Your annual vacation/holidays
- Thread starter Kilana2
- Start date
“If anyone believes these two should not be joined, speak now or bowl a seven-ten split”...
I...am all Oktoberfest-ed out.
*sings*
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit, gemütlichkeit...
*faints*
*sings*
Ein Prosit, ein Prosit, gemütlichkeit...
*faints*
Last edited:
Well my dad and I are home now from our trip. Had an AWESOME time in Germany - drank lots of 
of course. 
We weren't in the Oktoberfest for the whole week. Started off in Berlin for a couple of days - took a city tour by bus, visited the zoo (which, fortunately, was right next to our hotel). and toured the Olympiastadion which was probably my favorite thing to do in Berlin - I have a weakness for sports stadiums of all kinds (even those whose actual sport I'm not into) and Berlin's Olympic Stadium is REALLY cool and has a lot of history behind it.
(Side note: As much as I love to drink in hotel bars - or not in them
- the one at our hotel in Berlin kind of creeped me out because there were pictures of Marlene Dietrich all over the place...)
Took the train from Berlin to Munich. While my jaw did indeed hit the floor as soon as I walked into Berlin Hauptbahnhof (it's one of the coolest transit stations I've ever been in), Inter-City Express really frosts my shorts, because there was NO ONE to help my dad and I get onto the train - our tickets said which train car to use but half the cars themselves were not labelled, and the ones that were, kept fucking CHANGING THEIR NUMBERS (sometimes two or three times!). So trying to get onto that train was like herding kittens on crank. But fortunately once we were actually ON the train it went very smoothly and we got to see a lot of the German countryside.
Munich was a great city. I liked it a fair amount better than Berlin. I mean no disrespect to Berliners - Berlin is a fine city and all that, but Munich's just a lot more laid back, and not just because of the Oktoberfest
. The first thing we did was actually a very serious matter though - went to tour the camp at Dachau. Had to go back to our hotel and kind of process that for awhile... 
Also took some bus tours of Munich as well. I really liked hanging out at Marienplatz - it's at the heart of Munich and there's a LOT to see and do down there.
Caution, though - if you're trying to find the Hofbräuhaus, be prepared to ask at least 10 passersby (all of whom will give you a different answer) and walk through very narrow and twisty streets. You'll feel like spies setting up a secret meeting. But you will eventually get there. And you will not want to leave. Also if you're curious - "eins, zwei, g'suffa" basically means "one, two, down the hatch". Just spitballin'. 
The Oktoberfest, though... wow. Haven't had that much fun since the Calgary Stampede. Only problem is that unless you show up at like 9 AM there's not a chance in hell you're getting a seat in any of the beer tents. But we did. And as much as I like to drink, it's kinda weird to be doing it that early in the morning... but sometimes you gotta take one for the team. I thought it was pretty funny in that a lot of times some schmuck would stand up and start chugging a liter of beer and of course everybody's cheering them on, but if they don't actually finish the chug (which was most of the time) the crowd will boo and start throwing food at them. 
And the whole time, we made it a point NOT to use the U-Bahn station at Theresienwiese. Everyone will tell you that's the main station for the Oktoberfest - and I suppose it is, but unless you like being turned into human Spam by enormous crowds (if you've been on the 4/5/6 trains in New York City at rush hour, I believe this is worse) just go somewhere else, like the S-Bahn station at Hackerbrücke which is where we always got out. It's a LOT less crowded, plus it just has a really cool name. I could say it over and over: Hackerbrücke Hackerbrücke Hackerbrücke Hackerbrücke Hackerbrücke.
Oh, by the way, Lufthansa business class is awesome. Just thought I'd put that out there.
Only problem was when we had a layover in Chicago during our trip home. WARNING: Anyone transferring from an international flight INTO O'Hare Airport to a domestic flight OUT, you will have to get your luggage and go through security all over again. This is because O'Hare appears to have been designed by baboons - the international terminal is like miles away from the rest of the airport. If you have to deal with it in any way, start hoping that your layover is at LEAST two hours. Ideally, more like six. Our layover was 2 and a half hours and we still almost missed our damn flight because of this horseshit.
(See, this is one of the many reasons I love vacationing in Canada, because of the gift from God that is U.S. border preclearance.)
Anyway, home at last. Had a GREAT time in Germany. Wouldn't exactly do this every year but I'm glad I did it once!
of course. We weren't in the Oktoberfest for the whole week. Started off in Berlin for a couple of days - took a city tour by bus, visited the zoo (which, fortunately, was right next to our hotel). and toured the Olympiastadion which was probably my favorite thing to do in Berlin - I have a weakness for sports stadiums of all kinds (even those whose actual sport I'm not into) and Berlin's Olympic Stadium is REALLY cool and has a lot of history behind it.
(Side note: As much as I love to drink in hotel bars - or not in them
- the one at our hotel in Berlin kind of creeped me out because there were pictures of Marlene Dietrich all over the place...)Took the train from Berlin to Munich. While my jaw did indeed hit the floor as soon as I walked into Berlin Hauptbahnhof (it's one of the coolest transit stations I've ever been in), Inter-City Express really frosts my shorts, because there was NO ONE to help my dad and I get onto the train - our tickets said which train car to use but half the cars themselves were not labelled, and the ones that were, kept fucking CHANGING THEIR NUMBERS (sometimes two or three times!). So trying to get onto that train was like herding kittens on crank. But fortunately once we were actually ON the train it went very smoothly and we got to see a lot of the German countryside.
Munich was a great city. I liked it a fair amount better than Berlin. I mean no disrespect to Berliners - Berlin is a fine city and all that, but Munich's just a lot more laid back, and not just because of the Oktoberfest
. The first thing we did was actually a very serious matter though - went to tour the camp at Dachau. Had to go back to our hotel and kind of process that for awhile... Also took some bus tours of Munich as well. I really liked hanging out at Marienplatz - it's at the heart of Munich and there's a LOT to see and do down there. Caution, though - if you're trying to find the Hofbräuhaus, be prepared to ask at least 10 passersby (all of whom will give you a different answer) and walk through very narrow and twisty streets. You'll feel like spies setting up a secret meeting. But you will eventually get there. And you will not want to leave.
Also if you're curious - "eins, zwei, g'suffa" basically means "one, two, down the hatch". Just spitballin'. The Oktoberfest, though... wow. Haven't had that much fun since the Calgary Stampede. Only problem is that unless you show up at like 9 AM there's not a chance in hell you're getting a seat in any of the beer tents. But we did. And as much as I like to drink, it's kinda weird to be doing it that early in the morning... but sometimes you gotta take one for the team.
I thought it was pretty funny in that a lot of times some schmuck would stand up and start chugging a liter of beer and of course everybody's cheering them on, but if they don't actually finish the chug (which was most of the time) the crowd will boo and start throwing food at them. And the whole time, we made it a point NOT to use the U-Bahn station at Theresienwiese. Everyone will tell you that's the main station for the Oktoberfest - and I suppose it is, but unless you like being turned into human Spam by enormous crowds (if you've been on the 4/5/6 trains in New York City at rush hour, I believe this is worse) just go somewhere else, like the S-Bahn station at Hackerbrücke which is where we always got out. It's a LOT less crowded, plus it just has a really cool name. I could say it over and over: Hackerbrücke Hackerbrücke Hackerbrücke Hackerbrücke Hackerbrücke.
Oh, by the way, Lufthansa business class is awesome. Just thought I'd put that out there.
Only problem was when we had a layover in Chicago during our trip home. WARNING: Anyone transferring from an international flight INTO O'Hare Airport to a domestic flight OUT, you will have to get your luggage and go through security all over again. This is because O'Hare appears to have been designed by baboons - the international terminal is like miles away from the rest of the airport. If you have to deal with it in any way, start hoping that your layover is at LEAST two hours. Ideally, more like six. Our layover was 2 and a half hours and we still almost missed our damn flight because of this horseshit.
(See, this is one of the many reasons I love vacationing in Canada, because of the gift from God that is U.S. border preclearance.)
Anyway, home at last. Had a GREAT time in Germany. Wouldn't exactly do this every year but I'm glad I did it once!
Last edited:
Thanks @Mr. Laser Beam for your Germany report! It sounds like you and your dad had an amazing time, you certainly packed a lot in ! Though your report is missing the FOOD part.. I need a part 2! Also what beers did you drink? I understand if you can't remember You say you wouldn't exactly do it every year but I predict next year as autumn approaches a part of you will be like.. oh to be there in the action with the taps flowing. Maybe you should do Belgium next with it's ten thousand beers and devotion to the craft! Anyway it was great to read about. I have only been to Germany once many years ago for a few days. I don't know if I could go to Dachau, or rather I would go because I would feel it was an obligation to go as a human being but it would be very hard. But important.
And yeah you usually (always?) have to go through customs in the first place your plane lands, that didn't happen to me in Hawaii but that's about it. I came back from Korea this year and had to land in Sydney (I live in Melbourne), had about 1.5 hours and fuuuuck, go through customs, get luggage, have to take a shuttle bus to the domestic terminal, shuttle bus was SO SLOW and bus driver was just answering endless questions from people before they boarded the bus. Got there after boarding had begun, this has never happened, I am horribly perpetually early at airports. If there had been any kind of congestion at customs I would have had serious risk of missing the flight. So yeah transferring from international to domestic is something to research for sure, who knows how long it takes to get there!
You say you wouldn't exactly do it every year but I predict next year as autumn approaches a part of you will be like.. oh to be there in the action with the taps flowing. Maybe you should do Belgium next with it's ten thousand beers and devotion to the craft! Anyway it was great to read about. I have only been to Germany once many years ago for a few days. I don't know if I could go to Dachau, or rather I would go because I would feel it was an obligation to go as a human being but it would be very hard. But important.And yeah you usually (always?) have to go through customs in the first place your plane lands, that didn't happen to me in Hawaii but that's about it. I came back from Korea this year and had to land in Sydney (I live in Melbourne), had about 1.5 hours and fuuuuck, go through customs, get luggage, have to take a shuttle bus to the domestic terminal, shuttle bus was SO SLOW and bus driver was just answering endless questions from people before they boarded the bus. Got there after boarding had begun, this has never happened, I am horribly perpetually early at airports. If there had been any kind of congestion at customs I would have had serious risk of missing the flight. So yeah transferring from international to domestic is something to research for sure, who knows how long it takes to get there!
The best food we had on our whole trip was at the Hofbräuhaus. That's definitely the most food I ate in any one setting during that week (we actually didn't eat a whole lot at the Oktoberfest itself - we were too concerned about 1) getting seats at the beer tents, and 2) not really being that hungry at 9 AM, because we'd just eaten huge hotel breakfasts only an hour or so before). But definitely the Hofbräuhaus had the best food we ever ate during our whole vacation.The goulash, the chicken, the dumplings the size of mature whales... If only the place wasn't so damn hard to FIND!
And speaking of the beer tents: Y'all have no idea how hard it is to get a seat until you go there yourself. We hadn't been there 5 minutes and we already see huge mobs of people literally rushing past us trying to get into the various tents. And this is at 9 A.M.! It is a BLOOD SPORT trying to get seated at the beer tents. It's worse than Black Friday. Hell, it's worse than Times Square at New Year's. But it was totally worth it.
Actually going through customs itself was the easy part. I knew we were gonna have to do that. And it didn't even take that long - just a few minutes, tops. What I did NOT expect was that we'd have to go back through security after we did so. In all my years of travelling I have never had to go back through security while making a connecting flight. But this was mainly because O'Hare is such a badly designed airport, what with the international terminal being so isolated...
Oh no, you've got the right idea. You can NEVER be too early when getting to the airport. In fact, my advice to anyone reading this who is thinking about travelling: If you are not at the airport right now, you are too late. Ideally, you should get to the airport while it is still under construction.
Last edited:
Already planning my trips for next year.
My dad and I are going to Montréal next March to see some spring training baseball games. Now of course Montréal is not normally a venue for spring training, but the last few years, it's been a tradition to have the final two spring training games of the season at the old 1976 Olympic Stadium, where the Montréal Expos used to play (the Expos don't exist anymore - they're now the Washington Nationals - so for these exhibition games, the Toronto Blue Jays are the home team). These games are always a huge hit and I really hope I can get tickets to see them. Plus I am looking forward to showing my dad around Montréal because I love that city (and Canada in general) so much.
As for the rest of the year: I'm thinking one week each in New York, Toronto, Boston and San Francisco, plus a road trip to St. Louis and Kansas City, and a jaunt to Cooperstown to see the Baseball Hall of Fame (and Mariano Rivera's induction into it).
My dad and I are going to Montréal next March to see some spring training baseball games. Now of course Montréal is not normally a venue for spring training, but the last few years, it's been a tradition to have the final two spring training games of the season at the old 1976 Olympic Stadium, where the Montréal Expos used to play (the Expos don't exist anymore - they're now the Washington Nationals - so for these exhibition games, the Toronto Blue Jays are the home team). These games are always a huge hit and I really hope I can get tickets to see them. Plus I am looking forward to showing my dad around Montréal because I love that city (and Canada in general) so much.
As for the rest of the year: I'm thinking one week each in New York, Toronto, Boston and San Francisco, plus a road trip to St. Louis and Kansas City, and a jaunt to Cooperstown to see the Baseball Hall of Fame (and Mariano Rivera's induction into it).
Last edited:
Hall of Fame is awesome! I went for the first time for when Mike Piazza was introduced.
I'm definitely looking forward to Mariano Rivera's induction next year - if there ever was a surefire candidate for a unanimous vote, Mo would be it. As Derek Jeter certainly will be in 2020.
And we will of course be making use of Sports Travel & Tours for our trip to Cooperstown. We probably wouldn't be able to make the trip without them. My dad and I have used ST&T many times before - they have been an essential part of our baseball vacations over the years.
And to anyone reading this - if baseball's not your thing, ST&T does other sports as well. Whatever sport you're into, they probably have it covered. I HIGHLY recommend checking them out. They take care of everything - hotels, game tickets, stadium tours, sometimes even CITY tours - they cover the whole thing. (This comes in especially handy with stadiums that are hard to reach on your own, like Dodger Stadium.)
I'm only two hours from Cooperstown, I'll meet you there for his introduction.I'm definitely looking forward to Mariano Rivera's induction next year - if there ever was a surefire candidate for a unanimous vote, Mo would be it. As Derek Jeter certainly will be in 2020.
And we will certainly be making use of Sports Travel & Tours for our trip to Cooperstown. We probably wouldn't be able to make the trip without them. My dad and I have used ST&T many times before - they have been an essential part of our baseball vacations over the years.
And to anyone reading this - if baseball's not your thing, ST&T does other sports as well. Whatever sport you're into, I HIGHLY recommend checking them out. They take care of everything - hotels, game tickets, stadium tours, the whole thing. (This comes in especially handy with stadiums that are usually hard to reach on your own, like Dodger Stadium.)
Ooooh I hope you have a lovely trip!
I've been finalizing my plans for my honeymoon next summer, I'll be going to Banff, Alberta. My trip is going to cost me almost five times what I'm planning to spend on my wedding, lol!
That's the plan! We love Vegas. This is probably our 10th time going. And it's perfect because we really don't gamble. It's all about eating, drinking, and shows.
Oh, sure. Banff. Honeymoon Destination of the Stars!
