Try to put a bit of "utility value" into your trips.
I can more or less guarantee that burger runs, most of which can be driven in a similar total time, will lose their gloss eventually.
From the UK, popping over to France is great value because it would be a huge hassle conventionally. And there are plenty of nice places to see. Even Le Touquet is nice, on a nice sunny day
A half decent spamcan can make a fair distance into France, from southern UK.
The birds also appreciate "foreign" trips, over anywhere in the UK
My first significant foreign trip was down to Biarritz. Really nice, but I busted a French TRA on the way back... they were not on the charts back then, and not in the notams either.
Some trip reports
here. The Crete 2004 VFR one shows a lot of detail on VFR planning a long trip.