Project Solotrip - Part 1: The Arrival

This is the first part of a small series about my solo trip to Switzerland.

It’s 5 a.m., and I’m waking up slowly. It’s still dark outside. The sun won’t be up for 2-3 more hours.

I’m excited to get out of bed because today I’m traveling to Switzerland alone.
For the first time.

My girlfriend is waking up as well, to keep me company and to make sure I woke up at all. I’m not so good at waking up early. I brewed myself an extra-strong espresso and had my proteins before packing my bag. I chose to bring a large backpack with me for all my stuff alongside a smaller bag for day trips. In that way, I could bring everything I want without having to wear the big backpack every time I go hiking.

It’s around 5:55, and I’m saying goodbye to my girlfriend. I walk out the door, and 15 minutes later I’m on a train that should take me to Utrecht in the Netherlands, where the international train to Mannheim is leaving from.

For this trip, I used Interrail for my train tickets. It was convenient, and honestly pretty good value for money. I’m not getting paid to say this.

I had my seat reservations booked a couple of months ahead, so I didn’t need to worry about that. I could just take a seat and watch the train go by the Dutch and German farmlands until the hills of southern Germany started to appear and I could feel that my trip had really started now.

It wouldn’t be a proper Deutsche Bahn experience without some delay, would it?

So I had a couple of backup trains planned if my first train would be delayed. But surprisingly, the German ICE train to Mannheim was perfectly on time, so I could catch my connection to Basel SBB in Switzerland.

Right?

No.

The Swiss Eurocity train that would take me to Basel was 20 minutes delayed. What a bummer. Luckily, the weather was good, and I could use some leg stretching after sitting on a train for 6.5 hours straight.

After about half an hour, the train finally arrived, and it was perfect. It wasn’t the old Eurocity train that the Swiss usually use on this connection, but it was a brand new one. The ones they also use on their stretches to Italy (Milan).

First class was so quiet that the three hours almost disappeared.

I arrived in Basel. Just a bit late for the Regional train to Thun via Bern - but that allowed me to buy some snacks for the journey: a cappuccino.

It wasn’t the best cappuccino I ever had, but I definitely felt like I was in Switzerland again, because that cost me 6 CHF.

Time to forget the cappuccino and board my last train of the day: The Intercity train to a place called Thun - where I will stay for the next 6 nights.

I picked the wrong side of the train for the good view, and we departed on time from Basel SBB station.

1.5 hours later, I arrived in Thun. One of my favorite towns in the Canton of Bern.

The weather was really bad when I arrived. I sure hoped it would get better the next couple of days.

I walked up to the hotel: Hotel Krone.

It was a good hotel, nothing special. In the center of the city and all conveniences nearby.

After I had a bite that night, I wanted to walk up to the lake (Lake Thun) and visit a spot we always go to when we want to swim after a hike. It’s called something like “Strandbad Thun”.

Usually it looks like this:

Very scenic, right?

But now it looked more like this:

A bit rainy and dark. Not very swimmable. So after I finished my walk to the lake and our viewpoint, I went back to the hotel, and on the way I took a couple of photos. I want to show you one; it’s shot on film, and I really like the nostalgic vibe it gives me:

When I got back to the hotel, I looked out at the castle one more time.

It was rainy, quiet, and not exactly the dramatic Swiss arrival I had imagined.

But maybe that was fine.

I was there.
Alone, in a town I already loved, at the start of six days that were still completely open.

So I said goodnight to the castle and went to sleep.