About

Feet on the Ground was launched in 2015 by a British travel journalist with a fear of flying. The site aims to showcase the most gorgeous, glamorous and desirable travel destinations that can be reached from the UK by car, boat or train: no flying necessary. If you’re looking for the best no fly holidays from the UK, Feet on the Ground hopes to inform and inspire you.

“I love to travel. I always have. But there’s just one hitch: I hate flying. It started the second time I stepped onto a plane. The captain had to make an emergency landing on the way back into Gatwick. We’re talking the deep, distant past here (1982), when flying was nowhere near as statistically safe as it is now, but the experience has always haunted me.

For years, I struggled along in spite of the abject terror. I drank litres of vodka to get me through long (and short) haul flights across Europe, Africa and America – my GP even prescribed Diazepam to help me cope with the sweaty palms and white knuckles. Tanked and drugged up, I could just about enjoy myself at 30,000ft, but in scenes reminiscent of that bit in Bridesmaids, I was prone to showing myself up/showing my companions up/losing my passport.

I’ve lost count of the number of holidays (and one honeymoon) that have been tainted by the fear of flying home. And the more I talked about my aversion to air travel, the more I realised just how many other people were in the same (ahem) boat. Some were scared of flying, like me. Others hated the experience of crowded airports and claustrophobic tuna-can travel. Fellow parents with young families couldn’t always face flying with screaming babies and restless toddlers; eco-conscious tourists were desperate to find fun alternatives to flight.

In an effort to keep my feet on the ground, I searched for a site that was packed with fantastic alternatives to flying. I found a few resources, but they all seemed to perpetuate the myth that air travel is the only glamorous and adventurous way to see the world. Anything else was made to look dry and dull.

After taking off in a thunderstorm in Turkey (boom!), being robbed on a flight home from Tel Aviv and flying to Tenerife with a group of reality TV “stars” (in matching, rhinestone-monogrammed pink tracksuits), I was pretty certain that contemporary air travel is not the definition of glamour. Quite the opposite.

And that realisation led me here: to setting up a travel site that is devoted to infrequent flyers. With plane-free holidays, short breaks and weekends away, Feet on the Ground is a travel website for anyone who prefers not to fly.

Whatever your reasons, whether you never fly or you’re just looking for a holiday with a difference, I hope the site will show you that no fly travel can be just as exciting and exotic as a long haul trip. You can still worship the sun, climb mountains, take selfies at iconic landmarks and soak up luxury: you can still have a holiday of a lifetime without flying to get there.

Aeroplanes are a wonderful invention, but if you want to travel without them, there’s a whole world out there to explore. This site aims to show you the very best no fly holidays for a wide range of budgets, ages and interests – all with a common theme: fabulousness.

So, if you’re looking for a glamorous, breathtaking and trend-setting no fly vacation, you’ve come to the right place.”

Johanna Payton, editor