After waking up, we checked out from the Kameha Grand and took the tram over to Zurich Airport. After checking in, we visited the Swiss Senator Lounge where we had some breakfast as we left too early to eat at the hotel. We returned to the US on United, arriving at Newark in the afternoon.
Morning
We got up early to check out of the Kameha Grand, unfortunately too early to have breakfast. Overall, it was a pretty good stay! The hotel’s location was convenient to transit as it was directly on multiple tram routes with easy access to central Zurich. Zurich Airport was just as convenient as it can be accessed via routes 10 and 12 from Glattpark, the stop near the hotel.
After arriving at the airport, we checked in and passed through security and departure control.
We headed to the Swiss Senator Lounge in terminal E where our flight is to depart from. We had a nice view of the main terminal building with the mountains beyond. It was just about sunrise as we arrived.
The lounge has an interesting wooden decoration on the wall. Various Swiss mountains and lakes are displayed along with the Swiss cantons and their coats of arms.
We were happy that the lounge has a selection of food items as we were hungry from not having had breakfast! The options weren’t too great but the price was right, as in free, and it was definitely better than the typical United Club in the US!
Flight
Soon, it was time to head to the gate for our United flight. The aircraft was a 767-300.
Boarded and ready to go!
A beautiful scene at the end of the runway!
Goodbye Zurich! We will be here again I’m sure!
After serving business class meals “express” style throughout the pandemic, they’ve recently started going back to serving the salad and appetizer separately from the main dish as well as returning to multiple page menus.
Generally speaking, United’s catering is mediocre at best. The beef tends to be the most reliable.
The ice cream is generally the best part of the business class meal.
The pre-arrival meal is generally equivalent to what is served in Domestic First.
Arrival
When arriving at Newark, its best to sit on the left for a view of Manhattan on the way in! EWR is south of Manhattan so this works when the winds are from the south. If the wind is in the opposite direction, sitting on the right just mostly gives a view of suburban New Jersey.
Typically, we prefer to fly into Dulles. However, this time, we were only able to get upgraded on flights via Newark. While entering the US didn’t take long with Global Entry, it took a long time to get to the Newark Airport Rail Station as it involves taking the extremely outdated AirTrain.
Once we got to the train station, took NJ Transit to Metropark where we had tickets on Amtrak‘s Acela for remainder of the trip home as the Acela no longer goes to Newark Airport. Amtrak tickets are inflexible and increase in price close to departure, often being ridiculously expensive at over $200 per person for just the standard Northeast Regional service from NYC to Washington DC. At these prices, it makes Swiss rail travel seem extremely cheap! Our backup plan was a one way rental car, which ends up being significantly cheaper than last minute Amtrak tickets. Luckily, our flight was on time and we easily caught our train, though we had quite a long wait at Metropark!
Trip Summary
Overall, we had a fantastic trip in Switzerland! We travelled with just a very general itinerary, only deciding in advance that we would stay at the Essential in Interlaken as well as the Kameha Grand in Zurich. These both turned out to be excellent choices. The Essential was extremely convenient, modern, and clean, as well as reasonably priced. The Kameha was the same.
The Berner Oberland Pass worked out quite well for our stay in Interlaken and delivered considerable value, particularly in Grindelwald and the Jungfrau Region. The only hiccup was the issue with the Alpen Tower. We travelled to locations that we hadn’t been to before and got to see the Jungfrau Region area around Grindelwald in different weather and with snow on the ground at the higher elevations.
We also enjoyed our time in Bern, even though it was a quick half day visit. We saw quite a bit, even a bear! Zurich had quite a bit to offer for our three night stay. The Christmas markets were nice to visit as were all the other locations of interest to us tourists. There is still plenty that we didn’t get to do, in particular the Lindt Home of Chocolate museum and the Uetliberg peak. There are also ancient churches that we should have popped into as well and museums that may be interesting.