Having a common passion for travel, Nguyen Thuy Tien (29 years old, Bac Ninh) and her husband - Mr. Nguyen Tuan Manh have explored most provinces and cities in Vietnam as well as the Asian region. However, the 12-day trip to 3 European countries including France, Switzerland, and Italy brought both of them extremely different impressions and emotions.
Traveling to Europe has been the dream of the couple for a long time. As a child, I enjoyed watching Disney cartoons about princesses and princes living in castles, mysterious fairy tales in a small wooden house in the valley... All those childhood memories made me always cherish the dream of setting foot in this land, Thuy Tien shared.
Regarding the reason for choosing France, Switzerland, and Italy for travel, the female tourist said that these 3 countries are located next to each other so it is easy to travel by train. In addition, these are also countries with majestic natural beauty, history, culture, and ancient and interesting architecture.
Choosing to go to Europe in early June, Thuy Tien affirmed that this is the right time to travel because the weather is no longer cold, the days are mostly sunny, the trees are green. In particular, it is not the peak season so there are not many tourists, so traveling or booking rooms is easy.
Thuy Tien said that both she and her husband love Switzerland the most among all three countries: I love Switzerland in every way, wherever I go I see green lawns stretching across the hillsides, brilliant yellow flower carpets, beautiful wooden houses at the back of the hills and majestic mountains covered in white snow all year round.
The fresh air is extremely pleasant. The higher you go, the lower the temperature, sometimes down to about 15 degrees, but there is still warm sunshine. We mainly choose to visit villages on mountains and lakes on mountains. The villages are very peaceful, in front of the house are planted with flowers and grass. Almost every family has an extremely cute cat or dog.
Thuy Tien and Tuan Manh spent a lot of time exploring two famous Swiss cities, Bern and Lucerne. The two Vietnamese tourists were overwhelmed by the towers, the ancient house hundreds of years old with unique and characteristic architecture.
Bern is famous for the National Assembly Building, the Aare River or Einstein's house. Meanwhile, Lucerne is the largest tourist center in Central Switzerland, loved for its series of outstanding architectural works such as the Chapel wooden bridge, the Wasserturm water tower, the statue of the dead lion...
The people here are friendly, polite, especially healthy because they spend a lot of time on activities such as walking, mountain climbing... Thuy Tien has even encountered many elderly people with white hair but still wear backpacks, shoes, and sticks for trekking.
However, in return, the female tourist commented that the food here is difficult to match Asian tastes: The main ingredients are potatoes, wine and cheese. I only ate 1 meal of Swiss specialties and almost all of the Korean, Thai, Japanese....
Thuy Tien said that because of her independent travel, the couple encountered many difficulties related to travel: "Each country has a different way of using public transport, forcing us to get acquainted from the beginning. Getting on the wrong train leading to lost ground is very likely to happen. I have boarded the train by mistake 3 times in France and 2 times in Switzerland. Every time like that, we are enthusiastically helped by the people around us, so we can still get to safety."
The Vietnamese female tourist affirmed that she had prepared quite well in terms of health, spirit and finances before making the trip. Thuy Tien emphasized that tourists will have to walk a lot when traveling to Europe, on average about 15 - 20km per day. In addition, the total cost of accommodation, entertainment... for the two for 12 days was about 180 million VND.
Thuy Tien believes that tourists should apply for a visa as soon as possible to book the cheapest air tickets, ideally about 3 months before the departure date. In addition, you should learn about apps for routes, interpretation, train schedules, etc. when coming to foreign countries.
In particular, visitors must always bring valuable items such as laptops, cameras and passports with them, avoid talking or being close to strangers, avoid using branded goods that are too expensive because they will attract the attention of thieves.
The female tourist expressed her desire to return to Switzerland again because the scenery was so beautiful and poetic. In addition, Thuy Tien and her husband aim to explore more Germany, Austria, and Greece in the near future.
