Travelling with tweens, heaven or hell?

Tweens, road rage, screen time wars, and perimenopause all in one car.

Would you be brave enough?

Travelling with tweens, would you do it – I’ll be honest I was really nervous! We’d been planning this trip for a long time. Although getting enough time to actually sit down and plan is the greatest struggle! Now tween bedtimes are now so bloody late, the thought of tackling Booking.com. and maps was  enough to send me over the edge. But, unfortunately it has to be done so the planning took planning and patience. I’m a Gemini and detail avoider, I’ll take a chance and book quickly just to tick it off the list. Whilst my beloved is a picky Virgo who will read reviews and the small print – boring…so everything takes longer with this combo!

Plan your route & pick your destinations. 

Last year our best friends did a similar trip so we used them as inspo and tried to copy their route. This was really helpful. We studied their route and it was a really great starting point.

However, we knew early on we wanted to visit Porto Pollensa, Mallorca and we had already booked the accommodation – we thought we were being organised but this had a knock on effect. It meant our route was dictated by these dates and the ferry routes we would need to get us there. Plus, we then had to factor in our daughter’s summer school week at her new Secondary school…yikes dates started to get daunting! Anyhoo…we knew we had to start from Folkestone on Le Shuttle to Calais. So we had a starting point.

Le Shuttle Folkestone – Calais.

1st stop La Rochelle (9 hour drive GULP) 2 nights.

2nd stop San Sebastien (4 hours) 2 nights.

3rd stop Barcelona. (4.5 hours) 2 nights.

Ferry to Mallorca (3.5 hours)

4th stop Porto Pollensa Mallorca (20 mins) 8 nights.

Ferry to Barcelona (3.5 hours)

5th stop Meze South of France. 2 nights (3 hours) 2 nights.

6th stop Grenoble. (3.5 hours) 1 night.

7th stop Reims. (2.5 hours) 1 night.

Ok looking at this itinery from the other side it’s pretty EPIC and SCARY! It was a lot of driving (that I did none of – eeek, I did intend to I promise) 45 hours of driving to be precise. It was only possible because of screen time. It became our greatest saviour and our biggest nemesis. It allowed the children to switch off from us and each other. We have never ever spent that long together let alone in a metal box. Despite the dopamine highs our trip wouldn’t have been possible without it.
I’m so so glad we have done this type of holiday but we would do it differently next time. Next time I would like to stick to one country. As I mentioned we had to get to Mallorca so we were tied to a route that took us this way. But it meant we had amazing city breaks, beach breaks and a huge amount of culture on the way. We jumped from French back to Spanish and then to French again. The children got confused at times with the languages but also jumped in head first and found confidence and adventure in the places we visited. Nothing was repeated, nothing became mundane (except the packing – which I became very skilled at) and everything felt fresh and exciting. We have never relished a beach break quite like we did by the time we arrived in Mallorca. The kids know this place so well that they were able to find peace and space by themselves too. We all grew so much on this summer, I’m actually really proud of us. And proud of myself that I didn’t kill any of my family – I’m joking but also I’m not! It came with huge challenges which mainly involved the adults staying calm amid sat nav, toll roads and parking panic.
Let’s not forget that we were also navigating tourist protests and forest fires. We had a fire of our own earlier in the year so this was a big one for our eldest who at one point was refusing to go as we had to drive right into them!

Below is a list of our accommodation. We used a combination of hotels and apartments. Our main filter whilst searching was air con (travelling in late August was a lot for a perimenopausal woman!!!) and private parking. We were taking our new car and because of the protests we didn’t want our trip delayed with smashed up car.

Next time hopefully we are sticking to the South of France. I hope we will drive via Le Mans, as our little petrol head is desperate to explore the area (and Monaco although that might not be this time). We will hopefully revisit La Rochelle, it was so picture perfect. And Meze will feature for longer for sure. It’s a stunning little seaside village and our wonderful friends Jason and Rob run the most incredible award winning luxury hotel there Meze Maison, please click here to check it out.

I truly recommend you check out Meze. It was the cherry on the cake for us.
In Spain San Sebastien was my highlight, I’m not sure the tweens enjoyed it as much as us so I’m definitely planning a couple or girlie trip there. In hindsight by the time we got to Grenoble and Reims we were tired and missing Woody so much that we just wanted to get home. Plus, I freaked out on a cable car and then saw a dead rat in Grenoble, so I was more than ready for home then! 1 night isn’t long enough to see anything or unpack. I think on a road trip there will always be times you have to do quick stopovers but I would plan them so they move you along and you don’t feel you are missing out too much.

Coming home after nearly 3 weeks to washing, a new school start and rain was a big reality check but I’m so proud of us all. We laughed, we shouted, we drove, we played, we swam, we lost our tempers but WE DID IT. And I can’t wait for next time. I’ve never thought family holidays should be resilience making but of course they should. Adventuring and travelling makes us all brave and courageous and I hope the children inherit this. I used to travel so much and in the last 10 years I’ve become stale and insular – here’s to more adventures for us all!

If you are planning your own trip I hope this has helped you and I’d love to answer any questions you have.

Here is a list of links to our accommodation. I was super happy with all of them, all had good amenities, private parking and air con. The only ones that weren’t central enough for us were the San Sebastien and Barca apartments but it was still really easy to get into the centre.

La Rochelle Novotel Centre – excellent 

San Sebastien Abba Apartments – excellent 

Barcelona Numa Apartments – excellent 

Meze Apartment – excellent 

Grenoble apartment – excellent 

Reims apartment – ok meh.

Balearia Ferries – fancy ferries compared to childhood ferries but pricey. 

I’d love to hear your comments on my blog so let me know your thoughts.

Love Kika x