Flying to London from other european countries is rather cheap. There are several airports in London and so many airline options. The one I flew to (and not for the first time either) is London Stansted Airport. It is located a one hour drive north of London which may sound rather far, but there are good options to get a transfer to the city center.
I booked my trip only one week before takeoff from Frankfurt International Airport via Ryanair for a total of 71 Euro. For both ways, that is. If you book much earlier you can get there for like 20 Euro at this time of the year. On my way back I talked to the guy sitting next to me on the plane and he got such a deal.
Ryanair has a new luggage rule since beginning of 2018 – if you book the economy class you can still bring a 10kg luggage with you – but you can’t take it with you into the cabine. Right in front of thee airplane, before you take the stairs into the cabine, you have to put your big luggage into a wagon standing there. And they will put it into the cargo space! If you don’t want that, you have to pay extra and updgrade. While this looks like a pure cash crab, it isn’t. It is also to speed up the boarding process – I read that Ryanair had some problems lately with take off in time. Because it took the passengers so long to storage all their luggage and because there wasn’t enough space in the cabine for all of it. I did not pay extra and just took my little camera bag with me. I would only pay extra if I had something really valuable in my big luggage or if I really need to hurry up and don’t want to wait for luggage claim. But even here, I didn’t have to wait for long – it is last in first out – so your bag should be among the first on the conveyor belt.
Earlier I wrote the flight did cost me 71 Euro for both ways. But once you arrive in Stansted how to get to the city center? There are two easy options: Bus or train. Both are good options here. Stansted Express, that is the name if the train, goes every 15 minutes and costs around 15 Euro for one way and takes appr. 50 minutes to Liverpool station in London. Bus costs 10 Euro and takes round about one hour.
I took the train and it was very convenient! Once you arrive in Liverpool station, you can take the London Underground to get around in the city and start exploring.
Do you like travel adventures, getting there, planes and bus rides or is it more of a hassle and you are glad to finally arrive in your chosen destination?
Simon Rau Fotografie 