Ma drove me to Belfast City Airport. Of course we got a bit lost and confused as the whole parking system there seems a bit unusual. Good excuse, huh? But we made it in plenty of time thanks to an early departure. My bag got searched at security. The young guy who did so said it was because it was so densely packed that they couldn't scan it properly. He suggested I stop doing things so densely. And he also mentioned that if you remove ebook readers from your bag, like you do with laptops, there's less chance of getting searched. Good to know for future reference.
Enjoyed a nice pint of Guinness in the airport bar and scribbled in my journal. Felt quite excited to get to Switzerland. Had a two and a half hour wait in Heathrow where I enjoyed a sandwich and watched a bit of a film on my laptop.
Was sat next to a nice English lady on the ninety minute flight to Basel. Struck up a conversation over a couple of cans of Grolsh. It's the little things like free booze and decent baggage allowances that make flying BA much more enjoyable than the budget airlines. I don't know if I'd ever actually pay more for the experience, but I'm certainly glad that BA turned out to be cheapest from Belfast to Basel (106 pounds one way). Chatted about Swiss breakfasts, her husbands job which has them living between England and Switzerland, and the comparitive cost of living. She seemed nice, but a little posh so I turned a blind eye as she discreetly slipped a mini-bottle of airline wine into her bag).
Carol and Lukas, her friend/former coworker, picked me up at Basel airport. A forty minute drive took us to Carol's family home. I spent a lot of time with Carol in Peru back in 2008 and had always thought she was a bit of a gypsy because of her frugal lifestyle and hole-ridden clothes. But the lovely family house and garden jacuzzi suggested otherwise. As her parents are away to "the lake" for the summer, we had the house to ourselves. Homemade pizza, carrot cake and cold Swiss beer were a welcoming sight following the flights. And a moonlight jacuzzi in the garden with more beer was just perfect for the stiff neck. I'd never been in a home jacuzzi before and can now definitely see what the appeal is. I can only imagine how lovely it must be to soak outside in winter as snow falls.
Enjoyed a nice pint of Guinness in the airport bar and scribbled in my journal. Felt quite excited to get to Switzerland. Had a two and a half hour wait in Heathrow where I enjoyed a sandwich and watched a bit of a film on my laptop.
Was sat next to a nice English lady on the ninety minute flight to Basel. Struck up a conversation over a couple of cans of Grolsh. It's the little things like free booze and decent baggage allowances that make flying BA much more enjoyable than the budget airlines. I don't know if I'd ever actually pay more for the experience, but I'm certainly glad that BA turned out to be cheapest from Belfast to Basel (106 pounds one way). Chatted about Swiss breakfasts, her husbands job which has them living between England and Switzerland, and the comparitive cost of living. She seemed nice, but a little posh so I turned a blind eye as she discreetly slipped a mini-bottle of airline wine into her bag).
Carol and Lukas, her friend/former coworker, picked me up at Basel airport. A forty minute drive took us to Carol's family home. I spent a lot of time with Carol in Peru back in 2008 and had always thought she was a bit of a gypsy because of her frugal lifestyle and hole-ridden clothes. But the lovely family house and garden jacuzzi suggested otherwise. As her parents are away to "the lake" for the summer, we had the house to ourselves. Homemade pizza, carrot cake and cold Swiss beer were a welcoming sight following the flights. And a moonlight jacuzzi in the garden with more beer was just perfect for the stiff neck. I'd never been in a home jacuzzi before and can now definitely see what the appeal is. I can only imagine how lovely it must be to soak outside in winter as snow falls.
