I’ve visited Dublin years ago and Belfast was a frequent destination as a child due to family living there, but I’d never ventured further South. The flights weren’t ideal for an EDT, departing from Manchester at 10:00 and returning at 18:00, leaving only 7 hours in Cork but for the price of £14.99 each way, it was a bargain.

This was the second group trip, with Zara, who I had met before on the Menorca trip and we were joined by Tina, who was the lady that came up with the idea of organising group EDTs. Tina herself blogs about her travel adventures and travel consultancy business, you can follow her on instagram www.instagram.com/iamtinawhite/ .

I did my usual walk to the airport, so we met up in Sporting Chance bar, on the second floor in T3. T3 is not great in terms of places to eat and drink but many people don’t notice the Sports bar on the second floor so I find it’s often slightly quieter than the rest of the terminal, plus it’s a great place for views of the runway. It’s expensive but no more so than the rest of the airport. You can use the QR codes on the table to order food and drinks directly rather than queuing at the bar.

One trick I have with flights is using FlightRadar24 to look up which aircraft is operating the flight, from there you can view the schedule for that aircraft before your flight.

Doing so means that I often know if the flight is running on time way before any announcements in the airport. One of the things ryanair do very well that enables to keep the costs down is how fast their turnarounds are.

There is a reason they don’t have a seat back pocket, menus, magazines and removable safety cards on their flights, it’s so that they can turn around quickly without having to check all those things. It can be as little as 30 minutes between disembarking one flight and boarding the next. Aircraft are not making money when they’re not in the air and ryanair can fly as many as 7 different sectors for a single aircraft in a day with their shorter routes.

Our aircraft had already flown from Cork to Manchester than morning before the return flight at 10:00. The flight to Cork is very short, taking about 45 minutes. There wasn’t even time to do the full duty free service.

When we landed at Cork, the aircraft did a turn on the runway itself, which was quite novel for me, but I observed other flights doing the same thing so it must be standard procedure for Cork.

Although the aircraft was branded Ryanair, the flight was actually operated by it’s subsidiary, Malta Air. Ryanair bought Malta Air from the Maltese government in 2019.

We were soon through security at Cork and caught a bus to Cork. The same bus runs in both directions from the airport so you need to be careful not to get the one heading to Kildare. The bus is very frequent, running every 30 minutes and the journey to Cork took us about 25 minutes. We downloaded the TFI Go app to purchase the ticket before boarding. You need to remember to activate it too. It only cost €1.70 for a single so it was good value.

Once in Cork, we had a walk around the English markets, which was an indoor market area selling lots of meats, fish, cakes and pastries, arts and crafts. It was nice looking around and trying free samples.

Then we had a walk around the centre, I took some footage from the sky with my drone before we went and sat down for a drink in a traditional Irish pub. Well, I say in, we sat outside. I found a souvenir shop to pick up a fridge magnet, we watched some dancing leprechaun street entertainers then we headed for the Marina market.

The marina market was in a bit of an industrial area in an old factory warehouse that had been converted. There were lots of different types of food and drink to choose from. It was expensive. Everything seemed to cost €14 or more but the atmosphere and vibe was really good so we really enjoyed our time there. It was more of a food court than anything else and the service was slow for the place I tried. I wanted something traditional, so I opted for an Irish stew. The portion was quite large but I did have to wait with a pager for about 20 minutes before I got the food. I would have thought something like that would have been made in a big batch and just needed dishing up, but maybe not. It was busy, so maybe it would be different at other times.

By the time we had been to the marina market, it was already time to start thinking about making the trip back to the airport. We managed to find a shop to pick up some Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. You see, I had been to Dublin around 2005 and I noticed that CDM bought in Ireland tasted considerably more creamy than that bought in England, so I wanted to see if that was still the case.

The quality of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk has took a nose dive since it was subject to a hostile takeover from Kraft foods, who have, over time, replaced cocoa butter with cheaper palm oil. There was still a difference in taste but it’s not the same creamy chocolate I remember, so it seems the Kraft cheapscaping has impacted Ireland too.

It took us a little while to find where to get the bus from as it wasn’t at the main bus station but round the corner. We only got back to the airport 90 minutes before the flight home but security was a breeze and there was no EES to content with.

The one good thing about not having a lot of time in Cork was that it wasn’t late by the time I got home, I didn’t feel exhausted. I would have spent more on a night out in Manchester so it was a nice way to spend the day. Due to the lack of time, we couldn’t really do a lot but a change of scene is as good as a rest and it was nice to see a different part of Ireland, that I wouldn’t have visited had it not been for the extremely cheap air fares.

To put it into context, when I get a taxi home from Manchester Airport, a distance of 2.8 miles and journey time of about 15 minutes, it usually costs about £20.00 yet for £15 I could fly all the way to the south coast of Ireland, courtesy of Ryanair’s ruthlessly efficient operating model.

I would recommend Cork, if you can get an earlier flight out and later flight back, even better, but 7 hours was enough for us to have a taste of Ireland and make new friendships and memories.

I met them in the departures lounge in the terminal 2, flying out with Jet2 and returning with Ryanair. We booked a glass bottomed harbour boat trip, but other than than, we didn’t have a lot planned.

Zara, the lady that suggested the trip bumped into Wayne Rooney with his son Clay in the lift at the airport, so that was an exciting start to the day.

Our flight out was later than what I would have picked myself, departing at 0830 and arriving at 1215. I usually look for earlier flights, and there was an earlier option, but it was a little bit more expensive. The flights were £58 but the earlier flight would have added an extra 1 hour and 40 minutes for an additional £38.00.

We boarded the Jet2 flight on time but our departure slot was delayed so we were already an hour late by the time we eventually took off.

We decided to get a taxi from the airport when we arrived. Luckily security was quite quick.

Menorca felt very quiet. There was a little market, where we picked up some magnets. It had a feel of a Sunday in the UK. Not many people around.

Then we found a nice little place to grab a drink and some olives whilst we worked out where to go for our 3pm harbour boat tour. It turned out it was very close to where we were. There was a lovely British expat couple sat next to us, and they helped us with our order as we accidentally ordered olives stuffed with anchovies. They were very nice, telling us about there lives and finding out about our trip.

We walked over to our yellow catamaran harbour boat tour. There were toilets and a bar on board to get a cold drink and snacks. It was a recorded tour in four different languages. There was an upper outside deck and the main boat plus an underground section with glass windows in so you could see under the water. It was a bit like a sauna down there, but I did get to see a few shawls of fish swimming.

It was a pleasant way to relax and spend an hour, looking at the harbour from the boat.

After the trip, we headed off in separate directions to explore the old town. I got my drone out to get a bit of footage and try a few things. Then I found somewhere for an ice cream, interesting smurf flavour that didn’t taste of very much. I did a bit of shopping, got a few photos then met up with the girls again at a restaurant and had a nice refreshing shandy.

By then, it was already time to head back to the airport, another 15 minute taxi ride.

On the flight back, I witnessed a thunderstorm over the UK from above. You couldn’t hear the thunder, and it looked a lot less dramatic from above it, but seeing the clouds light up like a flash from a camera was quite enjoyable.

It was lovely to meet Zara and Louise, hopefully we will meet up again on future trips as all three of us are keep travellers and have lots of stories to swap.

On the way from Copenhagen to Stockholm, I wanted to visit Malmo and the Goteborg on the west side of Sweden but I like to come back a different way to make it circular. For me, the driving is part of the fun, it’s a challenge. It’s not just about getting from A to B, it’s the views on the way. You never know what you’re going to find.

I normally start and end a trip from the same location and that’s because it can be very expensive to drop off a hire car at a different destination. Technically, I could have flow to Copenhagen then returned from Stockholm, but the extra fees wouldn’t be worth it.

I also could have spend an extra day and got back to Copenhagen, flying the next day. That would be more expensive but potentially less stressful as if anything went wrong, at least I wouldn’t be in a rush. That’s just not how I operate these trips though. I grew up watching shows like Top Gear, and when you have a deadline to get back for a flight, it feels like an adventure.

So, for this trip, my plan was to drive from Stockholm to Copenhagen, starting at 0400 in the morning and instead of heading back by the west coast, I was going to follow the east coast, visiting Kalmar castle on the way.

My flight was at 1700 from Copenhagen. Normally I would get to the airport two hours before the flight departure, but the EU has introduced a new biometric entry/exit system and it’s causing delays. It caused problems when I landed in the country. So the target was to get back to the airport for 2pm.

I also needed to allow myself time to stop, to eat and drink and refuel. Many people like to stop every couple of hours if they’re doing a long drive but I find I only need one of two breaks. When I’m in the mode, I’m in the mode. You also have to factor in traffic. I use google maps to check my routes, but sometimes unexpected things happen. Accidents, sudden road closures.

Without stopping, the route is 731km (454 miles) and just under 9 hours so I decided to leave at 2am instead of 4am. In reality, it took me a while to set up my cameras, I was filming a hyper lapse with two separate cameras, one on the windscreen and one on a side window. It was difficult setting up the side window without a second suction cup mount. I managed to get something working using the seatbelt and hat clip, but it wasn’t straight so we’ll see how the footage comes out.

I drank a cold coffee, went to the toilet and then checked out of the hotel and so the journey began.

At that time, there was very little traffic on the roads, not even many HGVs. For an equivalent journey in the UK, there would be HGVs everywhere but the Swedish roads were quieter.

The motorways are two lanes almost everywhere, the speed limit is typically 110 kmph, with some sections at 120 and some at 100. I did hit a few sections of road works but these tended to be much shorter than they would be in the UK, rather than closing lanes for entire junctions, they just close the small section they’re working on and it’s back to normal speed as soon as you’re through.

I have to admit, I find motorway driving very boring, and it was no different in Sweden. The roads were very flat, few big turns, surrounded by trees most of the time, not a lot to see. I prefer my rural routes and I had hoped I’d have some coastal views heading down the E22, but sadly not.

By 0900, I reached Kalmar and had a walk around the castle. The internal part and the shop only opened at 1000 and I didn’t have time to wait, but I got some photos and sent the drone up for a bit of aerial footage, mindful not to spook the sea birds occupying a little island next to the castle. Sea birds can take quite an interest in a drone so you have to be careful where you fly.

I stopped for fuel at the last exit in Sweden near Malmo before crossing the Oresund bridge back into Denmark. Fuel is cheaper in Sweden than Denmark. The Oresund bridge is a spectacular feed of engineering, build in the late 1990s. The bridge disappears into a tunnel in an artificial island in the middle of the sea before reappearing in Denmark. It’s not cheap, but it was worth the view.

Copenhagen airport is just after the bridge, in fact, I watched a plane landing whilst on the bridge. I got a little bit confused about where to drop the hire car off, it was a little further away from the airport than I remembered. I was a little tense by this time as it was 1430, and I planned to be in the airport by then.

I had to catch a free shuttle bus to the main terminal, headed straight to security, which was very fast and smooth then discovered my flight was delayed half an hour. That gave me more time to use the toilet, do some last minute shopping and grab something to eat.

Ryanair use the cheap gates at the far end of the airport. It’s a bit of a strange setup and you don’t go through border control until you’re at the gates, but you can’t go to the gates until you know which ones you’ll be using. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be an issue.

I was tracking the flight using flight radar 24. I knew the flight would be later than anticipated as the plane was at least an hour late heading from Manchester to Copenhagen before our return leg. It was one of the older air Malta operated services using a 737-800 (not the max variety). The seat pitch is slightly narrower and the seatbelt only just fastened. There was nobody in the middle seat next to me this time, which was unusual.

I made a cheeky request to the cabin crew to see if the captain was willing to put my camera in the cockpit to film part of the flight, she said she’d ask but it never happened. I did get to say hello to the captain, but it has got me thinking about being a bit more persistent and trying again. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.

The flight was less than two hours and very smooth. Curiously, most of my flights home have been late flights so I rarely get to see anything interesting during landing but this time I could see Stockport County’s stadium and also recognised Dovestone reservoir on the way. It was very strange being able to recognise a place I know very well from the ground, from the sky.

After a long trip, I was tired. I got the tram home then walked the 20 minutes route from the tram stop home, just as the rain began to fall.

As soon as I got home, the fatigue of all that driving set in and I fell asleep.

I really enjoyed my time in Denmark and Sweden, it was a great trip. It’s such a massive privilege to be able to travel and see other countries and cultures. I look forward to my next adventure, which may well be to Vancouver next April.

The last 6 months have been unusual for me in terms of the amount of travelling I’ve done. The weight loss has given me a new impetus to do things that would have been much more difficult in the past, whether that’s booking a single seat on a plane, walking 10 miles plus, sitting in a regular seat at a restaurant without worrying that it will break or I’ll get stuck or just riding a rollercoaster.

The original plan was to do the Vasa museum, then look around the old town. I thought about seeing if I could squeeze in the Viking museum, the Abba museum, another boat trip and a hop on, hop off bus too, but as I was already running late, I decided to just play things by ear.

I had planned to use public transport, but with time being the biggest enemy, I decided to get a taxi instead. The taxi driver was really nice, we had a good chat about AI and the financial markets. I have to say, the people I’ve come across on my trip have been really friendly.

The vasa museum is a 17th century Swedish war ship, that sunk on its maiden voyage in Copenhagen harbour, due to the fact that nobody wanted to tell the King of Sweden at the time that they made a mistake with the design. Basically, the boat was very tall but quite narrow and didn’t have enough ballasts to stabilise the weight. A slight breeze struck the ship, and it keeled, taking in water through the gun turrets and sank. 300 years later, it was rediscovered in tact at the bottom of the harbour and was carefully re-floated.

Had the boat been built properly, it wouldn’t have survived. It is in fact unique in that regard. The boat was preserved so well because the Baltic sea is brackish, i.e. more freshwater than saltwater, and the sludge from sewage dumped into the harbour acted as a preservative.

When it was raised in the 1960s, it had to be kept wet for years and preserved with the same chemical compound four in liquid.

It was an unbelievable site, just the sheer scale and attention to detail with the hand carvings all over the ship. You could imagine what a spectacle it would have been at the time for any enemy vessels, had it actually been structurally viable.

There were some preserved bones from the sailors that drowned in the disaster. At least 30 people drowned.

The museum itself has viewing platforms all around the ship at different levels so you can see it. The preservation work is ongoing but they don’t know how long it can be kept intact, with the result of body heat from visitors and oxygen reacting with the chemicals in the wood. The iron bolts have had to be replaced twice due to the rust process. It’s a reminder that everything we build may feel very permanent but in reality, it’s only a matter of time before nature reclaims it. I’m fascinated by the thoughts of what technologies ancient civilisations may have had that we don’t know about because we only know about the things that have some how been preserved and survived.

There was also an exhibition about James Cameron’s under sea explorations, sparked by his curiosity into the Titanic.

After Vasa, I headed for the Viking Museum. The Viking museum was not so big, it had a few helpers in traditional dress telling you about what life would have been like, the money, the jewellery, the games they played etc. There was a lot of effort to try to separate the reality from the mythology surrounding the Vikings. I got to try on a nice heavy Viking helmet. At the end of the museum, there was a “ride” that took you through the story of a particular Viking family. It was a bit like a ghost train but not scary, more interesting.

By the time I had finished with the Viking museum, I was hungry. I wanted to find somewhere to eat, but by that time it looked like my plan to squeeze in another boat trip was already too late. I settled on an ice cream then I was going to fit in the ABBA museum but my body had a bit of a reaction to the ice cream. It’s not that there was anything wrong with it, it’s just my body does occasionally react strongly to certain foods post surgery and sometimes a food that is absolutely fine one day, can be rejected the next.

Given I was feeling a bit queasy, and given the fact that I was going to have to drive back from Stockholm to Copenhagen, some 425 miles in the early hours of the morning, I decided that instead of trying to fit more in, I’d get a taxi back, have a rest then start preparing for the trip back. I needed fuel and I needed supplies, and I needed to repack.

I did manage to pick up a few more magnets for my collection on my fridge before I went. Magnets are great because they’re small, their cheap and they’re collectable. Exactly what I needed when I’m flying hand luggage only.

That afternoon, I had a little nap and recovered from the ice cream, then I tried to find a supermarket for cheap supplies. When I’m on a long drive, I need cold coffee or sugar free red bull to keep the concentration levels up. The fuel stations are very expensive.

Google maps found a Lidl but when I got there I realised it was a city centre one with no parking so it was completely useless. I eventually found a big, out of town one. I love driving and driving in foreign countries doesn’t bother me, but I must admit, driving through city centres is not enjoyable. Suddenly you find yourself stuck in a bus lane with no way out or the sat nav says left but the map shows right and you’ve got a split second to decide. When all the signs are in a language you don’t understand, at times you’re just guessing and hoping for the best.

Anyway, I survived and made it back to the hotel, ready to rest for a few hours before the long drive back.

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It wasn’t wonderful, hard boiled eggs and meatballs were the only hot food, even the selection of meat, cheese and bread was limited, but it’s budget accommodation in an industrial area near the E4 and E20.

I decided to walk into downtown Stockholm. It was a bit hairy at first as google maps was confusing, wanting me to walk in places there was no pavement but once I got out of the industrial park and crossed the motorway on a foot bridge, there was a very chilled path following close to the train line. Very flat, large areas for cyclists and separate area for walking.

There were quite a few bolt powered bikes and scooters. I’ve never cycled, but I was tempted to learn. I might look into adult cycling lessons when I’m home.

I crossed a beautiful bridge as I got close to the city centre, headed to Slussen to catch a commuter ferry to Skansen. It was part of the integrated transport system and I could just use my contactless card to pay. The services were very frequent. It only took about 10 minutes to cross and I could see rides in an amusement park over the water.

I looked it up, it was called Grona Lund, operated by the same Tivoli group as in Copenhagen. In Copenhagen I really enjoyed the wooden rollercoaster there so it was tempting as this park also had a wooden coaster.

I did look it up but decided to carry on to Skansen open air museum first. Back in the UK, there is a place called the Beamish museum, where you can walk through a town made to replicate different eras such as a 1950s high street and Victorian carnival. I love history so I really enjoyed that.

I imagined that this place would be similar. I was imagining people in traditional dress demonstrating traditional schools. There were a few people dotted around in dress, but not many. I did enjoy seeing the traditional Swedish wooden buildings though. There was a children’s zoo with some brown bears. Nothing to write home about but still a nice day out.

I took a funicular railway from the entry up to the museum. It was unnecessary as there was also a free modern escalator that I found by accident later. There was an old trio that didn’t seem happy we were there, not sure why.

There was some kind of brass band playing in an open concert part.

There were lots of food options. I decided to try a wrap shaped as a cone containing crushed potatoes and elk meat, that was in very small pieces. Unsurprisingly, it was very gamey. I wouldn’t go out of my way to try it again, but it was something different to the usual burgers, hotdogs and ice cream.

That area had lots of attractions, the Abba museum, the Viking museum, the vasa ship museum and Grona Lund were all close together.

I spent half the day in the open air museum, then headed for the theme park. I knew I wouldn’t be doing a lot of rides. They had at least 3 variations on vertical drop rides, several coasters but I knew I’d only try a tame one so it wasn’t worth paying for a wristband so I paid for park entry and bought enough tokens for a couple of rides.

I joined the queue for the wooden coaster, twister. It wasn’t an old coaster, the track was wooden but the frame was steel. There were young kids queuing. Watching it though made me nervous, it was faster than the other one I tried. It was a tight fit. It was very fast I was very nervous, holding on for dear life but it was fun, I did it twice, then had some churros. I’m glad I did it that way around and not eaten first.

People were walking around with massive chocolate bars and pringles from some of the games.

I got the ferry back and explored the city centre. Sweden also has a monarch. I watched the guards around the palace. I was starting to get tired. I found a little Italian restaurant to get some food then got a bolt back to the hotel around 11pm. The travelling was starting to catch up on me.

I would be back again for the vasa museum the next day and to find some Stockholm souvenirs but need a bit of a rest after the hectic nature of the trip so far.

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Before I left Denmark though, I had to sample some Danish pastries for comparison purposes, of course. The things I endure for you guys.

I found a nice traditional bakery, gawped at the delicious food on display then asked the server to surprise me with four. I probably should have just asked for one. I think my blood sugars were rising just looking at them. I enjoyed one that was described as a cheesecake but looked like a custard pastry with berries on top. It wasn’t as sweet as I imagined it would be, but it was delicious. The pastry had a crunch but didn’t fall apart, so it was easy to eat, and went down well with an iced latte.

Having been suitable refuelled, I set off for Malmo in Sweden, which involved crossing the Øresund Bridge that joins Denmark and Sweden, it turns into a tunnel in an island in the sea. Am I the only person who gets excited about unusual bridges?

I noticed how calm the sea was. It costs £106 return for the privilege so it wasn’t cheap, but hey, better that than a dinghy.

I found a nice waterside park for a walk in Malmo. Given it was a Saturday, Malmo was very quiet. Everyone I met seemed to be running. There was a nice sea breeze but without the salty smell. It’s no wonder everyone I saw looked so fit and healthy. I had a nice short walk around the sea front to stretch the legs and use up some of the sugar, then plotted a course for Göteborg.

My remarks on the roads are that there’s not a lot of traffic, the motorways are just two lanes, no potholes, no road rage, travelling mostly through trees and it was very flat.

When I got into Göteborg, I passed a theme park and some form of sports stadium. Göteborg looks like quite a good place for entertainment. I had originally planned it to be just a pit stop, but I had a walk around, almost got tempted to go in the amusement park, they had another wooden coaster and this place seemed much more impressive than Tivoli but I decided to head to the old town instead. I enjoyed the view from an old fortress called Skansen Kronan, then found a nice café to try some proper Swedish meatballs. They were served with mash and gravy. The portion was too big for me, 4 massive meatballs. It was really good though.

It was still nearly 5 hours to Stockholm. I may have put a bit of abba on the playlist, along with the hives, Swedish house mafia, ace of base and aqua. That kept me busy.

Had to fuel the car up, that was expensive and it took me a while to work out how to open the fuel cap, there was a release mechanism In the footwell.

In the whole journey, covering hundreds of miles I only saw two Ikeas, I see more than that going from Liverpool to Leeds. Very disappointing. Part of me is tempted to see if I can work in a visit.

It was gone midnight when I got to the hotel and I got chatting to the porter, it turns out he’s into travel adventures too, so we had a chat for over an hour.

The room itself has no windows and a single bed. Very basic, but it’s just somewhere to lay my head for a few hours before exploring Stockholm.

Oh, I managed to crack my phone screen protector too. Hopefully that’s my bad luck used up now!

Tomorrow, I will explore Stockholm. Subscribe if you want to hear how it went

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It was an on foot/public transport day, leaving the car at the hotel.

I used google maps navigation to get me to the metro station, which was only 10 minutes away.

When I got to the metro station, I spent 5 minutes trying to scan my debit card, thinking their contactless system would be like the Manchester Metrolink, where you just swipe your bank card. It wasn’t. In the end, I downloaded an app to pay for my fare.

That wasn’t the end of my confusion. Google maps was being very unhelpful, first it navigated me to a different line than what it suggested, then it wouldn’t tell me which direction train I needed to get when it realised where I was.

The trains themselves were great, very clean, frequent and gated so you couldn’t fall into the track. They were driverless. I walked to Tivoli gardens rather than do what google suggested and go to a different station for one stop.

There was a big queue outside, but I wasn’t sure if it was for the lego shop or Tivoli Gardens itself, so I decided to save time by purchasing a ticket on the Tivoli app. It was a fateful mistake.

That morning I debated whether to wear my hoodie or my coat. I was on a boat ride later and figured it could get cold so opted for the hoodie.

I took a very small shoulder bag with me, with essentials like wallet, phone cameras and battery pack. My hoodie doesn’t have zip pockets, my coat does.

At some point in the five minutes I was distracted and had my wallet in my pocket rather than in the anti-theft bag, someone pickpocketed me.

I wasn’t aware when it happened, but I realised within minutes when I reached for my wallet to pay for a ride in the theme park.

I’m very good at losing things, I checked every pocket, every hidden compartment in the bag, it was gone. I immediately froze every single card. That’s when I realised there was a purchase I hadn’t made from a 7/11 store just 5 minutes after I paid for park entrance. It was a horrible feeling, but it was a small amount and my actions prevented further loss.

I went to the customer service, they pointed me in the direction of the police station in the metro station. I spent half an hour reporting everything. The police took my evidence and details and gave me a report.

I felt stupid and violated as I had specifically brought the bag with me to stop pick pockets, but they were quick.

I didn’t let it ruin the day though. I had lost my wallet, driving license, cards but there was no cash or anything else. I still had my passport. I still had the ability to generate a new contactless card. I was even able to reverse the transaction.

The irony was that the 7/11 was in the same metro station, right in front of the police. I checked the bins, as they likely discarded it nearby, but I couldn’t see it.

I went back into the park, I went on a “galleon” ride, clinging on to my phone and bag with vigour. I then went on a wooden rollercoaster. I haven’t been on a coaster since my early 20s. It felt good to fit in it and I enjoyed it so much, I did it again. The second tome the operator didn’t let me pay, I think the card machine was more of a faff for them than it was worth. You could either buy a ride pass wristband, buy tickets for rides on the app or use cards. It wasn’t worth the cost of the wristband unless you were doing more than 3 rides, and, to be honest, there aren’t a lot of rides. Many are for young kids.

I tried a traditional danish hotdog, then made my way out of the park for a boat tour. My boat tour was moved 30 minutes later, with a different start point, but that suited me. It was a 1 hour 45 minute trip from newhavyn, a tourist hotspot with pretty coloured buildings. I picked up some souvenir magnets, as usual, enjoyed the nice relaxing boat trip then had an ice cream before heading back to Tivoli Gardens to find food.

It’s a very busy weekend in Copenhagen due to a bank holiday called Ascension Day. There is a free concert in the gardens. It is very expensive. I wanted to try some traditional Danish food, open sandwiches on rye bread are the thing here but bread isn’t good for me anymore, especially if it’s dense.

I’m also not a fan of fish, they eat a lot of herring and salmon. I tried a roast pork sandwich with pickled cabbage and cucumber and left the bun. The pork was very nice.

I don’t know why, but I saw a 4x 20cl beer tasting thing and thought I’d give it a go. I’m not really a drinker anymore, I probably managed the equivalent of 1 drink. I guess it was more because I could. Some people do end up transferring addictions from food to alcohol after weight loss surgery, but it just doesn’t interest me enough to do it.

Will shortly be trying to navigate the metro again to get back to the hotel. I was planning on walking it, but Gemini says it’s not a good idea, with no lighting in areas. I’ve already walked nine miles today. Tomorrow is the long drive to Stockholm, so early start.

Hopefully no more dramas tomorrow!

Sometimes in life, things go wrong. I could have panicked about my wallet, I could have let it ruin the rest of the day but there’s no point worrying about things you can’t control. It’s already happened, nothing I can do, may as well just enjoy my day!

As has become traditional with my solo trips, it started with the 3 mile walk to Manchester Airport, this time not early in the morning.

Walking it with a 10kg suitcase as well as a bag was slightly more challenging but the wheels and handle did their job.

I was tempted to jump on a bus or tram, especially when there was a sudden patch of rain and light hale, but I figured I was half way there already so kept walking.

It was another Ryanair flight, which meant departure from terminal 3. Ryanair are the only airline left that use the dated terminal. The facilities are nowhere near as good as the renovated terminal 2.

Terminal 3 and terminal 1 are essentially the same building but there are lots of corridors blocked off. Ryanair refused to move because of the higher fees and they have the market share to force their influence.

Security had improved from March, being a Thursday afternoon, it was very quiet and I was through within minutes. No need to take out liquids or electronics anymore, even in T3.

I believe there are upgrade plans for T1/T3, hopefully the facilities will improve. The terminal felt cramped and other than a small KFC, Costa and a couple of WH Smiths stores offering eye watering prices, nearly £5 for a disappointing bag of Haribo anyone? there’s not a lot there.

There were a couple of bars, but they weren’t big and didn’t offer food. I was genuinely considering paying £25 for an hour in the escape lounge, at least there would be some spare seats, but in the end I discovered the Sports bar on the second floor that many people missed, so it wasn’t quite as rammed.

I did manage to get a good seat by the window, overlooking the runway. You could order food from the comfort of your table and the service was quite quick. I ordered some small plates, mediocre chicken wings, a couple of small tacos that were actually quite nice and garlic bread, which was very bold on the cheese and had pesto inside it too. It was not bad, although you’d hope so for £24.

Anyway, after a couple of hours watching the planes take off, I headed to the gate.

The last trip I took with Ryanair, which was Albania in March, I still needed a seatbelt extender on the plane.

For the trip to Malta, outbound on easyJet and back on jet2, I didn’t need it but the newer A320 and A321 neo airbus planes have been configured slightly better for bigger passengers. It was a massive confidence boost to not need the belts and to be able to put the tray table down and I’m pleased to say it was the same this time on Ryanair so I have made progress even though it doesn’t feel like a big difference to me in the last couple of months.

It’s a good job too, as I’ve had someone sat next to me in every flight. In the past I always used to have to book 2 seats unless flying with someone I knew that was understanding.

The flight to Copenhagen was just under 2 hours and very smooth, no complaints at all. I bought a rucksack and 10kg case combo designed for ryanair’s baggage rules and it wasn’t even checked!

Starting the trip with an evening flight, landing around 10pm wasn’t ideal. The Scandinavian countries are expensive, I remember that from Norway. Landing at night essentially means paying for an extra nights accommodation, which wasn’t cheap, but if I will insist on these little adventures, ticking off another country each time in my quest to visit the whole of Europe, that’s how it’s going to be. I’m not a package holiday resort kind of guy.

Copenhagen Airport is undergoing some improvements and the current layout for arrivals is very strange. You have to go past all the departure gates before you get to passport control, it’s quite a distance and would be easy to get lost.

The new EES system was causing big delays. It took me an hour to get through, which made me very nervous as the car rental office closes at midnight and I still wasn’t through by 2315.

A GB Gymnastic squad were in front of me, listening to their confidence about beating the Danes was at least some entertainment. I tried to ring the desk for the car hire to explain the situation. There was an automated system in Danish but it did tell you to press 0 for English, which then gave you another message in Danish before looping back. I was a bit worried by this point.

When I eventually found the way out of the airport and followed the path to the shuttle bus to car hire, I was quite anxious. It was 2345, the hire place shuts at 0000 and I didn’t know when the last bus was, how long it took etc. My only comfort was there were other people waiting for the bus too. It came, I got on it and it was only a few minutes to the car rental building.

I could see from the bus that all the shutters were down in the building. It wasn’t looking hopeful, but there was one guy in a green t-shirt there, Europa car, the company I booked with. I was very relieved. Maybe they waited because they new I was booked on a late flight.

The guy was lovely and very helpful. I explained that I needed cross border travel as I was visiting Stockholm. He purchased the tickets for the bridge for me and he upsold me from a Toyota Yaris Cross to a Rav4. For £40 extra, it was worth the upgrade.

I’ve driven abroad in lots of different countries and I always find the first drive stressful. You’re trying to get used to the car, navigate to a place unfamiliar and adjust to the differences with roads, signs and speed limits. After a few hours, it becomes second nature but I took my time to familiarise myself with the car. It was only a 10 minute drive to the hotel and by this point, I felt tired. Also a little lonely. I have done solo trips before, but not a road trip. It just felt a little bit wrong being sat in a big car on my own with no one to talk to.

I parked under the hotel, it took me a while to work out how to pay for parking in the basement, I went to the reception and they couldn’t find my reservation, so I pulled up the booking.com app and it showed my Stockholm booking but not the Copenhagen one, which confused me as I checked it the day before.

I looked in my emails and there was an email saying I hadn’t showed up. Clearly, I was there. I had to sit and wait for a manager to investigate, not knowing whether I’d get my room or not.

The manager was really nice though. He said they had me down as arriving from 6pm. Now, it could have been my mistake, maybe I missed a box when I booked, but I was still in Manchester at that time, anyway, he managed to override the system and booked me in, much to my relief.

The room is the smallest hotel room I’ve ever stayed it, it feels like student accommodation. It cost £187 for 2 nights even for this tiny room and I think the one in Stockholm is even smaller, without a window. It doesn’t matter though, I’m not going to be in here much. The queen bed is comfortable and I appreciated the fan in the room, even though it’s very noisy.

Tomorrow, I will be exploring Copenhagen on foot and by public transport. I haven’t really seen anything of the city yet.

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To give you a little context, I live roughly 3 miles away from Manchester Airport. It’s a nice, easy, straight forward flat walk through the mean streets of Wythenshawe, a walk that I’ve done many times to visit the Airport Pub or the Aviation Viewing Park.

I probably wouldn’t walk it if I had to wheel a suitcase with me but given I was just taking a small rucksack of bare essentials with me, I enjoyed a nice leisurely hour long walk under the street lights. It’s very quiet at that time, I saw more foxes than people.

Manchester Airport have invested a lot of money in renovating Terminal 2, which is where every airline except Ryanair departs from. It didn’t take long to whiz through security. The new, more powerful scanners mean you don’t need to separate your liquids.

I went for a walk around the terminal to find somewhere for breakfast, and I had yoghurt with granola, fruit and honey, along with an orange juice.

My flight out was the 0540 Easyjet flight to Malta, on an Airbus A320. I did decide to pay for seat reservation at the time of booking, adding £12 to the cost of the flight but I’m very fond of sitting in a window seat, in fact, I always seem to choose a seat on the right hand side, just in front of the left wing, so I can see the engine and slats on the front edge of the wing. Yes, I know, very sad and geeky.

In the past, I would have had to buy two seats, unless sitting next to a partner and I would bring my own seatbelt adapter along with me to avoid the embarrassment of having to ask cabin crew. The crew are always very good about it but you do feel it as it draws attention to you.

I had my seatbelt extender in my coat pocket ready to pull out once I got to my seat, but this time was different. I didn’t need it, it just fit. I can’t begin to describe what a good feeling that was. Even better, when I put the tray table down in front of my seat without an issue. There was a passenger sat immediately next to me, which used to be one of my big worries.

The flight was very smooth and on time, I managed to get a little rest. When we landed, I was already prepared for delays through border control. The EU has rolled out a new entry and exit system that uses biometric data (fingerprints and facial scans) to track visitors to the area. In some countries the new system has caused lots of delays, but it was very smooth in Malta.

Once through security, I followed the signs towards the taxi pickup area and used the Bolt app to get a taxi. It only took 2 minutes for my ride to arrive, and it was a 20 minute journey to Valetta, the Maltese capital.

Malta is one of the most densely populated countries in the EU and there is a lot of traffic. It felt familiar as the Maltese drive on the left, as we do in the UK. The weather was very pleasant, around 22 celsius. In fact, I changed from my joggers to shorts in the airport.

Malta uses the euro as its currency and card payments were accepted everywhere, even for small transactions, which was good as I didn’t bring any cash with me, just my digital revolut card pre-loaded with euros.

Normally for a trip abroad, I spend a lot of time planning a detailed itinerary but because this was only a single day trip, I had booked a boat tour at 1230 and had a rough idea of when I needed to head back to the airport, but the rest of my time was just going to be exploring on foot.

The taxi dropped me off near Tritton’s fountain and I walked towards upper barrakka gardens, where you get a good view of the harbour. At the time I was there, the Enchanted Princess cruise ship was coming into port. It was massive, and a very impressive sight. If it wasn’t for my pre-booked boat tour, I would have stayed to watch the ceremonial cannons being fired at 1200, but instead I made my way to the ferry to cross from Valetta to Sliema, where my boat tour departed from.

The ferry crossings are every 30 minutes and only cost 3 euro per person. Generally Malta was a very affordable place compared with prices in the UK. Unfortunately, due to the swell in the harbour, the ferries had been suspended for the day. There was a very small yellow sign saying this, but I couldn’t see it from where I was queueing for the ferry. When the 1200 ferry didn’t arrive, I got anxious and rang the boat tour operator and it was actually them that explained that the ferry wasn’t running and I should instead get a bus or taxi. Very kindly, they agreed to switch my booking from the 1230 boat tour to the 1430 boat tour.

I got my second Bolt of the day over to Sliema and with time to kill before my boat trip, I got some traditional Maltese pastries from jeff’s pastizzeria. I tried a ricotta cheese pastizzi, a small fried puff pastry dish that was very crunchy. I’ll be honest, since losing weight, I’ve gone off rich pastries a little bit, the cheese wasn’t particularly flavourful. It was nice, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to get one. I also tried a Maltese date pastry that reminded me of a fig role. That was quite nice.

To wash it down, I bought a local carbonated drink called Kimmie. It’s a bitter orange drink with a bit of an aftertaste. I can’t say I was a huge fan. At first it tasted a little like iron brew, but then with a grapefruit kind of bitter aftertaste. It’s good to try these things anyway. I never really understand people that go to a different culture, then only want to eat and drink things that they would get back home.

I found a tourist souvenir shop and picked up a fridge magnet to add to my growing collection. I can never choose just one. I tend to look for more unique shapes, so I went for a Maltese cross one.

I treated myself to a “Caffe” slushie drink, to get rid of the taste of Kimmie, then queued up for the 90 minutes harbour cruise with luzzu cruises. I do enjoy boat trips, it’s a nice way to relax for a while and watch the world go bye, taking in the scenery and listen to the commentary. I bagged myself an end of row seat on the upper deck. There were quite a lot of German tourists on the boat so Malta must be popular with Germans as it is with Brits too.

Outside of the harbours themselves, the sea was a little choppy, which doesn’t bother me in the slightest, I’m the kind of person that enjoys a little bit of turbulence. It was not too rough, but if you’re travelling with young children or if you’re of a nervous constitution, you might not enjoy it that much, but most of the time we were in the calmer harbour waters anyway.

After the boat trip, I walked to the St Julian’s area. There was a bar with this sign, so I just had to stop and see if it was true.

I enjoyed a shandy, after first confusing the waitress, by asking for a shandy made from the local cisk beer. It turned out that their shandy wasn’t like in the UK, where you get half a pint of lemonade combined with half a pint of lager, mixed together, it came in a can, I guess similar to bass shandy. It was quite nice, but I’m not quite sure it hit the sub zero temperatures I had expected from the sign.

I had a nice little walk on the “beach”. It wasn’t a sandy beach, it was very rocky and I had to be very careful where I was putting my feet with the uneven surfaces but I enjoyed seeing the little fish swimming in small pockets of water in the chasms in the rocks.

I found myself a pizzeria. With Malta being not far from Sicily, I expected authentic Italian style pizza. Simple ingredients with great taste, thin crusts and fresh. The menu suggested that the pizzas were 7”, which would have been perfect for me, but the pizza was a lot bigger than I was expecting. I managed to eat two thirds of it, which I was happy with. I had spicy sausage, with mozzarella and I really enjoyed it.

I walked off my pizza and discovered a garden area that was also a cat sanctuary, with cat beds everywhere. The cats were friendly, I saw some sat on people’s laps, enjoying a petting session, and I introduced myself to a couple of feline friend too. I wasn’t really expecting it, so it was a nice surprise.

It was almost time to get my final bolt of the day back to the airport, but I managed to sneak in a gelato, caramel and peanut butter before the way back. It was a nice day to end a perfectly pleasant day. I covered 10 miles in total on foot over the course of the day and had a really nice relaxing time.

The weather in the UK has been unusually cold compare to the previous few Mays, and a bit of sunshine can really help lift your mood.

The final taxi driver was a really friendly guy and we had a good chat about my extreme day trip. The people in Malta were all lovely and very friendly.

The airport was very busy, there is not a very large seating area. Security was quick though and the flight home was courtesy of Jet2 with one of their A321 neo aircraft. It was a bit of an unusual flight as there had been a warehouse issue so the cabin crew could only offer tea, coffee and water on the flight, no other food, drinks or duty free.

Having tried my first extreme day trip, would I do it again? Definitely, although I think if you can extend your stay overnight and find cheap accommodation so that you get to see a little bit more, it would probably be worth it but I kept thinking to myself what I would have been doing if I just stayed at home instead. Sun, Sea and chill in Malta vs washing and dishes in rainy Manchester? It’s no comparison really.

The costs soon add up though, my cheap day trip ended up costing much more than I would have liked. Perhaps with better planning, and being a bit more savvy, I could have spent less, but then again if you compare it to the cost of a day trip in the UK, that isn’t cheap either.

If you would like to hear about my trip to Copenhagen and Stockholm, subscribe for the next article

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I signed up to the newsletter for extremedaytrips.com. It takes out a lot of the difficulty of planning an extreme day trip by finding combinations of flights that work, departing and returning the same day and maximising the time you spend in that other country.

The website is designed for travellers departing from UK airports, but you could do the same thing yourself using websites like Sky Scanner. Extreme Day Trips makes it easier because it finds the cheapest fare combinations, that maximise the amount of time you get to spend in a given destination. There is also the option to extend your trip with an overnight stay if one day isn’t enough.

There are some considerations you need to make to get the most out of it. Budget Airlines like RyanAir often fly to/from cheaper airports that are less popular, for example, flying to Paris with RyanAir means Paris-Beauvais Airport, which is 80km (48 miles) from Paris. It takes 90 minutes by shuttle bus to reach Paris itself and when you’re only visiting a place for a day, every minute matters.

Paris was indeed one of the places I considered for my trip. I’ve been to France several times but never to the capital. The flight fares were very attractive, just £46 for the return.

Extreme Day Trips - Tips

I would recommend that you make a shortlist of places you’re considering, then check things like where the airport is, how good is the public transport and how affordable it is too before buying any tickets. Sometimes the cheapest options are cheapest for a reason.

Often the cheap fares are mid-week flights, if you need a weekend option though, you can filter by the day of week. I also filtered my search results based on a minimum of 10 hours at the destination location.

Remember, there could be delays and there could be queues to get through border control. There could be heavy traffic or irregular transport to get to and from the airport. You need to factor in enough time to get back to the airport for your return and to make use of the short time you have in the location.

Plan what you want to see and do before you get there. You only have a short time, so pick one attraction that you really want to see, make sure it’s open and that you know how to get there. Do not try to cram in too much and risk missing your return flight.

Whilst the main benefit of an extreme day trip is to cut costs by not having to pay for accommodation or baggage, it can still be more expensive than you anticipated by the time you factor in transport to/from the airport, food and drink and attractions. A package holiday may be better value over all as you have more time to enjoy the location.

My shortlist

So, I created my shortlist looking at the available search results from my home town airport. I ruled out UK and Ireland trips, such as Belfast and Dublin. I ruled out places I’ve visited before. My goal was to visit another European country that I wouldn’t ordinarily have visited.

My shortlist looked like this

• Paris, Thursday 7th May, depart 0640, arrive 0900, return 2215. Total cost £46, 13 hours in destination.

• Naples, Wednesday 6th May, depart 0815, arrive 1220, return 2205. Total flight cost £59 for 9 hours 45 minute in Naples.

• Pisa, Tuesday 5th May, depart 0605, arrive 0935, return 2215. Total flight cost £69. 12 hours 40 minutes in Pisa.

• Rome, Wednesday 6th May, depart 0550, arrive 0935, return 2045. Total flight cost £73. 11 hours 10 minutes in Rome.

• Paphos, Sunday 10th May, depart 0920, arrive 1600, return 2230. Total flight cost £83. 6 hours 30 minutes in Paphos.

• Malta, Sunday 10th May, depart 0640, arrive 1010, return 2140. Total flight cost £115.11 hours 30 minutes in Malta.

• Corfu, Saturday 9th May, depart 0655, arrive 1225, return 2330. Total flight cost £121. 11 hour 5 minutes in Corfu.

And the winner is…

In the end, it was a toss up between Malta and Corfu. I had been to France and Italy before, and although I really would like to visit Rome, Pompeii and Pisa, I would like to have plenty of time for a trip like that. I’d never been to Malta or any part of Greece. I am more interested in visiting Athens than the Greek islands so I decided it would be a good opportunity to tick Malta off my list of EU countries as it’s one I probably wouldn’t have thought to go to normally.

Corfu would have been easier as it would have been a Saturday trip. My Malta trip was on a Sunday, which meant I was back in work the next day after getting home in the early hours but at least I did not need to use any annual leave to accommodate the trip.

How to book

You use the Extreme Day Trips website to help you find the flights, then book them yourself on the airlines website. Extreme Day Trips is free, but there is a paid subscription if you want to get early access to the best offers. I haven’t paid for the premium version as I was just dipping my toe in the water, but that may become more helpful if the cost of such trips increases in the future and if you intend to do multiple short trips a year.

In my next post, I will give you the low down of how my trip to Malta went, so subscribe below for more.

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It’s something that interested me as soon as I heard about it, but despite that interest, I’d never tried it until now.

What was it that led me to take the plunge now?

Fuel for thought

The first factor is a geo-political one. I live in the UK and the UK imports between 50-65% of its aviation fuel from the middle east. With the situation involving Iran and the straight of Hormuz, that supply line has been severely affected, with fears over shortages and higher costs as a result.

Luckily, many low cost carriers hedge their fuel, i.e. they sign long term contracts that commit them to buy a certain quantity of fuel at an agreed price many months in advance, so although the cost of jet fuel has doubled since the conflict in Iran started in late February, the full impact on air fares has not yet materialised.

Jet fuel accounts for about 40% of an airline’s costs, so it is very likely that air fares are going to go up significantly after the peak summer season, so I decided to take advantage now, whilst the prices are still low.

It does add more risk as there is a genuine chance that flights may be cancelled to preserve dwlindling reserves of fuel and most travel insurance policies have clauses that exclude travel cancelations as the result of ongoing conflicts.

In Europe at least, consumer protection is pretty good, airlines have the responsibility to get you home safely if they cancel your flights and offer additional compensation for any accommodation costs occurred as the result of their cancelations but there is still some risk.

For example, if my outbound flight on one airline was cancelled, I would be entitled to a full refund for that flight but if my return flight on another airline is not cancelled, then I wouldn’t be entitled to a refund for that flight but thus far, there have been very few cancellations. Airlines need to keep flying regardless due to aircraft and crew positioning, for freight haulage and to keep their valuable airport slots.

Weighing on my mind

The next factor is a much more personal one. On 28th July 2022, I weighed 34 stone 2 pounds, that’s 478 pounds or 216.8 kilograms. At that size, every aspect of travelling was difficult. I would have to buy two seats on a plane for my own comfort and for that of other passengers. I had to wear a seatbelt extender in cars and on planes. Using toilets on a plane was impossible. I loved to travel, but being that size held me back.

At the time of writing, I now weigh 20 stone 9.5 pounds, 289.5 pounds or 131.3 kilograms. I’m still overweight and I am continuing my weight loss journey but my health and fitness has improved massively from where it was. My blood pressure is normal, I’ve gone from wearing 8xl tops and 66” waist trousers from specialist online clothing shops to 2XL t-shirts and 46” waist trousers from standard high street stores. I don’t need to book two seats on a plane anymore. I don’t need seat belt extenders. I can actually fold down the tray table and sit comfortably with the arm rests down. I walk regularly, sometimes distances as far as 15 miles (24 kilometres).

My quality of life is so much better and it’s the simple things that people take for granted that mean the most to me. It has opened up a new world of possibilities and opportunities and I want to make up for lost time, making the most out of this second chance that I’ve been given to actually live life rather than just exist.

I share my story in the hope that it will inspire others.

If you’re struggling with your weight or mental health, don’t give up. It’s ok to not be perfect and have ups and downs. It is a real struggle at times but the view from the top of the mountain is worth the climb, so just keep going, one step at a time.

If you’re interested in booking an extreme day trip, subscribe as in my next article, I will be telling you the tools I used to do it and how you could do it too.

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I love to see lots of different places. The beaches, the architecture, the people. Soaking up the culture and history of different parts of the world. I’ve been very fortunate to visit lots of different countries.

There have been epic road adventures, visiting 14 countries in Europe in just 9 days. Seeing the Norweigan Fjords, walking down Hollywood Boulevard, taking in the views from the top of the Empire State building and getting soaked on a boat tour at Niagara Falls.

So, if you’re like me and you love to travel, but you’re not blessed with unlimited money, the idea of an Extreme Day Trip might appeal to you.

The concept is simple, you take a flight on a low cost budget airline and come back on the same day. You get to visit somewhere magical you’ve never been before without the full expense of a longer holiday.

Travelling can be expensive, even with budget flights. There’s the cost of getting to the airport, your tickets, food and drink on the plane, choosing your seats, paying for luggage, transfers from the airport, your hotel, food and drink whilst you’re away, souvenirs, travel insurance, car hire etc etc. The costs soon mount up but what if I told you it doesn’t have to be that way?

If you return home the same day, you can still have a piece of that holiday experience, the excitement and novelty of flying somewhere exotic, but you won’t need any luggage and you don’t need to pay for expensive hotels. That is the promise of an Extreme Day Trip.

They’re not for everyone. If you’re the sort of person that doesn’t enjoy travelling, find negotiating a busy airport exhausting rather than exhilarating and would prefer to spend a week relaxing by the side of a pool with a Pina Colada in hand, then maybe the thought of an extreme day trip is a bit of a nightmare, but for me, it means one more country to tick off from my bucket list without needing to rob a bank.

It does help if you live in Europe as there are lots of countries to visit within close proximity to each other and with airlines like RyanAir, EasyJet, Jet2, Wizz Air amongst many others, there are plenty of opportunities.

On Sunday 10th May, 2026, I popped my extreme day trip cherry.

In my next piece, I will tell you what motivated me to give it a go now.

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