I posted earlier about my dilemma as to taking my Mini or my minivan on a trip from BC to Alberta. Lots of people posted as to their experiences with long distance travel in their Mini's and I thank all those that posted, it was a great read! I did end up taking the Mini on the trip, which actually lasted about 14 hours with all the stops. It was an awesome experience, luggage was a bit cramped with the bags and cooler that my wife insisted on taking, but I went with some soft bags which worked well using up the available space. Kids had a good amount of room and we all had a lot of fun. For me the driving experience was excellent! Being able to spend all those hours driving, plus all the time the following week was wonderful. It made me love the car that much more! I drove 15 hours in the car on the way home and honestly I could have driven all night I was having so much fun! A few observations I made along the way: I took the outside arms off of my kids booster seats so they had more room in the back seat, General Exclaim UHP tires were phenomenal on the trip, very quiet and smooth, roads in BC do not have the frost heaves that Alberta does - driving in BC is a dream compared to bouncing around Alberta. All in all a great trip and I wouldn't hesitate to take the Mini again! Thanks to all those who posted earlier.