British Expatriate Network

Doing road trips this week, the wife said (her being an american) I wish they had motorway service areas, like they have in the UK and Europe. I thought about it and thought it a good idea.

Tend to see only rest stops here. Ok the food at stains services is not good, but at least you can get out, eat, buy and washup etc other than a rest stop here tends to be a pee and a coke from a vending machine and off again..


So looking for a bunch of folks to invest and build a service station lol

but the problem is, in this country is that there is a gas station / truckstop / restaurant / at most exits anyhow.......

if the government were to invest in service plaza's (as they are called on toll roads) they'd hit a lot of small communities by interstates which derive a lot of their income from passing motorists

Screw them, give us the Happy Eater or the Little Chef.

The best motorway cafe was on the A30. It was a truck stop, you got a mug of tea you could stand a spoon up in and a fry up sufficient to feed four for very little money. And the truckers were nice too. lol
Ah the days when hitching was safe.

I was going to say, I've seen something similar to motorway services. They are fine but aren't any better worse than the stops that are just off the highways because you always get warnings ahead of time of what is available at the next exit and how far each facility is away from the exit.

What I like is there is a website for the 95 interstate that gives you all the hotels, restaurants and facilities for every exit. It would be great if they came up with similar websites for all the other major highways :)

Had a popular truck stop not many miles from us on the M35 that we used to frequent .
it had a decent meal for less than $12 home made deserts unlimited coffee, tea and live music on fri nights (free admission )

Unfortunatly it saw some lean times what with the road improvements on M35 and nearby shopping mail construction and a ruling from austin city council that he had to go *non smoking * the owner was forced to close it .

if any reader is interested in opening a full service truck stop ( i mean full restaurant , shop , changing room . hotel , gas station , etc )ill give you the name of the reality comp listing it ,as far as i know its still on the market ..

Yep see that there are service that are off the freeway, but the great thing about service areas in the UK is you don't leave the free way. Its off and back on again.

so you're willing to let thousands lose their livelihoods so you can save 30 seconds of time?

as Moo said, is that not the american way lol (joke)

Manc as a truck driver would you not like to have those rest stops made more useful?

some alternative lifestyle guys find them very usefull many hang out at truck stops and use the *glory hole* cut in the wall between the cubicles

lots of rest area's have wireless internet now, that's good enough for me.

lots of truckers have their own fridges and stoves, so we sort ourselves out.