Friends splurge £285 on a day trip to Italy - and admit it was ‘exhausting’
Day trips to Europe are having a moment - we've reported on multiple similar stories this year. But is booking flights for a day out abroad genius or insanity?
Watch: 'We did a day trip from the UK to Lake Como for just four hours'
A woman has shared how she booked a day trip to Lake Como with her friends, cramming in lunch, a paddle in the sea, ice cream and drinks and a trip to the spa in just a few hours.
Onyi Okorie, 24, a lab admin from London, decided to surprise her friend Edesiri, 23, with a birthday day trip to Milan costing a grand total of £285.
Edesiri believed she was going away with her sister when eight of her friends turned up at the airport instead.
On July 29 this year, the group flew from Stansted to Milan at 5.55am on return tickets costing £123.
After landing at 8.50am the friends hopped straight on a bus and a train to take them to Bellagio, Lake Como, arriving at midday for lunch.
They then rounded off their four and a half our explore of the Lake Como region by taking ferry to Varenna, for ice cream and drinks before heading back at 4.30pm to Milan and stopping off at a spa for a massage.
The group travelled back to the airport for their 11.20pm flight, but didn’t arrive back in the UK until 3am due to delays.
Onyi decided to book something for her friend Edesiri’s birthday, but could only go for a day as she had already planned something for the actual date.
"She thought she was going away with her sister and then we all surprised her," Onyi explains. "We had really good pizza, went to a famous street, dipped our feet in the sea and chilled in the spa."
Onyi admits the trip was exhausting and "didn’t move for the whole weekend" when she got back, and while she isn't sure she'd do it again she says her friend "loved it".
Read more: How to get a row of seats to yourself on a plane, according to experts (Yahoo Life UK, 5-min read)
The group's itinerary
5.55am – 8.50am - Flight from Stansted to Milan Bergamo airport
9.36am – 9.50am - Milan airport bus to Bergamo airport
10.07am – 11.24am – Railway to Varenna
12.05 – 12.20pm - Ferry to Bellagio
14.28pm - Ferry back to Varenna
16.35pm – 17.40pm – Train back to Milan
17.50 – 20.00pm – Spa
20.30pm – Train to Milan Bergamo airport
23.20pm – Flight home
Day trip costs
Cost of return flight - £123 each (€143.76)
Cost of airport bus - €2.60
Train to Varenna - €5.80
Return ferry from Varenna to Bellagio - €9.20
Pizza - €9
Ice cream - 3 scoops for €6
Train back to Milan from Varenna - €7.80
Spa entry - €64 each, massage €49
Train back to the airport - €36
Total cost - €333.16 (Approx £285 per person)
Read more: I was a flight attendant for over 10 years. Here are the 5 best and 5 worst seats on a plane (Insider, 5-min read)
The rise of the European day trip
Day trips to Europe certainly seem to be having a moment right now. Earlier this year two women revealed how they went on a flying visit to Copenhagen.
Becky Allison and Amy Scott spent just £45 on an easyJet flight to Denmark’s capital of Copenhagen for the day, catching a 7am flight from Manchester and returning to the UK at 11pm that evening.
Meanwhile mums Clare Jeffs, 36, and Hannah Brown, 38, also flew to Ibiza in Spain for the day in March this year, grabbing flights for just £37 return.
A separate group of mums also flew to Ibiza for just 12 hours after nabbing flights for £34 return and filled their "Sunday Funday" with good food, cocktails and sunshine.
Emma Denley, 30, also recently shared how she took her friend on a birthday lunch trip to Paris on the Eurostar for £84 each - the same price as a London to Manchester train ticket.
"It was a great surprise for my friend as she thought we had just booked the day off to go for some food - little did she know we would be sipping on coffee with freshly-baked croissants near the Eiffel Tower instead," Denley said.
Additional reporting SWNS.
