Sliding Sideways in Switzerland: A quick entry about a unique airport transfer.

Late Night, ~10PM. Me and Dad had just landed into Geneva airport, we had organized a transfer to La Tania via coach and were rather excited about the prospect of a warm room and bed. We quickly found the tour rep, shouting in their bright red ski jacket to make their presence known to everyone in the airport. In the end, there were only about 15 other people with us, so we had a whole 52 seat coach pretty much to ourselves.

As usual for me, I have an inability to sleep in buses, planes, cars etc. Nothing changed with this trip, and in an effort to make the best of a bad situation, I found a double seat to myself, got cosy, and resumed listening to Serial (I know I am very late to the party with this Serial, yet as soon as I started listening I was hooked. I found Adnan’s story fascinating and would recommend this podcast to anyone!)

The coach journey was going swimmingly, with us making quick progress and almost a worryingly small amount of snow on the ground. As we climbed higher everything changed rather quickly, from slush and green trees to a village coated in white, with the snowfall reflected in the street lights. Our 52-seater bus really did spoil the tranquil scene of this French mountain village, and as we continued things got progressively worse…

We were approaching a sharp corner that winded around the mountain to the left. (If you flip a ‘n’ 90 degrees the shape will perfectly represent this corner.) As we approached you could tell we had a questionable amount of speed, with one of the other passengers shouting, ‘we’re not going to make this!’. Almost by his command, the bus came to a halt, seconds later we were sliding backward down the very road we had just climbed, spoiling the scenes of the tranquil village once more. As I turned around I remember seeing a car behind us, and a man frantically trying to back up. Unfortunately for him it was icy, and he was going nowhere, well, until our bus slid into the front of him, making us slide together for a further 30 ft before eventually coming to a stop. We all looked around at each other and collectively you could tell everyone was thinking the same thing: ‘whew, that could have been much worse’. Then in the corner of your eye you see headlights piercing through the snowfall, of not one, but two cars, both coming down the same corner we had just failed to climb. The car in front saw us almost immediately and hit the brakes. Unfortunately, much like the previous car, the wheels just didn’t have enough grip on the ice to slow them down, resulting in them and the car behind steadily crashing into the front of us. We were now sandwiched in between 3 cars with no hope of going anywhere, yet luckily stuck, with no chance of sliding down the mountain any further. Not exactly the start to what was supposed to be a quick weekend retreat.

As a result of this ordeal we remained stationary on the mountainside for roughly two hours. The best form of entertainment was watching people maneuverer the icy surfaces surrounding the bus. One passenger insisted on getting off for fresh air, ignoring the warnings presented by the staff. He descended three steps toward the door, placed one foot on the hostile surface, slipped instantly and ended up sat on the floor in complete bewilderment. Quickly he was helped to his feet and re-entered the bus, greeted by a barrage of laughter from his friends. Two more tried, two more failed, and two hours later we were on the move again. Newly equipped with what looked like a tank track to help us attack the climb. From this point on we proceeded steadily. Although progress has improved the atmosphere on the bus had taken a turn for the worse. Everybody was silent, whether it nerves or tiredness, nothing was said until we arrived at the hotel.

Although the night before had been a living nightmare, it was worth it to wake up to views like this