The voyage is the main event: five fantastic no-fly adventures in Europe

It may take longer and cost more, but travelling over land and sea is always a richer experience, as these thrilling trips prove

Sitting on the deck of the Smyril Line ferry between Denmark and the Faroe Islands, I watched a gang of kids playing tig. Another group were playing football in the netted enclosure. The parents were in the observation lounge reading books. My son Conor and I were taking turns at the port-side telescope, examining the distant outline of Muckle Flugga lighthouse in the Shetland Isles. We wondered why the Faroes and Shetland had never joined as a political unit, given that they are reasonably close neighbours. A history book was required. Next to us, hunkered down in a deck chair, a woman was scribbling furiously into a diary, the margins exploding in hurried sketches.

As foot passengers on a ferry, we were certainly saving on CO2 emissions, producing around 19 grams per kilometre per head, as opposed to 156 on a short-haul flight. But it was the other benefits that I was noticing: the time to read books, write diaries, play tig or simply look around.