Hello - I had a good time on holiday in Ireland (actually I was staying in Wicklow so I didn't visit Dublin that often - I should pay more attention when people explain travel arrangements to me). I had 9 minutes of internet access which I used to check my e-mails!

I saw many pretty + interesting things (though it did rain occasionally). I may post pictures, but not tonight.

However, no good holiday is complete without something to rant about, so:

1. Excess baggage

It seems low cost air travel is less low-cost than you might think! For some inexplicable reason Ryanair have dropped their hold baggage limit to 15 kilos. For two weeks of travel, this ain't very much. Hence we had to pay some (extortionate) excess charge for the few kilos over our bags were. However, the most ridiculous part is the 10 kilos of hand luggage you're allowed to take on! I don't own one of those diddy little suitcases to carry on, nor do I particularly want to carry one - I usually take a relatively small cabin bag, with just a couple of books, pens, etc in it - I don't want to carry a case containing loads of clothing or a big heavy bag!! I just want to take what I actually need, the rest can go in the bottom of the plane as far as I'm concerned. And it's insane that everyone has to queue up at the ticket sales desk for another half an hour to pay the stupid excess... while some people (who have evidently not been trained in the art of queuing) attempt to jump the queue because they didn't allow enough time to get to the airport. Their problem, not mine. And anyway, why am I penalised for not having one of those annoying cases which people insist on bringing in the cabin?

2. Those annoying cases which people bring into the cabin

Or rather, the annoying people who bring them. On the low fare airlines, for any of you who don't know, there is no allocated seating. Hence everybody rushes onto the plane at once (having already pointlessly queued for like an hour before the plane is going to take off, because if one person starts a queue, in classic British tradition, we all have to follow) to try and grab seats. However, because that extra 2 minutes you gain from being able to get off the plane first by sitting at the front/back is oh so desperately important, people don't do the sensible thing and move to the middle of the plane and fill up from there, they take the nearest seats to the door they've come in through. Nice, guys. I guess this wouldn't be so bad if they didn't then STAND IN THE AISLE PUTTING BAGGAGE IN THE OVERHEADS. I know your cabin baggage is important but is it really that imperative that you stand in the way of everyone else, completely ignoring them, so they get to stand on the (wobbly) steps for ages while you try to decide where to store your precious carry-on luggage? If you want to stand in the aisle, move down the plane or at least let some people past first. It's not difficult, and to be honest doing otherwise is just rude. And in fact, there are some people who miraculously can put luggage up and still let people past! Amazing, isn't it, and all it takes is a little extra consideration.

Um, yeah. Petty complaints over with.