Day 4: Transport

Jamie and I woke up and quickly packed up for the second time thus far. It was evident that we are already getting better at managing our bags at least! We first went to the Hackerbrucke bus station down the street from our hostel. Here, we boarded a bus to Zurich, which should have taken approx. 5 hours. Unfortunately, because of an accident, it took about 7..but I honestly could not care less because this was the most tricked out bus I had EVER seen. Two stories of giant, movie theatre seats with tables, a vending machine, and plenty of room. I stretched out over an entire row and enjoyed the ride - by far the best I had experienced in Europe. From there, we transferred to Bern, and again to Interlaken. I was shocked by how flawlessly we executed this. I had been nervous about this day since we booked it about two months ago, and it could not have been easier. We even arrived an hour earlier than we anticipated! While rainy, the scenery was still incredible and the trains were very comfortable. The entire way there, we kept praying for the rain to clear. As we approached Interlaken, it definitely seemed to be clearing up, but this was quite deceiving given that it was POURING the second we stepped off the train. We made our way to Balmers Tent Village. This famous hostel was our humble abode for the next two nights. We approached a  cluster of yellow and white striped tents across a big lawn. Walking up, we saw an above ground swimming pool, hot tub, hammocks, a bar, and music blasting. We checked in and found our way to the "Shanghai" tent, which was a platform with tarp and a double bed, two chairs, and a table. It actually looked SUPER nice, at least compared to other tents I have stayed in. The rain hitting the top was incredibly soothing, but, we were a bit concerned about our travel plans. We went back to reception to see what our options were in terms of activities. A pretty pessimistic staff member essentially told us we could not do a single "Interlaken" activity while there. But we did not give up hope, and thank god we didn't. Another staff member came over to inform her the next day was supposed to be clear, and we quickly booked paragliding - our main goal - and made plans for hiking the rest of our day. Feeling much better about this, we headed into town. Interlaken itself is an adorable small town. Especially on a rainy night, all of the colors actually seemed brighter and the lighting was beautiful. Jamie and I decided Indian food would be the perfect comfort food on this gross night and had a great dinner on a covered outdoor terrace. Coming back, we immediately got ready for bed and just spent the night lounging. It was awesome to be able to have my first night in literally SEVEN weeks relaxing to this extent. It was such a nice change of pace! Full and happy, we quickly passed out!