The Europe Trip: How It Began

Switzerland had always been in my wife's wishlist long before she started seeing the country's photos and reels on the feed of her Instagram. On the other hand, I was also inspired by my friend Isaac. He brought his family to France last year and it got me thinking that at least once in my life, I wanted to bring my family to Europe while I could. It'd be nice to look back and reminisce these memories and togetherness one day.

Geneva, Switzerland.

And so we listed down the places we were going to visit. I read about the cities on Wikivoyage and all the outdoor destinations for nature lovers were planned by my wife. Since I included the need to get a Hard Rock t-shirt or two, Lyon was part of the itinerary since the beginning. I also wanted to go to Hard Rock Hotel in Davos and this small country called Liechtenstein, but my wife reasoned that it didn't make sense to waste time traveling a rather similar route two days in a row. 

Eventually I decided to forgo Davos. We'd go to Vaduz in Liechtenstein instead. As I looked at the map, I began thinking, "what if we visited Austria, too, since it's already so close to Liechtenstein?" There was this town called Feldkirch nearby and I told my wife that it'd be cool to go to a rarely visited town in Austria.

Salzburg, Austria.

She, of course, didn't think it was a cool idea. If we were expanding our itinerary to Austria, then we might as well visit the country properly. This is why Salzburg was included. My wife loves the Sound of Music since she was a little girl and the city was the birthplace of Mozart, too. I concurred, but with one condition: let's stop in Innsbruck for another Hard Rock t-shirt.

We continued to refine the details of our itinerary, but it was more or less fixed since then. Once the schedule of school holiday 2023 was out, I booked the tickets in November 2022. I checked the flights with one stop over. Emirates was excellent but a bit on the high side, so I decided that we should try Qatar Airways instead. 

Since this would be a trip to Europe, I had no misconception that everything was going to be pricey. Hence I spent bit by bit in the coming months. In December, I bought the travel insurance. In January, I booked the hotel in Geneva and so forth. That's when I realized that there are a lot of Meininger Hotels scattered across Switzerland and Austria. Since the price was very reasonable, it became my preferred hotel. Turned out to be good, except the last one in Salzburg.  

A typical family room at Meininger Hotels.

In the meantime, my wife also got busy. She worked on the cost comparison between Swiss Travel Pass and Eurail Pass, then cross-referenced it with places she'd like to visit such as Jungfraujoch to see if it was covered by the pass. Quite an impressive spreadsheet, I would say. As luck would have it, by the time we bought the pass, there was a promotion of 4+1 days going on!

Apart from changing cash to CHF and EUR, I also topped up my UOB Mighty and Youtrip cards. As a back up, I also brought my Instarem along. Had been loving debit cards since my last trip to Japan! Much to my surprise, it happened to be very useful in Europe. Cards are the preferred method of payment these days!

Last but not least, I activated my Airsim and bought one for my wife, too, so that she could stay connected while traveling. It's very convenient to travel using Google Maps in 2023, therefore having the internet is a must! At the same time, I was toying with the eSIM technology as well. After comparing few options, I went for Airalo. It worked well in Europe. Airalo's data subscription price is competitive for European countries, but more expensive for Asia.

At Hamad International Airport in Doha.

Now that all were set, a new adventure finally began when the day came. We flew to Doha at night. I was curious to see Hamad International Airport, the best airport in 2022, but it didn't turn out to be fantastic. I don't know, may be it's because I didn't had a chance to explore much during the layover. After an hour or so in Doha, I boarded the plane again. Next stop: Geneva!

Liburan Ke Eropa: Asal Mula Cerita

Swiss sudah dari dulu menjadi tempat yang ingin dikunjungi oleh istri saya Yani, jauh sebelum foto dan video singkat tentang Swiss bermunculan di akun Instagramnya. Di satu sisi, saya juga terinspirasi oleh teman saya Isaac yang membawa keluarganya ke Perancis tahun lalu. Semenjak itu, saya berangan-angan untuk berlibur bersama keluarga ke Eropa selagi saya bisa. Pasti berkesan rasanya bila kebersamaan tersebut dikenang lagi suatu hari nanti. 

Geneva, Swiss.

Jadi saya dan Yani pun membuat daftar tempat-tempat yang ingin kita kunjungi. Saya membaca Wikivoyage tentang berbagai kota di Swiss sementara istri saya merencanakan kunjungan ke tempat yang indah pemandangan alamnya. Karena saya ingin membeli kaos Hard Rock, Lyon menjadi bagian dari destinasi. Saya juga ingin pergi ke Hard Rock Hotel di Davos dan juga negara kecil bernama Liechtenstein, tapi istri saya menyarankan pilih salah satu saja, soalnya rute ke dua tempat ini hampir sama, sebelum akhirnya berpisah ke jalan yang berbeda. 

Akhirnya saya memilih ke Vaduz di Liechtenstein dan melupakan Davos. Sewaktu melihat peta, saya jadi berpikir, bagaimana kalau kita main ke Austria juga, mumpung sudah dekat? Ada kota bernama Feldkirch di samping Liechtenstein dan kita bisa ke tempat yang jarang dikunjungi turis ini. 

Salzburg, Austria.

Setelah mendengar usul saya, Yani justru berpendapat, kalau sungguh mau ke Austria, mungkin sebaiknya ke tempat yang lebih berkesan. Dari diskusi inilah Salzburg akhirnya masuk ke rute perjalanan. Yani suka the Sound of Music dari sejak kecil dan lagi pula kota ini terkenal sebagai tempat kelahiran Mozart. Saya setuju dengan idenya, tapi dengan satu syarat: kita singgah ke Innsbruck untuk membeli kaos Hard Rock.

Meski detil rute perjalanan masih berubah, secara garis besar sudah dipastikan kota tujuannya. Begitu jadwal liburan sekolah 2023 dirilis, saya lantas membeli tiket di bulan November 2022. Saya cek penerbangan dengan sekali transit di Timur Tengah. Emirates memang bagus dan sudah saya coba sewaktu ke Inggris, tapi lebih mahal juga tiketnya, jadi kali saya putuskan untuk membeli tiket Qatar Airways.

Karena tujuan liburan kali ini adalah Eropa, saya tahu ongkosnya tidak akan murah. Oleh karena itu saya cicil biayanya di bulan-bulan berikutnya. Saya membeli asuransi perjalanan di bulan Desember, lalu memesan hotel di Geneva di bulan Januari dan seterusnya. Di saat itu saya menyadari bahwa ternyata ada banyak Hotel Meininger di Swiss dan Austria. Karena harganya yang bersahabat, saya akhirnya memesan hotel tersebut. Hotelnya bagus, kecuali yang terakhir di Salzburg. 

Kamar keluarga di Hotel Meininger.

Sementara itu, istri saya juga mengerjakan bagiannya. Dia membandingkan harga Swiss Travel Pass dan Eurail Pass, lalu dicek lagi apakah tempat yang ingin dikunjunginya, misalnya Jungfraujoch, juga sudah termasuk. Perbandingan yang dibuat olehnya di Excel sangat informatif dan mudah dimengerti untuk membuat keputusan. Saat kita beli, kebetulan ada promosi harga 4 hari plus gratis ekstra satu hari pula! 

Selain menukar uang tunai dari SGD ke CHF dan EUR, saya juga mengisi kartu UOB Mighty and Youtrip. Sebagai cadangan, saya juga membawa kartu Instarem. Saya suka kartu debit sejak liburan terakhir saya di Filipina dan Jepang! Ternyata di Eropa juga sudah lebih condong menggunakan kartu, bahkan untuk transaksi seharga dua franc dan euro. 

Saya juga kembali mengaktifkan Airsim saya dan membelikan satu lagi untuk istri saya supaya dia tetap memiliki internet. Berkelana di tahun 2023 sangatlah praktis, tapi dengan catatan harus memiliki internet! Selain itu, saya juga mencoba teknologi eSIM juga. Setelah mengamati pilihan yang tersedia, saya akhirnya mencoba Airalo. Jaringannya bagus di Eropa. Harga pun bersaing, tapi lebih mahal bila digunakan untuk internet di Asia.

Di bandara udara Doha.

Setelah persiapan beres, liburan pun dimulai. Ketika tiba harinya, kita terbang ke Doha di malam hari. Saya penasaran dengan Hamad International Airport, bandara terbaik di tahun 2022, tapi ternyata tidak sebagus Changi. Mungkin juga ini dikarenakan saya tidak sempat menjajaki lebih lanjut di saat transit. Namun setelah sejam lebih di sana, saya pun meneruskan perjalanan lagi. Pemberhentian berikutnya: Geneva!