Sunday, June 18th

I get up early to get some pictures of the bridge. I luck out with the weather. It�s a clear sky in the morning. I think I end up getting my best shot of the Chapel Bridge. The other morning the sunrise had an orange tint. Today it�s much clearer. I can even make out the top of Mount Pilatus and the chalet at the top of the mountain.

As I�m taking pictures Mark comes walking by. He is on a different flight from everyone else and has to get to the airport sooner.

When I get back, even though it�s early everyone has started getting ready. We want to be at the airport at least a couple of hours before the flight. Jim is down to a single contact lens and has popped out the lenses of his glasses. Hopefully he can make it home.

Getting to the train station and to the airport is uneventful. We are at the airport in plenty of time. The adventure home starts when we get to the check-in desk. Jim and I had booked our flight so far in advance that we don�t have assigned seats before checking in. Earl and Chuck have seats because they booked the flight later. Key point,

if you can, always get assigned seats before you even check in.

Heidi tells us that we will get 300 Francs since we are being bumped. That is a minor consolation. The bad news is that we will have to go to Frankfurt and then transfer to another plane back to Chicago. We will get into Chicago about 2-3 hours later then we would on the direct flight with Chuck and Earl. We go with Chuck and Earl to the gate just in case something happens and we luck out.

As we are sitting and waiting Jim goes to the bathroom and somehow rips his last remaining contact. Jim is basically blind at this point. His eyesight is as bad as mine so everything is just a blur. Chuck and Earl get on the flight. It was a lot of fun with those guys but now I�m on my own with my blind traveling companion Jim.

Since it is now a couple hours later then when we checked in the flight Heidi had setup as our backup out of Frankfurt is now booked. Heidi came to the gate so she is now on the phone trying to figure out how to get us home. Heidi has bumped up our compensation to 400 Francs now. Again, the bad news is that we will take a British Airways flight to London, switch planes to another British Airways flight to Washington Dulles in the U.S. and then switch planes to a United Airlines flight to Chicago. We should arrive sometime around midnight. The trip home has turned for the worse. To get our money and get booked on the other flights we have to go back to the check-in area of the airport. Since Jim is now practically blind I have to guide him around the airport.

Heidi meets us back at the check-in area. Our changed flights are booked, so at least we have seats and should get back to Chicago tonight. It looks like we have time between flights that we should be able to get through security. Jim has to hold his tickets up to his face a couple of inches from his eyes in order to read anything. Jim is good-natured about his predicament. Our baggage is re-checked since we are on a different airline. We receive new baggage claim tickets.

We go back to the same gate area we were at previously and wait for our flight. We get on the flight, but it is delayed out of Zurich. Since the flight is delayed we will be cutting it close in London transferring to our connecting flight.

POTENTIAL DISASTER! We have landed in London but only have about 10 minutes before the connecting flight is supposed to leave. We will have to go through security again since we are in another country. A flight attendant announces that there will be an agent at the security area to check us through faster. Remember, Jim can�t see! We sprint, and I mean sprint through London Heathrow to security. Luckily there is an agent at security and he ushers us and a few other people quickly through security. We now sprint again to the connecting flight. Jim is following closely behind me as we run through the airport. It is amazing that Jim doesn�t knock into somebody. Somehow he keeps me in sight as I move in and out of people running through the airport.

We get to the gate and are lucky that they have held the plane for a few people like us that are connecting. So we have made it on the flight back to the U.S. Some guy is in my seat since he thought everyone was on the plane already. He gives me an annoying look and at this point I really want to tell him to go #$$!@#$$ himself.

I get a little sleep on the flight to Washington. Jim is trying to watch movies on the TV. It is funny to watch because he is only inches away from the screen.

We find out quickly that Dulles is a terrible airport. DON�T FLY INTO DULLES. You have to get on these weird buses in order to get from terminal to terminal at Dulles. Each bus might be able to fit a couple of flights, but is a royal pain in the #%@. We have to go through Immigration and then pick up our baggage and re-check the bags on the United flight. Immigration goes pretty quick but we wait for 20 minutes without any sign of our baggage. Since we had to spring in London our bags probably didn�t make the flight. We fill out the lost baggage forms with the British Airways agent.

Since we waited so long for our bags we are now pressed for time to get to our United Airlines flight. We have to go through security again. The security line seems long and it doesn�t look like there are a lot of metal detectors in operation. It�s about 9pm Eastern Time, and I have been up close to 24 hours at this point. Security takes awhile so guess what? We have to sprint to one of those stupid buses. Luckily the bus takes off for the terminal shortly after we get on the bus. At the terminal we have to sprint to the gate. It�s easier on Jim this time because there aren�t many people in the airport at this time of night. We do make the flight, but again we are the last ones on the flight.

When we arrive into Chicago it�s about 11:30. The only good thing is that we don�t have to wait to get our luggage because IT IS SOMEWHERE IN HEATHROW.

So the moral of the traveling store is ALWAYS GET YOUR SEAT ASSIGNMENTS!

Fast Forward 1 week later�..

I finally get my luggage back but Jim still doesn�t get his back. None of the airlines, Swiss, BA, or United have any idea where Jim�s luggage is located.

Fast Forward 2 more weeks later (so 3 weeks later)�.

Jim finally get is luggage back. Jim had already given up on the luggage being lost. Amazingly, enough all of this stuff is still in the bag. Jim�s luggage had taken a trip back to Zurich at one point.

Well that�s the end of the trip. It was a great time. I hope you had fun reading about my World Cup trip and seeing the pictures.

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