How to fly Ryanair Personal Item

Are you looking for flights for your next session? Is that vacation looking a bit too expensive? Are the train prices unfairly high again so you have to go see your friend in Spain instead of in the next town over? Then you have come to the right place: A guide on how to fly Ryanair (or any other budget airlines) on an actual budget:

Finding your flight

When you are booking your flight on the budget airline of your choice, pay attention to what days you want to travel:

Be sure to check the days before or after you want to travel, it can sometimes be much cheaper to book a day earlier or later
Tuesdays and Wednesdays are usually the cheapest days for any travel
Flight prices go up the more often you visit a website, or depending on your web browser, if you see a good deal on the first try, take it!
Look for alternative airports! Getting between cities is often easier than you think and it can be much cheaper if you fly to a tiny Ryanair airport

Luggage

The next thing you will be asked is what kind of luggage you want to bring, and here is my tip: If your trip is anything under 7-10 days, you don’t need more than a personal item! This is how you do it:

Get a backpack that fits the personal item requirements, and fill it with everything you need that isn’t clothing (e.g. toiletries, camera #mediateam, underwear, laptop, etc.)
Be really honest with yourself about what you need and what you don’t for the trip, usually you can save a lot of space by leaving unnecessary items at home
Then, you get a tote bag or even better one of those foldable tote bags and put all of the clothes you want to wear for the trip in that (this is also a great way to plan your outfits!)
Take both of these bags with you to the airport once your travel day arrives, as normal, and make it to the gate
Once they announce that boarding has started, don’t go stand in line, but instead go to the bathroom stall of your choice, and layer all of your clothes in your tote bag so that you are left with your personal item:

Layering tip: star off with your tightest clothes and then go up from there, and make your final layer some kind of long pants and a hoodie, which looks relatively inconspicuous #marshmallow
Now you are free to get on the plane and get no fees for your travels
Bonus tip: don’t sleep before getting to the airport so you can sleep through the flight and don’t have to feel super suffocated by the clothes
Once you land, you are free to have an amazing trip, and repeat it all over again on the way back

Seat selection

Finally, when booking a flight, you will be asked if you want to pay for a seat reservation: never spend money on this!

The key to getting good seats (at the front, exit row, window seats), is not booking early or choosing a cheap seat reservation
Instead, when checking in, you will have a 24 hour window to do so online
The key here is not to check in as soon as you get your email, and instead to check in as close to the deadline of two hours before departure as possible
This way (and this has worked several times for me before), you have a much higher likelihood of getting a good seat than if you check in as soon as possible
Personally, whenever I check in early I get a middle seat in the back of the plane, but whenever I can check in right before the deadline, I get the exit row, or am able to sit at the front of the plane

So this is your definitive guide to making the budget airline experience a little more cheap and enjoyable for you! I hope you enjoyed it, and feel free to contact me in the media room for more tips!