...YES, I'd take cheese with that

Traveling is both a great adventure and a big pain. As they say, life’s a struggle, right?

Let’s start with Ryanair.  If you haven’t heard of it, it’s the British isles equivalent of southwest.  Or JetBlue.

Their initial prices are grand, if their website is clunky, but they charge for everything, almost including air. For instance? After checking in online, I was told “all non-EU passport holders on this flight have to have a printed boarding pass.” After some searching, I find Ryan will charge you £15 each to print one at the airport! Yikes.  Want to take a checked bag? From £15 to £75, depending on the flight.  On ours it was £40 for a 20 kg bag. Each way. I read an article where the company CEO said they were revolutionizing how people traveled(not making money, right?) I see that as I now know how to get three days worth of gear into half a duffel bag AND where the left luggage counter, and what  they charge, is  in several train stations and airports.

But enough on Ryanair. Let’s talk airport express train construction. First, the Gatwick express emailed to warn about construction over the holidays. The half hour trip, we were warned, became a 90 minute one. First, by bus eastward (not towards London) to east Buggtussle for half an hour. Then the full (unprepared for all the luggage) slow train northwest to London, stopping at west Buggtussle, Bumfuckhampton, & River Worthing. Then, the Stansted express (again takes half an hour) is closed today (the day we are traveling) & tomorrow. you can hear my teeth grinding from there. Luckily, one bus alternative was only two blocks from our flat & took “just” 75 minutes.

And, now, for a even more middle-class whine: the damned phone isn’t working worth f***! Okay, right now, somewhere over the south of France, it still  thinks I’m in Potter’s field-where  I’d  claim to have never been, but seems to be near the trainline on Thursday. Not helpful when you want to know where you are or where you’re going.

And my texting hasn’t worked right, eventho at this point I’ve paid Verizon $140 extra for service in Europe. & part of the point of paying was so EH & I could keep in touch. Common conversation “did you get my message?” Yes, did you get mine? No. Wtf?! & yes, one wonders how we managed to find each other without cell phones.

But, despite those minor headaches (& neither Ryan or Norwegian from JFK has offered a free cup of water), it beats staying at home, hoping Ellen isn’t a rerun (I’ve seen two episodes w the blonde from 2 Broke Girls, who’s really not that interesting).

I’m sure in all this Michael would have gone all Glengary Glenross on someone, which makes me miss him. LOL