India and Maldives Vacation Index:

1. Introduction
2. Overview and Statistics
3. Zurich, Switzerland
4. Dehli and Agra
5. Jaipur
6. Hyderabad
7. Aurangabad/Mumbai
8. Making Peace with the Poverty
9. Quotes
10. Top 10 Favorite Things About India
11. Maldives & 11.5 Maldives with the Meyers
12. Top 10 Favorite Things About the Maldives
13. Paris
14. What We Would Have Done Differently & What We Did Right
15. Meanwhile, Back At Home…..

LET THE FUN BEGIN

We flew out from Tampa on Tuesday, October 15th, at 1:55PM.  It was hard to leave the kids but I actually held it together really well.  I knew they would be very well taken care of with Cliffie and Natalie.  Also, I knew the kids would feel anxious if they saw me crying so I tried my hardest to stay tear free.  We left them happily playing at Michael and Sarah’s house with their cousins, Cliffie, and Mimi while Natalie drove the four of us to the airport.

The first of our 16 flights was from Tampa to Washington DC.  It felt really exciting to finally be on our way.

During our layover in DC Michael made a little discovery that he had booked one of his hotel rooms for the wrong date.  So, he spent much of our short layover in DC trying to get things straightened out.  Sarah, Ben, and I thought it was funny; Michael- not so much 🙂  Little did he know there was more trouble for him down the road, too.

 

From Washington we caught an 8 hour flight to Zurich.  Once we were in flight Michael and Ben discovered we would have a 4 1/2 hour layover in Zurich so Michael chatted with one of the flight stewardesses about things to do by the Zurich airport.  She explained there was a train that went right from the airport to their historic downtown area which had cute cafes and shopping.  Perfect!  We were happy to have a place to go and explore instead of sitting around a boring airport.

ZURICH

We’re not sure who is to blame but Sarah and I were under the false impression that Zurich was in Germany.  I think I planted the false idea in her head but she insists she’s the one who told me wrong.  Either way it was pretty funny when one of us said to the guys, “So, this is Zurich, Germany!”  They replied, “No, no, this is Zurich, SWITZERLAND!”  We felt a little embarrassed but got a good laugh from our mistake.  Later I said to Sarah, “Sarah, we’re in Switzerland.  I didn’t even know I was going to be in Switzerland today!”

We took a train to the downtown area and enjoyed roaming the streets for two hours.  We bought sandwiches, pastries and Swiss chocolate.  A perfect, healthy combination!

It was just a quick morning excursion but it was a very welcomed respite after being cooped up in a plane.   From the limited amount of it I saw, I would say Zurich was a beautiful, charming city.

Back to business………