The flight plan: Charlotte>>Washington>>Frankfurt>>Geneva

We left Charlotte most concerned about the connection between Washington and Frankfurt. I figured once we were in Europe, we were “safe.” As long as we made that connecting flight, all would be well.

I spent our time taxi-ing to the gate and then on the shuttle bus in Washington looking up vegan-supportive airport restaurants so we could grab dinner without having to stop to look at menus.

We got pizza (&pizza has great vegan options including “cheese” and “sausage”!) and ate at our departure gate. With about 20 minutes to spare before boarding, we felt pretty comfortable.

Boarded the plane, plenty of room for our backpacks, no one meant to be in our middle seat: all was good. As the plane filled up, it started to get hot, but we were assured once we took off, the AC would kick in.

After 20 minutes, the pilot says we are waiting on a few connecting passengers who are trying to make the same flight. Then, there is a storm cell approaching. Then the connecting passengers (now on board) need to have their luggage transferred over. Then more lightening. All the while, the plane was getting hotter; one flight attendant confirming that it was at least 86 degrees.

Ultimately we took off ~1h40 later than expected.

Struggling to decide

Our connection in Frankfurt allowed only a one hour layover, meaning our connecting flight left before we even touched down.

When we landed, we queued up to receive the rebooked flight information. That turned out to be a flight to Munich, then Geneva, arriving in Geneva almost 10 hours later than originally planned. Two different gate agents suggested we take the train from the station under the airport.

We left the terminal towards border control to go to the train station. The schedule was tight, and the line at border control wrapped the whole room. After about five minutes moving only two feet, we turned around and headed back toward the terminal to opt for the flight rebooking instead (if we missed the train–very likely–we would have arrived the same time as the flight).

To make matters more complicated

Here’s the thing: when we were advised to take the train instead of the flight, we were also told we had to cancel our Munich flights or else our return trip would be in jeopardy. So we quickly had a gate agent cancel that before trying for the train.

It was only a flight voucher that we had, not boarding passes, so we anyway would have had to speak to a ticket agent. When we got back up to the terminal, the ticket agent line was, you guessed it, wrapped all the way around. To speak to an agent in that line took us over an hour. At which time we were told the flight was full and because our voucher had been canceled, he couldn’t add us back on.

The next available flight to Geneva WAS direct, but it didn’t leave until the next morning, meaning we would miss day one of our Mont Blanc tour.

At this point, it was after noon. If we had stuck with the original flight, or we had stayed in line at border control, we would have already been en route! But because we waffled on both, options were scarce.

Just get there!

It would be easier to take the morning flight, but we desperately did not want to miss the first day of hiking. Once again we turned back and made our way to border control.

This time the line was not so long and we were able to get through and down to the train station.

Peter knows a bit of German, but not enough to get us around easily. We bought our train tickets, but were more than confused about identifying the next steps.

The man at the info booth (head to the Duane Reed logo if you happen to be stuck in this station) was able to print out our whole itinerary, complete with stops, train direction, and platform numbers.

Of course, the first and second legs of the train journey were delayed, so the whole voyage from Frankfurt to Geneva was 7 hours and 4 layovers/connecting trains to catch.

We rolled into Geneva Cornavin station just before 9pm, still with another hour drive to go. But at least we were in the right country and able to make it the same day!

See you for day 1 of Mont Blanc!

-P&D