Victoria to Zurich

September 4, 2024

An Interesting Day

Every travel day has its surprises. Mine was first thing this morning when Keith announced we had no water. What??? That gets the adrenaline going when you have a flight in a few hours, I must say. We tried the bathroom sinks, the kitchen sink, the tub and he was right. No water. First I phoned our neighbour and they had water. Then I phoned the municipality emergency number and when I explained the problem they were amazing. The municipal worker was gathering the troops when I had a thought. I was sure I would have noticed if the toilet hadn't filled when I used it, and sure enough, we had water, just no HOT water. Every tap we tried we both had used only the hot water and jumped to conclusions. Phew. I called the municipality back so they could stand down and Keith investigated the hot water tank. It was madly beeping away and unplugging it fixed that problem. It is a tankless hot water heater so we could relax at that point and we will figure out how to arrange to fix it somewhere down the road. I can’t say I enjoyed washing my hair in cold water, but it does remind me how grateful we are that we usually have hot water at the turn of a tap.

After that it was smooth sailing, until it wasn’t. Our friends David and Anne got us to the airport which was so kind. The woman who checked in our boxes wasn’t interested in weighing them, security was a breeze and we were on the other side with flights on time and time to kill. We ran into our friends Bill and Maureen in the departure lounge on their way to Rome and we enjoyed a leisurely lunch together. Lots of laughs and lots of fun.

Good friends are a treasure. It took two vehicles to get us to the airport.

It was pretty clear the bikes were going to make it to Vancouver.

Off we went to our respective gates and that is when things got interesting. Our plane arrived on time, but it left 50 minutes late. We only had an hour in Vancouver and the gates were so far apart. But if we thought we had problems, the third member of Team Zurich, the lovely Rachael, was flying to Zurich to defend her Master’s thesis tomorrow. A little more important than a vacation I would say. They sat the three of us at the front of the plane, and we took off running. None of us thought we would make it, but we did. They actually held the flight for a few minutes. Rachael and I ran the whole thing but Keith got picked up by a golf cart thingy and arrived in style. It was actually pretty hilarious. We knew right from the get go that the bike boxes wouldn’t make it. The bikes are currently in transit and on their way here via Munich. They should arrive about 6 PM tonight. We are very grateful we booked two nights in Zurich!

The first part of the flight over Vancouver and the North Shore Mountains was gorgeous.

We flew Edelweiss Air. Bikes are free and the service was superb.

When we arrived in Zurich we went straight to the lost luggage department. They were absolutely great. It was a self check in service, which really didn’t work because no one, including ourselves could manage without help. There were all sorts of weird glitches in the system. As a result we had our own personal attendant who was gracious and incredibly good at his job. We made the decision to come back to the airport and pick the bikes up in the early evening as they couldn’t guarantee delivery tomorrow. We left the baggage area and Keith saw a couple assembling their bikes in the airport. Imagine Keith’s surprise when Simon recognized him and asked if he was Keith.

Simon had recognized him from Cycleblaze. This is such a great community. Kathleen has just retired and has a beautiful new bike to show for it. I about drooled on it. They are off to the Dolomites.

Then a cab to the Hotel Allegra and a nap. It had been a very eventful 24 or so hours! We walked back to the airport at 6 PM and were overjoyed to see our bike boxes waiting for us.

A happy cyclist waiting for a large cab. The Zurich luggage carts have this goofy blue strap but we were ready for it.

Back at the hotel, Keith put the bikes together and bikes and boxes are tucked away for the night. The hotel will keep our boxes until we return in October. Now starving, we managed to make it to the hotel restaurant just before nine. Our Spanish server felt it was a totally appropriate time to eat. We decided to split the special, and it was more than enough! Beef Stroganoff with Spaetzle.

This is one serving, plated on two plates in the kitchen. Definitely lots of food!

And so it begins. We are already looking forward to breakfast. Right now however, we are very, very sleepy and it is our bedtime.

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Steve Miller/GrampiesOK. Enough drama and suspense! Now it is time for a calm and pleasant cycling trip.
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1 month ago

Patrick O'HaraLooking forward to following along!
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1 month ago

Kathleen ClassenTo Steve Miller/GrampiesThe sprint through the Vancouver airport was quite something. I was a hot sweaty mess when I got on the plane. So grateful though that they held it for us!
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1 month ago

Kathleen ClassenTo Patrick O'HaraI have been thinking of you and the great September start up. Hope it is a great school year.
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1 month ago

Patrick O'HaraTo Kathleen ClassenThanks Kathleen. You know what it's like....hit the ground running!
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1 month ago