Ryanair

I travelled to Ireland from Thursday to Saturday. It was really an enjoyable trip. I joined some guided tours and had no problem understanding Irish English. The best food I had in Dublin was oysters. I like raw oysters, however I’ve never tried it in Manchester because I didn’t think it was fresh enough to eat raw. I really enjoyed tasting it with Guinness beer which is a good match. I’m not a big beer fan however I visited Guinness Store House which is the most popular sightseeing spot in Dublin. After having a good time in Dublin, I headed to the airport. I had no problems until the last moment. After passing the security check at the airport, I still had time until departure so I tried to spend all of my euro cash. When I bought an item at the shop, I was asked to show my boarding pass. The shop keeper scanned the boarding pass and said nothing about my boarding time. Anyway it was close to my departure so I rushed to the gate. Unexpectedly, the shop was quite far away from the gate and I started to feel nervous. When I arrived at the gate, there were nobody and I saw the sign ‘CLOSED’ at the gate. I was devastated but I could still see my airplane door opened with stairs over the window. So I rushed to the other gate where another Ryanair flight flies. I told the staff, “I fly to Manchester but the gate is closed.” Her answer was, “The gate is closed and I can do nothing for you. You need to go back to the Ryanair service counter and book another flight. There’s no Manchester flight today but there is a Liverpool flight at 11pm.”
I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. I was just walking around the gate and noticed a man approaching the gate and showed the same shock as me. He also went to talk to the same Ryanair staff but she repeated the same thing to him as well. The man shouted, “Ryanair is the worst airline in the world!” To be honest, I felt the same way but couldn’t say it out loud so I was glad that the man showed his anger to the staff. Anyway the staff was helpless and if I stayed there any longer, I would have missed the Liverpool flight as well, because the planes tend to fly earlier than departing time.
So I headed to the service counter which was located outside of security check. This meant that I needed to pass from the opposite direction. The security staff guided me to get back to the service counter. It was embarrassing. The officer told me, “Don’t worry this kind of thing happens a lot, especially with Ryanair.” I went to the service counter and the staff asked me to pay €110.00 per person from Dublin to Liverpool. My original return tickets only cost ￡135.96 for two people. An extra €220.00 for one way sounds really expensive. I suspect Ryanair may do this on purpose. They are a low cost budget airline however, if people couldn’t follow their priorities, eventually it becomes the most expensive airline.

Continuing Leaving Procedures

After 30 people came to check my place, finally someone took it. My estate agency won’t bother me by viewing my place anymore.
I started to make phone calls to the water company, electricity company, internet provider, TV license and council tax to inform them about my leaving. I also tried to find someone who can use my items such as bookshelves, a music keyboard, a microwave, a desk, a printer and so on. Some of them were taken by my friends, and my English teacher gave me information on how to donate useful items for a certain organization. I will arrange this.
I try to meet up with my friends in Manchester however I found out that two of my friends are on holiday and won’t be back until the end of September. So I can’t see them before I leave. I also try to meet up with my friend who is living in Italy. However she has made plans to visit Japan so we couldn’t make plans to meet up. Now I have booked a trip to Ireland instead where I always wanted to visit.
The day I am leaving Manchester is confirmed to be on 21st September, which is in less than three weeks. I have some good friends in Manchester and the fact that I have to leave breaks my heart.