Ryanair - I like it.

Ryanair has always been an easy target for the eternal begrudger and  people who like to complain, moan and gernerally live happily in a world where everything is wrong and they are the permanently wronged ones. 

For me, Ryanair was always the godsend way of affordable travel between the old and the new home. They have made flying as easy as taking the bus and reduced the distance between Ireland and Germany to something manageable and affordable 

I opted for Ireland as my home as early as the 80s when I left the university in Bonn to study in Trinity. There I met my husband and basically stayed in Ireland. Flying home could cost anything between £300 and £500 and I went home rarely, my parents kindly footing the bill to see me at Christmas and in the summer. In between I hitched lifts on trucks which worked very well and was totally safe if probably quite unconventional.

Then came the kids and ferry travel twice a year. Normally that worked perfectly but inbetween, sometimes travel became crucial, for illness, for funerals, for celebrations not to be missed or just for a talk that could not bear the phone. For these days I owe Ryanair so much that I will never quarrel with them. Again and again they made travel possible and easy.

Yes, I doubted their wisdom of disallowing handbags or duty free bags and their general idea to make everything an add on on their really cheap tickets. But for me, even  with all the add ons, the tickets are cheap and affordable. They do exactly what it says  on the ticket - get me and mine from one place to another without any fuss. I travelled on my own, with three or four very young children. I travelled with my father who was not great to walk and not once - not once - did I have reason to complain. Staff was always kind and polite and if my bag was too big, it was too big and sometimes I got caught and sometimes I did not. A gamble, but my gamble and not their fault.

I am writing this in Cologne at the airport after two days with my mother - flying over for nothing more crucial than helping her pickle the pumpkins. My luck held as it does and neither of the flights was cancelled. We had a great time and I'm planning the next trip for next month.

Not only for me and my travel plans but for Ryanair, for all the people depending on it and for air travel as a whole, I hope very much that Ryanair is doing well and will continue to fly and fly in the face of conventional airways. And I hope my fellow travellers who are all making use of the cheap tickets might put a sock in it. The choice is yours. Make it and please stop moaning !!!!!