GETTING a car ferry to the continent? Here are five things you should not be stuck in the massive queue without:
An additional energy source
Spending hours creeping imperceptibly forward is going to require plenty of entertainment, which means a large selection of devices. However, plugging anything into the car will drain the battery, and you don’t want to add to the havoc by clogging up a lane begging for a jump start. Take a couple of power banks or prepare for the longest bickering session of your life.
Extra food
As well as needing to consume food to stay alive as you inch slowly along, you’re also going to need a f**kload of snacks to help alleviate the crushing boredom, and even more on top of that if you have a car full of whining children. However, you have to remember that every item of food consumed will come out again at the other end, and there are no toilet facilities on the hard shoulder. It’s a tricky balance, but you’ll be an expert by the time you’ve consumed your 22nd bag of Mini Cheddars.
Games
After playing I-Spy for 30 hours straight while in a stationary car, a family could become cut off from reality to the point where sacrificing a child to the God of Forward Momentum would seem rational. To prevent a heart-wrenching Sophie’s choice of picking one, bring the Travel Monopoly, which will end with you all killing each other anyway.
Alcohol
The law forbids the consumption of alcohol while in control of a vehicle, but there’s nothing to stop your passengers getting plastered to escape the hell of spending their Easter weekend in a two-metre-square metal box with four other people. It’ll be miserable for the driver, but only until the drinkers pass out and shut the f**k up for a few blissful hours.
Hope
The belief that this horrendous experience will improve is crucial, otherwise what’s to stop everyone abandoning societal norms, taking a shit on the motorway and looting each other’s cars for snacks superior to their own? Just look forward to the moment you drive off the ferry in France and realise you can’t understand the signs and have to drive on the other side of the road. What a lovely, relaxing holiday.
