I was really worried about traveling to Europe, sure that I would be met by a wall of cancellations as fuel prices surged due to the Iran war.
I arrived at around 5:45pm at Washington Dulles, but was able to check my bags in right away. Then I went through security. It was TSA-pre so should have been no big deal. But I was wearing a knee brace on my right knee to ensure that I wouldn’t hurt it while dealing with heavy suitcases. (I am currently having issues with that knee right now. It’s not painful but it swells up and winces.)
Oh dear, the female agent patted me down, wanded me and last of all checked my hands. As soon as I escaped I found a loo and took off the brace, so that I wouldn’t have trouble in Paris. Then I got on the train to the A gates and found Gate A20 for my Air France flight to Paris.
Much to my surprise, everything went like clockwork. The plane left IAD on time and arrived early at Paris-Charles de Gaulle. Of course, I had to walk a long way to find my plane to Milano, at Gate F50 in Terminal 2F. But I had plenty of time.
Passport control at CDG was self-serve, and—apart from being trapped in a between two doors while the machine was thinking about whether to let me through—it went smoothly. After all that, I found a ladies loo, to put on that knee brace again. I had to stand on a film of urine (France is still not the most sanitary of places) but I made myself do it. Of course, no-one said anything when I arrived to board the plane. (They didn’t notice I was wearing it under my pants.) And I had it on when I arrived in Milan so that I could deal with my suitcases.
The plane arrive early in Milan, but of course there was the inevitable long wait for suitcases. Fortunately, both of mine were early. I managed to scrounge 2 euro coins to pay for the cart, and was so glad I had it as it made everything so much easier. I wheeled my luggage to the public part of the terminal and discovered a man holding an iPad with my name on it.
The private taxi that Odysseys Unlimited had ordered for me had arrived.
Phew!
I have no idea what his name was as he didn’t speak much English. But he was dressed in a suit and tie, and seemed mild-mannered and amiable.
Until, that is, he was behind the wheel of his enormous SUV.
Then, he drove like an Italian. Which is to say he was fast and aggressive, tailgating some poor person from Milan, until s/he exited the motorway.
However, in an hour and twenty minutes, we arrived at Parco San Marco in Cima, the first hotel on my Odyssey’s Unlimited tour Majestic Switzerland. The weather was bad—grey, cold and drizzling. I only glimpsed the shops in Cima but my spirits sank as I noticed they were very high end. (Will I be able to afford anything on this trip?)
The driver was directed to the garage, showed me where the elevator was and left. Unfortunately, I could find no sign on this elevator telling me where Reception was. I pressed zero, thinking that meant the ground floor where Reception was sure to be.
It wasn’t.
And so I had to limp down a flight of stairs with all of my luggage because it was actually on Floor Minus 1. Managing not to show my annoyance, I nevertheless complained to the very nice young woman about it. And was very pleased to see her write everything down that I said, after apologizing profusely.
I made a dinner reservation for 7pm (it was the earliest available time) and she walked me to my room, which was wonderful. It was very spacious with a seating area that faced a lovely view of the Lake Lugano. I smiled at her, telling her how much I liked it, and she left.
After changing my travel-worn clothes, I set about getting the electrics to work, plus the TV. Fortunately, I was able to do that without much difficulty. These European hotels do not carry CNN, so I always opt for the BBC instead. The only problem is that in this hotel, the signal for the BBC was weak. So I listened to TV Monde in English instead.
By 6:20 I was ready for supper. But waiting that last 40 minutes was hard as I was really exhausted, having missed a night of sleep on the plane to Paris.
I arrived on the dot of seven and was shown my table. The people in the restaurant already knew I was diabetic and they were very helpful. The waiter recommended a light fish dish and some grilled vegetables. He served it with a Cabinet Sauvignon—a very small portion that suited me just fine. I finished with a healthy helping of Gluten-Free Tiramisu, which was delicious.
After all that, I headed back to my rooms, and crawled into bed. I had no trouble falling asleep that night!
