Geezer Guides

Location: Hotel Tre Santi, Treviso, Italy

Today’s Total Expenses: $151.36

Transportation: $95.64 ($78.90 airfare + $16.74 taxi)
Accommodation: $55.72

Miles Traveled Today:
Road Miles: 73 (Burry Port to Bristol)
Air Miles: 786 (Bristol to Treviso)

Last Minute Packing and Weighing

As predicted, we all had some last minute packing, unpacking and repacking combined with weighing the bags after each addition, substitution or subtraction.

We were close – very close – but within the specified limits.

The next step was to get to the airport.

Bristol Airport

Bristol Airport is about a two-hour drive from Burry Port, so we headed out in plenty of time.

We weren’t sure what to expect as this was the first experience, for all of us, with RyanAir. And, we’ve heard some horror stories about them. So, even though we were happy to get a really cheap flight, we were a bit anxious about the flight itself.

We also needed to park the car in long term parking but T had already pre-arranged that and we had the directions in hand. E was driving the three of us from Burry Port to Bristol and T was heading there from work in Coventry.

We were using a TomTom GPS to guide us to the Bristol airport but it conked out on us partway through the trip (it may not have been plugged in properly, we’re not sure). So, we then followed the signs to the airport. Actually, the signage could have been a lot better, but we still managed to get to our destination within 15 minutes of the planned time and quickly met up with T, checked the car in and boarded the shuttle to the airport.

RyanAir Check In and Boarding

With much trepidation we made our way to the RyanAir check in counter.

Although we didn’t have any bags to check, because we were not EU citizens, we needed to have our passports verified.

That went really smoothly – no problem at all.

We then went to the appropriate gate waiting area and waited for our flight to be called.

When it was time to board, we lined up with everyone else. Lots of people got into the line very, very early as RyanAir does not assign seats. It’s a first-come, first-served method of seat selection. That means, when you get on the plane you grab whatever seat you want from what is still empty. That’s why people line up early, so they get their pick of seats. All we were hoping for was to be able to sit together.

As people starting boarding, we noticed that a few people were required to prove that their luggage would fit in the little carry-on luggage gauge at the gate. You know what we mean – the metal tubes configured for carry-on luggage. The one that says “Your carry-on bag must be able to fit in here”, or something to that effect.

There were some people that were applying quite a lot of force to their bags to MAKE it fit. Some succeeded, some didn’t.

So, we began to second-guess our carry-on bags but we needn’t have worried. They didn’t even look twice at our carry-on and certainly didn’t require us to fit it into the measuring frame.

Once past that hurdle, we hurried onto the plane in search of seats. And, we were able to get seats next to each other – YAY!

After settling into our seats we noticed that we had more legroom than we have been used to on recent flights. It seems that was because RyanAir planes don’t have the pouch you usually see on the back of the seat in front of you. You know, the one that holds the magazines and barf bags. Who knew that simply eliminating that could give you a noticeable improvement in space.

By the way, we had boarded exactly on time and we also took off – exactly on time.

RyanAir Flight to Treviso, Italy

Treviso is actually a small airport not far from Venice.

The flight to Treviso was smooth and uneventful.

One thing about RyanAir is that they charge, pretty much, for everything. There’s no free coffee, tea or soft drinks. So, if you want anything to eat or drink, be prepared to pay for it.

They also sell other things on board, too. Believe it or not they have someone come through the cabin selling stuff like electronic cigarettes (so smokers can get their nicotine fix while not actually lighting up a cigarette) and lottery tickets, among other things. And, it’s done almost like the hot dog vendors at a baseball game – really. It’s hard to explain in words but I think you get my drift.

We also landed on time which is celebrated by a special announcement and with the type of music that you hear at the start of a horse race. It’s kind of kitschy, but you remember it.

Hotel in Treviso

Our flight was an evening flight, so we landed at the Treviso airport around 10:30pm.

We had picked a hotel through Expedia and hoped that trying to find something reasonable didn’t mean that we were finding something “cheap”.

We grabbed a taxi at the airport and gave the driver the address of the Hotel Tre Santi. We watched as we passed many other hotels that we saw on Expedia that were out of our budget and again kept our fingers crossed about the one we had picked.

As the cab pulled up to the Hotel Tre Santi it was apparent that it was a smaller, older hotel.

The night staff was friendly and helpful but didn’t speak much English. We were able to ascertain that the cost of the room included breakfast in the little café just off the lobby.

We were give the key to our room and instructions about where it was located.

The room was clean, but old and very basic. Oh well, it was just for one night. And, being tired from our day of traveling, all we really wanted to do was fall off to sleep anyway.