1. Only having hand luggage made the whole experience much more pleasurable. So much less queuing.
2. I've been spoiled with the smart new A319 fleet on the STN-EDI route. The 737 we were on was very 'tired'.
3. Geek spot. On the 319 the safety briefing is led from announcements from the front of the aircraft; on the 737 it's from the rear.
In air experience much the same as the commute. Process driven, not unfriendly, but there to fulfil certain tasks (including selling scratch cards; I usually manage to sleep through that..)
Top tip. If flying to Belfast and going to the city, find a flight to George Best Airport rather than Belfast International. The former is on the old Short's airstrip about 10 minutes from the city, the latter about 40 minutes out of town. It's possibly the only instance where Ryanair fly into a more convenient airport than many other carriers.
It was the distance to International that nearly did for us the next day. After an interesting afternoon visiting the sites that were the staple of the evening news when I was a teenager, followed by a great concert and then lunch with our friends, it was back to the airport. Only I'd miscalculated the times, and we arrived to hear the 'Stansted, Final Call' announcements. Luckily we'd already checked in and had no hold luggage, and security wasn't busy...but then I was asked to remove my shoes. My very tightly laced Converse All Stars. B*gger thought I. Then the security chap said 'oh well, if your wife takes hers off instead we'll call it quits'. Err....oh, never mind...
Then to the gate, just in time, another tired 737 (possibly the same one) but away and touch down on time, the in flight experience spoiled only by having a neighbour who had no sense of personal space...
Paul
We can get better, because we're not dead yet
