Jet lag day

This is for Wednesday the 18th.

His perspective

I have been fortunate to have airline employee flight benefits my entire life. We have been able to standby for first and business class on many occasions and have become accustomed to being in the “pointy part” of the airplane.

Our last international flight in the back of the bus was late in 1993. In those days, employee’s kids that were not allowed in the pointy part of the airplane if they were under 12. Ours were 10 and 11 at the time. The trip was so memorable that Brian made a drawing of an AA airplane with a tag line stating that Dad had survived a 10 hour flight in coach. It was refrigerator art for many years.

Flights to Europe in peak season are heavily booked. We therefore bought tickets for this trip. In the back of the bus. We were lucky enough to be upgraded from DFW to JFK, but no such luck from JFK to Zurich last night.
Some thoughts on our flight:

- We have a better idea of what goes on back there where “those” people sit

- I asked if there was a delete key to get us out of “that” cabin. Alas, there was none

- Airlines assign a letter to each cabin of an aircraft, F for first class, C or J for business and Y for coach/economy. Y seems appropriate, except that I would make it Y?

- A special thanks goes to Apple, Jim & Van Morrison, Robert Plante, Aretha Franklin, Mark Knopfler, etal. The IPOD is a wonderful tool to drown out screaming kids who are trapped in an aluminum tube

- Brian, will you make a new drawing/certificate for me?

Yep, I, make that we, are definitely non-repentant snobs, elitists or whatever you want to call us. But fellow nonrevs will most likely agree that we belong up front. :-)

Wilson enjoys Switzerland

The train from the airport to Luzern (Lucerne) took about an hour. We walked a bit around the Old City (Alte Stadt) and then crashed for a few hours.
A return to the Old City for a nice dinner on a square called Hirschenplatz. Nancy commented that Brian, Jessie, Sean and Teena would enjoy this.

They would.

Luzern

But duh! Who the hell wouldn’t? An outside dinner of cheese fondue and veal sausage in a square that is at least several hundred years old, and a group of guys a few tables down break out into a spontaneous chorus of "Stand By Me". While we finished our meal with Fondue Schokolade, they proceeded inside to serenade the proprietor with a Swiss accented version of "Pretty Woman". Not too shabby.

Tomorrow is find the rental car and head southeast to Graubunden.