It has been something that has always been in my family. I am the 3rd generation of pilot.
The only reason I am flying commercially is because I was to old to by a few months to join the RAF once I had finished my Uni courses and various other things. I passed all the apptiude tests and the like.
I think that almost everyone that enjoys flying dreams of the RAF. (I know that is a huge generalisation).
I think you will find that if you really enjoy flying GA, then flying commercially sucks. There is no free thinking. There is nothing other then "follow the magenta line". Sure, you can take the AP out and fly by hand, but at the end of the day, you can only operate as the company wants you to.
Real flying like PPL, and flight training doesn't happen in the world of the airlines.
If you are truely passionate about flying for a living, and enjoy what ACTUAL aviating is about, then I think you not going for one of the flying divisions of the various Armed Forces is a really big mistake.
If your idea of flying is; sitting for 12 hours in a 6x6 foot box with someone else saying "Are you high, low, or on profile", having a company breathing down your neck because you used 100kg of extra fuel on a sector because the wind on the computer generated flight plan was not correct; then commercial aviation, and especially Ryanair is for you.
I might be slightly out of line, but you just don't sound like you are really in it for the actual "flying" flying. I have met people that wanted to become a pilot because they liked the idea of flying to nice places, seeing the world, and meeting lots of hosties. In reality, unless you are flying Private or Corporate, you are going to be joining an aviation wide rat-race, that is becoming more and more thankless everyday.
People expect to get on a plane, leave on time, arrive on time, and then have the right to complain about the pilot making a "possitve arrival". Airline flying now is very much becoming a bus service of the sky. HOWEVER, it still requires skill and knowledge that has always been required by the pilots since flying first came about. There may be more automation now, but remember when the AP fails, you still have to fly and land that plane. Look at what happened to the FEDEX in Tokyo. Not to sure what happened, but it shows how quickly things go wrong. We are human at the end of the day, and it is all to easy to make a mistake and you're dead seconds later.
I am not trying to insinuate or suggest anything, or say that you shouldn't do it. I think that becoming a pilot these days costs so much money, and it will only get worse as the industry will follow Ryanair's lead and charge for everything and anything as long as they know people will pay for it. You are still young enough by the sounds to still get somone else to pay for it. To enjoy genuinly flying all over the world, meeting amazing people, having the time of your life and getting paid for it. All of that without outlaying a single penny. The real cost to you would be taking a real good hard look at what you actually want out of your career. If it is real flying that you want, then go for the forces, if it is an easy career that you want then go airlines.
Sorry to have gone on for so long, and I am sure there are lots of people that will disagree violently with me, but that is my opinion. I regret everyday not going for my selections 6 months earlier. It is something that I have to put up with now forever. Flying airlines is not a bad substitute, but it is not where my heart is. When I have covered the cost of all my flight training and type ratings and all of those things, then I would love to seriously consider flying GA or island hopping, because in my opinion, that is real flying where you make your own choices and have to rely on your ability, not on the magenta line and AutoPilot.