Unlike most years, in 2023 I had the August Bank Holiday free and with Beth at a festival, I decided to have a short trip away to a country I hadn’t visited in over two decades, Denmark. The country’s second city, Aarhus was my destination and as with many of my trips, this one started at London’s Stansted Airport.

Having had a short but enjoyable time exploring Slovakia’s second city, I had jumped in a taxi from the outskirts of Košice’s old town to take me back to the airport in time for my flight back to the UK with Ryanair. Or at least Ryanair’s UK subsidiary, conveniently named Ryanair UK.

Having returned from Derry less than three weeks earlier, I managed to squeeze another short trip away into June, with an overnight stay in the largest city in eastern Slovakia, Košice. As with a lot of my short European trips, this one started at Stansted with a cheap Ryanair flight.

Following an enjoyable couple of nights in Derry, it was time to head back to England and so I was back at City of Derry airport ready for my flight to Heathrow with Loganair.

The end of May saw me preparing for another trip with this one planned to tick off the final one of the four constituent nations of the United Kingdom that I was yet to visit, Northern Ireland. Rather than undertake the ‘usual’ trip to Belfast, I had decided to do something different and head to Derry/Londonderry. As such my trip began at Heathrow for a morning flight across the Irish Sea with Loganair.

Having spent the morning exploring the Vatican City and Rome, I had jumped onboard the Leonardo Express to take me from Roma Termini to Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, ready to make the final leg of my trip, the flight from Rome to London with ITA Airways.