{"id":413,"date":"2008-11-11T16:09:31","date_gmt":"2008-11-11T16:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/?p=413"},"modified":"2012-07-19T09:22:57","modified_gmt":"2012-07-19T09:22:57","slug":"dont-get-stressed-get-even-tips-for-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/413","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t Get Stressed, Get Cool: Tips For The Road"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 5th November was National Stress Awareness Day, it seems. Whoever decided it should be the same day as Bonfire Night clearly had a sense of humour, anyway&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Funny coincidences notwithstanding, those good people at <a href=\"http:\/\/Europcar.evyy.net\/c\/30237\/32216\/1027?subId1=blog&amp;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.europcar.co.uk%2FEBE%2Fmodule%2Frender%2Fuk-vans\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Europcar<\/a> have produced a guide to help you avoid the perils of driving-related stress &#8211; of which there are many.<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a run down of their best advice. In all seriousness, I would heartily endorse most of this. Road rage and its offspring are extremely dangerous, not to mention bad for your blood pressure. Although written for cars, these tips apply just as much to driving vans &#8211; which are bigger, heavier and require correspondingly more car than cars.<\/p>\n<p>So sit back, knock 5mph off your speed, put some decent tunes on and chill out. You&#8217;ll get there happier and safer and probably just as fast. <a href=\"http:\/\/news.europcar.co.uk\/2008-11-07\/motorists-could-save-more-than-800-a-year-in-fuel-costs-europcar-economy-drive-beats-official-mpg-figures-and-proves-renting-could-be-cheaper-than-driving-an-older-vehicle\/\" target=\"_blank\">You&#8217;ll also save money on fuel<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Ensure you\u2019ve had adequate rest before setting off on your journey \u2013 and that everyone has gone to the loo!\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing worse than getting caught short.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Don\u2019t exceed the speed limit and notice how much calmer you feel<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Ensure your seating position is comfortable<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Turn off your phone \u2013 then you won\u2019t be tempted to answer it if it rings<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Work out your route, as getting lost will increase the risk of stress. Europcar offers Sat Nav units to rent from all its branches<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Department for Transport advise driver to take a 15-minute break every two hours on a long journey<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Say thank you and apologise if you make a mistake<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Sing along to favourite songs or listen to an audio book<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Consider renting a larger car for long journeys to give everyone room<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Breathing and relaxation in a traffic jam:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Inhale through your nose for a count of five, then exhale for a count of eight. Stretch your hands out in front of you with fingers interlaced and palms facing outward. Hold the stretch for five seconds<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Curl your toes and tighten for a count of 10. Release<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Flex your foot (arching toes upward) and hold for a count of 10. Release and extend feet, hold for 10 and release.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Move up through your body tensing each area for 10 and then releasing.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">When you reach the hands, tense and release, first with fingers splayed outward and extended, then with the hands balled into a fist.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Scrunch face and then release. Prepare for funny looks from other drivers<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 5th November was National Stress Awareness Day, it seems. Whoever decided it should be the same day as Bonfire Night clearly had a sense of humour, anyway&#8230; Funny coincidences notwithstanding, those good people at Europcar have produced a guide to help you avoid the perils of driving-related stress &#8211; of which there are many. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[37],"tags":[479,63,478,480,477,476],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3523,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions\/3523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}