TANKS Travel Tales - a travelogue.......

Switzerland, Lucerne, Magic of Lucerne This article was originally published in this blog in December 2016. While this article was not generally written in the style of the first-person narrative, it nevertheless reflects my experiences and thoughts during my visit way back in 2009. Excerpt from this blog post: "Stroll around the city and take in the sights and sounds. Be awed by this beautiful city. I took a relaxed walking tour of the city on my own and the walk "connected" me to the heartbeat that is Lucerne." ****************** The city of Lucerne is located in central Switzerland and is the capital of the Canton of Lucerne. The people in Lucerne speaks mostly German since it is located in the German speaking part of Switzerland. History and Geography Sometime in the year AD 1290, Lucerne became self-sufficient as a functioning city with a sustainable population size. Together with three other neighbouring cantons, Lucerne formed the Swiss Confederacy in the yea

Switzerland, Obwalden and Bern, Mount Titlis The original article was first published in this blog in May 2017.  Even though I cannot claim rot be well-travelled, I had seen and on the rare occasions, climbed some mountains. Trekking the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal's western region had brought forth a love for this mighty mountains that towered over us mere humans. I had also using just leg power, climbed South-East Asia's highest peak; Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia's Sabah state.  When I had the chance to visit and ascend to the peak (or near the peak) of Mount Titlis during a visit to Switzerland in 2009, it was like a dream came true. Another peak to add to my travel list. The fact that I took a cable car up this mountain and didn't climb up my way up Mount Titlis did not matter to me. A peak conquered is a peak conquered! Apart from Mount Titlis, the fairy-tale like village of Engelberg which serves as the gateway to Titlis for tourists is a wonderful place to visit. I

Switzerland, Interlaken, Valley of the Mountains This article was originally published in this blog in December 2018. This article captured my experience on what was my first visit to Switzerland and Interlaken in 2009. In this re-post, I had added more photographs taken during my trip. Most of these newly-added photographs had not been previously published in this blog or anywhere else. Excerpt from this blog post: "Staying in a valley amongst the mountains, even for only a few days, encapsulated visions that I had from my childhood years, to be able to live in the mountains and enjoy the beauty of nature. Goats, sheep, farms, wild berries, long hikes and rivers that run through valleys. In just a short few days at Interlaken, I experienced and truly enjoyed all these natural wonders and more. A personal bucket list item fulfilled." ****************** Located in a valley in central Switzerland, Interlaken its well-known as a resort town famous for its proximity to Jungfrau. 

Travelling on foot allows us to see and experience a lot more than if we were to just zoom pass a place on a vehicle. And nothing beats going on a hike around a locale during a visit. A hike opens up a whole new world of discoveries. The delights and joys of experiencing new sights, meeting people and simply discovering the surprises that a local trail may offer are the immeasurable. And these were what I experienced when I went hiking in and around Interlaken during a previous visit which took place around late spring/early summer. Apart from the many local flora and fauna that I encountered during my short one-day hike near the Lutschine River, I also came across many beautiful little gardens tended to lovingly by their owners. I especially loved the way they decorated their gardens and window sills with clay figurines of gnomes and other small creatures. The figurines added a touch of mythical air as well as a romantic fairy tale atmosphere to the gardens.   Gnomes figurines in a ga

I loved travelling. It was not so long ago that travelling was as easy as going online to book my return air tickets and hotel accommodation before jetting off to the destination on the day of the outbound flight.  In particular, if I had the opportunity to travel in the premier classes of a flight, the flight itself was as much an important part of my trip as any other expected travel experiences such as dining on local cuisines, meeting the locals, sight-seeing and enjoying the local culture and practices.  At times, I pampered myself by spending my hard-earned cash on a return Business Class ticket at promotional rates. Or I redeemed my expiring miles for a discounted Business Class ticket. And on some rare occasions, the airlines actually kindly and generously upgraded me to the next class of seat from my purchased ticket. How the upgrade works still baffles me. I supposed it all boils down to pure luck. But I really don't know. Travelling in the premier classes of a flight acc

Located in a valley in central Switzerland, Interlaken its well-known as a resort town famous for its proximity to Jungfrau.  I remembered Interlaken not for its more touristy attractions but for the valley where the town is located. During my stay in Interlaken, I did not visit the touristy hotspots. Neither did I partake in the usual touristy activities such as taking the train to Harderkulm. Instead, I took long walks and hikes in and around the town.  My daily hikes led me to sights not published in most travel guides. I got to meet the locals, sat in the plains of the valley as I took in the wonderful views, walked amongst the local livestock, bird-watch, followed parts of the L ü tschine River on foot along its banks and ate wild berries in the forested areas surrounding the town. My visit to Interlaken was an appreciation of the town, its surrounding and nature. I loved every aspect of my visit and was glad I did what I did when I was there.  The Gasthaus Steinboc

Travelling smart and Packing Effectively I've just returned from an overseas working trip which involved taking two different flights and spending close to 24 hours on those flights as well as on transit. Including the outbound flights, it totalled four flights and close to 48 hours just on travelling within a single week. And because it was a work trip, there will be milestones to be achieved, meetings to be conducted, technical details to be discussed and reports to be written. Throw in the time differences between the various locations and the accompanying jet lag and the result was a very tiring trip. While I cannot control the hassles associated with long haul working trips, I can still do a lot to smoothen the process to aid in my personal comfort and recovery. And a key point to this self-help is to pack effectively. For this trip, I decided not to bring along any check-in luggage. But because I will be travelling through Europe over the peak summer period, I also