206) The 4 Days B4 the GR5!

I left Toronto in the early afternoon of Saturday, June 29th, 2024 to board a plane for Dublin where I had a one-hour layover with a connecting flight to Geneva. The flight to Dublin was delayed and therefore I missed the connecting flight to Geneva. The airline put me up in a hotel and paid for three meals, so I stayed the night in the Dublin hotel, but did not venture into the city at all. The next day, I tried to board the airplane to Geneva, but they had mistakenly given me a ticket for July 1st, 2025, instead of 2024. They quickly rebooked me, but the only available flight was to Paris with a connecting flight to Geneva. So off to Paris I went, and three hours later, I boarded my connecting flight to Geneva. Finally, FINALLY, 48 hours after leaving Toronto, I arrived in Geneva. Benoit, if you remember my funny friend from the GR10, was there to pick me up. We drove to his family’s summer home in the tiny ski town of Bernex, France. Véronique, also from the GR10, was there, as well. The three of us enjoyed the last of the three planned evenings together. It was wonderful to see my two friends! The next morning, Tuesday, July 2nd, I got on a train went back to the Geneva airport to pick up my lost-but-now-found luggage…the luggage being my beloved and much-needed backpack! Once reunited with “the boyfriend,” a.k.a. my backpack, I got on a train to Lausanne, Switzerland to board the famous, historic and beautiful ferry to cross Lake Léman to the small coastal village of St-Gingolohe, which is half in Switzerland and half in France. I stayed in a tiny and charming hotel on the France side, the only hotel there, which luckily had availability for me. There, I enjoyed a night of calmness and quiet after days of whirlwind events up to that point. The next day, Wednesday, July 3rd, I will begin the GR5.