Tuesday, June 16 - Our Adventure Begins - Travel Day on a Buddy Pass

A generous neighbor gave us Buddy passes for flying to Europe. That means we would fly on a stand-by basis (if seats were available).The cost for our tickets was far below what we would have paid had we purchased full fare tickets. Flying on Buddy passes in the summer is not advised because the planes are very full. So, of course, we were a bit nervous. We had confirmed reservations for a flight from Amsterdam to Geneva, Switzerland on Easyjet and then a van transport to Les Houches, France and hotel reservation for the night of June 17th. We had one day extra in case we didn't make any flights on June 16th -- not much insurance.

Our hike was scheduled to begin on Friday, June 19 and we had booked our room accommodations through Macs Adventure. We chose the 10 Day Tour with Comfort option  (private room each night and a private bathroom - except on two occasions).

We changed our flight plan on June 15 because flights from Atlanta to Amsterdam were full and in some cases oversold. Another neighbor, also an airline employee, helped us change the plan to fly from Atlanta to Boston and Boston to Amsterdam.  

Take off from Atlanta

 All went well. In fact, we had to hurry once our plane landed in Boston. As we approached the gate to the Amsterdam flight, it was already boarding. We didn't have time to worry about whether we would be given a seat on the plane. The gate agent gave us our seat assignments and we walked on almost immediately. We found space for our backpacks in the overheads and took our seat.  

Can you tell we are thrilled to be have made the flight to Amsterdam?

 Before take-off a flight attendant came to our seats and said there was one seat available in Business/First class; did one of us want it? We had discussed this scenario ahead of flying in case it was offered and it was decided Nick would take the seat. He moved up and I enjoyed an empty seat next to me for the flight to Amsterdam. It was a good flight.

Leaving Boston

 We had a very long wait in Amsterdam for our Easyjet flight to Geneva which did not depart until 5:20 pm. We sat a lot and walked around some and tried to find our gate for Easyjet. We found it but were told by the gate agent we had to enter through another side. There was a glass wall and we needed to be on the other side of the glass wall to go down the steps to the gate (even though the steps were the same -- weird).  It was very complicated and when it came time to go down for the flight, we found an employee who walked with us to show us the way -- and even he had to ask for directions a couple of times ....

Our ride to Geneva

 Our collapsed trekking poles were in our backpacks and we hoped Easyjet would not make us check them. Online the policy stated they had to be checked. They went through security just fine. We breathed a sigh of relief.

Mountain Drop Offs van transport arrived in a timely fashion and we were off to Les Houches, France (near Chamonix). It was about an hour and fifteen minute ride and the beauty increased as we got closer to our destination.

Mountains here we come ....

Hotel Les Campanules -- we had a beautiful view from our room. 

It was just a little after 7 pm when we arrived and we went down for dinner. The food was delicious and plentiful ... Nick was in awe of the mountain view from our dining table.

Zuchini mousse - notice tiny spoon on side of glass

Tartiflette -- cheese, bacon, potatoes, wine (local dish)

We also enjoyed a green salad and fresh bread. I enjoyed a delicious white wine.

We were seated in front of a big picture window with a spectacular view

 After dinner we went outside and saw the sun setting and illuminating the mountain.  Incredible. We had never seen anything like this before ..




We were very tired and so we prayed a prayer of thanksgiving for our safe travel and for our arrival in France and we went to sleep.

As the sun set, the mountain began to glow ... incredible beauty.  It's called alpenglow -- a first for us. What a beautiful  goodnight gift from God as we went up to our room.