It's quicker by car

Sir,

I am catching up on my reading and chuckled at Nigel Roebuck’s travel woes in getting to Montréal from New York (Reflections, August issue).

I trust he realises that the US and Canada have very good roads that are well marked, road maps are cheap and he could have driven to Montréal from the airport in a rental car (perhaps with GPS) in under six hours at the legal limit, and probably five with one pitstop.

His journey seemed to be a lot of work and time to get there.

The rule of ‘Time to spare? Go by air!’ applies more and more on this side of the pond and driving often has benefits. Just a thought.

Alex Currie, Chemainus, BC Canada

Thank you for your advice. More than once I have driven from New York to Montréal, but only when I had planned to do it, and not on the same day as flying the Atlantic. Having sat on a stationary aeroplane for five hours before being told that the weather was now too bad for flying, it was late evening, and I was wearily disinclined to start a six-hour drive anywhere… NSR