Road Trips are Easier with Land Rover

Feels like the Land Rover has always been part of my life. My dad spent decades wanting one and then the very second he got made redundant that's what he couldn't wait to spend his money on - a Land Rover Discovery.  So excited was he, he even had a personalised number plate.  So whenever my Dad was near I knew it wasn't just any Land Rover it was my Dad.

The most hours we've ever spent in a car were when Aaron and I - pre Lottie - went on a road trip to Ireland with my Dad and his wife. We literally had to leave London, thankfully in the Land Rover Discovery at about 05:30 a.m. embarking on a long drive to Holyhead, Wales, broken up by a stop at services for lunch.  It was great that we stayed one night in a Bed and Breakfast in Wales, as we got to eat by the sea and go to the park. We then, with the Land Rover, boarded the boat over to Dun Laoghaire.  Saves you hiring a car when you  get there and means you can bring way more luggage than if flying.  Also better than flying as you get to walk around, have a meal and there are some shops where I fondly remembering buying Aaron a fire engine and all these years later Lottie does still play with it.  

You can also go up on deck which was really exciting for Aaron. He loved that there was a cinema and soft play area on board.  My Dad doesn't like the fast boat so we got the Stena Line with a sailing time of 3hr 15m and thankfully it was a smooth sailing as Dad also suffers from sea sickness.  After a pleasant ride across the Irish Sea we had a really long drive from Dublin to County Mayo where all of my family on both sides reside.  Being in the Land Rover made the journey comfortable, especially important given Aaron's age at the time.  We were so worried about how well he'd travel we invested in a portable DVD player especially for the journey.  We still have it and I still remember the movies he watched, on repeat: Curious George (yep and the play area on the boat was Curious George themed), Kungfu Panda and Ice Age

Aaron was easily pleased and a great little traveller to be fair. He was great company, funny and doesn't at all suffer from travel sickness.  I'm glad we didn't let the length of the journey put us off.  As long as he had his movies on, a couple of stickers books (Thomas and Friends and Spiderman) and was regularly fed snacks and watered he was an incredibly easy passenger.  Every now and again, which wasn't often he'd get a little restless and my Dad's wife played a game with him where they'd pick a colour car and spot them to count them.  

He did love the comfort of the Land Rover and the height you sit at and the view this benefited him.  I'd never until this point spent a great deal of time in one and was very impressed too.  Such a novelty was the interior space of the Land Rover and the fact that it was the same height as Aaron himself, every time Granddad stopped somewhere he'd take the chance to poke his head up through the sun roof as an excuse to get fresh air and stretch his legs.  In fact that was SUCH a nice way of getting to Ireland, that I think Lottie would enjoy, I think we should do it again! I'll  have to start working on Daddy.  We have a 4 wheel drive car which is similar to a Land Rover lol.  We can make do.

The Michalaks - pictured below - are my favourite You Tubers and they've worked with Land Rover several times so I feel like I always get updates on what the latest models are and my favourite video of theirs showcasing the Land Rover was their road trip around Scotland. They did the North Coast 500 road trip and the landscape is breath taking. Stef's cinematography  and editing helps of course.

My Dad had his Land Rover for many many years they really do stand the test of time. Quality spare parts for your Land Rover here bestPARTSTORE.co.uk

While researching this blog post I discovered that Stena Line no longer sail from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire and decided to focus on expanding their business with the Dublin Port so that's the end of an era. Times change I guess.

Anyway, Lottie has never been to Ireland so this is something we'll have to rectify in the near future.