I took several weeks this year to travel to Switzerland.
It’s something I like to do. Visiting the country of the big mountains, blue lakes, and delicious cheese.
The first time I visited Switzerland in 2017, we made a pitstop in Bedretto on our way to Italy. In the middle of the mountains of Ticino, I had set foot on Swiss soil for the first time.
I was in love.
There when my parents and sister went to rest in the hotel room, I went out for a walk through the mountains and small streams.
That was the first time I knew that I wanted to return.
Returning to Switzerland in 2019
In 2019 I was a very stressed person caused by:
- School
- Financial things
- Anything an 18-year-old would be worried about
But when visited Switzerland again in 2019, I was free of stress. Not in one of those 9 days that we were in Zürich I felt stressed. That’s how traveling should be.
Traveling shouldn’t be a stressful experience. There were so many things that made me so much happier. I saw:
- Proud Swiss people waving their national flag on the busiest street in the city.
- Water fountains give free cold water everywhere around the country.
- Non-stressed and frustrated people in the streets.
- Just kindness above all.
Public Transport Is Amazing In Switzerland
If you’re from any other country than Switzerland, you will enjoy this.
Public transport is so well organized in this country. There will not be a train that’s too late. You will not miss your connection and those trains, trams or buses will run very frequently.
Trains are clean and have way more facilities than in other countries.
I can’t name a bad thing. Except for one actually: all trains are in a coach setting (at least in 2nd class). I don’t enjoy sitting in front of someone else.
That’s something to work on perhaps because there are plenty of people that feel physically uncomfortable sitting next to or in front of someone else (including me).
Kindness of People & Calmness in the Streets
Last May, I discovered again how kind the people in Switzerland are.
It’s so relaxed in the streets, people aren’t frustrated like in the other parts of the western world. They’re friendly and they don’t look at you like they want you dead.
There’s also no litter in the streets, that’s amazing. Everybody just throws their trash into the bin and that’s normal.
But also, no homeless people near the stations begging for money.
I remember visiting Brussels in January and the moment we walked out of the central train station, we noticed a big group of people sleeping in sleeping bags.
There must have been at least 25 people there.
Not in Switzerland.
The Beauty of Nature that Calms You
Seeing several Swiss landscapes tend to calm me.
It makes me feel alive and I feel relieved. You have to experience it to understand it. Seeing so much beauty so close to home (relative, 1000 KM) is incredible.
Here in Montreux, there’s a sub-tropical climate which means the weather is so nice. The Lac Léman is so big and almost majestic that you can’t take your eyes off it.
You won’t see the end.
Surrounded by some soft mountains with streams in them that complement the perfect view.
Yes, I want to go back.