BASEL, Switzerland – We landed in Basel yesterday. I should have known it would not all go smoothly when I found out I would be flying out of Heathrow’s Terminal 5. All those horror stories about bags being lost became all too familiar and all too close for comfort. We arrived in Basel on time, my crew got all thirteen pieces of their luggage but me … no. I stood there waiting, watching the baggage carousel slowly come to a halt with all the bags that were on the plane delivered to their rightful owners. Except me (and some other people I should mention).

Monita with co-presidents of Chopard, Caroline Gruosi Scheufle and her brother, Karl Friedrich Scheufle.

My bag with all my clothing for interviews with CEOs of luxury brands and companies, make up, toiletries, was nowhere in sight. I really shouldn’t have been surprised. I was, however, not impressed. We left Basel airport somewhat stressed but Andrew, our cameraman, and Paul, our editor, kept spirits high with their jovial attitude. With our rental car jam packed with equipment (minus my bag..although i don’t think it would have fit in the car anyway), we made our way to the hotel. It was on the Rhine river. Yup, ON the Rhine. Our hotel was a ship. Not luxurious but clean which is all we could really ask for after driving around for an hour or so looking for it. I’ve stayed on boats before but those were luxury yachts — our ship-hotel wasn’t. But, as I say, it was clean and gave us all that we needed for a good night’s sleep. 

After borrowing make up from my producer Heidi and having purchased some basic toiletries at a supermarket that was thankfully open late the night before, Day Two in Basel began without much stress. We met and interviewed Caroline Gruosi Scheufle and her brother Karl Friedrich Scheufle. They are co-presidents of Chopard. I had met Caroline a few years ago when Art of Life did a story on her husband Fawaz Gruosi who is the founder of de Grisogono, the watch and jewellery company. We will be meeting with Fawaz next week when we head to Geneva. 

For now, Day Two in Basel ended on a high note. We got two of our interviews done which will air later on in the week. My bag finally arrived fully intact, and we are off to a cocktail soiree hosted by Swarovski Crystals. Hopefully Andrew will behave himself. He keeps muttering the word “soiree”.We should all be worried