Tickets, tickets everywhere, yet not a single bargain

So lately I've been going on a continuous ticket splurge: planes, trains, buses and I thought I'd post about it because, my friends, I've have encountered several large problems with travel tickets.

1. Ever paid for extra weight in a suitcase?? It doesn't come cheap! The average cost seems to be an extra £10 per single kilogram you add! This really builds up! I wanted to check in two suitcases, as I am moving away INDEFINITELY but the cost of 40kgs was upwards of £150 and I just couldn't go for that! So, instead, I've had to just have a few extra kilos and I'll have to ship sallopettes/ski jackets and any other essential but really bulky items. Hassle!

2. Across the U.K. I've discovered it seems to be impossible to get a connecting flight. As I'm currently in Ireland, I was hoping to get a straight connection to London and then onwards to my nearest airport in Basel. Alas, keeping your luggage onboard to final destination seems to be actually impossible! I would have to pick it up at baggage reclaim in London and re-check in another time to get on the next flight, which means I would have to pay TWICE the extortionate excess-baggage rates. It was just too much! So instead, I'm going direct to Zurich from Dublin which means only one baggage charge BUT

3. I have to work foreign railway stations when I first touch down in a country. Now, I did G.C.S.E German so I just about remember that train station is bahnhof and that ticket is billette so I'm just hoping that this is enough to get me through. Of course, I have no clue what the word for baggage reclaim or arrivals is...I just have to hope that knowing I'm in a flugzeug will be quite enough.

Of course, as well as these points, which are minor in the big picture, I am so very very excited to have booked nearly all of my travel tickets for the next few months (except for my train in Zurich as it is too soon)

For the next few months, this is my travel plan:
*Right now, I am visiting my sister in the North of Scotland, near Elgin, which is very pretty and has lots of dolphins and beaches to be seen. I also was the stager of the first ever doll WWE Raw Smackdown tournament with two children. I am a lot of fun!
*Friday evening I am flying from Inverness to Manchester. Here I will be picked up by my friend Hannah and we shall be returning to university in Lancaster. After two months of exams in my last ever term (wayhey!)...
*Sunday 24th June, my mother shall arrive from Northern Ireland to pack up all of my things in my uni house. Sunday evening I shall catch a train to Leeds, suitcase in tow, and shall stay the night at my friend Josie's house.
*Monday 25th June, Josie and I are off to BARCELONA!!!!! Three weeks of sun, sea, and teaching English to children. It's gonna be AMAZING!
*Monday 16th July, I return home to Northern Ireland to do a few loads of washing and ironing and finish planning my packing.
*Thursday 19th July, I'm off with my mum and dad back on a plane to Manchester, then a train to Lancaster, where we shall be staying in a central Bnb because....
*Friday 20th July, today I graduate! Mazel tof! Here's hoping with a 2:1 although my Creative Writing portfolios tend to disagree...
*Friday evening, it's a train and plane back to Northern Ireland with my parents for my final two weeks of (ever??) living there. A chance to say goodbye to friends, squeeze TOO MUCH into my ONE suitcase, cuddle my dogs for as long as I can because I don't know how many more years they'll be around :(
Then, the big move:
*Sunday, 5th August: I move to Basel, Switzerland for upwards of a year- possibly never again to return long-time to the U.K
What waits for me out there?
Friends?
Love?
A happy ending?
Avoiding paying off my student loan for as long as humanly possible?

I'm hoping for all of the above (particularly the last one ;) )