Barbara Culleton, a Go reader from Dublin, got in touch about the advantages of going on holiday by car rather than plane
Even were it not for the fact that I do not like flying, I still enjoy taking the car and ferries when going on holidays. This has been our preference from when our children were about three years old until they reached their teens, and it has remained our norm in the 15 years or so since then.
We are now fortunate to have plenty of time available, and in a couple of weeks my husband and I will repeat our holiday of last year and take the car on a five-week holiday as far as the Costa del Sol, in Spain.
With all the recent publicity about travelling without flying, I am surprised at the lack of promotion of SNCF’s auto-train service, which lets you transport your car between France’s major towns. It can be an enjoyable break from driving, and if you book 90 days in advance, to avail of “Prem’s” offers, it is not expensive.
A drive from Paris to Narbonne takes about 10 hours and, with petrol and tolls, costs about €80. It is possible to put the car on the auto-train on a Monday or Friday, with the best rate from €79, get a first-class seat for €45 on the TGV that afternoon and be in Narbonne for dinner at 8pm. You collect your car the following morning, with Barcelona only four and a half hours away.
People who prefer to stay in northern France or the Low Countries may be interested to know that on Norfolk Line’s sailings from Dover to Dunkirk you can get a crossing for a car and two people for less than £30 (€35), even in July.
Her fellow reader Sallyann Marron, from Co Clare, contacted us with a complaint about boarding cards
I’ve just checked in online for my flight on Ryanair from Shannon to London Stansted. The impossibility of printing its huge online-check-in pages – one A4 sheet per person per flight – in black and white is yet another discourtesy that is gently pushing me towards abandoning that airline.
Now there are even adverts in glaring yellow on these, hoovering up expensive inks as I cannot change the settings to turn them into greys. I don’t mind Ryanair trying to save money, but this is totally at my expense, and the full-colour check-in sheets are completely unnecessary. Could it not offer printer-friendly versions for those printing at home and wanting to save money, just like it does?
Ryanair has all but abandoned Shannon, its flight times to Stansted now are completely antisocial, and I suspect this will be the last time I fly with Ryanair for a long time to come. Even though I live in Clare and it is a long way to the ferry ports, driving is increasingly the civilised option.
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