Arrival in Basel, Switzerland

And our journey begins... well, actually it began 10 days ago...

Nate, Jake, and I landed in Zurich after a long flight. Fortunately, it was a relatively empty flight, so I was able to spread out over 3 seats. I only left 2 seats for Nate! Jake had to travel in the cargo hold, so his trip was much more stressful than ours. We rushed straight to the baggage claim area and there was Jake... sitting all alone in the middle of the floor. He was a little dazed, but definitely happy to see us! We zipped through customs without an issue and we were officially on Swiss soil! The smell of cheese and chocolate was in the air and the faint noise of a distant yodeller drifted down from the mountains. Okay, we are stretching the truth a bit there, but we were happy that the majority of our trip was over.

Next, we took a 1 hour train ride to our new home, the city of Basel. When we got off the train, the first thing we noticed was that it was really cold. We were dressed for a summer day, but it felt like a cold winter day in Raleigh. We awkwardly carried our 2 checked bags (The first weighed 50 lbs and the other 49 lbs. Just under the limit of 50 lbs per bag!), the dog kennel, our 2 carry-on bags, 2 pillows, and Jake to the taxi waiting area. I am not sure how we managed that, but we did. As we hailed a taxi, we were in for a surprise, our taxi driver spoke NO English! Not a single word. Talk about culture shock! So, Nate just pointed to the address of our temporary apartment and smiled. Fortunately, we arrived safe and sound and promptly took a long-needed nap.