Despite their oft-cited relaxing properties, the sad truth is that holidays can sometimes be exhausting ordeals. All the planning and organisation that goes into compiling your schedule, fretting about whether or not you’ll make it to the airport or station on time, being unable to shake the feeling that you’ve forgotten something crucial… not to mention the jetlag. Sometimes, a break can be so draining that by the time it’s done with, you need a holiday from your holiday!
It’s an entirely different story if you opt for a weekend getaway by car. Forget booking flights, forget reserving hotels, forget laminating the itinerary. Once you’re behind that wheel, you’ll feel all your cares and your stress flow from you like so many strands in the wind. Here are a handful of reasons why road trips and car breaks are a great way to recharge your batteries and reinstall your faith in life.
Total and utter flexibility
When it comes to road trips, the rule book goes right out of that window. You can decide when you stop, where you stop, for how long you stop… it’s all up to you. You have the opportunity to make spontaneous, impromptu decisions based upon the chance sighting of a billboard or the recommendation of a friend. Follow your nose and see where it takes you.
Off the beaten track
When travelling by bus, train or plane, you’re pretty much locked in to a specific route. This means that while the places you visit might well be stunningly beautiful, they’ll also be visited by everyone else. Why not go your own way? Find inner peace in some of the most remote places in Britain, or else kick back on some of the nation’s most secluded beaches. If you’re lucky, you may even have them all to yourself.
You’re not limited to the UK
A holiday by car might fool you into thinking that you’re confined to the beautiful environs but dubious climes of the British Isles (more specifically, the mainland). Not so! The exotic charms of France are just a short 90-minute ferry ride away, and further afield, the rest of the continent stretches invitingly! The world (okay, maybe just Europe) is your oyster.
The journey is the destination
Though it sounds clichéd and tacky, the amount of fun you can have in a vehicle with some of your closest friends is virtually limitless. Especially in today’s modern world, when everyone is glued to their Smartphones, worrying about their next business deal and basically ignoring most of their fellow humans, a road trip provides the perfect chance to catch up with your old pals and bond, just like you did in the good old days.
Soundtrack your trip
There are few things more satisfying than compiling your very own, tailor-made playlist for your road trip. Fill it with classic sing-a-longs, blasts from the past and special tunes which you and your passengers share a deeper understanding about. If you’re stuck for ideas, this handy article has some fantastic suggestions of where to start.
This post was written in association with P&O Ferries