We’ve just got back from a family adventure: interrailing from Norwich to Interlaken, Switzerland, with stop-offs in Paris.

Oh my goodness ….. Switzerland has stolen my heart in a way I wasn’t expecting. 

I think I spent most of the week standing in awe, mouth open, making lots of “wow” and “oh my goodness” noises. 

But the trip wasn’t all breathtaking scenery and picture-perfect moments.

Before we even left, there was the overwhelm of planning something we’d never done before, alongside all the normal day-to-day life. It was the end of GCSEs and prom for our eldest, the fast approaching end of Year 6 for our youngest, and all the admin and emotions that come with those milestones.

I had a lot of moments beforehand (and even on the journey there) where I questioned whether we were being sensible. Whether we should just turn around.

The heat in Paris was brutal. Carrying backpacks suddenly felt much harder than it had seemed when we booked the trip. I worried whether our 11-year-old should really be doing it. I worried that we’d spend days on trains only to arrive somewhere disappointing.

There was a lot of doubt.

Interrailing was something I’d always wanted to do but never had. Once we had children, it became something I hoped we could experience together. To show them a little more of the world and, perhaps, inspire them to explore it for themselves one day.

But when the reality of doing it arrived, so did the doubts.

Why didn’t we just book a flight and do it the easy way?

Because we wanted an adventure.

And adventures rarely consist only of the beautiful bits.

They involve new things. Hard things. Uncomfortable things. Things you can’t fully prepare for.

Alongside the unforgettable moments.

There were plenty of unexpected twists too. A heatwave followed by thunderstorms. Plans changed. We had to stay flexible, adapt as we went and work together as a team. We all had moments of tiredness, and we all had moments where someone else quietly stepped in.

There were also moments that felt almost surreal.

Standing on a mountain, worrying about sunburn, whilst looking across at other mountains still covered in snow.

Travelling through different countries in a single day.

The kind of “double-decker days”, as we call them, where you feel like you’ve lived two days’ worth of experiences before bedtime.

One of my favourite moments was returning to Notre Dame in Paris, where my husband proposed 20 years ago.

Standing there this time with our children beside us felt incredibly special. Twenty years ago, they were part of the future we dreamed about. This time, they were there with us, living part of the adventure.

We also laughed. A lot.

Our travel journal now has an entire section simply called “Funny Moments.”

There were so many moments of awe.

And so many moments of bravery.

Each of us stepped outside our comfort zone in different ways. We tried new things. We also said no to things that didn’t feel right. Both mattered.

When we got home, we all agreed.

This has been our favourite family holiday.

Not because it was easy.

Not because everything went to plan.

But because it asked something of us.

It asked us to be brave, to be flexible, to trust each other, and to embrace the unexpected.

Sometimes the memories that stay with us the longest aren’t created by taking the easiest route.

They’re created by choosing the adventure anyway.

And Switzerland has very definitely stolen a little piece of my heart.