Visiting family and friends at Christmas is always an exciting time – no work, or little of it and spending time with those we love. Often it’s the actual travel part that makes either end of the holidays not so enjoyable. Last year my boyfriend and I travelled to Scotland for Christmas and New Year. Luckily, our journey was much more enjoyable. The weather lovely – the air was clear and crisp and as we got further North there was more and more snow appearing on the snow capped mountains – meanwhile, inside our Mercedes-benz, we were warm and cosy. We timed our 500+ mile journey to enjoy clear roads and make the most of our not so fantastic singing voices to the standard Christmas songs on the radio.

We stopped in a lovely cafe not too far from the M6 motorway and took almost an hour sitting outside; wrapped up in our winter jumpers, enjoying warm soup and the views over the Lake District. We arrived at our rented cottage late afternoon and had time to get some mulled wine warmed up before our friends arrived.

The return journey was less exciting but went smoothly. I always plan ahead for these types of journeys as a few years back things did not go as well… After leaving on a manic Friday and being caught in all the holiday traffic, our car broke down. The repair man couldn’t get us back on the road and all because of an innocuous part not being available which would have taken less than an hour to change. Our recovery included towing home or to destination. 11 hours and 3 tow trucks later (because of restricted driving hours), we arrived home!

After paying through the nose for a last minute rental car we arrived the next day – worse journey ever – Now I plan like a champion! I know the optimum time to leave, where the best non-motorway cafes are, that my car is in good condition or failing that, that I can get good spare parts for Mercedes-Benz at euspares.co.uk I guess you have to experience the bad to appreciate the good, and I really did appreciate the fantastic time I had last Christmas, journey and all.