let's go on a trip

As we're all resigned to our homes for the foreseeable future, let me transport you to another world. Not necessarily another world, but such a beautiful place it could be counted as one. In February I was lucky enough to embark on three trips. Looking back I'm so grateful I was able to travel before the rona hit. The first was a weekend road-trip to Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. The second was a long-weekend stint in London. I rounded out my month of adventure with a week-long solo trip to Interlaken, Switzerland. Let me set the scene.

I had just arrived back from London the night before. I strategically gave myself a small window between the two trips to switch out clothes. I knew this would be a rather outdoorsy trip and very much cold, so I prepared as well as I, a non-outdoorsy and cold-fearing girl could. Tuesday morning I woke up early so that I could take my time. When I'm rushed I tend to forget things. I showered, finished packing, and ate. I left for the train station at 9 am to give myself two hours to get to the airport two hours before my flight. I made it with plenty of time to spare, per usual. My gate wasn't even displayed since I was so early, which is a common occurrence for me. I took a short flight to Zurich and from there two trains to Interlaken. I gave myself two hours between my flight and my first train to allow myself to find the train station. I felt so stupid once I got there. Literally all you have to do is go downstairs and boom you're in the train station. So, I spent two hours in Starbucks. I knew I had to transfer at some point so I went around to all the information stands asking people where I was supposed to transfer/how I would know/when it would happen. These are the things I stress about. I got on the train wondering if it were assigned seating. This train seemed fancier than the metro or RER, there was even a food car, so I sat down and waited for someone to kick me out of their seat. That never happened thankfully. This is where it gets scary. About thirty minutes into the train ride, I get a text from my phone provider. Usually when I travel I get a message saying "Free will accompany you to (insert country)". This message was different. It listed pricing. I went to text my host mom and ask if I had run out of data, but the text wouldn't go through. I tried to find WiFi to connect to and nothing. It took awhile for reality to set in, but eventually my modern day nightmare realized itself. I was in a foreign country with no data and no WiFi. This is it, I thought, this is where I die.

Luckily I had screenshotted my ticket information. They also announced the stops, transfers, and train numbers over the loudspeakers in English, French, and Swiss. I should've guessed that would happen, but alas. I transferred trains correctly, although we were late to leave so I began to think I messed up. I stayed on the train anyways and waited. With my timing off now I wasn't exactly sure when I was supposed to arrive. I got to Interlaken Ost once it was dark out. I had planned to walk to my hostel since it was a twenty minute walk, but I forgot to account for nighttime and I never expected a data-less phone. I walked across the street to a grocery store, attempted to get on their WiFi, couldn't, and began asking people for help. Lucky for me I heard two girls speaking English just outside the store and stopped them. One shared a hotspot with me so I could look it up on my phone (shoutout Apple) and the other gave me some Francs for the bus. People are really quite nice sometimes :). One of them actually went to a high school near me, if you're reading this hi Tiffany! Anyways, I got on the bus and asked the driver about the hostel. He kindly said he would tell me where to get off. I got to the hostel where three beautiful Australian boys were checking in before me. Maybe I wouldn't be alone the whole week! I checked in and put my stuff down. I was in a dorm with eight beds, but from what I saw there was only one other person. That's like a hostel miracle. I went next-door and had a Swiss kebab (Douran I want to say, but I forget), which was delicious, then went back to the hostel.

If you're alone in a hostel, you have to be mentally prepared to be the most extroverted version of yourself if you want to make friends. With this in mind I went to the games area and struck up conversation with the dudes playing pool. It was me, two Australian dudes who didn't know each other (different from the ones at check-in) and a German dude. We spent the whole night playing games, drinking, and sharing travel stories. Funny enough, one of the Australian dudes said he met a girl who was going to come by. It was the girl who gave me francs! Small world.

I hadn't made a single plan. I got there with the mentality that I would just plan as I went along. My first day I decided to explore the town. I went down to one of the lakes and if you don't know, Interlaken means between two lakes. I took the bus and just got off when I saw water. It was raining so it wasn't the most clear view. I stood at the edge and marvelled at the beauty. The fog had come down to meet the blue/green water. Through the mist I could see the mountains that enclosed the lake and the town. Ducks swam across the water, undisturbed by the rain. There wasn't a soul in sight. It was just me and this mass of beautifully pure water. Serenity is the only way to describe that moment.

Interlaken is rather small, but there's countless towns surrounding that are well-known for skiing. I decided to take a train up to Grimmelwald to explore. I knew I didn't want to ski because A) it was insanely expensive and B) I'm not a strong enough skiier to not die on my own. I walked around catching snow in my beanie and scarf in absolute awe of the snow-covered mountain caps. I rounded out my day by going to Funky Chocolate, a well-known chocolate shop that hosts chocolate-making workshops. I bought chocolate-covered strawberries and a Bailey's-spiked hot chocolate and headed back to the hostel.

This is too long already, so I'll continue story time another day. For now, enjoy the journey to Interlaken and my first night/day there.