We had £10 Easy jet flights from Luton which is only a short ride from Walsall where we live. Hoverland coaches used to be 1st class but from what I saw last time we went with them I wouldn`t travel on one of their tours again.The problem is the coaches do not belong to Hoverland even though their name is all over them and the operators can send any coach they like or have available at the time of travel. We went last time with Elizabethan travel of Bloxwich and their people on the coach were fine.We returned with Goodes of Wednesbury a very well respected firm in the town. The courier / host on the way back was little short of useless and sat at the front of the coach most of the way back not asking if people were ok etc etc,Very poor return journey, to be fair to Goodes I don`t know whether the girl worked for Goodes or Hoverland. I do know the girl in questions mother works in the Hoverland office in Walsall

We live in Walsall, Bloxwich to be exact! How long would you say it took you to get to Luton? I have always ignored flights from there when looking because I thought it would be a bit of a jaunt. We went with Hoverland in 2004 and couldnt have been more pleased but last year we were 'dumped' onto a Whittle coach (oh, dont start me on that again!!!!)
and it has completely put all of us off Hoverland and in fact coach travel.

1 and a half hours,airport is 2 minutes from Motorway junction.

Cancelled

We are all keeping our fingers crossed that my husband actually will fly this year but its looking a bit doubtful now, he is hinting that he may have panic attacks etc if he has to fly, so it looks as if we wil be doing the same sort of thing, us two coaching and the rest of the family flying. Grrrrr.

virgin do a course for people with a fear of flying its not that expensive but apparently has a high success rate, look it up on their website

You may also like to check out this topic in our Airlines & Airports forum:

"FEAR OF FLYING ... what is it, how to overcome it, Q&As"
David

Ive heard that they may be speeding up the ferry to santander which may encourage more people to drive?

forget flying, its more fun on the coach and you get to meet people on the way rather than being strapped in and holding on for 2 hours and your luggage is safe which is not always the case with the airlines...

Anyone know of any new companies that travel to Spain by coach?

I met my husband on a coach holiday to Spain at the end of September in 1990. We got married in 1999 in Cyprus but were living together within 2 weeks of returning from our holiday....

We started chatting on the ferry crossing from Dover to Calais and it went on from there....

We went with Northern Holidays from Middleton in Manchester, UK and it was a pub trip arranged by my other half's sister who was the landlady at the time...

Wonder if they're still operating?

Northern Holidays still operating coach hols to the costa brava as are...

Southern Holidays
Siesta
Ferris
Harry Shaws
Shearings
Just go Holidays

Hope this helps.

There may be other smaller operators in your area

Thanks I will check them out

Cyprus100 what a great story

pat62 wrote:

Cyprus100 what a great story

Yep!

And here we are now fast approaching living in Cyprus for 9 years. It's amazing how quickly time flies.

Am pleased to hear Northern Holidays are still going!

Cyprus that's lovely so did you both go with other people then meet?

I'd split up from a relationship I'd been in for a couple of years and had initially booked to go alone but then switched to a slightly later date to go with my friend (also a work colleague) to a trip by the same company but from a pub about 8 miles or so away from me. A pub we had never been to before so a couple of weeks before the departure we went to say hello to the landlady so she knew who we were....

As we were on the ferry in the duty free this guy came and waved a bottle of whisky at me and said "you can share my whisky if you pay for it" - yeah right, I thought!

Turns out him and his friend were on the same coach as us and we got talking at the next stop off point along the way where we had the forethought to bring French currency and ended up buying him and his mate a cup of tea each.

We had a meal waiting for us when we reached the hotel and the 4 of us arranged to go to eat at the same time. That meant we were all on the same table for the duration of our holiday.... That was it, the beginning of the end - or should I say the start of our relationship.

He was staying at his sisters pub while he was recovering from an aneurysm having recently separated from his wife.

By the next weekend he came to stay at my house for a few days as I was signed off work sick with pharyngitis. But he never left again!
The coach holiday was in September 1990....

Great story Cyprus, romantic to meet your future OH on holiday. Wouldn't have happened to me as I don't think I have ever had the guts to undertake a coach holiday.

I did it because I knew I would at least know the people I was staying with in the hotel by the time we reached it - even if I had still gone alone....

We went again the year after to a different part of Spain.... again with the pub.

Then when I was working at First Choice we did a trip out to Austria by coach in early May. The snow coach was going out on a one way trip to bring the last of the kids back from their winter holiday. We returned to UK by plane with some going to Manchester and the rest to Gatwick and that was then the start of the Lakes & Mountains season for the brochure...

It was an excellent holiday with fabulous weather, staying in one of the ski chalets in Saalbach. I would definitely love to go back to Austria again in the future.

We had an excellent crowd of people in the chalet which added to it all and the communal gathering around the tea urn for tea and cakes each afternoon was an experience.