East Midlands airport is located in the heart of central England and, even on the billboards directly on the landing strip, it defines itself as the ideal airport to reach the towns of Nottingham, Derby and Long Eaton, Leicester, Leighborough and Coalville; all reachable within 30-60 minutes of travel with the Skylink bus transport.
Generally, then, one wonders what there is to see in such small and concentrated agglomerations of English life, but that's another story.
The international airport (yes) of East Midlands it is mainly served by Ryanair for flights to and from Italy, but also from Monarch, Jet2.com, Thomas Cook and Flybe among others. Once inside, you immediately notice how well equipped and well organized it is: differentiated queues and perfectly aligned for the passport control of residents and non-residents, customs guard that manages access to the counters by slowing down or hastily accelerating the advancement of people and a dedicated lane that conveys to the automatic machines area those who are resident and in possession of electronic passport where the check is facilitated and the speed of access to the country is guaranteed.
For us Italians, the reading the identity document it is slow and very detailed, especially if we use the Identity Card and, even more so, if it should be stamped with the aim of extending its validity to 10 years or worn out. The exam is passed only if the scan of the rectangle on the back of the document succeeds without problems, otherwise a mini interrogation begins directly at the desk, so I would recommend that you bring your passport if you have it. Logically, these meticulous procedures are a guarantee of safety so we extract the document from the case, we give up the mobile phone and no annoyed faces, penalty ... further questions!
Once you pass customs, a series of corridors and electronic doors take you to the arrivals hall, a pharmacy-type shop with a mix of personal care products, magazines and some snacks, unlimited food between a fast food restaurant and a other and you already feel in England.
In this area it is also wifi available, you can find it advertised on the signs, but you can also reach it thanks to the FreeZone app. The connection is free for a limited period of time of 60 minutes, which is not cheap for the arrivals area of a small airport.
From this area two outputs they lead distinctly to private car parks, rentals and taxis, rather than buses and shuttles.
Ryanair does not have an official partner for transport to and from the airport, so depending on the destination, you can rely on scheduled buses that arrive with a frequency of 30-60 minutes depending on the destinations. By paying for a return ticket (return ticket) you can save on the price of the route: for example, with the company Skylink for Derby in The cost of the return trip is 8 £ instead of £ 8,40 - which seems cheap but, when traveling, everything helps. And, anyway, this is a general rule to keep in mind for any type of transport in the UK: trips purchased separately always cost a little more; in the case of trains they could cost much more.
Upon returning, upon entering the airport, it will also seem to you that you are leaving for the summer holidays to the sea, like 80% of the people around you. After the first few seconds of stunning, two mini shops, passport control, very fast on this occasion, and the metal detector, you practically came out without noticing inside Boots, very convenient for over-the-counter drugs, next to which there is the duty free and then a small and narrow passage to the gates flanked by restaurants, the last chance for grab some English food before boarding.
