DFW to NY JFK to Zurich ,Ground Transfer to Lucerne
After a hectic night (finding lost phones, finishing what had to be finished, etc.), Sunday morning we finished packing. (That means Marian, who was packed already, helped me as I got going at the last minute.) Jim P took us to the airport. After passing security, at our gate we noticed a large number of TSA personnel standing around with clipboards, along with a dog. The gate attendant announced we needed to have ID. When we got to the front of the line we were told “it’s nothing, just a random check.” (We also noted the TSA person was delighted to tell the young man ahead of us “you’re under 16 so we don’t need to see your ID.” Hope terrorists don’t recruit from the under 16 crowd.)
After a quiet flight to JFK, we landed at a gate not 20 yards from where our next plane was waiting. Then we were off to Zurich. The plane wasn’t any where near full, and for airline food it was pretty good. We settled down for a seven hour flight, when they started the videos.
First was a movie called “Guardians of the Universe Part 2.” I struggled along for 10 minutes before I wretched and pulled my earphones out. I’m stunned-STUNNED- to find out that they made enough $$ on Part I to decide to do it again. Marian read the paper, and I spent the next two hours alternating between reading books on Kindle and looking up to guess the plot of the movie without listening to it. It wasn’t that hard, and that isn’t a compliment.
Then we had rerun excerpts from broadcast television shows that I had not cared enough about to watch when they were first televised. (This was the highlight, by the way.)
Lastly, they started another movie that I think was called “Pacific Rim.” I can’t make this up, but to lessen the pain I will condense the tease from IMDB: Sea monsters called Kaiju begin a war that takes millions of lives and consumes humanity’s resources. Mankind’s main weapon: massive transformer-type robots that take two people inside to operate. In the end, it comes down to a washed up former pilot (male) and an untested trainee (female) who bear the future of humanity.
After almost two hours of sweating, kung fu (human) and kung fu (machine), lingering looks of not-yet requited love, a few “one-for-all-and-all-for-one” moments, and massive and apparently loud violence, the humans prevail while falling in love; and humanity continues.
We tried to sleep through this, but the flashes of whatever was blowing up onscreen keep most from sleeping. Again, we didn’t listen, but in a silent movie contest, Pacific Rim makes Guardians of the Universe Part 2 look like a runaway Academy Award winner.
The good news. As the videos ended, day broke over Switzerland. See the photo above. If you have to take a red-eye flight, this is a good way to end it. Switzerland rose up beneath us, beautiful green mountainsides and meadows with patches of fog lying in the low areas like ponds of water.
The description of the moves make me sound like a curmudgeon. (Don’t respond to that, please.) Tomorrow will be better. I will pick up as we land.
Moseley Travels 