WEDNESDAY MORNING…
Hooray! We made it to Heathrow...a little bleary but still pretty cheerful. I didn’t sleep at all. But the guy across the aisle did! He’d been at a conference in Austin about some sort of high fat diet...but he’s vegan...go figure. He’s thinking that he should start eating some responsible meat, like something a friend has shot or roadkill. He came all the way from Sweden to consider it. But the reason he slept so well was the CBD oil spray he’d bought in Austin. He had to explain to me that it’s the over the counter non-hallucinogenic part of marijuana that’s supposed to help you sleep among other wonder cures. It certainly worked for him so I’m going to look for it when I get home!
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Now after a rigorous screening we’re in the lounge waiting for our 2:10 flight. The gates are only posted one hour before the flight...security I guess...so we’re here with a herd of waiting people. Peter and I are both relaxed and really excited about this trip...tight airplane seats aside.
Sitting in the travelers’ salon, waiting until precisely 1:10 for our gate notice, we’re a part of a sea of privileged refugees from the traumas of travel. The area has become an encampment with luggage stacked everywhere...some opened to reveal underwear and cosmetics and bubbling over children’s gear. Mine is open to show off my huge 4 week supply of assorted medications. My purse and Peter’s bag have spilled out onto the seat between us...zip-locked bags of carrots and chocolate covered almonds and several kinds of chargers. We ate our chicken and roasted pepper sandwiches on the flight over last night so we’re starting to get hungry. Everybody seems to be eating. Pret A Manger is just around the corner where we can get sandwiches and salads for a surprisingly good price.
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The short flight from Heathrow to Geneva was great for napping and we easily got our one piece of shared luggage and pulled it and our 2 carry-ons to the train connection to Martigny. Now, the super slick, super quiet bullet glides through the the manicured rolling hills toward the Alps. Apricot and apple orchards, just on the verge of ripe, completely covered in netting, are on the left...and then appears fields of sunflowers, dried and bent over...exhausted from following the sun every day of summer. On down the way they’re being harvested for their seeds.
Huge Lake Geneva is on our right. It stretches for miles in an arc to the south-east and we can see the Alps of France rise up on the farther side with lots of very expensive houses nestled in the folds and down on the shoreline. The sparkling lake is full of sailboats out to catch the last winds of summer.