For what would turn out to be an incredibly short hop from Athens to Milos (25 minutes), we elected – based entirely on convenience and cost – to travel with Sky Express, having flown in from Dublin just a few hours earlier.

The check-in hall in Athens is narrow in parts and arranged in a mostly straight line – so at first we ended up walking further away from the Sky Express check-in counters, before being kindly corrected by someone from TUI manning a check-in line much further away from where we were supposed to be.

Sky Express has a relative fiefdom in terms of their presence in the check-in hall in Athens Airport, with plenty of counters available serving all flights. Our fare, ‘Sky Enjoy’ (the higher end fare, but the only one available at the time of booking – all fares are named ‘Sky’ something, like ‘Sky Joy+’, ‘Sky Offer’, etc.) came with included checked baggage along with, apparently, lounge access and fast track security although these two were never explained at check-in and we were left to our own devices to figure out where the lounge might be.

At security, we were assured by the gatekeeper that our boarding passed being in ‘Y’ (economy) probably wouldn’t work but to go and ‘try’ anyway at the self-scan gates. Needless to say, they worked fine, and we were quickly on our way.

Including a lounge for what seems to be very much a ‘value’ carrier seemed incredibly extravagant to me, and we quickly found it – the Skyserv Melina Merkouri Lounge. Again, Athens departure halls, at least in the B gate areas, are very narrow and you’d need to keep scanning the horizon left and right to make sure you don’t just walk past the lounge by accident.

While it would be no means worthy of its own review, was very much ‘to capacity’, nor would it be a lounge I’d be thrilled as my own ‘home’ lounge, it was indeed a lounge included in the ticket and we were quickly admitted, found a table and set of couches with a rotation of other passengers sharing with us during our visit. Food selection was limited but there was enough to keep you from starving, and to my amazement and delight, beer and wine was readily available to self-serve.

Before long, it was time to head downstairs to our domestic bus gate, B11. Boarding an ATR42, as expected, didn’t take very long nor, rightly, was there any effort to enforce priority boarding onto the bus.

After a short drive out to our craft, we were hastily dispatched out into the sun to stand around the back of the plane while we waited for paperwork formalities to be completed.

Before long, boarding commenced by way of a borderline scrum up the single set of steps at the rear of the plane. Foreseeing this particular issue, I had consciously booked into the last row.

On-board meanwhile and after witnessing multiple hilarious attempts to store full-size carry-on suitcases in the minimalist overhead luggage bins, we were promptly witness to our sole cabin crew member performing the safety demonstration while we taxied out with all due haste.

Taking off in a small turboprop is always a fun affair and this was no different – like being in an under-powered launch roller coaster to the sound of a lawnmower against your ears.

Views too, throughout the flight, were more than sufficient (and, for that matter, the only) in-flight entertainment as we passed over coastlines, ocean, before beginning our circling descent off the coast of an island nearby to Milos.

Final descent into Milos is really something – a sweeping turn across the bay, getting tighter to avoid the neighbouring mountains, before straightening out with just enough time to look into a few people’s gardens and house, and then hitting the ground for some sharp braking.

Disembarking was down directly onto the apron, followed by a walk (see below) across a dusty road up into the airport terminal.

Inside, one baggage belt awaited use, and after collecting our luggage and taking about 10 steps from the baggage belt to the outside, we were quickly on our way – a pleasant, efficient flight, made all very pleasant by the inclusion of Sky Express ‘Sky Enjoy’ benefits on departure.