The Rhode show
Philip Nolan finds himself charmed, and shopped out, in one of America’s ‘hidden’ states
The fare was leaping off the web page. When Norwegian announced its new Dublin to Providence, Rhode Island service, I logged on to see what sort of value was on offer – and two minutes later, without much thought at all, I had booked return flights for the ridiculously low fare of €192.30. To put that in context, the first time I flew to the US, in 1986, I paid IR£365. Adjusted for inflation and the euro, that works out at €900.56, yet 31 years later, I was paying less than a quarter of the price.
Yes, Norwegian works on the Ryanair principle and you get only what you pay for, but I was going for a long weekend, so bringing hand baggage wasn’t a problem. I went to the airport three hours early that Friday in late September and had a big lunch, and bought a sandwich so I could have a snack during the seven-and-ahalf-hour flight. And because there is no in-flight entertainment, I loaded my iPad with movies and TV shows on the Sky Go and Netflix apps, and I was all set.
In fairness, I did go back into the booking later and I paid an extra €60 for an exit row seat with extra legroom – and since the planes weren’t full on the way over or back, I was lucky to have a free middle seat each way too. There was, I can assure you, no hardship involved at all.
I thought I might feel claustrophobic flying the Atlantic on a narrow-body 737, but it turned out to be fine, not least when we flew far north on the outbound leg and I was rewarded with spectacular views of Greenland, dazzlingly white under a cloudless sky. We landed at teatime, and I caught a shuttle to the Sheraton Hotel at TF Green Airport (this was a very cheap trip, as I cashed in some Starwood loyalty points and got two nights completely