Played this years ago but can't remember if there is any spell to teleport you from the dungeon? I can live with the long treks out and back in, but was just wondering if there is any hope of respite?

Yes, there is one such spell in Water Magic. It's appropriately called Town Portal and is the third strongest Water spell.
It takes you to the central fountain of the town your party last visited. You must be an Expert to cast it from indoors, and if you're a master, you can select your destination.
Alternatively, you can use Lloyd"s Beacon, the most powerful water spell, to "bookmark" places (although you have to have at least Expert level Water magic in order for it to be useful).

What Drlstvaan said!
That's why I prefer my sorceror to get to Master Water Magic first. These spells are damn useful, esp for cheap quick heals. Cast beacon, TP to New Sorpigal (cheapest temple, cures common ailments), beacon back. Awesome!

And let's not forget the cool Acid Burst spell... Since most enemies have no resistance to Acid, it really packs a punch in most cases.

Thanks folks - looks like the fire magic is going to take a back-seat for a while :)

However, with Fire Magic, you can burn your way through enemies (esp if your char is a Wizard already), making it easier to have points to spend on Water Magic.
I suggest taking Fire to Expert level (most Fire spells only benefit from recovery time reduction on Master, anyway), and then going for Master Water Magic.

In MM6, I can't seem to fly after "fly spell scroll" is used and wings appear. I tried page up, down, home - is there something i'm missing?

Even if cast from a scroll, Fly requires spell points to actually use. If you used a character with no spell points (a Knight, the 1st character in a default party) you have just wasted the scroll completely.