2025 · 9 STORIES

Germany & Switzerland 🇩🇪 🇨🇭

From applying for a Schengen visa on my own to taking trains across Germany and up into the Swiss mountains.

Frankfurt → Berlin → Hamburg → Interlaken → Lauterbrunnen

Start at the beginning. The stories are in the order they happened.

13/05/2025·7 min read

It was my first time applying for a Schengen visa. I opened my passport and nearly missed the visa sticker inside.

14/05/2025·6 min read

I left the airport on a layover to see a little more of Hong Kong. A wrong bus meant a much more expensive race back to catch the flight.

14/05/2025·5 min read

After a long flight and a rushed connection, the sight of a yellow tram was what made my arrival in Germany feel real.

15/05/2025·3 min read

I walked from the Berlin Wall Memorial to the Holocaust memorial, where I spent time reading the letters on display.

17/05/2025·5 min read

I went back to the waterfront, looked around the Elbphilharmonie and stopped for a meal with a Vietnamese woman who called me her child.

18/05/2025·4 min read

From Hamburg I stopped in Dortmund and Cologne on my way to Frankfurt. The last ride to my hostel went the wrong way.

18/05/2025·4 min read

I reached the platform early and missed the train anyway. The replacement journey left me just five minutes to change at Basel.

18/05/2025·4 min read

I linked Lauterbrunnen, Wengen and Mürren with trains, a cable car and plenty of walking. I still managed to take the wrong bus.

19/05/2025·6 min read

A change in the train route gave me time in Bern and Zurich. I didn’t make it back to Frankfurt until three in the morning.