In an attempt to escape from this summer's unpredictable English weather, I am off on my travels round Europe.

My feet will not leave the ground, apart from taking the occasional ferry.

One of my best investments has been a rail map of Europe – it connects some 6,000 European destinations between the Atlantic and Moscow, more than enough for a lifetime of learning from other places. I think of it as my mobile university.

I start my journey from Temple Meads via the Eurostar to Paris, where I treat myself to a day of wonderful architecture, good food and one of the great travelling treats in the world, the buffet at Gare de Lyon, designed in the flamboyant style of the "Belle Epoque".

The station was built as part of the programme for the great Paris Exhibition of 1900. Its highly gilded and decorated buffet is covered with paintings of the sights and events along the rail network of the time. It cannot fail to lift the spirit while waiting for the train to the South.

I write this week's column sitting in the extremely comfortable second class upper tier on the electrified TGV train, hurtling past changing scenery, towards the Mediterranean.

It is excellent news that we are to emulate the French with electrification of the line between London and Swansea, but I wonder if the UK is to be thwarted from having these sensible two-tier carriages because of the tunnels?

Anyway, let's contrast all this travelling pleasure with the nightmare of airports and flying – the hassle, the restrictions and the sameness of it all wherever one goes – and, of course, the undeniable effect on climate change.

However, we are now told by the Minister for Energy and Climate Change that he wants to protect air travel from restrictions and taxes. Has he been taken in by the relentless campaign by Ryanair's punchy chief executive?

In what otherwise seems a good energy review he foresees continued growth in air travel – a policy of despair. This is softened by talk of the use of bio-fuel for air travel, which would put unsustainable pressure on our precious agricultural land.

This feeble-minded attitude to air travel will unfortunately act as an encouragement to those planning the frightening expansion of the use of Bristol Airport.

The plan is to increase by 60 per cent to 10 million passengers a year by 2016 (the year by when all new houses are to be built to be carbon zero!). This will mean nearly doubling the number of flights, including night flights, and causing two million extra car journeys.

All this has the potential effect of having a climate change impact as great as that caused by the whole of Bristol in 2008, and is at a time when we are marketing the region on its green credentials.

How on earth do millions of holidaymaker passengers driving out of, or past, Bristol bring anything but economic disadvantage to the region? It is no coincidence that as tourist traffic has recently reduced, visits to local attractions have increased.

Great claims are made about the economic advantage but business use of the airport is only projected to be about 10 per cent of total traffic – and most of it is domestic which can better use the trains.

All of us now have just one week to take action. Check www.stopbia.com for information and check out North Somerset's website www.n-somerset.gov.uk referring to application number 09/P/1020/OT2.

Decide for yourself while I go and have a reasonably conscience-free dip in the Med!