Sponsored Video: Win TomTom trip of a lifetime

Image courtesy of the Guardian

Got your holidays sorted yet? We’re going camping and I’m praying that summer will indeed allow itself to be coaxed out of hiding just in time, otherwise Mummy will be a nightmare!

“Take your boots off! Don’t stand there in just your socks! Don’t think about coming in the tent with that wet coat on! Keep that zip up! Nonononnono you’re covered in mud!! No you cannot go to the loo in the middle of the night! Keep the noise down! Will you just put your boots on! Bloody hell where’s the wine??”

Personally I’m happy as the proverbial pig in mud, but Mummy is old. She needs crystal blue waters bordering on 30°C, not a luke-warm sluicing in a self-composting shower with a queue outside. She craves the massage of warm sand to coax her spine out of its intransigent hibernation, not 3 nights on an airbed with the damp cold earth sending up evil vibes to her cranky joints.

What a shame we can’t afford the tropical island paradise adventure of a lifetime. Or could we…?

Win the chance to map a paradise island with TomTom

Earlier this month, TomTom launched its Map Paradise Project, recruiting families and groups of friends to help map five tropical islands. The third island, Cape Verde, needs mapping next, and TomTom is looking for people to spend two weeks on the island carrying out that job. If it sounds like work, you may like to know that the mapping field work will take anything from a day to two weeks, depending on how much time you allocate each day to chilling out with cocktails on the beach! And, and, and.. you will be paid €10,000 for going on this holiday of a lifetime!

Successful applicants will need to explore Cape Verde in a specially equipped mapping car, the first stage of the TomTom map-making process. No mapping experience is needed, but TomTom is looking for people who would enjoy visiting rainforests, banana and coconut plantations, who don’t mind great weather and who have a decent sense of direction. Helloooo?? *Jumps up and down frantically*

To apply for this rather special job – and win an incredible holiday, obviously – you just need to click on the video link above, which will take you to the TomTom site, where you can fill out your application form. You do have to very succinctly state why you would be the best family for the job, stuff like how how you enjoy discovering new places, have a decent sense of direction and would appreciate great weather and fabulous paradise settings. Simple, although to win you have to be the most interesting of all the applications, according to the judges. But I reckon that’s totally worth effort for the payoff, especially if it means no moaning from the oldies about mud, rain, and noisy neighbours!

If you do win, my advice is this:

Avoid Mummy and her aching back for a few weeks, eh? Failing that, a bottle of popping wine always lightens her mood – briefly…

This post has been sponsored by TomTom. I received payment for this post, but all editorial is my own.