A once-in-a lifetime thing. The first two plates came with a beer each, made by the owner. That I liked, they were ice cold. Than I got like nothing of wine and I thought it was to try. I said OK, pour me some. That look of the waitress was worth the whole thing.
Every penny I saved when I was young is worth probably one of those dinners, but what for? After I paid I asked for the chuletón and got nothing but a smile. But I was serious…
We tend to spend the first 3 weeks of July in Scotland as Basel is airless, although for obvious reasons it won’t be happening this year. I get a bit stressed if I’m away for too long as years ago we had a break in during one holiday and an escape of water that rendered our house in London uninhabitable during another holiday, it had to be dried out and refurbished twice. A neighbour 2 doors along contacted us to say our front windows were running with condensation, another neighbour told us they heard a lot of noise which was the livingroom ceiling collapsing. We had to cut the holiday short, 85% of our belongings were ruined including our wedding photos 
I wonder why alot of people go on vacation. They spend the whole time just gawking into their Dumb(Smart)phone.
Well, a lot of are using our phones to check our itinerary, looking up details like opening/closing times, checking EFCH(particularly on Fridays). Also local weather forecast and menus for lunch and dinner.
And that takes 8 hours each day? 
How do you know people do it 8 hours a day? Are you stalking them?
Excepting you still have to pay the 2 (for most) largest single expenses - rent and health insurance - whether you’re here or not.
For my next 2-3month long trip I am looking to sub-let the flat. My Swiss health insurance reimburses for up to twice the Swiss rates for accident and sickness treatment abroad. So all in all, a pretty good deal.
If that’s your ski holiday, global warming is worse that we thought.
Before I came to Switzerland I almost never took my full allowance of vacation days. I had worked up after 10 years service to 20 days, or four weeks.
When I came here I decided I had just been stupid and swore I would always take my full allotment. In the early years taking a week or so in and around Geneva (and Switzerland) allowed me to catch up on administrative things and explore my new home. I fulfilled my promise to myself and always took my full time.
Didn’t appear to affect my promotability or my career path.
But it is still cheaper to stay abroad as I will go twice a day to the restaurant and I will pay less than going to Migros and Coop here
Ahh… the advantage of a Swiss salary that stretches further in the more povvy places… 
I find that restaurants in neighbouring countries are not so much less expensive than Switzerland these days.
Me too, they used to be half price or less but now mostly three quarters of Swiss prices or even higher.
I agree. The CH contingent here has pushed prices up, and it’s not just Covid- or inflation-related. Real estate is starting to look a lot like CH, and the developers are moving in.
Off to Croatia tomorrow for a week, renting a mobile home for two persons for 450€.
2? A new SO in Slammers life?
Yup. She-who-did-not-runaway.
problem in Croatia is not the mobile home…it is the price of the fish in the restos! 
The fish are Croatian too! They deserved a good and long life! Crime does not extract punishment? 
