By Winnie Vaughan
Photo by Winnie Vaughan
At 18, there is something strange about leaving home and realizing that, for once, no one is telling you where to go next.
Most people know me as someone who doesn’t stay in one place. Meeting new people, taking the backroads, and taking chances is the way I love to live. So, I happened to find myself carrying a backpack across Europe this summer, specifically around Switzerland.
Backpacking through Switzerland was more than just a trip. It was my first real taste of independence. Miles away from the place I call home, I was navigating trains, buses, gondolas, hostels, and unfamiliar towns on my own. I had to figure things out as I went, and there was something incredibly freeing about that.
I moved from place to place, never completely sure what the next day would look like. Zurich, Lucerne, Interlaken, Lauterbrunnen, Gimmelwald, and Montreux–each place felt different, and I loved not knowing what I would find around each corner or behind each mountain.
Some of my favorite moments happened between destinations. I would sit by the window on a train and watch Switzerland change outside. One minute I would pass through a tiny village, the next I was looking at a lake, and then, suddenly, mountains were towering above the tracks. I wasn’t in a rush to get anywhere. I was excited to see what was around the next bend.
That feeling followed me into the mountains. I spent four days in Gimmelwald, a tiny car-free village only accessible by gondola. The atmosphere there was unlike anywhere else I’ve been.
Each evening, the routine was simple but fulfilling: pizza and cards at The Mountain Hostel, where many of the other young backpackers stayed. A lot of them happened to be Australian like me, which made me feel a little less alone. It’s a bittersweet feeling to run into people who live in the place you used to call home, completely on the other side of the world. It seems you can take the girl out of Australia, but you can’t take Australia out of the girl.
During the day, there was always somewhere new to explore, including the Schilthorn, a 9,744-foot mountain where the famous James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was filmed.
Gimmelwald was also surrounded by hiking trails, with many starting in the village. The hike that took my breath away was the Bryndli trail, roughly 4.5 miles with about 2,400 feet of elevation gain. As I climbed higher, the quieter everything became. The villages below started to look smaller and smaller, until eventually the only things around me were the trail, the mountains, goats, and my own footsteps.
I have always loved being outside, but there was something different about being out there alone. There was no one asking where I was going or telling me when I needed to be back. I could stop whenever I wanted. I could sit on a rock and stare at the mountains for as long as I wanted. And I did.
Sitting there, I remember thinking about how proud I was of myself for taking the risks that brought me there, the risk of going alone, the risk of not speaking the local language, and the risk of doing it afraid.
It was quiet. Really quiet. But I didn’t feel the need to fill the silence.
Switzerland didn’t turn me into someone adventurous. That part of me was already there. Instead, it showed me how much I enjoy following that feeling, even when I don’t know exactly where it will lead. Maybe especially when I don’t know where it will lead.
I came home with more than photographs. I came home knowing that the world is much bigger than the life I had known and that I am ready to keep exploring it.
