Destination: Scotland!

[Camikaze]

RE: cheap flights. Ryanair does £20 flights (roughly, plus baggage costs) from London Stansted to Oslo Rygge, though it'll cost you about £15 to get from Liverpool St. to Stansted, and another £15 and an hour to get from Rygge to Oslo itself.

There are a lot of cheap options from lots of airports (though London is really the hub for low-cost flying). Use this website.

 

[Silurian]

yes watch out for the cost of your bag etc

http://www.ryanair.com/en/terms-and-conditions#regulations-tableoffees

 

[warpus]

RE: cheap flights. Ryanair does £20 flights (roughly, plus baggage costs) from London Stansted to Oslo Rygge, though it'll cost you about £15 to get from Liverpool St. to Stansted, and another £15 and an hour to get from Rygge to Oslo itself.

There are a lot of cheap options from lots of airports (though London is really the hub for low-cost flying). Use this website.

That does seem cheap, even with all the extra costs..

What about tax surcharges and taxes? There are flights on this side of the pond advertised as $100 or whatever, but then they'll slap a $200 tax on that.

 

[Camikaze]

The added cost is more in baggage, booking fees and check-in than taxes. It can end up being around double, but that's still only £40 (and you can get it cheaper if you pick the right flight).

Baggage is a bit of a killer.

Looking back through my emails, this is what the total cost was for two return tickets:

********67.96 GBP Total Fare

*********0.00 GBP Taxes, Fees & Charges

********20.00 GBP Passenger Fee: Web Check in

********20.00 GBP Passenger Fee: Administration Fee

*******107.96 GBP Total Paid

 

[warpus]

That's still pretty damn cheap!

How crazy are the airports in Europe? I'm used to showing up 3 hours before an international flight here in North America and 2 for a domestic flight. (1 for a domestic might be fine, but I'd rather not risk it. 9/11 made lines way slower and longer here, so you wanna play it safe..)

Also.. Are any civfanatic forum members also European tourguides?

 

[Pangur Bán]

Worth bearing in mind though that Ryanair are scum who operate deceptively and predatorially. If you fly with them you have to make sure you do everything they say, even if it doesn't seem important,because they are hovering over you waiting for an excuse to add a "charge" or a "fine". Not worth using unless finances force you to use them.

 

[Lillefix]

In my opinion Ryanair works just fine as long as you know what you're doing, and know what to expect. Just do you research and you won't have any problems. You get what you pay for, and nothing more.

 

[Silurian]

Do a dummy booking on Ryanair and see what it is like. Just put dummy name card details etc. then you can swhat it is like. If you only have hand luggage and do not care where you sit etc it is good.

 

[warpus]

Do a dummy booking on Ryanair and see what it is like. Just put dummy name card details etc. then you can swhat it is like. If you only have hand luggage and do not care where you sit etc it is good.

Yeah I really don't care, although I usually prefer an aisle seat.

As for my bag, on my trip to california I had 1 large backpack, and that's it. I checked it in for $25 each way. I thought that was a bit pricy, but then saw people bothering with giant carry-on bags and how much hassle it was. They were obviously trying to save money by dragging those monstrosities on the plane; in retrospect I didn't mind paying $25 to not have to deal with that crap.

(hmm or was that $35? It was something like that)

 

[Pangur Bán]

In my opinion Ryanair works just fine as long as you know what you're doing, and know what to expect. Just do you research and you won't have any problems. You get what you pay for, and nothing more.

The only people who say that are young light-travelling singles who've not experienced cancelations and delays. If you use ryanair, you'll be royally screwed if there is a cancellation; they'll use any "legal" excuse they can to avoid following or to minimize following the decent legislation that ensures stranded passenger welfare and security. If you use ryanair expect appalling service from the trash of the air hostess industry. If you use ryanair you are supporting a company that treats its staff like slaves and systematically tries to avoid respecting their legal rights.

And when you start paying for the backage and that kind of thing, you might as well use a proper airline price-wise, especially if you are flying out of a Mediterranean country where they just don't like to form orderly lines and you'll basically have to punch some pushy Italian or Greek if you want a decent seat (or to sit together with your partner).

 

[Silurian]

I thought you could pay extra to book a seat rather than taking pot luck.

 

[Mise]

As a young, light-travelling single I highly recommend Ryanair. EasyJet was good too.

 

[mayor]

If the Wedding is October 30th, I guess you'll be in The Netherlands in the end of September the start of October? that can be a good period, with a bit of luck you'll have nice weather... if you're unlucky it will rain non-stop

overall I find Rotterdam a horendous city but it does has its nice places and the harbour is very cool. but since your friend lives there he'll know what to check out.
The city centre of Amsterdam is also worth visiting, don't here me complaining there

however, I do suggest you visit other parts of The Netherlands (Holland* is only the western part of it and consists of two provinces )
If you stay within Rotterdam and Amsterdam you're idea of The Netherlands will be rather limited.

I suggest you either pay a visit to the north (Leeuwarden/Groningen) the south (Breda/Eindhoven) (most southern city is Maastricht but it's very annoying to get there) or, my personal favorite, the east (Enschede).
I suggest you'll travel there by train, that's the easiest way, I find, to get a good impression about the landscape

*It's a bit of a touchy subject for Dutchmen who don't live in either North or South Holland if a foreigner refers to The Netherlands as Holland. we might have a bit of a Inferiority complex about that

 

[Camikaze]

What Mise said. Yes, it's more risky than a non-budget airline, and you get what you pay for, but it's a helluva sweet deal. Okay, you might get screwed over, but it's an entirely economic gamble. That's precisely the reason why young lightly-travelling singles would recommend it; because it's a good deal for other young lightly-travelling singles. Though, of course, what Pangur Bán says about crossing your t's and dotting your i's is worth noting; if you go for carry on baggage only, they are anal about size requirements. Wear your heaviest clothing onto the plane, and stuff your pockets. Once you're seated (and although you don't get a choice of seat, you've still almost certain to get an aisle seat if you want one, or a window seat if you want one, assuming you're half-decent at queuing. And that's even assuming the flight's full; the London-Oslo flights I was on were less than half full) cram it back into your bag. You can probably wear half or a third of your luggage. But you do not need good service on a 2-3 hour flight. You do not need food (which you can buy at the airport and bring on board anyway), you do not even really need to be particularly comfortable.

 

[warpus]

If the Wedding is October 30th, I guess you'll be in The Netherlands in the end of September the start of October? that can be a good period, with a bit of luck you'll have nice weather... if you're unlucky it will rain non-stop

overall I find Rotterdam a horendous city but it does has its nice places and the harbour is very cool. but since your friend lives there he'll know what to check out.
The city centre of Amsterdam is also worth visiting, don't here me complaining there

however, I do suggest you visit other parts of The Netherlands (Holland* is only the western part of it and consists of two provinces )
If you stay within Rotterdam and Amsterdam you're idea of The Netherlands will be rather limited.

I suggest you either pay a visit to the north (Leeuwarden/Groningen) the south (Breda/Eindhoven) (most southern city is Maastricht but it's very annoying to get there) or, my personal favorite, the east (Enschede).
I suggest you'll travel there by train, that's the easiest way, I find, to get a good impression about the landscape

*It's a bit of a touchy subject for Dutchmen who don't live in either North or South Holland if a foreigner refers to The Netherlands as Holland. we might have a bit of a Inferiority complex about that

Hehe sorry about that. "The Netherlands" in Polish is "Holandia" so I'm used to thinking of the country as "Holland"

Looking at my schedule I'd probably end up in the Netherlands a week or so before the wedding. It'd be one of my last stops before heading north to London and then Scotland... or at least one of the last stops.

I actually used to live in Friesland, in Germany, right across the border, so I experienced a bit of Dutch life already.. sort of I lived in a small village there for a couple years, got to experience the windmills, the bizarre language of Plattdeutsch, the north sea, dutch tv, etc. Wouldn't mind making a detour to check out all those places I remember from my childhood. That would be.. weird.

 

[RRRaskolnikov]

I guess it'll be cold anyway, so I might as well ignore the beaches and focus on the sights. What can I expect, like.. 10-15C ? in Paris, for example, in mid october? So actually not so bad weather in Spain and southern France then.. but not beach weather I bet. Either way it looks like it's time to invest in a good compact & warm sleeping bag.. for the hostels.. as for the beer, I am always up for a beer

Sorry for the late reply... but yeah, you can expect 15C or so... and some raining... PM me for the beer

 

[Jan H]

Madrid - definitely visit the Prada museum. Well worth it. The subway in Madrid is very cheap and efficient (1 euro fare for anywhere in the city). While certainly there is touristy stuff to see, Madrid, being a relatively new city, is actually more of a club town... .

I don't know about the Prada museum, but the Prado museum is definitely a must-see, especially for the Velasquez paintings, and also The Garden of Earthly Delights by Jeroen Bosch. If you're more into modern art (Picasso, Miro, Dali, ...), go to the Reina Sofia museum, where you can see Picasso's Guernica.

Also, if you're travelling from Amsterdam/Rotterdam to Paris by train, you could make a stop in Antwerp

 

[mayor]

Hehe sorry about that. "The Netherlands" in Polish is "Holandia" so I'm used to thinking of the country as "Holland"

now worries, it's history that crewed the non-hollanders I could also rant about the fact we're called Dutchmen and speak Dutch (And I do this myself, which is worse ), but I'll leave that for some other time

Looking at my schedule I'd probably end up in the Netherlands a week or so before the wedding. It'd be one of my last stops before heading north to London and then Scotland... or at least one of the last stops.

I actually used to live in Friesland, in Germany, right across the border, so I experienced a bit of Dutch life already.. sort of I lived in a small village there for a couple years, got to experience the windmills, the bizarre language of Plattdeutsch, the north sea, dutch tv, etc. Wouldn't mind making a detour to check out all those places I remember from my childhood. That would be.. weird.

well if all goes well I'll be living in Amsterdam at that time so if you need anything there just PM me and if you visit Enschede the same (it's were I spend most of my childhood )

EDIT: wait... Friesland in Germany??? *starts google* ooh you mean Ostfriesen, didn't know it was called that well in that case you know the north pretty much.. al that's left is east, south and west

 

[madviking]

I don't know about the Prada museum, but the Prado museum is definitely a must-see...

Oh snap. I keep making that mistake.

 

[stormerne]

It's worth checking the financial viability of a budget airline before you book! Either that or book late and risk missing a seat. These companies come and go. A favorite example was Flyglobespan that used to go between places Boston or Orlando to Scotland, and I once worked with an ex-stewardess from that airline. Sadly it is no more.

That said, I doubt Ryanair will be gone by the time you want to travel; I sometimes wonder whether it survives on the combined energy of people's loathing and grudging patronage.