Journey Planning Tips

Planning any type of car journey with or without kids is essential, the last thing you want to be doing is running out of petrol in between available petrol stations and if you have kids the last place you want to be stuck is on the side of a motorway…actually scrap that with or without kids I don’t want to be stranded on the hard-shoulder regardless!   Petrol stations have changed massively over the years and with an increasing amount of cars of the roads the impact of this will be felt throughout.  Fourm Insurance is the UK’s leading brokers specialising in petrol station insurance and asked me to come yup with a few ideas on how to make your journey more enjoyable.

Plan to stop every few hours

If I’m going on a car journey that is likely to last 4 hrs or long, I tend to aim to stop every 2 hours, generally for a toilet break and a coffee if nothing else.  I don’t of course necessarily need to refuel as often as that and I only do refuel at a service station on the motorway as a last resort due to the increase price.   With petrol stations in general becoming more of a shopping experience, you’re able to stock up on your groceries aswell as get a hot coffee to go as well.  Gone are the days where you simply just pay for your fuel and leave….unless you’re at a pay at pump station of course.

Kids entertainment

If you have kids on board then it’s likely they’ll get bored pretty quickly.  I try and be pro-active in this and spread out any kind of activity or game-playing so not to hit them all in the first hour.  Some ideas on keeping kids entertaining are your typical i-spy, number plate game and one we play quite frequently is ‘I’m thinking of an animal beginning with the letter….’, audiobooks, these are great way to keep your kids quiet and get over the car sickness issue if they particularly like to read.  If you aren’t quite organised with the material things you need to entertain the kids, you can easily pick up some bits in the motorway stations.

How times have changed

With petrol stations in general becoming more of a shopping experience, you’re able to stock up on your groceries aswell as get a hot coffee to go as well.  Gone are the days where you simply just pay for your fuel and leave….unless you’re at a pay at pump station of course.

My favourite change I’ve noticed over the years is the increase in pay at pump stations, these are so handy if you have young children who you don’t want to leave in the car whilst you pay for your fuel, this eliminates the worry and you can keep an eye on them the whole time you’re at the station.  They’re generally quicker to move through also, you won’t get stuck behind the person that gets the petrol and does their weekly shop at the same time!

What tips or advice do you have on long car journeys and how have you seen petrol stations evolve over the years?