A Bit Of Switzerland – A Bit Of Italy

Megan’s brought us a great read from Switzerland while she lives the life of a real travelling golfer and spends 3 weeks or so in Europe. This post is straight from Losone and gives us some insight into places I’d never be able to take you. For that, we owe Megan a debt of gratitude and let’s get right into the post.

So two days before my trip to Europe, I get a stomach virus that did not let up no matter what medicine I took. Finally Thursday rolls around, I get on my 11-hour Air France flight to Paris, to connect to my 2-hour Zurich flight, then my 2-hour Lugano flight, then my 1-hour train ride to Losone, then my 20 minute cab ride to the hotel.

Needless to say that whatever rest I got on the Paris flight got burnt up by these connections. The good thing about it is that my new tunes selection on my iPod helped me pass time and my stomach virus went away by the time I checked in and hit the sack at 11pm on Friday – who says the life of a Tour Pro is glamorous…

After a night of deep sleep in these Euro-style miniature-size beds at the Albergo Losone, the official Players Hotel of the Deutsche Ladies Swiss Open, the local Avis manager brought me my car for the duration of the Tournament. I had requested a Ford Mustang for that little home feeling, but they didn’t have any. He tells me he brought me a Renault Megane… Wow ! It’s got my name on it ! And the key chain also has my name on it. Kewl ! Thank god I learned to drive a manual stick shift when I was a kid because that’s all they have here.

I decided to take a drive around to get a feeling of this quaint little city of Losone in this “Italian” part of Switzerland. I had printed the Mapquest directions from the hotel to the golf course when I was in L.A. but they were completely backwards – the hotel concierge was much better than the computerized Mapquest directions.

What a beautiful little European town with a town square, small shops and cafes. Despite the thunderstorms and rain, people were still out going about their business – unlike L.A. were rain stops everything. I stopped to check out a few fashion stores – wooooweeee hot prices !!! Compounded with the lousy dollar to Euro exchange rate. I get a better rate through my Amex, but still things are expensive in Switzerland. I also noticed that in athletic stores PUMA is much bigger than Nike over here. Now I understand why they wanted to get affiliated with me, since I play the U.S. and European Tours. If you decide to visit this region, brush up on your Italian or bring an English-to-Italian dictionary.

My jet lag was starting to get to me, so I headed back to the hotel, went for a nice 2-mile hike in Switzerland’s biggest Palm Park behind the hotel called Mte Vierte, got a light salad for dinner and in a few minutes I am going to leave the hotel’s business center to head to my room. I am exhausted.

Tomorrow, surveying the golf course.

No sticks.

Just a pen, a yardage book, a greens schematic, and my local caddie.

Ciao (Bye in Italian),

Megan Heckeroth

For a complete bio, stats, schedule or to find out who Megan is and why she’s sending us updates from all over Europe, visit her Official Site and her blog, Club Megan.

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