We left home around 645pm on June 27 – a train ride, plane ride, car ride, and 24 hours later, we finally arrived in Cosenza, Italy. I can’t say it was easy!

The train from Philly to Newark was easy, as usual.

Checking in at the airport – also super easy. We checked in at the kiosk and then realized one of our carry on bags was likely too big. We went to check our bags since we had paid for it anyway, and that took about 10 minutes.

Security was a different story. It took us about an hour and a half to get through security, so good thing we arrived early. I’m not sure whether this her anything to do with flying Norwegian or not honestly.

Then it was time to relax and grab some wine and snacks at Vino Volo. The wine and the food – we got mozzarella tomato salad and the salmon – was quite good, as was the service.

After our wine break, it was time to head to the gate for check-in.

This was our first experience With Norwegian Air, and it was a bit stressful. Shortly before boarding started, I realized that the seats on our boarding passes were not the ones we chose. When you travel Norwegian, you only get to pick your seats if you pay for them.

I’m terribly afraid of flying and didn’t want to risk sitting alone, so we paid for our tickets and the meal. We chose seats next to each other, obviously.

We made our way up to the counter to find out what happened, only to be met by some very stressed and slightly rude employees. We were told that because of an aircraft swap, the seats had been automatically changed and there was nothing they could do about it. We were then told to contact Norwegian to get our money back.

If you are afraid of flying or often travel with someone who is, you can understand that my issue here wasn’t being reimbursed – it was being put in the seats we chose.

I will admit I probably wasn’t as polite as I could have been after being told to contact Norwegian for a refund, but that wasn’t a suitable answer for me. After 30 minutes and some back and forth, they did end up seating us together.

We were a couple of the lucky ones, though. As everyone boarded the plane, it became clear that families and other people traveling together had been split up, presumably because of the airplane swap.

Seems we were lucky to have caught the issue before boarding and be persistent enough to get our issue corrected.

Despite the late boarding and the seating issues, we only took off about 20 minutes late, and made up that time in the air.

I have heard horror stories about late and canceled Norwegian flights, but that wasn’t our experience.

Now onto the actual plane and flight experience.

The airplane was old. There wereno USB chargers for our phones, the headphone jacks for the screens don’t really work, but that actually doesn’t matter because there isn’t any in-flight entertainment. There was one channel that was showing something grainy but I couldn’t even make out what it was.

The leg room was pretty tight, though the seats reclined quite far (which was part of the reason it felt so tight I think).

The meal was terrible. The only saving grace was the glass of wine they gave us with our meal.

The plane was either so cold I couldn’t feel my ears and toes, or so hot I felt like I was suffocating.

The flight attendants were great, though. Any time someone brought the temperature issue to their attention, they adjusted it. This meant they spent literally the entire flight adjusting the temperature between unbearably hot and unbearably cold, as those appeared to be the only two options. They also do not provide pillows or blankets, which makes sense given that they’re a budget airline. They didn’t have them available for purchase, either.

The plane was clean, the bathrooms were clean, and the flight was smooth, so while it seems like I’m complaining, it actually wasn’t that bad. I’m just trying to give you all a heads up.

This is the first time we flew Norwegian so I can’t say if all the planes are like this or not.

I would fly Norwegian again because the price is honestly unbeatable. I would just make sure to be better prepared. If you plan on flying Norwegian, I recommend doing the following:

– bring a charging case or battery pack for your phone

– make sure you have movies or TV shows to watch – phone, iPad – or have books to read

– bring a blanket and/or a sweatshirt

– definitely bring a neck pillow or something you can use as a pillow

– pack sandwiches and snacks

– if you paid for your seats, check before boarding to make sure your seats haven’t been changed

– if you plan on bringing only carry-on, make sure it’s actually the right size

– expect what you’re paying for – it’s a budget airline

Again – it wasn’t actually that bad. Now that I know what to expect, I would be better prepared and would probably have no issue flying Norwegian again.