Before I got married, I was a naïve traveller. I would go on brilliant domestic holidays, but for various reasons, I had never gone overseas until my honeymoon. Since I've tied the knot, I've been fortunate to visit Vienna, Paris and most recently Poznan in Poland.

Heathrow was where I first flew from, and then I used the Eurostar to get to France. But for my trip to Poland for a friend's wedding, we flew from Stansted.

I've written a fair bit about Stansted in the past, so I'm indirectly aware of occasional security delays, the sometimes unavoidable delays of flights taking off, and the cost of parking. These are all worth bearing in mind, considering Stansted is one of the UK's busiest airports.

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There are plenty of easy ways to arrive at the airport. There's the X30, X10 or X20 which are a fantastic set of bus services costing just £3, you can of course drive, and there's also the Stansted Express train service plus coach operators as well.

But when I arrived at the airport at the unthinkable time of around 2.30am, there were plenty of ways for me to bide my time before flying out a few hours later. There are all sorts of shops once through security and duty-free, which are open to grab last-minute holiday essentials or something to entertain yourself.

There's also a whole host of restaurants to enjoy at almost whatever time of day. The Windmill, a Wetherspoons restaurant, is open between 3am and 10pm perfect for a pre-flight meal and drink, there is also Costa Coffee, Burger King and even an enticing Lebanese restaurant, Comptoir Libanais, authentic food which is meant to be affordable and of high quality.

I could see the waiting areas before being asked to go to your gate, as they were getting quite packed at peak times. It was quiet when I first arrived, which was for Stansted's first flight of that day, but within an hour or so, almost all the seats were already taken.

The airport serves millions of people each year and jets people off to dozens of fascinating locations. I am trying to be more environmentally conscious when travelling, considering the Eurostar and alternatives when going abroad, but given that's not always the case, I will have it in my mind that my first and only experience of flying from Stansted was an absolute treat.