Sun rising over the motorway in France

Last night was very busy getting packed and sorted at home, and Gavin and I felt very sad saying goodbye to the boys and that Christmas was over for another year. However, we were looking forward to spending time with them in Switzerland for New Year, as we have done every year for the past 18 years (except during the 2 Covid years). 

We woke up at 3.30am to get to the Eurotunnel, our crossing was booked for 6.20 and we were hoping to depart on an earlier train to get a good start on our journey to Switzerland. We always book Flexiplus which means we can vary from our booked times. However when we got there it was so busy with really long queues to board the trains. By the time we checked Xena in at pet passport control and then queued for entry onto the train it was an hour later than our original booking. 

About a hour into France we stopped off to eat the breakfast I had made and to give Xena a break. It was so cold even Xena wanted to jump back into the car. I took this as the sun was rising at 8am, I really had no opportunities for any other photos today.

It actually turned out to be a rather stressful day. We were just about to stop for a lunch break when Luke phoned with bad news. He had been turned away from boarding the plane - after going through all the other checks - as his passport was out of date. Only yesterday he was saying he had just over 3 months left until his passport expired and so it was still valid to travel. Unbeknown to us, that law has changed - we think very recently - and one’s passport now expires 10 years after the date it was issued, which happens to be 4 months earlier than 3 months before expiry. If it sounds complicated, it’s because the issue date of a British passport is 7 months earlier than the expiry date 10 years later. He had flown to Spain only 2 weeks ago and this was not a problem then, so he had no idea the rules had changed - all due to bloody Brexit of course. We were all gutted and so upset. Gavin and I sat in the car park of the services on the motorway in France wondering if we should carry on to Switzerland or go back home as we all really want to be together for new year.  An additional problem was that Luke had the keys to the apartment as he was due to arrive before us and so with him not coming it meant we could not get in. Luckily we realised the caretaker of the building still had one of our spare keys so we phoned him and asked him to leave a key out for us. 

Luke then had the clever idea of booking a train ticket on the Eurostar to Paris as he knows they are not that fussy when they check passports at St Pancras, so he returned from the airport and went to St Pancras station and he got on the Eurostar without any problem. He was determined to get here at whatever the cost! He is now in Paris and will get the train (TGV) to Switzerland early tomorrow morning. 

We finally arrived in the Swiss mountains at about 7pm after a few stops. However, the key was not where it was meant to be...so we could not get in. Gavin decided to try and climb up 2 flights onto the terrace as he knows that the patio doors don't lock and he could get in that way. The boys have done it before but Gavin realised it was harder than it looked. Luckily our neighbours were in (as no one in this building lives here permanently) and they came out with a ladder and their teenager son climbed up for Gavin. What a relief! 


We had no food as we have not bought groceries yet so we had a quick pasta supper in the village (they finally serve GF these days). Adam and Pip have just arrived now. It is very late and we are tired from our early start so it is off to bed now.