Oh man who'd be a blogger?
Even this little travelogue is tough, and I frequently resort to photos because words is hard.
So here's the last chapter, two months later: after a wonderful Edinburgh meet up, it was time to head to London.
I'm not a fan of Ryanair or Stansted Airport (my computer spell checks Stagnated to Stagnated, which tells you something and I am not going to re-spell check it); but I also wanted to try this new fangled friendly cuddly Ryanair, and their Business Plus offering. The entire flight came to a grand total of £40.00. That included:
- Fastrack security
- Speedy boarding
- Full choice of seats on board
- Checked in baggage
On the downside, Stagnated Airport is the wrong side of London for me, but the things you do for research...
My trip to the airport started with an Edinburgh tram... a project that ended up going over time and budget - there's hundreds of pages written about the fiasco, but it seems to be working now.
Edinburgh Airport has a sense of humour!
Fastrack security was indeed fast, and the staff was very friendly and before long I was heading to the Aspire lounge. However, I got distracted by the No.1 Lounge and decided to wait there...
The range of food is nice enough, as well as this selection, there was lovely soup, nice biscuits and cakes, and of course, some alcohol.
And here was where I encountered two different types of service.
Both entirely polite, but one was streets ahead of the other.
For my first G&T, I was asked which gin I would like, and which tonic.
For my *ahem* second, I was given the house G&T.
Nothing really wrong with that, but interesting how one question made me feel much more valued as a consumer.
I nipped to the loo...
That wasn't me by the way... I'm not that funny.
Boarding was called and I headed to the gate. The "Priority Boarding" queue was very long.
Where we waited, and waited.
Then we waited and waited outside, in the blistering sunshine.
I took the opportunity to snap our neighbour
Eventually we were permitted to board.
Legroom was similar to BA's newly enhanced Club Europe
Time for a little plane spotting!
Ryanair, deliberately, set out to remove the 'allure' of air travel, so there's not much to report.
I think we left on time.
Some scenery
Arrival at a sunny Stagnated.using
And on to the poor Stagnated Express (nice seats, but in 20 years of using it the service has never delivered what it promises.
So, my little Scottish Tour was over. What's next?
My little Midlands Tour, where I travel LONDON - BIRMINGHAM - AMSTERDAM - HUMBERSIDE - CLEETHORPES - GAINSBOROUGH CENTRAL (!!! Google it!) - LINCOLN - SHEFFIELD.... then a weekend in BERLIN... then JERSEY... then a return to the Caledonian Sleeper...
Watch This Space!
