Dublin - The destination doesn't matter that much as long as the flight is cheap. Several mouse-clicks on an internet site will book you a flight, travel insurance and even a hotel. It's so easy that we fly more and we fly more often. The low-cost airline revolution has changed the way we travel. "We go for the city break destinations, anything that's easy to reach from Cork Airport," Fionan Sheenan, 25, says as he is having a pint with his friends at the airport bar in the southern Irish city of Cork.
Fionan and his friends are on their way to a drink-fuelled stag weekend in Liverpool. He says they would usually be willing to spend up to 250 euros (345 dollars) on a return flight and calculates that they might spend another 500 euros each in Liverpool, where they will be staying for two nights.
The 500 euros will pay for beer, but also - well - "other services," one slightly inebriated member of the group says with a cheeky grin.
The friends have already been away for stag weekends at a number of different destinations, including Munich, Prague, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Marbella.
Since 2000, the city break sector has grown massively, now accounting for 38 per cent of all European outbound travel, as people take shorter, more frequent trips, according to the World Travel Trends Report 2006-7 compiled by international tourism consulting group IPK.
Where people choose to travel is often quite random. Keith O'Grady, 26, also waiting in Cork's airport bar to go on his own stag weekend to Amsterdam, explains his choice in simple terms: "I haven't been there yet."
Low-cost airlines are happy to provide for those who are willing to try out something new. It's no longer just the capital cities people are heading to.
"People go online and look for a cheap deal. They just go to places they have never heard of or never been to and have a good time," Ryanair press officer Lorna Farren tells Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
"City breaks have always been there, say to Paris or (Amsterdam) Schipol. What is new is the locations," Farren says. It's no longer just the classic destinations. "Now you can go to Bremen, Prague or Barcelona," she adds.
The price is an important factor for the increase in air travel.
"Formerly, people couldn't afford to travel. The low-cost revolution (in air travel) has made Europe a lot more accessible," Farren tells dpa.
"Flying used to be a preserve of the rich, now it's available to all," she adds.
Not even concerns about pollution and global warming can put a halt to the success of the airline, which expects to carry some 52 million passengers on 499 routes across Europe this year.
Dublin-based Ryanair was Europe's original low-fares airline and is still its largest low-fares carrier, being voted Best Value Airline in 1996 - the same year the European Union completed its Open Skies deregulation, allowing airlines to compete freely across Europe.
It all started in 1985 with a 15-seater aircraft, operating between Waterford in the south-east of Ireland and London Gatwick.
In 1986 Ryanair obtained permission from the regulatory authorities to challenge the fares of British Airways and Aer Lingus on the Dublin-London route. With a return fare of 99 pounds (200 dollars), Ryanair more than halved its competitors' prices.
But the real low-fares revolution came in 1990, when Ryanair completely restructured its operations. It moved to a single aircraft fleet type, scrapped the free drinks and expensive meals on board and reduced the lowest fares to 59 pounds return.
In 2007, the cheapest flights available only cost 1 euro cent (just over 1 dollar cent) plus taxes and fees, and in May Ryanair launched the world's first free seat giveaway, including taxes and charges, for 1 million passengers.
Those who book quickly can get a real bargain.
Part of Ryanair's success is that it focuses on smaller regional airports, Farren says. "We offer direct flights directly into holiday regions, for instance in the south of France, and avoid the larger crowded airports."
While this sounds great, many travellers might have been baffled when they found themselves landing at one of the tiny airports that in recent years have sprung up like mushrooms from the grounds of disused military bases around Europe, kilometres away from their final destination.
Thinking they might go to the regional capital Frankfurt in the German state of Hesse for instance, they would have found themselves stranded in the beautiful Hunsruck countryside in the state of Rhineland Palatinate, nearly 2 hours away by coach.
Often, reaching one's final destination, it seems, is an adventure in itself. But then again - it's cheap.
