Advertisement
Published: February 12th 2017
Edit Blog Post
We are pretty far behind on our blogs (if you want tips on Budapest, Israel, Jordan or Egypt just ask until we post-we are slowing catching up)...but, given this was our first overseas trip with our little guy at 6 months, we learned a ton and wanted to share our tips for all those new parents out there. Our criteria for the trip was pretty specific - we wanted endless adventure, great food and wine, beautiful scenery and a place to always take naps. With that in mind, an RV through Switzerland was our top choice!
We researched our ideal RV, an extended van just a smidge larger than custom van with sliding door, it would afford us both necessary room but also humble size to navigate the old roads of Europe. We made the reservations months in advance and set out on our voyage. The flights were a bit rough (sat on tarmac in Phx for 2 hours due to storms which made us almost miss our connection in Philly (picture us running, Erin with kid in front pack loaded with carry ons, Shane waiting for gate checked luggage to off-board and then sprinting loaded with luggage and child
carrier two terminals over. Erin stalling at the gate, snatching the ticket out of keepers hand insisting they don't leave without Shane. Sweaty and the last ones on the flight, we made it for another 10 hour flight. We couldn't land in Switzerland due to weather so our trip over was much longer than anticipated). BUT, I'm happy to report we made it with minimal tears and finally landed for our adventure to begin. Our booked RV reservation was no where to be found in there system which immediately brought an old Seinfeld car rental episode to mind. They did luckily have something for us as we were literally homeless at this point but the available RV was larger. In normal circumstances, one might be excited that it was significantly larger but knowing the very narrow, winding roads over mountain passes, we knew better. That said, we were relieved to have a bed and we set off in the "Falken" (albeit white knuckled driving and yes, Shane is a Starwars fan) to our first camp site in Schaffhausen near Reinfalls. It was a great first stop and in case you are not familiar, campgrounds in Western Europe are much different
than the US. Pools, beach volleyball courts, prime real estate near beach/lake fronts, clean showers, separate shower areas for infants/families are the norm. We got a nice glass of wine and strolled along the river side and then had a picnic in the grass. The three of us fell asleep early and managed to log an impressive 10 hour night of sleep snuggled in the RV. A nice, relaxing morning of sleeping in, hot showers, coffee and oatmeal and then headed in to explore the town of Schaffhausen. A cute, colorful town with brick roads and historic buildings. We found a Falken beer sponsored festival with foot trucks and live music and dancing and enjoyed trying the local fish Zander.
Our next night we found ourselves at Stein Am Rhein - just outside of town, we walked along a beautiful corn field and vineyard to have dinner instead the cobblestone streets. We enjoyed a fantastic pinot made just 500 meters away at a local winery while the traditional meal of sausages and potato pancakes...delicious! The next day we popped over to Germany - the best place to stock up on groceries given the currency. We found a nice campground
on the lake in Altnau Camping-Ruderbaum. We enjoyed espresso on the lake while punkin head napped in the ergo and another enjoyable, relaxed afternoon came and went.
We woke up, made breakfast (the best part of having the Falken - meals whenever we wanted) and set off to explore Liechtenstein, a small and beautiful country. After a full day of exploring and hiking and touring a locally winery, we found a nice spot right on the river, surrounded by mountains and flowers that we made our home for the night. As usual, we had a dance party, cooked dinner together, went for a walk and settled in under the stars with the sound of a flowing river outside our windows.
Not sure how it had become Friday already, but the days became a blur of hiking, eating, cuddling and adventure. We found the Swiss National Park on this day and hiked most of day away. We hiked over a mountain and caught a bus to get back to the RV. That evening we drove to Pontresina, recommended by a local we'd met. We found a nice camp spot Creekside with white capped mountains surrounding us and enjoyed a
happy hour of fruits, cheese and wine by candle light with hot showers.
We found ourselves next in Davos-Klosters - in the winter it's known as Europe's largest ski resort and in the summer it's filled with wild flowers and the perfect hiking trails. We enjoyed a picnic lunch and fun hike here. We ventured down into Italy around Lake Como for a night and back into Switzerland and found a beautiful lake to camp near for the next couple of nights. From there we ventured to Zermatt to see the Matterhorn and then Interlaken and Lucern before making our way back to Zurich. An amazing and fun adventure all the way around.
Switzerland has a great tourism website (
www.myswitzerland.com) where you can plan out your trip using their Grand Tour suggestions if you want. We also purchased the Grand Tour hardcopy map as well - it was fun to lay it out and pick our destination for the following day (and GPS is pretty good, but it doesn't know about trains going through mountains, etc that only the map shows so we found the physical map quite helpful).
Tips:
Flights with infant -
nursing at take off and landing kept his ears cleared, therefore a happy boy.
A white noise app (ie: when churchbells start ringing at sunrise or trains go by through the night.
The so called "cots" on flights didn't work for us. We blogged it and called every week leading up to it and didn't work. That said, between all the turbulence and announcements, they wouldn't have worked well. Speaking of annoucements, baby Headphones on flights were fantastic. I didn't realize how often there were sales pitches for credit cards, perfume or air miles with a captive audience and always just as he fell asleep. He could sleep through this way. We tried a few and went with these (
https://www.amazon.com/Baby-Banz-EMBB-Hearing-Protection/dp/B007BEHSDU/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1484020519&sr=8-1&keywords=baby+headphones)
Switzerland is expensive - when you have the chance to stock up on supplies and groceries, Germany and Italy are great for this!
We brought a French press with us - it was a great way to start the mornings when we were miles from anything (and campsite coffee isn't always great or available).
Other things we brought that we really enjoyed: music brick, selfie stick with remote, car seat toys for the longer drives,
baby carriers: egro (comfort for the long walks he could sleep in) & britax (front facing for when he wanted to interact and see everything), Osprey backpack for long hikes. All in one adapter for electric pump, cell phones, etc. What I should have packed: shower shoes...
Packing with the kiddo. Since we only purchased two tickets, we could only check two bags without paying the extra fees so we got a little creative here. You can check your stroller/car seat at the gate at no charge. So we decided our Osprey backpack counted as a stroller, so we put it in a carrier case and then stuffed that bag with diapers, clothes and took up all the extra room. You are also allotted a diaper bag for the baby. Since there were not visible regulations for this, we took advantage of a larger carry on bag here too.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.31s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 57; dbt: 0.1286s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Shannon Bailey
non-member comment
I so enjoy your travel blogs!
Beautiful pictures and informative, funny narrative. I was on a car/camping trip through much of Switzerland years ago and it continues to be one of my favorite places. So much beauty that you don't really know where to look next! Glad you are doing well and that life continues to be one big adventure. And baby is beautiful!