Flying from an airport can be an anxiety-inducing experience. 'Have we got our boarding passes? Passports? Don't forget the vaccine passes'.
This year travellers have had more reason to be worried about their holidays. As well as suffering delays in receiving new passports, holidaymakers have been affected by airport chaos up and down the country.
From Heathrow to Manchester, hundreds of flights have been postponed and cancelled due to problems with airport and airline staffing. Thankfully, closer to home this has not been the case.
Read more: Cheap last minute flights and family holidays from East Midlands Airport this summer
Departing from East Midlands Airport has been comparatively smoother sailing. This is in part thanks to its smaller size, but also what it says is a successful recruitment programme.
But how will it cope with the added pressure now schools across the East Midlands have broken up? I went to find out - unfortunately not on company money.
On what was the hottest day on record, my long-planned flight to Italy thankfully got off to a seamless start. I had no bags to check in for my Ryanair flight to Bergamo but doing so didn't look like it would have been a problem.
Less than two hours before departure the queues seemed comfortable across all the desks which were open - maybe because at that point (Tuesday, July 19) only Leicestershire schools had broken up. I then sauntered towards security, passing well-spirited travellers - some perched on their plastic cases, relishing the reprieve from the roasting heat.
Despite only about three or four security lanes being open, the process was over quickly. The blaring out of upbeat pop music in the section hitting the right spot, though I imagine it would have had entirely opposite effect if sweaty travellers were being made to wait.
I'd done the hard bit, so all that was needed was for me to sit and wait. And that I did in an under-capacity departure area. Whilst scanning for my flight on the flicking boards there was no red in sight, a good sign that remained true until I stepped up the rear steps of the winged sardine tin.
There are a number of concerns people have ahead of the summer break, with huge queues seen earlier this year. However, those scenes were far from reality in my experience at EMA, which proved a seamless experience.
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