Stories Collected While Living in France

French la Vie

Road Trip in France

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Last minute decisions are common in our family. We talk about something, forget about it, then bring it up again, change the subject, and then at the last minute make a dash for it…let’s go!

As Chelsea is learning to drive, French husband thought it would be good for her to drive across France. Have you experienced driving on the French freeway with your child behind the wheel, while you sit in the backseat? Let me tell you it isn’t a walk in the park.

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French husband is notorious for "getting lost" add that to the front seat. And to be honest and fair and even… I fall asleep at the wheel.

What a happy trio we make!

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As if fear wasn’t fueling me already I glanced out the window and saw these two nuclear reactors.

More about our road trip tomorrow.

Note:  Sacha (our son) was in the car he had earphones on and was playing on the computer. I think he had the right idea. Ignorance is bliss!

Comments

42 responses to “Road Trip in France”

  1. Jeanne

    Baby you can drive my car…….
    Beep beep……….
    ~The Beatles……..
    Love you and thanks for taking us along on all of your adventures……..
    You do know how to live

    Reply
  2. Amanda (aka Cottage Contessa)

    Well you obviously lived to tell the tale! We will be there in 3 years time……….just the thought of it makes me need to lay down with some strong headache medication! lol
    Amanda (aka Cottage Contessa)

    Reply
  3. rel

    Corey,
    Are you exagerating a little? 😉
    I’ve been on a road trip with you and you stayed wide awake.
    French husband got us to the Aix TGV station and only made one wrong turn.
    rel

    Reply
  4. Kitem

    I know this autoroute, aren’t you going North?

    Reply
  5. tinker

    My heart goes out to you – I’ve been through that ‘my baby is driving us in a car!?!’ experience with my two girls (ok – they’re both definitely women, now – but to me they’re still my ‘girls,’ lol). It has taken years, but I’m finally somewhat used to it. Though I still insist on driving us whenever I can get away with it (I get carsick, so I am not a good passenger under the best of circumstances).
    Good luck!-xOx

    Reply
  6. meredith

    Haha! I know what road you were driving on 🙂

    Reply
  7. Sarah in Marrakech (but RIGHT NOW in Paris!)

    Ah… driving… I never learned (I am Irish and car insurance is very high there) but my husband is American and, therefore, has been driving for years. We can’t wait to hire a car and go off into the French countryside, although I must admit that we are particularly looking forward to taking trains, as both of us are train-journey fanatics!

    Reply
  8. Darla

    I just remember someplace out of Aix where there was something that looked like an overpass but it was a resturaunt, up over the freeway. Yes we stopped. Yes it was awful. But I remember it.
    Darla

    Reply
  9. tut-tut

    Ack! D is completely calm while L is at the wheel, learning to drive. I’m completely in inner turmoil.

    Reply
  10. My Melange

    Corey,
    If French Husband gets lost…are you sure you want to *fly* with him.. After all at least there are signs on the road…but last time I checked…none in the sky 😉

    Reply
  11. Shannon

    I have a feeling I’ll be stranded at the airport for a very long time waiting to be picked up….. 😉

    Reply
  12. Beverly

    Oh my!
    I’ve done it twice, Corey, and it doesn’t get any easier!
    But the highway? … I still won’t ride with the boys on the highway! (In fact, I still teach them to use the side roads instead!)
    When I saw the first picture, I thought Sacha was driving!

    Reply
  13. dkmp9293

    Corey–I’m right there with you–with 2 at one time and a 3rd right on their heels.I think this is the hardest thing since toilet training. Now, if only I could get that “brake” to work on the passenger side!

    Reply
  14. Travelingmama

    My husband has been trying to teach me how to drive a stick shift and yesterday he informed me that he had finally given the job to someone else. Thanks, honey! Now more people know how pathetic I am! LOL!

    Reply
  15. Candy

    My son is in the learning to drive phase also. So far, he’s an excellent driver. That probably comes from riding with me while I tell him what not to do because I just did it. We set him free in December with wheels and a lot of rules. I love to take pictures out of the windows of the car.

    Reply
  16. Paula

    I remember my mother was so frightened that she laid down in the backseat. My dad was a real trooper and taught me well.
    I freak out a bit (inside) when I ride with my son. I don’t show it though. It is important to me that he know I have confidence in him.
    Being there as our children grow is important. Good for you to go Corey.

    Reply
  17. Gail Sullivan

    Dear Corey,
    As always, your posts can be so very funny. Thanks for sharing with us. I have been through it with three kids and it doesn’t get any easier with the second one. I think you are wise to let FH do the teaching.
    xoxo
    Gail

    Reply
  18. Mary

    Been there too – not easy but necessary otherwise you become a fulltime chauffeur and your kids hate you! Good luck to Chelsea. DH drove us in Provence last year – must say the French road signs/directions are impossible for visiting Americans to understand – at least you have a French DH who HAS to do better!
    Corey – your unstoppable sense of humour will get you through it. My just turned 11 year old granddaughter informed us this week she is now saving up for a car – heaven forbid!!!! As she has just $23.60 in her piggy back I will not worry for some years!

    Reply
  19. beachy

    I have three more years before my oldest can learn to drive… make that three more years of prayer! =)

    Reply
  20. martina

    I have never felt confident driving so avoid doing so. Could be the night driving practice with my mother when I was taking driver’s ed. I was driving, it was around 8pm and she said “Be very very careful because there is a sheer cliff off this side of the road”. Seriously! Chelsea is lucky to have calm FH teaching her.

    Reply
  21. Cre8Tiva

    i hate to ride across the street with my kids driving…across country…no not me…blessings, rebecca

    Reply
  22. Lorene

    LOL Corey!!! You know ignorance is bliss!!! I am looking forward to hearing the rest of the story.

    Reply
  23. stephanie

    I have to think it is pretty similar to taking a road trip in the U.S. with a new driver….my foot would continuely slam into the floor…no brake there???
    Love your descriptions!!

    Reply
  24. cruststation

    Heehee…I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as you make it sound 🙂

    Reply
  25. stljoie

    Any young lady who jumps out of airplanes is confident enough for highway driving…but I don’t want to jump out of airplanes or be in the back seat…either.

    Reply
  26. la vie en rose

    sounds like a real adventure. my son is only 4 and he’s already talking about driving me around when he gets bigger…of course he thinks that because i have to sit in the back seat while he drives that it means i have to be in a car seat like he is now…

    Reply
  27. AnnieElf

    I let Don do all the driving teaching. It was bad enough when they got their licence to be the passenger. Took some getting used to. Talk about your case of nerves. I empathize completely.

    Reply
  28. kim

    Hat tip to Chelsea!!
    Get your motor runnin’
    Head out on the highway
    Lookin’ for adventure
    And whatever comes our way
    Yeah Darlin’ go make it happen
    Take the world in a love embrace
    Fire all of your guns at once
    And explode into space

    Reply
  29. marita

    chelsea facing the densed highway traffic?? chapeau!! a good start to learn how to drive. noura drove all the way home from aigues through france, luxembourg and belgium across the border. me next to the driver seat for secure directions, like fh… yet we got lost in lyon :(( my fault!!
    ____________________
    Hi M
    Lyon is a tricky spot, and many people take the wrong route! We managed it well this time, but that is not usually the case!

    Reply
  30. Teresa

    Sounds like a lot of fun and that map looks really confusing. I can’t believe that those same looking nuclear reactors are in my state too. We just took a trip and drove by the scary looking things.
    Teresa

    Reply
  31. Rosemary

    No Corey, but I have been on LA freeways with child learning to drive. EEK!!!
    I hear you.
    Rosemary

    Reply
  32. robyn

    I love the image, you are brave.
    We drove from Nice to St. Tropez the summer before last, stopping at the Four Seasons in Tourette for 3 nights. We pulled out of the gates to leave, and went the wrong way. My husband did a 3 point turn on a road that has no room for a manuver such as this… three teenage daughters in the back seat screaming (they think) for their lives and me in the passenger seat. Not a fun 10 minutes, he was ready to leave all of us by the side of the road 🙂 Happy Trails Corey & safe travels.

    Reply
  33. Lea

    I would ride with Chelsea driving anywhere!!!! No pins in the seat for that girl!!!

    Reply
  34. rochambeau

    Well, welcome home!
    Yeah I do believe Sacha was on he right track with the distractions!! Do you know what nuclear reactors actually are? Guess I could google.
    I think French H’s idea to drive across country is a good thing for Chelsea.
    BTW The only person I’ve ever met born with a worse sense of direction that me, is my husband.
    At least I learned to read a map around 15 yrs. ago. I’ve one up-ed him no doubt!!!
    I can get around now.

    Reply
  35. Alice

    I’m not sure Corey, even though your daughter is learning to drive…I think I would enjoy a little side trip through France. I’m sure you will arrive safetly to your destination.

    Reply
  36. Leigh

    We haven’t even begun to try to conceive a child and I already worry about this!! It’s one thought out of many that makes me think, oh, we can still wait a while to have kids.

    Reply
  37. Pinkie Denise

    Hello Corey,
    I know exactly what you mean. I keep thinking it will get easier with each one, but no way,
    it doesn’t work like that. I make my husband do the drivers training my nerves cannot handle it. Savannah just got her license Monday and she did well on the driving test, me alway the worry wort Mom. XOXOXOXOXO Denise

    Reply
  38. Mélanie

    You are very brave. My sister has just got her driving license on wednesday. I’m very afraid about that . Tonight , she wants to invite me to a restaurant and drive to there …

    Reply
  39. Britt-Arnhild

    Ingrid got her driving licence in August. She had been practicing for two years with Terje then. I must confess I kept away from the car the first year. She is a wonderful and confident driver now though, and I love to be her passenger.
    Cheers to Chelsea.

    Reply
  40. Alison Whittington

    I would have gladly come along! What fun!

    Reply
  41. carol

    When my daughter first learned how to drive, my hubby suggested that she do some of the driving on our road trip from Arizona to Idaho. He sat in the front passenger seat (supposedly to give her guidance) and promptly fell asleep. I wish I had earphones and a computer on that trip; I was a nervous wreck! It does get better-I can actually sleep while she’s driving now!

    Reply
  42. kristen robinson

    What a fun scene oh to be a fly on the ceiling.
    XOX
    Kristen

    Reply

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