Your memorable journeys?
With the economic downturn and soaring oil prices, 17 airlines went bust in 2008. For The One Show, Dom Littlewood looked at protecting yourself from getting stranded abroad - watch his film about airline failure insurance, above.
Consumer reporter Lucy Siegle points out that there are alternatives to air travel. It's possible to travel to Rome by train, for example.
Train and ferry can take you from the UK to Cyprus, although expect it to take at least five days. By regular cargo-ship, the voyage from Tilbury (UK) to either Sydney or Melbourne (Australia) or Auckland (New Zealand) takes 32 to 42 days.
There's even a 'Slow Movement' that aims to slow down life's pace.
So, do you prefer train to 'plane? Please share your memorable journeys with us below.
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Last summer, me and my partner took our tandem to Bilbao on the ferry, turned left and rode home along the west coast of France. We carried all our camping kit in a trailer and had an amazing time! We averaged about 50 miles per day and saw some incredible scenery. The freedom that went with travelling under our own steam and not having any responsibilities for a fortnight was liberating to say the least! This summer we hope to ride back from the Mediterranean...
Caroline, Newbury
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Flying to Guernsey C.I. via Flybe last March we had to pay 8 TIMES for their Credit Card charge i.e. £4:50 for each of four passengers BOTH ways = £36.00 for ONE booking and ONE payment in full @ time of booking! They 'covered' themselves in the small print, so none of the so called passengere protection agencies could help!
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In May 2005 my Wife and I,with her twin sister and husband,drove two russian military sidecar outfits from UK through France and Spain to north Africa.We got detained in Morocco and had to pay several 'officials' a few hundred pounds to alleviate 'problems' with our paperwork.We could have flown but instead we had an adventure.(www.uraladventures.co.uk)
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My most memorable journey is when I flew to Australia to see my elderly aunt who was also my godmother she did not know I was coming and was totally gobsmacked when I said good day fair dinkum like I did every week I phoned her I had a great time visiting the family and seeing the sights down under. She died a year later aged 87 a trip made worthwhile in seeing her and the family.
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I live in Rotterdam, Holland and regularly travel back to the UK. These days, air is the best way. I leave home at 6am(CET) and am with the family at 11am (UK). Previously, I travelled by car on the Stena line HSS, leaving at 6am, arriving in Harwich at 10am and arriving in Nottinghamshire at 2pm. The HSS is no longer in service and the replacement ferry takes about 7 hours, but you now have to use a cabin which pushes the cost up. Instead of a few hours, it's now almost a day for the same journey. Even with BMI Baby's excessive extra charges (total price almost double what I used to pay a couple of years ago), it's still cheaper and quicker to fly. I'd prefer to "go slow" and take the car but it's not on these days, especially as I travel alone since my wife died. If I take the train, I have to change in Brussels, again in London and then pay the earth for a grubby seat (if I'm lucky) on the most expensive trains in Europe. I don't think so. I'll carry on flying until BMI BAby price themselves out of the market.
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in december 07,i went into labour with my son and the cd that was playing in the car was Lee Mead'slbum....its a shame i cant listen to him now without feeling labour pains!!love is new song!
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my name is Sophie from South Wales and would love Lee to know my story above!!!!
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Dearest Dom, we have come to bask in your measure of authentisity. To lie under your umbrella of honesty and soak up your rays of trustworthyness. But; when your in a wheelchair as an otherwise fairly fit fella except for limited mobilty. A trip to the sun can be the complete opposit from what your peddling on your last holiday and train journey piece.
Take the train to Rome? I cant even roam. I sit in a 'Puma' Wheelchair which is just under 60" tall, weighs 122K's and is 28" wide.
I adore trains. My family and friends say i'm a train bore. I'm a vulanteer worker for the
West Somerset Railway, working sometimes 5-6 days a week but I just can't get on a train to Europe other than a that run by a heritage railway. I have been a volunteer of several preserved railways or over 35years but I can not go see other countries railways. so when your putting out how easy it is to travel. How about doing a piece on how difficult it is to travel.
or Fly( but thats another story). Regards.
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lucy mentioned travel to rome by train and a party train i would like to know where she found this information from as my 19 year old has said he would like to travel this year
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Give me a train any day. For over a year during 2005 and 2006 I travelled solo from Sydney to Europe entirely overland, writing about it every step of the way on my graphic photoblog at http://www.technotrekker.net .
The first six months included journeying across Australia by train to Darwin, sailing through Indonesian islands to Bali, traversing Java followed by a ferry to Singapore, rail/buses and boats throughout South East Asia, then crossing China, Mongolia, Russia and Scandinavia by various trains (this leg in the middle of winter mind you), including a couple of very white weeks over Christmas on the Trans-Mongolian Railway.
Not content with that, on reaching Copenhagen I flew to Cairo, spending the next 6 months travelling around the Mediterranean entirely overland - over a month around Egypt (highlight of the trip), then crossing Jordan, Syria, Turkey (Tarsus railway from Aleppo to Istanbul is highly recommended), Greece and many of her islands, Bulgaria, the Balkans, Italy, Malta, Tunisia, France, Spain and Portugal - all via a combination of ferries, buses, motorcycles and trains.
380 days and 30 countries after setting out a confused lad, I landed in a drizzly Plymouth from Bilbao. I'd seen many wonders, learned so much about myself and the world and met so many locals that I had a new inner tranquility and confidence that remains to this day. More than 700,000 people have read the blog and I'm to be married to a Scots lass that I met soon after reaching Edinburgh (my new home since finishing the trip).
And the other half of the planet is still out there... Slow travel is the only way to go!
Ross, Edinburgh
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Support your local public transport!!!!!
Last Friday my husband and I went to Loughborough for an evening at a beer festival. Sensibly we decided to go on the bus. The cost for a 5 mile journey £3 each single. The last bus home - 8.15 pm. As we went on the 7.0 pm bus it would have been a short night out!!!!!!!. Decided to have a taxi home, the cost £9. It was cheaper for four people to share a taxi home than pay bus fare and have a very short night out.
What is the point of public transport?????
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Where feasible I much prefer trains to 'planes but it all went a bit crazy a few years ago when the unthinkable happened and train travel became more costly than air.
However with the ridiculous check in and security arrangements with resultant extended check in times, the rip off tactics on baggage etc this is a good opportunity for the railways to fight back to capture those of us without limitless time.
Both versions involve the transportation of hundreds of people in a steel tube. The view out of a train window generally is far more varied and enjoyable than a brief (but sometimes spectacular) glimpse below cloud level.
I have travelled on several European networks and not surprisingly found German trains the most punctual. The speed of the Eurostar is very impressive. However the most enjoyable journey I made was when I was a young trainee and had to go from King's Cross to Edinburgh following a morning meeting in London. The scenery was excellent (especially around Berwick where the line skirts the sea) and I was being paid to enjoy all this and the bar's offerings to boot.
You can walk up and down a train without causing a huge obstruction. You can open a window without risking literal defenestration. You can more readily strike up conversations with fellow passengers because you are opposite them.
However commuting on crowded or dirty services is a miserable experience, especially on the tube if I can't get a seat or cannot stand up straight (back problems are easily aggravated in this way).
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