Please Place Your Seatbacks in Their Original Upright, Locked Position…

Come fly with me, come fly, come fly away!

So the big day finally arrived.  After a great last dinner at a Texas steak house (now referred to as the Last Supper given the dearth of meat in Switzerland), we went back to the hotel to prepare for the morning which would come early.

And it did.  SS and CW woke early, before dawn, to take Swiskers to Continental Cargo.  Trust me, CW wasn't any more excited about it than Swiskers was.  According to the rules, Swiskers needed to arrive 4 hours  flight time.  Four hours.  That would have been fine for a flight after noon.  But for our flight, he needed to be there at 6:45 AM.  And we were even early!  Good thing, too, because we were third in line.  First, was Mrs. Dog Show.  Have you ever seen the mocumentary “Best in Show?”  CW thinks it’s all true.  This lady was more high strung than her dogs.  And  clearly hadn’t abided by the 4 hour rule because she kept saying she had to go check herself in because her flight was going to leave and she didn’t want her dogs on the plane if she wasn’t.  Lots of drama.  The folks immediately in front of us had a well-behaved lab and were done in no time.  Then it was our turn.  And wouldn’t you know it, we got a trainee.  Now the gentleman was very friendly and very thorough, but can you say “slow?”  Tick tock tick tock.  SS is hyperventilating because 7 comes.  Then 7:15.  Then 7:30.  At 7:45, we were finally finished and ready to head back to the hotel to wake the kids.  Fortunately, we were only 10 minutes away.

Twas the night before moving...

Some of the many boxes

It’s now 8:00 and we’re back in the room.  The kids are up, which is good, and we’ve waylaid a porter and dragged him to the room because, lest you forget, we have 15 bags/boxes + 10 carry-ons.  To get to check-in, we have one rental car and, thanks to the generosity of the Holiday Inn Express, the hotel shuttle driver who agreed to go on a special run just for us.  At 8:23, we had lugged everything downstairs and were loaded to go.  A quick trip back to the terminal where we unloaded everything onto the curb.  We looked like refugees.

Look--those pallets must be ours!

CW had to go return the rental car.  He was sure that they couldn’t check in until he had gotten back and they were all together.  So he rushed to the return place and back and was met with a pleasant surprise—Continental allowed SS and the kids to check in without me!  That made (at least CW’s) life so much easier.  

Security was a breeze and we made it to the gate where were met by some friends who had come to see us off.  Can’t tell you exactly how they got to the gate (state secret), but it was a great surprise.

That can't be comfortable!

One of these things is not like the others...:)

Then off to Newark.  Easy flight.  The kids thought they were in high cotton because we flew business class.  A couple hour layover in Newark (again, for the convenience of Swiskers) and we boarded the Switzerland flight at about 5:00 eastern.  When you get on the plane, a bunch of things happen.  Hot towels appear.  A pre-takeoff drink arrives.  A menu shows up for the dinner.  All of this while everyone else is boarding.  The kids got a great surprise—the concierge (did you know international flights have a concierge) came and invited the kids up to the cockpit to meet the pilot.  CW and SS weren’t allowed to go (evidently they’re too suspicious looking) but the kids thought it was great.

Ahhhh.  FINALLY being treated with dignity AAB deserves!

CW, Please put the camera away!

Cheers!

Then we took off.  The flight was uneventful.  We all watched a movie, had dinner, and tried to get some sleep.  It’s only a 7 hour flight, so by the time you eat and get settled, you probably only sleep about 3 hours before they’re waking you up for landing and breakfast.   The kids had their first experience of Europe.  Breakfast was some sliced deli meat, cheese, and fruit.  All-American Boy turned to me and said, “This isn’t breakfast!”  With a very distressed look.

Trouble waiting to happen

Immigration in Switzerland is pretty painless.  No forms to fill out—just get in line and hand in your passport.  Ours took an extra minute because they had to check all of the resident visas, but that was fine, too.

Now came the challenge of getting everything we put on the plane out of the airport.  We thought the boxes were a good idea, but they didn’t hold up as well as we had hoped.  Some had popped open, but at least nothing had spilled.  Or nothing we’ve missed so far.  

Our flight plan today...

I've got my learner's permit

In most US airports for international flights are free.  It’s kind of that way here. If you count having to pay a refundable deposit free.  Yes, if you don’t have a 2 franc coin, you can’t get a cart.  CW believes it’s to prevent people from stealing the carts, but seriously, if you were going to steal the cart anyway, what’s a $2 coin?  Fortunately, CW knew about this and had five 2 CHF coins.  They were stacked as high as possible—All-American Boy and Sweet Swiss Teen had to navigate by the sounds of SS’s voice.

Next stop..Geneva!

Next was customs.  As we trundled towards the green exit marked “Nothing to declare,” we were watched by a dubious set of customs inspectors.  How could you possibly have that much stuff and not have something to declare?  And that’s what they asked.  And in a combination of French and English, CW explained that we were moving to Switzerland.  And once they understood that the rest of our stuff was arriving by boat in a few weeks, they cleared with a “Bienvenue a la Susse!”  Welcome to Switzerland.

Our rides.

We were met by two guys who would be our drivers and we went outside.  Lo and behold, we had two vehicles—one minivan and one big van.  The big van (a bus really) was to hold our stuff.  A 30 minute drive and we were “home.”  It was a beautiful day—sunny with clouds over the mountains, but warm—about 80 degrees.

Swiskers arrives!

True to their word, the relocation company had gotten the rental furniture delivered and set up.  So we walked into a ‘furnished’ house including a little food, which was wonderful.  We off-loaded everything , set the drivers off, and were on our own to explore.  Of course, the kids went right to the pool and began pestering about going swimming!  Which they eventually did.  But not before we did a lot of cleaning, vacuuming and unpacking.

Clean first...

...swim later

About mid-afternoon, the rental car agency showed up with our car—a VW Passat station wagon with 201,000 kilometers on it.  But it’s just fine.  Anyway, the guy who dropped off the car wanted to be driven to the train station, so CW gulped and said, “OK.”  And off we went—led by the trusty GPS.  Fortunately, we downloaded the European maps, so it was easy enough.  

Not a bad view.

Close-up of Mont Blan

To end the day, we all drove down and parked and went to a restaurant called La Croix Verte—the Green Cross.  It’s a very nice little Italian place with great pizza.  As you can see—we were all pretty tired!  Dinner, then home to bed-our first day and night in Switzerland!

Who needs a bed?