Friday was more or less a free day. All we had to do was pack and leave Our Chalet and then my flight didn’t leave Geneva until gone 9pm. It takes a while to get to Geneva from Adelboden but not that long so I intended to have a day out to play in Switzerland. The trouble is, there’s an abundance of nice and interesting places in Switzerland and even by the time I’d packed and ambled 2.5km down the mountain to the bus stop, I still hadn’t decided where I was going. I had half a mind to go to Grindelwald, especially as I’d discovered that the mountains were snowy and beautiful. But I also like Lausanne, I’ve never really seen Geneva, Thun and Spiez are both nice… what to do?
On a whim, I went for Lauterbrunnen. A bus trip to Frutigen, a short train to Spiez, change to the train to Interlaken and then into the little rack-and-pinion train that goes up to Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald, depending on which part of the train you’re in. It was foggy at Spiez and the weather only improved a little bit at Interlaken. But as we trundled up the valley towards Lauterbrunnen, that valleys effect kicked in – the cloud lifted and the sky became blue.
The Lauterbrunnen valley is said to be one of the prettiest in the world. The trouble was that I couldn’t see much of it from a crowded ski train and even less from the station. Staubbach Falls, the thin waterfall that tumbles clear off the cliff, was visible but to get a proper look at it, I’d have had to walk right through the village and while I might have done that another day, today I had luggage. I had a suitcase! It’s been quite a while since I’ve travelled with a suitcase and while I like being able to take more stuff with me, it’s a pain to travel with – and this particular one has a slightly broken handle that won’t close unless you really slam it, which is why I have a small hole in my little right finger and a ticket to Adelboden that’s stained with blood.
Having arrived in Lauterbrunnen, my attention was immediately drawn to the cable car on the other side of the road. I’d done the calculations on the train to Interlaken. In order to catch all the connections back to Geneva Airport on time, I could allow two hours in Lauterbrunnen. I had time to see the view from the cable car. But as soon as I entered the building, my suitcase was taken from me to be put “in the box” and a helpful man pressed the right buttons on the ticket machine for a ticket to Mürren. I’m normally quite capable of operating a ticket machine myself but this was a train ticket machine and I had no idea where the cable car actually went. Ticket to Mürren? Fine. I didn’t have to actually go to Mürren. I could go up the cable car, enjoy the view and come down.
We were somewhat packed in. No views during the ride, except extreme close-ups of the other passengers. And when I got to the top, it turned out my suitcase had been automatically forwarded to Mürren. It’s a car-free resort, halfway up a mountain, accessible only by a couple of cable cars. Staff are luggage, they assume it’s going to the village. So I had no choice but to hop on the single-car train and trundle along the edge of the shelf to Mürren to fetch it, during which time I really discovered how stressful it is to travel with a suitcase – or specifically, without it. I had no idea where it was, where it was going, how it was getting there, where I’d find it or even when. I had a plane to catch in eight hours, halfway across the country. I needed that suitcase.
Luckily it was waiting on the platform at Mürren. I had time to enjoy the view at last but things had got a little beyond my control and I wanted to be on the next train so I could get off the mountain and back into the rail system that I understand as soon as possible. Should have just gone to Grindelwald. Or up Harder Kulm, which is something else I’ve somehow never done.
I allowed myself ten or fifteen minutes of selfies and views before boarding the train again. Now I could start to piece together what adventure my suitcase had had. Luggage goes in a big open oversized tray on the front of the train. From my seat in the front compartment, I could see that tray and that was less stressful. Until about ten thousand skiers boarded at the middle station and I found myself nose-to-nose with neon padded snowsuits. At the cable car station, the big tray was removed by forklift from the train to be sent down the wires – I later learned that there’s a kind of second level under the cable car where that tray is attached. My suitcase was right beneath my feet the whole time. I missed the Interlaken train by minutes reclaiming the suitcase, going closer to Staubbach Falls for photos and buying postcards and chocolate in the kiosk. But that was fine. The next train was the one in the schedule I’d worked out three or four hours earlier, the one that would deliver me back to the airport with utmost efficiency.
So I clattered down the mountain railway to Interlaken. Took the local train to Spiez. Intercity train to Bern – plenty of seats in the family area in the last coach; standing room only everywhere else. Double decker Intercity Bern to Geneva and it was seven minutes late, which is unheard of in Switzerland. My schedule could afford seven minutes, though. Anywhere else in that connection and I’d have been scuppered.
Geneva Airport, incidentally, needs to put departure screens where they can be seen from seats. No good providing seats, which they do, if you have to be on your feet half a block away at all times to check your gate. I was suspicious when my gate didn’t show at the advertised hour. When I noticed that all UK and easyJet flights were delayed I knew what was happening. For the purposes of this blog, we won’t mention the incessant incandescent rage that occurred from the moment I stepped off the plane at Bristol Airport until I got home to my own bed too many hours later. I was very tired, I’d had a surprisingly stressful day, I hate ill people and I also hate Bristol Airport.