The DFDS Delft Seaways ferry, Dover to Dunkirk
There?s nothing like being in a ship between Britain and France to make a journey into an experience; something a tunnel crossing can never replace.
Progress is a wonderful thing in travel. It has given us two-hour train journeys from London to Paris, direct connections between cities you?d never imagine you?d be able to get between (Dallas to Singapore, anyone") and we will soon be able to sit in traffic jams in driverless cars while we play Minecraft and update our Instagrams (ok, perhaps that?s not such an improvement).
But?I grew up the son of a traveller: my father was a diplomat and academic, but he also wasn?t someone who?d let lousy infrastructure get in the way of getting from A to B. Coming to the UK from Tehran for his university studies during the middle of World War 2, he arrived by ship, via the Suez Canal. After the war, flights back to Iran involved several stopovers across Europe, in a propeller plane. When he bought a car at the Mercedes-Benz factory in Germany in 1957, he drove it home to Tehran, via Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and what was then the relatively-newly invented country of Turkey, along roads that were not roads. My own childhood consisted of multiple trips across the friendlier parts of western Europe, and while most of those would be recognisable to anyone on a driving holiday today ? French motorway toll booths, roadside motels, slightly grubby city centre hotels with slightly grumpy concierges...