In die Schweiz gehen

24 March, 2025

(Going to Switzerland)

"The" message

It all started innocently enough, a simple text exchange one summer afternoon. The idea took root over the next couple of weeks, an itinerary was selected and deposits made. In the blink of an eye we were looking at flight arrangements and hotels, travel insurance, annual weather trends, and things to do before and after the cruise.

This was monumental for us. We'd been together almost 40 years and had never vacationed with anyone other than family for more than two or three days at a time. The idea of taking a trip to Europe with good friends for three weeks was equally exciting and scary. 

Julia and I have known each other since fifth grade at Tileston School, two years longer than I've known my wife (who I met in seventh grade.) The three of us graduated high school together, then Brent and I were at NCSU at the same time, but never met. Careers and growing families kept us separated until our late 30's when we reconnected while planning a class reunion. Since then our friendship has grown far beyond anything I might have imagined. Together we've seen children married, grandchildren born, parents die, and been incredible support systems in times of life-threatening illness. We all communicate incredibly well. Always kind, but open and honest – often discovering that we were thinking the same thing before the conversation even started. Our concerns ended up being mutual, and discussing them at the outset obviated them entirely.

To the Airport!

Planning gives me great satisfaction. Assembling an itinerary and organizing the specifics of what's going on when provides a dopamine release. I'm pretty sure it's related to a primitive urge to make lists. Assembling lists from lists provided by others and then editing them down to a master itinerary was pure bliss.

We studied flights of every permutation we could conceive. Multiple departure cities, arrival cities, dates (on both ends) – you name it, we probably considered it. Ultimately we booked an itinerary that had both of us departing home within an hour of each other and meeting at JFK to continue the trip, ultimately arriving in Basel (not Zurich) BUT with an eight hour layover in London. Considering the tickets were Business Class for 57,500 miles and $22.70 in fees each, the time investment in London (which came with lounge access) was trivial. More direct/time efficient itineraries were double the miles and 20x the fees. 

As the saying goes "No plan survives first contact with the enemy" and our plans were not immune. A couple of weeks before departure I was informed that our flights had been changed and we'd miss the connection in JFK, putting us in London several hours behind Brent & Julia. 

After several hours unsuccessfully wrangling the American Airlines website ("You can make changes on our website" was never a less accurate statement.) I ended up on the phone, which was only slightly less painful. Ultimately we wer re-booked to London via Charlotte, with a slightly earlier departure from home, arriving at Heathrow just ten minutes later than our original flight.

Other than a small glitch at check-in (the phone rep I spoke with did not, as she stated "have everything fixed") which was handled quickly and efficiently by the agent with a short phone call, our flights were uncomplicated and service was excellent.

The Admiral's Club in Charlotte was packed, but we secured comfortable seats to wait out our two hour layover before heading to our gate for boarding. We departed in a rain shower and enjoyed a mostly-smooth flight all the way to London.

Everyone even managed a bit of sleep.