Car insurance rate hunter recalls driving games for better journeys

It doesn't matter how committed you are, the sun will always start you thinking 'holiday'. Even here, where our focus on finding you the easiest way to the cheapest car insurance rate we can find is second to none, you'll sometimes see people staring over the motor insurance info on their screens, and out of the long west window at the power lines disappearing away into the distance and wishing we could follow them. Well, me, at least.

It's easy to forget the process of getting there, though, when you book a holiday. If, like many, you're staying in the UK this year, you'll have the drive to get to your destination; even if you're flying somewhere, there's the trip to the airport. And if you're anything like my family, you'll be thinking of the interminable "are we there yet"s and "I'm bored"s coming from the back seat (and, if truth be told, from my navigator).

So, here's some games we've used to pass the time better. I hope you'll find them useful.

Ghost
At least, this is what we were taught to call it when I was small, but it seems to have a few names. Someone will say a letter, and then the next person clockwise has to add a letter that moves towards making a word of more than three letters - but does not complete it. The person who completes the word loses the round. The first time you lose a round, you get the G of "ghost"; lose five rounds, and G-H-O-S-T, you're a full ghost, and out. Last one alive wins.

For example; player 1 says "P", player two says "L", player three says "A", and player four then has to think of a word that starts "PLA..." but isn't plan or play. Plate, perhaps? So four says "T", but the first player is smart enough to think of "platter" and adds another "T". By the time the word gets round to player 3 again, it's too late, and s/he gets a G of the ghost, and gets to start the next round.

If someone doubts that an addition can create a word, s/he can challenge - if the player who added the last letter can't think of a real word that uses the letters so far, s/he adds another letter of ghost, but if s/he can, the challenger has to take the ghost-letter instead.

Fizz
For the more mathematically minded; simply take it in turns to count, one by one, to 100. Only every number that is divisible by 3 is replaced by "fizz", every number divisible by 5 by "buzz", and every number divisible by 7 is "pop". Which means, say, 15 is "fizz-buzz", 21 is "fizz-pop", and 35 is "buzz-pop". If you get it wrong, everyone goes back to the start.

I've just been told the smart motor insurance whizzkids here are good at this. Me, not so much.

I Spy
Yes, you know this one, but it's a good one. We used to add a wrinkle that the person who got it right had to spot something beginning with the last letter of the thing before, so you need to look around for something on the verges of the M6 that began with a T after the previous person's "lamppost".

Punch Buggy Blue
This one we've never played; one of my car insurance company colleagues told me about it while I was writing this article. First person to spot a Volkswagen Beetle must register its colour, then punch someone else and say "Punch Buggy [colour]!" - so "Punch Buggy Blue!" or "Punch Buggy Yellow!" depending on the colours of the car spotted.

I'm not sure where the fun is in this one, and beating up on the driver might not be welcome in the terms of your cheap car insurance.

And as that shows, even on holidays, it's never long before work - chasing those car insurance rates, in my case - rears its head again. So hopefully something in this will help you make the most of your break, by helping you enjoy even the trip between your home and your holiday destination.

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