[TimeForThis]

Exactly. I consider my purchases as my investment in the kind of market I want. Small though my purchases usually are, it's all I've got to use for influence. This is why I will never fly Ryanair when there is another choice that isn't hundreds more in price... and if it is, I probably will just go somewhere else.

Flying between London and Dublin, I pretty much only have Aer Lingus and Ryanair to choose between. The difference in experience is like the difference between Requiem for a Dream and Amelie.

[philwelch]

London to Dublin is an 8-10 hour drive (including ferry service). Do people seriously get on airplanes to go that kind of distance?

[TimeForThis]

Aside from not having a car (don't need one in London), I'm usually going over for only a couple of days so it's not worth using up a full day for travelling and then being really tired from the drive when I get there and when I get back. You have to take in the price of petrol as well as the ferry, which stops it from being in any way cheaper and it's already not stress free. The ferry costs about £300 for one person travelling with a medium sized car, no roof rack, with no reserved seating. That's about 3 times as much as a flight and you'll have had to drive for half a day to get there.

If I got a train from London to Holyhead, then a ferry to Dublin, it's 8h 30m and about £40 and then I'm left in Dublin port to find a way home with my luggage. Transport within Dublin is pretty crappy so we avoid it when we're over there as we are normally running around visiting family and friends. So it's slightly cheaper but still half a day's travelling and a bit hassle once you arrive.

We fly and pick up a car at the airport - much shorter journey, much cheaper than a ferry, probably not that much difference in price from the train but easy to do and we can pretty much relax (aside from airport security) rather than drive for half a day.

[kelnos]

SF to LA is 6-7 hours, and I prefer to fly. Given that the drive to the airport is around 25 minutes, I usually arrive at the airport no more than an hour before my flight, the flight time is around an hour, and getting out of the airport post-landing takes about 10 minutes (I never check bags), that's less than 3 hours, during one of which I get to sit and do nothing (nap, listen to music, watch TV), versus 6-7 where I have to concentrate on driving. With the driving option, I also have to deal with parking at my destination.

Sure, flying is probably still more expensive (though gas alone for the drive is probably at least $100), but I find it worth the added convenience.

[gaius]

Are you Canadian? Drive 8 hrs in any direction in the UK and you're in the sea :-) So a drive of that distance is simply out of scope for most people.

[arethuza]

Google maps estimates about 15 hours to drive from one end of Great Britain (the island) to the other.

If you allow for islands you are probably looking at more than a day (e.g. starting in the Shetlands).

[philwelch]

American. Can't you drive under the sea, through a chunnel and into continental Europe? (Also, can't you take trains, likewise through a chunnel and into continental Europe?)

[gaius]

Generally I think if you're traveling city to city, you'd fly/take the train then use public transport at the other end. You only really need a car if you're venturing away from cities. Like there would be absolutely no point in driving to Paris and looking for a parking spot there when I could get the Eurostar straight to GdN. I'd even rather fly to Paris than drive, and no-one does that anymore...

Smart train operators like Eurostar realize that they are virtually airlines and behave as such.

[philwelch]

Yeah, I just mentioned driving to point out the distances, because that's how Americans understand distance between cities. If you'd take the train to Paris why wouldn't you take the train to Dublin? (Or, well, to the ferry dock, and then the ferry to Dublin?)

While we're at it, you don't have any contact info in your profile, so I'll ask here--what made you assume I was Canadian and not American? :)

[gaius]

Dublin's a lot further than Paris, journey time wise. I can quite literally have breakfast at home and lunch in Paris and be back home in the evening (and have done that a few times). Travel to Dublin by rail/ferry is an entire day. And domestic rail travel in the UK is often not a pleasant experience. Even 1st class doesn't insulate you from the delays. And flying's likely cheaper too.

I dunno, based on my own friends, long roadtrips seem to be more of a Canadian thing, Americans seem to fly more :-) When I lived in the US catching the Delta service between Boston and NYC was "normal", that's only what, 3 hrs drive?