My trip to Eindhoven and The Netherlands had unfortunately only been partially successful and, having ran out of things to do in a closed Eindhoven, I was back at Eindhoven Airport a few hours ahead of my flight home. I’d once again be flying with Ryanair to London’s Stansted airport, the low-cost carrier’s largest base and an airport I’m not a fan of arriving into as its quite often chaotic. Would it be any different on this occasion?

Back at the end of March, with a few days off work and a yearning to explore, I had booked myself some cheap Ryanair flights for a daytrip to Europe. Just across the North Sea from the UK, The Netherlands is one of our closest neighbours, meaning it was just a short flight from Stansted that would take me to the Dutch city of Eindhoven. Whilst I’ve visited The Netherlands a couple of times before, this would be my first visit to Eindhoven, and I was looking forward to exploring. However, first I had to get there!

After an enjoyable couple of days exploring the beautiful city of Bilbao, it was time for me to leave the Basque Country and head home. As with my flight out, my flight back to the UK was with low-cost carrier, Vueling, who would take me from northern Spain back to London’s Gatwick airport.

Back at the end of February, with the winter weather starting to get a bit boring, my next trip came around just at the right time to get a bit of winter sun. Bilbao would be my destination, located on Spain’s northern coast and as the Basque Country’s largest city, I was looking forward to a trip full of history and culture. But before I could start exploring the city, I had to get there and for that I was trying out a new airline for me, Vueling.

Christmas market visited, good food eaten and new city explored, our day in Belfast had been a success, however it was sadly time to head home. We’d once again be flying with easyJet, reversing our route from the morning as we flew from Belfast International to London Luton. I’d tried to get a flight home from Belfast’s other airport, Belfast City, just to see how it compared to its larger competitor, however unfortunately the timings didn’t work. Therefore, we ended our time in Belfast as we started it, at Grand Central bus station.

With Christmas market season well underway, and my previous trip to Düsseldorf beginning to feel like a distance memory, it was time for another trip. Beth had a spare day’s leave and with me being on my rostered week off, we decided to have a day out to visit a Christmas market that is supposedly one of the best in the UK and also visit a new city for us, Belfast. So, on a Monday in December, we had an early start to get to Luton airport, ready to catch an easyJet flight across the Irish Sea to Belfast International.