, and they aren't so common that it really hits your average speed anyway.

Don't have aircon in the van, it's not as big a problem as I expected to be honest - do have all round screens though if I have to leave it in the sun.

DVD players are win. Many also take USB sticks, you can get a lot of movies on 128Gb

150€ sounds way more likely - it was 50 ish to the Vendee last year, and I avoided tolls for the last stretch.

Funnily enough have just ordered a Sanef card - https://www.saneftolling.co.uk/

Worth it or not? Not sure but CC will be tucked away and having a thing on the windscreen that does it all for me seems worth the setup + annual maintenance.  Website is worth a look as they have a map section giving you fuel and toll costs (and Calais - Genoa turns out to cost more in tolls than fuel if fuel is E1.3/l)

We drove out and back to the last EWS in Austria using the toll roads in Northern France. The price of fuel has gone up quite a bit since last Autumns trip. Supermarket cost €1.41/ litre toll roads €1.66/ litre, Germany was €1.45 and Austria €1.27 all for diesel.

We have the card, makes a lot of sense if you are driving through the night or when everyone else is asleep.

Remember to add in the costs of some of the Alps tunnels if you are using them and also get the return ticket if applicable

I’ve never queued for more than a minute

You've been lucky then, I've hit some stonking queues over the years, and driven past some others as I had the Sanef beeper

Update to the OP - I've just got an email from Sanef saying if I recommend someone both of us get E5 off the bill.  I'm not recommending anything to anyone but if you want a Sanef thing at E5 off I can forward the link to you

You’ve been lucky then, I’ve hit some stonking queues over the years, and driven past some others as I had the Sanef beeper

It was probably me you were queueing behind, my S Max packed up at a booth a few years back 😀

I wouldn't mind that BBSB if it works for anyone. Dunno if it works with the Eurotunnel discount but worth a try

PM'ed you the link but then didn't see why it had to be private - so here's the email from Sanef

<span style="font-size: small;">Recommend a friend to Sanef Tolling and you will each receive €5 off your fees.*

We hope that you are completely satisfied with your toll tag service provided by Sanef Tolling and are enjoying the convenience of queue free travel on the European motorways.  If you recommend a friend to our service, you will each receive €5 off your fees.  To claim your discount, please forward this email or send the link below to your friends and ask them to use it when signing up.

* The discount can only be applied against application fees and monthly active service fees and not against tolls, annual fees or other charges.  Any discounts not applied will be carried over to the next invoice.

https://www.saneftolling.co.uk/subscription?ref=RF-20180710-5EDF3A1B
</span>

UPDATE

Made it. Ended up setting off on the Friday afternoon and Mrs-g couldn't get the day off work, got to Calais around 6:30, then drove to Karlsruhe via Belgium and Luxembourg and stopped over night. Saturday the Sat Nav said to avoid going through Switzerland and to go via Austria instead so we did. It took longer than expected and was vertigo inducing in places but was fine.

The return journey we started on a Friday lunchtimes, drove from Garda to Strasbourg via Switzerland, spent some time in Strasbourg Saturday before driving to Lille, again through Lux and Belgium, then Sunday an easy drive to Calais then home.

We didn't get any SANEF passes and didn't have to queue more than 4 cars for any tolls, didn't really see any traffic aside from a 20 minute stop in Switzerland which was due to traffic lights holding us before a tunnel, don't think I saw a speed camera on the whole journey either. Round trip was 1800 miles.

Lessons learned, I will not be doing it like this again. Driving for 8 - 10 hours one day is fine, but having to get back in the car the following day to drive another few hundred Ks is no fun at all. Next time I will plan the trip to be 5-6 hour stints, separated by a night or two in a town/beach/theme park. Also, will buy a car better suited to European motorway driving than my old 1.2 litre Renault Clio

Also, will buy a car better suited to European motorway driving than my old 1.2 litre Renault Clio

LOL what made you think that was a good idea ?

We've just returned from a week near Orvieto in Italy. 4 days to get there, stopping in Reims, Lucerne and Parma. the 5 days back, stopping in Turin, Morzine and Laon (northern France). We've always driven to holidays in europe, and my top tip is....don't rush. I know that's just not possible for some, but if you can, shorten the journeys. Stay somewhere out of the ordinary. Choose interesting routes.

All that said...get a  motorway Tag, and iPads for each child and a Kingston MobileLite wifi thingy. And Italian drivers, Jesus, they certainly concentrate the mind. And yes, we did drive over that bridge in Genoa.

Strasbourg is lovely, but quite big. Try Colmar.

Edit: next time.

Strasbourg is lovely, but quite big. Try Colmar.

You know when someone reads the OP and replies... yeah that.

I can't believe you did it in a 1.2 litre Clio, that sounds horrific. I'd have hired something else to put the miles on!

I'm doing Talamone, Tuscany in 2 days shortly... At least I won't have to go over 'that bridge', but we do have a SANEF tag and a modern large automatic RWD German estate car.

You know when someone reads the OP and replies… yeah that.

A positive contribution, nonetheless.

+1 for Colmar for lunch.