My little 2 1/2 year old son like me loves airplanes and flies very well so I thought a day trip to Dublin was the order.
The Dublin route from Stansted has around 7 flights a day so there is time to spend a few hours before heading home.
I found a suitable day and booked for the two of us and it was 1 pp per flight. Yes there was a catch which was the credit card booking fee of 5 pp per flight so a total of 24 had our flights booked.
It then occurred to me that if we were to miss the return flight then we would be stuffed and probably have to pay an extortionate amount for the next flight. So I also booked the next flight back to Stansted for another 12. Just for peace of mind.
On the day, after leaving the car in the Mid Term car park we caught the courtesy bus to the terminal. I had checked in for all the flights 2 days before so just walked through security which took about 5 minutes. Stansted was fairly busy as it was peak season but we managed to find somewhere to sit and look out over the apron.
Before long our flight had been called so we took the long walk to the gate. There was a fair queue but in no time we were walking across to the plane and soon on board. We managed to have a row for the two of us and departed the gate on time.
With a short taxi and no queue we were up into the Essex skies and on our way to Dublin. As soon as we were up my little one fell asleep until top of decent some 35 minutes later.
On board the service was very swift but hugely expensive i.e 2.80 for a small bottle of water and 1.80 for a baby size can of Pepsi!
Still you are not being forced to buy them.
We landed on time. Stairs were bought to the plane and we were off within a couple of minutes. No buses but a very long walk to passport control. As we had no luggage we cleared customs in no time and were soon outside.
I purchased a 1 day Rambler ticket for 6 euro which lets you use Dublin's extensive bus network all day. We caught the 747 Airlink bus to the city centre which took about 25 minutes.
We had some lunch and a walk around and before long it was time to catch the Air link bus back to the airport.
The queue for security was very long and took almost 45 minutes to get through. I was glad that we had left plenty of time for this even though we were also booked on the later flight.
Once through security we learnt that the flight was delayed by 1/2 an hour (due to a mix up of gates for departure back at Stanstead).
Eventually our plane landed and taxied to the gate. This was the quickest turn around I have ever seen. We were called to board as the passengers from Stansted were getting off.
Within minutes we were sitting on the plane and soon departing Dublin.
The flight time of 50 minutes passed by very quickly and soon we were touching down on Essex soil. Another long walk has us fast tracking through passport control and the courtesy bus was waiting to take us to the car park.
All in all we had a great day. Plenty of people seem to knock Ryanair, but if you want no frills and do it right it works really well. For 12 - it cost less than the car park.
In fact I was so impressed that I have gone and got a prepay Electron card from Thomas Cook and booked again. 4 adults and 5 kids for 18 in total. How mad is that!!!
Try It Out!!!
[:D]
