The day finally arrived. It was time to say goodbye to our home in the US and say Hello Switzerland!
Let me take a moment to note that Anthony ended up getting a pretty bad cold about 3 days before we left. Which turned into me getting sick 1 day before we left. Which meant – time to run to get a COVID test because that’s just what we needed next. Thankfully, the results came back negative so we took all the cold medicine and powered through.
Moving Day
The car was packed to the brim. 6 suitcases, 2 backpacks, 1 purse and of course Finn and his kennel (which is massive). Our first stop was at the Detroit Airport to pick up our rental car which we would then drive to Chicago. We made it to Chicago International Airport with even some time to spare..so we thought.
The panic started to set in. Oh my gosh, we’re getting on a plane to say Hello Switzerland AND not come back…
Anthony dropped off our luggage, Finn and me while he went to go return the car to the rental shop. The moment when you’re alone with all of your items and about to move to a new country can give you quite a strange feeling. I was excited, nervous, scared, sad and still in disbelief.
Time to Check-In
Once he got back, it was time to go check in for the flight. It was hard to talk to the lady who was helping us as her English wasn’t the best and that’s all we know. There were so many forms and documents that had to be in order and secured to fly Finn as well which added more time and of course, more money. We then had to take Finn to another area in the airport to have him checked to be approved for the plane. Unfortunately, with Finn being a larger dog he wasn’t able to join us in our seats on the flight. I literally could not even say good-bye to him without tears streaming down my cheeks. The thought of our little Finn on the plane in the cargo area, alone, was just not where he should be!
Next, we made it through security with some time to spare. So obviously we had to get some drinks and a shot of tequila because WOW that was a lot and we were almost on the plane! Anthony decided to order some food since we had never flown internationally we didn’t really know if we’d be served dinner on the plane or what that would entail. We got the bill and realized, oh boy it’s 7:09pm our flight leaves at 7:30pm! Time to book it to the terminal.
Did we just miss our flight…
2 seconds after we started walking we heard our names being called over the loudspeaker: “Anthony Shaner and Alexandra Pelyak final boarding call.” You guys, I was dead. I couldn’t believe it! It was then time to SPRINT. Were we even going to be able to say Hello Switzerland or be stuck in the US missing our flight? We made it JUST in time. Could you even imagine all the stress we went through, and then don’t even make our flight!? Sitting here typing this even makes me annoyed with ourselves ha-ha.
But we made it. Last ones on the plane but it is what it is! Our seats were thankfully just the two of us next to a window and we got the clear that Finn made it onto the plane too. Turns out they do feed you food and give you complimentary drinks on the flights. I ordered a glass of wine, had a nice vegetarian pasta meal and sat back to enjoy my movie – Chicago. 4 hours into the flight I decided to try and get some sleep. Well that lasted about an hour until there was some turbulence and I of course started thinking the worst. Then, 2 hours later we were being served breakfast – we didn’t even think we were going to get 1 meal but we received dinner and breakfast!
Landing at our new home
8 hours on a plane however, not ideal for me. I definitely started to get plane sick ( I’m not sure if that’s the technical wording) Or maybe it was the 3 glasses of wine, a shot of tequila, turbulence, stress, little water, lack of sleep… Regardless, I was just extremely thankful that we had landed on the ground safely! Of course in order to enter the country we had to first make it through customs. Our luggage were the first ones out from the plane – I swear that NEVER happens. Wondering where Finn would be though we heard his little squil. There he was, where the freaking strollers come out! We were so happy to see our little guy but we couldn’t get him out of his kennel just yet. Next, Finn made his way to customs and we were giving the all clear!
Finally, we located our driver who was helping us with our luggage and getting us to our temporary home. By this time I was just beyond exhausted but was so excited to say Hello Switzerland! Of course it was cold and rainy so not the best views but still such a cool experience. We got to our apartment and unloaded the van and then it was definitely time for a nap!
