The real low-cost airline
You have never really flown on a low-cost airline until you fly Ryanair. Kulula, Mango, heck not even 1Time have anything on Ryanair. Ryanair is THAT special. I was warned beforehand about flying with them, that I shouldn’t expect too much but even with my below-zero expectations, Ryanair still managed to surprise me (not in a good way).
The 10kg hurdle
Forget that I booked a flight to Paris not realising that Ryanair was dumping me in some God-forsaken rural village called Beauvais 85km away from Paris. Forget that I somehow managed to pack everything I needed for this trip into one small bag to meet the 10kg hand luggage limit and of course Ryanair does not say on their website that this 10kg hand luggage INCLUDES my handbag (which obviously had EVERYTHING else that I couldn’t squeeze into my backpack!). Oh, and I won’t mention the screaming babies and the extremely small (read non-existent) leg room in the plane. And I definitely will not mention the French man who destroyed all the dreams I had about meeting a gorgeous Frenchie on this trip. We stood in the boarding line together and he sat next to me on the flight to “Paris”. He smelt like he hadn’t showered or brushed his teeth for a week and insisted on telling me his knowledge about how Afrikaans is supposedly the easiest language English-speaking people can learn. Forget all of that – I was still in my “can’t believe I’m flying to Paris for Christmas” mood. 
What really irked me about flying with Ryanair was the fact that they do not announce when the boarding gates are opened for a particular flight! So you could be sitting at the terminal enjoying your bocadillo before the perfect holiday not realising that the massive queue behind you is for the flight you are supposed to be on – and yes, that is exactly what happened to me. But luckily, I didn’t miss my flight. There was an 1.5hr delay in our flight (very Kulula – like I know) and obviously this wasn’t announced. Instead after standing at the end of the line for about 40 minutes with the stinky French man going on and on about Afrikaans – an announcement was made (in Catalan of course! Can someone tell the Catalan people working at the El Prat Barcelona airport that they are still in Spain!?!) and before I knew it, I was running with the French man to the front of another counter where the boarding gates for the flight to “Paris” were about to open. Thanks for announcing that in English Ryanair!
EasyJet ad about Ryanair
(Aside: Yes I know, the French man saved my holiday but if only he was ten times taller and took regular showers – then I would’ve probably remembered his name 🙂 )
The joys of Ryanair
So 1.5hrs later – oh not forgetting the extra 1.5hr on the bus to downtown Paris I finally arrived! And my “I can’t believe I’m actually in Paris” mood came back very quickly 🙂
More stories on Paris in the next blog post!
(Source for the amazing photos)
simplegirlwrites 