Home...Finally!

 We arrived at the airport in Kiev nearly 3 hours before we were to board our flight, we thought we were on our way home!!  BUT, once boarded, we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours!!!  Kiev had an unexpected 2 inches of snow, so they were having a tough time getting all of their departures deiced.  As we were in route to Zurich, I checked my watch and said to Cindy, well, our flight to JFK is boarding...When we arrived to Zurich, we hustled to our gate, but at the security check point, the guard told us that our flight left 5 minutes ago!!!!  We were stuck! 

When we reported to the transfer desk, we found that there could be days worth of waiting due to a massive snowfall in NYC.  But, she booked us for standby on the first flight out the next day.  The airline put us up in a nice hotel and gave us vouchers for meals while we waited!  When we arrived at our hotel, we had just about 2 hours of daylight left, so we dumped our gear in the room and headed out for a walk.  We had decided to leave our bulk luggage in the capable and qualified hands of the airlines, so we needed some toiletries--no better excuse for a stroll!

Day 2 in Switzerland we arrived to the airport at 6:00 AM for our standby flight, it should not have been a surprise, but we didn't make that flight.  So, back to the transfer desk--she booked us for standby on a flight to Dulles--we didn't make that flight either!!!  So, back to the desk!  This time, she booked and CONFIRMED us on a flight to Paris, then to Dulles...but it was for the next day.  We ended up leaving the airport at noon--what a bummer!!!  

What in the world were we to do???  Who would want to be STUCK in Switzerland??  Well, as it happens, Switzerland was on the list of the top 3 places Cindy wanted to visit!  I wasn't too upset either!

 We got our complimentary room assignment, meal vouchers, and carry on luggage (once again we decided to leave the bulk of our luggage in the capable and qualified hands of the airlines.) and jumped on the shuttle bus.  When we checked in, there was no Wi-Fi, so I jumped on the public computer to let the folks back home know what was going on--Cindy had a tour book and was looking for something for us to do.
 

 We had 2 hours before the tour started, so we hopped a taxi and headed downtown.  And, man are we glad we did!!!  This was a once in a lifetime experience for us--just a couple Central PA hicks walking and gawking!  The history was amazing--check out the date on the statue--Columbus hadn't even been here yet!  Obviously, after seeing the little that we did, we were torn--should we return to the airport the next day and offer our tickets to some other poor stand by passengers, or come home on our scheduled flight??  We had been gone for more than 3 weeks, so the desire to get "on the road" was too strong!

 These buildings, the river, the fact that we heard folks speaking English, and we could communicate with just about anyone in our native tongue made this place almost heaven!

I could see James Bond in a chase scene driving down the cobble stone roads and escaping the villain by jumping out a window--diving into the river!

Our tour took us on a bus through Munich to a cable car that took us into the foothills of the Alps--unfortunately, the clouds were so low that we didn't actually see their glory until we took off from the airport.  After the cable car ride, we walked 1/2 mile across the top of the mountain to a small cafe where we enjoyed some Swiss chocolate and a cup of coffee.

What we had initially considered to be a major inconvenience, turned out to be a huge blessing!  We needed the opportunity to relax, decompress, and catch our breath!  And, we had planned on visiting Germany, but because of flight delays on the front side of our trip, and financial constraints on the back side we couldn't afford to do it!  But, our airline ended up covering the bulk of the expense!  We couldn't have planned the trip any better!!!

Remember the capable and qualified baggage handlers??  Well, we will officially call our trip complete once Fed-Ex shows up here at the house with my lost baggage!!!


I'll be on my way back January 9th at 4:00pm, and return home January 20th with the newest addition to the Noel household!