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Published: October 26th 2023
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So today we fly out to Switzerland to join another EF GoAhead tour. We will be traveling through Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. We had to be at the Zurich airport before noon to catch a transfer to our hotel in the alps. So we spent the night at the Hilton Garden Inn at Heathrow Airport since it is a short 10 minute walk to Terminal 2, Our flight out was for 6 am (its the only one I could find to get us there on time). Everything I read about Heathrow said to be there 3 hours before your flight. I know, from experience, that Heathrow can be crazy in the early morning. I set my alarm and set up a wake up call for 2 am so wed have an hour to get ready and get over there. We get down to the lobby to check out at 2:50 am and the young man working the desk asks, "Are you flying out this morning?" My reply was yes we have a 6 am flight. He said, "You know the airport doesn't open until 4 am, right?" Nanci gives me a dirty look....."I could have had another
hour!!!" Never, in anything that I read, did I know the airport didn't open till 4 am!!! So to pass the time we used the hotel computers. Who knew that their keyboard is set up different. I thought keyboards were international! And I thought I could make mistakes typing on an iphone with fat fingers!!!
So we go to the airport at 3:50am. We got our boarding passes, checked our baggage, and stepped into the queue for security. Where did all these people come from in 10 minutes if the airport didn’t open till 4 am????? We were at a standstill for about 15 minutes, then everyone must have reported to work because we zoomed through the lines. Once we got through security and we’re on our way to the Lufthansa lounge (Swiss air is a part of Lufthansa), it was 4:39.
We were able to go to the Lufthansa lounge but it didn’t open until 5. So we ate a quick breakfast and headed to the gate. We had a brief delay then boarded the plane. It was a fairly short flight to Zurich plus the time changed. We’d now be 6 hours ahead of West Virginia
instead of 5.
Everyone should fly. When you look out that window and you’re flying above the clouds….oh my it’s beautiful. The. The sun rises and you try so hard to take a picture but it never does justice ti what you are seeing!!! I did have an interesting experience while looking out the window….I saw a plane fly right under us. Now granted it was way below us, judging by the size of the plane, but it was surprising.
We arrived at Zurich at about 8:30 their time. The airport there is pretty awesome, with several stores and restaurants. We were to meet some if our tour group fir a ride to our hotel but not until 12:15. So we found a place to sit, got a drink, and just passed the time. We also walked around and looked at everything. The was what looked like a store called Foodland, but upon closer inspection we discovered it was a fast food area.
We met up with our group, traveled by bus to the hotel in Lucerne, checked in to the hotel and had free time until dinner. It was a beautiful day and the weather was
perfect so we decided to walk by the lake and see some of the town. What a beautiful place.
We had our group orientation at 5:45 and dinner at 6:40. We have a great group of people and can’t wait to get to know them.
Bed time!!!
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