Over the Easter holidays we headed off to Scotland for a week of family fun. I can’t actually believe I haven’t written about it yet and it’s almost half term already.

Time really does fly. We knew the journey would be a long one from Gloucestershire to Ardgartan Argyll so here are some of our top tips for a Scottish road trip based on how we did.

Take plenty of snacks and drinks

Okay this might be obvious with children but it really does make all the difference. We took a variety of things.  Some healthy some not so. Oh and don’t forget plenty of water. It’s going to be a long trip.

Take some sort of technology gadgets

Again in this day and age it’s obvious but I can’t tell you how much it helps. Over the years we have had various dvd players which have broke so this time the girls took their kindles (along with books and colouring etc). They really did help break up the long day and we didn’t hear “I’m bored” at all…….just a few “are we nearly there yet” questions from the five year old, which you would expect on a road trip like this.

Don’t forget the good old fashioned games

Technology is great but sometimes the old fashioned games are the best. Now the girls are all a bit older we decided to introduce sweet sucking competitions…. whose can last the longest? it was never me, I lost every time! There was good old I-spy too amongst others. Games I remember from my childhood on long journeys.

Turn up the music and dance

If boredom sets in, just turn up the music and dance. Honestly, we do this. A bit of loud music and everyone (even Mummy and Daddy) bouncing around and wriggling in the car makes everyone smile and giggle. Check out my silly little video showing you how that works here. 

Stop at famous points of Interest

Now this really was our best idea. We stopped at Hadrians Wall, somewhere Poppy has always wanted to visit and Gretna Green, Somewhere I’ve always wanted to see. I will be writing about this in a separate post soon. This made all the difference and actually made the journey seem shorter than it was. Everyone was grateful to stretch their legs and seeing new places made us feel as though the holiday had already started.

Don’t forget toilet/meal stops

These will of course be necessary on a road trip like this. The girls don’t have burger type meals often (long trips only) so were over the moon with a McDonalds. They felt totally spoilt and were excited to be on the road.

Consider an overnight stop

We stoped at a Premiere Inn which was only about 45 minutes from our final destination. We could have stopped earlier but it all worked out perfectly. We did most of the travelling on the first day meaning we had plenty of time to explore rather than travel the following day.

If you’re planning a big road trip I hope this helps. My children always surprise me on how well they do. I think us parents fear the worst but honestly don’t. Just be prepared and enjoy.

If you found this helpful you might like my traveling to France with young children post. The french trip was our first road trip with all three girls and since then we’ve done several more. They doesn’t phase us at all now and we have plans to do lots more holidays like this.

Happy travels.

Karen x