Up, Up and away.......and now in Zurich!

Well, here I am approximately 35,000 feet in the air on a United Airlines nonstop flight to Zurich, Switzerland, drinking a cold Heinekin, and typing on my new MacBook Air.  After months and months of planning, it is hard to believe this day has finally arrived and I am on my way to Europe.  Everything today went very smooth, from returning the rental car at EWR, getting through security (without even being groped) and finally boarding the plane with no issues.  Believe it or not, we actually took off almost on time, which is a rarity from EWR.  Before takeoff the flight attendant even brought me a complementary copy of the Wall Street Journal to read onboard.  Now, this is what retirement is all about!  To my amazement, the flight is not totally full, and that actually works out to my advantage; the seat next to me is vacant!  That is really a score, since on this Boeing 767-300, the seat arrangements are 2-3-2, and I happen to be in a window seat, which affords me the pleasure of my own little “cubby”.  To make the situation even better, I have a United Economy Plus seat, that is normally a $100 upgrade (but no cost to me, since I utilized the suggestions at the website www.seatguru.com in choosing my seat).  I therefore have more space & legroom than a normal economy seat.  Everything so far is going great and I can only hope that this is how the next five weeks will be.  The flight attendants will bring “dinner” shortly, and then I hope to get somewhat of a nap.  I am hoping to get some sleep so I am not totally exhausted when I arrive in Zurich tomorrow.  I will spend most of my day in Zurich, meeting Seraina at the Hauptbahnhof midday, and then we hook up with her dad a bit later when he gets out of work.  Perhaps we will stop for a refreshing Swiss bier before we take a train to their home in Gossau where I will spend the next few days with the Giger family.  Then on Saturday we are off to Munich for the opening day of the Oktoberfest.  

I am currently in the Apple Store in downtown Zurich, where they have free wifi, so I was able to post this message that I wrote on the plane last night.  BTW, I did not get much sleep!  Europe is great..... I love just walking around and seeing all the signs that I cannot read, and listen to all the people that I have no idea what they are saying.......it's great and quite refreshing.


I am now editing this post again..... I am now sitting in a Starbucks overlooking Lake Zurich, and I have no idea what anyone around me is saying!  People are speaking mostly German and I hear a bit of French once and awhile.  It is rather cloudy today and a bit chilly, but that does not damper my enthusiasm and excitement of being in Europe again.  I am headed out for a walk around the city ...... and then on to meet Seraina in a few hours.  Life is good!