Six months into the pandemic I began to fantasy shop for plane tickets just for fun. I knew there was no chance of really going anywhere since vaccinations weren’t available and the world was pretty much shut down so a slaked my travel lust with fantasy trips.
And then in February a decently priced ticket to Zurich popped up in my fantasy searches. It was just too good to pass up so I pulled the trigger.
Why Switzerland? I’m so glad you asked. In 2019 Mike and I travelled to a little village called Gimmelwald. I fell in love with the place.
I knew I wanted to spend more time there at some point so why not now?
So, what’s the plan?
Many circumstances had to be in place in order for the trip to happen. First, the world had to open back up. Second, I had to get vaccinated. Check and check. And, as anyone who has booked plane tickets in the last nine months has probably experienced, the scheduled flights changed multiple times. (Which was a bit of a pain in the ass.) I originally booked a direct flight from SFO to Zurich. The changes now had me going from SFO to Newark, NJ, then on to Zurich. Not awful but not as direct as I prefer.
And then along comes Ida. Two days before departure I received a text from United letting me know flights would likely be cancelled or seriously delayed because the remains of hurricane Ida would be making its way through the Northeast. I hopped back on the phone with United where they allowed me to bump my flight a day early and fly direct from SFO to Zurich on a lovely SWISS 777-300er. (No fees or increase in cost. Way to go United.)
Of course, this was the plane I’d originally booked back in February before all of the COVID shuffling. The universe has a sense of humor and I’m grateful for a direct flight.
Now I arrive in Zurich at 3:45pm a day earlier than planned and hop a train to Bern for a couple of days. From there I train (and gondola) to Gimmelwald where I will spend several nights in the Alps. After lunch in Interlaken with friends I take a train to Lucerne for a day then back to Zurich for a day before my flight home. A few cities and lots of the Swiss Alps. That’ll be just perfect for me, I think.
I hope you’ll enjoy following along. There will be mountains and cheese and chocolate and puppets and probably some rain and hopefully a whole lot of fun. Thanks for coming along!
Art’s Travel Adventures 