Anxiety levels rose as we packed up the house. Are we doing the right thing? The news is all COVID and the latest Delta variant which is causing another wave of infections. The children sad to be leaving their friends were up and down (as were we). They were used to communal living and here we were taking them away to be a small unit of five. And of course juggling our work with travel – could we really do it?
August 15 came round quickly and before we knew it we were in the van, driving across the country to Folkestone to get the car train across to France. As we entered France nervously, with all the necessary COVID PCR tests, forms etc, we were greeted by a less than interested French Passport official who simply, waved us on.
And then suddenly we were free… suddenly the anxiety evaporated and suddenly we realised, ‘Yes, we can do this!’
We drove through the night and arrived in Switzerland in the early hours of the morning. It is lovely to be back in the mountains. The weather, day after day, has been sunny and warm. Hugo’s hip injury meant a different start to the alpine experience…hiking, biking, surfing (the new artificial wave in the valley) – all not possible so we have mastered picnics, pump tracks, gentle walks, paddle boarding and visited nearby places like Crans Montana we have been meaning to for years.
In Switzerland, people seem careful but not hysterical about Covid. There are caution signs in restaurants and you need to wear masks to walk to and from your table or in shops but aside from that, you would hardly know there was a pandemic going on. Travel from Switzerland and most other neighbouring countries is also entirely different to the UK. There is no traffic light system and you are largely free to travel as before if you have been vaccinated. This means our onward travel will start and end from Switzerland rather than the UK (unless something changes at any rate). However, the border has only just been relaxed for non-EU passports holders including British passport holders. There are not many foreign visitors compared to other years and our Chalet rental guests are still 100% Swiss.
We decided to meet up for a few days with our friends Sarah, Richie, Kai and Eva who live in Germany. We planned a visit to Lake Garda in Italy stopping off at Lake Maggiore and its beautiful Isola Bella on the way and Bergamo on the way back. We had checked we were okay to go to Italy, having been vaccinated and with our ‘Green Pass’ (we hoped the NHS app would work). We hadn’t realised until we were en route that all children over 6 needed proof of a negative test to enter Italy. Luckily we were able to get one done with the necessary paperwork in a train station. We crossed the border with our UK number plate and again, just got waved on. Phew! Our return across the border back was equally uneventful.
In Italy Covid precautions are currently much higher than in the UK. People are wearing masks everywhere inside and often out and about too. When entering a restaurant or museum for example, our temperatures were usually taken and we had to show our ‘Green Passes’ (and they scanned the QR code). On the whole, our NHS app has been working well but if you don’t have internet it’s a problem (so a hard copy just in case is a good idea). Generally people seemed very welcoming and sometimes almost intrigued. We did not come across any other British people in Italy.
We have a couple more weeks in the mountains before we travel via Interlaken, to Zug for some work meetings and then on to Spain and Costa Rica.
Home schooling has been up and running for the last couple of weeks. Maths, English and then one other subject mainly geared around where we are. Aside from learning how to type and write blogs (!), we are all learning Spanish (using the Duolingo app) which will hopefully be useful when we get to Central and South America.
Sky Yonder 