Mountains, as they say, beckon you. And once you experience the magic of the mountains, you will be drawn back to them, again and again.
I have been fascinated with the mountains ever since Dad introduced me to the magnificent Himalayas. And we never looked back at a beach ever again.
Now its time to see the alps.
I have been fascinated with the mountains ever since Dad introduced me to the magnificent Himalayas. And we never looked back at a beach ever again.
Now its time to see the alps.
The Plan
We have to make a choice between the Bavarian alps or the Swiss alps.
Switzerland with its superb Swiss Travel System scores over the other locations.
It is small. Easy to get around. It is convenient, as we can put up in just one central location and practically get across anywhere in the country in a day's trip.
And kids travel free. The clincher!
And then we add Paris for good measures. Paris is always a good idea. Or so we thought.
That seems to give us a good 12 day trip in itself.
A rough itinerary is made. We will cover mountains, lakes, waterfalls, cities, vineyards, cheese and chocolate factories, castles.
A rough itinerary is made. We will cover mountains, lakes, waterfalls, cities, vineyards, cheese and chocolate factories, castles.
TICKETS & ACCOMODATION:
When you are in Switzerland, there are such exciting possibilities of accomodation. One can book a barn and sleep in straw. One can stay at a farm and experience the rural swiss culture. Or you might stay higher up in the alps in car free towns like Murren and wake up high up in the lofty cliffs.
We shall do none of this.
The plan is to just keep it simple and touristy. Lauterbrunnen, my dream location, is already booked out. So we end up with two adjacent apartments near Interlaken West station for ourselves, and our friends.
Slight disappointment.
However I am not complaining. Interlaken is certainly convenient to get around by public transport especially with 4 kids in tow.
The Paris accomodation is sourced through AirBnB. More on that later.
The TGV Lyria train tickets for travel between Switzerland and Paris, are booked through Captain Train mobile app. The QR code of the ticket on the mobile app itself can be presented to the Ticket Controller. So no need to print tickets (as long as your mobile doesn't conk off leaving you in the lurch).
For travel within Switzerland, the 8 days consecutive railway passes are perfect for us. We buy them from raileurope.in at the very very last moment, yet they are delivered into our mailbox within 48 hours of booking them. With these passes, the hassle of buying tickets for rail, bus and ship travel is done away with. Promocode for discount on the passes, is available on myswissalps.com. A Swiss Family Card with the kids names, is ordered, to avail of free travel for the under 16s.
THE PACKING
Then comes the packing bit.
Which is quite easy actually. Being from Mumbai, we have no winter clothes, nor any idea of what to pack. We may have probably ended up packing for Alaska, in the midst of an arctic chill.
Then comes the packing bit.
Which is quite easy actually. Being from Mumbai, we have no winter clothes, nor any idea of what to pack. We may have probably ended up packing for Alaska, in the midst of an arctic chill.
Luckily good sense prevails and after around a hundred trials of packing and unpacking, I manage to get it right. Or so I think. Only time will tell.
Comments
Post a Comment