im leaving on a jet-plane

[spadetownboy]

well have you all got your free ryanair flights yet. im off to la rochelle in july,eindhoven in sept and dusseldorf in october all for the princely sum of ?24.12 for me and the missus.happy days.

[dulwichmum]

Dear Spadetownboy,

How did you do that then? Ah don't go - you're great fun...

[spadetownboy]

dont worry dm, i,ll be back. ryanair are giving away 1 million free seats but they,re most likely all gone as promo running for several days now,i got mine right at the start.you need to be careful though as they have hidden extras added on like insurance etc and fees for checking in bags. as i got the flights for nought i thought id splash out and get priority boarding,got to have my window seat.

[dulwichmum]

I shall have a look then. I wish I had known earlier - I may go home and see my mammy with the chislers ... er, James and I don't use discount airlines.

[spadetownboy]

i dont tend to fly on them myself as a rule,cant stand the whole scrum aspect of getting a decent seat etc and paying over the odds for food and drink,but as it was soooooo cheap i thought what the hell.the better half is well pleased espically at the thought of a long weekend in la rochelle in early july, right im off to expedia got hotels to book.

[batdog]

D-Mum,

for a moment I thought you were serious, a lady of your status on ryanair ??? Your kidz will NEVER forgive you ha...ha...!!;-)

[dulwichmum]

Darling Mr Batdog,

I was under the influence last night. I can only apologise. It all started to go wrong when the second bottle was opened...

[SeanMacGabhann]

DM - looks like the damage was minimal. No postings of a totally outrageous nature. More's the pity

Spadetownboy - all ecological questions aside, is the title of this thread Kirk Brandon related?

[spadetownboy]

no spear chucking here sean og,merely a title to describe my travels and nothing else.

[SeanMacGabhann]

;-)

But you got the reference - fair enough. Oddly enough the song in question featuring the line came on the shuffle yesterday

[spadetownboy]

sean og got the ref through the power of google,without that kirk brandon to me sounded like an extra in a straight to dvd sci-fi film.

[Keef]

Not going anywhere on a plane, but taking Mrs Keef for a couple if nights in Rye the weekend after next. Has anyone been there? Told it's lovely, but never been myself...

[TillieTrotter]

Hi Keef, thats about my brother and his wife's fav british haunt. He stays in one of Britains oldest coaching inns overlooking the harbour.

[Jah Lush]

It's a lovely place Keef, maybe a bit too many tea shops though.

[Keef]

We're staying in an old smuggler's inn, quite pricey, but looks lovely.... I declined the 4 poster rooms though, think they're a bit creepy :-S

Sounds just the ticket for a nice quiet relaxing weekend though, which is what we both need!

[AnotherPaul]

Sorry, can't be leaving the ecological issues aside, I'm having a red rag and bull moment. I don't want to start and arguement but I'm bothered mr spadetownboy, really bothered by this.

At this point in the world, what with fossil fuel burning aggravating climate change (and leaving to one side funny pirate theories), how do you end up thinking it's a good idea to brag about buying several flights when those journeys could have easily been done by train? Yes they would have cost more but where's the value in saving a few quid whilst shafting the environment?

Obviously it's not just mr spade who's thinking this, there seems to be an attitude abroad which goes something like 'i kind of care about the environment but not enough to actually change my behaviour.'

Perplexed and genuinely interested to hear what others think.

AP

[Keef]

The plane thing is difficult... Myself and Mrs Keef are pretty green (mainly down to Mrs Keef I must admit), and I would rather use alternitive methods for travel around europe. However, I have to admit the speed and ease of which you can get from London to any number of places does make it hard to be strong....

I do think flying to France is pretty inexcusable!!!! :-S

[TillieTrotter]

My family drive to Italy all the time, twice as expense as flying it must be said. It must also be said that this isnt because we are thoroughly green, its because I cant fly!

[Asset]

I have to agree. I think we should all be allotted a number of air miles or hours a year. Those that don't use then can sell them to those that feel they need more and when you've used them up - too bad.

What do you think? Who do I need to speak to? bloody good idea - someone will steal it now. Any politicians on the forum to get the ball rolling?

[TillieTrotter]

Thats not a bad idea Asset. Sounds quite fair. Although those that HAVE to fly for work would need to be an exception.

[Keef]

But that would make it pretty difficult to go to Australia :(

I wish they'd sort out the trains in this country like out neighbours have.... Lower the ridiculous prices, and stop inter europe flights!

Problem is people don't want to use trains because they are very very expensive in this country, and they're crap! So much better, nicer, and faster pretty much anywhere else!

[TillieTrotter]

Agreed there Keef, I love train travel, its actually ludicrous to think you can fly somewhere a whole lot cheaper than training it.

My daughter wanted to do abit of europassing this summer but couldnt afford it and is having to fly!!

[Asset]

Well

A - business people don't always have to fly, there are video phones, conference calls etc and they would be the ones purchasing miles off the likes of you.

B - if you must go to Australia although frankly too many poisonous things there(:))) you also could purchase TT's miles.

[AnotherPaul]

Tillie, not wanting to sound too extreme here but if there is a climate change disaster at some point in the future will people who had to fly because of work be exempt from blame? Employers should be forced to think long and hard about running businesses in a way which make flights necessary, not looking for opt outs.

Asset, it's kind of a good idea but wouldn't we end up with a situation in which people who don't fly much anyway hand over vouchers to the well off who do lots of flying already. A kind of status-quo.

[Asset]

needs some fine tuning but it would have to be an allowance per person that actually does reduce the overall miles flown per year.