The World Traveler

I came across this today. I was surprised that the Vatican was listed as its own country.

Finally ... My Luggage Arrives

Here's the poor guy who had to deliver my luggage. He was in a rush, obviously.

I've never seen so many luggage tags on a suitcase. Yikes.

So my luggage didn't catch up to me when I arrived in Geneva on a Delta and KLM Airlines flight Friday. And it actually didn't catch up to me until early Sunday morning – just before 1 o'clock. What a saga. And I was simply waiting for it. I can only imagine the drama the delivery driver experienced making his way on narrow, Swiss mountain roads, late at night, through pouring rain, to a hotel that was completely shut down for the night.

Did I mention this guy only spoke French? Well, that was a bit complicated. Fortunately, there was a chef from Vancansoleil still in the lobby and he directed this guy in. But by the time he showed, the hotel was completely locked up and the driver ended up about 300 meters from the hotel in the team parking area. I ran out into the rain, signed for the two bags, gave him all the Swiss Francs I had (about seven), plus three Euros and he was on his way.

My Office

This will be my office for the next five days. (Photo by Filip Sercu.)

First Meal in Switzerland

This was the starter. Not bad at all.

I actually tried the fish (out of frame). The fries were awesome. Should not have eaten.

Dessert was this caramel apple pie thingy.

It's Going To Be A Wet Week

The forecast for Switzerland and Tour de Suisse. Yikes.

The Best Of Times, The Worst Of Times

My view of the taxi ride to the hotel.
Things didn't go very well today. Probably the worst day of the trip, actually. It could have been much better, really. But little things kept creeping up and ruining what should have been a great day.

It started right off the bat – at 1 a.m., actually – when I couldn't get online for a conference call (via) Skype for the Nature Valley Grand Prix. I had paid for 15 hours of internet, rather than the standard four (or even one). So when I woke up from a brief nap, I wasn't immediately aware there was going to be a problem. Well, there was a problem. And doing everything to trouble-shoot it, even walking to a nearby hotel to try and get wifi there (the desk was a closed) didn't fix the problem.

The next downer was an e-mail I received from my mom about my dad's twin brother and his failing health. This certainly hit home and made for some emotional hours as I tried to go back to bed. Next up was the town bells. I should have gotten some video, but I didn't realize the bells on a nearby church (pictured at right) were going to ring for five minutes. At 6:30 a.m. Not that I wasn't already up, but it was a bit annoying.

This would be another big travel day, so there was the stress of getting to the airport, two flights and then a taxi ride to the hotel. First, the ride from airport to hotel in a shuttle. No problems, actually. Once at the airport, I got in a slow-moving line at the ticket counter. Fortunately, they weren't surprised this time with my two bags. Ticket in hand, I was off on my first flight on GermanWings.

Now a funny thing about GermanWings is its marketing campaign. It's three "sexy" flight attendants who are on brochures, the Facebook page, Twitter page, etc. Apparently, this is to disguise the fact that they are Germany's equivalent of Southwest Airlines. (But they do have reserved seating, thankfully.) My first flight had me in seat 1-A. Yes, right up front, looking at a plastic divider. This meant not having access to my backpack (it was in the overhead bin), so I decided to sleep a bit.

The flight from Zurich was to Bonn/Cologne. Not being a geography major, I didn't immediately realize were were flying away from my final destination. It was equivalent of flying to Chicago out of Omaha to get to Los Angeles. Yeah, about 75 minutes in the wrong direction. But that was OK, because I'd never been to Germany.

One bad (or maybe good) thing about connecting through another country is you don't go through customs. Which means no stamp in your passport. (And no long lines waiting to get it stamped). But I did enjoy some nice aerial views of the beautiful German countryside. It's really neat how certain European countries really have a flavor and look to them.

Once at the airport, I took a quick look around for souvenirs. Then it was off to my connecting flight. That's when more trouble arose. It turns out boarding passes for connections aren't issued at the gate like they told me in Zurich. No, they're at a kiosk somewhere else in the airport. Fortunately, it wasn't that far. But the kiosk wasn't manned, though there was a phone that said to call "extension 2141." Of course no one answered (it was lunch time). So I went back to my original connecting gate. A second attendant was there with the first one I'd asked about the boarding pass. She told me I'd have to go all the way back to the main ticket counters to get it and asked when I was flying out. "On this flight (in 35 minutes)," I told her. She looked at me like I'd never make it there and back. The other (original) attendant took my name down, I guess, so he could page me and let me know I'd be missing my flight.

So I ran off to find the main ticketing counter. Have you ever gone backwards through airport security? Now I have. Have you ever run through the airport like you're competing in the 1,600 meters on a track? I have. Have you ever wanted to stop and eat at an airport Burger King? I did yesterday. (Wanted to, but didn't have time, of course.)

Anyway, I got my ticket, then sprinted back to go through security. Thankfully, I didn't have to take my shoes off (must be a U.S.-only thing) and got back to the gate just as they were beginning to board. Now another thing that's different from flying in the U.S. – the exit row seating. On GermanWings, you can't place your bags beneath the seat in front of you if you're seated in an exit row (which I was). So my bag went up in the bin. But here's the kicker. The tray tables in the exit aisle (shown at right) can be used. That's really different because U.S. airlines bolt them shut so they can't come down and block the aisle as you're rushing out the emergency exit.

One nice thing on my flight (90 minutes) to Italy was my "Happy Picnic." I had a coupon (shown at right) for a cup of coffee (or water) and a turkey (or cheese) sandwich. So that was terrific considering I hadn't eaten anything since my pizza lunch the day before. The other nice thing on the flight was the view of the Swiss Alps. (No photo, sorry.)

Once on the ground in Italy, I grabbed my bag (and was disappointed there was no clearance of customs because I wasn't flying in from abroad) and hailed a taxi. By this time, the race I was supposed to cover was well underway. So all the way to the hotel, I was monitoring developments on Twitter. I arrived (in the rain) at the hotel only to find out its wifi was down (and would NOT be coming back up).

I scurried to my room (which was in another building) and switched on the TV just in time to see Cadel Evans going to the top step of the podium (pictured at right). I'll spare you the dreaded details of how difficult it was to have to type my entire story on my Blackberry. Let's just say that when I finally get Internet service, I'm going to work very hard on tethering my laptop to my Blackberry. (Thanks for the tips, Matt Davio.)

From the Notebook:
- It was great when the guys from Tirreno-Adriatico pulled up at the hotel. Seeing them after a big win was a nice bonus. We had a terrific dinner to celebrate, too.

- It rained all afternoon here in Italy, adding to the dreariness.

- I ended up writing two news releases today. One on Cadel Evans's victory and the other on him achieving (a tie for) the world No. 1 ranking. Impressive (him, not me writing about it).

- In the airport in Zurich, I came across a hand dryer just like the ones at AksarBen Cinema (pictured at right).

- One of the lighter moments today happened as we were de-planing in Cologne. We went down the stairs from the plane out onto the tarmac, where a bus was waiting to take us to the terminal. We crowded onto this bus and it pulled away. Not more than 10 seconds and 100 feet later, we stopped – at the terminal. Yes, we rode in a bus for 100 feet. I should have snapped a picture, but I was in a bit of a rush.

This is what a "Happy Picnic" looks like on GermanWings.

My view from seat 1A.

After the first stop on the transit bus, nearly everyone was gone.

View of my plane for the flight to Cologne.

Cool Zurich airport shot. Reminds me of "Up in the Air." (below)

Switzerland In A Day

The Zurich train station reminded me of something out of the movies.
Today was "BMC factory visit" day on my agenda. I've shared a few specifics in my "thoughts on travel" but here is an overview of the day.

A couple months back, my colleague, Georges Lüchinger, thought it would be good for me to visit the BMC factory. I agreed and my agenda was planned out. So today, I was off from Nice, France, to Grenchen, Switzerland.

Once in Switzerland, I had to take two trains to get to the factory. As my friend, Bob Cullinan pointed out, the trains in Switzerland run on time, which is great for planning purposes. Both train rides were pretty uneventful and I used the opportunity to take photos and video and catch up on some work. The only nerve-racking thing about train travel is making sure you're paying attention to the stops so you get off at the right one.

Upon arrival in Grenchen (a small town), BMC's Mike Hürlimann picked me up and took me to lunch at a nice little pizzeria. It was great catching up and just eating. (I hadn't had anything to eat since lunch the day before.) Then it was on to the factory. No photos are allowed there, but you can visit the BMC Racing Team website to watch a few videos of how the BMCs are made, etc.

Following the tour, it was time to watch the race and write about it (my set-up is pictured at right). And what a great race it was. Cadel Evans won – scoring the team's first win of 2011. I told Michele Tanner (marketing person) that if coming to the factory was what it took for the team to win that I'd be spending quite a few days hanging out at the factory.

The only tense moment of the afternoon came as I waited to receive the quotes from the race. The train schedules are a bit limited, so I had to make sure I caught one that allowed me to make my connection in Zurich. I was able to snap some nice photos on the train ride and one of the BMC Racing Team's former riders even sent me a message on Twitter that I was going through his hometown.

The final transportation of the night came on foot as I once again used FourSquare's GPS navigation to walk to my hotel. Very cool. Note that my hotel room even included an umbrella (with sign that said it was intended only for use while you're a guest there and not to take it home with you).

A few thoughts on travel:

- If "Easy Jet" is the "Southwest" airlines equivalent in Europe, I'm not impressed when it comes to baggage. Even though my ticket was booked for two pieces of luggage, I got dinged for my second item. To the tune of 120 euros. Yikes. And outrageous. If there's a consolation, it's that I didn't get charged for extra luggage coming out of Spain in January (training camp).

- Speaking of outrageous, how about a 50 euro cab fare for about a 10-minute ride from my hotel to the airport? That's just crazy. I'll have to ask Rik Verbrugghe what they charged him. I think it was a scam against "The American."

- The outlets in Switzerland are different from those I've encountered in Spain, France, Ireland and Great Britain. They're a three-plug combination (shown at right), which I didn't have an adapter for in my bag. But the hotel was kind enough to loan me one.

- So much for getting my passport stamped in Switzerland. I walked off the plane, got my luggage (there was a nice countdown clock at the baggage carousel) and then walked out into the lobby. No Swiss Miss girls to greet me, either.

- The flight from Nice to Geneva was short. Either that, or I slept awhile. It appears it was about an hour. Not bad, since the seats didn't recline, there was no baggage service and boarding was general. I thought sitting next to the VIP guys the BMC Racing Team owner brought to the race the day before would be nice. It was, until I figured out they only spoke French and German.

- I was a bit nervous about the train trip to the BMC factory headquarters in Grenchen. As I type this, I'm not quite there yet, but I am off to a good start. I have my ticket to Grenchen and it appears I'll get a ride to the factory. After my visit, I take the train to another little city where I fly out sometime Tuesday morning.

- Trains aren't like airplanes. You don't need to board 30 minutes before departure. Twice, I went down to the rail station area, only to return to the upper concourse because my train hadn't even arrived at the station.

I was told this was the first "spring-like" day in Switzerland.

We passed through quite a few railyards.

My final destination: train station in Grenchen.

Flight out of Nice. Good weather for travel.

Michele helped me purchase my return train ticket.

Escalator: stand on one side, walk/run up the other.

My last train was a double-decker. Pretty cool.

Grey motif in this one, Julia.

Not a big room, but clean and nice.

Four hours in at the "Fly Away" hotel, the Internet stopped working.