The traditional road trip is back in vogue as more than half of Britons swap planes, trains for automobiles and hit Britain’s open roads in 2020
The lockdown has reminded Britons of the priceless nostalgia of their childhood family road trips
The traditional family road trip is having a reboot in popularity this year as we swap planes and trains for automobiles. A new travel report out today by Travelodge has revealed that 60% of Britons are taking at least two road trips across Britain this year.
Topping Britain’s 2020 road trip route this year is the Scottish Highlands. The other road trip routes to make the top ten list include:
- The Peak District
- The Lake District
- Cornwall Coast
- The Yorkshire Dales
- The Coastal Way Wales
- Glasgow to Isle of Skye
- Causeway Coastal Route
- Snowdonia National Park
- Atlantic Highway
The average journey is 4.5 hours, during the drive we play I-Spy, have two arguments, listen to Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, and munch our way through bags of cheese & onion crisps and wine gums and make a picnic stop. For company, Sir David Attenborough is our ideal car companion and our top scenic drive is through the Scottish Highlands in our dream car, a Range Rover.
This year, Travelodge, the UK’s first budget hotel chain celebrates 35 years of making travel affordable for everyone. The budget hotel chain opened its first hotel on the A38, Burton (Northbound) in 1985. Today the company operates 573 hotels across the UK and has many hotels conveniently located across the length and breadth on Britain’s popular roads.
To mark this milestone anniversary, Travelodge surveyed 2,000 British adults to seek their views on the traditional road trip which inspired the company to open its first hotel over three decades ago. Key findings revealed that a third (33%) of British adult’s reported that their greatest childhood holiday memories are when they took a UK family road trip. A fifth of adults (20%) confessed that their love of road trips stems from stopping off at a service station.
Over a quarter (26%) of Britons reported that they love taking a road trip holiday as it feels adventurous and they are in charge of their trip. Over half of Britons (54%) reported that they like to take a road trip as they can visit multiple locations as part of one holiday and 65% of Britons reported that they break up their journey by stopping over in a hotel.
A fifth (20%) of Britons reported that they enjoy taking a road trip holiday as they can take their dog and a third (33%) of adults stated that their greatest memories are of taking a road trip holiday.
Twenty six per cent of Britons also reported that taking a road trip is a great way to spend quality time with family and friends.
Further research findings revealed with safety against Covid-19 at the forefront of the nation’s minds, 44% of adults reported that they feel safer travelling in their own car to their holiday destination this year. Over half of Britons reported that they do not currently feel safe travelling by plane and 42% reported that they feel unsafe travelling by train.
The study also revealed that a quarter (25%) of Britons reported that sweets and music are the two key essentials of a road trip. On average Britons spend £24.36 on vital snacks and sweets to munch through their long arduous road trip.
Chewy, fruity sweets are the nation’s favourite car sweets with Wine Gums, Fruit Pastels and Jelly Babes topping the road trip sweets poll. Interestingly, Simpkins, the world’s original English tinned travel sweets made since 1921 and hark back to many a childhood are still popular today and take eighth position in the essential road trip sweets poll.
When it comes to road trip snacks, Britons love to crunch their way through bags of crisps with cheese & onion, salt & vinegar and ready salted being the top car journey flavours.
No road trip is complete without a bar of chocolate and the nation’s favourite drive time bar is Kit Kat followed by a Cadbury’s Daily Milk, Mini Eggs, Chocolate Buttons and Chocolate Eclairs.
Interestingly six out of ten (60%) of Britons pack a picnic for their big road trip and 64% of respondents will break up their journey and find a pretty scenic setting en-route to have a picnic. Whilst 41% of Britons will devour their picnic in the car and 22% will stop off at a service station to enjoy their picnic.
When it comes to car entertainment, music remains key with 40% of Britons opting to listen to the radio during their car journey. Just under a third (31%) of Britons like to listen to their personal road trip play list whilst 27% prefer to sing along to the radio.
Over half (53%) of the nation prefer to listen to pop/ chart music during their road trip, whilst 44% of Britons opt for rock music, 23% tune into R&B and 21% like to listen to country & western music.
When it comes to the ultimate road trip tunes, Britons prefer the classics with Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen being the ultimate road trip track, followed by Dancing Queen by Abba in second place, Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams in third place, Hotel California by Eagles in fourth position and Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac in fifth position.
Interestingly 18% of Britons like to laugh their way through their road trip and listen to a comedy podcast whilst 15% utilise their drive time to learn and listen to a TED podcast and 12% tune into a sports podcast.
Playing traditional car games to help pass the drive time is still a firm favourite with Britons and the game I Spy which originates back to the early 20th century is the nation’s favourite car game. In second place is people watching and creating stories about characters on the roads. In third place is 20 Questions, fourth place is the License Plate game and in fifth place is ‘Name That Song’.
The report also asked Britons who would be their ideal road trip companion and topping the poll is our national treasure with his soothing voice is Sir David Attenborough who tells stories like no other and manages to bring life and enthusiasm to the most unlikely tales.
In second place is comedian, actor, writer and broadcaster Stephen Fry and in third place is our favourite 44th US President, Barrack Obama. Ant and Dec take fourth place and Dr Who star, David Tennant takes fifth position. Kanye West, Donald Trump and Chris Harris are the three people that we definitely don’t want to be stuck with on a road trip with.
The tables below details Britons top 20 road trip driving songs, companion and scenic routes
|
Driving Song | Companion | Scenic Route |
1 | Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen | Sir David Attenborough | Scottish Highlands |
2 | Dancing Queen by ABBA | Stephen Fry | The Peak District |
3 | Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams | Barrack Obama | The Lake District |
4 | Hotel California by Eagles | Ant and Dec | Cornwall Coast |
5 | Go Your Own Way by Fleetwood Mac | David Tennant | The Yorkshire Dales |
6 | Sweet Caroline by Niall Diamond | Sir Billy Connolly OBE | Coastal Way Wales |
7 | I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles): The Proclaimers | Holly Willoughby | Glasgow to Isle of Skye |
8 | Eye of The Tiger by Survivor | Dawn French | Causeway Coastal Route |
9 | Wonderwall by Oasis | Louis Theroux | Snowdonia National Park |
10 | Under Pressure by Queen | Ricky Gervais | Atlantic Highway |
11 | American Pie by Don McLean | Dame Judi Dench OBE | North Coast 500 |
12 | Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon | Michelle Obama | Yorkshire Wolds – Moors |
13 | Walking on Sunshine: Katrina & The Waves | Paul O’Grady | Wales Coast to Coast |
14 | Rockin’ All Over The World by Status Quo | Graham Norton | Somerset to Cheddar Gorge |
15 | The Final Countdown by Europe | Stacey Solomon | Oxford to Wye Valley |
16 | Don’t Stop Believin’ by The Journey | James Cordon | The Cambrian Way |
17 | Highway to Hell by ACDC | Michael McIntyre | Kendal To Keswick |
18 | I Got A Feeling by Black Eyed Peas | Jeremy Clarkson | Loch Lomond to Garelochhead |
19 | Sweet Dreams by Eurythmics | Stacey Dooley | Lands’ End to St Ives |
20 | Summer Time by Mungo Jerry | HRH Duchess of Cambridge | Brecon Beacons |
The table below details Britons top 20 road trips snacks
Snack | Sweet | Chocolate | |
1 | Crips | Wine Gums | Kit Kat |
2 | Sandwiches | Fruit Pastels | Cadbury’s Dairy Milk |
3 | Baps / rolls | Jelly Babies | Cadbury’s Mini Eggs |
4 | Sausage Rolls | Liquorice All Sorts | Cadbury’s Chocolate Buttons |
5 | Cookies | Weathers Original | Cadburys Chocolate Eclairs |
6 | Muffins | Mint Imperials | Milk Chocolate Raisins |
7 | Pretzels | Simpkins Travel Sweets | Bounty |
8 | Cheese & crackers | Fizzy Cola Bottles | Boost Bar |
9 | Nuts | Fox’s Glacier Mints | Daim Bar |
10 | Popcorn | Sherbet Lemons | Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut |
11 | Pastie | Acid Drops | Chocolate Coins |
12 | Hard boiled eggs | Starburst | Cadbury’s Fudge |
13 | String cheese | Haribo Starmix | Galaxy |
14 | Protein Bars | Pear Drops | Mars Bar |
15 | Hummus & Celery | Humbugs | Snickers Bar |
16 | Beef Jerky | Chewits | Cadbury’s Crunchie |
17 | Trail Mix | Toffees | Cadbury’s Wispa |
18 | Rice cakes | Tic Tacs | Reese’s Pieces |
19 | Oat Bars | Jelly Beans | M&M’s |
20 | Flapjacks | Dolly Mix | Cadbury’s Star Bar |
Shakila Ahmed, Travelodge Spokeswoman said:
“This year, Travelodge celebrates 35 years of making travel affordable for everyone. To mark this milestone, we wanted to pay homage to our first roadside hotel, Burton A38 Travelodge by conducting a study on the traditional road trip. This hotel opened in 1985 to provide accommodation for travelling leisure and business travellers. Our findings revealed that Britons love for a road trip is still as strong today as it was 35 years ago and 2020 is set to be a bumper to bumper year as Britons swap planes, trains for automobiles and hit Britain’s open roads.”
“Today we operate 573 hotels across the length and breadth of the UK and to celebrate our 35th birthday and to help Britons make the most of their road trip we have released over one million rooms for £29 or less. So now Britons can make the most of 2020 and get behind the wheel and discover what makes Great Britain so great.”
The report also asked Britons which route is their dream scenic drive in the UK and the Scottish Highlands which covers nearly 10,000 sq. miles of stunning scenery and is home to Nessie, the Loch Ness monster came in first place.
The Peak District took second place, famous for its Snake Pass that dates back to 1821 and crosses the Pennines between Glossop and the Ladybower Reservoir at Ashopton. The pass has beautiful green hills on each side and runs along the river Ashop.
The Lake District took third place – famous for its series of 16 stunning driving routes between the main lakes and the 126 mile National Park circular route.
Further research findings revealed that Britons dream road trip car is a Range Rover, followed by Land Rover in second place, an Aston Martin in third place, a Jaguar in fourth position and a Rolls Royce in fifth place.