When I passed my test, my friends had organised a meal to celebrate. Of course, I was the designated driver! I had to pick my friends up and I was very nervous - bearing in mind I haven’t driven with my friends in my car yet! To my surprise, my drive actually went ok… I mean, it could have gone a bit better because I did stall it a couple of time, which is something that I hadn’t done much off since I was learning in my car. The more I drove after passing my test, the more confident I became on the roads! Last month I decided to take the plunge, and drive with my two 8-year-old sisters in my car! Let the judging commence…

I was worried about the first drive

Honestly? I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it, as I had no experience driving with children in my car before. I thought that my sisters would ask me questions about my car, what I’m doing if they could have the radio on loud – all of which would probably make me a tad more nervous and stressed that I already was. I was just imagining that they were going to make a lot of noise and I’d lose my concentration.

How did it go?

I put both of my sister’s car seats in the back seats and made sure that they were comfy and had enough leg room, but were also secured into place.  The trip began and surprise, surprise, my sisters asked me a million questions about the car and my driving, luckily I managed to answer whilst keeping my concentration on the road. They were so intrigued to see their big sister chauffeuring them about! The biggest nightmare with them was that they kept asking for me to drive with my roof down (who told them about that feature, ay?) Luckily, we had amazing weather that day so I decided to take the plunge and do it! My sisters loved it! I decided to take my sisters for a trip to our local town. The drive to town wasn’t too bad, but I did pick a pretty complicated route – no idea why! I went over a roundabout and straight onto the dual carriageway, don’t get me wrong I was still slightly worried because I had my sisters as passengers, but I absolutely loved driving at 70mph. When we eventually arrived at the car park - I let the parking commence!

When the time came to park, all that was going through my head was that I couldn't do it, and I entered some sort of blank mode! But I surprised myself because I managed to do the reverse bay park even with all the distractions I was facing. We took a walk around town, and did some clothes shopping – because who doesn’t love clothes shopping? Well, my sisters apparently… After walking around a few shops, they were eager to get back home!

The journey home

On the way home, for some reason (and this is probably something I will regret for a long time) I decided that before hopping back in the car, I’d treat us all to hotdogs! I said to my sisters that I didn’t want my car to be messy so if they can eat it before we reach the car, then that would be amazing! Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure one of my sisters snuck food into my car because there was ketchup on my window and hot dog on the floor when I got home! I’d only had my car cleaned 2 days before the trip, so another trip to get it cleaned was in order. Whose idea was this road trip again?

The trip home, which should have taken half an hour ended up taking double that because of the traffic! Needless to say, two impatient 8-year-olds weren’t happy that it took longer to get home than planned. When we eventually got home, I don’t think they’ve ever been so happy to get out of my car! The relief and excitement that I had made this trip, was amazing – I was proud of myself. My sisters even complimented me on my driving, so it wasn’t too bad!

It can be a nervewracking experience when you take your first driving with passengers, especially if they're your younger siblings! I think we can all agree that Chanell did really well, keeping her nerves to a minimum!