– TRAVEL DIARY

The luxury of meeting people again

The luxury of meeting people again Long-term traveling has many perks and frequently I realize that they are not what I had imagined earlier. One of them is the sheer physical possibility of meeting people again as I can show up in many places around the world. Thanks to SNSs, we live with the impression …

a well-organized Spring Festival of Zurich @ Sechselauten Festival, Zurich, Switzerland, April 8, 2019 

a well-organized Spring Festival of Zurich Sechseläuten is a mouthful name. It’s the name of Zurich’s spring festival. It is held on the 3rd Monday of April and the climax of the festival is the burning (or almost blowing up) of the snowman figure called Böögg (photo 3 and 4). It seems natural to ‘drive …

Arrival @ Vaduz, Liechtenstein, April 13, 2019

Arrived in Liechtenstein. It’s the world’s 6th smallest country, with a population of just about 38,000. It can easily be much smaller than a small town in other countries. Although it’s 8 times as large as Monaco, it seems much smaller to me, and that’s probably because there are not many visible activities or tourists …

Jungfrau @ Jungfrau, Switzerland, April 11, 2019

Jungfrau Jungfrau (meaning virgin in German) is probably the best-known summit of the Bernese Alps in Switzerland. A convenient train ride takes you to the Jungfraujoch railway station standing at 3,454m, where you can enjoy the views either inside air-conditioned platforms or you could take short walks outside along safe trails. When the Sun shines, …

Anxiety and Appreciation @ Gorges de Paganin, France, March 28, 2019

Anxiety and Appreciation Driving at night is riskier in general. For overlanders, it is especially not recommended because you are not familiar with the road conditions, you probably don’t speak the local language, and sometimes you pass areas with no cell signal, which is dangerous in case of emergency. Despite this advice, many travelers including …

Arrival @Turin, Italy, March 29, 2019

With tons of warm memories, I finally left southern France and entered Italy. Apparently Italy is a super popular destination for travelers, but I am just visiting one city before heading towards Switzerland. @Turin, Italy, March 29, 2019

Highs and lows @ Carrières de Lumières, Les Baux-de-Provence, France, March 17, 2019

Highs and Lows Mostly because Spain was very comfortable for me, where there was no language barrier, entering France was both exciting and mildly anxiety-inducing. It was new country, language, and people. After several days of intense driving followed by a scene of big confusion in a supermarket where I got the attention of everyone …

Intellectual Sanctuary @ Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt, February 19, 2019

Intellectual Sanctuary   Many visit Egypt with the anticipation of seeing the relics from Ancient Egypt such as mummies of Pharaohs and the Pyramids. But Egypt has been as much Ancient Egypt as it has been Greco-Roman Egypt and Arab Egypt, to name a few. That was why Alexandria came to my attention, and as …