Digital Wanderer

Got an email from some scummy copyright trolls, they call themselves COPYTRACK. For a picture on the blog, a post from 2016, they want 2200 euros, the bastards. I was itching to reply "GFY", but held back.

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A solo hike to Stoos

Pumped full of fresh, wonderful emotions every day, I for some reason decided this would continue. I knew we had a plan to visit the Aletsch Glacier, but that depended on the rest of the team's availability. Some citizens had been sucked into the quagmire of workaholism, and so we were waiting for the right moment. Garik periodically mentioned how he got screwed over with hikes last time due to the unpredictability of his friends. Because of this, I thought that this time we would definitely go on a hike. I'm always glad to get out into nature if my health permits; vegetating at home is useless to me. Hardly anything brings me joy anyway, and it's better to keep my hands and feet busy. Plus, the unpredictable Swiss weather actually seemed to favor us.

So the news from Garik at midnight saying he'd be skipping tomorrow (Tuesday) came as an unexpectedly unpleasant surprise to me. As often happens, it’s not that easy to reach an agreement while traveling. Especially when the plans were very vague to begin with, and there are many participants. Nevertheless, I was deeply disappointed. I had already mentally prepared for the hike, and I knew the forecast promised even worse weather ahead. I thought "Cherchez la femme," but what can you do. I joined the trip at the last minute, and it's not my place to make demands or set conditions. If someone wants to hang out on their own for a while, that's their right. It's just a pity to find out so late, because otherwise I could have planned a solo excursion in advance. I'm no master of planning either, but sometimes it feels like compared to many people on this planet, I'm practically a guru. True, the price for this is frequent zoning out into my phone instead of admiring the surroundings. It would be great to do these things in advance, but that's definitely not for me with my concentration skills, exacerbated by medications and chronic illnesses.

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Rhine Falls

The next day, we decided not to go too hard and to check out the nearby Rhine Falls. As the name implies, it's located on the Rhine River, on the border with Germany. By some measures, the waterfall is the biggest in Europe, but measures, as we know, are flexible, especially when marketing is involved. Here we once again ran into the unbelievable convenience of the local transport system. You can get almost anywhere by train; connections always take 2-15 minutes. Rest assured, if a connection is two minutes, the trains will arrive at adjacent tracks. If the train you're on seems to have been delayed, it never happened that the connecting one left on time and left you high and dry. Either it waits, or the time between connections is always perfectly calculated. Since I've started on the topic of railways, I'll continue for a bit more.

The trains vary in their degree of newness and coolness, depending on whether it's an intercity, regional, or local train. At first, we rode trains around Zurich, and it seemed like all the trains here were fancy, like Mercedes, with huge soft seats, info screens, awesome suspension, and soundproofing. But no. The simpler trains rattle, you have to open the doors manually, and there's absolutely no legroom. You can't figure out the route right away; there are no electronic boards on the outside. Nevertheless, they all run on schedule, and there are almost always ticket inspectors everywhere, so fare dodging is extremely risky. The fine is 100 euros, and a repeat offense is even more, and they don't like to joke around. Even if you're formally in the right, the Swiss often act by the book and will write you a fine anyway. I ran into this myself, though not on a train.

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