Switzerland has been a destination on my bucket list for years now. I have always wanted to ski the Swiss alps and skydive. I’m happy to say I finally got to check that off my bucket list this month! 

Getting to Switzerland, however, was a disaster to say the least. As we packed up and called a taxi on Thursday night, we got a notification informing us that our flight was canceled. The 8 of us began to freak out because we had an Airbnb as well as other plans fully booked for the weekend that we could not cancel. We looked for other flights, but they were all full. We tried to book a train but everything was canceled. We panicked for a good few hours before ultimately coming to the decision to take the bus. The bus was our only option at this point unless we wanted to arrive in Switzerland at 11pm on Friday and spent $600, which we definitely didn’t want to do. The bus left at 10pm and was 12 hours long. Never in my life have I taken a bus this long, so we really didn’t know what to expect. We packed into the bus and began our journey. We downloaded movies, bought snacks and wine, and it honestly went by faster than I thought it would. 

We arrived in Geneva, Switzerland at around 9 in the morning. We got dropped off at the bus station and took a taxi to the airport so that we could pick up a rental car. Everything was so expensive, with our taxi being $45 despite being a 5 minute drive. Once we got our rental car, we started our drive to the airbnb in Verbier, Switzerland. We packed 6 people in a tiny 4 person car with all of our luggage and drove 2 hours to Verbier. The drive wasn’t terrible, but only because we had a stunning view of the mountains. Once we got to our airbnb, we quickly rushed and got ready to ski. We claimed bedrooms, changed, put our snow pants on, and ran out the door as fast as we could to get to the ski mountain. We rented the rest of our ski gear and got on the gondola. Even though I grew up skiing, I was a little nervous to ski the alps, because I know how dangerous it can be and how difficult the terrain is. We decided to take it slow the first few runs and practice since it had been awhile since we had all skied. 

After a few hours of skiing, the ski-lifts closed and we decided to ski down to the W and Giorgio Armani Hotel for après-ski. We enjoyed drinks that were definitely overpriced, but nonetheless, had so much fun listening to music and drinking with the beautiful mountain view. Once the sun went down, we headed down to the car and made our way back home so that we could eat and shower. We were all exhausted so we took a few hours to relax before going to the grocery store and getting food to cook. We originally were going to get dinner at a restaurant but collectively agreed that we were too drained from our long bus ride plus ski day. We made chicken cutlets and pasta, drank wine and played card games by the fire before calling it a night. 

The next morning, we attempted to wake up at 8 in the morning but missed our alarms and woke up at 11am. We jumped out of bed and grabbed our things and sprinted to the car so that we could get as much ski-time in as possible. We made it to the mountain, hopped on our ski’s, and had a great day full of skiing. We decided to do another late afternoon of après-ski which was so much fun. We danced, drank, and took pictures and took the gondola back down so that we could prepare for dinner. 

We got home and all showered and went out to dinner where we enjoyed fondue and other traditional swiss foods. I personally ate pizza due to my picky eating, which again was absurdly expensive. After dinner we were all exhausted. We watched a movie, played some games, drank wine and headed to bed so we could get some rest for a big day.

The next morning, we woke up and checked out of our airbnb and headed to Interlaken. The drive was 2 and a half hours long, where we just slept and took turns driving. The view during the drive was gorgeous, passing the lakes and mountains. We finally arrived in Interlaken just in time for our skydiving program to pick us up at our pick-up location. I was shaking with nerves and was feeling very anxious to skydive. We got to the skydiving place and signed various contracts and papers, and the skydiving instructor joked and said, “Come sign your life away!” Which was funny but definitely made my nerves even worse. After what felt like an eternity, we finally geared up and got onto the helicopter and started flying into the air. At this point, my brain couldn’t even process what was going on because I was so shocked that I was literally flying in a helicopter. Out of nowhere, the skydiving instructor swung the door open and a blast of cold air hit me in the face. Within seconds, I went from sitting inside the helicopter to standing on the ledge outside staring 16,000 feet below me. On the count of 3, we jumped out and were freefalling for 45 seconds before parachuting down for 9 minutes. This was all a blur. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. 

Here’s a video I made of the jump:

Once we landed on the ground, I called my worried parents and told them that I was alive and well. We got “survival beers” from our instructors and watched the videos of us jumping out of the helicopter. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the center of Interlaken and enjoyed some cheese fondue before heading to Geneva to catch our flight back to Barcelona. 

We boarded the plane and it felt like I was still in shock from my day. It was so surreal and I had so much fun. Although Switzerland was extremely expensive, I had the time of my life and it was worth every penny. I hope I can go back someday!