Travelling in England

The UK is an insular country (located on islands). This fact that the British Isles are surrounded by sea determines the means of transport between the continental Europe and the British Isles.
We have three possibilities how to get there:
• by sea – if we travel by sea, we can get there basically by ferries of hovercrafts. Hovercrafts are much faster, it takes only a half of time if we compare it to ferries. There are several seaports used to transport people to Britain. The French port of Calais is the busiest passenger terminal in Europe as for travelling to Britain. Another port in France is Dunkerque. Some ports are in Belgium. German and Scandinavian ferries are much faster and less regular, it takes one night. The English port is called Dover. It takes 90 minutes by ferry and 45 minutes by hovercraft to get there from Calais. The ferries are designed not only for carrying passengers but also for transporting cars and busses.
• by air – if we travel by plane, we usually go to international airports located in London – Heathrow, Gatwick. Heathrow for a long time was the busiest airport in Europe. 1 000 planes land and take off there every day. In Gawick it’s 500 planes.
• under the sea – by the Chunnel (Channel Tunnel). The idea to build tunnel between England and France appeared 800 years ago. Unfortunately, these countries weren’t technologically developed enough. In 1880’s they started to think of it again but England started to fear of French invasion and this fear stopped building a tunnel. 100 years later, the plan came into a reality and both countries started to participate in building the tunnel. It was finished at the end of the 90’s. It provides the most comfortable connection. It was extremely expensive to build it so the travel expenses are extremely high.