Am I Still Welcome?

  The short answer seems to be yes, despite the recent actions of the United States, U.S. Citizens are in fact still welcome in Europe. But keep in mind that so far I have dealt only with folks in the tourist biz, except for my kind and friendly seatmate on the flight here from Zurich, we'll have to see when I'm out and about tomorrow.

I did something Really Dumb, but (spoiler alert) I think it's going to be all right thanks to the magic of technology. I knew I had to pack my credit and debit cards, but I got distracted and--well--didn't. Uh oh. Fortunately I have my bank's mobile app on the phone and was able to load my credit card into the phone's wallet, and used this to pay for my taxi into town. I also obtained a digital debit card, but I haven't figured out how to use it yet. Europeans do EVERYTHING on their phones. Me? Not so much.

I flew business class from LAX to Zurich with Swiss Air. The last time I flew Swiss I was in coach and was bitterly disappointed that the cheese that came with the meal was American cheddar. Seriously?

This time was different. I was in an older plane and the seat was smaller than I was used to--perfectly comfortable though. I was in the window and the aisle seat was occupied by a kindly man who urged me to wake him up if I needed to get out. Fortunately he moved seats, so I was not trapped.

The service and the food were first rate! It didn't hurt that the flight attendant was a very handsome young man. Here is a shot of the amenity kit and the sleeping shirt (which took but didn't use) he passed out.

Some nuts and champagne to welcome me aboard.

 

Behold the starter. I had smoked duck with more champagne. I had preordered a meal. I've done it before, and it never seems to work out for me, but the nice flight attendant brought me some lovely fish instead. Yum.

 

And here are the remains of the Swiss breakfast I scarfed up.

We arrived in Zurich, and I thought the new entry system would be a giant pain because the media keeps warning us. Nope. They took my finger prints and my photo and examined my passport. It was like normal.

 

I spent most of my layover trying to figure out how to use money with my mobile bank app. It's good to learn new things, I guess.  The flight to Malta was crowded and noisy, but I did have a pleasant seatmate and a good dinner with more duck! No wine. I was already jet lagged.

 

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