But let us start at the beginning. The past months have been a hard time for everyone; for us too, Covid-19 meant working from home for almost three months.
Not everyone found the switch to working from home easy. So we decided together that as soon as restrictions were eased, all members of the Vanillaplan team should be able to do something exciting. After barely leaving the house for two months, we - that is, Michael and Domenic - decided to make a trip right across the country to the Engadin.
Of course the trip was not purely for fun; the main purpose was an appointment with one of our customers in the St. Moritz region. In addition we wanted to visit other prospective customers to present our software to them.
But let us come to the journey itself. We set off from Basel at 04:00. Armed with coffee and croissants we drove off, thoroughly relaxed and full of anticipation. Thanks to the empty roads we were quickly through Zurich, past Lake Zurich, and experienced our first highlight, the sunrise over Lake Walen. The second was not long in coming, however. Shortly before 08:00 we reached the Flüela Pass. A beautiful drive with views of mountains, rivers and animals, then hairpin bends leading down the mountain into the valley.
After a short drive to Pontresina, our first appointment with a prospective customer was already upon us. After a friendly welcome we began our presentation. Afterwards we still had the chance to talk about their current methods of resource planning and to show ways in which these could work even better with the help of Vanillaplan.
Then it was straight on to the next appointment. After another friendly reception we were able to present our software again. The large monitor was a great advantage here, as it allowed us to display our long-term deployment plans and the display board perfectly. Here too, after the presentation, an interesting exchange took place about planning methodology. This exchange with our customers and prospective customers is always particularly important to us, both in order to understand their needs and in order to learn.
After these two presentations it was time to sit down in a convivial restaurant in Pontresina and enjoy lunch. Cordon bleu with fried potatoes, in glorious weather and with a great view of the mountain landscape. A place to linger.
Once we managed to tear ourselves away, we continued through Pontresina, Samedan and St. Moritz to present Vanillaplan further and to visit our customers.
After a long day it was time to set off home. This time through the Vereina tunnel by car train, with no view but faster. Then the same route back: Lake Walen, Lake Zurich, Zurich, then the motorway towards Basel, complete with a traffic jam, off at Rheinfelden and, with the last few millilitres of petrol, just about making it to the petrol station. Shortly afterwards, and more than 15 hours and 589 kilometres later, we were home again.
Despite the exhausting journey back, the trip was more than worth it. Interested and friendly people, the fresh mountain air and the beautiful scenery were an indispensable change of scene after the time spent working from home.
