Getting There (Top)
The catch in getting to Bremen for dirt cheap: we had to fly out of Stockholm Skavsta airport. Don't be fooled by the "Stockholm" in the name: this airport is more than an hour from Stockholm. Transit options to it are limited, though Flygbussarna does operate a bus to and from Skavsta from Stockholm Cityterminalen (just outside T-Centralen). We rolled into Cityterminalen around 8:15 in the morning, where we discovered that there wasn't a bus due to leave for Skavsta until 9:00. We grabbed some food and then headed for our departure gate. Despite the fact that the bus wasn't due to come for over half an hour, an impressive line had formed at the gate. Feeling this was unnecessary, we sat down and enjoyed our breakfast. When we finished and checked the line again, it was substantially longer. So long we could no longer see the end of it. A little panicked by this, we joined the end of the queue. Someone came along to promise that there were four buses coming, so the length of the line wasn't a problem. We were about two-thirds of the way down the line and made it in the middle group on the third of the four buses. I'm not sure if everyone in the line got on a bus (later buses were presumably coming), so beware: queue early if you haven't left plenty of time to get to the airport. The bus ride itself was uneventful, though I wished the promised WiFi had been more reliable.
Skavsta airport was small but functional, located in an incredibly rural wooded area. Of note, I got flagged for a "random" security check, my partner got flagged for a "random" security check, and my bags got flagged for a "random" security check. Possible that the random checks all fell on the woman with half her head shaved and the other half green hair, but also possible that you'll be in for some extra security if you look at all non-mainstream. After clearing security, we were forced to walk through a duty-free perfume store. The cloying stench of perfume was overwhelming - terrible design. The bathrooms were functional but very very dated. Posters in the bathroom in more than a half-dozen languages warned about child sex trafficking and against the forced marriage of children. It made me wonder exactly who normally comes through Skavsta.
The RyanAir flight was... different. Passengers were divided into two lines, one for normal passengers and one for Priority passengers. I
was in the Priority line, while my partner was in the normal line, and thus we were separated for quite some time. Other families, even those
with young children, were similarly split, which felt ... unnecessary. Despite being "priority" passengers, there were few seats and they'd had us
queue long before the plane was ready to receive us. We all stood around waiting for 20 or so minutes to board. Like many smaller airports,
we had to walk out to the plane and board up stairs. Fine for me, difficult for some of the more elderly passengers. I'm not sure how anyone
in a wheelchair or similar situation would have boarded the plane. The seats were made of plastic, though I'll give them credit that my ample
booty fit in the chair just fine. What I found bizarre was the lack of a pocket on the seat back in front of me. Like... how much could those
possibly cost? Not having anywhere to put my laptop during takeoff/landing was annoying. The seats did not recline, which I honestly liked.
I find it really aggravating when the passenger in front of me tilts their seat back into my space, so this worked for me. Drinks and snacks were
offered for a fee, so I cannot speak to the quality of the drinks or snacks. The flight crew was fine, though the head steward did forget where the
plane was flying to, thus resulting in an announcement that we would soon be landing at "some place" - not exactly professional or confidence-inspiring.
