Stansted - long stay, short stay and meet and greet parking

Selfie with the Queen at a shop selling all things British at the airport. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
Where should you park at S t a n s t e d? What else can you organise?

Answer
If you are taking the budget airline Ryanair to Europe and you live in central or north London or north of London towards Cambridge, rather than going south to Gatwick airport or west to Heathrow a good alternative is S t a n s t e d airport. You can book everything on line in advance, not just the airline but also the car parking, the hotel at your destination airport in Europe and your restaurants.

Let's start with the airport. Our experience is that the so called short stay air port was not more convenient. The long stay airport has a shuttle bus which brings you to the door. But the short stay airport can leave you with a car at the end of the huge parking area and having to wheel your suitcases up the ramp.

The third alternative is to use some of the money you saved on the airfare on the valet parking option. You have to leave your car keys with them. Then it's into the airport.

Once inside there's another convent option. You can buy duty free drinks to take with you to your destination. But if you have any wine in mind that you plan to bring back on the return flight, instead of carting it around Europe, you can pay for it and collect it on your return through the airport.

This does require you to allow time to collect it. Also you need to be an organised person who can keep track of your ticket to collect your goods which you have already paid for.

Another option to consider is what you will eat or drink on your budget airline. Also whether you want to pay extra to have assigned seating.

View from the window seat. Clouds and the mountains, fields and buildings below. Photo by angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Suitcases on sale on arrival at Bucharest airport, Romania. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Story
I used to fuss about where I sat. In the early days of flying  I liked to sit in a window seat to take photos. Later I preferred an aisle seat so I could get up and to the toilet. I found the aisle less claustrophobic and instead of looking at the ground so far below I could look down the aisle at the nonchalant crew.

I hated sitting in the centre seat. Then I was forced to seat in a centre seat and found it doubled my option of having a conversation with somebody returning home to my holiday destination. So my holiday started aboard the plane with tips from a local person.

On my recent trip on a Ryanair flight I tried their home croissant containing the ham and cheese and found it very good. I had had coffee already at a Starbucks at the airport.

The other thing to prepare for is that you may have to remove your shoes at security. Moved your computer from its case. If you are planning to take your computer aboard, keep it accessible. Our  plane has space for about 90 pieces of baggage in the overhead lockers. If you want to have a locker, be prepared to stand in the queue (americans say line up).

Otherwise you may be told to leave your wheel on bag to go in the hold. So if you need your computer to work on or don't want ti damaged, you will have to remove your laptop fast at the entrance to the plane.

This is not such a hardship. Less to carry up the steep steps into the plane, less to look after on the plane. You get a ticket attached to your boarding pass to reclaim it at the other end.

You can buy wheeled luggage at S t a n s t e d on departure and on arrival at Bucharest, capital or Romania, but at what I considered was a hefty price. Vern the price of shortbread biscuits was £5 for two small tubes, compared with £1 at a shop such as Poundland. But the tubes will probably stop the biscuits from shaking and breaking, if you want a gift. If it's for your own munching, buy in advance.

 If you do want souvenirs of the UK, plenty of options. You can even take a photo of yourself with a life size model of HM Queen Elizabeth II at the airport. Such fun for everyone.
So there you have it, budget airline, affordable price, everything organised.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to my posts.