Picture: Tony and Nat Boneventura - Picture by Karen ChappleA very good friend of ours - Tony Bonventura and his fiancee Natalie - invited us to their wedding in Italy last weekend, so off we went.
I have never flown with a low cost airline before and I must admit it was a different experience. We fly from Stansted on Ryanair - or should I say RiotAir!
I am not a lover of flying, I hate crowds and I hate being treated like cattle, which is exactly how you feel at Standsted. A smile cost nothing, but the staff of RiotAir must be charged per smile as I have never seen such a grumpy lot in my life.
We had the flights booked for us by Sarah Godwin of Travel Councillors and she booked us one "priority ticket" - this concept allows you to board the plane first and grab a good seat - I had no idea that you didn't get a seat allocated.
As we were delay on the M25, and had stood in a queue for 40 mins getting checked in by the grumpy team, we just had to run to get to the gate. Then the scrum started - I got dragged through the priority lane, leaving poor Karen to cope on her own!
I got a good seat - then the trouble started - I reserved a seat for my wife, which apparently isn't allowed, so I had to fend off everybody who wanted to sit there - mostly very grumpy Italians who didn't speak English. A few seats in front of me, some guy was having a massive argument with the stewardess, whose customer care was from the Fawlty Towers training school, told the customer "If you don't like it just get off!" - simply amazing.
Poor Karen was the last person on on the plane and had literally been kicked about in the queue - I say the last person but somebody was refused entry to the plane as he squared up to the Steward.......there has to be a better way!
Anyway, the wedding was fantastic - even if a little long - a full Catholic wedding in Italian.....just under 2 hours, but at least I caught up on some sleep...!
The reception was just unbelievable - a 10 course meal - after 6 courses I wanted to throw up so I could eat more...just amazing.
The flight back was even more chaotic and disorganised - and on arrival at Stansted we had to queue once more to get into passport control - over 45 mins - apparently this is a new system to speed up your transit through customs - guys, let me tell you it isn't working!
I have never flown with a low cost airline before and I must admit it was a different experience. We fly from Stansted on Ryanair - or should I say RiotAir!
I am not a lover of flying, I hate crowds and I hate being treated like cattle, which is exactly how you feel at Standsted. A smile cost nothing, but the staff of RiotAir must be charged per smile as I have never seen such a grumpy lot in my life.
We had the flights booked for us by Sarah Godwin of Travel Councillors and she booked us one "priority ticket" - this concept allows you to board the plane first and grab a good seat - I had no idea that you didn't get a seat allocated.
As we were delay on the M25, and had stood in a queue for 40 mins getting checked in by the grumpy team, we just had to run to get to the gate. Then the scrum started - I got dragged through the priority lane, leaving poor Karen to cope on her own!
I got a good seat - then the trouble started - I reserved a seat for my wife, which apparently isn't allowed, so I had to fend off everybody who wanted to sit there - mostly very grumpy Italians who didn't speak English. A few seats in front of me, some guy was having a massive argument with the stewardess, whose customer care was from the Fawlty Towers training school, told the customer "If you don't like it just get off!" - simply amazing.
Poor Karen was the last person on on the plane and had literally been kicked about in the queue - I say the last person but somebody was refused entry to the plane as he squared up to the Steward.......there has to be a better way!
Anyway, the wedding was fantastic - even if a little long - a full Catholic wedding in Italian.....just under 2 hours, but at least I caught up on some sleep...!
The reception was just unbelievable - a 10 course meal - after 6 courses I wanted to throw up so I could eat more...just amazing.
The flight back was even more chaotic and disorganised - and on arrival at Stansted we had to queue once more to get into passport control - over 45 mins - apparently this is a new system to speed up your transit through customs - guys, let me tell you it isn't working!
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