I recently digitized some old family videos, including 20 minutes of watching hovercrafts "starting" and "landing" between Dover and Calais. Crazy machines.
Having had to suffer weekly trips back and forth from my home in Dover to Calais on those monstrosities I can tell you they are the least comfortable form of transport I have ever encountered. Every trip for me was 45 mins of non-stop vomit, regardless of the weather.
I much preferred the boat even though it took several times as long. Plus, the boat had arcade machines.
Loved Calais, though. Don't know how it is now, but in the 80s it was a very quaint little French tourist town.
> Every trip for me was 45 mins of non-stop vomit, regardless of the weather.
March 1976, I did the Calais-Dover hovercraft crossing on a night of bad weather in the Channel. I was fine and actually enjoyed the motion — until the hovercraft got to Dover and had to cross maybe 50 yards of beach to get to the terminal, and then I got queasy from the vibration off the sand.
qingcharles|2 years ago
I much preferred the boat even though it took several times as long. Plus, the boat had arcade machines.
Loved Calais, though. Don't know how it is now, but in the 80s it was a very quaint little French tourist town.
dctoedt|2 years ago
March 1976, I did the Calais-Dover hovercraft crossing on a night of bad weather in the Channel. I was fine and actually enjoyed the motion — until the hovercraft got to Dover and had to cross maybe 50 yards of beach to get to the terminal, and then I got queasy from the vibration off the sand.
betamaxthetape|2 years ago