Julie In Switzerland, Yes I'm Here

 Should I change the name of this blog to Julie in Switzerland?  A friend recommended I watch so I could learn about working in the French culture & watch the beautiful Parisian scenery.

At last it was time to go.  I'd waited a year and delayed due to COVID.  I promised myself I wouldn't get excited until I had the plane tickets.  Well guess what, I had the plane tickets and felt sick to my stomach.  What was I doing moving in the middle of the pandemic (when it seemed to be getting worse due to UK variant and I was moving closer to the UK)?

Only we would move in a snowstorm

The prep during the last week was so stressful due to Covid tests.  You had to prove you were negative 72 hours or less prior to boarding (or landing, it wasn't clear).  For most places you could only make the appointment online 72 hours before the day of test.  No one guaranteed the test would be ready in time for a flight but generally said the tests took 24-48 hours.  I was lucky enough to get a live person at a new local New Providence Kids Urgent care who let me make an advance appointment.  The day before I panicked because I realized it was more than 72 hours prior to landing, but had made a back up appointment at Walgreens the next day as well.  They provided a reference # to track which would say if they'd received the test and ofourse mine was not received and David's was.  The pharmacists forgot one digit in my reference # so when I called live to check she gave me the right # but reminded me it takes 3-4 business days not every day and I wouldn't get it in time due to the weekend.  Meanwhile test #1 came back in 24 hours, and it ended up test #2 came back the the morning of the flight.

Only the copy I printed out didn't specifically say "PCR test" so I ended up showing the gate agent test #1-- so it really didn't matter after all.

Wheel on my Briggs & Riley carry on garment bag got "lost"/smushed

The ride to JFK was made merrier by a driver who had been to Switzerland on vacation and LOVED IT!  He talked the whole time about his vacation as we listened to the Beatles.  He knew it was hard to get a porter which we needed because of all of our luggage & helped get those carts.

JFK was eerily quiet with no one in line for security.  There were 5 people in business class and and equal number of flight attendants.  In usual fashion, David spilled his red wine all over the table tray and when we were talking to the nice man helping to clean up I spilled my wine all over the place too.

Domestic flight from Zurich to Geneva was quite packed which made me a little nervous but it was over in no time & the croissant & beautiful view certainly helped.  OMG is this my new home?

We are in a gorgeous temporary apartment with a balcony (partial view of Lake Geneva) including 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, washer dryer/dishwasher.  Quarantine is going fine with food delivery and take out.  Day 1 the relocation lady provided basic groceries so we decided to try and cook.  Only I'd never heard of an induction stove before and didn't know how to turn off.  "H" kept appearing which scared the crap out of me so I had to text a co-worker.  I've never read so many instruction manuals in my life.

Our adventure has begun.