So... Now I've visited Switzerland

Had no idea I would spend part of my weekend in the land of clocks and mountains. But I did. We missed the conneting flight to Stockholm in Zürich, due to delayed flight out of Lisbon.

It wasn't much of a surprise to us that the Stockholm plane left Zürich without us, as we, already sitting at the gate in Lisbon, had seen the departure time change every 30 minutes. Second time it was delayed we realized we were toast.

Before boarding the delayed flight in Lisbon we called our travel agency - alternatively we could have attacked the Gate personell, which the majority of our fellow travellers decided to be the ultimate way of managing the situation. I really really really would like to know if they honestly think that screaming at a person in Lisbon will make time stop somewhere else in the world. Anyhow, the sad news for us was that our ticket didn't allow the agency to re-book us from Lisbon, but there was a chance we could be re-routed from Zürich via Copenhagen to Stockholm.

By the time we arrived in Zürich I couldn't care less about making the Copenhagen plane, but my colleague was dying to get home. So we ran. Like crazy. With coats, computer bags and hand bags flying. Trying to be polite by informing the travellers, slowly making their way in front of us, to mind us as we needed to pass them. We did good. We made it to the transfer desk first of all. But no luck. The Copenhagen plane was full and gate closed (as if that mattered since the plane was full already). Part from that little piece of non-interesting information the Swisse staff impressed us with their efficiency and pleasantness. Coming in from Portugal I guess we were easy to impress as well.

Standing at the desk, my colleague took care of answering questions and sorting out the details, so I had the possibility of watching other people. And again I was amazed to see how angry people behave (and this time it was not me). What incredible amount of energy must be used to be angry. What little good comes out of doing business when being angry. And how different people under press behaves. One german guy was standing way back in the line screaming at us all to hurry up. Moron. Then I overheard another guy saying he was a bit nervous he would not make his flight to Copenhagen (the guy was now first in line, but no clerk available to assist him yet).
I asked: "Are you on the 20:10 to Copenhagen?"
He: "Yes, but I have no boarding pass which was informed I must get here".
So I asked our Swisse-clock-clerk if it was possible she stopped helping us for a minute, in order to give the guy his boarding card which she happily did.

So, all in all, the trip back to Stockholm was not all bad. We've had a *lot* of good laughs and I'm so glad I didn't end up doing this trip alone. (Partially cause I would have laughed, and seemed like a crazy person being on my own).

As soon as we had our hotel voucher, and the boarding cards for the first flight out Saturday, we decided to (1) have champagne - for fun and (2) do tax-free shopping - which we normally never have time to do and now my kids will be happy.

Things that made me laugh:
* Fellow travellers - an endless source of joy. Sometimes because of how they look but most times because of what they do.
* Swisse people - proud wearers of funky looking moustaches
* Portugese people - excellent ignoring upset people (which is amusing as this upsets them even more)
* Ourselves - surprisingly stupid but in good spirit (like having the champagne instead of picking up our bags from the belt, so had to claim lost luggage...)