Last weekend I made a journey which I’m hoping never to make again.

For 11 years I’ve been travelling to and from Belfast three or four times a year by bus to Stranraer and ferry.

Not any more. Now that flights have finally taken finally off from Carlisle Airport I’ll opt for them.

Bus and boat have been a cheap and fairly straightforward means of getting there. The bus goes straight to the ferry terminal and the same ticket covers both.

But it’s seven hours door to door, and it’s immensely tedious. I’m a fan of Dumfries and Galloway in general, but the journey between Dumfries and Stranraer is fairly featureless and nondescript.

There’s not much to look out at and I normally try to use the bus journey to get some sleeping done. If I’m lucky I’ll nod off shortly after crossing the border at Gretna and not wake again until Castle Douglas.

But the bus vibrations can prevent sleep, and if I do get any it never feels very beneficial. It’s more a means of putting the time in.

On the return journey I’ll try to do the same, and set the alarm on my mobile phone to wake me up just as we pull into Annan. The bus terminates in London and I don’t want to wake up just as we pull into Victoria Coach Station.

The hours on the ferry aren’t much fun either, unless you like overpriced food and drink. Yet I’ll often buy some, again just as a means of passing the time.

There’s also a shop specialising in perfume, giant Toblerones, bottles of spirits and tins of shortbread. And there are shelves and shelves of tacky Irish souvenirs.

If you want a shamrock-bedecked tea towel, a pencil case decorated with multi-coloured cartoon sheep or a fridge magnet bearing a ginger-bearded, inanely grinning and faintly sinister leprechaun, then you’re in the right place.

I once bought a pair of Guinness socks, for no very good reason. I was annoyed with myself when I found the same price bought three pairs from Marks.

These flights from Carlisle to Belfast are taking just 50 minutes. Even allowing for checking in time and journeys to and from the airport, it will all be over in a fraction of the time my previous route takes.

It will be more expensive, but travelling by bus and boat eats up most of two days of any time off. In this case I’d rather have the time than the money.

I feel a certain eco-guilt about flying. The buses and ferries run by burning fossil fuels of course, but they carry plenty of passengers. Aircraft use a lot more of it.

But on the whole I try to tread fairly gently on the world. I recycle conscientiously. I switch off lights in empty rooms, at home and at work. I don’t leave my mobile phone charging overnight.

I don’t fill a kettle to the top if I only want one cup of coffee. I drink it with milk, and I’ve been looking for someone who can deliver it in glass bottles.

I don’t run a car, or have any children – though if I did have the latter I might need the former. If I ever do buy a car it will only be when fully electric ones are readily available.

Most green measures make economic as well as environmental sense. Insulate your house and you’ll save on your heating bills. Walk or cycle on short journeys and you’ll save on petrol and wear and tear on your car. Take your own bags to the shops and save on new plastic ones. All these are no-brainers.

And if you abide by them maybe you’re allowed the odd plane journey.

If we’re going to meet the Government target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to almost zero within 30 years, then we need to think carefully about air travel.

There’s no justification for a third runway at Heathrow. That airport is already the biggest single source of carbon emissions in the UK and expanding it will only make it worse.

Nearly a million more households will be affected, and the argument that it’s needed for business doesn’t stand up. Four out of every five flights from Britain are for leisure and tourism.

But there is a case for an airport in Carlisle. It’s not offering long-haul flights, just quick skips across the Irish Sea or down to Essex.

It is expected to be a big economic boost to Cumbria and to south west Scotland. There’s no getting away from the importance of tourism to jobs here.

Let’s support it. I’ll always argue that Belfast is well worth a visit.

But at the same time let’s make all the other easy environmentally friendly choices that there’s no excuse not to make.