Cork – A Return to The Rebel City – Part 1

With our arrival in Cork onboard an Aer Lingus flight from Heathrow being just before midnight, our first day in the city started with a relaxed breakfast at the hotel before we ventured out into the city. Whilst I have visited Cork before, this was Beth’s first time in the city and so rather than wander aimlessly like I had done, we decided to make sure we saw some of the real city. As such, our first destination was the Opera House on Emmett Place to join a walking tour with Yellow Umbrella Tours which would show us both the touristy highlights of Cork as well as hopefully some hidden gems!

Bonus Blog – CrossCounty’s Refurbished Class 170s

Back at the start of March, CrossCountry launched the first of its refurbished class 170s into service and, some five months later, I finally had the opportunity to take a ride on one. At the time of my journey at the start of August, only 170101, 170112 and 170113 had been refurbished and re-entered service, so hunting one of them down was a bit of a challenge. However, with the help of Real Time Trains, I managed to find 170101 on a Birmingham New Street to Stansted Airport service and so took a ride a couple of stops east to Nuneaton to try it out.

LHR to ORK Aer Lingus Advantage

Back in July we decided to have a weekend away somewhere, however with work on both the Friday and Monday, it couldn’t be somewhere too far, and we needed to make the most of our time away. With a flight time of around an hour from the London airports and late flights able to get us there the Friday night, Cork seemed like the perfect destination. Of course, to start an Irish adventure it seemed only right to fly with Aer Lingus and so Friday 11th July saw us arriving at Heathrow’s Terminal 2 ready for the short hop across the Irish Sea.

A Week In Somerset – Part 2

This post covers the second part of our holiday in Somerset, so if you’ve not yet read part one, I’d recommend reading that first. You can find it here. If you have read part one, you’ll know that it covered the first three days of the holiday and so we’ll start this post with day 4 and a visit to one of England’s smallest cities.

A Week In Somerset – Part 1

Back in April we had a week off work together and had decided to head down and visit a part of England we hadn’t explored much before, Somerset. Both of us had visited as children, mostly enroute to Devon and Cornwall, but neither of us had really spent any time exploring the county, other than the city of Bath, during adulthood. However, because it made complete sense, our route from Cambridgeshire to Somerset would take us via West Sussex to visit friends.

BRE to STN Ryanair Economy

After just over 24 hours in the German city of Bremen, it was time to head home and that of course meant a Ryanair flight back to Stansted. I was hoping for another short uneventful flight, partly as I had work at 0600 the following day and had chosen Bremen for this trip because the return flight was balanced perfectly between allowing time to explore and getting back at a reasonable time. Whilst the flight itself was short and uneventful, the lead up to it was not, so keep reading if you want to join me when things don’t quite go to plan.