O kay — so maybe I was lucky during my first time flying as a passenger on an airplane operated by Ryanair, which was on a flight from Budapest to Dublin. I expected to have hassles with my baggage; be pummeled with fees; encounter surly employees; be bombarded with advertisements; encounter delays; and just have a miserable experience overall.
While I will not say that that experience was a pleasure, it was not nearly as bad as I originally thought. Aside from being queued like cattle in a wire mesh cage and waiting in line for a long time, the experience was rather benign. It was basic transportation for a low airfare of $70.93 for that one-way flight which was roughly the same distance as between New York and West Palm Beach — not the lowest airfare I ever paid; but not bad at all…
…but I still had another flight scheduled: traveling approximately 900 miles from Dublin to Madrid on Ryanair for a mere $56.34.
I get to Dublin Airport and checked in for my flight, which was easy. As it felt like I walked a literal kilometer from the airplane to the exit when I arrived from Budapest, I can confirm that it again felt like I walked a kilometer to arrive at the departing gate, which was changed once before boarding the aircraft. One thing I learned is to expect a good walking workout when traveling between a Ryanair gate and the airport entrance or exit — not that that is necessarily a bad thing, as I do not mind walking. I am thankful that I have strong healthy legs which can take me great distances.
The gate area in Dublin was far superior to the one in Budapest — sans metal cage dividers — as shown in the photographs below:
While I was waiting in a seat — not very comfortable, I might add — in the gate area, a woman approached me to take a survey about my trip to Ireland. I had nothing better to do, so I obliged; and after approximately 20 minutes, she thanked me for my time.
The aircraft on which I was about to become a passenger arrived at the gate.
It was interesting watching the passengers deplane, grab their belongings and head inside while employees were working outside.
Although no employee from Ryanair was at the gate yet, people already started queuing; so I stood in line not wanting to fight my way through a bunch of people.
>smiiiiiirch!<
What the heck was that?
>smirch< >smirch<
I look behind me and >smirch< there is a man and woman >smirch< continuously kissing. I never >smirch< heard two people >smirch< kissing so loudly. It was as >smirch< irritating as >smirch< nails dragging >smirch< across a chalkboard or >smirch< chewing on a piece of >smirch< aluminum foil. The man >smirch< appeared as though >smirch< he could not wait >smirch< to tear her clothes off.
Meanwhile, the line was queued to where it wrapped around the moving walkway in the middle of the terminal. Several employees of Ryanair finally came; but it seemed like it took forever before they finally starting boarding only minutes before the airplane was scheduled to depart — and no >smirch<, the kissing >smirch< did not stop >smirch< during that entire time.
Once I boarded, the experience mirrored my first time — except that the airplane was not as dark and dingy inside due to the bright sunshine. The flight itself was not eventful.
When the aircraft landed at Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, the aircraft must have taxied for at least 20 minutes. Again, it felt like it took forever until we finally approached the gate, which again was far away from the exit.
As I said last time: even though the experience was not nearly as bad as I initially thought, I would rather not fly on Ryanair again as a passenger — unless the difference in airfare was significant enough for me to consider otherwise; and the flight time was significantly shorter. I do have to admit that — aside from the minor anomalies — both flight experiences were just fine. No complaints from me.
If only my experience with the shuttle for the hotel at which I was about to stay was even remotely as good of an experience — but you will have to wait for the next installment of my unintentional trip around the world to find out more about what I mean by that…
All photographs ©2014 by Brian Cohen.
