When Break Week Becomes Beach Week...

After the drawing portion of our trip came to an end, it was time to pack up and travel outside the villa for the following week. The Pope was coming to Perugia and the Vasta family had guests that were already lined up to stay at the villa. Although we had known about the break week from the start of our trip, it wasn’t until the week before that most of us finalized our travel plans. Thanks to Ben Sherman, we were able to reserve two rooms that were within steps of the ocean. On Friday around noon Roberto took a group of ten of us to the Perugia airport where we flew with Ryanair to the beautiful island of Sardinia (Sardegna in the local tongue). For several of us, this was our first experience with the airline. The flights are extremely cheap, but this being said, is an indication that they make their money some other way. Checking a bag is extremely costly forcing most passengers to bring only a single carry-on. In order to make sure the carry-on luggage is small enough, the airline has designed a metal “if it fits” bin that determines whether or not get on the plane without checking your bag. While we were standing in line, a woman tried a number of times to get her suitcase into the bin. People were shouting for her to try different angles, turning the suitcase on its side, and finally she succeeded. But, her suitcase fit so snug, that she then had to spend several more minutes trying to get it out of the bin, and without any help or even the slightest bit of recognition from the Ryanair staff. (She was photographed many times and received quite the round of applause once her suitcase was removed.) Seeing this caused a few of us (mainly Ellen) to reconsider our packing methods. Thankfully, backpacks were not examined as closely, even though a number were just as large as some roll-a-way suitcases. Following quite some time of being herded like cattle, we made it onto the plane. The flight attendants paced back and forth down the isles for the duration of our flight promoting items to purchase from their catalog. In contrast to the typical beverages and snacks we are used to on most airlines, Ryanair flight attendants instead race up and down the isles in an attempt to sell things like jewelry, and bottles of liquor among other things. I was pretty groggy so I dosed in and out during the flight, only waking up to an extremely abrupt landing paired with a celebration tune letting us know we had safely and promplty arrived in Cagliari, Sardegna. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcR9EQ_jfhw&feature=related


Trust me, if you ever fly Ryanair, use this website to prepare: http://thesavvybackpacker.com/675/ryanair-survival-guide-tips-for-flying-ryanair/