Budget getaway: TheEasyjet experience.

Great timing! The boys are early! Dressed in our holiday clothes (last minute shopping at Lillywhites) we take a few pictures at stop 757 on Buckingham Palace Road, London, where we will board the Easybus to Luton airport.

We sit wearing our jackets because the air-con is on full blast. Before we know it, we arrive at Luton airport.

Our flight to Madrid, Spain is at 6.45 am, and we have about three hours to check in. The airport looks and feels empty as you walk in. To our left, there are a few people sleeping on top of the luggages, and in the distance, a few children are happily running around wearing their shorts and looking forward to their sunny holiday. Us on the other hand, wearing our jackets because London is freezing at three o'clock am in the morning!

We check-in around the corner ahead only to see a 'snake look' queue of around a hundred people. Easyjet seems to be the only company in operation. Many travellers, men and women alike, are dressed in their t-shirts, shorts, and placing their sunglasses on their heads, all of us, little steps, moving slowly. We stand patiently in line for more than thirty minutes.

There are about five or six checking in staff sitting waiting to help and are cheerful and helpful. Two of our company of four have to pay an additional extra fee of £18.00 because they exceeded their twenty kilogram allowance. We talk to the staff about letting us off but they're not budging at all, they stand their ground and we dig deeper into our wallets.

We then head to the departure lounge upstairs and already there is an even bigger queue than the one we encountered. Getting from this point to the departure lounge takes approximately fifteen minutes, (if you're lucky). We were, as were again amongst the first in line.

At the departure lounge, there are hundreds of other travellers, places to eat and sit. We sit at one of the cafe's and have breakfast. In total, we spend about £5.00 each.

Security is visible everywhere so you feel safe.

You can hear many people and their families eating and talking about their holiday plans, we of course join in and talk about ours. At this moment, we are starting to feel more excited and the holiday buzz starts here.

Six o'clock. We head to the gate, pulling our luggage and bags. We all look tired but look excited at the same time, me being the eldest in our group just can't wait to sleep on the plane having no sleep because the excitement of this holiday started twenty four hours earlier.

Perfect! Before boarding the plane we have to walk outside and up the stairs. At the same time the weather is great, sunny and clear blue skies. At this time, we were hoping that the weather in Madrid was similar or hotter. We smile one last time for the camera as we climb onto the plane.

Tghe travelling from Central London to the airport is only two hours or more and the wait and walking does seem long. What makes this trip bearable is that we are in a group. Travelling alone, maybe it is worth to spend a bit more money on getting a direct flight from London Heathrow or Gatwick. Next time, it is better to sleep before travelling. But who does?