A Father-Son Trip - The Idea Begins

In September 2005, an unusual opportunity allowed Deb and I to visit the homeland of the roots of my paternal grandparents - Switzerland. It was truly a dream-come-true for me to travel into Switzerland and experience the towns of Someo (roots of my paternal grandfather - the Tognazzini's) and Gordevio (roots of my paternal grandmother - the Giorgi's). The absolute highlight of the trip, though, was meeting and connecting with Giorgi-related cousins in Switzerland (the only related Tognazzini's still in Switzerland are in the cemeteries).

The Giorgi-related cousins were warm and welcoming from the very first meeting -- opening their homes and hearts to our visit. It was apparent that Deb and I were enjoying such a warm welcome because of the wonderful relationships that were created and nurtured by my mom and dad. More on that history and the family tree in a future posting. Suffice to say for now that we loved every minute of our time in Switzerland and departed with a feeling of closeness to our family there that we could not have even imagined before our visit.

In October 2006 we were able to return to Switzerland -- this time with our oldest daughter, her husband and their two children (during their 6 month stay in Germany in connection with the son-in-law's work). This second trip was even more special as we got to know the cousins better as well as meeting more of the cousins -- without the prior worries of not knowing what to expect. Again we left feeling blessed to have such wonderful family in such a beautiful part of the world -- and we left with the desire to return as often as we could.

Prior to each of these trips, we had encouraged my folks to travel/visit with us. Various circumstances precluded their travel, but my hope continued that a future opportunity would allow such a trip.

In the summer of 2007, a dear friend recommended that Deb and I watch the movie "The Thing About My Folks." It is a delightful comedy about family relationships with the usual outrageously funny behavior interspersed with poignant observations of the assumptions and realities of those relationships. Central to the story is a spontaneous trip by a father and son. It is this father-son trip that planted the seed of the idea that I might propose a father-son trip to Switzerland. Don't get me wrong -- there isn't much else about the movie or plot that I considered similar to my dad or my relationship with my dad -- with the possible exception of the common notion that a son should not make assumptions about his dad -- and in the case of this movie, about his dad's relationship with his mother. But the movie did plant the idea of a father-son trip.

It is with this background -- and after discussing the idea with Deb and getting her approval -- that I proposed just such a father-son trip to Switzerland to my dad. I really had no idea of the response I might get -- because I had never been sure of all the reasons my prior suggestions of traveling to Switzerland had failed. Sure I knew of serious health-related issues by both mom and dad -- but I also suspected there was a good deal of the regular ole' post-9/11 fears.

To my pleasant surprise, dad seemed enthused about the idea from the first time I mentioned it. Being suspicious by nature, I wasn't without my own doubts as to his intentions as he initially seemed to want to expand the idea of a simple, shorter trip just to Switzerland to include multi-country tourism ("if we are going to make the trip, we should also see/visit ...."). I wondered if dad wasn't shrewedly saying yes while making the undertaking seem overwhelming so as to kill the idea -- three weeks of playing tourist in Rome and Venice in additional to visiting Switzerland wasn't what I had envisioned -- and I suspected dad knew that.

I was delighted when dad remained interested and committed to a trip to Switzerland even as I limited the tourist expectations. Knowing that flight costs might also be a deal-killer, I proceeded cautiously -- doing extensive internet research to find opportunities to make the trip both affordable AND convenient. I've traveled enough to know that the cheapest flights often require the maximum amount of inconvenience and patience (a virtue of which I often display a shortened supply). In my mind, the best case scenario for a successful trip would be non-stop flights from Los Angeles to Zurich -- and the only carrier that does that is Swiss Air. Good fortune shone on me again when I was able to find excellent fares on the non-stop Swiss Air flights on acceptable dates -- leaving September 18 and returning September 27. Dad voiced his support of the dates and I bought the tickets -- and as I made the purchase I finally was convinced that the idea of a father-son trip to Switzerland was really going to happen.