It became unusable about ten years ago. I started abandoning planes whenever possible and going by car and train instead. It's not quite so bad abroad but still pretty ghastly. It will get much much worse and soon we'll see numerous terrible accidents.

JK2006 wrote:
It became unusable about ten years ago. I started abandoning planes whenever possible and going by car and train instead. It's not quite so bad abroad but still pretty ghastly. It will get much much worse and soon we'll see numerous terrible accidents.

I use both as I travel so much...wouldn't fancy going to Thailand by land!
I also remember doing my own experiments with crossing most of the length of Turkey to Silopi on the Iraq border,by air,train and bus....24 hours on an overloaded bus driven by a sleep deprived homicidal maniac! Two nights on a six in a room sleeper train...including a goat!!...or one hour from Istanbul to Diyarbakır via a very cheap (£35) plane....guess which I'll be using next year on my travels?

Taxi from house to Heathrow £50 these days - and an hour in horrid traffic; MUST get there two hours before takeoff (3 hours so far); flight always delayed by, say, two hours; horrid searches of shoes and anus by boot faced security; reconstituted farts instead of air on 2 hour flight to Nice (7 hours so far); two hours clearing customs and immigration queues (9 hours); taxi to hotel (1 more hour) - total 10 hours.

Eurostar via Paris - about 10 hours, good food on train, watch a movie, do E mails, no crowds, beautiful scenery.

No contest!

JK2006 wrote:
Taxi from house to Heathrow £50 these days - and an hour in horrid traffic; MUST get there two hours before takeoff (3 hours so far); flight always delayed by, say, two hours; horrid searches of shoes and anus by boot faced security; reconstituted farts instead of air on 2 hour flight to Nice (7 hours so far); two hours clearing customs and immigration queues (9 hours); taxi to hotel (1 more hour) - total 10 hours.

Eurostar via Paris - about 10 hours, good food on train, watch a movie, do E mails, no crowds, beautiful scenery.

No contest!

Try living in Margate JK!..Wherever you go it's a nightmare to get there.....unless it's Ramsgate of course

Will you drive as far as Morocco?

In my younger days I took the Rolls over the sea to both Morocco and Tunisia (with a bit of help from trains and boats).

when I was 20 I traveled via Greyhound bus from New York to Los Angeles.

it was the very best way of seeing the USA and the amazing diverse scenery especially as the bus took far more scenic roads than the trains did (US trains were excellent as well but not sure about them now)

I actually hate arriving at Heathrow and then trying to get into London- it's just exhausting. Now investigating flying into another Euro city and traveling to the UK by train.

it's not the air-travel itself,,the bloody palava getting to & on a plane and then off , immigration etc etc

Spot on Hedda - fly to Paris; Eurostar to London; best route by miles.

Route 66 is the only way to cross the US - at first hand, you see the country's past and present. By car.

Historic England can best be seen, on foot, by Pilgrims Way - across the North Downs from Winchester to Canterbury. Cathedral cities to which pilgrims commuted for centuries, and still do.

This journey passes numerous prehistoric sites, as well as many medieval and Roman ones. A couple of weeks is required with good boots - B&B's on the way.

indeed my Greyhound went via Route 66. What a sensational country for scenery. every part of it

hedda wrote:
indeed my Greyhound went via Route 66. What a sensational country for scenery. every part of it

Yes hedda - Route 66 was unique, but little remains of it's 2,500 miles because of the Interstate Highway System.

Most of Pilgrims Way still exists (despite some intrusions by our modern roads) - its about 120 miles and is largely on high ground. Quite near London mainly, it brings you to to some staggering countryside and ancient properties/sites.

66 a highway of the 20th century: Pilgrims Way about 2,000 years before....

I got my kicks...

JK2006 wrote:
I got my kicks...

...on Route 66



me too

"Services are returning to normal" at Britain's airports. Well, I can't say I liked "normal" much.