Days 0 and 1
- When: July 10 and 11
- Where: Holly Springs, New York’s JFK airport, Zurich
July 10. We begin. Let’s call this day 0.
I’ve been “off” the past two days leading up to the trip. Some of that is attributable to anxiety around a job interview I had the day before I left, but I feel there’s also something else at play.
I slept fitfully the night before the trip; Sherri, Rowan, and Siena had to be at the airport around 5:00am. After dropping them off, I tried to sleep again but it didn’t take. I comfort-binged some TV, finished my packing, and headed to the airport around 12:30pm. RDU was fine. JFK was fine. Delta has a new lounge at JFK for “Delta One” travelers. It’s large, and was quite busy when I arrived around 5:30pm, though I did manage to find a seat toward the back. By 7:30 it had thinned out some. I was feeling run-down during this whole time, and the long part of the trip hadn’t even started yet. I dealt with some stomach issues and headed to the boarding gate. After changing gates, we dealt with a ~90 minute delay. I was glad to get to my seat, get settled, and try to grab some sleep.
I managed around 4 hours, I believe, which wasn’t bad for an ~8 hour flight once you factor in takeoff, landing, and meal service. We’ve landed, and thus begins day 1.
Zurich airport customs and immigration line was moving well, taking around 10 minutes. Once you exit arrivals, the train station is located adjacent, and also has stores and a food court. The train from Zurich airport to the city center is super easy, and only took 11 minutes.
I made it to my hotel around 12:30. Check-in is at 2pm sharp, so I left my big backpack with the desk and went for a walk around town. I headed in the general direction of the lake, stopping once for a Coke Zero and then sitting near the Ganymede statute and people-watching for about an hour. Truly, though, I was walking dead and not feeling amazing. I slowly made my way back to the hotel, got to my room, and napped and took it easy until 6:00. After that? More walking! I wanted to head back toward the lake and explore more on the east side. Some dark clouds and thunder rumbling made me rethink that once I was almost at the lake. Note to self: find a good weather radar app. Instead I doubled-back toward my hotel’s neighborhood. Dinner was sushi (kind of) at this place. Tasty, but not all that filling. The NA beer was… ok. I debated treating this meal as an appetizer and making a goal of finding a more ‘proper’ dinner but ultimately deferred to my waistline and did without.
It’s 11:15pm now. I’m back at the hotel, having showered and readied myself for bed. Not sure what the night holds with respect to my funky sleep schedule. It’s possible I end up binging like 3 hours of Parks & Rec and then ultimately pass out and wake up late morning. We’ll see.