I know this might be a post that people could breeze by. Still, I genuinely want to say THANK YOU to those who helped respond to me when I was planning this trip leading up to the trip and even offered some sage wisdom about navigating the cultural and humanistic side of traveling when I was in the middle of it.
It took me about 19 years to finally get my entire family to Europe, and it was worth every frustration and uncertainty in part because of everyone here who chimed in when I needed the feedback.
Long story short, my family of five (two adults and three teen girls) went from Krakow to Murren to Zermatt and then to Munich in 17 days. Each country presented its own set of challenges but armed with my guidebooks and the wisdom gleaned here I cannot tell you how grateful I am that the small, specific insights about how to plan this out, where to stay, things to keep in mind, all cumulated in us navigating public transit in Switzerland (the SBB app is like literal magic) like a champ within a day. Trying to understand how the magic worked took a little bit of a learning curve, but by the end of our trip, we were funicular'ing, bus'ing, train'ing, gondola'ing with amazing precision.
I'm sure my kids have never leveraged public transit like they ever have in their life, but as a fan of the subway in Chicago, my love and support for public transportation skyrocketed and, honestly, left me gobsmacked by how public transit can be a force for good. I didn't know what to expect when I saw directions before I left the US to get to things I was plotting out, and it had a bus, a train, a gondola, etc., as I was expecting delays or long stretches of open road to walk down to get to a bus stop but none of that was the case in Switzerland. Rick's guidebook was a godsend for nearly everything we were interested in doing (which mountain experiences were worth it, which train routes to pass on, where to find a good meal in a town we've never been in, etc.) but, really, it was the little bits of information here in the forums that helped us the most so I just wanted to say thank you into the digital void for anyone who might have chimed in.
Murren is a magical place (Cafe Liv is the best), Zermatt's weather played nice, and we leaped on the first chance to see the Matterhorn; Luzern was incredible, Bern was amazing, and I want to give a special shout-out to a nameless owner of a small shop in Grindelwald who left his shop, approached my daughter who was suffering through a cold and looked miserable, to give her a chocolate Kinder egg. I still don't know what I would call that act of unnecessary kindness, but, all in honesty, it made the years I've been planning this worth it after seeing the look on her face.
People are people wherever you go, that much I know, but just staying positive, being kind to everyone you encounter, attempting to navigate a foreign language even if it's guttentag or danke or sorry (lots of sorrys), being open to the experience, assuming the best intentions in every situation, knowing you're going to have ups and downs, is a formula that ultimately helped me, helped my family, wish we didn't have to go home.
Here's to all of you for helping me be a little better at being a traveler.