We started the first week of our month long travels in our historic but beautifully modern and chic flat in the charming city of Lausanne, Switzerland. We’re in the old town, near the cathedral, which makes the views breathtaking—and the bells ring all night long. That took some getting used to, but now, I quite like knowing that when the bell rings four times, it’s four in the morning.
For those of you who are new to this letter and my family, we are traveling as a family of three—two adults and one almost five-year-old. My travel style has always been go-go-go and get it all in. I want to see it all. In a word, I like to devour where I’m at. Matt is similar, but different. And we both have slightly different expectations for what our son is capable of. I think Ollie can go-go-go and sleep in the car. Matt prefers we rest-rest-rest when we can, especially during week one of arriving in Switzerland. 😜
One thing I’ve learned about traveling with others is that there’s not a wrong or right way to travel. And the cool thing about having all these experiences in a foreign country is that it opens up unexplored areas of Matt and my relationship, marriage, and parenting style. The key, we’ve found, is that if you know how to laugh, even in the “hard,” traveling in a foreign country with family is an incredible opportunity to learn more about yourself, your partner, and your child(ren).
A couple things we’ve done so far:
Lausanne, Switzerland - Our home base. We rented our close friend’s 3 BR flat for the month and I highly recommend staying here as a home base if you’re considering a trip like this. (I’ll share her AirBnB link once we’ve left.) We’ve had great traditional, local meals and have been able to explore the city’s charm more like a local.
Ouchy Beach, Switzerland - After Matt and Ollie fell into Lake Geneva after I asked them to test the water temperature with their toes, we decided to rent a paddleboat with a slide to keep the party going. Pure joy—and a core memory of them falling into the water. Glad everyone is okay!
Lutry Beach, Switzerland - Oh my heavens this charming beach on Lake Geneva was phenomenal. One side of the lake is the mountain range on the Evian water bottle. The other side of the lake are verdant hills of UNESCO wine vineyards. A top experience of my life. The buvette “snack bar,” which is the public restaurant on the beach, was so delicious. The food is so fresh and thoughtfully made. I ate a nectarine burrata salad and drank a local beer for lunch. The guys had saucisse with fries and a salad. After the boys jumped off the diving board on the lake a bunch of times, we rented a kayak and paddle board and went towards the middle of the lake to float. It was heaven on Earth, and we look forward to returning many times on this trip.
Interlaken, Switzerland - The towering Alps and two bright blue lakes will take your breath away! From here we did a half day trip to Grindelwald (see below) and went to the summit of Harder Kulm the second half of the day. The following day, we wanted to take a day off from touring around and enjoy the hotel amenities. If we would have spent another day in Interlaken, we would have gone to Schilthorn, a summit near Lauderbrunnen where James Bond was filmed. You can take a 30 minute cable car ride up to the top and eat at the rotating restaurant.
Grindelwald, Switzerland - A neighbouring town to Interlaken with lots of outdoor activities. We went here as a half day trip from Interlaken. We took a cable car up to the summit where we went alpine sledding, flylining (a bit like paragliding but on a rail—and Ollie was old enough to do it by himself!), and had hot soup with saucisse and bread at the restaurant on the top of the mountain. The playgrounds at every restaurant—including the top of the mountain—are phenomenal. Really, family is so integrated into everything here. The Suisse expect kids to be kids! And they love kids. I want to take this mindset and back to the US.
A couple things I noticed:
People don’t care so much about their bodies the way we do in the U.S.
Kids don’t wear sun shirts!
Clothing is usually simple and practical. Not many people wear athleisure unless they’re exercising. Footwear is always practical (lots of mountains, rock beaches, and cobblestones).
Family is integrated into everyday life. Everything is designed for family. And kids are expected to be kids.
Everyone smokes, just about. Instead of stressing about being around it, we are going with the flow and just doing our best to get fresh air.
The Suisse parenting style is very attached and laid back, we have found. None of the parents have yelled at their kids to “watch out!” or “be careful,” but also, maybe I’m not listening in for the nuances of the many languages here. This was a real wake up call to us. We are a bit more helicoptery than I’d like us to be…our son needs a watchful eye but he needs that eye to be calm, trusting, and easy-going. Not anxious. Trauma can be revealed in anxious parenting styles. Just another awesome opportunity to come back to ourselves, take a deep breath, and trust.
No one snacks. Kids may get a small snack at camp or school in the morning, but most of the time, kids only get one snack “un goûter,” at 4 PM/16:00 to tide them over until dinner.
Air conditioning is illegal here. Sleep naked.
You pay to throw your trash away. Every trash bag is 4 CHF (about $5 USD). The amount of plastics and single use items here is much smaller and more out of necessity only. The trash services separately collect general trash, compost, paper, and glass. Plastic is recycled at the grocery store.
Dinner is usually after 7:30 PM—most restaurants don’t open until then. The exceptions have been the touristy hotels that have lots of Americans or other cultures staying there—then you can get dinner at 5 or 6 PM…but that’s unusual. We have been keeping Ollie up later and he has been coming out to dinner with us some nights. We are impressed—he has surprised us, and the experience has surprised us. We get so caught up in our American ways (dinner at 5:30 PM, in bed by 7:30 PM) that it can be “scary” and exciting to stretch ourselves out of the norm. Routines are good, but they can box us in and we can miss certain life opportunities that are so rich. Like watching our son play with other people’s dogs at 10 PM in a small quiet city alley during dinner (imprinted in my heart).
That’s my biggest takeaway this week. To stretch the boundaries of routine when I feel that good kind of nervousness and excitement. Can we stay up later and enjoy the city in the evening like the other children and families? Can we navigate to a new city on our own? Can we figure out how to take the metro or bus? Can we get to the summit of the mountain together? Can we get through the growing pains of traveling with family and consider what’s in the best interest for all of us as a team? Can Ollie attend and enjoy a kid’s circus camp that speaks only French? (He did and he loved it!)
Until next week, you can follow more of our travels on my Instagram (@iamemilynolan). My account is private—I invite you to request friendship.
This weekend, we are off to Gstaad! Believe it or not, we’re taking the Shania Twain Train through the Golden Pass trade route. You read that correctly!
All my love. Au revoir!