The Canadian government, along with many other countries around the world, have enacted international travel restrictions on inbound passengers and recommended its citizens to only travel when necessary. Despite these recommendations and restrictions, I found myself flying over 23,000km on four aircraft across three continents this summer. Was I exempt? Read more…
How heavy debt led the colony into provincehood British Columbia’s union with Canada was not inevitable, some residents wanted to join the United States. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the union between British Columbia and Canada. The Pacific province has been a part of Canada since July 20, Read more…
It feels like not that long ago when I published my 400-post celebratory post. Before I know it I’ve moved on and written another 100 posts on new places I’ve visited, new lessons learned, and new people met. It was also my birthday this week and I realized that I Read more…
Well known for building the Unité d’Habitation in several cities like Marseille and Berlin, co-designing the UN building in New York City, and inspiring the concept of the Radiant City, Le Corbusier also had an impact in his home country of Switzerland. Born in La Chaux-de-Fonds near the French border, Read more…
Having had the excellent opportunity to learn German while living in Berlin, I took to learning German songs to really immerse myself into German popular culture. Of course, the first song I wanted to learn wasn’t “Edelweiß”, I looked at classics from the NDW genre by masters such as Grönemeyer, Read more…
This website has been online for more or less 3 years and I’ve managed to post at least twice a week, so far. I thought the 400-post milestone would be a good opportunity for a review of the travel and experiences from the last 5 years between 2016 to 2020. Read more…
With a whole host of safety regulations in place, flying is statistically the safest way to travel as you are least likely to die of a crash when compared to other modes of transportation. But since COVID-19 has spread across the world, often through international air travel, does embarking on Read more…
On a recent ICE trip from Berlin to Bremen, I read in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that the German government will cut VAT for train tickets in 2020 to just 7% (about 10% off ticket price at present 19.5% VAT rates) and consider raising taxes for flights. I am in total Read more…
If I’ve written, complained, and praised the German railways, Amtrak, Vancouver’s West Coast Express, Thalys, the Euro Star, and China Railway Highspeed, I might as well do it for the Swiss railways while I’m here. Between June and Christmas, I’ve visited 57 Swiss cities, 3 German cities, and 5 peaks Read more…
In the first six months of my life in Switzerland, I was rather confused and disappointed with the behavior of the people here. Why would drivers in Geneva park their cars all over the place? Why can’t passengers just move to the window seat on the bus? Why don’t people Read more…