After having just completed our trip to Italy, we felt that we now wanted to plan another land trip to quieter parts of Europe. We really enjoyed the peaceful time we spent in Varenna, on Lake Como, and that made us think about another trip while we were in Italy, possibly heading up into the Alps from northern Italy. When we first discussed this trip, we though about flying into…
This is just a first pass at a route map for this trip. It will probably be modified a few times as we make the final selection of the places we actually want to visit. This preliminary route is based on flying into Zurich, Switzerland and flying home from Munich, Germany. The route is based on what Google Maps provides for driving routes, so it only represents the order of…
We are having to put this trip on hold pending the outcome of the COVID-19 Pandemic. The virus is widespread in Northern Italy at this time, and Italy is on 100% Lockdown. In addition, the surrounding countries are making efforts to contain the virus as it spreads. We do not know if the virus will be contained by the time we would need to be finalizing plans for this trip.…
Most of Europe is no longer on lockdown, and the Covid-19 virus has slowed in most European countries. Unfortunately, the USA has not adopted a centralized plan to control the spread of the virus, and we are now the most infected country, and getting worse by the day. Travel to Europe from the USA has been banned by the European Union because of infection rates in the USA. It will…
The Covid-19 pandemic is still with us, but as of March, 2021, vaccinations are being given across the globe, and the number of cases is dropping. We will see if the cases continue to drop as we go forward. Stephanie has been fully vaccinated with both doses of the Moderna Vaccine for several weeks. She received her vaccines through her workplace, a skilled nursing rehab facility, which was included in…
We have been looking into airfare for this trip over the last couple of days, trying to figure out estimated pricing, and any of the new airfare rules that have been implemented as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are still looking into flying to Zurich, Switzerland for the start of the trip, and departing from Munich, Germany to fly home. For the overnight portion of the flight over…
Yesterday, we went ahead and purchased airfare for this trip from United Airlines. The airfare seemed reasonably priced, and had actually gone down since the last time we looked a few weeks ago. The European Union has authorized travel to the EU for the Summer of 2021, and we thought that might drive up the airfare prices if we waited. We are connecting through Washington Dulles International Airport on both…
Here is our next draft of our latest planned Itinerary. We had originally thought about going back to Varenna, Italy so that we could take the Bernina Express Scenic Train from Lugano, Italy to St. Moritz, Switzerland. We had looked into taking this train ride on our last trip to Italy on 2019, but did not have the time to make the day long round trip journey. However, while looking…
Listing of our Accommodations for this trip. We are mostly staying in apartments but a few nights are in hotels.
Swiss Rail Pass Discussion With all of our accommodations selected, it is now time to start the detailed planning for each city we are staying in. The first order of business is beginning to identify which sights we want to see that require us to purchase a train ticket to get to. I addition to the train tickets, we need to know where we will be taking cable cars…
Here is our Trip Itinerary. Since we have booked all of our accommodations, we do not expect to make changes to this Itinerary since that would involve changing our reservations, and possibly having to select new accommodations if the revised dates were not available. Note: We did make a few tweaks later on and have reflected them in this Itinerary, and it is now the Final Itinerary
We have continued our planning effort for this trip even though we are still not certain it will happen because of the Covid 19 Virus. We have been seeing that the European Union (EU) is starting to establish opening dates for International travel to all of the countries in the EU. From what we have been reading, Switzerland is following the EU guidelines, as well as a few other non-EU…
Below is a Google Map showing the route we plan on driving for the Grossglockner High Alpine Highway (in German Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße), located in Austria. We are staying at the Sagritzerwirt Hotel in Großkirchheim (Point A on Map) on the night before we start the drive (September 23, 2021) and then staying at the Hotel Post Fusch in Fusch an der Glocknerstraße after the end of the drive the next day. …
And then there was the Delta Variant of Covid 19…… We have been continuing to put the final details on our planning effort for the various places we are scheduled to visit. We purchased seat reservations for the Glacier Express Train from Zermatt to Pontresina a few weeks ago, and yesterday, were inside the 60 day window to be able to purchase “Supersaver” train tickets in First Class (to match…
We are scheduled to leave on our trip to the Alps two weeks from today. We are still not sure if we will actually go due to concerns about Covid-19, specifically the Delta variant. Cases in the US are continuing to rise in dramatic fashion. Now we are also reading about many ‘breakthrough” cases of fully vaccinated people, and also of the waning effect of the vaccination. Stephanie will reach…
It has been a tough couple of weeks trying to make a decision on this trip and trying to find out if Switzerland will even let US tourists into the country. On August 30, 2021, the EU Advisory Committee recommended that the United States be banned for non essential travel to the EU countries. This recommendation was non-binding, so each country was allowed to set their own restrictions. As of…