My preferred method of travel has always been my bike. I have friends

My preferred method of travel has always been my bike. I have friends who all insist that they could never live without having the convenience of owning a car, and although I can see the appeal of being able to take off whenever you want and being able to take other people along with you for the ride I think I'll stick to my trusty push bike.

I'll admit that when I need to travel somewhere of some distance or I need to pick up a large amount of shopping I am grateful that my boyfriend has a car and is able to give me a lift, but when I'm riding to work on my bike and I'm whizzing past all the people stuck in the morning traffic it makes me feel good that I don't have to keep stopping and starting every five minutes. I don't even mind a bit of rain, I've got waterproof clothing and when did getting wet do anyone any harm?

My boyfriend has tried to get me to learn to drive but I am of the opinion that boyfriends don't make the best driving instructors. I firstly don't want to be responsible for crashing his beloved car into a ditch somewhere, which would undoubtedly happen. I also don't want to fall out with him when he starts shouting at me for doing the wrong thing. Don't get me wrong he is a very patient man who doesn't normally shout but so is my father and when he taught my mum to drive they fell out constantly until he agreed to pay for her lessons.

There is one scenario that me and my boyfriend have discussed and if it came about then I would have to give in and learn to drive. We have been talking about going to Australia for a year and we would travel about in a camper van. It would be very unfair of me to expect him to drive the whole way on his own. I would have to share the driving responsibility to enable him to enjoy the trip rather than being the constant designated driver.