Here's proof that a day trip to a European city is now feasible thanks to the low-cost airlines.

We left Luton at 7.40 and arrived in Zurich on time at 10.30. We travelled in a spotless 737-300 with nice leather seats - very comfortable (although I am fairly short!) and not too full. A large queue at passport control, but this was handled swiftly and only took about 5 minutes.

The train station at Zurich airport is extremeely easy to navigate and the trains run every ten minutes, with the journey to the Hauptbahnhof taking the same time.

We were booked on the 21.40 flight, but after several hours up a mountain and then a walk around the city, we decided to head back to the airport early. With three hours to kill, we took a stroll onto the observation deck which was interesting, all the more pleasant due to the evening sun.

We headed to the boarding gate (B34) at 21.00 only to be told that the gate had changed to B29 - this caused a few problems due to the stupidly small amount of floor space between the bottom of the escalator and the bag-search facility (definitely not EasyJet's fault, though!).

Once shipped to the aircraft by bus, we were told that, due to noise restrictions, we had to take off in a northerly direction. This also meant that incoming planes approached the same way, and there were a lot of them and we had to wait 20 minutes on the tarmac, and then another 10 in a queue for a slot. The captain kept passengers very well informed, and we eventually landed at Luton about 20 minutes late at 22.50.

This is only the second time I have flown easyJet and although they don't really compare to, say, Japan Airlines, the bottom line is that they don't need to. They represent excellent value for money and a service that, for the price, is exceptional. I wish they weren't based at Luton, though!