While thousands prepare to take up the challenge of driving the family across the continent, imagine driving your brothers half-way across the world.
A holiday from hell for some, but it's been a trip of a lifetime for the Crowley boys. So if you are worried about the dog, the heat and the toddler on the drive to Biarritz, try taking a 22,000 mile trip across three continents, 14 countries and several bodies of water with a brother long-past his life expectancy on a cocktail of medicines.
The recipe for surviving the epic trip: maps, a compass, several CDs, hard currency, a consultant's letter to explain the drugs, a stock of Lynx, Sudocream, the Irish flag and a smile.
The four month trip by Cian, and twins Shane and Darragh Crowley is an effort to help raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis, an incurable genetic disease affecting 5 per cent of people here. Darragh was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis at birth, and given 12 years to live. Now 22, he was able to complete the journey with his inhaler, two nebulisers and over 2,000 tablets.
The team cruised some of the brilliant European Autostrada but much of the route would make the Walkinstown roundabout, the approach to the Arc de Triomphe, and Brussels' yield-to-cars from the right system, look like feats of cutting-edge traffic management.
But it was not all hard-grind foot to the floor driving. The travellers stopped off at Cystic Fibrosis centres along the way, indulged in the sights and did some fundraising.
Melbourne in March was the starting point of their self-funded long journey home. Shane (29) had just spent three years working there as an architect.
The three brothers and a cameraman set off in their Toyota Land Cruiser along the Gold Coast to Darwin to board a freight ship to Indonesia. Re-possessing the Toyota in Jakarta took five days negotiation and required the old brown envelope technique with $150 in it for the agents at the port. Thank God for low inflation economies.
Once back on the "road", they crossed the equator into Northern Sumatra, testing the car's gears on tracks hacked out of volcano craters. When they arrived at the port to take a ferry to Malaysia only an old fruit cargo ship was available. "We watched the Land Cruiser wrapped in fishing net swing as it was hoisted by a crane into the bows of the ship for the 10 hour crossing," says Shane Crowley. "We didn't know if the crane would be strong enough to take it."
It did, and some of the best roads they drove on were in Malaysia: "They were as good as any that you would find in the west. The main roads in Thailand were pretty good also, and we coasted through both countries," says Shane.
The team had spent seven months trying to secure a permit to drive through Myanmar, but failed and so had to ship the Land Cruiser from Bangkok to Calcutta.
While it was in transit they flew to Katmandu, Nepal and met up with the Irish team climbing Everest. Shane and Cian completed a 110-mile trek to Base Camp to raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis and celebrated in the local tradition with Killer Pool and Shots of Shame.
Or maybe it was all in preparation for the gruelling bus journey to Calcutta to re-claim the Land Cruiser. While the agents were the problem in Jakarta, in Calcutta it was the customs officers who requested "presents" before the Toyota could be moved the 200 yards from the docks to the road. The equivalent of €1,000 was needed to do the trick.
And the prize? India is the Mecca for those who have a motoring deathwish or who seek a permanent twisted thrill at the wheel. The general rule is the bigger and faster vehicle has right of way, a lot like the lorries and buses at home really.
Driving in India involves a certain karma with the belief that if you are in an accident the gods will look after you. So there are norules. Red traffic lights seem to be for decoration and some even bear the word "Relax".
Traffic is made up of donkeys, rickshaws, bicycles, motorbikes, trucks, cars often without wing mirrors or working lights and thousands of pedestrians travelling in temperatures of up to 46 degrees on roads without lanes.
... In one 24-hour period they witnessed 15 major accidents. These included an oil-tanker that had jackknifed, a head-on collision between a bus and a truck, a truck swelled to capacity which tipped over having cornered at pace, as well as numerous car collisions.
"The most hazardous driving conditions were in India. "We had several near misses," says Shane. "Third-rate roads filled with over-loaded trucks where the drivers seemed to have their feet permanently to the floor and the lights on high-beam at night. It required 100 per cent concentration and doing no more than 30 mph."
Travelling through Pakistan was one of the most memorable but frightening parts of the trip. Much of it is warlord territory and features several local "police" checkpoints with guards bearing Kalashnikovs. The travellers were briefed on the significance of the various uniforms, what colours were official, when they should stop and when they should step on the gas.
Fourteen weeks into the trip, at 1 a.m. and not far from the sign "You are not entering Tribal Pakistan", the Land Cruiser broke down.
Unleaded petrol is as scarce as hen's teeth there and though they had filled the tank with unleaded at the Indian border, they had to rely on low-grade leaded petrol in Pakistan.
They sat for an hour to let the sediment settle in the fuel tank, watching some erratic torch-signalling in the hills before re-starting the engine. They motored on to Quetta and changed the fuel filter to continue through the "amazing lunar landscape" of the desert leading to the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Turkey came next and Albania soon followed. Northern Albania has a serious banditry problem and so driving was confined to the daytime only. They crossed Montenegro, Bosnia and Croatia, before motoring into the Europe with which Irish holidaying-families would be most familiar.
In Italy they detoured to Rome, another city of traffic chaos, and then headed to France. The brothers are currently in Britain and are expected to splutter into Dún Laoghaire at the end of the week. A motoring fanatic's idea of fun, testimony to the power of luck and determination, but not for the timid.
In case you are tempted, be warned that nearly two years of planning went into the "Drive for Life" trip. During that time the team took travel guidance from the Department of Foreign Affairs and the British Commonwealth Office as well as much medical advice.
The Irish embassies abroad supplied introductory letters explaining the initiative in the local language. Toyota arranged an international service agreement for the vehicle, DHL guaranteed delivery of spare parts when needed and the brothers did a car mechanics and first aid course.
"Drive for Life" hopes to raise €250,000 by October for the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland and for facilities at Crumlin Children's Hospital where Cystic Fibrosis sufferers may need to spend much of their short lives. The website is www.driveforlife.ie or www.theaislingfoundation.org.