I know I am not alone in hating the drudgery of travelling via airports lately.
Commuting to the airport umpteen hours early. Paying for parking or even to be dropped off nowadays. Queuing for check-in. Queuing for security. Queuing for the plane. Cramped seats. Delays… Queuing for passport control. Queuing to collect your luggage. And that’s if it actually shows up with you at your destination…
Airline travel isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Hell, it isn’t even what it used to be.
This year, we decided we’d had enough and decided to do something different with our precious holiday time. And to be in more control.
I’d always dreamed of driving along the French Riviera, so we booked a campsite on a beach in Grimaud in the south of France and set about planning our trip across the Channel.
Choosing a suitable car was easy. I couldn’t think of a better way to experience driving through France for the first time than in the most quintessential French motor brand imaginable - Citroen.
I wanted a vehicle that was big enough to fit me and my wife as well as all our camping gear inside, but not so large it would struggle with, by reputation, narrow French roads… and be nippy enough to perform a U-turn should I take a wrong turn.
The C3 Aircross was the perfect weapon of choice. Our model’s demeanour in gorgeous grey was deceptively Tardis-like (bigger on the inside than it looks from the outside) and ticked all our boxes; it’s toted as a mini SUV which at first sight looks like a big mini. We easily packed in a large four man tent, cooking gear, deck chairs and table, clothes, beach umbrella… everything we thought we might need, including (almost) the kitchen sink as, intent on elevating our camping experience to the next level, we also packed a new camping kitchen unit.
The rear seats folded forwards (increasing the capacity from an already generous 510l to a staggering 1289l) to allow for it all and still allow enough visibility out of the rear mirror. The interior of the car was surprisingly comfortable at this price range (rrp starts at £25,890) and there was the built in bonus of Apple Car Play (more on this later).
The C3 looks snazzy too, with modern LED lamps at the front end - the Aircross looks and feels like a more expensive car than it costs. Speaking of cost, the car does an advertised 51.5mpg, which means this is exactly the kind of car you should be driving when you are driving long distances and are worried about the volatile price of petrol.
Getting to the south of France was surprisingly easy and now I know how, we intend to do it again and again. We booked a return ticket via EuroTunnel from Folkestone to Calais, journey time 35 mins, and stayed in a cheap Kent hotel the night before our 7am train to avoid queues.
Driving on the right hand side of the road when we reached the other side was remarkably easy. I struggled with converting MPH to KM/H in my head for the first 20 mins of the journey, so pulled over to the side of the road to easily switch over the settings in the Aircross driver display. From then on it was pretty much plain sailing; the car easily recognises French speed limit signs and cautions you on the driver screen as you meander through the countryside.
French motorways are as easy to drive as they say. It took about 10 hours with breaks to get to Macron in central France where we’d booked a B&B for the night before another six hour drive on to the bay of St Tropez the next day. This is where I really appreciated being in the Aircross, as the seats were suitably comfy for such a long drive. The C3 was so very quiet, I often didn’t notice I should be driving in a higher gear than I was in.
The only issue we had I would caution anyone embarking on a similar journey about - and you would get this with any right hand drive car - is the high number of times you have to pay to drive on the many private motorways in France. The toll booth where you tap your card is always on the left hand side of the car, meaning unless you have a co-driver, you must jump out of the car and walk around to complete your transaction. French drivers queuing behind you are not the most patient while you do this. There are thankfully a tonne of cubby holes and storage consoles around the seats of the C3 for you to quickly chuck in your wallet or pull out a ticket you have stored or find loose change to stick in a machine when you’re in such a hurry.
That mild inconvenience is worth it for the incredible drive through sumptuous French countryside views which just gets better and better. We spent the next week exploring the French Riviera driving backwards and forwards along the coast line, taking in Cannes, Nice, St Maxim and Antibes, our mouths agog. At times it seemed like around every bend there’s a lush green vineyard, enchanting quaint village or fragrant vineyard to tantalise your senses.
The C3’s ride height feels high so you get a good view of everything out of your window but also always a reassuring idea of where you are pointing your car as you drive. Even in busier cities or on busier roads you didn’t feel dwarfed or intimidated by larger vehicles. I really appreciated the overhead camera which pops up on the screen when you are parking - essential when driving into busy towns and cities where available parking spaces were at a premium.
The Aircross comes with some other thoughtful ‘extras’ as standard you wouldn’t normally plump for but make that little bit of extra difference, from door fob which can tell when you are approaching (no keys to mess around with here) to the plastic luggage compartment tray in the boot.
And then there’s that Apple CarPlay - I found it so much easier to connect my phone and navigate using the Google Maps app from my mobile than via the built in TomTom SatNav software. And once I discovered how easy it was to drive around listening to music and radio shows from the UK via the BBC Sounds app, there was no going back.
The only two things we would pack on our journey next time would be a portable gazebo to erect around our tent to give us some shade so close to the beach (we were there during the summer heatwave) and I would take a car cover to protect it from the sand. I’d have no problem fitting either in the C3, but if we’d had children along for the ride with us, I would have opted for the C4 or C5 with all the camping gear we brought with us.
There were no downsides to the C3 I can honestly think of to mention. The only downside of the return journey is that France is more beautiful as you venture south, so the drive back to the UK gets increasingly grey as you approach the Channel.
But we arrived back in the UK excited about when we could do it all again, knowing we had broken the chain of being slaves to air travel forever.
