Hmmmmmmm. How can this be? A book called Ryanland which seems to be almost exactly the same as How Low Can You Go? Clearly I still had to buy it – just to make sure.

Ryanland is written by another journalist. Are they struggling all of a sudden that they have to deviate from writing newspapers and magazines to undertaking travel journeys with the specific intention of writing a book about it?

The two books seem to have been published in the same year (2007) about a month apart. So, at least they may each have had an original idea even if they both came out at the same time.

This time, the author is a Dubliner. The prose is witty (especially if you read it in your head with an Irish accent), and he’s not quite so disparaging about the destinations; to the point where I had to check back to make sure they were the same places – and they were.

I did wonder about his wife and family – being abandoned for days/weeks on end. Why didn’t she come along too?!

I loved the priority boarding stuff, and the rush to get to seat 16F. Clearly 16F is now going to be my seat of choice, and Phil and I may just be fighting for it in the future!