Starting Swiss-German - using alphabets and notebooks

The Swiss flag. White cross on a red background.

A ONE YEAR PLAN

 In preparation for a trip to Swiss-German speaking Switzerland next year, 2027, I am learning German on Duolingo. However, I am also checking in which ways Swiss-German, even Standard Swiss German, a hybrid, differs from Standard German. Where should I store this basic, vital information? 

I already have an A5 desktop size book for Spanish, which is  half empty to come back to Spanish another year, or to start German. 

I have a second, smaller A6 pocket book for Spanish. This lighter notebook, was carried around on my recent trip to the Canary islands of Tenerife and La Palma.

I can turn it upside down. Start my German from the back in the opposite direction.  The only problem is that the ribbon marker is now upside down. I can stick in a second piece of ribbon.

DIARY FOR DAILY WORDS

For my German speaking trip next year, I planned to learn ten words (or more) a day for a year. Over 365 days that would give me a useful vocabulary of 3,650 words! Okay, I started a bit late, but over one thousand words is a really good basis.

I wanted to write words I learned every day, not randomly on pieces of paper but in a book for a consecutive record. So I wrote the letters a to z vertically down my lined page in an A4 desktop diary.

The German Alphabet

I knew from learning Italian and Spanish that there might be some missing letters of the German alphabet, saving space, or extra letters, taking up more lines. So I googled German alphabet. 

The first websites which had useful information quickly switched to a page asking me to sign up to a German course. No. This would cost money in the long run. Irritatingly, it would waste time with creating passwords and reading contracts and agreements. So I scrolled down and found Wikipedia.

Spelling out your name

I discovered that German, Austria and Switzerland use different words when you are spelling out the letters of your name or a city or another word.

Starting with A for Anna, I remember the names ending in the letter a. Anna, Berta, Ida, Rosa.  Another easy to remember girl's name is Marie.

Another group to remember, is the rich ones, pronounced ich. Heinrich - German for Henry. Heinrich, Ulrich and Zurich. 

More male names are Charly, Daniel, Emil, Gustav, Jacob,  KAISER, Leopold, Niklaus, Otto )like Anne Frank's Father, Peter, Theodor (like the American President), Viktor, Wilhelm.

That leaves four funny strange ones:

Quasi (meaning almost in Latin), Xaver, Yverdon. 

Swiss variation

• A – Anna
• Ä – Aesch / Äsch
• B – Berta
• C – Cäsar, Charly
• Ch – Chiasso
• D – Daniel
• E – Emil
• F – Friedrich
• G – Gustav
• H – Heinrich
• I – Ida
• J – Jakob
• K – Kaiser
• L – Leopold
• M – Marie
• N – Niklaus
• O – Otto
• Ö – Oerlikon / Örlikon
• P – Peter
• Q – Quasi
• R – Rosa
• S – Sophie
• T – Theodor

• U – Ulrich
• Ü – Übermut
• V – Viktor
• W – Wilhelm
• X – Xaver
• Y – Yverdon
• Z – Zürich

Therefore, spelling my name Angela, in German-Swiss speaking Switzerland would be Anna Niklaus Gustav Emil Leopold Anna. 

Now I can see why the Germans moved from using first names to using place names. You could get confused if the first letter of your name is Anna, but your name is Angela. It also sounds absurd to spell a female name with letters which are the initials of male names. However, here are the Swiss-German variations in case you hear them.  

You might need to know these words when spelling out names and numbers in your surname or email for a restaurant. Another occasion would be asking a telephone operator to repeat the name of their restaurant or shop or business.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_alphabet

Hyde Park Corner Underground Station's Historic Moments in Murals

 If you take the train to or from Hyde Park you enjoy an unexpected treat. The slopes down to the station are decorated with enchanting murals and informative text.

You can read about the Duke of Wellington who led the forces which won the Battle of Waterloo, commemorated in Waterloo station. Wellington's house, number one, London, is overhead and can be visited.

But if yoy only want to stand and stare, there are peaceful scenes of the river Thames and the Serpentine.

I was interested to read that the Serpentine landmark was not natural but created by a queen who was a keen gardener.

Hyde Park Corner's underground station is on the Piccadilly line which starts or ends at Heathrow terminals. 

I discovered these delights on my way to the Spanish embassy to taste dry and sweet sherry.

Come back to my blog later to read about this.

Secrets Of Swiss German language, restaurant words, raclette, and cooking spaezli

Can you recognize the words for bread and butter and breakfast in German?

Learning German

I have been learning German on Duolingo. I can recognize bread, butter and breakfast. But now I am planning to go to German speaking Switzerland.

Swiss German

What's different about Swiss German? In some ways, from an English speaker's point of view, Swiss German is German made easy. Let's start with the easy bits. 

Firstly, Swiss German is easier for English speakers to read because it uses the double s instead of the vertical squiggly s which most English speakers don't have on their laptop keyboard.

Swiss German speakers are likely to understand standard German, so learning German will help you to be understood when speaking, as well as helping you to read signs and menus. In fact there's a hybrid language, Swiss standard German, which is used for writing and formal situations, which is closer to standard German spoken in Germany. 

Swiss German is also spoken in Liechtenstein, which is sandwiched between Switzerland and Austria.

French in German Speaking Switzerland

You will probably recognize 

fondue (literally melted, usually melted cheese in a large pot for dipping meat and/or vegetables)

and chocolate for dipping fruit

raclette - melted cheese (often raclette cheese) served on boiled potatoes, or on bread as a snack, with black tea or white wine

They use the French word merci for thank you. 

The word for little is li added on the end of a word, notably for bun (little bread), kitten (little cat), hundli for puppy (little dog), like the English doggy and dolly.

Swiss-German - English

Brot - bread / loaf  

Brötli -  little bread (bun?) or roll

Hend Si  ... ? - Do you have ...?

merci - thank you

merci vilmal - thank you very much (literally thanks many times)

rösti - (Same as standard German) grated, fried potato, like American hash bowns

Hash browns, also spelled hashed browns and hashbrowns, are a popular American breakfast food consisting of finely julienned potatoes that have been fried until golden brown. Hash browns are a staple breakfast item at diners in North America, where they are often fried on a large, common cooktop or grill. Wikipedia. Julienned means cutting into long thin strips.

Spätzli  In Switzerland they are called Spätzli or Chnöpfli, in Germany Spätzle - is an egg noodle dish, with pieces of a lumpy shape.

According to wiki, it is the Swabian and Alsacian diminutive of Spatz, thus literally 'little sparrow'.^[3] Some linguists derive it from the word “clump”, meaning dough which tends to form clots.^[4]

Swiss egg noodles. From Wikipedia. Photo taken by Kobako.

Znüni - elevenses (snack in a mid-morning break)

English - Swiss-German

Do you have ...? - Hend Si ...?

bread - Brot )

bun / roll -  brötli (Swiss-German)

croissant (French and English and German) - gipfil (Swiss-German)

chocolate - schoggi (German Schokolade)

I am - ich bi (Standard German is ich bin)

thank you - merci (French and Swiss-German) - (German danke)

German uses capital initial letters for nouns. English and French use capital initials only for proper names (Places and people, personal names).

Useful Websites on Swiss German and German

https://www.swiss-german-online.com/at-the-restaurant.html

Simple and comprehensive

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Swiss-German_phrasebook

Detailed and technical

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiss_German

Clear, amusing, but fewer words

https://studyinginswitzerland.com/swiss-german-vs-german-differences/

For Standard German

Duolingo.com

Translate Google

https://translate.google.co.uk/

Food Terms in German

https://www.switzerlandisyours.com/E/guide/basics/food-terms-german.html

You can find Swiss delis in the Finchley Road in Dublin, Eire; London 0 though that might just take its name from Swiss Cottage; and  New Zealand.

Food articles

https://www.mashed.com/289205/what-is-spaetzle-and-what-does-it-taste-like/

Entertaining article with recipe and picture of a device for making spaezli:

https://www.helvetickitchen.com/recipes/2015/10/15/spaztli

Spazli maker on Amazon £7.99 plus £4.99 postage to a UK address.

Websites updated Wed July 1st 2026.

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Healthy food when travelling? Warnings ABC, and D About additives, Drink, Food, Stress and Sleep

EU healthy food symbol.

When I travel, I become more conscious of how stress, drink and food affects my mood. 

As you travel you discover interesting foods to eat. But there are also foods you prefer not to eat.

Fresh Food UK, England and Scotland

 My parents always avoided processed drinks and foods, especially meat and fish. They tried to avoid higher prices and food ingredients you did not need and could not identify. They did not want their food, chopped up, disguised, watered down with water and sauces, cheating them of the basic product.

Fish and Salmon

We had no idea that grilled fish or battered fish might be more or less healthy.

Fresh salmon was a rare treat. 

But so was smoked salmon. Our one mistake was eating smoked salmon, a party treat. Later as we grew more affluent, we ate more of it, on bagels, along with more food from delis and supermarket food,

 I had never realised that smoked salmon was literally smoked, preserved by adding smoke from fire, which dried the fish and made it less friendly to tiny life forms, 'germs', which we later identified as bacteria, which created illnesses treated with anti-biotics.

Fresh Fruit 

My late father lived to 93. He was born in WWI.  From childhood he had eaten an apple a day for lunch all summer.

 I recall hotels and restaurants had trolleys of desserts, which included fresh fruit salad.

My father, as a child, had a potato in its jacket, containing vitamin C, in winter. The potato in your pocket kept you and your hands warm at school, where there was no central heating.

Bread and Potatoes

Nowadays restaurants serve bread while you wait for your meal. 

When I was a child, you either had potatoes, or bread, not both. You had bread in home made sandwiches for a quick lunch. 

Diabetics and Sugar

After my mother died in the year 2000, I used to go out to eat with my father and prepare meals for him. He had late onset diabetes, which meant avoiding foods contaoning sugar. I made fresh fruit salad for dessert.

I read the labels of everything to avoid sugar.

He said he like marzipan. That is basically ground almonds with sugar. I gave him a tiny amount once as a birthday treat. I bought it from the supermarket.

My husband had lymphoma, a form of cancer.  I take thyroxine medicine for thyroid failing to function.

He looked at the diet advice on the Cancer Research websites. For the five years whilst he was in remission we were very careful what we ate.

I read, and was told by friends, that food blackened caused cancer. Burned toast. Grilled meat and fish.

Browned Food

My husband tried to avoid browned food.

All the grills. 

Fast food with the outside heated to a crisp and the inside raw. 

Toasters dry out bread and cook it, turn toast brown with black edges when the toaster set to a different thickness of bread.

Does heating the bread in toasters kill off bugs, or burn the edges to charcoal?

Raw And Uncooked Food

Raw food such as raw fish in sushi and sashimi, 

and steak tartare, 

and gazpacho,.

Heated Food

British tourists to Spain are apprehensive about luke warm food. We think that food should be heated to destroy germs.

Covid And Diet

In addition to restricting travel, Covid drew our attention to the fact that being overweight made you more vulnerable.

I still reduce the number of times a day I shake hands, and use elbow bumping instead. 

In 2026 I still use toilet paper to wipe toilet seats, toilet handles, taps, toilet cubicle handles.

Health & Holidays in Hot Mediterranean Countries

Everybody loves the sun. Indulging in good food and drink. 

What must you and I watch out for? Stress.

Too much food.

Too much drink. Too much alcohol.

Gas in Drinks 

Bubbles. You think of Champagne. But gas is not only in Champagne, 

which started as gas as a by-product excreted by yeast, like burping bacteria.

Like aligote - my favourite, but it is made with sweet fruit syrup to balance the acidity of the white wine.

spumante, (sparkling). I love it.

fizzy drinks 

gassy water instead of sin gas.

Do as I say, not as I do. I love Champagne, Asti Spumante, Prosecco. 

Stress limited

We now have newspapers and news on phones all day. My friend S is a jolly person whose husband is in a wheelchair, he was an ear nose and throat specialist. She recently told me she no longer watches the news, nor lets him watch the news, because it is too stressful.

A measure between the two extremes of having the news flashing past every minute, and never knowing what is going on, would be to go back to the old system of reading printed newspapers, checking morning and evening news.

Sufficient Sleep

Many studies have shown that sleep is vital. The signs on motorways no longer merely warn that speed kills. They say tiredness kills. They tell you to stop for rests.

Review your home and holiday behaviour. I try to cut out flights and ferries at times which require my losing sleep. Alternatively, I catch up on sleep before driving or going out.

Rest, relax, stay healthy and happy. 

Useful Websites about diet and health

Cancer research

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/diet-and-cancer

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/food-additives

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_food_additives

The Daily Mail online has many articles on health.

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Post box toppers in London

 

Post box topper in Long Elms, Harrow, north west London

 Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Post Box topper in Rowlands Avenue, Hatch End, north west London

You can buy post box toppers on Amazon, Ebay and Etsy. Craft groups attached to organizations such as Women's Institutes do them jointly producing a new one every season or every month. This is done in the UK and other countries. See my previous posts on this subject for more details and links.

Pool Fences And Alarms - Install, Campaign, Donate to Fences, Not Funerals

Swim Safely

Australia has laws requiring fences around home swimming pools. America does not. Although there was a giant fence around the pool in an apartment complex when I lived in Rockville, Maryland.

I agree with many others who say that the USA should demand fences around pools. It should be illegal to 1 install a pool without a fence in an inhabited building,

2 to move into a building before the fence has been installed, 

3 to rent out a house or flat with access to an unfenced pool, 

4 and to sell a house with a pool which has no fence.

Useful Warning Websites

 https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15926191/jamal-morton-daughter-rose-drowns-georgia-pool.html?dicbo=v2-MpdD1rb

https://www.swimpools.co.uk/uk-pool-regulations-backyard-homeowner-guide/

https://orlandi.com.au/australian-pool-fencing-laws/

https://www.standards.org.au/blog/standards-spotlight-as-1926-1-2024

https://www.alibaba.com/pla/Industrial+Pool+Safety+Metal+Aluminum+Galvanized+Steel+Fence+Panel+Security+Swimming+Pool+Fence_1601228455447.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/WaterWarden-5-Pool-Safety-Fence/

Life Saving

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Pool_Lifeguard_Qualification

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifesaving_(sport)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Life_Saving_Championships

Canada

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lifeguard

Updated with website links July 1st 2026. If you have additional relevant information, please send it to comments on the blog or contact me. I am all over the web.

Packing List for business and holiday trips

 

Here is a generic packing list you can adapt

Shopping list

Checks in advance

Passport checks 

Check for the expiry date, and the expiry date allowed by destinations. Some countries require 6 months, in case you overstay.

Check your passport has no rips or tears or the airline might deny you boarding

Check enough blank pages are left for visas.

Visas - check requirements for all family and colleagues including spouse, children, nanny, granny, driver, guide, family members who are different nationality.

Allow time for visa issue, or you have to pay extra for fast delivery or courier if you don't have time to go to the embassy, even if sending it remotely is allowed

If you need a new passport you may need to reapply for visas in the new passport. You might have to send back your old passport. In that case copy it so you have a permanent record of your travels for your diary and family history. Records of travels can prove you meet residency requirements, and remind you to not exceed them. In addition, evidence of travel might prove you could not have committed a parking offence or serious crime because you were overseas.

Car

Car tax

MOT (car road worthiness)

Tyre pressure

Petrol (gas) - fill up, note or dated photograph amount in car, in case of petrol theft

Car numberplate noted

car insurance, check expiry date

Car insurance number 

car insurance helpline

Compare car hire costs and book car hire

Note location of car hire office

Note location of meet and greet at airport, or parking or valet parking, which side of building, which side of road

Suitcase

Check suitcase is regulation size and weight, 

fits in boot (trunk) of car, 

is not too heavy to carry

leave space for souvenirs, gifts from family, hotels, restaurants, conference bags and literature, guidebooks bought at destination, maps and brochures

Check suitcase wheels work and are clean

pack luggage trolley, strap, string, labels, scissors with blades less than the regulation, which could be a maximum of six inches from a certain point on the scissors or knife blade

Photograph luggage and note colour and brand in case you need to report loss, or speak to those whose language is not English

add identifying colour or sticker to black suitcases and all suitcases and bags, umbrellas, walking sticks

Note hiking sticks with points might not be allowed, as carry on, also sports equipment such as cricket bats, surf boards, tennis rackets, so these must be packed in checked in luggage or sent separately as oversize luggage

Clingfilm or luggage protector might be useful to protect luggage from scratches and dirt

LANGUAGE

Print vital words of foreign language of destination (from Wikitravel phrasebook of the country or countries of your travel tip)

Learn the word for help

(I was able to shout AYUDA, Spanish for aid or help, when I fell downstairs in a Spanish parador hotel in La Palma, in the Canary Islands)

Print the word for allergy and the type of allergy for a restaurant or doctor or pharmacy

Travel insurance

 patient number, eg UK  NHS number 

helpline number

Destination

Destination and contact details and names for family, neighbours or colleagues

Hotel

Book room upgrades

Airline

Book airline upgrades such as leg room, exit seat, 

check in online at correct time, being sure not to pay extra on budget airline for printing boarding pass, ate or early check in

Holiday booking location and date confirmation

copy of passport left at home with passport number

First night hotel reservation

Location of destination hospital or doctor

Before leaving home

Inform work or club of duties others must do whilst you are away

Inform work or club of dates you are not available. For security do not tell media nor allow others to broadcast the fact that you are out of the office, your home, or your country. Simply say you are unavailable, or away from desk, or unable to take calls.

Cancel gardeners or window cleaners, or leave their payment with others, or book them for your return.

Leave a set of door keys and credit cards at home in case they are lost or stolen from you whilst away

Turn off gas, electricity, water, heating, air con, or leave it on low, according to length of stay and weather forecast and safety requirements

Check for items left in dishwasher or microwave or fridge which might go rancid

PETS

Arrange pet sitter.

Get pet acquainted with pet sitter or pet holiday location. 

Put chip and tags on pet. Leave pet toys and food and instructions. Check pet insurance and where pet sitter should take pet, and instruct pet sitter on insurance, pet hospital or vet location and whether pet should be saved at all costs if injured or ill. 

Check if pet is allowed in cabin of aircraft and what leash or bedding or pet food must be provided.

AIRLINE

Book special seat, window for photos, aisle for claustrophobic, near toilet, away from noisy galley and babies, quietest part of plane, upgrade, seats of family together, near exit if in transit,

Available airmiles

HOTEL OR CONFERENCE CENTRE

Find out if there is a group or delegate or longstay discount

Join hotel loyalty scheme to get upgrades, freebies, better toiletries.

Book junior  suite or sea view.

Note which side of hotel is on busy road.

Book ground floor if afraid of heights. Book higher floor if afraid of intruders through doors and windows.

Book room near fire escape, or away from left noise, or near lift or conference room or restaurant or swimming pool if likely to be in a rush.

Book rooms near other members of family or group.

Book rooms near lift if you have mobility problems.

Check hotel has a lift or porter for luggage if you cannot carry luggage or have many bags.

Ensure suitcases are locked, and keep valuables and laptops with you because the luggage trolley may go in another lift.

Keep swimsuit handy in travel bag, wheel on gab or top of suitcase, in case pool closes at 5 pm or just after your arrival. You could even travel in a swimsuit to be sure of using the pool if you are only staying one night.

Check pool closing times (5 pm at some SPANISH parador hotels in the Canary islands of La Palma and Tenerife).

Tell restaurant in advance it is your birthday, allergies. 

Arrive early and check room before accepting it.

Compare with rooms of others in your group. 

Swapping Bedrooms For A Bidet Story June 2026

My bedroom in the Parador Teide on Tenerife had a bidet but the next Parador on La Palma gave me a room with no bidet. I thought it was just a lower grade or older hotel. I asked to see a friend's ground floor room and discovered they had a bidet. 

I went back to reception and asked if they had a room with a bidet at the same price. They did. I requested a swap. 

My husband was already asleep on the bed. However, I wheeled out the suitcases and left him a note of the new room number. 

After installing everything in the other room, I went back and found he was awake and astonished that all the suitcases and bags had been moved in the dark without disturbing him.

   

Travel ITEMS

Clothes

Travel Documents

Travel Bag

Before Returning Home

Before Leaving Hotel

Before Leaving Hotel Bedroom

During and after accident

Photo of location for insurance

FORWARD A COPY TO another family member

Photo of injury for doctor/insurance claim

Details of vehicle or condition of place of injusry (eg broken step, wet floor)

Hospital x-ray and report and translation for continuing care at home on return

Make report to insurance within the required time frame

MEDICATION

Daily pills 

Painkillers eg aspirin or if allergic to aspirin, panadol/paracetamol - know the local generic name to buy cheaper than branded products eg in the Philippines

Travel pills

 sea sickness 

sleeping pills

Insect repellent

Insect spray )if travelling by car, not a pressurised can if on aircraft_

Stingose or other bite cream.

Medication for mouth ulcers, athletes foot, dandruff.

Special Trips 

Equipment

Clothes

Sports

Swimming = swimming costume, hat, beach shoes, beach bag or towel, sunhat, sun cream, wqterproof keyholder, waterproof watch, cover for phone. Buckets and spades for children. Information on tsunamis, beach flag warnings/

City and hotel Precautions

Earthquake shelters, fire escape. 

Check in

Check out

Day before departure

Pack all except travel clothes and food. have address inside suitcase.

ALARMS

set alarms on hotel clock, mobile phone or watch

Order early picnic breakfast if needed, vegetarian if needed, request compact packing if travelling on airline with luggage restrictions. remember to ask for vegetarian or fish alternative such as salmon if you don't like beef, pork, processed meat, cheese, egg, tuna (our three star parador de las Canadas del Teide on Tenerife gave us salmon and egg instead of ham and cheese, but the grander five star Taoro hotel said they only did regular and vegetarian, gave us thick white bread, and when we changed one item to vegetarian and said one vegetarian, for me, we got one breakfast instead of two, so the other made in a hurry had to be rushed up the car park to us after we had checked out.

Skiing

Ski boots, poles if practical and preferred rather than hiring, trousers (pants) thermal underclothes, gloves, hat, goggles, padded jacket with interior and exterior pockets, lift pass lanyard and identity photos.

Hiking

Wine events

Pack bottle stoppers, Champagne stoppers, Platypus flat screw top drink containers, water bottles filled with water, wafers or savoury biscuits, tee shirts with wine logos, ear-rings with wine symbols, names of delegates, good year charts, colour identity charts, books on wines, business address cards, passport or identity card to prove you are over 18, hard shell suitcase to support wine, protective plastic bottle covers, gift tags and bottle bags for gifts to VIP speakers, or helpers 

Conference

Learn the names of the VIP speakers, your colleagues overseas, the organizers. Look up their photos on Facebook or LinkedIn in order to recognize them.

Check if any of your group of old or new friends or colleagues are travelling back the same way. You might car share, sit together, swap advice, share alternative car hire if the airline cancels the flight.

Before boarding plane home

Pack computer or laptop if on airline with luggage restriction, pack

Leave room for computer, umbrella, folding walking sticks if travelling on airline with luggage restrictions.

Thank organizers.

Note hotel names in your diary and write reviews whilst you have time at the airport and it is fresh in your memory.

For some repeat events you might wish to book the hotel again for next year, especially for annual events such as the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland in August.

SIMPLE PACKING LIST

Dress / Suit for travel, underwear (bra, vest, underpants) socks, sandals, bag for documents, spare clothes, night dress / pyjamas Optional swimsuit. Scarf, belt, jewellery for evening. Sunhat. Jacket, Raincoat.

Toothbrush and paste, comb, lipstick.

Notebook and pen.

Diary.

Travel documents - passport, visa, airline ticket on phone, car park ticket, driving license, hotel reservation letter, mobile phone and charger, and sockets, laptop and powerpoint, mouse and cover. Additional camera for conference calls.

Packing Clothes

Day dresses and suits (numbers of days of stay, maximum 7, wash and wear repeat for second week.

Sandals, spare pair, waterproof or beach shoes, evening shoes, hiking boots or walking shoes.

Socks.

Evening blouses and skirt, 

best dress or suit, 

jewellery to match,

 necklace, bracelet, rings, brooch, scarf slip, safety pins and sewing kit with needles threaded with black and white cotton or self threading needle, or needle threader. Optional spare spools of black and white thread for shortening hems and dresses or repairing tears.

Packing Medication / cosmetics

Toothebrush or elecgric toothebrush and charger

Toothepaste

Tweezers and nail file or  manicure set

Hair conditioner and shampoo

insect spray for car and bedroom

insect repellent for body in day, evening and night

warm evening jacket for air conditioning

Shorts and sleeveless top for sunny spells

Warm jumper, sweatshirt and jacket for cold mountains, sea breezes, mountain hikes, evenings, bike and boat rides.

Paxkable umbrella, kept handy for travelling. 

(Some gym bags have a waterproof zip compartment underneath for wet swimsuits, sweaty gym outfits, laundry, or wet umbrellas).

For travelling I have bought a bag with a horizontal strap to fix the bag on top of a wheelie bag. You can also buy computer cases with a strap.

Soap and or shaving cream and razor

Packing List  - take it with you to check you have brought back everything you set out with, nothing left behind.

Hotel Bedroom Check

Two or more people should do the bedroom check.

Check every room and every cupboard, behind every door (hook on the back of the bathroom door for your own bathrobe or night dress or swimsuit or underwear_

Check in cupboards (even if not used by you - our toddler put a toy in a hotel cupboard)

Check under beds for pens and slippers.

Check under pillows for night clothes and contraceptives. 

Check wastebins for items which have fallen off tables.

Check the minibar for your pills as well as food and drink, alcohol, birthday cake, chocolates and cheese and milk.

Photograph the minibar when you arrive and leave to prove to yourself and the hotel whether you took any goods.

Check bathroom for toothbrush left for you to clean teeth after breakfast.

Check balcony for shoes and swimsuits and underwear and night clothes left to dry.

Check pockets of all discarded items. To get onto a Ryanair flight without paying fifty pounds for excess baggage, after we had already paid for three bags, my husband put my laptop in a suitcase and threw away the case. I check the padded pockets and found my power brick and mouse.

Car check

Check car boot, glove box, door pockets, pockets on the back of the front seats, under the front seats.

On the end of your packing list write reminders for next trip.

My reminders are

1 Keep a coin handy for a luggage trolley at Stansted airport in the Uk.

2 The collection point for cars is by the valet direction upstairs, not back down at meet and greet where you left your car.

3 Pack Nespresso or Lidl coffee capsules if going to the Canary islands. We did not like the coffee capsules given free with the coffee making machines in four different hotels.

Happy holidays!

Useful Websites

Visas

See embassy websites.

Suitcases

A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING

Have a standard place for everything. For example, business cards on the left, toothbrush and cosmetics on the right. Swimsuit top left. Swimsuit and underwear top right. Day clothes on top. Evening clothes at the bottom. Or day clothes on one side. Evening clothes on the other side. Always lay the suitcase down the same way. For example, pull up handle on the right. 

If two of you have a suitcase each and both need an x shape folding suitcase support. One hotel reception told me they have a room full of them to supply to guests on request.

Check ebay and amazon and other specialist luggage shops and brands. You might look for hard shell cases to protect fragile items and bottles. I like expanding suitcases, which have double zips.

Suitcases with double dividers allow you to open one half without the contents of the other half spilling everywhere. Another solution is packing cubes. Or pack flat and secure with inner straps.

As for scissors, no blades longer than 6 cm measured from the fulcrum.

Useful Websites

What you cannot take on Ryanair

https://help.ryanair.com/hc/en-gb

Vega Norte for wine, food and tee-shirts on a wine theme, in La Palma, The Canary Islands

 

I think I shall try on this one. I found it at a winery with chairs outside for lunch, on La Palma, in the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. We flew to Tenerife, hired a car, and took the ferry across to La Palma for a hiking holiday with a group who go every year. My husband and I visited several wineries. This one had wine to drink, wine tasting, food to eat, wine and food to buy, plus these irresistible tee-shirts.

Perfect. Perfetto. 

Angela Lansbury wearing her wine glasses tee-shirt.

I tried on the other tee shirts, but a square pattern of thick paint did not fit well over a curvy chest. This tee shirt with the wine glasses looked and felt the best. So it was the one I bought. Just the thing for wine tastings, wine events, fine wine lunches, fine wine dinners. 

These tee shirts cost about 13.5 euros at the winery which offers wine tastings or lunches of pate and toast. 

Unfortunately they don't ship the tee-shirts, so you have to visit them, or ask a friend to buy one for you and tell your friend if you want medium or large tee shirts or aren't fussy.

On the internet you will find lots more similar tee shirts with wine themes from various suppliers. Or you can take a photo of yourself with your favourite glass of wine and bottle and get it printed on a tee

shirt and cap. Or a couples shirt, a matching pair of shirts. For an engagement, wedding or anniversary.

A short sleeved tee-shirt is a bit casual for an evening dinner, unless it is very hot and you dress it up with black high heels, a fancy skirt in red or black, smart jewellery, and a glamorous hair style and bag. Maybe a black hairband or hat.

All I need now is ear rings.

Useful Websites

For wine

https://www.tucanarias.com/en/vega-norte-white-wine-la-palma.html

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/607138211/wine-earrings-wine-glass-earrings-red

Prices and mark ups on wine vary considerable. At the airport leaving Tenerife we checked the UK prices of Canary wines on winesearcher.com. Several wines offered were cheaper to buy in the UK than from the airport shop, but we found one bargain bottle. 

You can bring back a surprisingly large number of bottles, especially if you are a family of adults. We bought an extra suitcase for bringing back wine, one with sturdy sides, at vast expense.  

We also paid for an extra checked in suitcase on Ryanair.

You need to do your tastings at the wineries in advance so that when you get to the airport to leave you are sure which winery, grape, style, and year of production is of interest to you and worth the money.

From Etsy, red or green for pierced ears.

Other websites for Canary Islands food, drink, books and games

https://www.tucanarias.com/en/buy-la-palma-products-and-food-canary-islands.html

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My Padders Sandals' Soles melted in the heat

 My shoe soles melted in the heat. Black sticky mess on the floor. June in London 2026 HAS A HEATWAVE.

This is not unique to Padders good value shoes but general. I have had the same from Marks & Spencer shoes. 

Once, when my shoes disintegrated, and I tried to return them, or at least register a complain about the composition of the sole, the staff asked me how long ago I had bought the footwear. 

Buying New Shoes

I also had a pair of shoes disintegrate although I had never worn them. I didn't wear them because they were a size too small, my feed are different sixes so one shoe was too small, and my weight and ankles had increased. I kept them lovingly because they were very pretty, bought on impulse in an end of season sale.

If your shoes disintegrate you might need to provide a receipt. The shoe or shoe box may have a number telling the manufacturer the date the shoe was made, as well as the date of your purchase.

From now on I shall be keeping my shoes in the shoe box with the receipt attached, and keeping a photographic record of the footwear alongside the receipt. 

I have now stopped saving shoes for a special occasion.  I am well past fifty and my dancing days are limited.  

Second Hand & Sale Shoes

Shoes which have been hanging around in the shop, or worn by a previous owner, might be nearing the end of their useful life. Another reason to wear them soon, whilst you can, and get your money's worth.

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Welcome aboard Ryanair planes - without my laptop case

We had an upset on checking into Ryanair at Tenerife's southern airport (Sur means southern, in Spanish although it means on in French, but at least you recognize the word. You just need to attach a different English translation.)

My husband had already paid extra money for priority boarding plus one overhead mini suitcase for each of us, two extra checked full size suitcases, and extra money for one extra suitcase for him bought at the destination to bring back souvenir wine because he is a wine educator, and extra legroom. About five, six or seven extra items.

The upset was that I thought that you could take a laptop separately and in addition to your wheel on bag. Apparently not. The airline wanted to charge fifty pounds for an extra bag. 

My husband declined to pay for a third extra charge. He packed my laptop in his rucksack and threw away my lovely padded burgundy laptop case which had outer and three inner zips. and a shoulder strap with a padded shoulder oval. 

If I had had time and a pair of scissors I would have cut off the shoulder strap, the zips and the large wide inside elastic band. I have been thinking about this day and night for two days, whilst looking for a replacement bag, in burgundy at prices varying from about e0 pounds to 300 pounds (Euros similar). But could I have carried a pair of scissors. Apparently,  

Laptop Case

I loved my laptop case and a replacement would cost the best part of fifty pounds. I checked the abandoned case and found the zip pockets still contained my power brick and mouse, which I rescued. I then took a second look and rescued a pink tag.  

We then had to rush, having lost the advantage for priority boarding, for which we had paid extra. We had also booked front seats with extra leg room.

I was under the impression that the airport staff were paid a bonus for enforcing the the luggage rules. Whilst the aircraft crew were in charge of the sales of duty free goods and sales of raffle tickets, so much more helpful with seating (we had been allocated a different plane} and helping me with my walking sticks up the steep stairs and stowing stuff in the overhead lockers to speed boarding.

The crew were all smiling and helpful, a happy bunch. 

I asked one of the young lads, 'Does Ryanair recruit happy people or do the train you to smile and look happy?'

He replied, 'We are happy because we are going home.' 

But there is also visual encouragement to be positive. One sign says that Ryanair is known for punctuality. In addition a display showed the words for welcome.

Wasted Breakfast Food

We had left our hotel before breakfast and been given instead a picnic breakfast which was packed in large card containers in a bag, one for each of us. I ate half a banana. I saved half a cheese sandwich. I had to throw away the containers and all the apples and oranges, bread, and drinks.

 Welcome words on a Ryanair plane.

Plane cupboard door with the words for welcome in several languages. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Angela Lansbury with friendly staff on the Ryan Air plane. 

The words for welcome, alphabetically

Bien venue - French

Welkommen - Danish

Wilkommen - German

By Country Alphabetically

French  bien venue (literally good arrival)

Danish  Velkommen (Starts with a v. Vowel like the German but with an e at the start.)

Dutch Welkom A short word. No couble letters. Starts with W like the English cut changed the w c to a k._

German Wilkommen

You may wish to create your own lists, in your travel diary, or a piece of paper attached to your diary.

Useful Websites

Translate google

Onmiglot

https://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/welcome.htm

Overweight and large bags bonus for staff

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c99mdv3y431o

I have several posts on languages in this blog, travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com  (Type in dots, or full stops, Americans say periods, no obliques. Please share links to posts.)

Family Winery at Mount Etna in Italy

 At the Island Wines Summit in Tenerife, the Canary Islands, I saw several dormant and active volcanoes.

I met a young man from, Italy, second generation of a vineyard family. He had the word ETNA tattooed on his wrist.

I asked him, 'is it an active volcano?'

''Yes.'

I gasped, 'Aren't you afraid of an active volcano?'

He shook his head and smiled. 'No, I am not afraid of an active volcano. I'm more afraid of people.'

His family winery is in my husband's book about island wines, Isle Drink, by Trevor Sharot. Which you can buy online from Amazon.

His name is Andrea Foti, and the winery is I Vigneri.

Website 

www.ivigneri.it

He is one of the up and coming new generation of winemakers. He was a panellist who spoke at the conference.

He gave me a tee-shirt in lovely blue.

The message is minus arrogante, Italian for arrogance, meaning less arrogance. 

And plus, carricante, more of the local grape called carricante. You can see a picture of the white carricante bunches of grapes on their website, and their black grapes.

Their website is in Italian or English. You can learn from the website about their soil, philosophy (no plastic), and where to buy the wines in Italy and how to book a tour to taste five or seven wines and tour the vineyard and old and new cellars, with containers of three types.

Websites 

The Winery near Etna

www.ivigneri.it

Tracking volcanoes

https://volcanoes-earthquakes.appwesome.com/

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Sunsets In Tenerife and Singapore and Su

 

Sunset from the balcony of a junior suite in the Gran Taoro Hotel, Tenerife, Canary Islands. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Sunset in Tenerife. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Sunset in Tenerife. Photo by zAngela Lansbury.

Trevor Sharot, author of Isle Drink, in Tenerife.

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Angela Lansbury, author of books on travel, wedding etiquette, wedding speeches and toasts, quotations, poetry and writing poetry

Enjoying Spanish Cava and sunset in Tenerife. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

Sunset seen in the opposite direction. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Sunset at 9.27 pm in Tenerife. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Sunset at 9.44 pm in Tenerife. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

TENERIFE Sunset at 9.48.

Sunset down by the swimmimg pools of hotel Gran Taoro.

Tenerife, Canary Islands

Singapore Sunset

I remember in Singapore where I was a Permanent Resident for 30 years, sunseet was 7 pm all year. Many of my online Toastmasters International speakers' clubs met at 7 pm, or went online at 7 pm for a start at 7.30 prompt. When the light faded outside the windows and balconies I knew it was time to switch on my computer. Like in the days before watches. In the tropical country I could tell the time of day and night accurately by the sun.

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