Thursday, 18-July-2024
I dropped the rental off back at Marseille airport, hitched a taxi to the train station, and braced myself for my longest train ride of the trip.
I had about nine hours ahead of me – my longest “commute” of this adventure, with the most layovers and the highest opportunity for things to go wrong. They already had started to, in actuality, earlier in the month when flash-floods had hit Zermatt and partially washed out one of the train lines that I was scheduled to take. I was anxious, but optimistic. I’d made it this far, the trains so far had been quite good, and I was confident I’d make it through the trials and travails.
I started at the ticket booth. I’d bought reservations on as many trains as I could, of course, but many trains didn’t accept reservations… which is where my Eurail pass would come in. In theory it would cover me for everything, but I still wanted to make sure. I did, thankfully, and after waiting in line for nearly 30min to talk to an information staff member I was able to confirm that my pass covered everything and that I would be good to go.
I had breakfast, hauled my bags onto the train once it arrived, and left Marseille behind.
The rides went fairly smoothly at first. I was able to find a seat, and the train made its way toward Switzerland.
Soon enough, though, I hit a hurdle – the conductor wouldn’t accept my Eurail pass. I couldn’t say whether it was the language barrier or what, but after 5min of trying to understand why my pass wasn’t good (which the info people had confirmed it was), I was given a choice – pay an extra $98 for a ticket, or get off at the next stop with a fine for riding without a ticket.
I paid, of course, and was able to make my way to the next station.
From Marseille, to Geneva.
From Geneva, to Visp.
From Visp, a bus to Täsch.
From Täsch, a cog railway to Zermatt.
In Geneva, I dove into the pass a little bit more. I found out how to set up the App to show a QR code, which apparently was what the first conductor had wanted… but hadn’t explained to me.
I had some lunch, too, and added a note into my calendar to contest the charge on my credit card.
I hopped the next train, then the next bus, and then finally the cog railway.
I stared in awe at the cliffs, as the granite slowly rose out of the ground as our elevation rose.
I arrived in Zermatt, and simply goggled at the Matterhorn before happily making my way to my home for the next few days.
