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«I’ll fix it someday. I swear I will.»
by Michael Restin
Everything’s better these days! Seven reasons why family driving holidays are becoming more and more enjoyable
21-8-2025
Translation: Megan Cornish
Pictures: Michael Restin
Thousands of kilometres lie behind me, and all that remains of the summer is a sense of humility. On road trips with children, modernity’s a blessing. Here’s a rundown.
My memory’s like a sieve. Thankfully. It filters out the dull hours, leaving pure, golden memories. When I think of the endless holiday trips of my childhood, I feel a sense of departure and adventure. They usually started in the middle of the night. The first few hours in the car were a blurry dream of dancing car lights, bumps and street signs for Brescia or Darmstadt flying past.
It starts with the price, if you’re trying to make the running costs of a family car worth it over the year. But it doesn’t stop at comfort. Too often, when travelling by train, there comes a moment when the train doesn’t turn up. Or the aisle fills up with passengers, with children reaching as high as their armpits at most. And good dynamic pricing deals for four or more people are all too rare. The same applies to flying, that never-ending test of patience.
While I associate my first flight with minimal waiting, a fair amount of legroom, and a visit to the cockpit, today it’s: belt off! Hands up! Water away! Tick, tick, tick. And then, wedged in my padded seat, I wait to reach our destination – only to then wait to pick up our luggage and rental car, where the car rental company charges a fortune for children’s car seats. Instead of being under your control, travelling feels like you’re at the mercy of others.
The era of mood-lifting white lies is over. Especially when the ETA suddenly jumps from 5.54 p.m. to 6.48 p.m., you need a lot of confidence and acting talent to believably mutter something about «a different route» or «the traffic might clear.» From school age onwards, children know pretty quickly what to expect in situations like these. And that’s a good thing.
Knowing that the situation can’t be improved is incredibly relaxing. Just like a nice environment.
2. Gone are the days of stewing in a convection oven
«Don’t be such a baby,» is something I especially like to say when the kids are moaning about the temperature in the car. Granted, the air conditioning takes a while to kick in. But at least we have it – and even the most basic model makes things acceptably cool in just a few minutes.
In the past, cars became like convection ovens on hot days. After ten hours of simmering, even the coolest head would melt into a sludge of thoughts that would evoke envy of air travellers. The jet set floated coolly through the clouds towards exotic destinations. The driving holiday crowd sweated it out on the Brenner Pass or melted away on the Gotthard Pass.
The only shame is that the full air conditioning has taken the event-like quality out of traffic. Before, windows would roll down, doors would open and people would chat and exchange a few words of encouragement. Now, everyone suffers on their own. Travel tip: if you want to experience real heat, the best thing to do is wait in a queue for hours to get on a ferry.
For the adults, it meant digging out their passports, smiling awkwardly and hoping for the best. For the children, it meant at least behaving, preferably well – what parents call «pulling themselves together.» With the added task of pretending to be asleep in the evening or early morning, ideally, and drooling so pitifully that no border guard – no matter how tough – would want to disturb their deep sleep.
Instead, there was a thick stack of road maps in the glove compartment, marked with the intended route. At motorway junctions or on French country roads, minor errors at a scale of 1:800,000 have reportedly sparked major marital disputes – and anyone who doesn’t know the pressure of racing relentlessly towards a decision with a map on their knees that will determine their mood for the next few hours has never lived in the digital Stone Age.
But you’re allowed to miss that, too. Travelling was teamwork, regularly provided exciting moments and allowed children to experience a different side of their otherwise confident parents. But most of us probably appreciate ditching the schedule and having more time to relax. When everyone’s asleep and only one person has to stay awake, you’ve done something right.
Arriving by car means you’ve truly arrived. Take it out of gear, turn off the engine and the holiday begins. A family – alone in four square metres – together at its destination. This moment is so good it’s impossible for it to get any better. But it’s more precious with each passing year because we’ve spent more and more time together.
Fresh impressions mingle with old stories, while the strains of the journey slowly fade. The immediate feelings are relief and a touch of humility that everything turned out well again. Because blown tyres, ambulances and hazard lights on the warning strips are once again only things that affected other people. Today, everything’s better because yesterday the journey was still ahead of us. Time will transform the rest into golden memories.
Michael Restin
Senior Editor
Michael.Restin@digitecgalaxus.chSimple writer and dad of two who likes to be on the move, wading through everyday family life. Juggling several balls, I'll occasionally drop one. It could be a ball, or a remark. Or both.
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