Zagreb, Pisa, Nice... it's the life of Brian

Most of us like to take a relaxing break during the summer months – maybe a bit of sightseeing and a hint of adventure. But for coach driver Brian McIlwrick the next few months are just one long journey.

The Weston-super-Mare- based coach driver works for local firm Bakers Dolphin as their European driver.

Which means he'll spend the next few months travelling thousands of miles around Europe, moving from one fly-drive set of coach trippers to the next across the continent.

The company prides itself on the fact that customers can enjoy the reassurance of a British coach driver no matter where they fly to in Europe, so 60-year-old Brian has the job of getting there.

"It's a strange existence for me now all the way through to September," he says. "I spend eight days with each group – picking them up at an airport, then taking them around on their coach trip. Then I drop them off and head out on a long drive to another part of Europe to meet another group of tourists."

In just 54 days Brian will lead six tours – often working as both guide and driver.

Firstly, he needs to get his coach out to Croatia, where he'll meet his first holidaymakers at Zagreb Airport.

Then he'll drive into Italy to take another group around Lake Garda, Venice and Verona. Next, he'll head south to reveal the wonders of Tuscany, Florence and Pisa to another set of holidaymakers, before giving a further tour of Rome, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast to tourists.

Brian will then head north into the south of France, where he'll lead tours of Nice and Cannes, and Grasse and Monte Carlo, before heading back across the Alps to give tours of Prague and Vienna.

Then all he needs to do is bring his coach all the way back home.

"I love it," he says. "It's hard work, but you get to see a lot of Europe and I always have a good time.

"It's strange the way you keep going from driving a coach that's full of lively tourists, to finding yourself making long journeys across Europe in an empty coach, all on your own. But often it's nice to have a break from all the holidaymakers – it gives you chance to be on your own and get your head together."

As a former deep sea diver working on North Sea oil rigs for months at a time, he says spending two or three months in Europe is no hardship.

"My family is used to me being away from home for months at a time, because I spent years working in the middle of the North Sea," he says. "Most of the drivers don't want to have to spend weeks away from home without a break, but it's what I'm used to, so it doesn't bother me at all."

Brian has had his fair share of adventures as he travels around Europe.

"Most of our clients are older holidaymakers, who want to be able to relax and be taken around without having to concern themselves with independent travelling.

"They're always great fun to be with, though there have been one or two incidents over the years that you could have only had with people of a certain age.

"For example, there was one chap who realised he had left his teeth behind in the hotel in Ireland, long after we'd driven back to the ferry terminal and were boarding the shipping.

"There wasn't much we could do to help him immediately, but we made sure he was able to put a call in to the hotel straight away to get his teeth sent on to his home address.

"The most bizarre thing was that when the set of dentures arrived at his home, they turned out to be somebody else's teeth. It makes you wonder how many people lose their dentures in that hotel.

"He phoned the hotel again, and with a good old Irish sense of logic, the receptionist asked if he could make do with the teeth he'd been sent. Of course, he couldn't, so we stepped in to make sure he got his own dentures back. It really is the sort of stuff that you couldn't make up."

Brian got his first taste of long-distance driving in the 1970s, when he organised a Cliff Richard-style "summer holiday".

"I got hold of a bus and drove it to India, together with a group of friends, all in the spirit of adventure," he says. "I had a wonderful time, and I decided that when I retired from diving I would find a job long-distance coach driving."

After more than a decade behind the wheel, Brian says he still loves the job.

"It's brilliant," he says. "No two days are ever the same."