I’ve not been out of Malaysia since Dec 2019. Not boarded a plane. Not visited a new country or revisited a previously gone-to destination. The longest my passport has not been stamped. Nothing. Nada.

Of course, the inactivity has been largely due to the pandemic. Covid-19 and its ominous variants are still present despite the seeming return to normality. And, later last year, my mum’s ill health added to my restricted movement, especially with overseas travel.

I’ve had cabin fever for a while now. I want to go somewhere. Anywhere. Open fields. Meadows. Countryside. Beautiful scenery. Long walks. Cardigan temperature. Very few people or none. I want. I want. But can’t. Hmm…

I sort of managed to find the next best thing. Ironically on Microsoft Edge’s search engine Bing. What is Microsoft Edge? It’s the default browser for Windows 10 devices. It forces itself onto my screen each time I switch on my computer. And it latches itself onto the taskbar.  Because of its strong-arm tactics, I have steadfastly deleted and unpinned it instantly as I didn’t want to be dictated to.

That is until a few weeks ago when I caught a glimpse of the Bernina Express on Bing. The photo of the train and the scenery were breathtakingly beautiful. I wavered. I caved. What is the Bernina Express? It’s the red train that travels from Chur, a town in the southeast of Switzerland all the way to Tirano in Italy. The picturesque route takes about 4 hours, and passes via 55 tunnels and over 196 bridges and the stand-out Landwasser Viaduct. The train then winds its way and over the Bernina Pass in the Alps reaching an elevation of 7,392ft/2253m. Phew. That’s about 2.72 times the height of the current tallest building in the world – Burj Khalifa in Dubai at 828m.

I was excited to Google it all. Oops, I meant Bing it.  I learnt that Chur is pronounced ‘Core’ not ‘Chore.’ It’s known as the oldest city in Switzerland, and is located 1.5 hours from Zurich[1]. Tirano, on the other hand, is a tiny town of less than 10,000, nestled in the valley joining Italy with Switzerland and Austria. As the Bernina Express runs on both directions, the two towns serve as starting/ending points for this incredible journey. Plus, they offer connections via trains and buses to various cities in Switzerland and Italy. One suggested bus ride was from Tirano to Lugano via Lake Como.

Smiley face moment. Lugano is a name I hadn’t thought of or spoken about in years. I had to take a moment, several actually, to reminiscent. Some three decades ago my husband and I went on a bus tour (yes, a bus tour because it was the cheapest way to travel) from London to Lake Garda in Italy. We weren’t yet girlfriend and boyfriend then. I was visiting sister number 3 and my brother-in-law. He was the boy next door, whom I had met at sister number 3’s wedding a few years prior. We discussed going on a holiday while I was there already on a holiday from Malaysia. Next thing we knew, we were on one. Our itinerary included stops in Lucerne and Lugano in Switzerland.  I remember shimmery blue waters and lunch on a bench near Lake Lugano. Nice.

Lake Garda was our final destination. A resort town with many al-fresco bars and restaurants. I know, because we were at several until the wee hours. The other tour passengers, who were much older, turned-in after the all-inclusive dinner. We never saw any of them out and about (a little like us now – early to bed).  As part of that tour, we visited quite impressive stalactite and stalagmite caves, and a number of street markets. We went to one and skipped the rest, and did our own thing including a side trip to Venice. It was well worth it. Arriving by train to a fully functioning water city was memorable. I especially enjoyed the maze of cobbled streets and St Mark’s Square.

Although it was a fun, happy holiday, I don’t particularly like travelling on buses. Mainly because I did bus journeys of over 350 km one-way between KL and Alor Star, every 2 to 3 weeks, over four years, whilst at university. After Lake Garda, I vowed never to go on another bus holiday until I did with sister number 3 to Austria. I repeatedly moaned and tried to convince her to fly on the return journey. Didn’t happen. I’ve kept to my vow, and have not been on a bus tour/trip since. Yay.

Train journeys, on the other hand, I like and I have bookmarked a few off Bing. Bing also fortuitously allowed me to relive some very old, butterflies-in-belly memories. Hence, Bing is now my alternate search engine, by choice.