Gotta Love Ryanair

So, while Oretta was here we thought we would take a quick trip over to Italy so she could visit family in Vico. We booked our flight on Ryanair out of Dublin to Pisa, only direct route and it was very cheap - 125 euro for all three of us. Can't beat those prices. So the flight is leaving from Dublin at 8:40pm and arriving in Pisa at 11:50pm. We arranged a hotel to spend the night in Pisa, the plan was to pick up the rental car and drive to Vico the next day. We left Shannon about 1:00pm in the afternoon. Got to the airport in Dublin with plenty of time to spare, got through security and picked up som sandwiches to eat. Plane takes off fine, smooth easy flight. Ladies and Gentlemen this is your captain we are now circling Pisa because there is fog. 10 minutes later captain comes on again, we are going to divert to Genoa because we do not have good enough visibility to land in Pisa. Arrive in Genoa it's now maybe 12:30am - land, sit on the plane for a few minutes. Captain comes on we are going to put you all on a bus and drive you to Pisa. Sit waiting for buses to arrive. Oh, it looks like the weather has improved so we will refuel and fly to Pisa, sit back and relax. Few minutes (maybe 30) later, we are going to offload you while we refuel so you can wait in comfort while we refuel. Of course, Adrian being fluent in Italian and fortunately (thank you Oretta) us being at the front of the plane - he hears them dickering about who exactly is going to pay for the fuel, because it was not pre-arranged in Genoa. They take us off the plane and into the terminal- the airport is of course closed. We hear an announcement your flight for Pisa should depart at approximately 1:40am. Ok, 30 minutes later - announcement. Pisa airport is closed, please proceed to baggage claim, collect your bags, go through Passport Control, we are going to bus you to Pisa. So bus finally arrives, we all climb on board and hmm, its a 2.5 hour bus ride to Pisa its now about 3-3:30am. We arrive in the coach park of Pisa airport at 5:00am. Get a taxi to the hotel, because of course nothing is open yet. Check-in, sleep for a couple of hours, Adrian gets the car and off we go to Vico. It was a very long night but hey we were in Italy so all is good. We got to meet cousins Adrian has never met during the week we were there and visit other friends and cousins in the village.

Even with the drama of getting to Vico it was a wonderful week and we were very sad to come home last night. It would have been nice to have stayed longer, but we took a few photos, ate way to much, enjoyed the sun, I figure my tan will be gone in 2-3 days and enjoyed the company.

Hope you all like the pictures and accompanying explanations!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12938045@N02/