Hola, what’s up, how’s it going? In this post I have to catch you up on London and Geneva. This might be a long one, so I’ll skip the cultural updates this time. So two weekends ago, Cole, Eva, a girl named Julia, and I left Saturday morning for London. I somehow got talked into taking a cab to the airport, which wasn’t cheap, but we made it with plenty of time before our flight. I believe the flight left around 6:30am, so I slept the entire time. I was awoken by near-violent shaking of the plane coming into landing. Apparently the wind speed was so high that the landing was a little traumatizing, luckily I slept through most of it.

In one of my posts I remember saying after my return from France I was relieved to see Spanish again. Well walking through the London airport was double that relief. I felt like a genius being able to understand every sign and person talking. Anyway, we decided to take a bus into the city, which was about an hour away. What we didn’t anticipate was the line for the buses or the fact that the line was outside. Five minutes of standing outside in England made me miss the weather in Barcelona very quickly. It was overcast, probably at least 45 degrees but the wind made it feel like 30. It was classic England weather.

Eventually we got on the bus and made it into the city, where we bought a “tube” ticket for the weekend. We took that to our apartment. The apartment had one bed and a pull-out couch, definitely not meant for four people, but it was nice. For lunch, we went to an American themed diner. They didn’t serve American food, but the atmosphere was nostalgic. I had a salmon bagel, Cole ordered meat soup. At least, that’s what he thought he ordered. To his disgust they brought him beet soup. The look on his face might’ve been the highlight of the trip. Eva laughed for probably the entire meal. The worst part was that he payed 6 pounds ($8.00) for it. Cole might be one of the few people I’ve met that is more frugal than I am, so he ate the entire thing to get his money’s worth.

After that enjoyable meal, we walked to a nearby street to do a photoshoot in the middle of traffic. Apparently these four musicians from Liverpool had the same idea we did. I think we did it better. We then decided that we had pissed off enough drivers, so we took the tube to the heart of London. There we encountered the London Eye. They had a packaged deal for a ride on the London Eye with a river boat tour on the Thames river. We bought that, but saved the boat tour for the next day. If you don’t know, the London Eye is essentially a massive ferris wheel with each pod being a large, glass capsule. Each capsule could probably fit 25 people, but since we came on an overcast day in the evening, there were no lines. It is also important to note that Cole is afraid of heights. He is truly and endless source of entertainment. He panicked a little bit in line but he made it on and didn’t freak out too much.

If you are ever in London, you have to go on the London Eye. The views are literally second to none. It’s a 360-degree view of the entire city. We also caught the sunset while we were at the top, which was perfect. The way up was a little nerve-racking, but after a while I just forgot about how high up it was. Upon our return to Earth, we walked over to see Big Ben, parliament, and West Minster Abbey. We couldn’t go inside any of them, but they were cool to see in-person. Actually Big Ben still looks fake in-person, no matter how many times I walked by it. For dinner we searched for quite a while before Cole and I settled on Chipotle. Before you judge me, try going several months without Chipotle. It was so good I almost cried, but guac is still extra. We closed out the night by visiting a few pubs, which I guess London is known for.

In the morning we woke up earlier than I would’ve liked and went to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. This is a ceremony that happens every day, so I figured it would be a low-key tradition that we could quietly observe. There was probably more than 2,000 people there crowding the sidewalks trying to see into the courtyard. I wish I knew more about the ceremony or some history behind it. So to an uninformed observer, it looked like a bunch of red-coat soldiers with furry hats marching back and forth every couple of seconds. A marching band came through and played the Star Wars theme so that was cool. It seemed like it took an hour, it was probably shorter, but I had a headache and had been standing still in a crowd for a long time.

At the end, the guards left on massive horses while being played out by the band. The crowd cleared up and we walked around the plaza. In the plaza I found the statue that I want as my gravestone when I die. We walked further through the city until we ended up at Big Ben once more. We then crossed over the river to reach the London Eye where our riverboat tour would be departing. During the day, the area around Big Ben and the London Eye was flooded with tourists. There was one point where everyone was at a dead stop because there were too many people to go anywhere. I really enjoyed the boat tour, there were plenty of interesting things I learned. However, I probably cannot recite them all here, but if you have any specific questions for me I’ll try and answer them.

I believe our next stop was fish and chips at a restaurant that was underneath the railroads tracks. Every time a train passed the whole place would shake. From there we visited the British Museum. This was the largest museum I have ever been in. We spent almost two hours there and didn’t even cover half of it. I could’ve spent all day there. It had artifacts from every culture and every era. The museum has been around since the 1700s, so it has been collecting for quite some time. I especially liked the Greek and Egyptian sections. For dinner we had Indian food, which is apparently famously good in London. The dinner was tasty, but I don’t eat a lot of Indian food so it was hard to say if it was better than normal Indian food. We didn’t stay out too late that night. We had decided that we stayed out too late the previous night.

The next day we had to check out of the air bnb early, so we carried our luggage around all day. We took the tube to St. Paul’s cathedral, but it was 20 pounds to enter so we declined. We hadn’t been inside Westminster Abbey, so we walked along the river to get there. We had limited metro passes left and we had to save the last one to get to the bus station. While walking we saw Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, street performers, a graphited skate park, and several birds. Westminster Abbey, as it turns out, was also 20 pounds for admission. We rejected that as well and headed to Hyde Park, the largest park in London. The park was near our bus stop, so we figured we would walk around there before leaving. Cole and I borrowed a paddle boat and had fun in the pond. Overall, we were tired, it was cold and rainy, we were ready to go home.

When I got home I found out I had a fever, which explained why I didn’t feel too great most of the time in London. Even with the illness, London exceeded my expectations. There was plenty to see, and just listening to people talk in British accents was worth the trip. The following week of school was my busiest week yet. I had three midterms and two presentations. In terms of workload, it was about an average week compared to school in Colorado. Classes here grade so easy, plus it’s pass/fail. I couldn’t be stressed about school even if I tried. After a moderate week of work, I decided to reward myself with a weekend trip to ski in the alps. Unfortunately, last Friday traveling to Geneva was the most stressful time traveling of my entire life.

It was worse than my first arrival to Barcelona, where I didn’t have my bags for five days. It was also the most expensive weekend of my life. I’ll explain myself, but it may take a while. So I booked this trip a few weekends ago with my friend Annika and her two friends, whom I’ve never met. This was another trip Cole was supposed to go on, but again, he backed out, making it more expensive for everyone. My journey began with a cab ride to Plaza Catalunya, where a bus would take me to the airport. The driver dropped me off in the wrong place, so I was running around the plaza trying to find the right bus stop. Annika called me, and eventually got off the bus to come and find me. We missed the 4:30 bus and got on the 4:50 bus to the airport. Our flight was at 6:30 so we had plenty of time.

We needed to be dropped off at Terminal 2C. The bus had a TV screen that showed the upcoming stops, so we would be able to see the stop ahead of time. After 2B, I looked at the screen waiting for 2C. I also pressed the “stop” button. The screen never showed 2C, so when the driver stopped briefly, we didn’t know whether or not to get off. When I say briefly, I mean he probably stopped for five seconds maximum. I figured it was either still 2B, or he stopped to pick up someone. But then the screen changed and showed us getting back on the highway. That’s exactly what we did. In hindsight I probably should’ve known that was 2C, but it’s not easy when it’s dark out and I’ve never been to that part of the airport before. I also blame the TV screen, but mistakes were made.

At this point there was real panic. We tried asking the bus driver what to do but he didn’t care. After the bus dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, this friendly guy pointed us in the direction of another bus going back towards the airport. We waited for 5-10 minutes for this bus and once we were on, we knew we were going to have to run. There was still a chance, our two friends were at the gate trying to delay them. Unfortunately, we realized that the bus was taking us to Terminal 1, not 2. The terminals are completely separate buildings, so we had to take a shuttle to Terminal 2C. 2C also happened to be the last stop. The shuttle made sure to take adequate time waiting at each bus stop before arriving at ours. Annika and I sprinted off the shuttle and through the airport. We made it security and we got a text saying the gate had closed.

It was a bitter defeat. We needed a lucky break or two and we got none. Such is life. So we caught our breath and went to the information desk to find flights for later that day. For about an hour and a half we went between multiple airlines looking for flights to Geneva. Every single one was fully booked. Every flight. Eventually we found a flight to Zurich at 1:20pm and found a ridesharing service that could take us from there to Geneva. Zurich is on the other side of Switzerland, about three hours away. The flight was 110 euros, with no refund for the flight we missed. At this point I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to go. The trip was already not very cheap. However Annika still wanted to go, and she got off the bus to come find me. I would be a huge jerk to let her travel alone after I basically ruined her trip. Also I still wanted to go and we had paid for the Air bnb already. So we bit the bullet and got the tickets.

I finally got to eat the sandwich that Mami packed me while we waited for our plane. We also enjoyed a much needed beer at a café. I slept the entire hour and a half plane ride, sleep is hard to come by when traveling. When we arrived, everything was in German, which took some adjusting to. We needed to contact the guy we had been talking to with the ridesharing service, but we needed good wifi. You’d think that it wouldn’t be too much to ask. It was either bad internet or the guy wasn’t responding, so we talked to the information desk to find the best way to Geneva. The lady said the only way was by train. 90 euros. At this point I was having flashbacks to all the times earlier that day where if one thing had gone differently, I’d already be in Geneva, 200 euros wealthier. It got to the point where we couldn’t wait for a response any longer so we got the tickets.

Again, we sprinted. This time to the train station. It ended up being a three minute walk and we were 15 minutes early for our train. We were done taking chances at that point. Trying to figure out which train was ours was difficult, because, you know, German. Thankfully everyone in Switzerland speaks English. With the help of a nice train station employee, we got on our train. Seeing the Swiss country side was a plus of riding the train. The train dropped us off at the airport in Geneva. Not wanting to spend any more money, we walked to our Air bnb. It was about a 45 minute walk. We found out later that if we had gotten off one stop earlier, it would’ve been a five minute walk. However, at the time we had no idea, and we got to see more of Switzerland by walking. Instead of getting there at 8:00 in the morning, we arrived at 10:00 at night. Needless to say I slept like a rock.

The next day we woke up early to rent a car and drive to the mountains. The mountains were incredible, the Alps lived up to their reputation. We had coffee in the mountain town of Chamonix, where we also rented skis. Forgot to mention that in Geneva, they speak French. Just interesting how the language changes as you move across the country. Chamonix was technically in France, but very close to the Swiss border. With all the equipment and day pass, skiing cost me less than 60 euro, which was a relief. It felt great to be skiing. The mountain wasn’t crowded, the snow was decent, and the views were spectacular. One strange thing was that for part of the day it was raining at the bottom of the mountain and snowing at the top. Conceptually I understand it, but I’ve never actually experienced it. Driving back and trying to return the car was an ordeal but nothing compared to Friday so I won’t even go into it.

The next day we walked around Geneva before going to the airport. We went to the top of the cathedral to get a panoramic view of the city. It really is a nice place, but way too expensive. A cup of coffee is almost 4 euro. It was a shame that I couldn’t have stayed longer. It’s also a shame that being a college student I would rather have my leg broken than spend 200 bucks. Maybe I’ll enjoy the story later in life when 200 bucks isn’t that big of a deal to me. Right now, it stresses me out just reminiscing on it. The entire weekend cost me probably over 400. I’m too afraid to do the math.

Besides Friday it was a good weekend. Except that Sam left for Uruguay on Saturday. I had to say goodbye last Thursday. I’m going to miss him as a person, but also as our translator/tour guide. Now I will actually have to learn Spanish. In other news Barca the soccer team made the biggest comeback in Champions league history by overcoming a 4-0 deficit. The city went nuts. People were screaming and chanting. Cars were honking. Some were even crying. Futbol is more than just a sport here to many people.

Well I probably skipped over some things but I think I covered most of it. This weekend I’m going to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Weather says 85 and sunny. I’m going to relax so hard.

Hasta la vista,

Jack