Ryanair & Remote Lands

I love absurd travel suggestions – ones you read and you think ‘where on earth did that come from?’  The Australian newspapers The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald featured a travel enquiry:

• If the only flight option is Ryanair, should we ditch that destination?

A couple were looking at a visit to Sardinia (good idea), but were contemplating scrapping the whole plan if it required flying with Ryanair. Michael Gebicki, the paper’s ‘Tripologist,’ answered the query with an absolute straight face, suggesting the possibility of flying with Wizz Air (now there is an airline I have had really bad experiences with) or taking a seven to eight hour ferry ride (well that could be fun), but never hinting at why anybody might hate Ryanair so much that they’d abandon a trip rather than board one of Michael O’Leary’s 737s.

Over the years I’ve taken Ryanair on quite a few occasions and they’ve always done exactly what they promised, got you there safely and relatively comfortably (OK the seats don’t recline, big deal for short flights?), didn’t lose my luggage and ran to schedule. The only Ryanair flight I’ve taken which was somewhat delayed was totally down to bad weather, you could see it out the window, and the pilot kept us informed on why things weren’t going to plan. Something which I’ve had too much experience of not happening on other airlines. And of course, underline this, Ryanair are cheap. Sometimes amazingly cheap.

▲ Equally important Ryanair – or rather Michael O’Leary – are often hilariously funny. Take their recent dispute with Elon Musk. Mr Tesla got angry with Ryanair for not installing Starlink Wi-Fi access on their aircraft. O’Leary suggested Musk was an idiot and ran a ‘Big Idiot’ seat sale. Wonderful. It’s not surprising The Economist suggested Ryanair might be the world’s most successful airline.

Then, at the other end of the cost spectrum, there’s Remote Travel. Now I have never taken a Remote Travel trip, but I’m on their mailing list and their trips often look fantastic. And often look absurd! Check their 15-day Everest Base Camp trip, a mere US$29,000 out of Kathmandu. I’ve done the Everest Base Camp trip and had a wonderful time, but certainly not in the comfort Remote Travel can offer. Take their trip and if at some point along the route up to the base camp your feet get a bit tired you snap your fingers and a helicopter pops down to save you walking for the rest of the afternoon. Even if you’re not in the market for helicopter hiking check their website, the pictures are terrific.