So…. Just in case you haven’t heard.. We were invited to go visit and stay with some friends in Switzerland this Summer (yes, really!!!). We just couldn’t pass up this amazing opportunity! I mean, we’d have to be idiots to pass up a free room in effing Switzerland. After months of planning and saving, we made it happen!!!!
It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing, but we made due. A few days before we were scheduled to leave, my bank account was compromised. Nothing like a large fraudulent transaction to ease the stress of an upcoming international trip. Ugh… I freaked out for a minute and was able to put a band-aid on the situation until we got back. Anyway… Here’s Day 1 of our adventure! 🙂
Day 1: August 8, 2016
I awoke to text messages and news reports letting me know that Delta was having a massive system outage. As in all flights grounded until further notice. Not how I planned to start our trip… So, we left Lake City bright and early to make sure we had plenty of time to deal with the masses of angry people. I was worried, but not in total freak out mode. We had a layover of about 3 hours for our connecting flight, so I was optimistic that it would be sorted out with enough time to spare. Our first flight was delayed by about 2 hours. By the time we deplaned in Atlanta, got to the shuttle, and stopped for a super quick bathroom break, we boarded our connecting flight with hardly a minute to spare!
We arrived in Zurich at about 8:45am local time (2:45am our time). We were exhausted, but excited. And then it happened… We were in baggage claim watching all of the bags being claimed by their rightful owners. But, ours were nowhere in sight. I got that warm sensation all over as panic started to set in. We flagged down a super official-looking lady who luckily spoke some English. She scanned our luggage tags for what seemed like hours. Our bags never left Jacksonville! What now?? We headed over to the lost baggage department and filed a claim. I kind of felt like crying, but we had more important things to do.
We made our way to the train station. This was a first for us. Neither of us had ever traveled by train before so it was both exciting and overwhelming. After a little bit of wandering aimlessly, we finally found the platform for our first train. I was about 70% confident that we were getting on the correct train. It turns out that we were! Whew!! Switching trains wasn’t nearly as complicated as I was expecting. It was actually quite simple. The stations are laid out very well with helpful signage. It was a breeze. The trains are also muuuuuch nicer than I was expecting.
Three trains and three hours later, we finally arrived in Grindelwald. As we got off the train, we received the MOST amazing greeting! Seeing the smiling faces of the 6 best people ever was exactly what we needed after our long, bumpy travel day.
We decided to drop our few belongings at the chalet and make the most of our day. It was rainy and chilly, so we decided to go check out some waterfalls in the nearby town of Lauterbrunnen. Uhhh… I was not expecting Trummelbach Falls to be so freaking amazing. Click the link, I’ll wait… The force of the water rushing through the mountain was just incredible. You can actually feel the vibrations in the stone. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!
After spending a couple hours hanging out at the falls, we decided it was time to head back to the Chalet for dinner and SLEEP!
Ahhhh… Home Sweet Home. ❤
To be continued…
The Eternal Optimist Blog 