‘How Low Can You Go?’ is written by Tom Chesshyre; a travel writer for The Times, and it really is the story of my Ryanair life.

I was in London for work, and whiling away some time in Foyles before hitting China Town for some dinner. I’m naturally drawn to the travel writing section, especially as with two book clubs to feed with other general popular (and not so popular) fiction I have to be careful about how I choose to spend precious non-book-club reading time.

Our recent Ryanair weekend trip experiences drew me to HLCYG – and not just because of the fun cover! A quick flick through the country list was enough to tempt me to part with the cover price – some destinations we’ve been were included and I was interested in the author’s experiences compared to our own, and others we haven’t been to but are on the Weeze route, so I was also looking for ideas for when we’ve exhausted all the ‘new country’ destinations available with Ryanair from this location (at which point, clearly we’ll have to move!).

It was actually a joy to slip easily into a travel book written by a writer. The subject matter isn’t exactly taxing, but having read a reasonable number of travel journals where the author is a gifted amateur the difference was clear almost immediately. I’m obviously not talking about actual professional writers such as Bryson, Moore, or McCarthy, I’m talking about travellers (like myself perhaps) who come back with stories to tell, and people say (usually in the bar after a lot of beer) ‘You should write a book you know’. And, some of them have – and good on them, well done, says I. However, there is a gaping chasm of difference between the two types of writer.

So, Our Tom writes for the Times. This actually gives him access to people and places in the course of his ‘research’ for HLCYG than would have been possible for the regular Ryanair punter. He meets Mayors, Presidents, CEO’s, Environmentalists and the great Stelios himself, and asks them about their towns and businesses and the effect of the Ryanair (or Easyjet!) Revolution on their way of life.

Interesting, amusing and a bit of fun is really how I would describe this book. He has a terrible time in a couple of places (Brno anyone?) but this adds to the narrative – how boring an account would it have been if it had been Haugesund everywhere?

The most telling parts of the story however are the accounts of the encounters with other people – both the locals and ‘Brits Abroad’. Young talented professional people in Eastern Europe being tempted away from working in their homelands by the higher wages that can be earned elsewhere – even if it doesn’t involve working in their chosen field. Couple this with the arrogant, racist, disrespectful people Tom encounters going in the other direction, and it’s a sorry tale. Particularly awful (stag parties aside) were the British women Tom encountered looking for cheap holiday homes in Bourgas, Bulgaria. If nothing else would put me off buying property abroad, this does. My mouth fell open reading their vile opinions, which kept on coming even when Tom said he was a journalist and was writing a book. How Low Can You Go indeed.

The final interviews with the Executive Director of Friends of the Earth and Stelios of Easyjet round out the book. I’m not surprised Stelios hasn’t visited half the countries his airline fly to; why should he? He prefers Greece and Monaco; so what? I’m also not surprised that an Exec of FoE flies to Nigeria for an International conference on climate issues.

It widened my already wide awareness of the environmental impact of the Ryanair/Easyjet way of life (which I readily and admittedly take advantage of). It made me question the cultural impact of inflicting our worst on these nations, coupled with the economic benefits tourist dollars bring.

I also actually wish I’d got me some ‘hot horse’ in Ljubljana 🙂