Suzanne Harrington: Between budget airlines and staycationing, there's a third way - slow travel

"Slow boats and quiet roads, where you set your satnav to avoid the crowds, and meander towards your destination as languidly as if you really had injected yourself with horse tranquiliser."

Suzanne Harrington. Pic: Andrew Hasson

It’s time of year when, having spent three days squashing a fortnight’s worth of stuff into a too-small case, you inject yourself with horse tranquiliser so that you can deal with whatever air travel will throw at you. Because you haven’t even left the house yet and it’s already taking aim.

Even if your flight isn’t cancelled or your destination isn’t on fire, the range of irksome possibilities remains (sky) high. Air traffic controllers somewhere obscure yet important going on strike; your bag being too heavy, so you’re forced to unpack it by a dominatrix in a hi-vis tabard as fellow passengers pitilessly scramble over you; your random allocated seating allocating you between a stag party and a raging toddler.