Q. Heeellllpppp :) I am getting married August 2004 to my fiancé is Tom who I met in March 2002.

We have been on two holidays since we met to Crete, we love the scenery and the people and would like to go to the mediterainnean for our honeymoon. My problem is that I am absolutely terrified of flying, it is extremely stressful for me and with all the stress of the wedding I would love to go by boat there and back.

Ideally it would be nice to stay in one place for a while and then go on to somewhere else for a while. Tom would love to go to Kos and see the vallley of the butterflies and I would love to swim with dolphins. I dont want to spend a week stuck on a cruise ship or just visit places for a short time, it would be nice to stay somewhere and have time to ourselves.

Where on Earth do I find how to get anywhere by boat/ship ather than fly?
Even if we went by Eurostar to the south of France and then travelled from there (I convinced him it would be only 4 hours roughly by train). I like
Eurostar myself lots of room, we went to Belgium by Eurostar and we found it really good but to go across Europe Tom refused and said you would waste at least 2 days going and 2 days coming back (I tend to agree with him that it wouldnt be a very nice way to start). We both like boats and would like to do something different rather than some package holiday.
Please please please could you give me some advise or contacts of how I can find out about ship charters rather than cruises?
Thank you so much for your time.

A1. I can sympathise with your fear of flying, I hate to fly but I usually have to. I don't like take off or landing nor turbulence, I actually cry when taking off. So I fully understand your fear - its horrible being so afraid. I keep meaning to do one of those fear of flying courses, but I just don't have the time. Have a word with your doctor and he/she may prescribe you something just for the flights. Usually you will get 2 pills outbound and 2 pills inbound the length of your flight will determine how strong the prescription. Trust me on the long flights(obviously prescription is stronger) you won't even know you are on a plane and you get straight to your destination. Its just a suggestion!

Also I don't like cruises for the same reasons as yourself, chartering a boat would be lovely, set your own route and stay for as long as you like. You can try some of these websites;
www.tomjonescruising.com
www.canals.com
www.yachtcharteruk.com

(Answered by MrsS)


A2. I would suggest you contact the Greek Tourist Information Office in London, they should be aware of any passenger ships going from the UK to Greece, or at least will be able to put you in touch with an organisation who might be
able to help. Their website address is http://www.gnto.gr/

(Answered by Toni Henningsohn)


A3. The problem with a ship charter from England would be that to get to the southern med you would be travelling for about 5 days to a week the journey would be through the Bay of Biscay, round northern Spain and Portugal, through the straights of Gibraltar and then into the Mediterranean. Also travelling on a ship as apposed to a cruise ship the accommodation is not very luxurious, and they do not run regular timetables so you would not be able to plan very far in advance. Also most of the ships that would that passengers go across to the Caribbean. I would suggest that you take the train do to Marseilles or just into northern Italy and then there are regular ferry services down to Greece and other Southern med countries, Cyprus, Malta etc. Also you can pick up flotilla sailing holidays from the Southern ports in France and maybe that might be away of making the travelling part of your honeymoon. Any independent travel adviser can help you with this or National Tourist Board for France has information on the ferries services from its Southern ports. In northern Italy Venice and the associated ports have regular services all the way down the Adriatic seaboard. Hope this helps

(Answered by Helen Hitchcock)