First off, I would like to apologize for the major delay in winter break blog updates. I will try and put these up soon. Please everyone, be patient. Please. Also, these may not be written with coherent thoughts or at the same time, so I also apologize for any disconnect or troubles reading.
Adventure to Geneva (1/5/2012)
Well, the 6 of us(Adam B., Teri M., Courtney K., Jessica L., Deena A., and I) are on our way. We are literally printing boarding passes minutes before we need to leave; absolute best preparation on our parts. Eventually the shirut (basically a large cab, but not quite) gets to pick us up and we pile in.
Airport time. So our plan is to fly through Geneva to get to Paris, mostly because it is cheaper than flying directly, but also because Courtney K. really wants to get her passport stamped as much as possible, and while im not as crazy as her, I kind of do too. Lots of little things pile up, but the major thing that next happens is that one of the bags we checked was too heavy, so the 6 of us needed to figure out a way to rearrange things in order to not pay extra fees. What makes it even more fun is that at this point, it is scheduled that boarding actually begins now, and we obviously haven’t gone through security yet. Somehow we fly through security and get to what we think is the gate. Nope. We get to an area that you then take a shuttle to get to your gate. At this point, we think there is only about 5 minutes until boarding closes. We then realize that everyone in this area is in the exact position as us, so we don’t worry as much. Eventually we get to the gate, and somehow still make the flight on time.
Now we land in Geneva, and what is the most exciting thing? Yup, you got it. Getting our passports stamped. The worst part though is that after having gone to baggage claim and starting the whole process over again, our flight is delayed for rain or wind or something, we aren’t sure. We eventually get on the plane and we are sitting there waiting. After about another 30 minutes or so, we find out that the plane was struck by lightning prior to landing so they were seeing if the plane could actually take off. With our luck, the plane doesn’t go off and we need to figure things out. No more flights that night. Luckily enough though, EasyJet is nice enough to comp a stay for us for one night. Where do we end up? Crowne Plaza. Yes, we did in fact get 6 rooms (1 for each of us) for free at the Crowne Plaza in Geneva. Now you’d think that near an airport that there would be restaurants or something open at about 11:30 pm (that was the time we ended up at the hotel). Well not in Geneva. In Geneva, everything closes down at 5:30, 6:30 on Fridays. So we are walking around in about a ½ mile radius of the hotel looking for something when we notice a boulangerie (for those non-french speakers, it is basically a bakery). At this boulangerie, the front door is closed at night, you need to go all the way around back and in a creepy alley, you can then order something. We end up getting croissants, and end our night. At about 1 am.
First flight the next morning? Of course it would be at 6:30 am, and apparently in Europe, you don’t need to show up 3 hours in advance for an international flight, one hour suffices. Not being exactly sure how to get to the airport, even though we are told that it is only but a 10 minute walk, we decide to leave at about 4:45.
Everything works out. Get on the flight. And get to Paris ready for 4 fun days.
