And even though we are both reluctant drivers, this turned out to be a great decision. Not only did we have an incredible holiday in Iceland, it set the tone for many of our future trips. No more struggling on buses and trains with babies, we would be masters of our own destinies (or wheels at least)  driving around and experiencing places that we couldn’t easily reach by public transport whilst knowing that we had snacks, nappies and baby equipment for every eventuality right there in the boot.

Benefits of a hire car with children

I find it’s the best way to get to places off the beaten track. In Iceland, we drove all of the way around the ring-road and were able to get to remote places.  My backpacking roots also encourage me to keep moving and make the best use of my time, and driving is a lot more efficient than waiting around in bus stations.

There’s no way we would have reached here without a hire car!

Our children have got used to this kind of driving holiday and usually keep themselves entertained by playing, sometimes watching cartoons and hopefully sleeping. Whilst not completely relaxing, we get many peaceful moments in the front of the car because the kids are used to this environment and find it more settling than a bus or train. Maybe we’ve been lucky in this regard, but we like to think it’s because we were bold enough to start them early.

Hire cars enable multi-destination holidays

Similarly, the kids have grown used to staying in new accommodation every few nights in our holidays. A typical 1.5 week holiday for us will involve 3 stops, often flying in and out of different airports. In one trip, we started by exploring Prishtina, the capital of Kosovo. Then we drove to Lake Ohrid in Macedonia, visiting some spooky caves in Gadime on the way. We enjoyed boat trips, fine restaurants and views in Ohrid (and even a day trip to Albania!) Finally, we drove to the cultural mix of Skopje and flew home after a couple of days. Without a hire car, we wouldn’t have fitted so much in.

Having a hire car allowed us to explore this primaeval forest in Montenegro.

We’ve done similar road-trips in Montenegro, Jamaica, Cyprus and Crete, plus we even hire cars when we are doing single destination holidays, like when we’ve done house swaps in Denmark (Odder), Switzerland (Olten) and Florida (Bradenton). Further, when we’ve participated in home exchanges our hosts have sometimes offered us a car which keeps costs down. We did this in California twice plus had the offer in Denmark, which we fortuitously declined (see below on lessons learned!).

California road-trip past the Big Sur

Having a hire car allows you to reach places off the beaten track.  In Jamaica, our hire car allowed us to get to remote waterfalls.  In Crete, Sicily and Cyprus, our hire car allowed us to get to ancient ruins. In Montenegro, our hire car allowed us to reach monasteries, beaches and remote hilltop crypts. In…….   You get the picture by now!!

Having a hire car gives wider accommodation options when travelling around.  If you travelling by public transport then you usually end up from one town centre to another.  By driving your own car you can reach more remote and sometimes cheaper accommodation options.  We loved staying in this remote cabin in Iceland.

Having a hire car allows us to reach some memorable accommodation

So much luggage when travelling with children!

My days of carrying a single backpack and setting off on adventures are long gone. Travelling with small children almost doubles the amount of luggage you need to take. Having a hire car contains all of this on journeys, as long as you choose a car with a large enough boot/trunk.

However, it doesn’t stop the airport being tricky. The amount of luggage we carry/drag is simply ridiculous. When fully loaded, the two of us might be carrying two car seats, a travel cot, hand luggage, whilst dragging two suitcases, pushing a buggy and encouraging a toddler to keep up through the airport on his Trunki. But at least with a car, it’s only for a few minutes before check-in and the same at the other end before we load our bags into the car.

I mentioned child car seats and we’ve always taken our own. That way we are sure that not only will we definitely get a car seat (once we booked one and when we showed up they didn’t have any left!) but also we know that they are good quality, undamaged and apply to high European safety standards.The policy of most airlines is to allow passengers to take 1-2 items of baby items (stroller, car seat, cot, etc) for free. Carrying all this gear for a few minutes saves us the hassle and cost at the other end.  Plus, hiring a car can be exciting for young children if they get a go behind the wheel.

H in control of a hire car. Not always the best idea…. (see later)

Organising the hire car

I have to admit, this isn’t my department. G takes care of this and starts with a comparison website to understand the best deals. This is where things get tricky…  The comparisons aren’t like-for-like and he checks the terms and conditions to try and work out what’s the best deal.

On arrival, we also go through the arduous task of checking the fuel levels plus the scratches and dents on the car. Taking photos speeds this process up.  Once we also had a nasty surprise in Jamaica where the base liability insurance wasn’t included and we had to fork out on the spot – this doubled the hire car price, getting our holiday off to a sour start.

On the topic of insurance, we’ve got some that covers our excess. For around £60 a year, we are covered for any claims up to the excess point of the hire. This saved us £2,000 when H decided to have a play with the car settings in Denmark…

Things don’t always go to plan…

Around 2 hours prior to our flight home from Aarhus, Denmark we stopped to get some snacks for the flight. Only around 3 miles from the airport, this was supposed to be a quick stop…

H’s special trick at his ripe old age of 2.5 was to undo his seatbelt and jump into the front of the car as soon as it stops. Zizi and I were already in the shop by the time G and H emerged and we got on with our shopping. A local then approached G with a picture of the hire car’s number plate and an announcement of

‘it’s like…  totally smashed dude‘.

 It emerged that H must have accidentally knocked the handbrake button and the car had slowly rolled through the car park behind G and H’s backs. It rolled around 70 yards through the car park – thankfully without hitting anyone – before continuing down a grass bank and into a tree.

The car looked like a write-off. We were a few miles from the airport with the clock ticking before our flight, surrounded by locals wondering what we were going to do. In H’s own words: ‘big problem!’.

This is what happened when H accidentally released the handbrake!!

We made our flight and, thanks to the insurance, have no major hangover but a story to tell!

And it’s not the only one…  We’ve been stopped by Police in Kosovo and Mexico, had the odd scrape here and there plus had to bribe an Albanian border guard because the car wasn’t permitted there (always read the small print!).

Taking control of freedom and safety

If that sounds all sounds a bit unsafe, we find it quite the opposite. Our safety is in our own hands; no more getting stranded when transport runs late or is cancelled and no more relying on taxi drivers who often drive dangerously. We were in Minsk, Belarus last week and in the course of 24 hours had two dodgy drivers due to mobile phone distraction – one using a verbal translator to speak to us and the other watching TV when driving.

Plus getting a hire car gives me something I value highly – the freedom to remain adventurous. I won’t do it forever and look forward to the day H and Zizi can walk further and carry their own backpacks. Then we may be hitting the same trails of old but, until then, I’m finding hiring a car is the way to go.-

H was really excited by taking a car on a boat – it blew his mind!