International Travel

[Inverarity]

So, I suppose Apparation would be possible, it would just be extremely risky. Nope, wouldn't work out for my story then.

I suppose people would just assune not use Apparation for long-distance trips then. Then again, it seems like most wizards in the Harry Potter books don't venture very far from where they were born, with a few great exceptions.

Well, important to remember that everything posted here has been speculation.

Canonically, we know very little about Apparition or Portkey travel. It may well be that wizards can Apparate to the moon. It may also be that no one can Apparate more than a few miles.

We can make reasonable suppositions (I've outlined my reasons why I think the range of Apparition/Portkeys is relatively limited), but if your story needs for wizards to be able to Apparate between continents, you won't exactly be contradicting canon to make it so. But some readers (like me) may find it a little implausible. I have a hard time believing that wizards can just hop from England to Australia in one trip, for example. But if you established some special conditions under which it is possible (you have to be really powerful/it's extremely risky/there's a special super-Apparition spell that requires a bunch of wizards and a Portkey to cast/etc.) then it might be more believable.

[OliveOil_Med]

Speaking of Portkey, I have something I have been wondering about in terms of Portkeys. Can they only work once, or can they be used repeatedly? Also, can a Portkey be used to go back and forth between points? What I mean is, if a Portkey is charmed to take you from point A to point B, once you are at point be, can that same portkey take you back to point A?

[Inverarity]

Speaking of Portkey, I have something I have been wondering about in terms of Portkeys. Can they only work once, or can they be used repeatedly? Also, can a Portkey be used to go back and forth between points? What I mean is, if a Portkey is charmed to take you from point A to point B, once you are at point be, can that same portkey take you back to point A?

They were obviously reusing Portkeys for the QWC in GoF, and Harry used the same Portkey that brought him to Voldemort to escape back to Hogwarts.

[Finest Firewhisky]

I expect the range of things like Portkeys and Apparition to depend on the wizard, i.e. how powerful a wizrd they are and how well they have been trained. So moving up and down the country is no problem for people like Dumbledore but may be harder for younger or less able wizards.

I think inter-continental travel would need several stops, though. I don't see wizards using Muggle transport, because a few Apparitions would probably cover the average short-haul flight.

As for Floo, it would make sense for there to be specific points where international travel would be possible, like there might be a special connection in the Ministry to a foreign embassy/Misinstry or the like, like there are specific internatiuonal airports/tunnels in the Muggle world. There must have been some way, for example, for the Weasleys to get to Egypt without indulging too much in Muggle transport - Ron still seems utterly clueless.

[OliveOil_Med]

We have discussed all the extremely obvious methods of travel (Apparation, Portkeys, and brooms and magic carpets), but what could some other methods of transportation be? And yes, this does mean you are all going to have to use you imaginations!

[Tim the Enchanter]

We have discussed all the extremely obvious methods of travel (Apparation, Portkeys, and brooms and magic carpets), but what could some other methods of transportation be? And yes, this does mean you are all going to have to use you imaginations!

I once had an idea for a transportation system used in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea. It consists of an ancient Greek trireme (passengers sit on the rowers' benches) pulled chariot-style by a team of perhaps a dozen hippocampi. This magic trireme can travel on either the water's surface or beneath it, and moves quite quickly, aided of course by magic.

Tim the Enchanter

[OliveOil_Med]

Oh, this most certainly seems like something that wizards would go to the Eastern Mediterranean just to do this, sort of like the canals at Venice.

This might be straying slightly off topic, but what could be some other forms of transportation like Tim's idea?