Money money money...

Day 3

Sleeping patterns still not adjusted. Went to bed at 2am in the hope that I would be so tired I'd wake up at a normal time. Woke up at 5am. Fail. Anyways, today was spent exploring Lucerne (even though I had seen it on my previous trip). My uncle and I decided to act like tourists and blend in with the busloads of Chinese tourists going through all the high-end stores. It's so hard to believe that people would pay so much for some of the items in these stores. The most extravagantly ridiculous item I saw was a watch for $200K. Who needs a watch adorned with diamonds?! Nevertheless, I'll be back to buy in the future when I have so much money that I have no idea what to do with it.

Speaking of money, I paid a little visit to Luzern's casino to have a whirl at their roulette table. Yes, table. Singular. It's a tiny casino, with about six tables (only two were manned when I was there: one blackjack and one roulette) and quite a few slot machines. Ended up there playing for about an hour, net result was a loss of $60. Not bad. But not many wins so it wasn't that fun or exciting. It was just steady losses until I won two big hands which put me back in the black. But at least now I can say that I've gambled in Switzerland haha.

And another issue relating to money (seems like a common theme today), I had trouble withdrawing using my 28 Degrees card. Major panic. This card was my method of accessing cash (fee-free) and when I tried at first, it didn't work. A similar issue happened when I tried to withdraw back in NYC, but that was because I hadn't informed them I was going overseas. This time, I had made sure to inform them, and they had assured me that 100% it would work. Lies. However, being the persistent person I am, I decided to keep trying different ATMs to see if maybe it was an machine issue. On the 5th ATM, belonging to a different bank, it finally accepted my card and I was able to withdraw. Relief. Crisis averted. It was just really odd that it didn't work in major banks like Credit Suisse and UBS. Oh well, at least I know it does work, and if an ATM doesn't work, I'll just try and find another one.

Thinking back to three years ago, I can't believe I didn't have cards back then. I carried $6K in cash with me which in hindsight was an extremely risky move. I just didn't have time to organise any cards while I was doing the thesis. This time, I'm a lot more prepared, and have four cards at my disposal. Here's hoping that one will be enough. 

Right now, I'm just doing some laundry and packing stuff into my backpack. I hit the road tomorrow starting with Oktoberfest in Munich! Thinking of doing a quick stop for a few hours in Liechtenstein, but we'll see how the weather is tomorrow. It was bucketing down today and if that's the case tomorrow, I'd much rather spend the day on a train than out getting soaked while sightseeing. Another option is to skip Liechtenstein but do a few hours in Zurich instead. We'll see. Anyways, back to packing. So much to carry, so little space. First world problems.


HBL signing out from Emmenbrücke, Switzerland.

Up next: The real Oktoberfest...
Previously: Living the active life in Switzerland...