Ford C-Max Launch

15 March 2011

Ford

What you can do in 24 hours? Quite a lot it seems, as I was swept off my feet by Ford. The guys at the motor manufacturers flew me to Geneva gave us a car and dispatched me out of Switzerland and across France into Italy, the ski resort of Courmayeur to be exact - then dinner, off to bed, sleep, breakfast skiing on the Italian piste, lunch freshen up, drive back to Geneva airport and then home.

What a journey, what an adventure but I'm so glad I was a part of it.

It all started on Monday, a group of online journalist from several blogs and websites including ours, Femalefirst, where invited to Courmayeur to put Ford's latest state of the art C-Max vehicles through their paces.

We all converged on London City Airport to be met by Dan from Ford - our guide for the trip - before boarding the aircraft bound for Geneva.

On arrival we picked a partner for the road trip, I paired up with Lizzy which was great for me as never having driven on the wrong side of the road in a foreign country before.

I was not looking forward to this so Lizzy took the outward drive to the resort with me navigating then on our return journey I would drive and she would navigate.

Our car had a sat-nav so yes we would show the boys we will be first there having drinks at the bar waiting for them to arrive.

We did have a choice of cars we decided to choose the C-Max diesel, which was really cool, there are no keys which is a fabulous invention, if like me you have a big bag and can never find your keys.

In this case as long as the keys are in your bag and you get by your car it opens and you don't need the keys to start the car either you just press a button. I took a note of Bob's number, just in case and off we went.

After being told to follow signs for France its really easy once you're on the motorway it's just one road, well that was the plan anyway. I should have known it wasn't going to be that easy, first up my phone wouldn't work I had given the guys from Ford my new number, all I can say was thank goodness I had taken my old reliable little Nokia.

Well believe me if we had both been blonde I would have understood but being a brunette and a redhead we had no excuses.

It all started to go wrong when our sat-nav lady kept telling us to turn around and we could see the signs for France, but she knew best as she decided to take us on a tour of Geneva city centre peak time cars coming at us from both sides.

I did keep asking have we stalled but that is something else ford have introduced if you're in busy traffic and are at a standstill the car engine is turned off to save fuel but as soon as you put your foot on the clutch it fires up again, very economical.

After 20 minutes of not being able to see any signs for France I said I was going to ring Bob, who meanwhile unknowing to us been ringing my phone that wasn't working in Geneva to find out where we had disappeared to.

Anyway when we did speak to Bob we decided to take his directions and silence the lady from the sat-nav. so it was back to the airport and restart by following the signs for France which we did. This time we found the right road and rendezvoused at the border with Bob.

They did say just follow the map its easy from here, but no we had found them and there was no way were we going to let them out of our site we stuck to their bumper.

Once we were on the right road it was pretty easy to find Courmayeur we went through 2 border controls everything was so well organised Ford had put the money we needed for the tolls in the car so it was a pretty stress free journey. Guess who was the last car and drivers to the hote...l yes it was us,

The welcome at the Auberge-de-la-Maison was perfect, a lovely glass of champagne and meats waiting for us at the entrance, unfortunately being so late and holding everyone back we had to book in, have a quick freshen up and back to reception to meet and greet with the rest of our group, as we were off out for pre drink dinners and canapés.

I have to say the Café was lovely, warm and cosy and to be honest I could have spent the rest of the evening there it was so relaxing. But with so much to fit in and only 24 hours to do it was off for Dinner.

Again everything was so well organised and the menu was planned that was down to Amin, his company momentum.com specialise in holidays, which are a bit different not the normal run of the mill. You tell them where you want to go how long what sort of food you like and that’s it he or his colleagues will do the rest.

Everything is sorted which makes the stay so much more special everything possible is organised for you. After our dinner we went for a few drinks in a local bar then back to the hotel.

Tuesday morning: Up at first light bright and breezy down for breakfast and ready for the piste. Amin and Emma had everything planned at arrival they had noted what level of skier each of us were, as for me well 20 years ago I was ok, so thought I didn't need to be in with the beginners but the intermediates.

I could do this, and believing the old proverb, 'you never forget it's like riding a bike it just comes back to you'. Well believe me that's not true I found just putting the skies on I was slipping everywhere, at that point I decided it would be best to join the beginners.

All I can say is I survived after several big wipe outs nearly taking lots of tinny little ones out who are fearless, poor Dan was the man, tasked with looking out for me, he waited for me and every time I went down he was there to try and get me back on my feet.

I have to say at one point I was convinced my life passed before my eyes. Nevertheless it was brilliant the snow, the place and the people, I loved it.I did have a few runs on the nursery slops which was so good.

Lunch could not come quick enough for me and we had the pleasure of lunch at the Malison Village the food and the view were both spectacular, what perfect end to the day on the slopes.

Having learnt from the journey out Lizzy and I had decided rather than use the sat-nav or the map could we follow Bob back to the airport and give ourselves enough time to test the other Ford cars.

I was especially interested in the 7 seater, having four children I need a big family car. Anyway I am driving back on the wrong side of the road but right if you are European.

The drive back, the scenery, the mountains, the houses were all just breath taking and we were in plenty of time having left 20 mins ahead of our group.

So what are the chances of getting lost, we missed the airport turn off and ended up going thought the centre of Geneva, yet again, it was a case of deja vu we have been here before.

Bob jumped out of his car at the traffic lights, panicking that we were going to miss our flight. fortunately we had plenty of time so just enjoyed the sights.

Once again can you guess which journalists were the last to arrive - yes it was us, not being able to have a good look around the other cars, I will have to save that for another day, but I have put in my request to test drive the 7 seater, I will have to let you know how that goes.