Why, oh why, did it take us so long to discover the v-room? All those wasted years & hours in departures at Gatwick, wandering around randomly buying £80 sunglasses I didn’t need just to kill the time, bribing the kids into submission with giant bars of Toblerone and astronomically-priced novelty cuddly toys from Duty-Free, as the long, long minutes ticked by until boarding.

Instead, we could have been doing what we did waiting for our flight to Antigua yesterday. Relaxing in Virgin’s chilled-out v-room lounge area, happily choosing between a really good full English breakfast with fresh coffee, or a properly mouth-watering selection of pastries and snacks, while Scarlett and Fin went kid-crazy in a primary coloured rumpus room filled with toys and plasma TV and gaming screens loaded with constant cartoons. A combination child/parent paradise, complete with cool, comfy furniture, smiley, friendly staff who keep you constantly up-dated about your flight, and a panoramic floor-to-ceiling view of all the exciting aircraft-based activity on the runways outside.

Everything is free once you’ve paid your £20 entry fee for adults and £12 for children, aged between 2 & 11 (no charge for under -two toddlers and babies!)  It’s open every day from 6.15am to 1pm. The only catch – you have to be a Virgin customer to use it.

Worth every penny. Scarlett and Fin were full of food and exhausted by the time we boarded. So, they happily collapsed in their seats, to snooze and watch films for the next 8 and half hours, leaving mum and dad to have their most relaxed family flight ever.

Oh, and by the way, Virgin are planning to open a second v-room at Manchester in July….

For more details on both, take a look at www.virginholidays.co.uk/vroom