Spendthrift Shoestring

Ryanair's Strategy

A pair of good commentaries in the Guardian yesterday—one by Gwyn Topham and the other by Larry Elliott—lay out an analysis of possibly tough times ahead for Ryanair. Both pieces look at Ryanair's position following Monday's announcement of disastrously low first-quarter profits, down 85 percent. The most interesting nugget for me was the observation, first in Elliott's commentary and seconded in Topham's, of the falling value of the pound. With the pound's decline, they argue, there are fewer short-term workers from the EU's eastern flank boarding Ryanair and other low-cost carrier planes to find work in the UK. On the other end, the thought of a long weekend in an underexplored Continental spot has become less attractive to many Brits because the pound simply isn't going as far as it did. Topham extends the argument and questions the durability of Ryanair's appeal:

Ryanair's early allure, promising an enjoyable, bargain weekend in a strangely-named destination, already has the feeling of a turn-of-the-millennium fad. A bit like Big Brother: sometimes cheap, sometimes nasty, but losing its appeal fast.

He's on to something, though I can't help but think that Ryanair will continue to fill planes. Route maps can be adjusted; Ryanair recalibrates schedules rapidly in response to demand. And then there's the fact that many other airlines are in trouble and at risk of going bust. Where will their passengers go? Many, I'd guess, will turn to Ryanair.

And how is Ryanair responding to the situation at hand? By announcing a €1/£1 fare sale. These fares include taxes and charges, and are good for travel throughout September. I just did a sample search and found a virtually free London Stansted-Altenburg return flight in September. See for yourself:

Ryanair suggests that this will be the first in a series of massive fare sales over the winter.

San Francisco: Four Images of the Mission & Noe Valley

Images of San Francisco, all taken today...

Amazing tiles at the corner of Hill and Valencia.

La Taqueria, the best taqueria in the world.

Graffiti on 22nd between Bartlett and Valencia.

Decoration at Lehr's German Specialties on Church at 28th.

Sarajevo Gets More Cheap Flights

More ahead-of-the-curve activity from Germanwings. At the end of June, the German low-cost carrier announced that they'd start flying between Cologne/Bonn and Sarajevo in August. Flycheapo spent some time with the airline's 2008-2009 schedule and reports today that the airline will also be connecting Stuttgart and Sarajevo from late October on.

Sarajevo is an absolute star of a city. Its rich layers of culture and history and unique atmosphere make it an extraordinarily special place. When Marisa and I visited in May, I kept thinking about the relative dearth of tourists. Back in London, I blabbed to whoever would listen about the city and wondered out loud why Sarajevo hadn't made it onto a shortlist of weekend break destinations for Londoners. One British friend said, in his typically understated way: "It may have something to do with the fact that it was a war zone not long ago." But Bosnian War hostilities ended almost thirteen years ago.

Sarajevo is ripe for greater numbers of tourists. If another low-cost carrier or two were to jump on the Germanwings bandwagon, the city might begin to receive its tourism due.

Horizon: Not Bad

This week I flew to Portland to see my father and other family members. I flew Alaska Airlines on the way up from SFO. Returning earlier today I flew Horizon (which has been owned by Alaska since 1986) into Oakland.

Two things made the flight pleasant. First, complementary beer and wine were served; second, the in-flight snacks were edible miniature bruschette. After years and years of crap snacks dusted with too much salt or sugar, the plain and delicious simplicity of Horizon's snack was a relief.

I was set to laud Horizon as my personal aviation surprise of the year, but then a creaky, frustrating annoyance materialized. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the airplane occupying our intended gate slot to move on. And then, once our Bombardier lumbered up to the gate, there was a jetway malfunction that swallowed up another five minutes. I wouldn't want to charge Horizon with sole responsibility for either event, but frankly these last-minute disembarkation delays suck. Every frequent American flier I know has experienced the frustration of blocked gates at arrival. We need better scheduling at airports and an increase in tarmac passenger releases.

San Francisco: Room 4

Just a few weeks old, Room 4 on Valencia at 20th Street is a strikingly affordable vintage shop, with a great selection of clothes and home furnishings. I spied a big, beautiful Cudahy's Rex Pure Lard tin—empty of course—and flipped the tag over cautiously, sure that it would be priced in the $50 range. But no! The classic piece of Americana was mine for just $24.95.


My new big red tin.

The shirt selection was also really good, and again prices were considerably cheaper than those I've become used to over the last few years in various outposts of cool around the world. My shopping mate Ryan snapped up several shirts.

It's exciting to see a vintage shop with reasonably priced items in the heart of Valencia Street, a stretch of commercial territory that has continued to gentrify since I left San Francisco in 2003.

For those curious about Cudahy's Rex brand, there's some information here.

Ryanair: Site vs. Print

Last week I flew Ryanair between Stansted and Newquay. It was the typical Ryanair experience, though at least the flight attendants weren't exuding disaffected distance or discussing their health problems whilst wheeling the refreshments cart down the aisle.

Looking over the in-flight magazine, I was surprised by the utter lack of unwitty, aggressive snark so common to Ryanair's news releases. This was the first time I've read the Ryanair in-flight magazine in at least a year and a half, and I was pleasantly surprised. There were pithy destination guides, a look at fashion in Stockholm, a very interesting article on foraging for food, and a story on Lodz. The production level and the absence of witless, gratuitous snark were both miles from Ryanair's weird press release strategy, which appears to prioritize the act of starting fights over all else.

Returning to San Francisco

It's been almost exactly five years since Matt and I left San Francisco. Since leaving, I've spent about 16 hours in the city. I returned for several hours to attend my godfather's memorial service in late 2003. The following December, I spent a night and a few bookended hours en route to Sonoma County to see my mother. And that's it. The feeling of returning to a city I loved so much after such a long break is simultaneously fascinating and unreal.

Yesterday we took the N-Judah to the beach and back and then walked through Duboce Triangle, the Castro, and the Mission back to our gorgeous sublet on Natoma between 6th and 7th. It's all a happy, familiar blur. In some ways the city seems as if it hasn't changed a whit; in other ways it seems altered and unfamiliar.

Five years is a long time.

Meanwhile, a song from London is on high rotation: "Dance Wiv Me" by Dizzee Rascal & Calvin Harris ft. Chrome. I think it might just be the best song ever recorded.

Leaving London

We leave London in just a few hours. The last few days have seen a visit to Cornwall, last-minute hotel visits, and lots of goodbyes. My mood is more glum than joyful, though I'm looking forward to spending several weeks in San Francisco.

Walking around London the last few days, I've begun to feel that peculiar sensation that settles in when a city becomes something familiar as opposed to something full of specific, discrete sites. I kept having these organic realizations of how various neighborhoods fit into one another. And all I can think is how much more of London I want to see and experience.

Soon, hopefully.

To Cornwall

Tomorrow I head to St. Ives in Cornwall for a quick two-day trip, my last excursion from London before returning to the US. I won't be writing about St. Ives here because I've got an assignment for my trip, which I'll name and link to in time. I've been curious about Cornwall for a long time, and I can't wait to check it out.

The Leeds Side-Streets That You Slip Down...

I took the train to Leeds yesterday on sort of a whim and poked around for most of the day. I realized while walking around that Leeds is the only city in England I've visited aside from London. I found Leeds interesting. Most of all I enjoyed walking through the city's Victorian era shopping arcades. I also enjoyed checking out the exhibit on art and politics in the UK in the 1980s at the Leeds Art Gallery.

Pretty amazing.

And of course, there were Leeds side-streets to slip down.

Exhibit A.

Exhibit B.

(OK, these are alleys, but they're more photogenic than side-streets.)