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.

Having had a busy 24 hours in Ireland, it was time to head home and rather than catch a ‘boring’ Airbus or Boeing back across the Irish Sea, I’d timed my return to England to fly onboard one of the two daily Aer Lingus Regional flights from Dublin to Birmingham. Operated by Aer Lingus’ regional partner, Emerald Airlines, these flights use one of the airline’s 18 ATR 72-600s, offering something a bit different to the usual narrowbody jets that operate between Ireland and the UK. I have flown on one of these Aer Lingus Regional flights previously, back when they were operated by Stobart Air, but it had been a few years, so this was a good opportunity to try the ATR out again.

Back in September I had decided to attend a railway related event to aid in my professional development, something I do fairly regularly, however on this occasion it required a bit more travel than jumping on a train to London or Birmingham as the talk was being held in Cork. Deciding to make the most of the trip to Ireland, I planned to spend some time exploring Cork and the surrounding area, as well as trying out Iarnród Éireann before flying back from Dublin. Before all that though, I had to get to Cork and so Thursday 12th September saw me waking up at a Heathrow hotel ready to fly across the Irish Sea.