I have spent the last seven weeks settling into life at Chalet Martin in a small town in the Swiss Alps. I’ve slept in the same bed, cooked in the same kitchen, stashed my shoes on the same shelf + shopped at the same market for almost two months. It’s like I’ve been legitimately living in a tiny mountain town in Switzerland…exactly the experience I planned for when I left the States. It’s been nice. It’s gotten comfortable. It’s time to change. Yea, I know. Why fix what’s not broken…but I’m almost out of time to wander Europe so rather than stick to the comfortable I’m headed beyond the borders of Switzerland.

This morning I packed up my Ultimate Direction backpack with a few layering essentials and headed for the airport. I’m headed to Austria for a few days then popping over to the Czech Republic for nearly two weeks. For the most part, I’ll be playing tourist.

First in Vienna, Austria where I hope to spend a little time exploring the city with a day trip out into the country side. After that I’m headed into a tiny town in eastern Czech where I’ll be volunteering at a WorkAway farm for nearly a week. I’ll be there to help finish up the harvest on this family farm; I really hope the farm girl of my childhood still knows a thing or two about farm life! To finish off my time in the Czech Republic I’m going back into tourist mode for a few days near Cesky Raj and Prague.

— photo snagged from Logan’s post on mtnsandmiles.com from a trip to the Cesky Raj region —

I have done a lot of logistical planning for this little adventure — flights are booked, AirBnB rooms [full disclosure: that’s an affiliate link!] are confirmed, train schedules are printed. This feels weird considering I spent my first week in Switzerland simply hiking into town and searching for a hostel when I got there. Knowing all the logistics feels…too planned? To keep the balance I have done maybe 10 minutes of Google’ing to figure out what I’ll be doing while I’m wandering these countries.

Rather than plan any adventures I’m going to be leaning heavily on my AirBnB hosts [with profiles + reviews that flaunt their local recommendations] for ideas on what to do in each city and just let my daily plans go with the flow of life, weather and whatever is readily available in this wonky “off season” that tends to shut down tiny towns.

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With that…enjoy a little radio silence for the next few weeks. My laptop is staying in Switzerland and there’s a really good chance I’ll forget how to use social media while I”m wandering about. But there will be photos, oh so many photos, taken for future sharing…and Snapchat stories [search “runaroundaroo”, you’ll find me!], because sometimes I get lonely and talk to myself so I might as well share that with the world, right!? So maybe I won’t abandon social media entirely, but it’s definitely not on my daily to-do list!


5 Comments

jared · November 6, 2021 at 12:02 am

Thanks for sharing your adventures…

I just got into Switzerland myself and am in Villars sur Ollon for about ten more days. I found your blog via a google search for Cabane de Plan Nevé and just kept reading, so nice work! Your excursions have given me a few good ideas. Thanks!

    Heidi Nicole · November 13, 2021 at 5:20 am

    I hope your having a blast! Definitely get up to Le Chaux if you can, hands down my favorite place!

The Padre · November 6, 2021 at 11:00 am

These Photos Are A Breath Of Fresh Air. Thanx So Much

Laura · November 7, 2021 at 11:06 pm

I hope that you are having a great time - can’t wait to hear about your adventures!

nazmul · December 6, 2021 at 12:04 am

What a beautiful camping spot! I have never been and am nervous for the same reasons you were.

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