Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Luton

Wizz Air (London Luton to Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport)

For those confused where we are in my riveting blog, I’m now going back a couple of weeks as I had to get from Cardiff to Ljubljana using whatever means possible, but I could only get flights costing £9 with Wizz Air Multi Pass. My first expedition was to get to Rome, then to work the rest out afterwards. There’s my flight, the 21:40.

A quick visit to Big Smoke and due to increasing prices of what is covered by Priority Pass, I’ve cut down to pineapple juice and chicken tenders. All very healthy.

Calamari and pineapple juice at Nolito and I’m never entirely surprised and delighted by their calamari so I’m going to shake things up and change this order up next time. I should probably get out more….

Oh great, it’s nearly Christmas.

The Rome flight was delayed by around 40 minutes, meaning that it was the last one out of Luton Airport in the evening. This means that everyone sitting here was going to Rome, unless they were perhaps muddled up.

It’s all happening now!

Here we are, the last flight out of Luton Airport.

Boarding and this is aircraft registration HA-LGV, seemingly another one (from my extensive records that aren’t anywhere near complete) that I haven’t been on before.

There were quite a lot of sleepy passengers on this flight, which was around 80% full. As ever with Wizz Air, the flight was well managed, the aircraft was clean, the crew were friendly and absolutely nothing went wrong. There’s a lot to be said for uneventful flights. The seating Gods gave me an aisle seat for this flight, so that was handy.

We all disembarked from the front of the aircraft as they wanted to use a jet bridge for this late arriving flight, but then there was no-one to unlock the door. So I stood here for a few minutes.

At this point it was decided that we’d be getting a bus to the terminal and this is always a slight faff. But, I was in no rush.

Safely in Rome and I got to use the semi-automated digital border control system for the first time, as Poland doesn’t seem to be using it fully yet. There was quite a queue for this, but it was all painless.

A helpful service…. I sat here for a while as the baggage reclaim, which I never have a need to use, had some power points and I wanted to be fully charged for my next little adventure. By fully charged I mean my devices, I was not fully charged as this was a sleepless overnight onwards expedition.

December 3, 2025
Tredegar House to Luton Airport

Leaving Tredegar House, my first birthday weekend (as in the first of two, I’m not aged one) was coming to an end, with Richard walking to his car to go to one of his specialist locations. But, this wasn’t before a lady called upon Liam to fix her car, which he did admirably. Given that Ross isn’t a confident driver, I can’t drive and Richard drives into hedges, she picked the right person from the four of us.

Anyway, off Richard went. Richard was a little sad as he doesn’t like his car any more as he’s seen how nice a car Liam now has. Ross commented this was evident by the amount of junk thrown on the back seat as Richard tries to hide looking at the car itself. But we didn’t say anything.

We crossed over the Severn Bridge.

Back into sunny England, this is the Second Severn Crossing, more formally known as the Prince of Wales Bridge.

The end of a rather lovely weekend in Wales. We stopped at a JD Wetherspoon in Maidenhead, which is Liam’s hometown but more about that in another post (about the pub, not Liam’s family history).

Always a bit sad, but there go Liam and Ross after dropping me off at Luton Travelodge, as I only do decadent travel.

I’ve stayed here a few times before, it’s nowhere near the airport but I like walking.

The room was clean and comfortable, located at the far end of a corridor away from the lift, just as I like it.

In the morning, I walked the three miles into the centre of Luton whilst listening to podcasts, nothing like a bit of politics to start the week.

A very nice, and keenly priced, breakfast at JD Wetherspoon. I fancied a hot chocolate, but Keir Starmer has banned them, but the coffees tasted fine and the breakfast was cooked perfectly.

Then to collect my free weekly Greggs sausage roll, this didn’t disappoint.

Then another three mile walk to Luton Airport as I’m not paying for that DART. The weather was tolerable, the walk was not really exciting, but it’s good for the soul to walk six miles before a flight I’ve decided. With that, I needed to work out how to get to Ljubljana for my second birthday weekend….

December 2, 2025
Wizz Air (London Luton to Venice Marco Polo Airport – Inaugural Flight and I’m Not Swapping Seats Again….)

Another day, another flight with my Multipass from Wizz Air. This was my 55th flight with it, although it comes to an end next week. I plan to renew it as my two loyal blog readers will note from my frequent Wizz Air postings on this blog that I’m quite an advocate of them now.

Anyway, I started at Big Smoke with some chicken tenders.

Then Nolito for some olives and beer.

Then boarding from Gate 22 which was as usual for Wizz Air ordered and well managed. It was immediately apparent though that there was something special going on.

That special event was that it was the inaugural flight from London Luton to Venice Marco Polo airport, so they were making something of a thing of it.

The boarding then began.

The aircraft was 9H-WDH, which I don’t think that I’ve been on before and it feels as though it’s becoming quite unusual for me to note that.

The flight was at near capacity and the seating Gods had unusually given me a middle seat. I boarded and the passenger in the aisle seat asked if I minded sitting there as he wanted to sit in the middle seat next to his partner. This, at the time, pleased me.

However, on board, there was an announcement that they had hidden goodie bags around the aircraft. To cut a long story short, it transpired that they’d hidden it on my original seat, so I didn’t get the goodie bag that the seating Gods had tried to give me….

One amusing side to this is that the passenger on the other side of the aisle had heard the announcement that it was a white envelope. He excitedly pulled out from the seat pocket what he thought was the white envelope and looked inside enthusiastically. He read the outside and then kept it. It was actually the sick bag that is in every seat….

Anyway, the crew were impeccable as usual, the aircraft was spotless and the journey was uneventful (other than for my missing goodie bag). It’s a wonderful route and I’m glad Wizz Air have started it, although it’s ironic after travelling around Europe for 15 years and finally getting to Venice last week that I’ve ended up here again….

And safely into Venice airport where the security process took just minutes as they’ve installed the new entry system and it’s working well. Straight to the bus and into the city. And in the future I’m not changing seats, well, not on inaugural flights anyway.

I did get one free memento though, a Venetian mask which will be going to Liam’s little girl, unless it scares her and then it can just go to Liam in that case.

December 1, 2025
Wizz Air (Luton Airport to Warsaw)

After an uneventful rail journey to Luton Airport, I popped in Big Smoke where I get £18 to spend with my Priority Pass card. There has been another price rise, which is the fourth of the year to my knowledge, which makes menu ordering slightly more difficult each time.

I opted for the dirty fries with beef brisket, the latter of which is just about hidden in the photo but there was a big lump of it at the bottom. It was entirely adequate, with the service being friendly and helpful.

And a quick visit to My Lounge to see their collection of dirty crockery and to try their Heineken 0%. They’re really nailed the flavour of it, it tastes just as bad as Heineken so that’s a win for the brewery. The Mexican chicken and spicy rice is actually decent, the food standards do seem to have improved here over the last few months. Or my standards have dropped, either is possible.

I was moderately amused as the customer in front of me asked for two Birra Moretti beers. They’re quite tight here, so every customer gets 2/3rds of a bottle, unless you have the 0% Heineken where they just give you the whole thing as I don’t think many people want that. This whole thing just makes matters more faffy and the bar server ended up with one glass of Birra Moretti full and the other 90% full. The customer complained he wanted 100% in each and the barman actually just tutted in response. The customer looked annoyed and the glass was topped up begrudgingly. Lounge entry here is nearly £40 (unless you have a lounge card or similar) so this tightness does them no favours. But, since I get free entry with Priority Pass, I won’t complain about anything else in here…..

They started boarding twenty minutes earlier than advertised, but Wizz Air are efficient and everything here was under control during the boarding process. One customer got charged £70 for having a large bag, he had got confused which bag sizer he was meant to use and I thought he was very gracious about it all. We were on the aircraft at the time that the gate was meant to have closed, something that British Airways always struggles to manage as customers faff about with their bags.

Boarding the aircraft which was HA-LGO which I don’t think I’ve been on before. The seating Gods gave me a window seat and it also transpired that there was no-one in the middle seat despite the flight being around 90% full.

The flight was, yet again, peaceful and uneventful. The crew were efficient and polite, sweeping down the aisle selling things without waking everyone up. The aircraft was clean, I had plenty of space and I was rather pleased with my £8.99 flight cost.

We were put on a bus to get the 75 metres to the airport terminal and they really struggled to get everyone on two buses, I think they’d usually use three. It felt slightly sub-optimal, but it was hardly a long bus journey so I was only briefly annoyed.

My shiny new passport, which doesn’t have around 120 stamps in the bloody thing, is allowing me to sweep through border control so I was able to get one of the last trains of the evening into Warsaw. I don’t have much leeway here, although there are plenty of night buses which serve the airport if required.

It’s always good to be back on public transport in Warsaw, peaceful and efficient.

Arriving into Warszawa Zachodnia (Warsaw West) railway station, which is currently being upgraded. However, it feels at times that Warsaw is constantly being upgraded, such as the fast rate of change here.

And there’s the Ibis Budget, hidden behind road works. This was only a ten minute walk from the railway site, and I’ve stayed at the adjoining Ibis several times, and fortunately I found a gap in the road works to actually gain access to the hotel.

All in all, I was once again pleased and content with the whole airport and flight experience.

November 3, 2025
Wizz Air (Bratislava to London Luton)

I stayed at a hotel that was, as estate agents would say, “conveniently located” which was only five minutes from Bratislava Airport. This meant I could rise at the decadent hour of 06:00 and still breeze through security by 06:30 for a 09:25 flight. I could’ve slept longer, but I’m a creature of paranoia and prefer to hover near departure gates like a Victorian ghost just in case something happens to go wrong in the 250 metres between the hotel and airport.

The airport terminal.

All good, my flight looked on time.

This is the airside area with plenty of seating. The security process took just three minutes and the staff were helpful and upbeat.

My quick visit to the airport lounge which I wrote about separately.

The gate area was also suitably calm and the Wizz Air staff here were efficient, with the queueing process being made clear. The border control desk had no queue of note and the border guard didn’t sit and count my passport stamps, but he did ask for help finding the Bratislava stamp that the airport had put into the passport last week.

The aircraft was G-WUNA which I went in December last year from Poznan to Luton which happened to be its first anniversary (the aircraft, not Poznan).

Boarding the aircraft and I was pleased that the seating Gods had given me an aisle seat near the front. The flight was yet another one operated with care and precision by Wizz Air, the crew were friendly, the pilots made clear announcements and the aircraft was spotless. There were a couple in the middle and window seat who were quiet and calm, which meant that I didn’t have to be annoyed at anything.

Luton was colder than Bratislava and this pleased me. There was no wait to go through border control, so I was able to leave the terminal within fifteen minutes of landing. Another well spent £9 with the Wizz Air Multipass.

July 2, 2025
Wizz Air (London Luton to Bratislava)

My Wizz Air flight was the second of the day to leave London Luton, so I just arrived late the previous evening by train and then waited at Pret landside. The security area opens at 02:00 sort of time, which is really quite early for an international airport.

Not many other people were so keen to get through this early in the day. The security process was though well managed and the staff seemed upbeat, which can’t be easy at that time of the day.

At least it’s easy to get a seat at this time of day.

I’ve written about my visit to Big Smoke separately. As for the food, it was a little bland as that avocado was quite watery, but nonetheless it wasn’t unpleasant. It’s the first time I’ve been here for breakfast and the first time that I didn’t order beer, I instead went for a pineapple juice.

I then popped to Avalon for a chicken and avocado salad, along with a Fanta, that most typical of breakfast drinks. This is expensive, well it would be if I was paying for it, at £12 and it was rather dry but I think there was a healthy element to it.

And then an almond croissant and half a pint of Menabrea. It’s a generic lager, but it was free and although the croissant wasn’t very authentic, it was light and was a satisfactory snack. The service here is always warm and friendly, although I was dreading them making an error with the number of guests as Priority Pass might have found it suspicious if I had phoned up again.

And then a double espresso. My flight was called to board twenty minutes earlier than advertised, so I thought that I might as well wander over.

It’s all happening now at Gate 21.

The joys of the bus gate.

Boarding the aircraft, which is G-WUKT, an A321 which has been in service since April 2022.

The flight was uneventful yet again, although the seating Gods gave me a middle seat. However, the two neighbouring passengers weren’t annoying, so the flight went quickly enough (it’s a one hour fifty minute journey), not least as I was asleep for half of it. One advantage of an early morning flight is that everyone seems to be asleep as they’re so exhausted, and I suspect Wizz Air has a fair number of customers who haven’t had any sleep at all, so it’s an extra peaceful arrangement. The crew were quite bouncy and keen, the airline does recruit some really good people and the pilot announcements were all as expected.

And safely into Bratislava, where it was evidently too hot. There was a queue of twenty minutes for border control, but although she did look at my passport stamps I was saved having to wait whilst she counted as she just stamped the passport. All very easy, and another £8.99 well spent with Wizz Air for my first time to Slovakia.

June 26, 2025
Wizz Air (Warsaw to London Luton)

A quick breakfast in the lounge and I’m always delighted to have a Greek salad. I had two as I was so delighted. This is the Etiuda Lounge which is in the non-Schengen one, although I usually go to the Preludium Lounge which is in the Schengen area. My logic is that I’ve been caught at border control for quite some time on a few occasions and I now prefer to clear that bureaucratic gauntlet first, lest I be detained indefinitely while someone scrutinises my passport like a cursed manuscript. I noticed that the border control agent was being very assiduous with the stamps of the passenger in front, indeed, the English traveller said “I’ve got too many stamps” which didn’t bode well for me. Anyway, the border agent looked through my passport and looked like he didn’t have the energy to deal with it, so just stamped it.

After my starter and main course of Greek salad, along with mochas and Fanta, I had a dessert of chocolate and beer. I think there are some healthy elements to that meal.

Anyway, after a peaceful time in the lounge, it was time to board. Yet again, the process was well managed, clearly signed and efficient. They were doing numerous bag checks but they didn’t look very long at mine, the benefit of having a soft bag. It’s the firmer type bags they stop, with a few customers charged £80 or so for having bags that are too big. The moral of this story really is pack like you’re going on a short hike and not moving house.

I had a middle seat, but when I boarded there was someone in my seat and I queried it in my perfect English. The Polish guy pointed at the lady in the window seat and said “wife here, I sit here, you sit there?” pointing at the aisle seat. This to me was a win, I like an aisle seat. He did proceed to spill slightly into my seat space like an enthusiastic houseplant, but I forgave him. The aisle seat was mine, and that was victory enough. The seating Gods work in a mysterious way.

The aircraft was 9H-WDX, an Airbus A321 which has been in the Wizz Air fleet since December 2023 and yet another aircraft that I don’t think I’ve been on (this exact one, I’ve been on rather too many A321s….).

And back at London Luton. The whole process was efficient again, nothing of note to write about as the crew were friendly, the pilots were informative and the aircraft was clean. The border at Luton Airport was busy, but I was through within twenty minutes. That now means I have two hours in McDonald’s by the railway station before my train back home, but I’m sure it’ll speed on by.

June 20, 2025
Wizz Air (London Luton to Warsaw Chopin)

I usually don’t write anything about the flights I take, but a change is as good as a rest and all that. I’m not sure that Luton Airport has really mastered the art of returning flights efficiently, but the security process is now quite efficient. I have to confess to pure idiocy during security when I managed to leave my belt on during the security scan. I blame the confusion on their policy of leaving liquids and laptops in the bag which throws my system. The member of security staff was though not deterred and, thankfully, my brief masterclass in how not to do security seemed to escape wider notice, preserving my fragile dignity in aviation matters.

They announced the gate quite early, an hour before the flight, the delights of Gate 32 beckoned. Having endured the boarding methodologies back in my BA days, which often resembled a polite but ultimately confusing game of human Tetris, Wizz Air’s approach felt refreshingly straightforward. Every passenger knows, or should know, where to go from signage and they didn’t take long to board everyone. Admittedly, that leads to a lot of waiting on the stairs in the airport terminal to board, but at least it feels efficient although it’s less ideal for people who prefer to have a little sit down rather than balance themselves and their luggage on steps.

The aircraft was ready and for the sake of completion, the registration is 9H-wNE, the same aircraft I went from Gdansk to London Luton on a few months ago. It’s hard not to make that sound quite geekish, but as a reminder, for my two loyal blog readers who can’t remember, it’s an Airbus A321 which was delivered to Wizz Air in March 2024. Feel free to use that aviation nugget of information at your next dinner party, instant social success guaranteed…..

I’ve had a long series of good fortune from the seating Gods where I’ve been aisle or window seats, but that luck had run out for this flight when I was randomly given a middle seat. I always vaguely hope that one of the passengers doesn’t turn up, but they both did. Both were Polish, the one by the aisle fell asleep for most of the flight and the other managed to consume several Polish beers and then needed me to wake up the aisle guy from his hibernation for obvious reasons. I’m not sure that they entirely managed to follow my rule of letting the middle seat passenger have the arm rests, but since that’s a rule I’ve created it’s one that’s hard to enforce. Fortunately, this isn’t a long flight and two hours later we were landing into Warsaw.

The crew on the flight were well presented, engaging and efficient, although that’s the normality for Wizz Air flights I’ve found. Announcements from the pilots were in Polish with a shorter English version following soon after and the safety briefing was completely in a way that the CAA would be pleased by.

The delights of Warsaw always excite me, so I didn’t even mind that it was a bus that took us to border control. Most passengers on the flight were Polish or had EU passports, so the queue for my passport to be stamped was relatively short. The border agent was friendly and for this visit didn’t require a detailed explanation of my life before letting me into Poland. The flight is with my Multi Pass, which I’m still moderately obsessed with, so it cost just £8.99. Armrest battles aside, Wizz Air delivered the goods once again as far as I was concerned.

April 19, 2025
Wizz Air (From Luton Airport to Tallinn and Back Again)

I don’t have a great deal to say about these two flights, taken five days apart, but I have sufficient things to note to want to make a post about them. That’s just how this exciting blog works. Anyway, I enjoyed my visit to Big Smoke, Avalon and My Lounge at Luton Airport, then it was time to set off for the departure gate. There’s the 16:00 flight to Tallinn, a rather agreeable departure time if I may say so. There’s a two hour time difference which does mean that the aircraft arrives at what feels like quite a late time, but at least the airport in Tallinn is near to the city.

I cannot fault the efficiency of Wizz Air and the boarding was ready to start by the time I got to the gate. I wondered about whether the guy in front of me with two bags was going to get away with that and it transpired that he didn’t. The gate agent was friendly, but she wasn’t having such an obvious breach of the rules and so she charged him some exorbitant amount.

Here we are boarding and I was pleased to be randomly allocated an aisle seat. I was flying on the All You Can Fly scheme that Wizz Air operates, which I’m entirely pleased with so this made the return flight a total of just over £17. There is some debate today about how Wizz Air have been contacting those who have cancelled flights telling them that their pass might in turn be cancelled without recompense (there’s a limit of two no shows a year). That is in the rules and it’s why I’m reluctant to put two flights too close together. I’ve never had any problem with Wizz Air but their customer service is I think a little difficult to get through to, so I wouldn’t really want a debate about it.

Once again, the flight didn’t really have anything noteworthy to comment on. It was a smooth flight, the crew were friendly, the aircraft was clean, nothing fell off the aircraft and no-one annoyed me. That’s something of a result as far as I’m concerned. They operate this flight to Tallinn four times a week, which explains why I didn’t notice the return flight come up on All You Can Fly, I had thought that it was a daily service. Wizz Air pad their schedules and so early arrivals aren’t unusual, with this flight arriving 34 minutes early. It’s an Airbus A321, aircraft G-WUND which I don’t think I’ve been on before.

Safely in Tallinn and then I realised there was a little problem. I have an inability to walk on ice, rivalled only by three legged cows and really elderly people. And the walk to the hotel was icy. I debated getting a bus, but I couldn’t be faffing about with that and decided to walk. My bravery and slightly sluggish walking paid dividends and there were no falls and indeed no near incidents. I did walk past someone who had fallen over, but the ambulance was looking after him so I decided not to intervene. Fortunately, the ice and snow had mostly gone on the walk back and it had all entirely gone by the time I flew back.

And here we are (well, here I am) earlier tonight, ready to depart from Tallinn Airport and I made an effort to get the London post in the photo.

I learn something new every day, or at least, most days. RRR is apparently the ICAO reference for the RAF and they had a flight to Brize Norton. I know that the RAF operate commercial flights to the Falkland Islands, but I don’t normally see RAF flights on departure boards.

I popped to the airport lounge (which is functional, clean, large although a little limited in food options), but this is the main departures area which is clean, tidy and well managed. It reminds me of Helsinki Airport, which just feels calm.

The Wizz Air gate after border control and it did get busier, but there’s plenty of seating. There are no Berlin Brandenburg incidents here with seating running out.

The aircraft, once again an Airbus A321, is G-WUKR (which to my knowledge I also haven’t flown on although I don’t keep very assiduous records) and I was stuck in a middle seat this time. Nonetheless, it was a smooth flight and it arrived 51 minutes early which surprised and delighted me. What didn’t surprise and delight me is that my phone crashed when I turned flight mode off and took way too long to get going again. That’s another project for this week, fixing that. I felt sorry for those passengers who were pleased to arrive early as it made their travel plans easier as Luton Airport seemed surprised that a load of planes turned up and that put pressure on the border meaning it took the best part of an hour from deplaning (yes, I know it’s an American word, but I like it) to getting through the border. Fortunately, I am in absolutely no rush, I have an overnight train which will hopefully be sweeping me back to Norwich.

So that’s another very lovely adventure sorted. Next stop, after Norwich, will be Rotherham and does travel get more decadent than that?

February 10, 2025
Wizz Air (Poznan to Luton Airport)

Back to Poznan Airport and this is a sculpture by Henryk Gida Bakalarczyk, it makes quite an impact in the departures area just before security.

There’s my flight to Luton Airport, using the Wizz Air all you can fly pass that I decided to get to try it out, so that means it’s £8.99 for the flight.

After visiting the lounge and going through border control, the non-Schengen area of the airport is quite sizeable with plenty of seating.

They were boarding the aircraft early and, as ever, it was all efficient and organised.

And boarding.

I take these photos in the hope of capturing the registration of the aircraft, otherwise I have to look it up. And it isn’t visible, so I did have to go and look it up, it’s G-WUNA, I don’t think it’s an aircraft I’ve been on before. By chance, it was the first anniversary of Wizz Air bringing this aircraft into service, but they didn’t provide us with cake or anything to mark that milestone.

And safely back into Luton Airport. It wasn’t the most comfortable journeys as I was in the middle seat and felt a little cramped on this journey, but it’s a relatively short flight and I amused myself watching stuff on my phone. There were some winds from Storm Darragh which added some extra excitement in terms of the landing, although it was otherwise uneventful. There was absolutely no delay at all with getting through border control as there was no queue, so plenty of staffing once again at Luton Airport.

It was very lovely, thank you Wizz Air. I still like this all you can fly pass, it wasn’t the longest stay in Poznan, but there seemed to be a suitable choice of destinations that I could go to. I’m already occupied with other things this week, but hopefully I’ll get to use the pass again in December and perhaps quite a lot in the new year.

December 8, 2024