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Ruinair and The Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget

Ruinair

Paul Kilduff

Gill & Macmillan, €12.99

Enraged at his treatment at the hands of Ryanair during a delayed flight to Spain, Paul Kilduff decided to get his own back - by travelling to every destination on the airline's routes from Dublin for less than €300 in total.

What he hopes to achieve, and how this will hurt Ryanair, is difficult to fathom, even after 300 pages.

Kilduff was a chartered accountant, and he gives a revealing insight into how Ryanair manages to remain profitable and where O'Leary gets his ideas from (mainly Southwest Airlines, as it happens).

As a diatribe against Ryanair, though, it's as much use as a first-class ticket on one of its flights, and Kilduff refuses to allow the pre-eminent aspect of Ryanair - the fact that you can cross a continent for less than the price of a train ticket to Cork - to overshadow the petty: its staff can be rude, its flights are noisy.

The Rough Guide to Europe on a Budget

Rough Guides, £15.99 in UK

Ryanair's customer service might be as much fun as a smack in the mouth, but for those travelling on a budget the airline is a godsend.

Europe when funds are tight is a tough tourist trick to pull off, so hints and tips on cheap rooms, cheerful food and, best of all, free entertainment are invaluable.

This guide is a crash course in saving cash across Europe, although it's a somewhat selective definition of the continent: Morocco is here but Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iceland, Russia, Ukraine and others are not.

As a whistle-stop tour of the parks and museums in each capital it works well, but its nightlife guides leave a bit to be desired.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times