Interview with Severin Blindenbacher

We asked Severin Blindenbacher, a member of the Swiss national hockey team competing at the 2013 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in Sweden, about his links to the tournament’s host country.

Hej Severin

Välkommen tillbaka till Sverige. How does it feel to be back in Sweden?

Severin Blindenbacher: I am very happy to be back in Sweden. I have missed it quite a bit. The atmosphere here is great.

We would like to congratulate you and your team on the outstanding achievement so far here in Stockholm at the 2013 Hockey World Championships.

Thank you, we are very motivated.

You played for one season in Karlstad for Färjestad BK. Can you tell about some of your good memories from your time in Sweden?

Yes indeed. I do have many good memories. First is playing hockey in Sweden, where the league is very professional and the spirit is different. The Swedes take hockey very seriously as it is a national sport, but I also have good memories of many people. The people are very relaxed. And of course the food, I ate lots of good, fresh fish from the sea.

SWISS on Instagram (@FlySWISS)

Aditya Khullar, Head of Sales for South East Asia, Pacific & Greater China

Grüezi!  

I'm Aditya Khullar, Head of Sales for South East Asia, Pacific & Greater China, based in Zurich. Now you might be thinking you have one more person from Zurich on the SWISS Instagram account but that’s not entirely correct as soon (next month) I will be moving to Singapore. It's a new chapter in my life and one that I'm looking forward to. Though I will miss Zurich, the prospect of living in Singapore is really exciting. Especially considering the many similarities the two cities share (except for the weather of course). What excites me the most about moving to Singapore? Food!! And how its multi-cultural diversity is reflected in the variety of local cuisines it has to offer. Also, for me as an avid traveller, its proximity to the rest of Asia is a big plus. From a professional point of view the prospect of building the SWISS brand in a vibrant and cosmopolitan city like Singapore is simply incredible.

So follow me via my pictures for the next few days as we prepare for the launch of SWISS's direct flights between Singapore and Zurich. I hope you like them!

Cheers!
Aditya

Getting ready for the world (My sky-high life)

Kristina Roder, Cabin Crew Member

After nine months flying on short-haul operations I have by now been to pretty well every destination in Europe. Not surprisingly, I was really looking forward to working on long-haul rotations. The list of participants in my training group added to my sense of anticipation as it included several familiar names, some of which I knew from flying short-haul and others from basic training days. Like me, one of my colleagues lives in Bern and so we agreed to journey by train together so that we could prepare jointly for the examinations. But little had we expected just how demanding and entertaining commuting together would be. On the first morning we shared our favourite stories about our flying experiences and looked forward together to our first long-haul flight. Before long, our conversations acquired greater depth and the idea of working together on a flight made its way on to our wish list.

Expect the unexpected (My sky-high life)

Cornelia Valerie Voigt, Cabin Crew Member

"Expect the unexpected" – This message was drummed into me during my safety training. Even though most flights take place without incident and flying for many passengers is akin to riding a bus, we flight attendants are trained, prior to every take-off and landing, to consider what to do in the event of a serious event. Perhaps you have noticed flight attendants deep in concentration, sitting with their hands tucked under their legs ahead of take-off or landing. This should not be taken to mean that our hands are cold. What you are witnessing is a safety measure known as the “One Minute of Silence Review”. Its purpose is to ensure that we know how to respond properly in the event of an evacuation.

Not long ago, however, I was confronted with a completely different type of unexpected situation. It was supposed to be a routine flight to Boston, which just happens to be one of my favourite destinations because I made a language-stay there in 2010. Shortly before departure my host mother informed me that she and her husband had met precisely 35 years ago, in 1978, during a blizzard. To my astonishment, the captain informed us during the briefing that we should prepare ourselves for an extended stay in Boston as the city was bracing for a blizzard on the scale of the one that had hit in 1978! The rest of crew was not exactly thrilled to hear this news, but I inwardly cheered.

Interview with the creative personality behind the current meals: Martin Göschel

With the introduction of the new SWISS Taste of Switzerland food cycle on board our long-haul flights, we had the chance to interview the creative personality behind the meals: Martin Göschel from the Hotel Paradies in Ftan, canton Graubünden. If you read the article carefully, you can even win an overnight stay at his hotel.

Which recipe have you chosen for Swiss Taste of Switzerland and why?

Martin Göschel: At the Hotel Paradies in Ftan the preparation of our meals has a strong regional leaning and we use predominantly local products. My mission was to choose three courses from two menus. A starter with mild buffalo mozzarella, sourced from water buffalo raised here in Ftan. Their milk is processed into mozzarella at a dairy in nearby Tschlin. The resulting product is very unique. For the second course we selected a fish, char, cooked “au gratin” with a crust from the “arven” tree. The “arven” is a local coniferous fir. The young shoots are comparable with thyme – they look similar and both contain essential oils. When you cook the fish au gratin in this way, you have the feeling that you are walking through the surrounding forest because the aroma there is equally wonderful. Another good example is our final dish. We have transformed the world famous Engadine nut cake into a walnut mousse, which we top with a small amount of caramel which is similar in aroma to the Engadine nut cake.