[NEWS] – about book projects and upcoming trips

It’s time to give you a glimpse behind the scenes of TRAVELITA. But first of all, I would like to point out the new “FAQ” page. I often receive questions from you via mail, Facebook and Instagram direct message about the blog, how to earn money with blogging and whether I can actually make a living from it. You can now read the answers to your most frequently asked questions in the “FAQ” section (and if one of them remained unanswered, please send me an email). It’s been a while since the last news report and in the last weeks and months we’ve been working a lot on things that you won’t see until the second half of 2017. But what do we actually do when we’re not on the road for the blog?

Most of the time is taken up by our book project “Culinary Time Travels”, which we carry out on behalf of the Swiss Historic Hotels. In March, April and the beginning of May, we visited almost 20 hotels to research and produce the book material. Now we are sprinting towards the finish line. The last one-week hotel tour will probably follow in June and then we will hopefully have everything in the can. A live insight into the photo shoot and everyday research life can be found in my Insta stories.

Food is the focus of our photo shoot tours. In addition, we also discover great hotels and get to know new areas. For me, the Mittelland tour from Baden via Basel, Porrentruy, Solothurn, Petersinsel, Dürrenroth to Lake Brienz and Kleine Scheidegg was particularly exciting, because I only knew many of the places we visited from the “drive-through” or had never been there at all. Among other things, we were impressed by the Atrium Hotel Blume in the spa district of Baden. Inconspicuous from the outside, the hotel impresses inside with this unique atrium. On the last Sunday of each month, a late riser brunch from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for 45 francs per person.

Another discovery is the charming town of Porrentruy with the Auberge du Mouton. Wonderful rooms have been created in the historic hostel. The perfect starting point to explore the Ajoie.

St. Peter’s Island was a premiere for me – somehow this was deliberately ignored in my year’s school repertoire. If you’ve never been there, it’s worth it! (ideally, set sail from Ligeriz into Lake Biel instead of ticking off the somewhat boring kilometres from Erlach). We experienced a highlight in the Emmental. We have been to the Lueg before and knew what a prospective view this destination has. But we would never have dared to hope that the weather timing would be so spot on. Afterwards there was a reunion with the Grandhotel Giessbach, which, by the way, is one of the few hotels I know of in the chic “Le Tapis Rouge” and also has a well-rounded vegan fine dining offer.

A week later, we went on a day trip to Lake Lucerne, despite the weather forecast. You can see for yourself: you just can’t trust the weather frogs. Almost all the time glorious spring weather and the story will soon be available here on the blog.

Last but not least, we went on another shooting tour last week. This time in Zurich’s wine and lowlands including a coffee detour to Stein am Rhein. Once again, I was absolutely amazed by this area. Around Oberstammheim, Unterstammheim and Rüdlingen it is just so beautiful! Now all I have to do is find the right timber-framed house and I’d be out of the big city. The book research also led us to the asparagus producers around Flaach. The Gisler family’s asparagus farm is currently being overrun. They were quite shocked that we burst into their broom pub without a reservation (but she found a place for us that Thursday evening without any problems). The asparagus season lasts until 21 June and during this time asparagus lovers will be spoiled with asparagus soup, asparagus risotto, asparagus ravioli, asparagus salad or simply pure asparagus.

And what’s next?

So and after spending the last few weekends typing in front of the computer, I definitely have bumblebees in my butt now. Don’t panic! The next few weeks are exciting trips. Not everything has been planned out yet, but this much can be revealed: Two city trips are planned over Ascension Day and Pentecost. First we will go to Macedonia for four days with a focus on Skopje and then to Turin as a contrast program, where we will look for the best trattoria. Then I’ll go to Bilbao, where I’ll study the architecture and urban planning of the largest city in the Basque Country. Back from Bilbao, the journey takes me directly from the airport to Ticino for what is expected to be the last week of shooting. Back it is time to process the material and start preparing for the mountain summer. From the end of June, it gets mountainous here again. Promised!