Geneva Airport – the most confusing place in the world?

When it comes to travelling via an airport (and leaving queueing aside which can be a bit boring and frustrating) I don’t generally find it to be a particularly stressful experience – it’s usually quite clear where you are and where you need to be.  Not so at Geneva airport; French side, Swiss side, arrivals, departures – none of these things have signs or directions!

After Sam’s show with Les Arts Florissants in Versailles, we hired a car in Paris for a trip to the Alps, and arranged to drop the car back off a week later at Geneva airport (French side).  We used SatNav and directions from several péage workers and nevertheless ended up at the car return depot on the Swiss side of the airport.  This was rather inconvenient as I was cutting it rather close on my flight time and we weren’t insured to drive out of France – oops.  Still, there were no signs that we’d actually crossed a border so how were we to know?

With some incorrect directions from the Alamo staff (Swiss side) we eventually made it to Alamo on the French side, hurrah!  We were then directed into the arrivals hall of the airport where we were swiftly told to leave the airport again and enter through departures, not arrivals. Easier said than done when there are no signs anywhere to tell you where to go.  So, now running through the airport ‘backwards’ (from arrivals on the French side to departures on the Swiss side), I said a hasty goodbye to Sam (who went to catch his train to St Gallen for his next patch of work – Purcell’s Fairy Queen) and queue-jumped my way through two bag-drops and security to run to the gate, in time to board my flight back to London.

Signage in France (and apparently Switzerland) is generally lacking clarity according to my recent travels through the region.  Even the signs to different runs on the Alpe d’Huez pistes were pretty poor, and the lack of markers ensured Sam and I took on some rather tricky off-piste boarding completely by accident (along with some very confused and terrified-looking French skiers).

We did have an amazing week’s snowboarding in Alpe d’Huez: 250km of piste, including the longest black run in the world, sunny days and a fabulous chalet (Chalet Lingayoni) where the other guests were great fun and the staff were fantastic.  Nick is a trained chef and whipped us up a new culinary masterpiece every night, and Ellie took care of us so well we didn’t have to think about a single thing while we were away. We will definitely be returning for more fun on the slopes here!

All in all Sam and I enjoyed an amazing 10 day trip from Paris and Versailles to Alpe d’Huez and back to Geneva (French & Swiss sides) with the exception of the Geneva airport drama and an episode with snow chains that, while tricky at the time, was well worth the effort when just over a meter of snow fell the night before we had to drive out of the Alps!  We were gutted that we didn’t get to enjoy all that powder (there had been no fresh snow fall while we were there) but we did partake in an epic snowball fight with the other guests at our chalet and the staff, so we didn’t miss out on all the fun.  And my new board/bindings combo is AWESOME!!

A lesson in customer service

I had an interesting experience at TSA (The Snowboard Asylum – Ellis Brigham) a couple of weeks ago.  After spending several hours researching snowboards on the net, I made my choice and opted for the Bataleon Distortia 11/12, 149cm.  Having called the store to check the size and make sure my new Burton Stiletto bindings were compatible, I placed the board on reserve on a Sunday morning to be collected on the following Tuesday afternoon.

When I got to the store it turned out that there is a 24 hour limit on reserves (which I hadn’t been told) and my board had been sent to another store for another customer. I was gutted.  The store said they could order in another board for me but it would take up to a week and I was leaving for France the next day.  They suggested other (more expensive) Bataleon boards that they did have in stock. They even offered to loan me one of last season’s Bataleon boards free of charge for my trip and order my board for me for when I got back.  However, having made my decision on that board, I wasn’t about to change my mind.

I’ve always found the staff at TSA to be very knowledgable on everything from kit to resorts, and on that day they were also very helpful – after I’d been informed there was a board in the Milton Keynes store I asked them to have that one couriered to my home; the manager said he’d make some enquiries and see what he could come up with.  His solution to the problem was to put the board in Milton Keynes on hold for me, send one of his team up there on the train and have them bring it back then deliver it to me at school the following morning.

In terms of customer service, that’s pretty good!  Admittedly, it was the store’s error that my board was not kept for me, but I really admire a business that goes all out to honour it’s contract with you when they’ve had a mis-hap at their end.  TSA have made an even-more-loyal customer of me thanks to their problem-solving and getting my board to me as promised!