I have recently returned from a holiday in Marbella on the Costa del sol. My wife has a fear of flying so we decided to drive. It took us 3 days to get there with one stop over in Bordeaux France, and one stop over in Jaen in Spain. We could easily have done the trip in 2 days with one stop, but on the way back I realised that the trip could actually be completed in 22 hours.
We left Marbella at 5 am and got to Bordeaux at 5 pm. Bordeaux to Calais can easily be done in 8 hours and if you catch the ferry right you can be back un the UK within 22 hours. You need a fast car obviously to do this, but we averaged around 70 or 80 Mph and stopped for short fuel and comfort breaks around every 2 to 3 hours.
A friend of mine has a couple of villas in Spain so we stayed at the one in Marbella. It certainly beats a holiday in the UK. Im sure we will be off again pretty soon.