How not to cross the Atlantic

As some of you may have heard, Europe was a bit of a mess last week with respect to air travel. Several airports in northern Europe got unusual amounts of snow, which is to say that they got some snow. That's why Stace and the kids got stuck in Switzerland for an extra couple of days (but the skiing was good). As the week moved on, I started to worry about my own trip to Utah on Friday. I was scheduled to go through Paris on my way to Salt Lake, and they were expecting more snow in Paris as the week went on.

I started checking Delta's website for a "weather waiver," which means that you can switch your itinerary without paying a fee. Wednesday night, Delta finally issued a waiver that would cover my trip. I called Delta right away to see if they could get me out on Thursday rather than Friday. My preferred route would have been Zurich to Atlanta and Atlanta to Salt Lake, thus avoiding northern Europe altogether; unfortunately, there wasn't any room on those flights.

I instead took a schedule that had me going from Zurich to Amsterdam to Minneapolis to Salt Lake. It involved a five-hour layover in Minneapolis. Ugh. I would have landed in Salt Lake at about midnight Utah time. I decided that was better than trying to get through Paris on Friday, though. I couldn't get a rental car out of Salt Lake on Thursday, and I didn't want someone to have to pick me up at midnight and then run me back to the airport the next day to get the rental car, so I made a reservation at a hotel near the airport. I figured I could stay there Thurday night and get the car at the airport on Friday.

I frantically packed everything on Wednesday night and got ready for bed. I checked the website one more time before I went to bed, and lo and behold, the Atlanta route had opened up. Suddenly, everything changed again. I spent a long time on the phone trying to get things worked out with the airline. There were some issues with the ticket that I wouldn't be able to work out until I got to the airport in Zurich. I cancelled my hotel in Salt Lake and switched the car reservation again. After all of that, I got to bed at 2:30 a.m. with my alarm set for 5:00. Ugh. This violated Ethan's First Rule of Flying West Across the Atlantic Ocean: "Get a good night's sleep before you go. You'll be sorry if you don't." I knew I'd pay the price on the other side, but that's how it goes.

So, after getting my two and a half hours of sleep, I got up and headed for the airport, unsure of whether I would actually be getting on a plane. I was able to get things worked out with the ticket, but I was pretty fried by the time I got to the airport. As I got on the plane to fly from Zurich to Atlanta, though, I experienced my own little Christmas miracle: the heavens opened, a choir of angels began to sing, and the boarding pass scanner spat out a little piece of paper that said that I'd been upgraded to business class for the ten-hour flight to Atlanta. Never had an upgrade been so welcome.

I got to Atlanta without further trouble and went to the gate for my connecting flight. In a throwback to the way that Stace and I used to fly for free before having kids, the flight was overbooked, and Delta was looking for volunteers to bump to the next flight. I thought at first that I'd have to overnight it at a hotel in Atlanta, which was fine with me at that point, but it turned out that they were able to get me on the next flight just two hours later. That was worth a $400 travel voucher to me and a free dinner at the Atlanta airport. So, the bottom line is that I arrived at the home of Stace's folks about 25 hours after getting two and a half hours of sleep. Needless to say, I was fairly wasted during the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day family gatherings over the next couple of days. I think I'm finally over jet lag today. We'll see.

And they're off!

I put Stace and the kids on a plane to Atlanta this morning, so all is well. Everyone took it in stride, all things considered. We had a nice day of skiing on Saturday. (Mormon reference coming) Tanner got a little more time to figure out how to be a deacon and how to be the deacon's quorum president all at once, so that was good.

On another topic, Lindsey might be picking up more German than I've realized. While we were skiing on Saturday, she was moving past a little girl in the line to get to the tow rope. I saw her say something to the girl. Later, I told Lindsey that the girl probably didn't speak English. Lindsey's respose: "I know, Dad. I was speaking German." When I asked Lindsey what she'd said, she told me that she'd said, "Kann ich gehen?" Translated word for word, that means "Can I go?" That's actually correct. I don't know if that's how you'd actually make that point in German or Swiss German, but it's at least literally correct. Unfortunately for Lindsey, the girl was young enough that she probably only spoke Swiss German and not High German, but still, it was a good attempt.

Well, here we are

Pop quiz: What's the best way to spend your time when you're stuck in Switzerland for a couple of days because there's been so much snow? The answer is obvious, isn't it?

Sometimes, it snows

Well, Stace and the kids were all set to fly to Utah on Saturday, but the snow that hit most of western Europe today has caused a few problems. As it stands now, they're set to fly out on Monday. (I tried to get them into business class on a flight on Sunday, but Delta wouldn't go for it.)

It's all part of the fun of trying to fly over the holidays, I suppose.

Life is random

You know, sometimes strange things happen that just make you shake your head with the realization that you have no idea what's going on.

Today, I got into work and saw a can of something sitting on the table in the kitchenette by my office. It's a little bigger than a tuna fish can. As I examined it more closely, I saw that it had come from Germany. Another minute's inspection showed me that it was a can of lamb meat. And, finally, I learned that it's dog food.

Why is there a German can of lamb meat meant to be fed to a dog sitting in the kitchenette in my office in Switzerland? I have absolutely no idea, but that's the kind of thing that keeps life interesting.

Swiss Christmas

Last night, Tanner went to a school dance and the rest of us went to Zurich to see a show called "Swiss Christmas" (don't ask me why they use an English name for the show). It was pretty cool. Our Swiss friends, the Russi family, had won tickets, so we met up with them in Zurich.

It was a big circus-tent sort of thing set up in a big open area. For the show, they had all kinds of acrobatic acts, including one contortionist who might give me nightmares. She could lie on her belly and bend her spine so that her feet would be hanging in front of her face. Ouch!

The show even had live music with a Swiss twist. This is probably the only time in my life when I'll hear a both a Swiss alphorn and an electric guitar playing at the same time.

(If you don't know what an alphorn is, here's a picture.)

Missive from Lindsey

Today's a Swiss holiday. It's something to do with Mary. (Gotta love living in a Catholic canton.) I was going to take the kids skiing today, but things suddenly warmed up dramatically and it rained, so our bunny hill has turned into more of a dirt hill. We're just having a lazy day around the house.

Lindsey decided to write a paper describing her plans for Christmas. I was going to scan it and post it, but I'm not sure how well the writing would show up. I'll transcribe it instead. See if you can decipher it. If no one can understand it, I'll post a translation in a couple of days.

"My Weekend

"On CRiSmS holday ym leveng To yoTou ym goeng To my. Gramdmas has and See my gramdmas cat."

Everyone got that?