The birth of budget journey planner

Summer of '11 brought a loss for my grandparents when two of their beloved granddaughters were lost forever. In other words, went to study abroad - one to Birmingham and the other to Milan. As I'm the lucky one to be based in the architecturally stunning and all-year-round sunny Birmingham, I decided I can't stay there for the 4 years straight and want to see the world. First step, obviously, visit my cousin.

Ryanair is a glorious creation that helps dreams come true! The flights are a total bargain, so after finding the ones to fit in my schedule (weekends off, all other days completely full - Engineering believe it or not) I did not hesitate to buy them:

A thing to mention before the rest of the story: these are to be my second and third flights ever and it's the first time I planned an international journey on my own. Umm... or any journey really. Can you sense it yet? The sweet smell of failure.

So I bought the oh-so-cheap tickets. Surprise - administration fees aren't included! Plus £6, plus €6. Flying not from and to Birmingham? Plus £6.5 to go to Bristol (yay, Megabus!) and £8.8 from Liverpool (no megabus, trains ain't cheap...) Ever thought that airport is not IN the city? Plus £9.6 total in the UK. Milan airport is also known as Bergamo. Why you ask? Because it's closer to Bergamo town than Milan itself. Plus €10 for a return ticket. In the end my budget journey summed up closer to a £100 then initial £11.

Fun fact: to have at least a bit of cash for Christmas presents (mine was clearly the trip) and all kinds of English sweets for my brother I did as many psychological experiments (they give cash for that!) in a week as I possibly could, earning £99. Experiments included low current running through me and my head being connected like Lukas' in "Aurora. Vanishing Waves" (pic below. Awesome movie btw).

Were extra expenses the only thing I forgot to consider? Do I look like a thoughtful girl? I'm totally blond in my heart. Departure from Bristol is at 8am, Birmingham to Bristol is more than 2 hours, add the time to the airport. No means of intercity transport possible during the night. Panic?! Not really - I still have two weeks to learn teleportation (illustration below). Casually not falling asleep I realised sleep is not that crucial - I can come to the airport the night before. Just how to ensure I won't get kicked out if the airport closes (happened to my cousin)? Browsing through the internet (can't fall asleep anyway, so why wait) I found a truly wonderful website sleepinginairports.net, which told me not only whether the airport closes but also if it has free wifi, where the softest spot to sleep is and everything I wouldn't even think of. It became one of my favourite websites.

So here I was: tickets bought, morally prepared for my first night at the airport and ready to go on an adventure. For my experiences of the sunny Milan read the post "One short day in the capital of fashion".

Happy ending: this fiasco turned out to be great experience and stimulus to travel more. Actually cheaply next time. I guess I stepped one more step up the ladder towards my dream as I noticed my friends asking me for advice on travelling, especially on budget. Still loads to learn and loads to see!