TRAVEL AND LIFESTYLE DIARIES

I will be off to a long weekend European solo road trip. This trip will highlight culinary discoveries, stunning architecture, unrivaled history and the splendor of nature. My base will be the beautiful town of Colmar in France. The rest of the places I will be visiting are for stopovers and side trips. With road trips, one must stop somewhere to refuel and move the legs a bit, just perfect to combine these with a lunch or dinner and sightseeing in the lovely cities and towns that fall along the route. As a tradition in this blog, I always post the flag of the country and the coat of arms of the city-town-village I am going to. Here they are: Colmar, France Beautiful Colmar village will be my holiday base in this road trip. I will be doing a side trip to the Alsace Wine Route Villages (I will not post the coat of arms of the small villages as they are quite a few and they are just beside Colmar anyway). Basel, Switzerland This will be a side trip from Colmar. Dont you jus...

This is a short part of a road trip that I have been eyeing for in a looooong time. Time has always been the issue why I cannot fill my heart’s desire to travel and explore the world, but even with this challenge, I always make time to travel. Just one city, and one country, at a time. I have to admit though that sometimes I do not understand myself and why I have this insatiable desire to travel and explore the world. I would have loved to do it on a faster pace but that is quite impossible given the priorities and responsibilities I have in life. I’m not a big fan of long-term travelling (at least for now) because after some time on the road, I know I will miss home. I will miss the Dutchman terribly. More importantly, I maintain a career that is an essential aspect of my future’s well-being, and sanity as well so to speak. Even though I am living quite a good life right now, I still have many years down the road. Questions such as--How sustainable is this travelling lifestyle? ...

Hi, I’m flying to Geneve, Switzerland tomorrow early morning for work. Will be staying there for a week. Will be busy so no sightseeing really unless after work hours. We shall see. For now I am faced at packing and I am not really in the mood to pack. I guess it’s easier this time as I am bringing business suits, so it’s easy to pick them as they are pairs compared to when travelling for pleasure where you have to think of the mixing and matching thing. I used to like packing, now I am dreading it. It’s going to be an early morning drive to the airport. YAWN. I hope I can get up early. I’m reminding myself to eat breakfast at home, at 5AM—I don’t like sandwiches for breakfast and KLM serves them for their short distance flights. I’ll have coffee though at the airport and tea during the flight. See you in Geneve, Switzerland. Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)

The trip will be quick and this is all work—no play. There’s one thing I’ve learned about Switzerland, they are like Belgium in some ways. In Belgium there is the on-going fissure between the Dutch speaking group in the north and the French speaking group in the south and I guess officials in the European Union in Brussels are just counting the days when the marriage will finally be over, or will this be—till death do us part? We will see. Nevertheless, it looks like there is a similar sentiment creeping in the Alps and lakes of Switzerland, but maybe trivial in comparison to Belgium. You know, the Swiss Germans in the north are not really that fond of their Swiss French cousins in the south.... Hmm, makes you wonder what is wrong here. North vs South? French vs everything else? OK, pun intended.

Hi there--Bonjour! I am off for a looong weekend in Central Europe (Geneve)—looking forward to enjoying the charming villages, learning a new culture and tasting the local fares. All I am wishing is good weather and I so hope the forecast will change because I can’t change my flight and hotel booking now.