I know it’s quick, I know Ryanair will get you to Rome for less than the price of a cappuccino, but flying’s not exactly the grand tour, is it? Where’s the adventure? Where’s the romance? When did travel go from fun to fag?

The good news is, it never did — we just got tipsy on subsidised aviation fuel and forgot what travel is all about. It’s about the journey, not the arrival. Yes, it’s a cliché, but it’s true. The journey’s the thing. I don’t know who said that, but they sure as hell weren’t talking about Stansted to Rome Ciampino.

So, where were they talking about? Well, everywhere: from Kent to Kathmandu, Skye to the Sahara, there are journeys long and languorous enough to fire the soul of Marco Polo. Sailing round the Inner Hebrides, driving from here to the Sahara, crewing to the Caribbean? You don’t need to get on a plane to have a great holiday — in fact, you need to get off it.

One week

CYCLING, Dordogne

Medieval towns and rolling hills, lazy lunches and leafy walnut groves — swap bike for donkey and you could be Robert Louis Stevenson himself. This is a circular, self-guided ride from Souillac into the heart of the Dordogne, with baggage transferred from inn to inn while you follow route maps and directions past castles and caves, waterfalls and churches, as well as the dramatic hanging village of Rocamadour. Graded moderate, the six-day cycle covers about 20 miles per day, mostly on quiet woodland lanes and up along the limestone causse, or plateau.

How to do it: Inntravel (01653 617946, www.inntravel.co.uk ) has seven nights, half-board, from £798, including return rail travel via Paris from Waterloo, bike hire, luggage transfers, maps and directions.

SAILING, Scotland

Castles, beaches, mountains, whales — you can keep St Tropez, nowhere has better sailing than the Inner Hebrides. And what a way to see them: aboard the Eda Frandsen, a 65-year-old, 56ft gaff cutter, lovingly restored by the skipper himself.

Starting in Mallaig — with an awesome train ride across glen, ben and viaduct to get there — this one-week trip takes in Skye, Rum, Eigg and Canna, with mighty hill walks along the way. Best of all, you don’t need to know a sheepshank from a slipknot: skipper and first mate take the strain while you sit back with a single malt, keeping watch on deck for minkes, seals and porpoises.

How to do it: Wilderness Scotland (0131 625 6635, www.wildernessscotland.com ) has the six-night cruise for £799, including all meals. First ScotRail (0845 755 0033, www.firstscotrail.co.uk ) has sleeper berths from £19, one-way, between Euston and Fort William, but good luck getting a return for less than £112, the price of an apex sleeper. Fares on to Mallaig (80 minutes) are £14.10 return.

RIDING, Spain

Trotting between whitewashed Andalusian posadas, through chestnut groves and ancient cork farms, this isn’t so much a riding holiday as a canter into the past. Starting at Finca el Moro, a flower-filled organic farm on the northern slopes of the Sierra de Aracena, this is a slow, four-day trail ride, with picnics under cork trees, and feasts in village inns along the way.

How to do it: the tour costs £922 for six nights, full-board, including guiding, riding and equipment, as well as transfers to Seville. Contact Nick and Hermione Tudor (00 34 959 501079, www.fincaelmoro.com ). Eurostar (0870 518 6186, www.eurostar.com ) has returns to Paris from £59; Spanish Rail Service (020 7725 7063, www.spanish-rail.co.uk ) has Paris to Seville by sleeper, via Madrid, from £142 return.

EXTREME ISLAND-HOPPING, Greece

Trekking, sailing and swimming around the Cyclades, Swimtrek’s motto is: “Ferries are for wimps, let’s swim.” The week clocks up 11 miles of swimming, two cross-island hikes and an ascent of 3,300ft Mount Zeus. There’s a support boat on all the swims, but you’ll need to be able to do a mile without stopping to get the most from the trip.

How to do it: it’s a fabulous two-day rail voyage via Paris, Bologna and Bari — from £293 return with Ffestiniog Travel (01766 512400, www.festtravel. co.uk ) — then on by ferry (£59 return; www.superfast.com ) across the Adriatic and past Cephalonia to Patras. From there, it’s three hours by bus to Piraeus (£10), from where ferries to Paros take five hours (£18 return; www.hellasferries.net ). Now it’s a 15-minute ferry hop to Antiparos (£4 return). Once there, the six-day trip costs £675, half-board, including all transfers, with Swimtrek (020 8696 6220, www.swimtrek.com ).

Two weeks

TO VENICE BY BOAT AND TRAIN

Most cruises kick off with a tedious trawl to the airport, but this one that couldn’t fit our brief better if they took you to the docks by horse-drawn carriage. One of nine rail/cruise combos from Great Rail Journeys, this is a 16-day Eastern Mediterranean voyage, with a sleeper from Paris to Barcelona, a 12-night cruise to Venice, and rail return to London by sleeper via Milan, Cologne and Brussels.

How to do it: with Great Rail Journeys (01904 521980, www.greatrail.co.uk ), prices start at £2,295, including first-class rail travel (except from Milan to Cologne), meals on trains, one night, half-board, in a four-star hotel in Barcelona and 12 nights, full-board, in a twin-bed stateroom with ocean view on Celebrity Cruises’ Millennium.

INTO THE WILD, Poland

The swamp forests of northeast Poland aren’t Europe before aeroplanes — they’re Europe before the wheel. Vast, ancient and untouched, the wetlands contain the last remnants of lowland forest that once covered the continent, with a star cast of endangered species, including bison, wolf, lynx, elk, beaver and boar. Better yet, in forest this thick, the only way to see them is by foot or kayak.

How to do it: High & Wild (01749 671777, www.highandwild.co.uk ) has 10 nights, full-board, for £1,025. The trip starts in Warsaw and goes on to explore Biebrza, Narew and Bialowieza national parks by kayak, foot and horse-drawn cart. Eurostar (0845 766 0421, www.eurostar.com ) has returns to Cologne via Brussels from £69; German Railways (0870 243 5363, www.nachtzug.de ) has couchette returns from Cologne to Warsaw from £58.

CANAL BOAT, France

Pootling down the Loire, sipping Sancerre, mooring up at a little auberge — it couldn’t be more serendipitous if they made you throw your map into the river. Home for the fortnight is a beautiful canal boat, with all the olde character of a Cornish tug and the air-conditioned comfort of a modern yacht. Starting at Gannay-sur-Loire, a fortnight allows ample time to visit towns, vineyards and tributary canals on the 100-odd-mile way to Briare.

How to do it: Franceafloat (0870 011 0538, www.franceafloat.com ) has weekly boat hire from £544 (two-berth, low season) to £2,640 (eight-berth, high season). Gannay-sur-Loire is five hours’ drive from Calais. Alternatively, take the train: Rail Europe (0870 530 0003, www.raileurope.co.uk ) has returns from London to Nevers, a short taxi ride from Gannay, from £89, with a change in Paris.

Three weeks

PENNINE WAY, England

Running more than 250 miles along the central spine of England, it’s the oldest, gnarliest long-distance footpath in Britain. Starting in Edale and ending just over the Scottish border in Kirk Yetholm, the trail crosses some of the highest and wildest countryside in England — the Peak District, the Yorkshire Dales, the Pennines, Hadrian’s Wall and the Cheviots. A classic. Sixteen days is usually enough, but add two or three days for rain or blisters, or simply the better to enjoy a fireside pint in the Tan Hill Inn, Britain’s highest pub.

How to do it: ditch the bags, for a start. The Sherpa Van Baggage Service (0871 520 0124, www.sherpavan.com ) transfers bags for £6.50 per leg — money wisely spent. The best guidebook is Wainwright’s quirky The Pennine Way Companion (Frances Lincoln £11.99), or Tony Hopkins’s more up-to-date National Trail Guides (Aurum £12.99).

4WD SAFARI, Morocco

Dune camping, driving yourself across the Atlas, crossing the Sahara by 4WD convoy — it’s The English Patient, only with mechanical backup, guides and more chance of a happy ending. Starting from Gibraltar, the convoy crosses to Ceuta, climbs across the Rif mountains and down into Meknes, then heads into the Sahara for five days amid remote nomadic settlements and the vast dunes of Erg Chebbi. From Take to the saddle in Andalusia there, it’s back up over the Atlas to Marrakesh, then along the Atlantic coast to Ceuta and Gibraltar.

How to do it: P&O (0870 600 9955, www.poferries.co.uk ) has berths on the two-night ferry crossing from Portsmouth to Bilbao for £244, including car. Bilbao to Gibraltar is 650 miles, which takes about a day and a half. Trailmasters International (01691 649194, www.trailmasters.com ) has the 13-night Classic Safari, sleeping in tents, gîtes and small hotels for £615; allow £600 for fuel, food and ferry crossings from Gibraltar.

CREWING TO THE CARIBBEAN

Don’t say you can’t sail: even sailing virgins can start by scrubbing decks and cleaning dishes. Get yourself a Competent Crew certificate — a basic qualification that can be picked up in five days at any Royal Yachting Association centre for £250-£400 (0845 345 0400, www.rya.org.uk ) — and paid passage to paradise is yours.

How to do it: inexperienced sailors will have to cover food costs (£10-£20 per day); more experienced crew can earn up to £250 per week. Yachting Monthly (www.ybw.com ) is a good source of jobs, while reputable crewing agencies such as Crewseekers (01489 578319, www.crewseekers.co.uk ) and Reliance Yacht Management (01252 378239, www.reliance-yachts.com ) put amateur crew in touch with dependable skippers for an annual subscription ranging from £35 to £85. For more details, read Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Oceans: Crewing Around the World (Adlard Coles Nautical £11.99).

Sunsail (0870 160 5623, www.sunsail.co.uk ) sells crewing spots from £2,300 on the Ark, a 17-day annual race from Gran Canaria to St Lucia; meals add £15 extra per day.

INTER-RAILING, Europe

No, you don’t need a goatee, or a student loan. Inter-Railing is open to everyone, and there’s no more romantic, timeless — or cheap — way to bite off a big chunk of Europe (and more). Under26s go for about a third of the price, but that just makes it a ridiculous bargain, as opposed to a good one. Three weeks is not enough for the full four corners (Finland, Turkey, Morocco, Portugal), but even a 22-day pass lets you knock off a fair number of the 30 countries on offer.

How to do it: Rail Europe (0870 530 0003, www.raileurope.co.uk ) is the official Inter-Rail broker in the UK. The prices is £215 (under26s £145) for 16 days in one zone, £295 (under26s £205) for 22 days in two zones, and £405 (under26s £285) for one month in all eight zones.

A month or more

ST JAMES’S WAY, Spain

This is a four-week, 480-mile trek as the travel gods intended, following a 1,000-year-old pilgrims’ route across the Pyrenees from St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela, resting place of St James. If you make it this far, you might as well go the extra 46 miles to the “end of the earth”, Finisterre. A pilgrim’s “passport”, or credencial (£2), purchased in tourist offices and refugios, allows use of hostels en route, with dorm beds from only £2 per night.

How to do it: you won’t be short of travel companions — 93,000 pilgrims did it last year — but you won’t find a better friend than Alison Raju’s Way of St James (Cicerone £12), an excellent guide with route notes, sights, restaurants, accommodation options and baggage-transfer companies along the way. International Rail (0870 084 1410, www.internationalrail.com ) has fares from London, to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, via Paris, and back from Santiago de Compostela, from £291.

OVERLAND TO KATHMANDU

Born of the hippie convoys to Kathmandu, overlanding is the tie-dyed grandaddy of adventure travel, and a fabulous “have-a-go” spirit is still woven into its kaftan-wearing core. The ultimate car pool, overlanding has three big things going for it: one, you’ve got instant travel companions; two, you get your hands dirty, whether digging the truck out of a ditch or buying dinner from local markets; three, the truck gets you to places you’d never otherwise reach. Camping in dunes, crossing deserts — everything is possible.

How to do it: Dragoman (01728 861133, www.dragoman.com ) has a 14-week trip from Dover to Kathmandu, crossing Europe to Istanbul, then on across the Caspian into Central Asia, and dropping down through China, Tibet and the Himalayas; prices start at £4,516, including most meals.

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

Actually, you’ll need another month on top of that for most round-the-world cruises — for example, Fred Olsen (01473 746175, www.fredolsencruises.com ) has 107 nights from £11,203 — but go by cargo ship and 80 days really is the standard voyage. Okay, there’s no on-board casino or cabaret, and you’ll have to organise your own excursions when you get to port, but it’s half the price of a passenger cruise ship — with twice the romance. Book yourself an owner’s suite and you’ll even get twice the cabin. Better still, while cruise liners depart once a year — usually in the first week of January — cargo ships go year-round. Phileas Fogg never had it so good.

How to do it: The Cruise People (020 7723 2450, www.cruisepeople.co.uk ), an agent for cargo and cruise lines, has a 79-day round-the-world trip sailing from Tilbury to Sydney via America, Panama, Tahiti and New Caledonia, then back to Tilbury via Singapore, Sri Lanka, Egypt and Italy, for £6,265, full-board.

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