So our time in Europe this year in May/Jun was a choice between a 14 day cruise at the end. Or Germany/France on the ground and in the air.
Starting pt was Prague and what a difficult place that is to get out of. Few want to rent a car to drive into Czech and it's the same coming out. Some of the German trains are pretty cheap but in the end we went RyanAir most of the way.
Prague to Dublin
Everyone queques up on RyanAir to board unless you pay a priority seating fee. However all the early boarders seem to finish up filling up the back and middle seats leaving the front seats and exit rows empty. So very front seats on this flight for me and the missus. Or where they Row 2 aisle and middle seat. Chicken wraps are great
Transiting through Dublin Airport
One to avoid. Hideously expensive, crowded, the internet is not free and very poor to use. Clearing on arrival was very slow and we thought we were walking to Germany on the flight out. Of course being the home of RA they're on the job here and I fork over €30 for excess luggage.
Karlsruhue Germany
This one is a beauty. Small, modern and clean. Relaxed. I thought Europecar might have been in a tin shed a mile from the airport. But straight through the electric doors there they are. And the VW we rented was just outside the terminal. There's buses here running into town and possibly connecting over the border into France. Baden Baden Germany is just down the road. A very pleasant agricultural area and Baden Baden is a wonderful town with some of the nicest shopping, cafes, opera, horse racing, streets you'll find in Germany.
Frankfurt Hahn
In the middle of nowhere if you come at this from the wrong direction. It's about 110km west of Frankfurt proper. We drove from Strasborg to FHN with a Tom Tom. BUt the roadworks caused many detours and we knew something was up when we finished up someones driveway about 40km from the airport. Back to POI and that sorted it out. FHN has a small hotel right next to the terminal. Once here this would be an excellent hub for other RyanAir destinations. The planes are angle parked on the tarmac with little flags giving their destinations. Bari was leaving at the same time as our flight to Montpellier France. Hertz are at the terminal here. Europcar are in the little village about 3 to 5 mins drive away. Franfurt Hahn is one airport that you want to allow plenty of time to find!
Great flight to Montepellier. We had 2 lots of tickets for this flight. ONe the day before as well to give us some flexibility. The flights were free. With taxes they might have been €40 total. Exit row seats and hot pizza on board which they do quite well. One girl opposite carrying a musical instrument got slugged about the same price as her ticket for excess baggage. I just managed to bluff my way on board with 2 bags and somewhat overweight stowed luggage. 15kg limit for suitcase, 10kg for hand luggage. very hard to keep to when travelling for biz.
Montpellier
This is a very nice airport and unlike some of the other RA ones right close to town. All the major rental car agencies of course i the airport. Montpellier is a great looking place, lots palms trees. A bit like a Qld part of France. Just manage to finish the pizza and a beer as we descend down to land.
Marseilles
RA use the cheapies terminal Marseilles MPS at the western end of Marseilles airport which is about 25km west of Marseilles proper. (The above ground freeways, winding roads and the dirty tasting beer remind me a lot of Sydney)
MPS is big, nice cafe and even a set of scales near check in where you can juggle and pre-weigh your luggage if there are two or more of you. You can refuel your car in the airport grounds and most of the car rental agencies are walking distance to the terminals. The day we were there they were too busy to look closely at any of the cars being returned. Checking in for the fligh the staff here are more relaxed and we get on with about 35 kg between us. Mind you once you check in you do have to load you own bag onto the conveyor belt about 20m behind checkin! Inflight just about worked the way through the RyanAir menu finishing off this time with their American Hotdogs which like Tiger they take your order, heat up and deliver about 30 mins later.
Paris Beauvois
Is about 80km north of Paris and the only cheap way into Paris proper is a bus for about €13 which takes about about an hour 15 mins. There are quite a few hotels around the airport, a wild west tavern so if you were transiting through Beavois accommodation is possible nearby. As we landed the people boarding our plane were lined up ready to board as we filed off. It's very nice farming area up here
Conclusions
We'll never know if the cruise would have been more relaxing, possibly so. But as an education in travelling (and if like me you do all your own bookings and planning) this was a very interesting time. My conclusion is to try and use the same hubs for multiple destinations, avoid Dublin and research the airport locations before you travel. I took our Tom Tom with some new European maps and loaded a lot of the hotels in it before travelling.
Next year would like to see Lecce, the boot of Italy perhaps in through Bari and out through Sicily. And perhaps New Quay or some of the Welsh and SW UK areas. RyanAir again? More than likely! They have quite a good inflight magazine, the crew are a bit like a European Jetstar and they probably have the best inflight food you can buy.
Sorry if this is longwinded!
MelbMan.
Starting pt was Prague and what a difficult place that is to get out of. Few want to rent a car to drive into Czech and it's the same coming out. Some of the German trains are pretty cheap but in the end we went RyanAir most of the way.
Prague to Dublin
Everyone queques up on RyanAir to board unless you pay a priority seating fee. However all the early boarders seem to finish up filling up the back and middle seats leaving the front seats and exit rows empty. So very front seats on this flight for me and the missus. Or where they Row 2 aisle and middle seat. Chicken wraps are great
Transiting through Dublin Airport
One to avoid. Hideously expensive, crowded, the internet is not free and very poor to use. Clearing on arrival was very slow and we thought we were walking to Germany on the flight out. Of course being the home of RA they're on the job here and I fork over €30 for excess luggage.
Karlsruhue Germany
This one is a beauty. Small, modern and clean. Relaxed. I thought Europecar might have been in a tin shed a mile from the airport. But straight through the electric doors there they are. And the VW we rented was just outside the terminal. There's buses here running into town and possibly connecting over the border into France. Baden Baden Germany is just down the road. A very pleasant agricultural area and Baden Baden is a wonderful town with some of the nicest shopping, cafes, opera, horse racing, streets you'll find in Germany.
Frankfurt Hahn
In the middle of nowhere if you come at this from the wrong direction. It's about 110km west of Frankfurt proper. We drove from Strasborg to FHN with a Tom Tom. BUt the roadworks caused many detours and we knew something was up when we finished up someones driveway about 40km from the airport. Back to POI and that sorted it out. FHN has a small hotel right next to the terminal. Once here this would be an excellent hub for other RyanAir destinations. The planes are angle parked on the tarmac with little flags giving their destinations. Bari was leaving at the same time as our flight to Montpellier France. Hertz are at the terminal here. Europcar are in the little village about 3 to 5 mins drive away. Franfurt Hahn is one airport that you want to allow plenty of time to find!
Great flight to Montepellier. We had 2 lots of tickets for this flight. ONe the day before as well to give us some flexibility. The flights were free. With taxes they might have been €40 total. Exit row seats and hot pizza on board which they do quite well. One girl opposite carrying a musical instrument got slugged about the same price as her ticket for excess baggage. I just managed to bluff my way on board with 2 bags and somewhat overweight stowed luggage. 15kg limit for suitcase, 10kg for hand luggage. very hard to keep to when travelling for biz.
Montpellier
This is a very nice airport and unlike some of the other RA ones right close to town. All the major rental car agencies of course i the airport. Montpellier is a great looking place, lots palms trees. A bit like a Qld part of France. Just manage to finish the pizza and a beer as we descend down to land.
Marseilles
RA use the cheapies terminal Marseilles MPS at the western end of Marseilles airport which is about 25km west of Marseilles proper. (The above ground freeways, winding roads and the dirty tasting beer remind me a lot of Sydney)
MPS is big, nice cafe and even a set of scales near check in where you can juggle and pre-weigh your luggage if there are two or more of you. You can refuel your car in the airport grounds and most of the car rental agencies are walking distance to the terminals. The day we were there they were too busy to look closely at any of the cars being returned. Checking in for the fligh the staff here are more relaxed and we get on with about 35 kg between us. Mind you once you check in you do have to load you own bag onto the conveyor belt about 20m behind checkin! Inflight just about worked the way through the RyanAir menu finishing off this time with their American Hotdogs which like Tiger they take your order, heat up and deliver about 30 mins later.
Paris Beauvois
Is about 80km north of Paris and the only cheap way into Paris proper is a bus for about €13 which takes about about an hour 15 mins. There are quite a few hotels around the airport, a wild west tavern so if you were transiting through Beavois accommodation is possible nearby. As we landed the people boarding our plane were lined up ready to board as we filed off. It's very nice farming area up here
Conclusions
We'll never know if the cruise would have been more relaxing, possibly so. But as an education in travelling (and if like me you do all your own bookings and planning) this was a very interesting time. My conclusion is to try and use the same hubs for multiple destinations, avoid Dublin and research the airport locations before you travel. I took our Tom Tom with some new European maps and loaded a lot of the hotels in it before travelling.
Next year would like to see Lecce, the boot of Italy perhaps in through Bari and out through Sicily. And perhaps New Quay or some of the Welsh and SW UK areas. RyanAir again? More than likely! They have quite a good inflight magazine, the crew are a bit like a European Jetstar and they probably have the best inflight food you can buy.
Sorry if this is longwinded!
MelbMan.
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