Home SWEET Switzerland, Snow, Greta & Davos
We set foot on land, turning our back to our floating home. Jade Akka resting in hybernation, well cleaned and tied up, we made our way towards the airport. Our destination: what we call home. Back to Switzerland, from the heat to the cold, from summer to winter, from the Antipodes to Europe (geographically & culturally, though not nationally). What will we think about our old home? Excited we hopped on the bus that brought us away from the harbour, the salt water, sailing and great new friends, to spit us out at the airport for an incredible quick - sailors perspective - ride through the air around half the world - to the Antipodes of the Antipodes.
In a brand new A380 we flew to Doha, changing into another brand new A350 to bring us to Zurich. Total travel time 24h, total distance 18400km, total kerosene estimated 700l-900l per person, 1.1t-1.3t for the two of us. One way, that is. Price per km: around 4 cents. Mind blowing, given we travelled approximately the same distance in 18 months, using more than 2t of diesel. However, while we got a great understanding of what we travelled through on Jade Akka, we had no idea how it looked like on the ground we flew over. I hope we may visit places like Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Iran, Bulgaria, Romania and other less known places one day.
Globalization? For us, the enabler of our travels. And while in Davos in the Swiss alps the extremely lucky Globals start their networking to advance themselves - and hopefully their electorate or dependents - we touch down in the Swiss Mittelland to find out if our journey advanced ourselves, too. But family first: our welcome committee had gathered, coffee was ready, so we embraced family - literally - and shared our most important stories.
Soon we were taken through our former home lands, hiking through snow, eating fondue and tons of cheese with the wonderful bread of St Gallen (available in Melbourne, as we learned later, from a Swiss bakery), riding the trains, visiting former favorites in Zurich etc etc. Our godsons got taller than us, families are doing great, friends being utmost hospitable as usual. What changed? Our perception of all the things that fit in a household.
With a few square meters of rocking boat, things need to be multi functional, priorities must be set what gets on board and what remains on shore as a nice to have. Nevertheless, we did not miss a thing while under way. Being back home we were stunned of the number of things we had left back home. Yes, we had sold a lot of furniture, given away the majority of things we owned and felt we only kept the most important. Yeah, guess what. It did not fit in a suitcase to take it Down Under. Well, we had planned to be back and re-establish a household. But still, we learned to live with so much less - less things, that is. And as in Davos Greta Thunberg requests the world’s leaders to leave behind a clean planet for her generation, our perspective gets enhanced once more. With our family tradition of discussing anything, we spend hours on these topics. And with my dad being a teacher of ancient Latin, we get reminded that the Romans also suffered from some of their own developments, like lead as piping material.
Just three weeks, and we feel as we had not left. But Jade Akka is waiting in the warmth. We find her safe at the dock upon our return. As reliable she had been taking us over the Pacific, as reliably she had waited. Now we are giving her a treat while delving into Aussi life. And while settling back in, perspective on Switzerland enhances once more. How lucky are we, to have been raised in those circumstances. How lucky are we, to have been able to save to leave and sail. Compared to Australia, which is doing super well, too, it’s about 30% easier to do what we did financially - simply thanks to the exchange rate.
Snowy Switzerland, Zurich, Mount Rigi and Schauenberg in pictures.
In a brand new A380 we flew to Doha, changing into another brand new A350 to bring us to Zurich. Total travel time 24h, total distance 18400km, total kerosene estimated 700l-900l per person, 1.1t-1.3t for the two of us. One way, that is. Price per km: around 4 cents. Mind blowing, given we travelled approximately the same distance in 18 months, using more than 2t of diesel. However, while we got a great understanding of what we travelled through on Jade Akka, we had no idea how it looked like on the ground we flew over. I hope we may visit places like Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Iran, Bulgaria, Romania and other less known places one day.
Globalization? For us, the enabler of our travels. And while in Davos in the Swiss alps the extremely lucky Globals start their networking to advance themselves - and hopefully their electorate or dependents - we touch down in the Swiss Mittelland to find out if our journey advanced ourselves, too. But family first: our welcome committee had gathered, coffee was ready, so we embraced family - literally - and shared our most important stories.
Soon we were taken through our former home lands, hiking through snow, eating fondue and tons of cheese with the wonderful bread of St Gallen (available in Melbourne, as we learned later, from a Swiss bakery), riding the trains, visiting former favorites in Zurich etc etc. Our godsons got taller than us, families are doing great, friends being utmost hospitable as usual. What changed? Our perception of all the things that fit in a household.
With a few square meters of rocking boat, things need to be multi functional, priorities must be set what gets on board and what remains on shore as a nice to have. Nevertheless, we did not miss a thing while under way. Being back home we were stunned of the number of things we had left back home. Yes, we had sold a lot of furniture, given away the majority of things we owned and felt we only kept the most important. Yeah, guess what. It did not fit in a suitcase to take it Down Under. Well, we had planned to be back and re-establish a household. But still, we learned to live with so much less - less things, that is. And as in Davos Greta Thunberg requests the world’s leaders to leave behind a clean planet for her generation, our perspective gets enhanced once more. With our family tradition of discussing anything, we spend hours on these topics. And with my dad being a teacher of ancient Latin, we get reminded that the Romans also suffered from some of their own developments, like lead as piping material.
Just three weeks, and we feel as we had not left. But Jade Akka is waiting in the warmth. We find her safe at the dock upon our return. As reliable she had been taking us over the Pacific, as reliably she had waited. Now we are giving her a treat while delving into Aussi life. And while settling back in, perspective on Switzerland enhances once more. How lucky are we, to have been raised in those circumstances. How lucky are we, to have been able to save to leave and sail. Compared to Australia, which is doing super well, too, it’s about 30% easier to do what we did financially - simply thanks to the exchange rate.
Snowy Switzerland, Zurich, Mount Rigi and Schauenberg in pictures.