Budget travels to one of the most expensive countries

As soon as I found out about possible three day weekend in the middle of October, I started to look for the ticket deals from Stuttgart and found a good one to Zurich. I immediately asked Maija from Latvia if she wants to come with (she is also an EUsolidarityCorps volunteer with me here) and we booked our trip! The round-trip for both of us (with 3 euro discount Maija had) costed 33 EUR (37.74 USD). We knew that Switzerland is one of the most expensive countries in the world and well prepared ourselves. But of course we couldn't resist Swiss chocolate and Swiss cheese :P

So, we packed lots of sandwiches, cooked pasta, brought fruits and some snacks to get by those two days we were there. I didn't have too high expectations for Zurich but at the end I fell in love. First thing that caught my attention was happy and nice people slowly walking around and enjoying beautiful day. The spirit of high quality life is everywhere you go. It is the biggest city in Switzerland (a bit more than 400 thousand ppl) but there's no rush only peaceful, calm atmosphere. The vibe of the city felt to me like a sweet and welcoming hug.

The top of the mountain Uetliberg was worth an hour of exhausting hike but a short nap on top of the rock made me and our host Simon happier :D

One of the cool free things we did was visiting Succulent house with lots of interesting and unusual plants. There are thousands of different cactuses and rare plants. And all of it is free of charge but you can always leave donation as well.

Free ride on a Polybahn is a must to check out too if you are a budget traveller. It will take you to Zurich university.

Great architecture, clean streets, drinking fountains with the clearest water and the best Starbucks coffee are some of the major things that made me love Zurich a lot.

People there are very friendly and welcoming. They love their dogs and let others give them some love too :D I couldn't stop my endless desire to pad all the puppies around.

And when it seems like a paradise for everyone who gets to visit this place from not the richest places, our host rushed to let us know that there are cons there as in any other country. For example, the suicide rates are pretty high and many people are lonely, every man has to serve in army and if you do not for some reason, you need to pay fine. But on the bright side the high quality of living beats it all. And it is still incredible to me how people speaking 4 or almost 5 different languages (German 63%, French 22.7%, Italian 8.4%, Romansh 0.6% and German Swiss that seems nothing like German to me :D), can live happily and efficiently together, staying away from the border conflicts and wars. And why in my country people cannot deal with 2 languages?!

MONEY MONEY MONEY

Swiss money seem to me the pretties of all I have seen so far. I was happy like a kid when I saw them first.

But here's what I spent on this trip. We left at 6:30 AM on Friday and got back Sunday early afternoon. The road is a bit more than 4 hours one way from Stuttgart.

Tickets

16.50 EUR FlixBus roundtrip

4.20 EUR Sbahn to FlixBus stop in Suttgart

5.30 EUR Sbahn from Bus stop to home

Total: 26 EUR

Expenses during the weekend

Cappuccino at Startbucks (small with extra espresso shot) - 6.33

Luggage cell for 6 hours 2.50 CHF (the whole small cell is 5 CHF)

Daily pass for the trams - 8.80 CHF

2 Beers at the central bar - 16 CHF

Chocolate at Laderach - 7.55 CHF

Coop (store) (groceries: cheese & wine ) 7CHF

Coop (fondue & wine) - 14 CHF

Cappuccino medium - 6.90 CHF

Beer at Uetliberg (0.33L) - 5 CHF

Total: 74 CHF (64.85 EUR), (74.21 USD)

*1 CHF = 1.01 USD

Grand total: 90.85 EUR, or 103.95USD.

It almost feels like a famous TV show we have "Heads or tails" (Орел и Решка) when one of the two people in the show has to spend a weekend in a different country with 100 dollars only when the other one has unlimited card.

My trip didn't break my bank completely. Firstly, I didn't spend a cent on the hotel or hostel. It's been 3 years since I've used Couchsurfing and stay with locals for free. I had only two experiences so far that made me not want to stay at the hosts place but overall I had a great experience with more than 7 hosts in 7 countries and it is yet to multiply. Some people think I am crazy and irresponsible but I have learnt some tips and tricks over all these times and always have a back up plan if one host doesn't work and make sure someone knows where I am. Besides that we didn't spend money on eating at the restaurants and bought food from the store.

How do I travel so often?!

I am a volunteer and I do not get paid much. I wasn't working two jobs all summer in the US and I didn't make a bank working at WIX in Ukraine either, so my budget is super tight and saving up as much as I can. And it is quiet a challenge as I find nothing better than delicious cappuccino in a cute coffee shop or a glass of wine or beer with friends on the outside patio...but the urge for traveling is stronger and got to have the priorities sorted out ;)

More travels are coming...