Our trip to Switzerland began with us staying up one whole night before embarking upon a flight which would let us get a glimpse of the Alps. We had prepared ourselves for the 17 hour session beginning with the checking in for our Emirates flight 3 hours prior to the departure of the flight. We got ourselves a 4 day Swiss Saver Consecutive Day Pass for 157 Euros per person the previous evening and we had decided to carry around 500 Swiss francs with us for survival.The morning was great since neither of us had had a wink . We had also called up the cab to come at exactly 6 in the morning since we would have to be at the gates as early as at forty minutes past 6. Both of us had decided we would sleep off the stretch to Dubai. When we got there, we found out that our flight was delayed by almost one and a half hours but there was nothing to worry about. This was different because this was our first trip abroad together. The experience wasn’t new because as far as journeys are concerned we are used to delays and we didn’t complain. It took almost 1 and a half hours to get our baggage checked in and from there we went to Immigration Clearance to submit our GOI form which is a departure card that has to be submitted whenever one leaves from or comes into the country. It mentions the purpose of visit and so on. Our hand bags went through the scanning and finally we were ready to board. When finally we boarded the flight it was almost 11am and it took just 15 minutes to take off. The seats were arranged in zones of C, D, E and F for us who were flying economy class. Business class passengers boarded the flight 5 minutes before us. We hardly got much time to sleep on the 4 hour flight to Dubai as we were showered with lime juice, fresh wipes and menu cards. Then it continued to flow. We were asked about our drink preferences and we could have anything with or without ice. Emirates has a plethora of options on the house except champagne which the passenger would have to pay for. The flight pursers didn’t really make the intervals too long. Every half hour was good enough for them. We were only 45 minutes into our journey when we were served brunch. We weren’t embarrassed enough to say we weren’t  hungry because we were certainly ravenous after staying up the whole night before and hardly having the time in the morning to prepare breakfast and run to catch an international flight. As far as I remembered I had had a strong cup of coffee as an early morning wake up drink. Brunch was enviable with bread and butter, green salad, chicken , baked beans and rice, mango nectar, bread pudding with chocolate sauce for dessert, a juice of your choice, a cup of coffee and a piece of chocolate. I go into the detail of this because apart from staring at the screen in front of you to watch the movie of your choice or listen to some music or play games or stare at the other passengers around you (which is not something I cared for much), the only colorful thing that can entertain you to a certain degree is the service of the Emirates crew. They are certainly groomed to perfection and make us feel badly dressed. Am I saying too much? Actually no. I don’t think I’ve ever found people of so many different colors, shapes and sizes looking so good in uniform. I suppose their jobs matter. None of them looked sad or weather beaten. They certainly moved with class. Anyways we were indulged with another round of drinks before the flight landed at Dubai. Since ours was a connecting flight, we only needed to go through the Transfers area in order to go to the boarding gates. Dubai airport is virtually nothing less than a shopping mall and anything and everything that is expensive is available there duty free. Our next flight was at ten minutes past 4 and it was dot on time. One has to understand that the whole concept of airport architecture and design is something to look forward to on these journeys. With so many people around it does take some time to venture around but I believe it’s worth it.We didn’t have a whole lot of time so we decided that we would look around the airport on our way back. It was the same treatment on the Emirates flight to Zurich, the only difference being the presence of the Alps. We were well into the evening and at around half past 8 in the night we got our first sight of the Alpine territory from our flight. We were seated on the left side of the flight and the kitchen was right behind us so we had a huge standing window from which we could take pictures of the Alps if we wanted to. When our flight landed at Zurich it was broad daylight at a quarter to 9 and by the time we reached our hotel, Radisson Blu which was in fact connected to the airport, it was 10pm and the sun had just set.We got our electronic key cards which we would need to open our room doors as well operate the glass elevators. It felt good that the summers were so long. I wondered how it was so. Rooms with attached baths are quite expensive in Switzerland no matter where you go. Anything that involves personalized service is likewise so. Our room was located on the 5th

floor, #435 and our window faced the aerodrome. We could watch flights taking off and landing almost 24hours. After such a journey we did need some sleep so we took wonderful warm baths and went to bed as early as at 12 am under warm white blankets and even whiter pillows. We would have to wake up early if we wanted any breakfast. The wakeup call came at a quarter to 6 but I had already been awake at 5 am when the dark shadows had been lifted from the sky and daylight gradually filled our room. I made myself a cup of hot chocolate with coffee which was on the house. They had provided an electric kettle to heat the water in. The shampoo, conditioner and body lotion which we were to use would be refurbished each day. Two bottles of drinking water and coffee and tea would be refurbished as well. We got dressed and went down for breakfast at half past 7. The breakfast was also on the house as it was bed and breakfast for us. Unless you live in Switzerland, you would not know what it is like to have a healthy breakfast. There were 3 types of yoghurt, blueberry, strawberry and apricot, 5 types of breakfast cereal, muesli, oats, 3 types of jam, strawberry, apricot and apple, mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, boiled chicken sausages, boiled bacon, boiled eggs, 5 types of bread, fruits like apricot and fig, milk, 3 types of juices, orange, apple and multivitamin, coffee and tea. I don’t think we have such variety day in and out. We had ample choices and we could try each food category or we could choose and have some and leave some. It was a buffet breakfast so you could have as many servings as you wanted. We managed to finish breakfast in half an hour since we had decided to visit Zurich that day. We walked all the way from Burkiplatz to Limmatquai via Bahnhoffstrasse. It was a nice walk. I met a woman called Mehtab who worked at Thomas Hilfiger and talked to me about visiting the forts of Rajasthan. It was the first time that I came to know that India is as fascinating to the Western eye as everything else. This land has strict smoking and nonsmoking zones. She was obviously smoking in the zone. Zurich’s Bahnhoffstrasse is filled with departmental stores and banks and water fountains. The walk by the Zurichsee was nice. It wasn’t till later in our journey that I realized that it is quite possible that I might come back here and make it my home.