Travelling to Magaluf without flying

[Wideeyedandlegless]

Hi
I'm looking for the best way to buy my son a Christmas gift of travel.

He and his friends are going to Magaluf (I know!) in June and he just refuses to fly. He has decided that he would enjoy the journey by train, bus and boat and will just leave earlier than the rest of them.

Has anyone ever done this? We know that a two hour flight (and 5 mins from our airport) would be 2 hours and a short transfer time, but what can I tell an 18 year old!

I would appreciate any help with this. I know I can google etc but if someone else has done it, I would really be grateful. Tia

Has he considered how expensive that’s going to be? Transport to Dover/Folkestone, then ferry/tunnel, then train the length of France and into Spain, then another ferry? Never mind getting connections to work with each other and possibly having to spend nights in hotels en route

My husband travels regularly between Portugal and Spain, driving himself, and it can still be a nightmare if ferries are delayed or cancelled. It could be a huge logistical nightmare

Portugal and Uk via Spain and sometimes France!

Don't know where you are in the UK, but he could get a 09:24 Eurostar to Paris, then get the TGV from Paris to Barcelona, arriving at 20:34 (local time). It looks like there are ferries from Barcelona to Magaluf, although he might have to spend the night in Barcelona.

We often travel to Italy and France by train. It is not an economy way of doing it (although there isn't much in it at May half term), but it is more fun and I really hate flying!

Is it due to a fear of flying? Check your local airport to see if they do a fear of flying course.

How about getting a coach from London to Barcelona, then the ferry as a foot passenger?

Check out

Man on seat 61

He’ll explain how to prepare the train part to get to Barcelona

If he gets the overnight train to Barcelona that may work out to arrive to the port in the morning and get the ferry over

Megabus !

Megabits to Magaluf!?

It could well take him the best part of 3 days to arrive there if he does not want to fly. Why does he not want to fly there anyway?

We drove to the Costa Brava, so not quite Barcelona, about 20 years ago, before Ryanair etc were ubiquitous. it was an adventure and a daft part of me wants to do it again, but it just seems madness to turn a 2 hour flight into the best part of a week's exhausting and expensive round trip, although it might be quicker on the train, but you'd have to get good deals for it not to be £££s.

This site suggests that the foot passenger price on the Barcelona to Palma ferry is £102, although times are only available up to the end of May.

You can look at prices on thetrainline.com for London to Barcelona, but that says you can only get tickets 3 months in advance. There are prices in Feb of around £200 return plus you need to get to London, which can be pricey in itself although a student/young person's railcard would discount the price. Also look into whether he could do this by interailing if such a thing still exists?

I would be surprised if the journey could be done for under around £500, especially considering he will have a few days extra food and drink to pay for compared with flying and the trains that connect up best might not be the cheapest.

The ferry from Barcelona takes about nine hours and it is notoriously vomit-inducing.

Interrail it!

It sounds like a great thing to do, but a bit intimidating.
How are his language skills?

How long is he going for? If it’s a 7 day holiday, is he happy to spend 4 days travelling and 3 days in Magaluf?!

Agent it’s a good 80 miles sailing

If he’s a real glutton for punishment he could train to Plymouth and get the ferry to Santander - that’s also rough at times.
Train across Spain to Barcelona

I think he's looking to turn a week's holiday into 12 days or whatever it turns out to be.

If it's a fear of flying issue, the course might be the way to go - not being able to fly could be inconvenient. When he's an adult with restricted budgets and annual leave etc he's not going to be able to take the slow, expensive route when travelling overseas and what if he gets a job that requires international travel. His employer isn't going tolerate him being gone a week for somewhere that's a few hours return flights.

Has he flown before?

in my 20's and 30's I did a lot of this sort of travelling due to fear of flying. my overwhelming experience is that it is one massive pain in the backside. one small delay on one leg of the journey leads to dashing around for the next leg, unexpected stopovers, trying to go a different route etc. Its not an adventure its a pain in ass. I used to arrive exhausted because lone travel with baggage and sleeping is tough. Its a lot more expensive as well. If he must go to Magaluf then tell him to go to his GP and get some diazepam - 5/10 mg before he flies and he will be fine. I tried the course - no difference. I spent a fortune on hypnotherapy which did work but nothing worked as well as the little white pills. over the years I have reduced my intake and for my last flight took 0.25. the sooner he does this the easier he will find flying. I kick myself that it took me so long to ask the GP for help as I wasted huge amounts of annual leave on travelling only to arrive exhausted and be dreading the return journey. Not everyones experience of this sort of travel I know but honestly he needs to realise the downsides and the massive cost implications.