On Day 1 we flew in a small Twin Otter aircraft from Kathmandu to Lukla. The flight was incredible: the foothills we were flying over got more and more dramatic, and out the left-hand side we saw glimpses of the Himalaya. After about 1.5 hours we flew close over a ridge and had our, Read More
We had arranged a 20-day trek in the Everest Region of eastern Nepal. We would fly from Kathmandu to Lukla to avoid the long approach walk into the mountains from Jiri (which would add a few more weeks to the trek – it’s meant to be a beautiful walk but we just didn’t have, Read More
Dad and I arrived in Kathmandu and had a couple of days to see the sights, acclimatize and make arrangements for a guide and porter with our trekking company, Eco Trek, for our 20-day trek through the Everest Region. We stayed at a classic trekker’s hotel in Thamel and organized a tour of the, Read More
It finally came time to say goodbye to Switzerland, and to the town of Baden which I’ve come to know and love so much. Baden is a gorgeous little town just outside of Zurich that I’ve called home for the five years I’ve lived in Switzerland, from 1998-1999 and then from 2000-2004. A panorama, Read More
Shortly before departing Switzerland, I took one last day trip into the Alps. Out of all things I’ll miss once I leave Switzerland, the thing I’ll miss the most are definitely the mountains. Whether it was snowboarding in winter or hiking and mountaineering in the summer, it was great to have such a fantastic, Read More
I’ve been wanting to get to Florence for absolutely ages. After many long weekend trips from Switzerland I can tick off most of the northern half of Italy – including Milan, Venice a couple of times, Tuscany, the Cinque Terre, and of course Rome. But somehow I’ve always missed Florence. Now that I’m going, Read More
The final stop on our South American vacation was Ecuador. We flew into Quito – the 2nd highest capital city in the world! – and while it’s at 3000m we didn’t have any problems acclimatizing to the altitude as we’d just come from Bogota which is also pretty high. Fascinating Quito! We, Read More
Now I have to admit that my desire to backpack through Colombia was for a few different reasons: I felt like traveling somewhere considered “unsafe” (I had my reasons but you’re not allowed ask me why) I wanted to see what Colombia was all about ,and whether it deserved the bad wrap it usually, Read More
Andy Passmore and I flew down to South America for our Christmas vacation. We didn’t have a firm plan as such: we just bought a Lonely Planet guidebook and looked for a cheap fare to South America. And that’s how we ended up in Caracas. We arrived in Caracas at night without a hotel, Read More
Rugby Club Zurich won the Swiss Cup for the first time in 2003. It was a fantastic day for the club, with all three teams (Mens A, Mens B, Womens) winning their respective national trophies. It was great to be a part of such a day. First team photo before the match. , Read More