Easy to say. But my family lives in a country about 1000 miles away. I can take a coach from Budapest to Oradea (in Romania - the wrong way), and then back to B

Easy to say. But my family lives in a country about 1000 miles away. I can take a coach from Budapest to Oradea (in Romania - the wrong way), and then back to Birmingham, which would take around 36 hours. With no space for my legs, nowhere for my son to play, etc. It would cost about 30-40% of a flight, but would mean setting off 2 days earlier, costing me 2 days' worth of holidays. I could take a train, which would take around 24 hours. Trains are much better for long distance than coach, so that's good, but still cramped and difficult. I would also need to buy tickets from four or five different providers, and it's not clear how much my journey is 'protected'. If just one of those trains is delayed, can I still get to my destination within the planned time, or will it mean missing a train which runs once a day, adding 24 hours to my travel time? The train also costs about 100-150% of the flight price. It's really the case of 'fast, cheap, comfortable, pick two' when you fly. When you travel without a plane, often you can only pick one.