Spring Time = Vacation Time

It's been a rough month. No, scratch that: it's been a rough year so far. A lot of changes have happened, and few of them have given me the opportunity to voice an opinion. I've spent the last week coping with the death of my Grandma, and have been working on an entry to try and come to some sort of catharsis (coming shortly).

Until then, I have an idea:

On my trip home for the wake and funeral, I had to fly into Zurich. When I was on tour with the Illinois Ambassadors of Music back in high school, playing tuba across Europe, I fell in love with Switzerland. It was magical: the massive Alps, the surrounding quaintness, the tiny villages and so on. I know that, often, people go to Switzerland to go skiing, but what I liked was the green, rocky beauty of Switzerland. I vowed, then, as a teenager, to return one day to Switzerland and spend some time there. Passing through the airport, I was struck by a great idea: why not get back there this Easter. I was originally going to plan something Mediterranean for Erika, but now I can focus on a walking tour of some Swiss town, or walk between some of the villages.

Now, I haven't done much research on it yet, but I think one of these inn-to-inn tours would probably work. What I would do is map out my own route, similar to the one listed on the site, using the local hostels instead of the expensive hotels. It might also be smarter to do a series of hikes centered on one village, but that is less across the state traveling. Either way, the trip would be lean, walking most places and spending large chunks of the day hiking in the AMAZING scenery provided by the Alps.

Of course, this could cost a lot of money. It might make more sense to do something similar, but for cheaper, in England. There are several week or so long hikes across the UK; one historically popular one is the Coast to Coast Path. This path starts at St. Bees on the Irish Sea and goes to Robin Hood's Bay on the Cumbrian Coast. It's 190 miles from one end to the other, and the website above suggests it should take about two weeks to do it well (walking up to 20 miles across the flat lands, and less on the more difficult, mountainous days). The path would cuts through the Lake Country, famous as an escape for poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge. Again, this would be a lean trip: staying at inns and hostels for cheap whenever possible, and walking everywhere.

Neither trips are made for those who like to see big cities or spend time walking around populated areas. These are dirty trips, where there will be few changes of clothes, irregular showering, but a lot of nature and an interesting story. Everything would have to fit in a backpack, and there would not likely be any late night clubbing or long days spent lazing around. It'll be a lot of work, but a lot of fun: walking, communing with nature and so forth.

I'm probably going to have to train for this trip. I can see walking 20 miles in a day, but 20 miles a day for several days is less likely to be possible. Plus, if the Swiss trip materializes (as I hope it does), then I'll be in the thin mountain air, walking up and down inclines I have only imagined and seen from the windows of airplanes.

The Swiss trip will have to be shorter, maybe a week, as I'll have to spend money that could be used for accommodation and food on airfare. The English walking tour will be longer, but will be in England. In the end, I'll end up doing both before I leave Europe, but I want to do one this Spring. And here's where you, my readers, enter the equation. I have floated this idea to some people, and there is a little interest. If anyone else would like to be a part of this, let me know (including a preference) and we can see what will materialize. Again, this is not for the faint of heart, and will require the vacationer to be in pretty good physical shape; own a good backpack, water bottle and hiking shoes; and want to spend about two weeks in close quarters with me. An added bonus would be if you know some French, as parts of Switzerland speak French. A large portion speaks German, but I know a little of that language; not fluent, but enough to ask for directions and bathrooms, etc.

So, if this is something you want to do, let me know. It'll be glorious, if this sort of thing is glorious for you. And if no one can go with me, then I'll go alone.