We left Budapest on Helvetica Airways. The sun was setting at 3:45PM. Junk meal with red wine and Johnny Walker Black Label Whiskey. Flew into Switzerland. Zurich Airport. Marriott Zurich. M Club. Walked 3597 steps today. Breakfast was universally European and adequate. Zurich isl a  hub for both planes and trains. Founded by the Romans, settlers were here from around the time of Jesus, although early settlements go back 6400 years. Highest recorded temperature was around 100F in July of 1947, although the average low for July is 57F. Zurich has long ranked high in world quality of life and similar ratings.  Mercer 's quality of living assessment has Zurich at #1 in Quality of Living. Zurich rose to the top of the list due to its outstanding public services, low crime rates, lively cultural scene and commitment to sustainability.   However, Zurich is also ranked among the   most expensive cities in the world .   Zurich #3 to Hong Kong #1 and Singapore ...

  Well, the good news is that we're back in Honolulu, and all is well.  Started off in New York City. Hotel said there was a set $70 cost of the taxi ride to JFK Airport.  Well, when you add the toll charges and tip, it was up to $90.  That in itself was okay.  So we checked in for our 1PM departure time, which was ticketed more than three months ago.  After we picked up our tickets, we went to the excellent Alaska Airline lounge and was beginning a leisurely breakfast when we found out that we needed to board the plane at 11:05, which was less than half an hour away.  We never got any notice for this change.  We came extra early to be safe, and it turned out that we only barely made this flight. Some photos. Bloody Mary and champagne in Alaska Air lounge. Here is about when we learned we had only a few minutes rather than a couple of hours in the lounge.  Our plane. Goodbye Manhattan from air. Then noticed the plane we were on was the  ...

While the Omicron variant continues to attack pockets of vulnerability throughout the world, this pandemic is losing momentum, and the peak of new deaths reached exactly a year ago--16,503 on 24January2021--is now down to 7000.  Watch Japan, for example, which is on a definite upswing after doing so well the past two years. To appreciate how important it is to get vaccinated, let's look further in  Switzerland earlier this month in deaths/100,000 : Unvaccinated  11.56 Fully vaccinated, but not boosted  0.89 ( 13 times fewer deaths ) Fully vaccinated and boosted  0.07  ( 165 times fewer deaths ) This  same report  looked into the U.S. early in December  (almost no Omicron ): Unvaccinated:  9.74 Fully vaccinated, but not boosted  0.71  ( 14 times fewer deaths ) Fully vaccinated and boosted  0.10  ( 97.4 times fewer deaths ) Keep in mind that, while contagion is much higher with Omicron, the mortality rate is much lower....