You forget the details of European airports when you're away for a while, the enclosed smoking lounges, the PA announcements in British English, the on demand escalators that start automatically when a pedestrian approaches, the cleaning ladies in the men's room (it's fun to watch American men hesitate to enter the men's room when a woman is in there cleaning).
The Zurich airport has a tram that connects Terminal E to the rest of the complex. My connection was flying out of Terminal A. Once off of the tram I passed through Passport Control and picked up a Starbucks coffee for eleven dollars. It costs half that much in New York. As I sipped my coffee, I made my first silly mistake.
I asked the cashier at Starbucks where I could find a bank machine. I wanted to withdraw some euros. She directed me to a machine in Terminal B but said that she didn't know if it dispensed euros. In my jet lagged haze, I thought that this was a silly comment. So, I hiked for ten minutes, venti non-fat latte in hand, to Terminal B, located the machine, put in my card, and realized my error. Switzerland doesn't use euros; they use francs. My long walk was for nothing. I dashed back to my gate where boarding for Athens was about to begin and a long queue had formed. Luckily, I was still in time to find space in the overhead compartments for my hand luggage.
The flight to Athens was smooth, and the weather cleared as we approached Greece.
Copyright © 2014 Daniel R. South
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