Do you drive all night?

[ELTD]

I think it all comes down to knowing yourself and how you handle sleep. We have driven through the night because DH can handle it. If I had to drive all night, I couldn't do it. Another way we sometime do it is to go to bed early and leave super early (like 4am). That way it's not so drastic of a sleep change and the kids still sleep for a good chunk of the trip.

 

[geekKT]

Depends on the length of the drive and where I'm going. I have done overnights in the past, from WI to TX or WI to FL, with other drivers along, taking turns. Also from here to WI with DH. Shorter drives, like the ~14 hours to Vancouver, we do in one day, leaving early in the morning and arriving around dinner time. I don't think I'd want to do that one at night.

Other times we'll set out once DH is home from work, stop a few hours away (Lloyd, Saskatoon?) and then finish the rest of the drive the next day. He is too tired after work to drive much further, so most long trips are started in the morning.

I'm doing the 24 hour drive (not including stops) with J to WI next month, and he isn't an awesome traveler. While I'd LOVE to be able to drive at night, so he would sleep, obviously that wont work this time. Instead, I'll start very early in the AM and hope to get a couple solid hours in, then stop often and quit traveling early in the evening. The plan is 2 days, but I've allotted a possible 3 each way.

Also - when I go, I pick out something comfortable and put him in it the night ahead of time, and I also tend to recline his car seat back a hair the night before. He sleeps better that way.

 

[mumof2]

I dont like driving at night long distances. a 30-45 minute drive I can handle and will only do if I really have to. also I find that after 2 hours of driving I get tired. so I rarely drive up to Auckland (a 1.5-2 hour drive from here) as it means I am quite tired coming back.

 

[crunchierthanthou]

We did a couple times. It wasn't worth it. We were exhausted when we arrived, and ds was up are raring to go.

We prefer to leave around lunch time. Get packed up, grab some lunch, little ones nap. Stop for a break, then put in a movie. Stop for dinner, then another movie, and it's bedtime. We're usually up until at least midnight, and can pretty easily push a couple hours past that. Much more than 14 hours (what dh's parents used to be from us), and I think we'd break it into two days.

 

[daniele_ut]

So we have a 16-18 (depending on stops etc.) hour drive to go see DH's parents. The plan is for DH to come home from work eat a quick dinner and then go to sleep for 4 hours while I pack the car and get the girls in their jammies.

I have a much harder time being awakened from truncated sleep than if I had just stayed awake.

We no longer do road trips at night. We used to do a long road trip every summer and we always travel during daylight now. The latest we'll drive is 9 or 10 pm in the summer.

 

[southernveg]

I don't drive at night, but my husband does. But! He works nights and is usually awake during those hours anyway.

 

[ninejr]

We need to get there by dinner for MIL's birthday. I guess our other option would be for the girls and I to pick DH up after work and start right away to BIL's house, we would get there about 2 am and then could sleep there and leave the next morning at a reasonable hour (like 9am). That would put us at MIL's house around 4pm.

DH drives pretty well at night. There won't be a lot of other drivers on the road (at least for the second half) the bigger concern is animals (over the rocky's through Jasper).

 

[xursusmaritimusx]

if its the only option you have then its what you have to do.

for my family, we did it once (seattle to san francisco) over night and it back fired on us. DD was awake for almost half the trip. we left at 8pm hoping she'd sleep all night.

otherwise DH and i always drove over night, taking turns sleeping/driving, before DD came along because its what worked best for our schedule.

now we just have to drive during the day to keep DD on schedule and what use to be a straight 13-14 hour trip at night is now a 2 day trip during the day

 

[luvsviola]

We do not do all nighters. We drive 12 hours a day, then get a room.

 

[cupcakepirate11]

I prefer driving at night, it is more peaceful. I have yet to take my son on a road trip, we always fly just because of cost factors. But for short two hour drives it is usually at night!

 

[henrietta]

My brother and sil prefer to do this--they're both bartenders, so they're used to being up at night, plus their little one is a bit crazy in the car seat unless she's asleep and they can't handle it. LOL

BUT my husband and I do not and will not do this at all. We are not great night drivers, plus our oldest fusses and wants to sleep in his bed. He won't settle down and sleep overnight in the car. Beyond that, we feel very strongly that it isn't really that safe.

We're probably more likely to get hit by a drunk driver or a driver who falls asleep at the wheel, and there's less likely to be help available or easily available if we had a problem (like a blown tire). I've been on the side of a busy overpass w/my parents while my Dad put a spare tire on at 2 am...it's not safe or fun! Truckers who drive long hauls are flying past and 80 mph in 18 wheelers-the road shakes-not nice.

Instead, we try to pack as much as we can the night before, go to bed early (NEVER happens!), and get up super early. We finish packing the car, pick the boys up out their beds, take them to the bathroom, and then load them up. They usually eat in the car and then fall back asleep for 4-5 hours. Then, we stop for lunch. Generally, we'd get going again after lunch and be there by evening/late night. If we had a 16-18 hour trip, we would stop for an overnight at dinner time. We've done a few trips that take us that long.

GL!

henrietta

 

[lanwenyi]

I think it depends on an individual's personality and sleep needs/habits.

Me - I can't do it. I need to sleep at night and I get bad glare, so I can't drive safely at night anyway.

My dh - he's former military and can drop to sleep instantly, anywhere, anytime, on command, and can stay up as needed.

With our littles, it is easier to travel at night. Dh daysleeps the day before our departure and we leave after dinner. I drive ubtil dark, he takes over and drives until 6ish am, then I take over and drive all day. We usually time it so we arrive at our destination in the evening. Family watches the kids while we sleep if we arrive during the daytime. We agree to stop and sleep if either of us starts feeling drowsy on the road.

This works best for our family, but would not work safely for others. I'm a firm believer in knowing yourself and your own limits.

 

[kater-tot82]

My only all-night trip was driving from FL to MI with my family when I was in college. However, there were 4 drivers available, so we all switched off sleeping and driving.

With my own family now...we have done some late-evening drives from NY to MI. As in leaving anywhere between 6-9pm and arriving at our destination from 1-3am. We go through Canada and the border crossings are a lot less traffic-y at odd hours of the night! DD1 used to sleep when she was younger, but now that she's in a booster, she'll usually be up til midnight, which isn't fun bc she gets cranky and tired. The baby is hit or miss. As an infant she traveled way better at night. At 11mo now, she only sleeps an hour or so at a time during the day, which isn't much on a 7hr drive.

But, you do what you gotta do! If you and your DH can figure out a way to rest and share the driving and kid duties, it might not be a bad idea.

 

[mlohry]

This is interesting, we were thinking about driving from MN to FL with our 3 kiddos. My DH would probably vote to drive in the night. When he was in the military, he drove by himself from SC to MN in one shot. We drove to CA from MN for our honeymoon and he did 98% of the driving, he does NOT sleep in the car. I LOVE to sleep in the car I like the idea of leaving at 4 am and driving until lunch and then driving until night, then getting up again to complete the drive. That would work for our family. Good ideas out there. I think you have to take everyones personalities into account.

 

[christineka]

My dh insists on being the only driver when we drive anywhere together. When he worked nights, we'd do night time drives, but now that he works a regular day shift, we go during daylight hours. If the drive is any longer than 12-14 hours, we stay somewhere. (Or just don't make the trip.)

 

[KaysKidz]

We were planning on it next year (OK to CA)....but with the cost of fuel...and airline tickets somewhat reasonable right now, I'm strongly leaning towards sucking it up and buying tickets. "I" can barely handle a 3hr drive....I can't imagine going 1/2 way cross country. And getting the baby in/out of her seat just pisses her off everytime you have to put her back in...so stopping frequently wouldn't be a good idea for her.