Booked with Ryanair 2 months ago was a short break to Dublin. The flight was from London Stansted to Dublin and it takes around 1 hour and 15 mins but because we had been delayed at the airport, the pilot made up for it and we arrived there in like 45 mins. We hired a car (Nissan Micra) and we got it a discounted rate of 85 euros for 4 days.
We stayed at our aunty’s place for the duration of the break. Our first trip was to Blessington Lakes and it was a nice drive there. The view was magnificent but it was freezing cold. We got lost a few times trying to get to the viewpoints but in the end, we managed to get the sat nav that we brought to guide us to what we wanted to see. At one point, we were so high up the mountain that we could see the cloud just a few metres above us and if we were to climb up a bit further, we would be able to touch it.
The second day was a trip to Dublin city and although no different from London itself, it was just nice to be in a different place. Once in the city, everything is so accessible. All the shops are walking distance and there are plenty of shops, including shops for foreign foods (international foods). We had to buy a few things to prepare for the party later on that day but unfortunately, not many people could come because of bad weather. A multi storey car park is found on Parnell Street and it costs us like 5-6 euros to park there for 2 hours.
It snowed quite a bit on Saturday and we took some pictures at 2 in the morning (sunday morning). Duke, the family dog, became really attached to all of us and he was such a lovely animal. He would lie on his back on the floor for you to stroke his belly and would sit down when asked to or give you his paw.
We couldn’t explore more by car because it had snowed everywhere and was still snowing in some places and it was really cold as well. However the main purpose of the trip was to spend some time with the family and everything went on fine and it was a really nice break.
However the Ryanair experience was not pleasant. Although the flights were cheap, the service was really poor. When we were on our way to Ireland, we were asked to go to gate 44 to board the plane. Whilst in the queue, we were then told to go to gate 46 and ended up in the back of the queue because people were running and pushing about. If you don’t have the right dimensions for your hand luggage, you might end up paying 35 euros for checking the suitcase in. The dimensions are quite strict, 55x45x20cm. The staff come with a carton mould of the dimension and test to see if your hand luggage fits in properly. As soon as one ryanair plane arrives, it’s refuelled and just after passengers have left the aircraft, others are ready to board. There’s no time for cleaning the plane and when you get inside, you will have to hunt for a seat. On board, the meals are very expensive; a croissant costs 2.50 euros and a hot drink 3 euros. A hot baguette can cost as much as 7 euros. You can smoke the smokeless cigarettes though which costs 6 euros for a packet of 10 and it’s just like sucking in on paper. Ryanair is cheap for a reason and it can be really frustrating knowing that you don’t have an allocated seat and people will do anything to get on the plane first.