Switzerland

18 April 2016

Holy cow am I tired. I was up at 4:30 this am to catch a flight to Switzerland. First business trip in Europe. And of course I couldn’t sleep last night. I think I may of had a whooping 3 hours of sleep. Not sure why, maybe it was the 2 days of 12 hours of sleep or maybe because I was nervous I would sleep through my alarm. At this point, what’s poured is poured.

I was also worried about how to get to the airport. Since we have been in Paris we have either walked or taken public transportation. And getting to Charles de Gaulle airport you take the RER B, which is not by us at all. So last night Jer and I strategized that we would check UBER to see if I could get one close by and if not, walk to the closest circle to find a taxi stand. Luckily, when I got up at 4:30, I could get an UBER to be here in 2 minutes.

I was out the door by 5 and into my UBER. 30 minutes later, I was at Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle. One thing very different from the US and France, is to get reimbursed for any expenses you need proof, i.e. receipts. So when flying, I need to get printed tickets to prove I did actually fly. I got in line, with 30 of my closest friends, to wait for 1 of the 4 agents working to get tickets. My colleague met me and we waited together. Since we were flying to and from Switzerland in a day, I only had my work bag with me, which was very weird. After waiting in line for 20 minutes, we jumped lines to get our tickets. We then headed to our gate. Security in Terminal 1 is not like it in is the US. It is grouped by about 10 gates so it is small and busy when more than 1 flight is going out. We waited in line for about another 30+ minutes to get through security, but I didn’t have to take my shoes off. At this point it was about 6:30 and our flight left at 7. We quickly grabbed a croissant and water (no coffee so I could try to get some shut eye on the plane). We boarded the plane but departure was delayed because of the back log at security (I think they need to rethink their process of security).

About an hour later we landed in Zurich and headed for the taxi stand. And it was raining, of course (I honestly have not see clear skies since we left the US). We found a taxi driver, Rudolf, who drove the hour from Zurich. Rudolf informed us that in Zurich today in the city center is a festival. It is the Swiss version of Punxsutawney Phil, but with fire. The put a snowman on top of a hay and set it on fire. The faster the snowman head blow up, the sooner summer will be here. We did not get to experience this, but for those who are wondering here is a website: https://www.zuerich.com/en/visit/sechselaeuten. Seriously, check out the website, it does not disappoint.

Once in Zug, we had 4 hours of meetings. After we finished up in Zug, Rudolf met us at our client and headed back to the airport at 17:45. He had warned us about rush hour and he was right. We hit about 30 minutes of traffic. But since our flight wasn’t until 20:50 we had time. We breezed through security (complete opposite of Paris) and had dinner and drinks at the airport. Before we headed to our gates, I stopped to get some delicious Swiss truffles to bring home. I can not wait to eat them tomorrow.

I would say our flight from Zurich to Paris was maybe 1/3 full, which was nice because I had my whole row to myself. I contemplated laying down, but the flight was less than an hour, so it wasn’t worth it. I did however move from the isle to the window to watch us decend into Paris which was beautiful at night. We landed in Paris about 22:00 and we walked to the taxi stand. I grabbed a cab back to the flat. The cabby didn’t speak english, so thank goodness I downloaded google translate. Also, after a long day of travel, trying to get into the car, my show feel off. At this point the sleep deprivation was kicking it. I had another equally crazy taxi driver who at one point cut across 4 lanes but I made it home safe.

Jer and I are wrapping up some laundry, specifically bath towels. We ran them through the dryer. The towels are literally steaming taking them out of the dryer. This whole washer/dryer combos in going to take some getting use to.

-Kasey
Step Count: 8,687, 4.02 miles