Are there many on here that for whatever reason don’t fly and choose to travel to France/Spain via coach for their holidays?
I’m one, personally I have a massive fear of flying that ruins my holidays so for me coach is the best bet.
Currently coming to the end of our journey to northern Spain. Takes a fair while but well worth it for me!
If you do travel who is it with? We are with a brilliant north east company Siesta!
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Last edited by woodacre1983; 26th May 2019 at 06:27.
... and then there’s the ferry between Plymouth and Santander as I found out last Summer!
For me, it would be an interesting alternative form of transport for a holiday in NW Spain or Portugal!
Motorways in Spain and Portugal are perfect and more or less empty compared with UK’s roads.
Last edited by thieuster; 26th May 2019 at 08:28.
We haven’t flown for many years now. Because of having dogs we preferred to holiday in the U.K. so we could easily take them with us, usually staying in cottages for a week or two. There was a lot of the U.K. we hadn’t seen (and still is!) and it’s only the weather that can be a bit iffy sometimes. Although we were never really into the two weeks laying by a hotel pool kind of thing anyway, so didn’t miss holidays abroad.
In the last few years we have been going to the continent quite a lot, but we prefer to use Eurostar and other trains and boats. The resident spaniel nutter doesn’t seem to mind being in kennels so we don’t mind leaving him a week or so.
As for flying, no thanks, if we can avoid it we will.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
I take a group of Scouts abroad on a coach every couple of years, this year we're off to Croatia but have done Romania and Poland in the past, much more of an adventure that just flying there.
I like to use rail around Europe as well.
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OP, just in case you aren’t aware of the man in seat 61 https://www.seat61.com/index.html
It’s a website dedicated to travelling the world by train.
It's a useful resource I've used it a lot.Originally Posted by smalleyboy1
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I can't think of anything worse than taking the slower option to get from a to b.Is your fear of flying after having a bad experience of flying?,or like many who say they have a fear having actually never flown!.Im curious how the fear manifests itself,what exactly is the fear?.
Heights?.
Crashing?.
claustraphobia?.
all the above and more?.
Last edited by P9CLY; 26th May 2019 at 10:53.
Indeed, when trains are almost always faster and indeed safer
I fly often and have overcome the discomfort it caused, now. But for me it was the simple fact of being 5 or 6 miles above the ground in a relatively flimsy object, not supported by anything more tangible than air. Also the sheer terror of what might happen in the very unlikely event that something went badly wrong up there. A car crash might be a lot more likely, but it would probably be quite a lot quicker as well.
Can’t comment on coach travel but a leisurely drive down to Spain or Italy from one of the Channel ports, with one or two overnight stops, was always a great holiday.
Obviously cheap air travel has changed the economics but worth considering.
Bar cities obviously it is mostly drivers´paradise.
I avoid flying for various reasons and lóve making a road trip with charming company* on larger voyages. Rough ´planning´ of the route and no booking of lodgings.
Although I see the ´charm´ of travelling by bus for shorter trips, I would not dream of larger ones in it. Well, nightmares perhaps ;-)
* playing with the idea to take ´Karel´; my male Frenchie, on a weekend trip in the MR2. Would be a different and no doubt hilarious experience.
Ok I’ll explain more.
My fear of flying is irrational I know this. My fear was given to me from my mum. She was petrified of it and never did it. I have flown and have flown 3 times. There and back and there... ending up have to get a coach home as I couldn’t eat or drink without sickness with 7 days left of the holiday... I’ve always said if it just affected me on the day I’d be ok. But not when it ruins the holiday.
To give you an idea I’d eaten nothing or drank nothing for 3 days then booked the coach and was fine immediately.
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Not that it would ever stop me,but I tend to have it on my mind "what if" the driver of a land bound vehicle suddenly is no longer in control of that vehicle for whatever reason.Its highly unlikely for that to happen in an aircraft with two crew flying.
And anyway we've all watched aircraft disaster movies where the least expected person lands the aircraft when the pilots have become unable to land it.........so it's easy,well I'd at least have a better chance than most having a ppl and been in a few sims over the years.
Use the MCP knobs and listen to instructions over the headset you'll be fine,oh unless the radios have packed up!,this will be when your fear of flying is reaching higher levels fast becoming a lower level..lol.
I did love flying when I was flying the a/c,sat in the tube isn't as enjoyable unless your in 1st class or on your own Gulfstream etc etc.
Last edited by P9CLY; 26th May 2019 at 11:08.
Have you thought of contacting BA or Virgin? They run programs for people like you with a flying phobia. You stay on the ground but may get a tour in a flight simulator; again, it is not a gadget, it is a proper scheme. It doesn't mean you then need to fly but it may help keep that option open for the future
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
The strange thing is that flying by air is the safest form of travel.
It's a lot cheaper than other forms of transport and if I play my cards right, I can walk out of my home in the UK and be unlocking the front door in the Spanish place just 6.5 hours later.
There was a woman who was panick stricken on our flight a few months ago and the pilot was brilliant with her, her took her into the cabin and explained why it was so safe and even other passengers were helping to comfort her.
She was a lot calmer at the end than she was at the begining.
Last edited by Mick P; 26th May 2019 at 11:41.
Charming company you have there P.Bar cities obviously it is mostly drivers´paradise.
I avoid flying for various reasons and lóve making a road trip with charming company* on larger voyages. Rough ´planning´ of the route and no booking of lodgings.
Although I see the ´charm´ of travelling by bus for shorter trips, I would not dream of larger ones in it. Well, nightmares perhaps ;-)
* playing with the idea to take ´Karel´; my male Frenchie, on a weekend trip in the MR2. Would be a different and no doubt hilarious experience.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
The need for the towel is worrying!......Charming company you have there P.
No watch?Bar cities obviously it is mostly drivers´paradise.
I avoid flying for various reasons and lóve making a road trip with charming company* on larger voyages. Rough ´planning´ of the route and no booking of lodgings.
Although I see the ´charm´ of travelling by bus for shorter trips, I would not dream of larger ones in it. Well, nightmares perhaps ;-)
* playing with the idea to take ´Karel´; my male Frenchie, on a weekend trip in the MR2. Would be a different and no doubt hilarious experience.
It would be grabbed by someone on a scooter......that's another reason flying is much better.
Nowhere is safe these days..
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Personally I can’t think of anything worse. Train on the other hand, that’s an adventure I could get on board with!
I would personally drive, and have done many times all over France and Spain. Me and coaches do not go together, in saying that I have to go from Brum to Southampton in October on National Express, as we are Cruising across to USA and flying back to Manchester.
Last time I heard about a tourist coach to Spain Sid James and Barbara Windsor were on board!
Trains faster? Not in my experience, and more expensive.
Just an example train from Edinburgh to Nottingham 4.5 hours £142.50 one way.
Flying, allowing for check in an hour before the flight 2.5 hours £59.35 one way.
Against my better judgement I once took a coach from Abu Simbal to Port Said, a journey of over 1300 km and which took 26 hours.
It was a 48-seater that had 61 people on board and interesting as the journey was, I vowed never again to travel for more than 3 hours in a coach - and even then only if there's no other alternative.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
I could never spend that long on a coach to be honest but my heart goes out to the OP, if you have a phobia no one on earth can talk you out of it and at least the coach option is there.
I have claustrophobia and have run away from the MRI machine on a couple of occasionsbut am fine with flying, even though nine hours on a 'plane is pretty horrible.
Cheers,
Neil.
Like a few have said, I’d happily drive that route but the thought of national express over that kind of distance not a chance.
And of course there was the bus driven by that nice clean living young man, what was his name... Harry Webb or something?
But the OP has a phobia of flying,
As long as it works for you OP, enjoy your holiday,,
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
I took a greyhound rover tour of the US back in the day. I travelled alone. Sixty day rover ticket.
A great way to see the country and meet real americans.
B
Last edited by Brian; 27th May 2019 at 09:28.
As Sartre said, hell is other people, not least randoms in a confined space for several days.
It's strange, my first thought was that I couldn't do it and I take my hat off to the OP - I once spent 10 hours on a coach from Weymouth to Poitiers and I wouldn't do that again for all the tea in China...the journey just about finished me off!
However, I would, and have since, been willing to spend the same amount of time or more on a plane to go further afield.
We've travelled across the USA three times due to my wife's fear of flying (and her family being the other side of the country) and its been an amazing experience each time. Four days and three nights. You get a small cabin, the trains are clean and efficiently run, and you're well looked after. They're big double deckers so you're well about the noise of the tracks. Loos/shower rooms were always spotless and clean. There's nothing much to do except look out the window, read and sleep, which in this hectic world is a break in itself.
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