With the upcoming holiday season its time to start considering that all important yearly family holiday. Here we will look at one of the least planned aspect of the holiday : “the getting there”, which can at times be the most stressful. All suggestions with

When looking at possible holiday destinations you will take a lot of things into account: the accommodation, the facilities, whether there is a childrens club, etc. However, how often will you look at the travelling required. Its all well and good to research that Hawaiian island for child friendliness but if you do not take into account the fact it would take you approx 20 hours to get there then your holiday is doomed from the start.

So the simplest holiday can turn out to be the best. Kids are not too bothered where they go on holiday (unless they are Disney obsessed) so sometimes the more basic the better. Some of the best childhood holidays that I have had was in a rented house by a beach normally with an unexplored forest behind (it usually contained monsters).

These types of holidays as you may have realised are not too far away from you. There may be part of you that want to search out the sun and we have to be honest here, apart from a few unusual periods of weather, this country is not know for its guaranteed sunshine so the search for sun can take you further afield.

With most of these holidays the travelling can be done by car which will save on fairly high airline costs. But it important to plan for a long car journey. The advantage of travelling by car instead of by plane is the ability to stop, stretch your legs , go for a nice pub lunch and most importantly you do not have to take a chance on who you sit next to. There are down sides to it as well. So in comes the preparation.

Traffic in this country can be a big problem. The further south you go the more congested the roads get. Living in Scotland can sometimes make you forget what a traffic jam is, unless you travel a lot on the M8. So it can be a bit of a culture shock that normal afternoon traffic in the South of England can sometimes feel like rush hour on the M8 to someone from Scotland.

So if your holiday takes you to the beauty of the south coast of England be prepared for traffic jams especially on the M6 around Birmingham. Speaking from previous experiences, not the most pleasant of holiday starts. That and the M25. Avoid if you can.

So judge the time you are going to start your journey. Then figure out the time it will take to get to large urban areas and at what time you will be there at. If you cannot avoid hitting them at rush hour then give yourself more time to get through them. This will also relieve any building stress within the car.

Also plot where and when to stop for rest breaks, food breaks and toilet breaks. Do not feel the need to use the plastic offerings that you will find at every cloned service station along every motorway in this country. Be a bit more adventurous and find a local village/town that will be guaranteed to have at least one pub serving good home cooked food. It will also get you away from the air of hurry that always pervades service stations.

Better still, book accommodation in the North of Scotland in a self catering cottage on one of the many stunning beaches where empty roads will stretch for mile upon mile and glorious scenery will greet you around every corner. Just do not think about the weather or the midges. The first can sometimes be surprising, the second however, is a constant.

So one you have planned your route, the next stage is to decide how to keep yourself and the kids amused while undertaking this journey. There is the benefit of falling back on those trusty electronic games that can be guaranteed to keep them occupied for hours. There can unfortunately be a downside to these. Motion sickness.

Sitting in a back seat of a car whilst travelling is inviting motion sickness. To sit in the back of a car whilst
travelling and playing a Game boy is just asking for it. If you have found out that your child is immune to this then you are definitely in the minority. Though do you really want to test this on the ever so winding Scottish roads.

So other forms of entertainment has to be sourced. I remember a wonderful holiday when I was a child driving around France listening to a set of tapes my parents had purchased that sang songs and played games. We thought they were amazing and played them continuously. As this was before the common use of headphones all I have to do now is sing one of these songs and my dad will shudder. This is 30 years after the holiday.

Therefore any form of entertainment played in the car either ensure that it will not drive anybody insane or the use of headphones is commonly used. One of the simplest games that I used to play as a child and now play with mine is number plate noughts and crosses.

It is played by everybody who is not driving writing down a two digit number in each of the spaces of a noughts and crosses grid. Colours can be used if younger children are playing. Then each car that passes two numbers are read off its number plate. The first person to get a line wins. I have come across many variations of this game and also many others. So armed with a book of car games to keep small and big kids amused should keep the car journey stress free and a good start to the holiday.

Just don�t get lost.