summer holidays – trippingdifferently

August 25, 2021

Beautiful Views and Arrows

For a second summer, we have had to forgo our annual visit to Singapore because we simply can not afford the Covid quarantine requirements which, in July, included a 14-day hotel stay, multiple PCR and ART tests. And we have to multiple each costs by 3. Oh, not forgetting if we have had to quarantine for 14 days, it would mean we would spend all 5 weeks in Singapore which would mean extra nights for our dog Lexi at her pet hotel; more costs. All that costs is more than the costs of the flights!

So we stayed here for the summer holidays and just did a few things around the house. We had a couple of days away in Vevey and Morgins which was lovely. It is in the French part of Switzerland and has a very different atmosphere to where we are. Being on the huge Lake Geneva surrounded by mountains meant beautiful views and a more relaxed feel.

We also spend an afternoon on an Archery Hunt in the mountains of Morgins. They placed various foam-animals in the woods and you had to hike to find them and have a go at shooting them. It was good fun and i would recommend it to families with pre-teens and teens. It was also a dog-friendly activity, as long as we kept Lexi behind us when we took shots at the targets.

Here are some photos from that short break we took:

How did you spend your summer holidays? Hope you had an enjoyable time wherever you were.

syc

September 23, 2020October 21, 2020

Mini Trip Across the Border

Usually, some time at the end of August, every year, there would be a long post with quite a number of photos, detailing aspects of our annual trip back to Singapore. But not for 2020, the year of Covid.

We chose not to go back to Singapore this summer because back in July, there was a requirement to quarantine upon arrival in Singapore and quarantine upon arrival back in Switzerland; 24 days in quarantine in total, plus in Singapore at that time, you could not quarantine at home but at specific hotels which had set aside rooms for this purpose. Of course, you read news reports about people who lucked out and got to quarantine is some 5-star or even 6-star hotel. But 3 persons in a single room for 2 weeks… even in the height of luxury, there would be some degree of cabin fever. Besides, there would have been only 10 days left of holiday after all those quarantine days, it was really not worth the while or the money.

So we had to content ourselves with staying where we are. Our one little trip this summer was across the border to Baden, Baden, Germany, to collect something Tobias ordered. It was just an overnight trip but it was nice and we got to see a nice little city, which i would definitely visit again; mainly because we didn’t get to do the bathhouses this time.

Here are some photos:

Did you go anywhere interesting or change your holiday plans because of Covid? Care to share?

syc

August 21, 2019August 21, 2019

Our Summer Holiday 2019…

Wow! It has been almost 3 weeks since we got back from our annual trip to Singapore. School started last Monday and we are trying to adjust to a new school timetable and get a routine going.

This year, our trip to Singapore was shorter than previous years because we could not afford to have Lexi (our black Standard Schnauzer) boarding for too long at the pet hotel. So we were in Singapore for just 24 days, instead of the usual 30 or so days. Plus we also brought Tobias’ best friend with us, which meant we did more touristy things, on top of having less time to see the usual number of family and friends.

It felt quite stressful while we were there and looking back, maybe we should have not done both shortening the trip and bringing an extra person with us at the same time, but i think we all did have fun in the end and we learned a bit about more about each other and our little island country while showing it to a new person.

Of course, we had lots of yummy food (it was quite enjoyable to introduce a foreigner to our unique food culture in Singapore) and lots of fun and laughter with our beloved ones. It was also great to have traveled there and back altogether, without the usual split where Walter had to come back first.

Here are some highlights of our trip in pictures (see captions for details):