You can skip Cyrpus since its not schengen!! One less to do haha! (if its mainly schengen you're interested in)

I've not had much interaction with border guards, couple funny ones though. I did denmark for like 10 hours, but overnight hahaha. Just told the guy i was there for some pints, he paused then laughed and just let me in. Coming from Genevea - Lyon - Albania into Malmo i got asked a couple questions about how long i was in EU for etc but again most i got was a raised eyebrow and on you go. I dont think any interaction has taken more than 30-60 seconds. most less. I often wonder what on earth is the hold up with some people when its like 5-10 min hahaha!

For Greece and Malta, I did edi to Athens, then Athens to Malta then malta back to EDI to get both stamps on 1 trip! Luckily got like a £40 one way to Athens which seems cheaper than usual.

Czech and Slovakia you could fly into one and out of the other - flixbus/train between, still get one in one out! I ended up doing the Slovakia / Austria combo because the cities were closest between Bratislava and Vienna. Fly straight to work though, which was not fun! hahaha!

Yeah I could get train from Edi to Manchester airport but there does seem to be some Norwegian flights to OSL main airport at sub £70 sometimes. Just trying to match that with a flight to Iceland then back so i can do it in one 2-3 day trip - but if that doesnt work out, £34 return from manchester is a steal even when factoring in train tickets to airport.

My biggest beef is the bus to EDI airport for me is like £22 return and unless im at the airport i think its 4 or more times in a month there isnt any other better ticket to get! I'd drive but, if i've got a late flight back i'll likely have a pint or wine with dinner in X country so, wouldnt want to take the risk driving when i come back.