2 - For long haul flights, skip out on the airline foodjust water or liq. IYKYK. You can fast for 12-17hrs. That, or eat before you get on the plane or once you land. At most, pack some blueberries
break it down
Essential The Official Coli Travel Thread
break it down
1) Outside of business class most airline food is best skipped
2) Airport toilets are right behind porta potties in places you should never have to handle serious business in
3) The first meal I have after a long haul just tastes better
If I need to eat just some fruit and water really.
I use Remitly in Latam and Sendwave and World Remit in Africa.whats the mobile money app you use? remitly on some bullshyt
Can’t depend on just one.
When sending money back home I use Cash app because that’s what people in the states use.
Bushmaster69
Superstar
World Remit. Tap tap send.whats the mobile money app you use? remitly on some bullshyt
Digital Omen
All Star
Hitting the lounge for pre-flight meal and drinks is mandatory. Amex and Sapphire crew know what time it is.Pro tips:
1 - Start packing 72hrs before you leave, you’re gonna forget something if you leave it late
2 - For long haul flights, skip out on the airline food
SN: I have the entire row to myself but I’m in the front row so I can’t collapse the handles on the seats next to me
WTFisWallace?
All Star
Got back from this last week....
Was a family trip, with differing money to work with....... so cut the main trip to just 10 days Switzerland (and a day in Germany).
I was supposed to do 2 days in London (was hoping Coco would go deeper at Wimbledon), but it got cut to 1 day due to missing a connecting flight in the US, had to sleep at the airport smh.
My bro did 5 days in Italy prior linking up with us in Switzerland.
Tried looking up Zurich on the Rate This City series, but couldn't find it. Would definitely be top 10 int'l.
Aesthetically....everywhere you look shyt looks like a post card. Clean af.
Public Transport.....I visited Japan back February, Japan is super impressive due to mow many people it handles & the bullet trains.
But if you don't factor in population density, Switz is on par or better. Zurich is super interconnected and is easy to get from Zurich into the country side, with all types of ferries & gondolas.
Activities......architecture, beautiful lakes to swim, lots of activities, dope/chill night life, amazing places to hike.
The people in general are chill.....women specifically slim/fit & chill. Not very much black women tho. At best, you'll come across get very 'mixed' chicks.
Lot of tourists/foreigners in Zurich, so in that way there's a variety of people/women. The further you travel from Zurich it gets even more white.
Surprisingly (to me at least), the euro white chicks, Swiss & the tourists, got some thickness to em
. Plenty of beautiful chicks, easy going.In the northern part of Switzerland....Swiss German is their main language. East side of Switzerland is primarily Italian is used. And the southern part primarily speaks French. But English is widely known everywhere.
Costs...everything is fukking expensive. Even the public restrooms cost about $2.50
Day 1: Fly in to Zurich airport around noon.
2.5-3hr train ride to Lauterbrunnen.
Day 2: Visit Schilthorn Mountain. Rotating restaurant at peak (even on a cloudy day, this was fire. As the clouds clear up here and there you could see surrounding mountains)
Work your way down to Birg & Murren. Dope cliff walk. And a lot of places to do light hikes.
Day 3: Visit Grindelwald First mountain. Gondola straight to top, work your way down. Gliders & Flyers (for time, recommend only doing one, Glider brings you back to top...if you wanna do a light hike afterwards)
Definitely make a stop at Sheckfield. Can do some mountain carting afterwards.
Day 4: Visit Interlaken / Lake Brienz
Steamboat over to Giesbach Waterfalls. Gondola up. Hotel with major terrace. Walk down the trail back to the lake's pier.
Get back on ferry over to Brienz (town). Definitely do the Brienz Rothorn Train up to the mountain peak. (need to reserve both up & down in advance)
Once back in Brienz (town) explore...beautiful swimming areas and lakeside boardwalk.
Could take a train or ferry boat back to Interlaken. (ferry also makes a stop at Iseltwald)
We shut it down for the day and headed back to Lauterbrunnen, but there's a lot of shyt to do/enjoy in Interlaken.
Probably should do Geisbach Waterfalls after doing Rothorn/Brienz.
Day 5: Leave Lauterbrunnen, went to Lucerne for day trip via a panoramic train from Interlaken. (2 hr ride)
Store luggage at Lucerne's train station.
Visited Mt Pilatus. Start from Alpnachstad to take a cog train straight to peak (reserve in advance).
Go down to Frakmuntegg.....depending on what you're into, you could spend 3 hours just here. Toboggan slide was cool. If you're a climber, the Rope Park looks fire.
Headed back down to Lucerne. Whole city looks like something out of a movie. Got this bridge over the lake you can literally see all type of geese and shyt floating by. 1890's architecture mixed with some 1930s or so. Dope mix. Wasn't able to see it, but there's supposedly a very dope transportation muesuem here.
Back to train station to head to Zurich (1hr ride) & check in/settle in for the night.
Day 6: Explore Zurich....Old Town/Bahnhofstrass areas & ETH University via Polybahn, great overlook of the city.
Lots of great swimming/water activitity spots like 'Seebad Enge'
Highly recommend "Zeughauskeller" for dinner. 'Friend's Corner' & 'Al Mouchtar' good kebab/arabic spots for lighter lunch options.
The pier down from Bahnostrasse....Burkiplatz area is a dope late night vibe. Came across a a whole all white party. Very chill. Actual dancing
Day 7: Headed over to Rapperswil to visit some folk. Super nice area. Has a castle connected to its swimming and downtown area. Worth a visit, but could just chill in Zurich. The fukking castle legit had deer running around
Day 8: Had plans to visit Schauffhausen first to see the Rhine Falls, but ended up going straight to Munich, Germany. fukked up and miscalculated the price the train ticket would be...ended up taking a FlixBus over there instead. 3.5hr ride. Stayed at Wombat Hostel for the night.
Got off the bus & the difference between two countries hit IMMEDIATELY. Rough looking women look like game of thrones extras, entire place looks grimey af even with the old school grand architecture, just aesthetically looks like you can get shanked out there. Plenty of homeless people and beggars. Romanian / gypsy beggar chicks running games. My cousin kept asking if Switerzland felt diverse, told her hell no. Munich definitely is. Zurich felt like it was shutting down around 9:30 pmish.......Munich was just starting to crack at 10:30pm. Definitely gotta keep ya head on a swivel tho.
Day 9: Guided tour of Dachau Concentration Camp (prior to visiting Mexico, I thought guided tours was a joke/scam, but most these cats really know their shyt and our passionate about their country/history)
If you have time, explore Olympics Grounds & BMW Welt......(if you book MONTHS in advance, you might be able to get into a BMW factory tour)
Head back to Zurich.
Day 10: Fly out.
2.5-3hr train ride to Lauterbrunnen.
Day 2: Visit Schilthorn Mountain. Rotating restaurant at peak (even on a cloudy day, this was fire. As the clouds clear up here and there you could see surrounding mountains)
Work your way down to Birg & Murren. Dope cliff walk. And a lot of places to do light hikes.
Day 3: Visit Grindelwald First mountain. Gondola straight to top, work your way down. Gliders & Flyers (for time, recommend only doing one, Glider brings you back to top...if you wanna do a light hike afterwards)
Definitely make a stop at Sheckfield. Can do some mountain carting afterwards.
Day 4: Visit Interlaken / Lake Brienz
Steamboat over to Giesbach Waterfalls. Gondola up. Hotel with major terrace. Walk down the trail back to the lake's pier.
Get back on ferry over to Brienz (town). Definitely do the Brienz Rothorn Train up to the mountain peak. (need to reserve both up & down in advance)
Once back in Brienz (town) explore...beautiful swimming areas and lakeside boardwalk.
Could take a train or ferry boat back to Interlaken. (ferry also makes a stop at Iseltwald)
We shut it down for the day and headed back to Lauterbrunnen, but there's a lot of shyt to do/enjoy in Interlaken.
Probably should do Geisbach Waterfalls after doing Rothorn/Brienz.
Day 5: Leave Lauterbrunnen, went to Lucerne for day trip via a panoramic train from Interlaken. (2 hr ride)
Store luggage at Lucerne's train station.
Visited Mt Pilatus. Start from Alpnachstad to take a cog train straight to peak (reserve in advance).
Go down to Frakmuntegg.....depending on what you're into, you could spend 3 hours just here. Toboggan slide was cool. If you're a climber, the Rope Park looks fire.
Headed back down to Lucerne. Whole city looks like something out of a movie. Got this bridge over the lake you can literally see all type of geese and shyt floating by. 1890's architecture mixed with some 1930s or so. Dope mix. Wasn't able to see it, but there's supposedly a very dope transportation muesuem here.
Back to train station to head to Zurich (1hr ride) & check in/settle in for the night.
Day 6: Explore Zurich....Old Town/Bahnhofstrass areas & ETH University via Polybahn, great overlook of the city.
Lots of great swimming/water activitity spots like 'Seebad Enge'
Highly recommend "Zeughauskeller" for dinner. 'Friend's Corner' & 'Al Mouchtar' good kebab/arabic spots for lighter lunch options.
The pier down from Bahnostrasse....Burkiplatz area is a dope late night vibe. Came across a a whole all white party. Very chill. Actual dancing
Day 7: Headed over to Rapperswil to visit some folk. Super nice area. Has a castle connected to its swimming and downtown area. Worth a visit, but could just chill in Zurich. The fukking castle legit had deer running around
Day 8: Had plans to visit Schauffhausen first to see the Rhine Falls, but ended up going straight to Munich, Germany. fukked up and miscalculated the price the train ticket would be...ended up taking a FlixBus over there instead. 3.5hr ride. Stayed at Wombat Hostel for the night.
Got off the bus & the difference between two countries hit IMMEDIATELY
. Rough looking women look like game of thrones extras, entire place looks grimey af even with the old school grand architecture, just aesthetically looks like you can get shanked out there. Plenty of homeless people and beggars. Romanian / gypsy beggar chicks running games. My cousin kept asking if Switerzland felt diverse, told her hell no. Munich definitely is. Zurich felt like it was shutting down around 9:30 pmish.......Munich was just starting to crack at 10:30pm. Definitely gotta keep ya head on a swivel tho.Day 9: Guided tour of Dachau Concentration Camp (prior to visiting Mexico, I thought guided tours was a joke/scam, but most these cats really know their shyt and our passionate about their country/history)
If you have time, explore Olympics Grounds & BMW Welt......(if you book MONTHS in advance, you might be able to get into a BMW factory tour)
Head back to Zurich.
Day 10: Fly out.
Last edited:
WTFisWallace?
All Star
For some reason couldn't add this to original post
Activity prices without Munich, hot air, or paragliding $465
Activity prices without doing Munich or hot air ballooning $755
Activity prices with Munich, but without hot air ballooning $1090
Activiirty prices with both Munich & hot air ballooning $1470
^ all assuming you have Swiss Travel Pass or Half-Fare Card
(paragliding costs between $270-$330)
Swiss Travel Pass: $520 for 8 days straight pass
- Most trains, boats, gondolas, included. Will have to pay half price for certain gondolas like Schiltorn.
- Most convenient option.....for this time frame (8 days+) savings would be negligible anyway.
- Includes most panoramic trains in the country, but need to reserve for a couple
Lodging:
Lauterbrunnen / Jungfrau region:
I got fixated in making our bass Lauterbrunnen for some reason, cause I thought the scenery combined with accessibility would be dope
- We stayed at Camping Jungfrau in Lauterbrunnen. It's hostel. The regular dorm portion, is pretty nice relatively. They have bungalow/cabin options as well. Hostel for backpackers and families | Camping Jungfrau Lauterbrunnen
Other Base Options:
- Lauterbrunnen....beautiful scenery, pricey, breakfast/grocery open slightly late...dining closes early. AirBnB, VRBO, hostels, hotels in area,
4 nights BnB....$850-1000
- Murren or Wengen......might be more aesthetically pleasing, but not convenient due to gondola running on limited schedule. Very pricey.
4 night BnB.....$1500-$2500
- Interlaken.....cheapest to stay in. Most centralized and convenient travel wise. More options for late night. Access to lake for night swims.
4 nights BnB...$450-$700
- Brienz........looks like it would dope af to stay here. 5-10 min train ride to Interlaken, so convenient travel wise. Seems pricey. Right off lake.
4 nights BnB...$800-$1400
Zurich:
- Public transport makes it so that you're never more than a 10-15 min tram ride to city center or Lake Zurich...so your options open up.
- Roof tops/studios in city are dope af, but pricey
Direct flights from the east coast of the U.S. is gonna be about 1400 not including check in bags. If you do a connecting, might be able to find tickets for $900.
Flight + Travel Pass + Activities: 2.5-3k
Lodging for 9 days probably around 1k-1.3k on the very low end.
Food per day: probably around $60-70 a day. if you like wine, drinks atmosphere...probably 100-120 a day. So about $600 on low side.
Total Estimate: 3.5k to 4.5k variances for the type of lodging you do.
Tips & Info
Weather: Summer time, July is best time to go if you're not looking for specific winter activity. I went in May/June last year and it rained damn near every day.
This time around, only light rain that came and went here and there. Sunsets around 9:20pm.
In the valley and city....55-75 degrees. Great summer days. At the mountain peaks 35-45 degrees
SBB app for public transport routes. Ubigi is a good e-sim phone service.
Food recommendations: Raclette, Fondue, Rosti, Donner/kebab. Smoothest lager beer I've had. Top tier fries. I told my Switzerland cousins last year that while I can taste every fresh ingredient, the overall taste of their food was bland. This year blew me away.
Would bring a water bottle....a couple of natural water fountain spread thru out city to refill. Buying water can cost $8 a pop.
Interlaken: There's a lot of shyt to do here......canyon swings, river rafting, museums, caves, etc.
Lauterbrunnen: definitely check out Trummelbach Waterfalls. Staubach is cool too. Weidstubli Restaraunt at Camping Jungfrau is open to all best meaI we had during the entire trip. Raclette/Fondue for starters with some cold trout.
Hot Air Ballooning is pretty tough. We couldn't do our due to weather and time constraints, but even if we could would not recommend it. Seems to to be very out the way and then the launch times are usually 5:30am or 5:30pm.
Links:
https://www.paragliding-jungfrau.ch/wp/information/faq
https://www.pilatus.ch/en/discover/fraekigaudi-toboggan-run
Alpins in the Alps & The Traveling Swiss are pretty good youtube channels for info.
Activity prices without doing Munich or hot air ballooning $755
Activity prices with Munich, but without hot air ballooning $1090
Activiirty prices with both Munich & hot air ballooning $1470
^ all assuming you have Swiss Travel Pass or Half-Fare Card
(paragliding costs between $270-$330)
Swiss Travel Pass: $520 for 8 days straight pass
- Most trains, boats, gondolas, included. Will have to pay half price for certain gondolas like Schiltorn.
- Most convenient option.....for this time frame (8 days+) savings would be negligible anyway.
- Includes most panoramic trains in the country, but need to reserve for a couple
Lodging:
Lauterbrunnen / Jungfrau region:
I got fixated in making our bass Lauterbrunnen for some reason, cause I thought the scenery combined with accessibility would be dope
- We stayed at Camping Jungfrau in Lauterbrunnen. It's hostel. The regular dorm portion, is pretty nice relatively. They have bungalow/cabin options as well. Hostel for backpackers and families | Camping Jungfrau Lauterbrunnen
Other Base Options:
- Lauterbrunnen....beautiful scenery, pricey, breakfast/grocery open slightly late...dining closes early. AirBnB, VRBO, hostels, hotels in area,
4 nights BnB....$850-1000
- Murren or Wengen......might be more aesthetically pleasing, but not convenient due to gondola running on limited schedule. Very pricey.
4 night BnB.....$1500-$2500
- Interlaken.....cheapest to stay in. Most centralized and convenient travel wise. More options for late night. Access to lake for night swims.
4 nights BnB...$450-$700
- Brienz........looks like it would dope af to stay here. 5-10 min train ride to Interlaken, so convenient travel wise. Seems pricey. Right off lake.
4 nights BnB...$800-$1400
Zurich:
- Public transport makes it so that you're never more than a 10-15 min tram ride to city center or Lake Zurich...so your options open up.
- Roof tops/studios in city are dope af, but pricey
Direct flights from the east coast of the U.S. is gonna be about 1400 not including check in bags. If you do a connecting, might be able to find tickets for $900.
Flight + Travel Pass + Activities: 2.5-3k
Lodging for 9 days probably around 1k-1.3k on the very low end.
Food per day: probably around $60-70 a day. if you like wine, drinks atmosphere...probably 100-120 a day. So about $600 on low side.
Total Estimate: 3.5k to 4.5k variances for the type of lodging you do.
Tips & Info
Weather: Summer time, July is best time to go if you're not looking for specific winter activity. I went in May/June last year and it rained damn near every day.
This time around, only light rain that came and went here and there. Sunsets around 9:20pm.
In the valley and city....55-75 degrees. Great summer days. At the mountain peaks 35-45 degrees
SBB app for public transport routes. Ubigi is a good e-sim phone service.
Food recommendations: Raclette, Fondue, Rosti, Donner/kebab. Smoothest lager beer I've had. Top tier fries.
I told my Switzerland cousins last year that while I can taste every fresh ingredient, the overall taste of their food was bland. This year blew me away.Would bring a water bottle....a couple of natural water fountain spread thru out city to refill. Buying water can cost $8 a pop.
Interlaken: There's a lot of shyt to do here......canyon swings, river rafting, museums, caves, etc.
Lauterbrunnen: definitely check out Trummelbach Waterfalls. Staubach is cool too. Weidstubli Restaraunt at Camping Jungfrau is open to all
best meaI we had during the entire trip. Raclette/Fondue for starters with some cold trout.Hot Air Ballooning is pretty tough. We couldn't do our due to weather and time constraints, but even if we could would not recommend it. Seems to to be very out the way and then the launch times are usually 5:30am or 5:30pm.
Links:
https://www.paragliding-jungfrau.ch/wp/information/faq
https://www.pilatus.ch/en/discover/fraekigaudi-toboggan-run
Alpins in the Alps & The Traveling Swiss are pretty good youtube channels for info.
Got back from this last week....
Was a family trip, with differing money to work with....... so cut the main trip to just 10 days Switzerland (and a day in Germany).
I was supposed to do 2 days in London (was hoping Coco would go deeper at Wimbledon), but it got cut to 1 day due to missing a connecting flight in the US, had to sleep at the airport smh.
My bro did 5 days in Italy prior linking up with us in Switzerland.
Tried looking up Zurich on the Rate This City series, but couldn't find it. Would definitely be top 10 int'l.
Aesthetically....everywhere you look shyt looks like a post card. Clean af.
Public Transport.....I visited Japan back February, Japan is super impressive due to mow many people it handles & the bullet trains.
But if you don't factor in population density, Switz is on par or better. Zurich is super interconnected and is easy to get from Zurich into the country side, with all types of ferries & gondolas.
Activities......architecture, beautiful lakes to swim, lots of activities, dope/chill night life, amazing places to hike.
The people in general are chill.....women specifically slim/fit & chill. Not very much black women tho. At best, you'll come across get very 'mixed' chicks.
Lot of tourists/foreigners in Zurich, so in that way there's a variety of people/women. The further you travel from Zurich it gets even more white.
Surprisingly (to me at least), the euro white chicks, Swiss & the tourists, got some thickness to em
In the northern part of Switzerland....Swiss German is their main language. East side of Switzerland is primarily Italian is used. And the southern part primarily speaks French. But English is widely known everywhere.
Costs...everything is fukking expensive. Even the public restrooms cost about $2.50
Day 1: Fly in to Zurich airport around noon.
2.5-3hr train ride to Lauterbrunnen.
Day 2: Visit Schilthorn Mountain. Rotating restaurant at peak (even on a cloudy day, this was fire. As the clouds clear up here and there you could see surrounding mountains)
Work your way down to Birg & Murren. Dope cliff walk. And a lot of places to do light hikes.
Day 3: Visit Grindelwald First mountain. Gondola straight to top, work your way down. Gliders & Flyers (for time, recommend only doing one, Glider brings you back to top...if you wanna do a light hike afterwards)
Definitely make a stop at Sheckfield. Can do some mountain carting afterwards.
Day 4: Visit Interlaken / Lake Brienz
Steamboat over to Giesbach Waterfalls. Gondola up. Hotel with major terrace. Walk down the trail back to the lake's pier.
Get back on ferry over to Brienz (town). Definitely do the Brienz Rothorn Train up to the mountain peak. (need to reserve both up & down in advance)
Once back in Brienz (town) explore...beautiful swimming areas and lakeside boardwalk.
Could take a train or ferry boat back to Interlaken. (ferry also makes a stop at Iseltwald)
We shut it down for the day and headed back to Lauterbrunnen, but there's a lot of shyt to do/enjoy in Interlaken.
Probably should do Geisbach Waterfalls after doing Rothorn/Brienz.
Day 5: Leave Lauterbrunnen, went to Lucerne for day trip via a panoramic train from Interlaken. (2 hr ride)
Store luggage at Lucerne's train station.
Visited Mt Pilatus. Start from Alpnachstad to take a cog train straight to peak (reserve in advance).
Go down to Frakmuntegg.....depending on what you're into, you could spend 3 hours just here. Toboggan slide was cool. If you're a climber, the Rope Park looks fire.
Headed back down to Lucerne. Whole city looks like something out of a movie. Got this bridge over the lake you can literally see all type of geese and shyt floating by. 1890's architecture mixed with some 1930s or so. Dope mix. Wasn't able to see it, but there's supposedly a very dope transportation muesuem here.
Back to train station to head to Zurich (1hr ride) & check in/settle in for the night.
Day 6: Explore Zurich....Old Town/Bahnhofstrass areas & ETH University via Polybahn, great overlook of the city.
Lots of great swimming/water activitity spots like 'Seebad Enge'
Highly recommend "Zeughauskeller" for dinner. 'Friend's Corner' & 'Al Mouchtar' good kebab/arabic spots for lighter lunch options.
The pier down from Bahnostrasse....Burkiplatz area is a dope late night vibe. Came across a a whole all white party. Very chill. Actual dancing
Day 7: Headed over to Rapperswil to visit some folk. Super nice area. Has a castle connected to its swimming and downtown area. Worth a visit, but could just chill in Zurich. The fukking castle legit had deer running around
Day 8: Had plans to visit Schauffhausen first to see the Rhine Falls, but ended up going straight to Munich, Germany. fukked up and miscalculated the price the train ticket would be...ended up taking a FlixBus over there instead. 3.5hr ride. Stayed at Wombat Hostel for the night.
Got off the bus & the difference between two countries hit IMMEDIATELY
Day 9: Guided tour of Dachau Concentration Camp (prior to visiting Mexico, I thought guided tours was a joke/scam, but most these cats really know their shyt and our passionate about their country/history)
If you have time, explore Olympics Grounds & BMW Welt......(if you book MONTHS in advance, you might be able to get into a BMW factory tour)
Head back to Zurich.
Day 10: Fly out.
How many cities have you been to in order to say Zurich is definitively top 10?
From what I've heard, Switzerland is too expensive, boring, and not diverse enough to be a top 5 Euro city let alone internationally.
I do want to go for the scenic landscapes and luxury experiences.
Decided to visit some friends who moved to Atlantic Canada. Flew into Halifax which is a very nice city especially the Downtown and Harbour area. Went to Moncton, New Brunswick which is a shythole, then Fredericton which had nice scenery but small town vibe, then Charlottetown which was boring and had overpriced lobster rolls, then back to Halifax. Overall I'll never come back to this area of Canada again.
no exploration of the only native black canadian culture?
I went to the Africville museum.