DS

I will say this straight out - LA will have to pull off a complete miracle to compete with Paris Olympics. The city provided such a stunning backdrop to the events it is almost impossible to match if. Marathon and cycling through st. Germaine area? Fencing in the grand palais? Events in seine with backdrop of Eiffel? Various free pop up venues to watch Olympics with backdrop of Hôtel de-vile or various picturesque churches? There is no fucking way LA is going to match the visual factor of Paris. Gonna be incredibly hard to top this!

Rewatched Dune 1 on flight back last night and my god this movie holds up so so much better than dune 2. Dune 1 was better than dune 2 I think.

Overall, Paris was great fun this time. Grindelwald was very pretty but marred by a few racist locals. Zermatt and Zurich were both awesome with people being so nice on both places. Truly think it was just a Grindelwald problem. Zermatt stole our hearts though, hands down.

I generally never post about my travel plans well in advance anywhere and limit the information also to very few people outside my family too. Most of the times I post photos on insta after the trip is over or even if I do, it will be very few and far in between. I have a superstition that something goes wrong when I over share my plans. This summer trip I decided I am no longer believing in this BS and shared my plans not just on social media but with lots of friends and colleagues at work. So many people told us how jealous they are that we were doing so many things this trip. I shared photos on insta and micro almost on a daily basis chronicling our trip. And then Vienna happened. The very reason we created this trip and this itinerary was the Taylor Swift concert. The entire trip came together around the concert. My kid’s entire reason of the trip was the concert, with Olympics being a bonus. Now that it cancelled and we headed back home early, I think I am going back to my earlier days of not making a big deal out of my trips at all. I don’t think I want to do the same thing I did this year anymore again and I will stick to my old ways!

Back home after cutting our trip short by almost 3-4 days. We knew we had to cut it short in Zurich when we became totally listless and adrenaline of the trip wore off with the concert news. Doggo’s reaction to us coming back was validation enough that it was the right thing to do. And OMG my bed has never looked more inviting!

Zurich is actually very pretty and almost Seattle like but all our enthusiasm and energy was drained out. We walked around like zombies mostly, none of us in any mood to keep walking. My kid is the one who’s made peace with the tour cancellation while I am the one who is still extremely pissed off at turn of events.

All religions are absolutely terrible but honestly feel Islam is at the bottom of that rotten pile. No other religion in modern times seems to radicalize young people towards senseless violence and terrorism more than this one. I am still so bummed over events of last 24 hours.

The kid is handling the concert cancellation way better than I thought she would. She cried her heart out last night but today she is normal. She is disappointed she said but better than being in stadium if a terrorist attack happens. I am amazed by how well she has taken this and so proud of her. I owe her this concert- luckily lot more options later this year in USA so maybe something might work out.

Taylor Swift Vienna concerts cancelled after attack threat - BBC News

We were heading to Vienna this weekend to cap out our trip with a Taylor swift concert that was supposed to be my kid’s bday gift. She had been waiting for ages for this. We are so devastated right now I am just looking for flights back right away without even going to Vienna at this point :(. Fuck ISIS and fuck these terrorists. I hope they die and rot in hell.

Early call to retire tonight. Exhaustion has set in. Honestly can’t wait to be home at this point.

Here’s a tip for you if you are traveling anywhere:

1. Always ask an Asian to take your photo for you. They go out of their way to get the best photos and are super happy to take photos of you. Of course please return the favor to them.

2. If you need any help, find a person with American accent. Americans are the most helpful and cheerful people you will meet on travel and will readily share what they know and will help you out. They are the easiest to strike a conversation with and will be happy to chat with you nonstop.

3. Just avoid everyone else. Honestly, don’t bother.

Europe really needs to create “smoking zones” which is a common thing in the USA. Even at fucking 11000 ft people just couldn’t stop lighting up all around. Instead of fresh air we got a good dose of different vapes and cigarette smoke lol.

What a remarkable difference between locals at Grindelwald vs Zermatt. People at Zermatt are so much nicer, polite and helpful. Just the overall vibe of locals out here is so different and welcoming. Loving this town so much!

One of the best things we did this trip is to force ourselves to onebag. This has come in so handy in Switzerland it’s unbelievable.

Heading to Zermatt today. This involves 3 train changes and a bus ride because of a broken track somewhere. While the swill railways are beyond world class there is no way I won’t rent a car if we ever redo this trip again or recommend to others. This 3-4 changes for 3 hour journey are just …. Ridic.