The lie one in eight Brits tell before a road trip to Cornwall

Ask anyone who has just driven back from a family holiday and they will tell you a road trip reveals more about the people in the car than a week at the destination ever does. New research suggests the same thing, and it turns out Britain is a nation of secret music-swappers, toilet-stop fibbers and people who would rather pretend to be asleep than read a map.

UK road trip searches have jumped hugely in the past year, as more people choose a staycation over a flight abroad. Against that backdrop, holiday park operator Parkdean Resorts surveyed 1,500 Brits to find out the unwritten rules the nation thinks we should all be following in the car, and Cornwall came out one of the big winners.

Cornwall’s place among Britain’s favourite road trip counties

The Scottish Highlands took the top spot as the UK’s ultimate road trip destination, chosen by 30% of those asked, with the Lake District close behind on 22%. Cornwall took third place on 14%, ahead of the Yorkshire Dales on 11% and the Peak District on 5%.

When it comes to what actually makes a destination worth the drive, half of Brits (50%) said beautiful scenery matters most, followed by beaches (10%), quiet roads (9%) and great pubs (7%). Cornwall’s combination of coast road, clifftop views and traditional pubs puts it squarely in the territory people say they are chasing.

The toilet break stand-off

Stops are one of the most common sources of tension in the car. One in eight (12%) admitted they have lied about needing the toilet purely to force a stop, while 10% confessed to ignoring someone else’s request to pull over altogether.

Patience for breaks runs thin. Nearly one in five (18%) said they are only willing to stop once during a journey, 29% would stop a maximum of twice, and 4% say they would not stop at all.

Who controls the playlist

Music causes its own arguments. Almost half (43%) believe the driver should be in sole charge of what plays, while just under a third (30%) think everyone should take it in turns to pick songs. One in five (20%) admitted to secretly changing the music without telling anyone else in the car.

What gets banned from the car

Food is the other great battleground. Almost half (46%) think anything with a strong smell should be banned from road trips altogether, making it the nation’s least popular travel snack, and 34% named smelly food as one of their top road trip irritations outright. A further 22% would ban anything that produces crumbs, while only 18% think no foods should be banned at all.

Britain’s biggest road trip bugbears

Smelly snacks are far from the only source of friction. The nation’s top frustrations, in order, are people being late to set off (40%), loud passengers (39%), backseat drivers (35%), smelly food (34%), messy eating and drinking (21%), complaining about the journey (21%), and constant requests for toilet breaks (20%).

Despite tardiness topping the list, three in ten (29%) more relaxed Brits reckon there is no such thing as leaving too late for a road trip. Among those who do have a cut-off, 19% want to be on the road by 11am, 16% are happy to leave by midday, and 22% think anything later than 10am has missed the window.

Getting lost, and other ways to dodge navigating

More than a third (34%) admitted to accidentally taking the scenic route after getting lost, and men (40%) were notably more likely to do it than women (29%), making men 11% more likely than women to lose their way at the wheel.

Backseat driving tells the opposite story. Over a quarter (27%) confess to doing it, and it is far more common among women (31%) than men (21%). Meanwhile 21% admit they constantly ask how much further there is to go, and a further 21% own up to exaggerating traffic conditions, claiming it was either worse or better than it really was. Some went further still, with 16% admitting they have pretended to be asleep purely to avoid having to navigate.

Whatever the arguments over playlists, snacks and toilet stops, Parkdean’s findings suggest Britain’s appetite for the road trip is not going anywhere, and drivers and passengers still cannot agree on the ideal car temperature.

📷Pendennis castle was first commissioned by King Henry VIII in response to invasion threats from the continent. Pendennis was built on the mouth of the River Fal, forming a formidable coastal defence with its twin, St Mawes Castle, on the other side.