Ryan Air From Lithuania

Recently I took my first flight on Ryan Air. Having heard many stories about how bad this airline was, I really expected the worst. But my experience proved to be very different than what I expected.

I wanted to take a break from the cold Lithuanian weather and in May 2011, I flew from Kaunas to Kos, Greece on Ryan Air.

Perhaps because I paid a few extra litas for priority boarding, I found the boarding process to be very easy. All priority passengers were allowed first on board the flight. So, there was plenty of space to store my hand luggage and little stress in getting a seat.

Yes, Ryan Air uses every opportunity to make money. But much of this is also done by many airlines these days. For example, you pay for all food and beverages consumed. Nothing is given for free. They also sell souveniers and other so called "duty free" items as do most airlines. In addition, there are advertisements on the airplane, they sell lottery tickets and phone cards. They allow you to take 1 piece of hand luggage up to 10 KG. But if you want to check on any luggage, you have to pay for that too.

Does that bother me? No. The final costs, even with priority boarding and checked luggage is quite low.

The best thing about Ryan Air? If you want to fly non-stop direct from Lithuania to some sunny destination like a Greek Island, Ryan Air is the only regularly scheduled airline which you can book directly. If you want to use a travel agent, perhaps you can book a charter, such as Small Planet. But if you want to go to a sunny holiday destination from Lithuania and book it yourself, your best bet is Ryan Air.

In addition, now from Vilnius, you can book flights to some European cities (such as Bremen Germany or Milan, Italy) for amazingly low fares. I have seen fares to Bremen, Germany for euro 30, round-trip!

While not everyone loves Ryan Air, I think I will be flying them again soon and often. After my first experience, I am a fan.

Intensive Lithuanian Language Lessons

If you are interested in taking Lithuanian Language lessons and having alot of fun at the same time, contact Lingua Lituanica. Lingua Litunica have just announced that they are offering 2 week intenstive courses in Lithuanian from 1-13 August 2011.

My wife and I did this Lithuanian Language course in the summer of 2009. It was a WONDERFUL experience and we got much more than we expected. Every morning, we worked hard on our language skills and every afternoon (and some weekends) we had fun and interesting excursions. Some of the excursions were to museums, some to famous locations (such as Trakai or Kaunas) and others were just cultural experiences, for example eating Lithuanian food or taking a city tour.



Our teacher was Irene, the owner of Lingua Lit. Irene is an excellent teacher, one of the best language teachers I have had (I speak several languages and have had many language teachers). What makes Irene special is her patience and the fact that she really enjoys what she is doing. And it shows. Two years after her course, we still have occasional contact with Irene or some member of her team.



Irene and Lingua Lit were recommended to me soon after I arrived in Lithuania and I can recommend Lingua Lit to anyone who wants to improve their Lithuanian Language skills and have fun at the same time.