Ryan Air

I question our sanity in deciding to go to Croatia at the end of this trip. At the current time I classify it as a bad decision. Ryan Air, when on the ground in the comfort of your own home, seems like a brilliant idea, to fly cheaply all over Europe. When actually going on a Ryan Air flight, it's the worst conception of an 'air taxi' ever.

Kat and I checked in online several days in advance and we had our confirmation number. But because we didn't print out the boarding pass for lack of a printer, we had to "counter check-in" for a fee of 20 British Pounds. Totally ridiculous! First we had to go through security where they made us throw out all liquids over 100ml, which you know, is nothing new. But still, they made us throw out the sunscreen, and we're going to Croatia and a pale-faced girl like me is going to curse Ryan Air later, I can feel it. My saddle bag with all of my bike equipment had to be searched and I was preparing myself to throw a hissy fit. But no, it had nothing to do with my bike parts, they were unhappy with the cutting knife that I had just chilling in my bag. Haha, whoops. Then there was the matter of Kat's carry-on bag being overweight and they charged her 30 pounds. It's just a series of regulations that they are absolute about; they leave no room for error. And coming from laid-back Germany, the hard-nosed Londoners were quite a pain to deal with.

Plus, it's like a freaking cattle run to get onto the plane. They don't assign seats and it's just a first come, first serve kind of thing. Everyone's pushing and shoving to be one of the first people to get on the plane and plop down in the coveted window seats away from all the children. A freaking mad house and I don't understand why they don't just save everyone the stress and print seat numbers on everyone's tickets. Ugh.

Funny thing is that they always have some sort of classical music playing on the plane once you do shove your way onto the plane, in a feeble attempt to calm us all down again so they can dole out water for 3 pounds each.