Our flight was an evening red eye from Boston to Rome via Zurich leaving on a Friday night. After we were done with work we had a quick meal at home before catching a Lyft to the airport. We could have driven, but parking at the airport for the week would have cost much more than the cost of the Lyft.
For luggage we had one large suitcase, a roll aboard suitcase and a small duffel bag we planned to carry on. We each also had a backpack as a personal item. Due to the amount of luggage we requested a larger Lyft ride to make sure all our stuff fit. Despite being a more expensive option it was still cheaper than parking at the airport.
Checkin and Security
We arrived at the airport several hours before boarding time and proceeded to checkin at the SWISS checkin counter. They checked our passports, weighted our luggage, including the carry ons, and printed out our boarding passes. I inquired about the TSA Precheck since my wife and I both have it. Normally on domestic flights we get to use the expedeted process with the kids and I had seen that SWISS was enrolled in the program. I didn’t get a clear answer from the agent but I understood that they are part of Precheck, but not in Boston.
That began to make more sense once we made our way to security. In Boston there is no TSA/Precheck line in the international terminal we were departing from. We had to go through the long, slow line and remove our shoes and laptops. The line seemed especially slow as a lot of people had bags that were being flagged for extra checks.
While my wife and the kids made it through okay, my bag was one that got flagged. I’m still not sure what triggered it as I didn’t have anything prohibited in it, but there are a lot of cables/wires/electronics in there and I can imagine it could look a little suspicious on the x-ray machine.
I had to wait in line with a half dozen other people who had been flagged while their bags were checked again. This process was not moving quickly so my wife took the kids to one of the airport lounges.
Airport Lounge
One of the benefits of some of the credit cards we have is a complementary Priority Pass subscription. Priority Pass is a program that many, airport lounges around the world are members of. Program members have access to these lounges which provide all sorts of benefits. Most have some sort of food or snacks of varying quality. They all have WiFi and a seating area which is hopefully quieter and less chaotic than the main airport terminal. Some have private bathrooms or even showers you can use. Some have free alcohol.
Depending on the membership terms negotiated by the credit card, members can bring guests into the lounge. There is an app that allows you to search for lounges based on the airport and will give directions, entry restrictions, amenities and other useful information. In Boston there were two lounges and we chose one called The Club.
We followed the signs which lead us to the lounge area of the terminal. There are several lounges specific to different airlines which we did not have access to. Those cater mostly to business and first class customers on those airlines. We were flying economy and SWISS did not have a lounge in Boston even if we were flying business.
We proceeded down an elevator and past several other lounges to find The Club. On entry we presented our Priority Pass card and they asked for the number of guests. At the time, the membership we had allowed unlimited guest (!!!!) so all four of us could get in.
We quickly made ourselves at home. The club was only about half full so seats were easy to find. There were some snacks and appetizers the kids took advantage of while my wife and I tied up some last minute details with work.
SIM Card Setup
I used the time to set up the SIM card in the phones we would be using on the trip. Rather than spending hundreds of dollars on roaming fees with our US carrier, I had found online a company called KeepGo. They offered pre-paid data only SIM cards that worked in over a hundred different countries around the world including almost all of Europe. Most importantly the prepaid data doesn’t expire. Most options I looked at had data that would expire 30 days after activated. Since we travel often, but not that frequently, having data that didn’t expire meant we could use the card over multiple trips which would save us a ton of money.
This card was one that only supported data which meant we would not be able to use it to make voice calls, but that’s not a big deal for us. If we needed to make a call home we could use FaceTime instead or any number of apps instead. We weren’t planning on calling anyone while in Italy. We don’t speak Italian so who would we even call?
The main purpose of connectivity when we travel is Google Maps. We use it to find places and to get transit directions on subway/bus/etc. We can also message family, check email and look up when we need to. It’s critical for us to get around and allows us the freedom to explore more easily. We know we can head off in a random direction and get back to where we need to be with just a few gestures.
In the lounge I set up the SIM cards in both phones we would be using on the trip and verified they were working (the US is one of the countries the cards work in). Both phones were unlocked, which meant we could use them on any supported network with any SIM card. We had two cards and phone in case we split up on vacation as well as having a backup in case one phone wasn’t working.
Waiting for Departure
We were set to go, but were still an hour or so away from departure. I took the kids up to the gate areas and we did some plane spotting to pass the time. My wife was watching the luggage in the lounge so it was a relaxing stroll. We walked to the other end of the terminal and saw where Norwegian gates were. We had plans to fly Norwegian for a flight a few months later so we took a mental note of where they were. We also saw signs to the Air France lounge which we knew was also a Priority Pass lounge we had access to. We’d have to try that lounge next time!
It was getting closer to departure time so we headed back to the lounge. We got the kids to their final bathroom break and left the lounge to wait for boarding time.
Boarding and Flight
We boarded with the family boarding group and made our way to our seats. Having two sets of two seats right behind each other was looking like a good choice already. We stowed our stuff and each of us sat with one of the kids. The kids immediately started digging into the entertainment system. We unfortunately found that the headphone jack was a dual prong version. I had an adapter for my headphones but not for the kids. They ended up only being able to get sound in one ear using the headphones they had. I’m still not sure why those types of connections exist but it’s certainly annoying.
Boarding took quite awhile but we were happily in our seats and barely noticed. We did push back close to on time. The overnight flight was mostly uneventful except for a fair amount of turbulence. For whatever reason Tomatico and I didn’t handle it well as the others. There were a few I-don’t-feel-so-well moments, but they passed once the flight smoothed out.
When we woke up from our semi-sleep we were in Zurich.
Tomatico Travels 