Packing for RyanAir

The standard Ryanair jet

If you're a poor college student wanting to fly around Europe, getting a flight through Ryanair or easyJet is going to be your cheapest option. For the flight that is. Because RyanAir's tickets are so cheap, they charge you for basically everything else, from a seat reservation, to checking a bag, to priority boarding. There are a lot of little rules and regulations that govern RyanAir flights, meaning lots of fees if you aren't careful. I'd say the biggest one for people is the carryon regulation. It was also the one that I was most worried about going to Sweden.

It fit!

I mean if your bag doesn't fit in that, you have to check it. Which is about €30 each way. And being the super cheap college kid that I am, I was not about to pay €60 for a checked bag. So I managed to pack 5 days worth of clothing into my north face backpack, and it fit perfectly. 

6 days of clothing and toiletries, impressive huh?

Arial view

The trick is that your bag can't be fat. Go for long and skinny bags when picking a Ryanair carryon. Also I always roll my clothes when I pack because it saves a lot of room, and actually helps keep most stuff wrinkle free. 

I also wore all my bulky clothing on the plane which saved a lot of room (and weight). Another tip is to get to the gate as early as possible and sit by where the start of the queue is. Because if you didn't buy priority boarding, it's first come first serve on the seat you get. Luckily for me I was at the head of the line so I got onto the plane fairly quickly and picked myself out a window seat. 

Yay window seats! And Sweden!

So I got this awesome view as we were coming over Sweden. As interesting as an airline experience this was, I have to give Ryanair credit, my flight left on time, got in on time, and they were very efficient about the whole process. So will I use Ryanair in the future? If it's the cheapest flight option, you better believe I will.