It occurred to me recently that quite a lot of notable events have happened since August of 2022, which is when I last wrote anything and actually published it. We had birthdays! Trips! School things! Room rearrangements! All of these things could have been recorded at the time when they happened, but in keeping with tradition of the last few years, they went by without a written word. The earliest of these unrecorded events was our trip to Switzerland in January of 2023. I don’t think I could possibly come up with a full recap of the trip at this point given that it was 18 months ago, but there are a few notable memories, along with a lot of photos.

1) We had a layover in Dublin on our way to Zurich. During that layover, I managed to leave my phone on the plane as we disembarked, and I did not have a phone for the remainder of the trip though I realized I’d left it before we even left the airport. Good for the efficiency of the lost and found team, I suppose. The only upside was that all but two of the pictures I took were on my actual camera.

2) The traveling bit went surprisingly well, considering how little the kids were and how long the travel actually was. We started to lose it a little bit at the end, though. The second flight from Dublin to Zurich was short, but it was after James had slept only a couple of hours, Elise hadn’t slept at all, Charlie sort of napped on and off throughout the (shortened) night, and the troops were restless. I spent most of that short flight trying rather unsuccessfully to keep James from putting his feet on the seat in front of him, and the passenger in front of me assured me that I apparently did a poor job at prevention when we stood up to get off. Also, midway through the flight, Charlie threw up all of the milk he’d consumed during the flight, and of course that was all down my shirt. My other shirts were in my checked bag. I smelled like baby puke for the next four hours until we got to our rental, which I’m sure was an absolute delight to the person that we sat next to on the train ride following the plane. Still, we made it, and we learned what to adjust for the trip home.

3) Apartment rentals are THE way to go when traveling with a family. Kids had separate bedrooms, there was a kitchen, and there was no housekeeping to disrupt attempts at baby naps. Win win win.

Our Airbnb was a cozy flat on the bottom floor, with the lovely Swiss-German speaking owners on the second floor. The kids loved it, and it was charming with a gorgeous view of the mountains. Admittedly, it would be nearly impossible to get a place without a view in the Lauterbrunnen valley, but it was a feature nonetheless.

4) This was a known fact, but the Swiss don’t mess around when it comes to sticking with a timetable. This is a challenge when you have small children who don’t like to get out the door efficiently. We nearly missed busses on the daily, but knowing exactly what to expect was great.

5) If you have a kid who loves all things transportation, Switzerland is basically heaven. Planes! Trains! Boats! Busses! Crazy snow removal vehicles! Gondolas! Funiculars! The list went on and (aside from the snow removal vehicles) we rode them all. 1.5 years later, James still asks if we can go back to Switzerland to ride all the things on the daily.

6) I think everyone had his or her own highlight of the trip, but for me, it was tobogganing (or sledging) down the mountains. Everyone thinks of skiing in the Alps as the main winter sport, and to be sure, it is, but if you’re not a big skier or you didn’t go to Switzerland in the winter prepared to ski (maybe that’s foolish?) sledging IS THE WAY. You can rent a sledge and helmet, take the ski lifts to places that also have sledge runs, and off you go. No experience needed, and you can double up so that you’re not sending a three year old down an Alp unsupervised. It was epic, and I would go back to Switzerland in the dead of winter again in a heartbeat just to do that one activity.

7) Don’t miss the hot chocolate, even if you’re not going in winter. It’s good. So is the beer, I’ve heard.

Above all, I’d say that traveling with little children isn’t for the faintest of faint hearts, but the family memories and the experiences make it all worthwhile. We’re about to do it again in a couple weeks, albeit to the French Riviera in the summer vs. Switzerland in the winter, so maybe this time I’ll report back asap after returning home instead of a year and a half later. We’ll see.

Woodstock Writings