The cost of Ferry travel

[John Arton]

Ivan my wife gets sea sick on the Mersey Ferry. Thing is when you live up north flights are not as plentyful as down south.I looked at Liverpool /Dublin , Aer Lingus, Sleezy Jet. Then Dublin /Bordeaux direct. None of the Liverpool/Dublin flight times tied up with the Dub/Bord flights. Liverpool or Manchester flights to Heathrow or Gatwick again. Gatwick two flights a day to Bordeauxonly thing that tied in still included a 4hour delay at Gatwick. Manchester / Bordeaux nothing direct only seasonal. So Manchester / Amsterdam or Paris 4 hour or 6 hour stop over. It really is the wrong time of year to try for flights to anywhere from up north to Europe unless you are heading to a capital city.
My wife enjoys driving , just the car park Britain is the problem. Once you get off the ferry at Calais driving is a breeze down through France. As we know the route well and know how to bye pass Toll roads. We have found a nice littel Aurberge in the village of Arnage just outside Le Mans. good food and comfy €80 including dinner and what the french call breakfast.
So in all 4 hotels 2 Premier inns just outside Dover, we do the meal deal so dinner bed and breakfast(proper breakfast) under £200, 2 in France €160.
Plus we have the use of our own car. Yes only fly in the ointment is CAR PARK BRITAIN.
Things were better when we still had the stupid motorways instead of these so called smart motorways. Depends on the time of day if you decide to use the M6 toll to miss out Birmingham even then a tail back occurs when you come off the Toll link.
Still with all the travel cannot wait to give the grandaughters a cuddle.

James
A quick look has KLM 4 flights daily Newcastle to Bordeaux for £162 round trip. Maybe worth a look.
Rgds
J.A

[James Curry]

Thanks John, had a look total costs return £428, 3.55 hour stop over in Amsterdam, return 5.05 hour stop over Amsterdam. On top of that flights From Liverpool to Newcastle another £300 return.
There is just this thing about living up North you pay through the nose as the passenger volume /footfall is just not there hence the inflated prices.
It is the price one pays to live somewhere not over crowded like down SE England.

Thanks all the same John for taking the time to have a look at possible optitions it is appreciated.

[happy daze john in oz]

Could you travel south to London, stay over night then the flight?
May be just as easy.

[Tony Taylor]

Bit like here with air fares at certain times of the year.

Melbourne to Sydney for as little as $180 return off peak, $360 for 2.

But we flew December 21st cost of $650 for 2.
The gov claims the supermarkets are gouging when it comes to prices and call an enquiry, but when I challenged my MP about airfares all he said was seasonal demand!!!!

John, in 2009 I flew from Perth to Sydney on Virgin Blue; I was absolutely amazed at how cheap it was at the time; the other thing that sticks in my mind was the excellent lamb dinner they served, probably the best airline meal I can recall having.