Reflection 1:
Travelling in planes is boring, tedious and crammed. The analogy of plane travel to a tin of sardines is apt. The only good thing about planes is getting off and arriving at somewhere you want to be. We travelled with Thai Airways to Bangkok and the service was very good and to be fair there was plenty of leg room even though we were in cattle class. We then flew Swiss Air. The plane was an airbus and we were squashed. 12 hours is a long time, especially when its the second lot of flying for 12 hours and the service is mediocre. We belong in cattle class on planes. Flying first class and business seems elusive to travellers like us...we can only dream!   However trains in Europe are another story. We are enjoying travelling first class for a few extra euro. We feel like royalty. There are even waiters who come offering anything you like off the menu, however our cattle class roots lie deep and we feel the need to turn their offers down and eat our ham and cheese rolls and a piece of christmas cake lovingly made by Granny. Who else would travel the world with 3 kg of fruit cake although it weighs decidely less each day! The trip out of Zurich on the SBB Railjet alongside Lake Zurichsee,where the rich and famous live,  was stunning and the landscape was thickly spread with freshly fallen snow. Through many Swiss towns and skirting along the sides of steep hillsides we oohed and aahed at the alpine villages as we headed to Garmisch and back again to Salzburg. The neatly stacked piles of wood at the back of every house continue to amaze us with their order and quantity. We wonder if this is where Heidi and her grandfather lived. This is the way to see the world! Reclining in our leather seats, postcard images of Switzerland, Bavaria and Austria flash past as we travel at 150km per hour make this journey seem surreal. In the end though it doesn't matter which class you travel...as long as you go to new and different places that stretch your worldview and open your eyes to new ways of thinking and help you to understand what lens you view the world through. JT

 "One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller