Shing's Adventures...: 2025

Tuesday, November 25, 2025

Alaska 2025 ✈ Santa Clara

After years of talking about visiting Alaska, we finally found the opportunity to make this trip happen thanks to a cruise offer from Princess. We are grateful to check off this bucket list trip with an 11-day Alaskan cruise with mom. We intentionally chose to begin our Alaskan cruise in San Francisco (instead of Seattle or Vancouver) as this was a good opportunity for hubby to spend time with his buddy before embarking on the cruise.

Sep 10 (Wed): Huntsville/Orlando/KL - San Francisco - Santa Clara

After facilitating my last session of training in Orlando, I took the 6.18pm United flight and flew 5.5 hours across the US from Orlando to San Francisco. Mom's flight from Hong Kong was scheduled to arrive earlier so I asked her to wait at the International terminal, while I took the airtrain from Terminal 2 after collecting my luggage to meet up with her.

Even though mom, hubby, and I were traveling to San Francisco on 3 different flights, I had planned for our flights to arrive San Francisco around the same time, which would have been perfect. Mom and I arrived ahead of schedule (good job United) but hubby's flight was delayed for 2.5 hours departing Dallas because of some rowdy passengers.

Thanks to Kedar (hubby's best friend) for picking us up from the airport. We decided to go to In-N-Out Burger close to the airport to have late dinner and hangout while we waited for hubby to arrive. This place was still very busy at 10pm.

Hubby finally arrived at 12am...3 hours behind of schedule. Thanks Kedar for coming all the way to San Francisco to pick us up and for patiently waiting with us for hubby's late arrival.

Sep 11 (Thurs): Santa Clara

It has been 2 years since they last met so we flew to San Francisco earlier and stayed 3 nights in Santa Clara so they could catch up and hangout .Thanks to Kedar, Trupti and Ira for hosting us!

Lunch at The Kebap Shop in Santa Clara

Mom and I enjoyed bubble tea and dessert at Meet Fresh in Santa Clara.

Dinner with Kedar and family at Din Tai Fung.

Sep 12 (Fri): Half Moon Bay

Thanks Kedar for taking us to Half Moon Bay for sightseeing.

Lunch at Barbara's Fish Trap at Half Moon Bay.

Dinner with Kedar and family at Rise Woodfire Pizza & Rotisserie at Santa Clara.

Sep 13 (Sat): Santa Clara - San Francisco Firsherman's Wharf

After spending 3 nights in Santa Clara, it was time to embark on our 11-day Alaskan cruise. Thanks to Kedar for giving us a ride to Fisherman's Wharf to board our cruise. Spotted Waymo driverless cars in downtown San Francisco.

Sunday, November 16, 2025

Switzerland Trip 2025 ✈ Part 13: Geneva

Continuing with our 'Making Memories with Moms' series since 2022, we are back with another trip with our moms this year. This time, our destination was Europe - Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein. We kicked off our trip in Germany, and drove around the entire country in 10 days covering a total distance of 2856 kms (1775 miles), and continued our journey in Switzerland by trains. This was a hectic trip but we are so thankful for the opportunity to enjoy all the amazing places and sceneries with our moms, making memories that will last for a long time.

8-Days Train Travel Around Switzerland
18 May 2025: Lucerne
19 May 2025: Grindelwald, Schilthorn, Murren, Gimmelwald
20 May 2025: Lungern, Brienz, Isetwald
21 May 2025: Wilderswil, Isetwald
22 May 2025: Schilthorn, Interlaken
23 May 2025: Zermatt
24 May 2025: Mannlichen, Wengen, Lauterbrunnen, GoldenPass Express
25 May 2025: Geneva

24 May 2025 (Sat): Interlaken - Montreux - Geneva

After traveling for 5 hours from Interlaken, we finally arrived Geneva Airport at 7pm. We stopped by Migros at the airport to buy some food for dinner before heading to our hotel.

Our hotel provided free shuttle to/from the airport, which was very convenient. Best of all, it was just a short 5 minutes ride from the airport.

Finally made it to our hotel at 8pm. We will be spending 2 nights at the Holiday Inn Express Geneva Airport. Booked this hotel for 26,500 IHG points/room/night.

25 May 2025 (Sun): Geneva

Started my final full day in Switzerland with free breakfast at the hotel at 7.45am. We then walked 5 minutes to Blandonnet tram station to catch the 9.10am tram to CERN. Our hotel provided the Geneva Transport Card which gave us access to all public transport within the Canton of Geneva (i.e. buses, trams, shuttle boats, and trains). I asked mom to chill in the hotel while I 'chaperoned' hubby and MIL there since this wasn't her interest.

The main reason we came to Geneva was because hubby wanted to visit CERN Science Gateway. We arrived CERN at 9.20am. Entrance is free but it took us awhile to figure out how to book the free guided tour, and I managed to book the 12.30pm - 2pm "Synchrocyclotron and ATLAS control room" guided tour for MIL and hubby.

Science is not my cup of tea so I was gonna just sit in the lobby and play on my phone but since it was gonna take awhile, hubby told me to head back to the hotel first. Mom and I then took the tram to CERN later in the afternoon to meet up with hubby and MIL to do some sightseeing in the city.

Honestly, there weren't anything I was interested to see in Geneva so we just made a quick photo stop at the Flower Clock, ferris wheel, and the Geneva Water Fountain.

Stopeed by Coop to buy some food and drinks before heading back to the hotel at 4.20pm. Time to start packing again as we will all be leaving Geneva tomorrow.

26 May 2025 (Mon): Geneva - Istanbul / Nice / Zurich

After traveling together for 19 days, our group is bidding goodbye and splitting up in Geneva. Mom and I flew to Istanbul to continue our travels in the Middle East. MIL flew to Nice to continue her travels in Europe. Hubby took the train to Zurich and spent the night at Holiday Inn Express Rumlang Zurich Airport (34,000 IHG points) before flying back to US the next day.

Saturday, November 15, 2025

Switzerland Trip 2025 ✈ Part 12: GoldenPass Express

24 May 2025 (Sat): Wilderswil - Montreux

After picking up our luggages from the apartment, we took the train to Interlaken OST. We arrived Interlaken OST at 1pm with time to spare to buy some food for lunch before catching the 2.07pm Golden Pass Express scenic train from Interlaken to Montreux. The tickets for this 3hr 20min journey was included in our Berner Oberland Pass.

We were allowed to board at 1.45pm. We didn't reserve setas for this train ride so it was good we arrived early as we were able to scout out the location of the luggage racks, placed our luggages without rushing, and found seats close to the luggage racks. This train was very clean and nice with the big windows and tables. It's a 3.5 hours journey to Montreux so we made ourselves comfortable and enjoyed our Coop lunch onboard.

The moms enjoyed their scenic naps while we were busy enjoying the amazing views and taking more same same but different photos/videos.

Enjoying our last scenic train ride in Switzerland surrounded by stunning landscapes like this.

Hubby and I were discussing why Swiss mountains look so picturesque while the mountains in other countries are not pretty like these. We came to the conclusion that the nicely mowed meadows are something we don't see in other countries.

Apparently, mowing the mountain meadows is a traditional farming practice in Switzerland. These meadows are a key part of the agricultural landscape and are meticulously maintained for hay production and grazing. These mowed meadows alongside the snow-caped peaks contributes to the picturesque scenery.

View of Lake Geneva as we approaced Montreux.

Arrived Montreux and had to wait for about 20 min for our next train to Geneva Airport. Our Berner Oberland Pass was only good until Montreux so we bought separate tickets to Geneva Airport for CHF18.50 ($22.50) per person. We've had enough views for the past few hours so it was time to rest on this 1hr 15min train ride.

Next (and final stop)...Geneva.

Switzerland Trip 2025 ✈ Part 11: Wengen & Lauterbrunnen

24 May 2025 (Sat): Mannlichen - Wengen - Lauterbrunnen

Beautiful view of Wengen and Lauterbrunnen valley from the Wengen-Mannlichen gondola.

It was a quick 6-min gondola ride from Mannlichen and we arrived Wengen at 10.16am. Wengen is also a small alpine village that is car-free. We didn't spend much time walking around the village.

Quick photo stop at the Wengen church for this view of Lauterbrunnen valley.

We barely made it on the 10.42am cogwheel train from Wengen to Lauterbrunnen. This cogwheel train is also included in the Berner Oberland Pass.

Travel tip: Sit on the left side going down from Wengen to Lauterbrunnen for views of Lauterbrunnen valley. The train was pretty empty so we had plenty of seats to move around.

Arrived Lauterbrunnen at 11am. We keep passing through this station multiple times over the last few days and I must say, this is my least favorite station in the Jungfrau region because it was always so crowded with tourists (yes I know we're also one of them...lol!).

After passing through Lauterbrunnen so many times, we finally made it here on a clear day! We didn't spend too much time here as it was getting hot at noon.

Our main stop in Lauterbrunnen was this iconic viewpoint of Staubbach waterfall which is directly in front of Chalet Pironnet.

One last photo of Staubbach Waterfalls before we leave Lauterbrunnen.

We headed back to Wilderswil at 12.30pm to pick up our luggages and continue our journey to Geneva via the GoldenPass Express train.

~ I Am Who I Am ~

I am who I am; Learning to be a better person in life; coz there is never an end in learning. Striving to improve; coz everyday is an opportunity to make things better. Pushing the limits to bring out the best in me; coz I believe that the sky’s the limit. Learn & explore as much as possible in life; coz life is meant to be an adventure filled with new experiences. Life doesn’t hold tryouts; I may be disappointed if I fail but I’m doomed if I don’t try. Always have a goal to aim for; make it achievable yet challenging keep it fresh and varied, and most importantly enjoy every moment of it! Live life, love life! =)