There is an inch of leg room I’m not using on this Ryanair flight to Pisa. Luxury.
Not really. But I enjoyed this flight more than expected. I put that down to driving it last time. A cross-European odyssey that took two full days door-to-door. Two pleasing days. Not without anxiety or delay. But an enjoyable introduction to slow and meaningful travel.
Manchester to Pisa by budget airline is neither slow nor meaningful. Nor a novelty. I’ve done it so often that I could easily resent the airport experience.
The flight could also easily grate. But not today. I’m leaning into the ‘marvellous to get from Shropshire to Florence in 8 hours’ thinking. Seems like a miracle after driving it. Cheap too – less than half what it cost by road.
There’s also a little boy in the row behind me enjoying his every minute. Which is helping me enjoy mine. Eyes wide and nose tight to the window as his Mum points out the clouds, the Alps and Livorno as we come in to land – each new sight getting a well-deserved ‘Wow!’
Reminds me when I flew this route 15 years ago with my sister and young niece. ‘Look Mummy… it’s Italy!’ sang out Isabella as we taxied into Pisa. Possibly the most boring bit of land in Tuscany. But not to a 3 year old seeing it for the first time.
That’s what novelty does for you. Makes things wonderful. I can’t enjoy flights anymore like that little boy did today. But maybe driving the route now and again will remind me that budget air travel has its upsides.
Andrew Greenhalgh 