Flying to Switzerland

Plane Trip-PART ONE

I was just telling my friend, Swiss Miss, how much fun my hubby and I had on our trip to pick up our son, Elder from his two year mission in Switzerland. I also mentioned that I needed to post some pictures here and catch up on blogging.The kids have missed us since we left-so I faithfully postponed this essay till tonight. My babies teenagers were so wonderful to hold down the fort and keep Starwars out of trouble till we returned! We spoke everyday and let them talk to their brother each night-I never wondered what was going on at home. It was a huge comfort to call home and know that they were right on schedule.

Our adventure began at three in the morning on December 5th. We had kissed the kids good night before they went to bed on the 4th, and we set the alarm clock. Our bags were packed and we had our clothes ready too. We just hopped hobbled into the van and took off driving to the airport...three and half hours away. Everything went as planned-we parked in the airport parking lot, and checked in our bags at the counter. The plane left on time for New York and I was so happy to be on our way to Zurich.

From Vegas to New York-we were starving!!! My hubby thought they would be feeding us lunch, so we didn't bring any food with us. Nope-only drinks and more drinks were available. As soon as we landed in N.Y. we had to stop in a food court at the airport to eat. Then I made sure we had some snacks for later.

The flight to London was fun for the first four hours. We ate dinner, watched movies, listened to music and visited with others around us-(clear in the next to back row). It started getting dark and people wanted to sleep or...go the restroom (right next to our seats). The rest of the time was annoying-I was cramped, tired, holding my breath, and wishing that I could fall asleep. When we started to land, my ears started to ache...and I kept chewing my gum faster and faster (very painful pressure). I was sooo glad when we got off the plane, and I could stop worrying about whether we would crash in the Trans-Atlantic Ocean... or need oxygen from the horrible bathroom fumes. Hallelujah-we made it to solid ground!!

My sister lives in London, so I figured I'd have plenty of time to give her a call (and boy! -did I have time!). We thought we'd be leaving after about four hours, but there had been a snow storm right before we landed, and the whole airport was on standby. Our flight kept getting delayed and we watched as all the Germany flights were canceled. We walked around, called my sister, ate some snacks, found a computer to facebook on (Thank you- Zurich Insurance Co.) We were there for TWELVE hours. My sister wanted to come see us at the airport-but didn't dare go out on black ice. There were so many accidents we could see on the big screen t.v.s-we just felt glad we were safe inside. The whole flight was called to a little room to board the plane, but then because it was suddenly snowing again-we had to sit longer. So, we

waited and waited. The after an enormous amount of time-we climbed on-board....and waited a few more hours. The plane needed to be "de-iced"...with a special spray solution...coming from another city. We could not believe they had packed us a plane to sit for four more hours. The only entertainment was watching and listening to a Swiss native flight attendant. She was a young, blond, with an adorable accent. We listened to her speak Swiss German as she passed out cookies and chocolate...and she called the soda-Coke..."Cokie":) Sounded like Cookie almost. Wish I could of snapped a picture of this cute girl.  All the old men were flirt-ing up a storm!