TRAVEL 'What a fantastic mountain; if a kid drew a mountain, it'd look like this," our expert guide, Tim Jepson, shared with our group. It was the second morning of the National Geographic Expeditions Swiss Trains and the Italian Lake District small group tour that had kicked off in Zurich with a comfortable train ride to the Swiss Alpine town of Zermatt, where we'd have the chance to view this marvelously unbelievable mountain firsthand. Day one had been a 10 out of 10 for scenery straight out of the gate.
Now, as most of us attempted to stave off our jet lag with coffee, we listened to an expert guide's first of three lectures, one of the unique features and draws of all Nat Geo Expeditions. Our guide for this particular itinerary was Tim, a successful and charismatic writer and author who mixed in the perfect amount of humor and fun facts with the important historical bits. We'd get along famously.
He was, of course, speaking about the iconic Matterhorn, which graces all the packages of Toblerone bars and stands above Zermatt as a mysterious monument, fickle in its appearance from one minute to the next. Rumor from the hotel terrace was promising — the clouds were starting to clear. The room buzzed with excitement.
Our group of strangers, soon to be friends, consisted of about 24 travelers ranging in age from 10 to 80-something. A handful of guests were repeat Nat Geo Expeditions customers, and the rest were newbies, like me. Over the next 10 days, we were about to share.