Times article - day trippers to France beating the credit crunch

Earlier in the week I read an interesting article in The Times which I've now found on their website telling of the Dover Day trippers who are taking "advantage" of the extra time the credit crunch is giving them by indulging in a bit of offshore retail therapy.

It seems that there's some people (fondly known in the ferry industry as 'car park shoppers') who take a day trip run to France but don't actually even leave the boat and just spend the entire crossing either in the bar or the duty free shop.

Despite reduced duty free discounts it's still cheaper to buy your drinks and cigarettes on board the boat at French prices than it is to pay the full taxed price in the UK - hence a new legion of shoppers who consider a cross-channel trip to be a nice day out.

I have to admit that as a family we used to do a similar thing when I was much younger, my Dad would drive us down from Stockport to Dover, which is in itself a 6 hour drive, we'd go over to Boulogne or Calais for the day, stock up at a nearby hypermarket and enjoy some lovely food in a restaurant or two, and then head back on the late ferry for an overnight drive home.

Maybe that was where a love of French cuisine and the seeds of wanting to own my own house in France was sown?

Further details in the Times' article and current day trip offers from P&O Ferries, Sea France and Norfolk Line on their websites.