Destination: Europe

Well, the time has (almost!) come to bid you all “au revoir”, “auf wiedersehen”, or just “good ‘ay mate”. Unless, of course, you will be coming with us! About a hundred of you have all signed up for this next Trip which will be leaving tomorrow! Please note the following details and make sure that your Final Payment is sent in along with your current passport, the visa needed for the U.K. and of course, your signed Permission Slip (no forgeries!) Please give all of these to Miss Crabtree before you board the bus!

Our Adventure starts at Newark Liberty International Airport where we will board the first of our two flights to Zurich. Why two flights you may ask, and I will attempt to answer.

                        The bottom line is Availability of Seats in the smallest category of classes aboard an “International” flight, that being ‘Premium Economy’. This oxymoronic tag is assigned to about three or four rows of seats in a special configuration on the larger jets. Think extra wide, only two together, real silverware when eating, and hopefully some chocolate snacks. This is obviously an ‘Upgrade’ from Basic Economy and should not be confused with the seats on domestic routes that are considered ‘Premium’ because there is an extra 1.4513 inches of legroom. It seems that both International and Domestic flights have their own separate nomenclatures and standards.

                        What this all boils down to is me trying to avert the Air Marshal from incarcerating me because I’m in full-blown Panic Attack because of my RLS (Restless Legs Syndrome, for which I am the Poster Child) has kicked in or threatened to in my mind, even though I’ve taken the meds. So, better seating is obviously a good, helpful solution to my dilemma. But procuring these elusive seats on the routes desired can be a bit of an issue, even for the Pro’s, like the Flights Department of Viking Cruises. It turns out that cruise lines work closely with the airline industry (obviously!) the latter which ‘open up’ seats to Viking (and others) on a ‘months before’ system, and Viking doesn’t get all of these seats as some need to be held for all of the other vacation entities that need to include them in their plus Roundtrip Airfare deals.

                        So, the only ‘Premium Economy’ seats available at that time (and probably in the already quoted airfare cost) were on Air Canada which means a small flight to Toronto and then the Big Flight to Zurich.

                        Our two-hour layover in Toronto will hopefully not be one of those that require us to ‘enter’ the country, retrieve our luggage, be processed, and then be hastily ushered to our departing gate. Since we will not be leaving the airport hopefully it will be a smooth transition from one plane to another. Time will tell. Then hopefully it’s Sleepy Time for the overnight. We arrive at 10:30 AM Zurich Time  (GMT/UTC+2) NYC is currently -4 so if my math is correct, there is a six-hour time difference between Zurich and NYC. Couple that with an 8-hour flight time, divided by the circumference of the earth, factoring in some radiational cooling of the atmosphere and the Coriolis Effect of the Northern Hemisphere, multiply that number by Pi (3.14)  and you come up with enough time for a snack, a meal, and hopefully a light breakfast, accompanied by a plethora of available movies to watch which turns that Sleepy Time into a bleary-eyed arrival in Zurich where they are waiting to whisk us away to our First Adventure… check-in at the Hotel in nearby Lucerne where hopefully there is a nice  assortment of those fine Swiss Chocolates that we’ve heard so much about! FYI…. it is customary for the members of the Tour Group (you) to share said Chocolate Gatherings with the Tour Leader (me) if you don’t want to be led astray (did I say that?)

                        Reconnoitering the Hotel Vicinity in anticipation of our real First Full Day (Saturday) (and the plans and excursions awaiting  our frenzied little group) will probably finish out Friday.

                        Please be on time for our ‘Tour of Lucerne’ as you all know how much I dislike lines of Tourons frantically stumbling onto the Bus.

                        Lucerne is our Pre-Trip ‘add-on’, the pièce de rèsistance will be the following eight days on the Rhine with stops every day. You may pack lightly for this voyage as there are no Formal Nights, nor a pool on board. You may jettison those bathing suits and formal clothes and throw in a few shorts, maybe something a little nicer for the Dining Room. So, now to quote the incomparable Jackie Gleason…. “and away we go!”