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A Trip to Switzerland, Prelude (travel tips for going to Europe) [1]
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Date: 2025-07-08
This is a bit of a travelogue with some personal anecdotes thrown in along the way. We just took a long planned and rather long vacation to the country of Switzerland, not just a city. We went from June 20th to July 7th, although the first and last days were travel days. Here, I'll recount (with a lot pf pictures) how it went, what was experienced, and to marvel at an entire country with very good public transportation. I'm splitting it into three diaries due to length.
Now that I'm done with the world's driest opening paragraph, I'm going to start with some general "We're going to Europe!" travel tips. We've been to several countries, and this stuff will apply to most of them. It'll help you prepare for the trip, learn what to expect, what I consider best practices, and so on. If you've been to Europe a lot (or live there), you can probably skip the rest of this. The real "so this is Switzerland" part will start tomorrow (with plenty of pictures)
TIPS FOR EUROPEAN TRAVEL:
1) Plan in advance
By advance, I don't mean a few weeks or even months prior to travel. You want to plan at least six months, if not more, in advance for this. Why? The more in advance you can plan stuff out, the less expensive it'll be. You'll also get a chance to really think about your route so you aren't zig-zagging around and instead are moving around in a logical order. Not only will airfare and such be discounted, but hotels are cheaper when booking in advance. This is true even in the US, so if Europe isn't in your future, this part applies even here. Book as far in advance as you can for the best rates. Note that West to East travel is faster than vice-versa. Your return trip will take an hour or so longer.
2) Use public transportation
Most places we've been in Europe, especially in larger cities (and even some smaller regions) will have very good, reliable bus service, trains, subways, etc. Additionally, keep in mind that people live there. You don't want to be the lost tourist taking wrong turns and such. They are living their lives. You are experiencing their country. Also, parking in Europe is, for the most part, sparse and expensive. (You'll also pay a premium for an automatic transmission as manual is still very popular there.) Most public transport is electric as it is.
Assuming you choose public transportation, you'll want hotel locations somewhere close-ish to the train station/bus stop. Initially, you'll probably be walking from the train station to the hotel you selected, and you don't want to walk several kilometers dragging bags and stuff. You're already in a new (to you) area, and wrong turns will happen. Once you are at the hotel, you can ask for the nearest bus stops and their numbers.
Finally, most countries offer some sort of travel pass you can buy in advance at a discount. For example, we had a Swiss Travel Pass that was good for 15 days. This allows travel on most (not all) buses, trains, boats, etc. without needing additional tickets. It's even good for multiple museums and such. While some things will require an additional boarding/entry fee, having a pass for wherever you're going usually gives you a discount of some sort, ranging typically from 20-50% off.
The travel passes can be downloaded to a phone or printed as a QR code. We had a single plastic sheet with the QR codes visible for all three of us so we could just scan them as necessary without fumbling for a phone.
While I'm at it, learn how to read bus and train schedules and memorize the stop(s) for where you want to go (or at least the one for your hotel and the train station/airport). The announcements on-board may or may not repeat in English, so even if you have a basic phonetic understanding of what you're looking for, you can be sure you find the right route(s) to take. The schedules are not difficult to understand (although we went the wrong way a few times).
3) Understand the metric system
You'll quickly discover that America is the only major country using Imperial anything (except for two liter bottles). Everything is on a 24-hour clock (our "military" time), and everything is measured in meters/kilometers (m/km), liters/deciliters (l/dl), and grams (g).
For distances, one kilometer is roughly .6 miles. You can use that as a reference for how far a bus stop or something may be from where you want to go. (I'll hit other rough comparisons in the next little section.)
4) Ordering food
Drinks are in liters. Most are sold in 33dl or 50dl (deciliter) varieties. 33dl is around 11oz. 50dl is 16.9oz. Where you can, get the larger drinks. They are usually just $1 (in their currency) more than the smaller variety.
Speaking of drinks, everything has a price. This means water, soft drinks, etc., and they are not cheap. Additionally, refills are not free (even on water). For example, although some places provide an "initial" water glass, more will cost you. Those typically come in a 75dl bottle (same as a 750ml wine bottle) and are usually $6 or so. They will offer "gas/no gas", "bubbles/no bubbles", "sparking/flat", etc. If you want the water prevalent in the US, you want no gas, no bubbles or flat. The others are all the same thing (sparking water here, but multiple names there).
Food portions come in grams (usually between 200-500g). The portions will be in grams. 1kg is about 2.2lbs. So, a 500g portion is around a pound. Use that as a reference. Speaking of food, the terminology is usually different. It'll help if you know what "pork", "chicken", "beef", and so on are in the country you are visiting. Also, most will offer an "Entree", "Plate", and "Desert". "Entree" there is the first course in a three course meal, not the main meal. In other words, it's a smaller portion of whatever. "Plate" is the main course. Desert is still desert. You already have a head start. (In Europe, "Salad" is spelled in their language, but it's close enough to English (Salate, Salada, etc.) that you can infer it.
Many places (both in tourist areas and even some smaller areas) will have English translations on the menu, but some will not. If you're in a place that has the translation, just make a mental note of what is what. It'll help when you get a menu with no translation in it. (Note that sometimes, if you ask for an English menu, they may have one.)
5) Travel with a high limit credit card
While a lot of places will take their local currency, most will not accept American currency. Instead of taking a hit on translating US to wherever you are going, make sure you have a credit card with a limit that will cover your travels, and make sure that card has no "foreign transaction fees". (Most don't anymore, but some do. Visa or MasterCard are accepted pretty much everywhere. American Express is maybe 75% of places, and Discover I never saw anywhere.) That way, you can pay in their currency without having to exchange whatever you have left in their currency (at a slight loss) when you leave. You'll probably want a few hundred in their currency as a few small places will only take cash, but 95% of the time, a card is preferred.
6) Miscellaneous stuff that didn't get categorized
- Figure out the time difference from wherever you live to wherever you are going. (Search "What time is it in [city you are going to]") and then do the math. You are going to be jet lagged, so try to account for that in your first full day plans. If at all possible, do the same for your return travel. You'll want a day or so to recover from the time change.
- If possible, try to know at least a very minimum about the language of where you are going. If that isn't possible, most signs have graphics on them for bus stop, train station, boat, etc. that are self-evident. Perhaps most importantly, pretty much everywhere in Europe, "WC" (water closet) is the sign pointing you to a bathroom. Asking for a "bathroom" usually works, but "toilet" usually works better.
- When walking on city streets, go with the flow and don't stop in the middle of a sidewalk. There are a lot more bikes, scooters, etc. there and you'll be in the way.
- Check if your cell phone has international plans. That will absolutely help with staying in touch and downloading local maps and stuff. You do not need a temporary SIMM card when traveling (although you'll see options for them, usually in airports and train stations). If you have a major carrier (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile), they probably have international plans that will only kick in outside of the US, but still using your same phone number. Yes, you'll get charged a daily rate for them, but the convenience outweighs the cost.
- Smoking restrictions aren't as strict in Europe in general. If the smell is anathema or you are allergic to it, you'll want to eat indoors and not on the patios. There are a lot of outdoor cafes, and most allow smoking. (Buses and trains and indoor areas in general do not allow this.)
- For long flights like this, most airlines will have a screen in the back of the seat in front of you with access to movies, TV shows, and more. It's super handy. They will usually (not always) give you headphones, but they are as comfortable and as quality as you may expect for a free pair of ear buds. If you plan on watching stuff on that, get/bring your own comfortable, wired ear phones/buds. You cannot connect via Bluetooth to them.
- If at all possible, find a local grocery store to bring snacks to the hotel room for the evening. While hotels usually have a restaurant attached or adjacent, they are expensive. For this reason, you may also want to travel with a small, foldable cooler. Not every hotel has a mini-fridge (or A/C for that matter).
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Okay, enough with that crap. I hope it was helpful, but tomorrow, we are on to Zurich.
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