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Recently as I get older I have found out how stupid I have been.
I am very much in love with France and visit there as much as possible, but I always went at the last minute, mainly because as a busy garage owner, I found it difficult to plan ahead and always set off at the last minute.
I suppose that is one of the reasons, may be because here in the UK it is so easy to book and travel through the Channel tunnel, you only need to go to tunnel and you can book the crossing immediately, (except for public holidays where it is very busy and you need to book in advance).
Now I agree with the experts you advise us that we should always plan ahead, preferably plan right down to the fine details.
This is so that everything should run smoothly if you plan well ahead of the journey.
This applies whether or not you are traveling by car for your work or on your vacations, it is always best to plan your car journey.
Believe me I am now sold on the idea of planning well ahead, when we last went to France to visit my daughter, who is a student teacher living in Perigueux in the Dordogne South West France.
This journey from the North of England, where I live is about eight hundred miles from door to door and believe it or not I used to do the journey in one single drive, only stopping for the crossing of the North Sea by train through the Channel Tunnel, which takes about one hour.
This was not much of a problem but on the last few occasions I found myself dropping off at the wheel, "very dangerous".
I have now changed my ways and following the advice of my wife and motoring experts, I too plan the journey extensively.
I now follow the advice that I am going to share with you.
We now book into a Hotel and split the journey, sometimes it may be two stop overs.
I now only drive after a good nights sleep and certainly do not take alcohol the night before I travel, this ensures that I have a clear head and I will not suffer from fatigue on the journey.
After I have made sure that I have looked after myself, I think about my car and what it needs for the trip.
Number one is the normal things that should be carried out such as check your tyres.
(including your spare if you have one), have your car serviced before the journey or at least check your levels such as oil and water and window washers.
If you are traveling in Winter make sure that you can cope with a sudden snow fall, fit winter tyres and carry spare antifreeze and blankets and a shovel.
If you have not planned for stopping to eat, you should always take sandwiches and a flask and make sure it is what the kids like to eat.
Prepare for the Kids You should always buy some breakdown cover I consider this essential on a long distance journey and it is the thing a lot of drivers forget to do.
I also think it is important to carry different types of in car entertainment for you and your passengers, on long distances you may not be able to pick up radio stations or they may be in a foreign language.
My remedy is an MP3 player or normal CDs.
For the kids we buy small I-spy books or Lady-Bird books, but whatever we bought we found that we had to stop the car every two to three hours to let them stretch there legs and relieve the boredom.
Modern cars now have in car entertainment for the kids, they can now watch DVDs and listen to there I-Pods, but you will still find that after a few hours they will get bored and a need to stretch their legs.
I hope that some of this advice from years of long distance driving will help drivers of all ages to be prepared and plan ahead for their sake and their cars.
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