Hoping to start off the next trip on a better note, we had arrived at the RDU airport (not a university as someone on the airplane asking me confusingly) not even 48 hours from the flight back in from San Fran. Our flight path would be to first depart Raleigh to Dulles to Frankfurt then into Basel. Frankfurt was a freaking huge airport, we had to get bused both arriving at the airport and debarking the airport. When we left during our long  journey along the airport tarmac, an old man leaned over to me and stated that they might as well just drive down to Basel seeming how long its taking us to just get to the airplane.

Flying Lufthansa was very nice and clean although the small child in front of me was not feeling well. His mom placed a open barf bag next to him in the event he did, Jen at this point left me know too that she would do the same if he barfed…super. When we got to the Basel airport it was nice to know that things looked familiar. We walked outside the airport being careful once again not to walk out into the wrong country. Not a minute went by until we saw this frantic women running to us. It was Gina come to greet us into her hometown! I was again comforted by family in a foreign place but on the bigger picture this was Jen’s first time out of the country. Staying with the Colleluori’s would be the best break-in for her to get familiar with an foreign country.

Our carrier going from the Holland to Switzerland was the Netherlands orange carrier called EasyJet. They had a simple process to getting a seat on the flight. They basically offered fares at low prices by using a system of first to check-in gets dibs on the seats. To best take advantage of this system we arrived at the airport at the optimum time. When the flight marquee displayed that our flight was boarding, we dashed to the mile long line at the security check then headed downstairs. Once our ticket was ripped we where directed to one of the five lines in order of who gets to go first. We were second to the people who had the “preferred tickets”… probably overpriced tickets. When our line was released to go, it was like black Friday right before Christmas seeing people make a mad dash to the plane. Looking back, the other three lines were left looking through the glass doors like sad kids watching us go play for recess. I almost wanted to stick my tongue out and put my heads by my head to spite them but I knew they probably wouldn’t like that.

One hour later I couldn’t believe it but we landed in Switzerland at a little airport called Basel. This airport rested on the border line of France and Switzerland so depending on how you left the airport you could be in a totally different country. Entering Switzerland was almost too easy, just a nod by the Immigration officer and I was through. No stamp on the passport or a search through my bag. This was very much different than passing the border in South America. My cousins Joe and Gina were there in smiling faces to greet us. I think meeting family is the best thing when getting off a plane. Of course that is if your mom doesn’t say to you “where’s the coffee?” when you first see her.

Getting into a gunmetal grey Audi A6 Quattro Wagon, those are everywhere in Switzerland, Fifi directed us back to their house. Fifi by the way is their GPS system in the car, another great invention to man. No more maps…too easy.Today was our first whole day in Basel and for some reason we must have brought the rain with us. It rained cats and dogs off and on all day so it made the walk around town pretty nasty. Crossing the Rhine River we learned that the river divided Basel into two different regions. On one side was “Big Basel” and the other was “Small Basel.” On the big side, the building facing the bridge were two face statues, one was sticking his tongue toward the small basel and the other was a scary statue of a face with eyes that would wonder back and forth.From conversing with a friend of my cousin Gina, she explained to me what makes Switzerland Switzerland. Getting a bank account doesn’t require someone to prove any type of identity what so ever. That’s what makes is so desirable for “dealers.” Back in WWII days Switzerland prospered from many different ways. One was through the U.S. housing spies in Switzerland, on the flip side Russia was keeping ex-spies here also. So it was a win win situation. Many chemical factories based here supplied Hitler for his “experimentations.” Even though I hear they don’t admit to any of it. They love the fact that they are very organically safe about their vegetables and meats rather than the hormone altered meat that we have here. Out of all this, I have found that Switzerland has a unique personality. They love doing their own thing, they know they make good things and they have large amounts of financial power. Don’t mess with them and they wont mess with you.