Final few weeks with the GTC! 

Seeing as the weather has been so amazing the past week or 2, a bunch of us decided to go camping up Loch Lubnig! Its so nice up there, and I love Callander. Of course I had everyone's tents and sleeping bags in my car!! It wasn't until we set up our tents that we realised there were 5 highland cows and a big black bull joining us!! They didn't seem to bother about us though fortunately! We got a little camp fire started and had a dip in the Loch! On the way back I stopped at the most amazing fudge shop in Callander and the Woolen Mill. If anyone hasn't been to Callander then I suggest you go, there's something there for everyone.

I've also been visiting Peter Vardy in Kirkcaldy quite a lot recently and decided to treat myself to a new car from them. Not the GTC I'm afraid, although it was in my top 2! I decided on a new Mini Cooper so I picked that up a few weeks ago. As always, great service, great knowledge, and none of the nonsense sales patter you can receive from other garages - just the facts & their personal opinions. That's what I like about Peter Vardy. They did prefer the GTC to the MINI so they nearly changed my mind but I love the MINI and I'm glad with the choice I made. If you happen to be in the Kirkcaldy branch and see a car, I'd also recommend Sean King to help you out. If he's not around, Mark Gunn is the man for the job, he's been selling cars since before I was born!

Overall, in all honesty, I would highly recommend the Astra GTC to anyone. It's not specifically for younger people, or older people. It's for EVERYONE! Good insurance group, amazing on fuel, and all the latest technology and gadgets you need. There is so much space in the GTC, even people with small children who would usually go for a 5 door car could go for this. And the deals that Peter Vardy are offering at the moment, there's really no excuse. Starting at £39.99 a week, (T+Cs apply obviously) anyone can afford it.

I've had a great time with the car, no problems with it and I'll be sad to see it go :(. 
(If you decide you want one, go for it in white or red! STUNNING!)

A night out in Blackpool

So I've not been to Essex yet and I'm absolutely gutted :( It turned out only 2 of us could go so we thought we'd wait until all 5 of my friends can go down in the next few weeks. That just means the best is yet to come!!!
  My boyfriend invited me to the Rangers Legends game a few weeks ago! Not to be polite, just so I would drive and he could have a beer!! It's this kind of situation where you fall in love with the eco-friendliness of the GTC!! I genuinely think we sat in traffic longer getting in and out of Ibrox than we did watching football! But the car just turns itself off thanks to the startstop technology - you save fuel, and lots of it! It wasn't all a bad night though, Ally McCoist scored the one and only goal in the whole game and the crowd went wild. It was my first time at Ibrox too, and the Stadium Bar after! It was an experience!!

 

Talking of saving fuel, I can't believe all the panic buying at Petrol Stations!

  Linzi and I decided to head down to Blackpool for our night of glitz & glamour. By glitz and glamour I mean vodka & redbull, and chicken kebabs!! Blackpool is the poor man's Las Vegas and I love it!! It’s amazing!! The drive down is just one long straight road and I just put the cruise control on let the car drive itself! And we used just under half a tank of petrol to get there!! If we'd taken my old car it would have probably been about 2 full tanks just to get there! But we got to Blackpool and back home on 1 full tank! Perfect :)

visitblackpool.com

Lucky for us, the weather was lovely in Blackpool! Windy as always but perfect for "seeing the sights!" ha! We had a great breakfast in the New Yorker Cafe, and because we got lost, we ended driving down the entire length of the promenade! We headed straight out as soon as we got to our B&B to enjoy the nightlife and had great fun! We even had a little dip in the sea!!

The weather the next day was horrible so as you'll see from pictures we didn't get out of the car very much! But we still loved it and we're thinking about going back down soon!! Next on my list is Alton Towers which we will definitely be going to on Thursday 3rd of May (as I have a free tickets!) I am hoping that Essex will follow soon after!! 

Gretna Green Service Station

A sunny weekend shopping at Braehead

So, it was quite sunny last weekend and didn't feel that cold so me Linzi, Katie and Katie's little boy Jay decided to go to Aberdour and go to the beach! I really wanted to go to St. Andrews because it's my favourite place (I don't know why, there's just something about it) but we'd never been to the beach at Aberdour so we made a last minute detour. It wasn't very sunny and we spent most of the time in the car – not that this was necessarily a bad thing!! Absolutely freezing but still managed to go in for a wee dip and pretend we were on holiday! I never noticed how much room was in the back seats until wee Jay was sitting in them – he couldn’t kick his mum in the front seat which is a first!

Shopping Spree
I was also in dire need of some retail therapy so last Saturday me and my mum decided to go to Braehead Shopping Centre and spend some money!! Considering the GTC is quite a large car, it's surprisingly easy to park! And that's a bold statement coming from me, I couldn't even park a Corsa when I had one!! I've noticed quite a lot of cool things about this car which I wasn't told about to begin with, I suppose I had to figure them out for myself. For example, if no one told you how to open the boot, you would probably be like me and spend 15 minutes looking at it.

Coming back with what seemed like 60 bags of clothes and shoes, instead of dumping them on the ground, all I had to do was jab my elbow against the big Vauxhall badge and it opens :) the downside of having such a large boot is it means that me and my mum get to shop more to fill it!!

Knockhill
Never been to Knockhill before and really wanted to see what the fuss was about so on Sunday me and Linzi decided to go for a drive. There wasn't any cars racing but the gates to the track were open and I was really tempted just to drive in and rally the GTC about . . . but I knew Peter Vardy would probably have a heart attack (as would my insurance company!) so decided just to have a nosy at the cars that were up there. There were loads of amazing cars! All done up and covered in stickers. None as cool as the GTC though ;) maybe I'll suggest to Knockhill they should make the GTC their new track car! 

Beautiful wee Corsa VXR Nurburgring

Also had a little nosy up at Gleneagles to see if I could spot Gerard Butler - no luck but I'll find him one day!! For now I'm just counting down the days until the 7th of April when I go to ESSEX!!  

Stirling Castle, Loch Awe and a few places inbetween

So first week with the GTC.
I kept it local for the first few days, up to Stirling Castle and The Wallace Monument - I've not been there since I was 8!



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On Friday 03/03/12 we went up to the Portsonachan Hotel & Lodges in Dalmally, Argyll. First thing I noticed about the car was how smooth it is to drive, it's the perfect road trip car. In my own car you feel every lump and bump in the road but you don't feel a thing in the Astra GTC. Even though it's a 1.4 Turbo, the car has the 'Eco' button on the inside which is great. The 2 things I noticed that make this car eco friendly is the dashboard lights up and tells you when it's most eco friendly to change gear. I like this because I tend to change gear too early so it's quite handy. The second thing is if you're stuck in traffic or sitting at at traffic lights, if the car is in neutral and the handbrake is up, the car turns itself off to 'autostop' which you can see on the dashboard. The minute you put your foot on the clutch the car starts again and there's no hesitation, you just put it in first gear and drive away. That way you're saving fuel and cutting down on emissions.

At Stirling Castle

The GTC is a really spacious car too. Me, My boyfriend Adrian, my friend Stacey and her boyfriend Ross were going up to Argyll and it sits 4 people (and a crate of beer in the back) comfortably. Also managed 4 suitcases and another crate of beer in the boot.

Beautiful Loch Awe

On the shores of Loch Awe!

"The prefect roadtrip car!"

We've never been to the Portsonachan before but really enjoyed it. It's right on the bank of Loch Awe, you could throw yourself off the balcony and land in the water! 
On Saturday we took a drive up to Inverary, which is only about 9 miles from the Portsonachan. We stopped off at the famous Inverary Jail then the boys decided to go to the local George Hotel to watch the Arsenal vs. Liverpool game! I always whinge about Scotland is but it's really nice up in the Highlands - Amazing views, Amazing food and the people are so friendly!

Inveraray Jail

This coming weekend we're going up to St. Andrews for a day at the beach (weather it's raining or not!) Going down to Newcastle at the end of the month and down to Stoke-On-Trent on 29th of April for the Stoke vs. Arsenal game (not by choice!) and then Alton Towers the day after! 


Lot's of exciting trip's coming up!

Emma picks up her GTC from Vauxhall Motherwell

Handover day!
Emma dropped by our Motherwell dealership at lunchtime to collect her stunning white GTC before embarking on her ultimate journey(s) around the UK! For those of you who cant quite remember, Emma's journey includes a trip to Essex to create her own 'The Only Way is Essex' night out, a jaunt over to Blackpool, Alton Towers and a few places in between. It is sure to be an exciting few months and you can follow it all here.

Looking pretty pleased, unsurprisingly! 

Look out for #2 on her adventures around the UK!

Keep an eye out for Emma's blog posts over the coming weeks and months!

The Winners

Meet the lucky winners of the Ultimate Journey competition. We have some very inspirational and exciting people taking the GTC's to all four corners of the country.

Alasdair Campbell, Glasgow
Al is a 30 year old, professional driver from Glasgow. He is a huge formula 1 fan who loves to travel and explore new roads and unfamiliar places around the world.

Jen Whelan, Portsmouth
A self confessed 'crazy chic' who loves adventure, having fun and climbing mountains. Jen works as a teacher and will be climbing Kilimanjaro in May. She says the GTC will help her to get out exploring some of the most beautiful parts of the UK.

Emma Simpson, Dollar

A 21 year old Customer Service Executive from Dollar, Clackmannanshire. Admits shes obsessed with Las Vegas and is trying to save up enough money to travel around the world. Emma's dream is to move to surfers paradise on the golden coast of Australia. Her ultimate journey around the UK includes an 'Only Way is Essex' themed weekend!

Mark Cooper, Edinburgh
An inspirational man, Mark is an ultra runner, motivational speaker and charity fundraiser. His passion is sport and helping others to get healthy and fit. He says his best achievement to date is running 50 marathons in 56 days in 2010 - we cant disagree with that!