What you might have never considered before is that there are alternatives to flying to mainland Europe and beyond. By looking at a ferry website you will be able to see that there are far more ferries than you ever imagined going to many places. With the right planning, you could realise a road trip that makes use of these many ferry crossings.
By organising your ferry tickets in advance using a reputable ferry website you will be able to see if you need to make a ferry crossing that you would otherwise not know existed. For instance, you could get the ferry from Plymouth or Portsmouth in the UK to Sandander in Spain, then trek across the country to Barcelona. You could then get the ferry to Ibiza and explore that island. With the right planning and the abilities of the better online ferry services, you could pre-book all of your ferry tickets which could make for a very versatile trip that allows you to see what countries are really like, rather than what most package holidays would show you. And all of this could be achieved from the comfort of your own vehicle.
Experiences like this can give you a completely different outlook on a country, especially if you are wanting to stay over at campsites along the way. Despite the proliferation of package holidays that offer plane flights, this form of travel still has many advocates because it gives you a hands-on view of the countryside and offers a more representative view of the country and its people. From the natural landscape to the villages and towns, it proves to be a long, long way from the tourist resorts that, by their nature, are designed to make people from Britain feel at home.