ON OUR WAY: PACK LIGHT

Sydney–>Singapore –>London –>Trieste
June 16 – 21, 2026

We planned to start hiking in late June hoping to avoid lingering snow at higher elevations.  

It’s a long haul to get to Europe from Australia so we chose to break up the trip by stopping over in Singapore and then flying on to London.  Arriving in the UK made sense as it sits outside the 90 day European Schengen Area stay limit. The thought was that  a couple of days in London would give us time to recover from  jetlag somewhat and also to acclimitise to the change in seasons before we start the long walk in the mountains.

SINGAPORE

It was silent at 4 am when the airport transfer car pulled up outside our house.  Stepping out into  the crispy cold winter air, closing the front door behind us, was the first step in leaving the comforts of home behind.

Fourteen hours later we were in our hotel room in  tropical  Singapore –  very humid and warm.  With sweat trickling down our bodies we spent the next day and half walking around getting a feel for the city.  It is a dynamic city with an interesting history,  fantastic architecture and lush greenery almost everywhere you look. We loved it and look forward to returning to explore more on our homebound trip.

LONDON

Next stop London, for a two-night stopover. A long time between visits for Hammer and not so long for me. I was last here for the London Marathon in 2022, held a week after Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. I loved the  London I experienced on that trip and  we have completely fallen for this city this time around. Absolutely brilliant weather during our stay certainly helped the city to shine. We look forward to exploring further before we return home. 

A very strange coincidence happened when we were walking around St Paul’s Cathedral. While waiting for Hammer, I stopped in front of a bench seat. Glancing at the memorial plaque I saw a name I recognised – Kat Davis.

Memories flooded back of being so shaken to  find out that she died.  It was during the beginning of the Covid restrictions period in early 2020 that we heard the news.

She was a person I never met but through her writing and photography  ( https://followingthearrows.com/ ) I felt that if we were ever to meet, she would be someone I would instantly like. She was a hiker – her trail name was “Hummingbird”.  She was a talented travel writer.  I first came across her blog when we were thinking of hiking the  Shikoku Trail in Japan.  Afterwards Hammer and I eagerly waited for blog updates on her hike of the PCT in 2015 – while counting down to our own hike there the following year. 

Not sure what to make of this chance sighting of her memorial at this time.   I was again left with a feeling of deep sadness for the loss of such a bright light.

TRIESTE

Next stop Trieste, Italy for the start of the long walk in the mountains and valleys of the European Alps.

The only flight I could find from London arrives in Trieste at almost midnight.  The airport is a long way from downtown and public transport stops running before the plane lands. Airport taxis need to be pre-booked and cost more then our combined airfare from London.  We were pleased to find a small hotel close to the airport  which we pre-booked.

After a short and an uneventful flight, we arrived in Trieste and cleared customs at 12.05 am. The countdown of our 90 day has begun.  

The hotel was located in a very quite suburban area.  Walking to the train station the next morning, the silence of the quite Sunday morning  was broken by the beautiful sound of hymns being sung in a church we walked by.  So beautiful,  reminded me of some sections of walking on the Camino de Santiago.  It gave me a wonderful and warm feeling. It  felt like our Via Alpina journey has now officially begun.

Trieste is a beautiful town set between the sparkling waters of the Adriatic Sea and mountains we will be traversing tomorrow. 

The day turned out very hot with hardly any cooling breezes coming off the ocean.

We   spent the day getting provisions for the next few days and squeezing in some sightseeing of Trieste. The searing heat  made it difficult to get around. But we saw enough to really want to come back in order to fully appreciate the rich history of this town.

Looking at the weather ahead,  Western Europe is experiencing early season heatwave conditions.  Temperatures in mid-30°C  are being predicted for the next 10 days. Not sure what this could mean for the mountains. It reminded us of hiking the Oregon and Washington sections of the PCT in 2022. We experienced  air temperatures approaching 40°C while hiking past frozen lakes.  So we’ll see how this compares.