So it’s time for round three of Sam’s European Adventures. This time my resolve is to see as many different countries as possible, even if I quite literally step over the border and back again. I had hoped that my visa would have come through but alas we’re still waiting so I’m just here on another three month visit. I think I’m kinda over the whole living in Geneva thing by now – and do I like those long haul flights? Oh no I don’t!

My arrival in Geneva almost got off to a disastrous start when I was pickpocketed, rather clumsily, on the bus from the airport. My makeup bag I can live without, but my passport was a different story. Fortunately a friendly native told me that a woman had taken something out of my bag and pointed her out. Acting instinctively I made a grab for my things which I could see under her arm… whereupon she promptly dropped them on the floor and pretended they were there all along. I called her a thief and made my indignation known to all and sundry, but she calmly stayed on the bus until the next stop where she got off. What can you do really? More lessons learned and I will be maintaining a vice like grip on my bag from here on out 🙂

And finally… Go Wildcats! Beat those 36ers tomorrow night while I’ll be cheering you on from my computer 😦  Ah it’s a sad, sad thing to miss half a basketball season. Really should have timed this vacation better.

So it seems I actually miss Chris. I suppose the precursor to that is I’m sitting in Dubai airport waiting for my connecting flight back to Perth with my grand adventure having finally come to an end. There doesn’t seem to be much else to  do at 2am other than to reflect on what I like to think are some valuable lessons learned from my travels. Here they are in no particular order:

• There is more than one train station in Florence.
• Always check your tickets before you leave to make sure you’re going to the right train station.
• Don’t fly Easyjet unless there’s no other way out of the country.
• Try to avoid buying anything in Switzerland unless you really do have money to burn or it’s on sale.
• Paying a lot of money doesn’t necessarily get you the best accommodation. Sometimes less is more.
• Just because a restaurant has a good review on Trip Advisor, doesn’t mean it’s good. Then again, sometimes a good review is just a good review.
• When hiring skis, find a place right next to the chair lift. Also, don’t assume that just because you receive confirmation online they will actually have your skis reserved for you.
• Don’t drink the vodka at Russian karaoke/hooker bars.

So now I’m broke, I have no job, I’m too scared to get on the scales to find out how much weight I gained but I *did* have a great time and Paris is calling my name. So stay tuned for further adventures when they let me back in the country (in about three month’s time). There will be tears, there might even be dancing, but by god there will be alcohol – à bientôt!

After swearing I’d never sing karaoke I unfortunately found myself at a Russian strip joint on my return to Geneva belting out Bohemian Rhapsody with gusto after enough red wines at a tapas bar followed by vodkas at a karaoke bar/strip club.. At some point I found myself noticing it was snowing after landing in a snow bank in somewhat of a drunken stupor. Hmm snowflakes are pretty. Jesus, it’s only Monday night and my holiday has supposedly ended. Guess I shouldn’t drink and type… God   I hope nobody took photos.

PS: funnily enough had a really good time but it’s really hard to be coherent right now. Will I regret this in the morning?

Finally woke up to snow this morning! Not quite enough to make a snowball, but snow nevertheless. Now that I have achieved the only thing on my bucket list, I guess I’ll need a new purpose in life 🙂 Not much has been happening travel wise – but last weekend we had the Escalade festival which celebrates the Swiss fighting off their French attackers in 1602. This is a huge event in Geneva and it seemed the whole town turned out for it. They have a ‘secret passage’ which they open up once a year and naturally we made a beeline for it. I have to say I expected a bit more out of a secret passage, though it was interesting to walk in the footsteps of those who have gone before us over 400 years ago.

Our big adventure starts next week  – we’re off to Florence for xmas and new year’s so there will be more frequent blog updates over the next six weeks. What comes after that has changed many times, but we should have some news soon… Meanwhile, my capacity for alcohol consumption has increased dramatically. I’ll shortly be able to drink my own body weight in an evening. Oh, by the way I’m getting a gym membership when I get back to Australia in Feb!

My main goal today was to figure out the transport system and make it into the Tourist Information Centre so I could book a bus to Annecy (yes, we’re just popping over to France for the weekend). Somehow I made it into town but then got majorly distracted by one of the Department stores. Two hours and several hundred dollars later I finally made it to the bus station then wandered around for 20 mins trying to find the bus back. I think it might have been easier just to walk. I’ve been making an effort to speak French but the locals usually just laugh at my attempts and I end up having to point to something. It’s very ‘Lost in Translation’ – please call me Scarlett from now on…

I was trying to be so nonchalant about leaving Australia to live in Europe, but that lasted up until I had to say goodbye to Emma at the airport. I’m sure she was gratified that I did in fact miss her, as I’d probably given the impression that I’d miss the cats more than I’d miss her with all the cuddles they got before departure. To cheer me up Emma had taken photos of herself and the cats (including Zumba, who is technically the neighbour’s cat but has decided that he likes living at our place instead) on my laptop. I wonder how the cats will take to FaceTime?.

The flight wasn’t too bad all up. Nice to have a stopover at Dubai, but on reflection, I probably shouldn’t have asked for a bacon and egg mcmuffin at McDonalds. Coming into Geneva was pretty exciting as I had my first look at snow. It was everything I thought it would be – the Alps were beautiful and I can’t wait to get there. I’m just wondering if my long held wish to “see” snow before I die has now been granted by viewing from a plane window? I think I’ll edit that to mean ‘touch’ or possibly even ‘frolic’. The blue skies and crisp white snow at 37,000 feet were picture perfect, but as we approached Geneva we descended through a massive cloud bank into fairly miserable weather. It was about 10 degrees and grey, though at least it wasn’t raining. The important thing was that I made it! Of course that led to a minor freak out as the reality set in of what I was about to do, but hey, Chris is used to tears by now 🙂 He’d also brought chocolate with him, which was very perspicacious of him (he knows me too well).

Where we’re living for the next six weeks is not exactly a pretty location, but pretty central to everything – if I knew where ‘everything’ was that is. At the moment I might not be able to make it around the block and back, but once I start training for the Berlin half marathon, I intend to get to know this area very well. For my first night in Geneva we went out to a tapas bar in Old Town. I love Old Town! If we do stay here I want to live there (lots of bars and shops and beautiful old buildings). The waiter kissed me on the cheek when greeting us which somewhat startled me. As you all know I don’t even greet my family and friends this way (except on special occasions) so if I’m going to be accosted by the wait staff at every place we go, it could make for an interesting time… Maybe I’ll actually be kind of cosmopolitan on my return?

I’ve no idea what the next few weeks hold. For once in my life I haven’t planned it to the nth degree (although I am itching to make a list) and will just wait to see what unfolds. I have a vague notion that I probably shouldn’t eat too much chocolate and cheese or drink too much wine, but I think I’m in the wrong place for that resolution! Stay tuned to see how that works out for me…