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2017 Swiss-Italy Trip Countdown (T-11)

Written by Jeff Drake
9 · 27 · 17

We will be traveling to Switzerland and Italy for a period of three weeks. We will spend one week based in Wengen, Switzerland. This is a beautiful, tucked away town high in the Swiss alps. Here we will have fairly easy access to other points within Switzerland that we want to see: Jungfraujoch, Grindelwald, Mannlichen, the “top of the world”, Bern, and many other places. Only one week and so many places to see!

There are any number of things one has to deal with when traveling to foreign lands and one big thing is the weather. We are going at the beginning of the off-season. There’s a reason it’s the off-season and weather is usually a factor in that as well. So, right now, we are looking at a forecast of rain. Boo!

But hey, that’s just life on the road and a clear case of when you have to do what my drill sergeant used to tell us: “Take 2 salt pills and drive on!” Well, we won’t be needing salt, but the sentiment is true, we’ll just have to suck it up and carry on! Fortunately, rain doesn’t bother us Oregonians (we’re Ducks, after all and Drakes to boot!) and there is plenty to do in Switzerland in the rain and I’ll be the first to admit that the idea of sitting in our room at the chalet, sipping a glass of wine, enjoying the moment with our good friends while listening to the sound of thunder booming around us in the alpine mountains is quite appealing!

For me and Lisa, this will be the longest trip we’ve taken in many years. I’m hoping the experience will be good enough to warrant a serious consideration of a trip to Australia sometime next year, which will require a month, at least! We both worry about leaving our aging cats for so long. At age 15, you just never know when your pets might just keel over. Having that happen while we were away on a trip would be devastating (more so for our cats, presumably). So, this is a worry that tends to keep us from taking a month or more off for a trip abroad.

Pouring over Italian train schedules, possible ticket variations, ugh! Which is best? Do we need to prepurchase?  How many transfers? How do we get from the train station to our hotel? Returning to DIY travel mode has been a re-education for Lisa and me! I think Lisa will need a vacation from all the planning she’s put into this trip!

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Author

Jeff Drake

Retired IT consultant, world-traveler, hobby photographer, and philosopher.