Euroflights

Four cities, four nights each. Four airlines, five flights, seven airports. Not as ambitious as most backpackers crossing the continent, but still, it was a major exercise in planning (gracias, merci, danke, dank u, Indi!).

It would not be fair to rate the airline companies based on their inflight magazines, but that's pretty much what I can remember.

Ryanair Pretty uneventful, except that we arrived 25 minutes early. Their slick mag bears no resemblance to image of the Ryanair brand.

easyJet The flights are pleasant, the planes new, BUT check-in is always, always slow (we flew them twice). It is not fun to queue for all destinations, only to have the line changed into a destination not your own. The inflight mag reminds me of Seventeen mini, with a helpful city guide.

transavia Has the funniest sponsorships. The mag is of not much use to non-Dutch speakers.

Sterling The plane is old. The mag was worn-out when I flipped through it. Maybe that's because it's actually a good read.

Initially, Indi suggested a ratings system, but I'm too lazy to come up with criteria. For some reason, I thought we'd pass through Paris Charles De Gaulle and that confused us twice.

AAR Århus Small, with gates just steps away from each other.

GIR Girona Looks new. An hour away from Barcelona by bus.

BCN Barcelona Horrendous. Maybe easyJet is to blame. We thought we would miss the flight, but it departed an hour late because of, well, everything.

ORY Paris Orly Except for bumping my forehead into the Orlyval barrier, I have no complaints. easyJet check-in troubles, as usual.

SXF Berlin Schönefeld I don't remember much. Just the giant E and the train station outside the airport.

TXL Berlin Tegel Unique in the most convenient way: the check-out counter is beside the security check, 10 m away from the waiting area and 20m from the gate. Like a mini-CDG that's more of a mall than an airport.

AMS Amsterdam Schiphol Huge. As un-Tegel-like as it gets.

CPH Copenhagen I've always had a soft spot for CPH. Maybe the wooden floors and low ceilings are home-y.

Backpacking with a Hawk school bag for two weeks? Why not? (That's what big shoulder bags compensate for, dear).