Nov 15, 2007
In 2008, self-skippered boats will now be added to the waterways of Poland, Freisland (in Holland) and Brittany
Just as European river cruises are now finding favor with Americans, a similar enthusiasm seems to be growing for the rental of self-drive boats for trips along the canal waterways (not the rivers) of Europe. Three months ago, I wrote that a British firm known as European Boating Holidays has now established an office in Lake Placid, New York, to accept reservations for self-skippered boats sailing in Ireland, Italy, France, Germany and Spain. You receive an hour-or-so of instruction (which is all that's needed) and thereafter steer the boats at four or five miles an hour down a vast pattern of waterways built as early as the 1600s. You stop wherever you wish, buy groceries as you float along or else dart into village restaurants for your meals, sleep aboard the boat, and generally enjoy a unique vacation at a marvelously-reasonable cost (as little as $1,100 a week in spring and autumn, a bit more in summer, for a boat housing as many as four persons).
European Boating Holidays' business has apparently grown so rapidly that it is already announcing additional new itineraries for 2008 -- and they are novel, budget-priced vacations.
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European Boating Holidays' business has apparently grown so rapidly that it is already announcing additional new itineraries for 2008 -- and they are novel, budget-priced vacations.
- First, EBH will be inaugurating a new base facility at Mikolajki, Poland, between two major lakes in the northeastern part of that country -- an untouched and spectacular natural area -- for self-skippered journeys in an historic land that is only lightly touristed.
- EBH will be opening a base in Terherne, Holland, for boating holidays on an extensive network of canals and lakes in the Friesland province of northern Holland.
- And EBH will inaugurate a new base at Redon, France, in Brittany, to sail between ancient and historic towns.
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Fifty years ago, 
Arthur Frommer is generally acknowledged to be the nation's foremost travel authority. He is the founder of the
