Sailing away to Spain: What it's like to take the ferry from Ireland to Bilbao

"As someone who has never experienced a proper “crossing”, a 29-hour journey from Rosslare to Bilbao, Spain was most definitely throwing me in the deep end when it comes to ferry travel."

The Salamanca ferry, travelling from Rosslare

Ralph Waldo Emerson famously said: “Life is a journey, not a destination.” What if we applied a similar belief to holidaying, and tried to enjoy travelling — or the “journey” — as well as our final destination?

While I’d heard a lot about the convenience of travelling by ferry, it is not something I had ever done — until now.