In short - enjoyable from start to end. Other than the seasonal closures which were unfortunate - there’s almost no low points. 

Motivation behind the trip was to fulfill my ultimate goal when I started miles collection, which was a trip on SQ’s Suites, and on the longest possible flight which means I will be headed to London. From there, the selection of end destination was easy - to finally do my Switzerland trip - which, as you may remember, it got derailed by the event of the century. 

Maybe I could have waited a bit more and travel towards the end of November instead, or even December - but at the point of booking, I was keen to save on leave days so chose to travel during Deepavali. And redemption for travels during school holidays is probably gonna be a bloodbath that I’m unlikely to win at anyway. Also, redemption of weekend flights is impossible so that also means with the same amount of leave days, I lose out on a couple of days because my flights are on weekdays - so I do have to shorten the Switzerland part a bit as compared to the 2020 version of my itinerary, just so I can squeeze in Austria (and Hallstatt, specifically). 

End result is that this turned out to not be the wisest decision coz every Swiss city in my itinerary, I encountered some form of closure, as November is the time they do annual maintenance before reopening for peak winter season. And I was too early for Christmas markets and lights - and some of it barely. Unfortunately I had locked in unrefundable accommodations (coz cheaper) by the time I realized this, so there’s limited space for maneuvering so decided I just had to make the best out of it. In the end, everywhere was beautiful, and I did not regret any of the planning decisions I made. And the sister was all like “it’ll be another reason to return next time”. 

Ah yes, the sister. So this wasn’t a solo trip. It started out as one coz I made my redemptions without asking anybody, but over CNY when the sister found out about it and was quite keen to join, even though she’d be flying long haul econ, but she thinks the prices are reasonable. And having a travel partner means half the accommodation expenditures (heh heh) and ability to share food so perfectly fine with it. 

Kinda forgot how it’s like to plan a two week trip already seeing that it’s been a while - almost 6 years. And we’re on the move every other day, sometimes everyday. Lots of long train rides too. I don’t know what was fueling me but I was wide awake most of the times, marveling at sceneries or catching up on social media, or more researching because plans weren’t super detailed (and mostly outsourced to ChatGPT which still has a bit to learn). And most days I get about 6 hours of sleep at most, waking up early at 7am most days. 

But even with such erratic sleep schedule, cold weather, and the fact that I had a long two week battle with a bout of flu that only cleared up the weekend before the trip - I got through the trip unscathed, health wise. Perhaps drinking enough water (I was on a constant lookout for water fountains) helps, maybe it was the adrenaline. Add that to the fact that there’s no loss in property (other than the Bluetooth headphone receiver that I left behind in the London hotel on the final day - my fault), and almost picture perfect weather (blue skies, cool air) save for a couple of days (notably, Isetlwald) meant that I get to fully enjoyed the trip elements. 

The popular opinion is that Switzerland is expensive to travel to - and while I don’t dispute that, I find that standard of living isn’t as high as what I thought it would be, especially if you earn CHF. We are already paying over $20 for a brunch main and over $10 for a slice of patisserie cake or $7 for a cup of barista coffee - and it’s no different there, though in CHF. Though compared to probably the rest of Europe (maybe just Austria, since that was the other country I was in), it’s steeper. But I was pleasantly surprised when I totaled up expenses in the end and it averages out to about $200 per night, per pax, and that’s inclusive of accommodation and excluding personal expenses like souvenirs. Whee all those trips to Migros and Coop (the roasted chickens!) helps! 

So I had good fun on this trip. Can we do this again some time soon?