The Reunion Part I - Geneva, Switzerland to Casablanca, Morocco Antics of Earthbound Astronauts

    • Places & Travel

After three contrasting months apart, The Earthbound Astronauts have finally reunited! We’ve only been on the road for five weeks, yet we’ve had the pleasure of traversing through eight distinctly different countries. It’s been an adventure-filled reunion, so this is only Part I of our unpredictable voyage. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it! To listen to the Part I podcast click HERE! Switzerland – Geneva – September 30th – October 1st After being apart for three months, we were both enthusiastic to start the next phase of our journey. Meeting in Geneva was convenient for us both as Casey had been travelling with his parents in Switzerland, and Geneva was only a short two-hour train ride away from Lyon, where I had been stationed for the previous two months. We jubilantly met at a prearranged hostel both invigorated by the unknown of the coming months. Casey was excited to be no longer travelling solo, whilst I was ecstatic to be on the move once more. Wanting to celebrate our once again formidable duo, we ventured into Geneva to enjoy a meal. Having been forewarned of the exuberant pricing in Switzerland still did not prepare us for the blatant extortion encountered! Unfortunately for us, pricing was relative to the heightened salaries received in Switzerland, those with heavy financial restraints, such as ourselves, were reduced to the common European travellers meal: a baguette, cheese, salami and a lukewarm beer. Meeting Casey’s parents at The European Organisation for Nuclear Research or ‘CERN’ was a very exciting occasion. We were able to join them both for a tour of CERN and find out about the enormous subterranean particle accelerator and the recently confirmed Higgs Boson, a concept that is still outside my scientific grasp. It was a great event to share with Casey’s dad, David, as he has a great passion for physics, and this facility is at the forefront of research in this area. As we sadly farwelled both Aleysha and David, it marked the true beginning of our journey. A combination of rejuvenating motivation along with Casey’s resent success hitchhiking, spurred us on an adventure to hitchhike from Geneva, Switzerland to Barcelona, Spain. Catching public transport to the Swiss-French border, garnished with our packs, we climbed a small fence leading to the highway, casually strolled across the border checkpoint, placed our packs down for but a second, barely having time to lift the iconic hitchhiker thumb and a car pulled up. Knowing the broad direction we wanted to head in, AKA west, the driver asked us where we’d like to go, we said Lyon (a large city in the general direction of Barcelona), when he said he wasn’t going in that direction we naively insisted that any ride was a good ride, even one that smelt so strongly of cheese… We had a great time chatting to our new Hungarian friend about his new life in France; however, it soon became apparent that we were not heading in the direction we’d initially intended. We ended up in Chamonix, a small town in the shadow of Europe’s tallest mountain, Mont Blanc. Surrounded by snow-capped peaks, luscious forests and typical French buildings, this charming town is what dreams are made of. Contemplating our new situation, we separately had the same idea of travelling into Italy. Astonished at our already distorted plan (a habit we cannot seem to break), we changed our tact and now waited on a highway, not so far away from the Italian border, waiting for our next willing lift. Italy – Genoa & Cinque Terra – October 2nd – October 5th We were eventually picked up by a really nice Italian-speaking Albanian, who was kind enough to drive us past his own small town to Aosta, a town with a main train station. We drove through an incredible part of Italy, with valleys dotted with various castles and villages, which seemed to be untouched by the progressive modernization witnessed in larger cities. Unfortunately, our new friend was unable to spe

After three contrasting months apart, The Earthbound Astronauts have finally reunited! We’ve only been on the road for five weeks, yet we’ve had the pleasure of traversing through eight distinctly different countries. It’s been an adventure-filled reunion, so this is only Part I of our unpredictable voyage. Don’t blink or you’ll miss it! To listen to the Part I podcast click HERE! Switzerland – Geneva – September 30th – October 1st After being apart for three months, we were both enthusiastic to start the next phase of our journey. Meeting in Geneva was convenient for us both as Casey had been travelling with his parents in Switzerland, and Geneva was only a short two-hour train ride away from Lyon, where I had been stationed for the previous two months. We jubilantly met at a prearranged hostel both invigorated by the unknown of the coming months. Casey was excited to be no longer travelling solo, whilst I was ecstatic to be on the move once more. Wanting to celebrate our once again formidable duo, we ventured into Geneva to enjoy a meal. Having been forewarned of the exuberant pricing in Switzerland still did not prepare us for the blatant extortion encountered! Unfortunately for us, pricing was relative to the heightened salaries received in Switzerland, those with heavy financial restraints, such as ourselves, were reduced to the common European travellers meal: a baguette, cheese, salami and a lukewarm beer. Meeting Casey’s parents at The European Organisation for Nuclear Research or ‘CERN’ was a very exciting occasion. We were able to join them both for a tour of CERN and find out about the enormous subterranean particle accelerator and the recently confirmed Higgs Boson, a concept that is still outside my scientific grasp. It was a great event to share with Casey’s dad, David, as he has a great passion for physics, and this facility is at the forefront of research in this area. As we sadly farwelled both Aleysha and David, it marked the true beginning of our journey. A combination of rejuvenating motivation along with Casey’s resent success hitchhiking, spurred us on an adventure to hitchhike from Geneva, Switzerland to Barcelona, Spain. Catching public transport to the Swiss-French border, garnished with our packs, we climbed a small fence leading to the highway, casually strolled across the border checkpoint, placed our packs down for but a second, barely having time to lift the iconic hitchhiker thumb and a car pulled up. Knowing the broad direction we wanted to head in, AKA west, the driver asked us where we’d like to go, we said Lyon (a large city in the general direction of Barcelona), when he said he wasn’t going in that direction we naively insisted that any ride was a good ride, even one that smelt so strongly of cheese… We had a great time chatting to our new Hungarian friend about his new life in France; however, it soon became apparent that we were not heading in the direction we’d initially intended. We ended up in Chamonix, a small town in the shadow of Europe’s tallest mountain, Mont Blanc. Surrounded by snow-capped peaks, luscious forests and typical French buildings, this charming town is what dreams are made of. Contemplating our new situation, we separately had the same idea of travelling into Italy. Astonished at our already distorted plan (a habit we cannot seem to break), we changed our tact and now waited on a highway, not so far away from the Italian border, waiting for our next willing lift. Italy – Genoa & Cinque Terra – October 2nd – October 5th We were eventually picked up by a really nice Italian-speaking Albanian, who was kind enough to drive us past his own small town to Aosta, a town with a main train station. We drove through an incredible part of Italy, with valleys dotted with various castles and villages, which seemed to be untouched by the progressive modernization witnessed in larger cities. Unfortunately, our new friend was unable to spe