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Yo, I'm going bonkers trying to find my way to the Swiss Valley.
I fly back to Stanstead(London) from Norway on the 21st of June. I would like to check out Lauterbrunnen. Anyone going? any Ideas how to get there? Fly to Italy,France, or Germany and take a train? I checked Easyjet and ryanair for cheap flights to Italy but I can't find a site for trains to Lauterbrunnen. I'm not getting along with this computer very well
-J
Anyone else going that way?or to the terminal Italian wall?

If you mean Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland, get an easyjet flight to basel.

You can find train tables here:
www.sbb.ch

Jamie-

There will be a several of us from the states in the valley that week and then headed over to Italy around 6/24.

Baxter.

Hey man, a lot of people fly into Zurich, Switzerland and then take a train down to Lauterbrunnen. If you find a way into Germany you can take a train down. Go to this site http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en to go anywhere from Germany. Use this dictionary http://www.dict.tu-chemnitz.de/ to translate some stuff to figure out the site. Good luck man.

Edit: It's about 100.00 Euro for a 22 year old to go from Frankfurt to Lauterbrunnen and return the next day. http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/...8315703&OK#focus

fly to Geneva, BAsel or Zurich, then take a train to LB via Interlaken on http://www.sbb.ch

Is there any way to view this site in english?
Can I just find a flight to switzerland and figure out the trains when I get there?

~J

Von means From
Nach means To
Datum means Date
Zeit means Time

BTW: every hour on the hour all day long

And gugigatseli means kitchen-cupboard!

I love that word. Love Switzerland too. Still my favourite country in Europe.

Almost:

Chuchichäschtli, and your throat has to hurt...

J

If you have a cell phone that works internationally bring it!! You need a phone in the valley to call Air Glacier before every jump. They don't want to deal with FRS radios so someone in the group needs a phone.
AS for gettiing there, no clue as we drove from Norway last year to the Valley. Great place!

Dave

Dude. Train from Zurich to LB is super easy to catch. There's a metro station in the airport that will take you to the main train station, and pretty much all the ticket agents in Zurich speak English.

Swiss trains are efficient, polite and multilingual. Kind of like everything else in Switzerland.

I am 100% sure that if you land there, you'll be able to get to the valley before the end of the day.

In the US (probably elsewhere too) you can order a Swiss phone on the internet, have it delivered to your house, use it in Switzerland, and put it back in the envelope to return when you get home. Very handy. I had a very hard time getting a cell phone in Switzerland. Hot tip for Americans: T-Mobile phones work all over the world, most of Europe calls cost a buck a minute or so, but you get to keep your US phone number.

It's not Zurich, but I tried to get a ticket from Luzern to Munich last summer. Blank stare. I tried a couple more times. Nothing. "Oh, can I get a ticket to Munchen?" Sudden recognition.

I never had a problem using English in Europe, which is almost embarassing, really. In Amsterdam we ran into a beggar who, after a first try in Dutch, asked us in perfect English (with no accent) if we could give him a bit of money, all the time appologizing for his English. That's humbling.

However, it seems that it might be worth your while to make sure you know what your destination is called locally.

Michael

Thanks for the advice Tom,with the bus and ferry scedules my 4 jumping days in norway is now more like 2
~J

To be slightly more specific: a Tri-Band GSM phone will work pretty much anywhere in the world, though I believe not in Japan. Not all GSM phones are tri-band, so check before you march off depending on that phone.

Most recent Nokia and SonyEricsson GSM phones are tri-band.

edit: More technical details:

GSM in the USA is on 850MHz & 1900MHz. GSM in the rest of the world is on 900MHz & 1800MHz. A tri-band phone designed primarily for the USA will work on 850, 1800, & 1900MHZ, while one aimed at the rest of the world will function on 900, 1800, & 1900MHz.

What I meant was the the service you get through T-Mobile functions seamlessly overseas. This is not true of all tri-band phones from U.S. providers.

also called ROAMING

we should open a cell phone forum

You forget that Tom lives in a backward country when it comes to mobile telephony... they still think you need to pull the aerial out to use the handset

If you do not want to get a cell phone. don't sweat it.
A Swiss. Phone Card for International Calls @ the airport for about, 10 $ USD.
There International. calling card could be the cheapest I have ever ran into traveling
I only used about half the minutes up and gave the card to some other jumper when I left.
The town is so small, it's only a few minute walk. I called home about every day from Card Phone by the Train station and the Post Office in Lauterbrunnen.
.

For those who don't know, jumper sare requested to call the helibase before each jump to inquire about incoming/taking off helicopters. So you need at least one cell phone per crew.

The phone No is written on a board ar each exit.

Also, it's worth stopping by Air Glaciers when you get into town anyway. When we were there last summer, we were able to get heli rescue insurance from them for about 30 Swiss francs, I think.

Michael

Definitely get the insurance. Got it, used it.