Trip Reports - Newself's German Adventure - Part 1 Getting there

Finally taking the time to write this report that SkiAdcock keeps beating me up over!

Late last year, I was finally got a taste of Europe and have been wanting to go back ever since so I finally broke down and overpaid with miles to fly Business First on CO with the Princess. SkiAdcock beat me up again to stay longer than just the original 4 days that I had planned so I decided to see Germany via train. I love trains! But first, my bosses sent me on a last minute business trip to Houston on the Monday and Tuesday before my big adventure.

Before I left, I went to my local branch of Wells Fargo to change my ATM/Debit card PIN number from 5 digits to 4 digits. Lucky me, the clerk took my card, inserted it into their card reader and promptly erased the magnetic strip. No problem they said, we will give you a temporary card except that it won't work in Europe. No problem they said, we will express mail you a new card at your house with no signature required.

I went to the downtown Long Beach WF to buy whatever EURO's that they had left as I didn't think that my card would arrive in time. So just my luck, they only had 195 EURO's in $5's & $10's. (My card was attempted to be delivered by DHL twice while I was gone and had a signature requirement. I finally received my new card on 07/10.)

06/21 HP 558 LAX - PHX
Our new travel software system for business travel at work told me that I had to fly HP over CO to save the company around $350. Nothing that I could do about it. Had to brave the usual Monday morning line at LAX Terminal 1 in which the line was close to Terminal 2. The Southwest effect, don't you love it? I had plenty of time so wasn't worried. I even had a friend show up on my flight but we didn't sit close together.

06/21 HP 273 PHX - IAH
When I arrived in PHX we were told that our flight was delayed an hour so I headed off to lunch. I called my travel partner who was coming in from CRW and told him that I would be late. When I finally arrived, I found out that we were having dinner with our customers tonight and he thought he knew where we were going. Oh well, we finally got there just in time for a 20oz ribeye and several pints of FlatTire. The waitress asked my business partner, "FlatTire?" "No, he said, missed the freeway offramp."

06/22 HP 608 IAH - PHX
The meeting went very well and our contract was given a 6 month extention from bidding so everyone was happy. I was dropped off at the airport and headed over to a Chili's Jr since there are no airline clubs in Terminal A. Had a bowl of chili and a couple of large beers and headed down to the gate to relax and read the paper before my trip back to LAX so that I can continue on to Germany.

After it was obvious that our plane was late and I was missing my LAX connection so the gate agent told me that the plane and crew was going IAH-PHX-LAS and that he would give me a new connection to LAX but would arrive around 1:30am. No problem I told him as I just needed to get back to LAX that night. When we finally took off 2 hours late, the FA told me that PHX was their final destination and the plane was not going to LAS either. When we arrived the service agent gave me a voucher for a room and told me that they would put me on the first flight to LAX arriving at 8:34am. I told her that my CO flight leaves at 8:25am and pretty much every flight I took on this trip with HP was late so how could they get me there on time? I also asked her for a FC ticket to Germany since they caused the problem and she told me no way.

Well, what was I to do? After 2 large 23 oz beers, I said what the HE!!, I have to get to LAX so I rented a car, left PHX at 11:15pm and drove like HE!! to get there. After many coffee and other stops, I pulled into the Hertz lot at 5:00am. They gave me a ride over to the Four Points where my car was parked with my luggage and passport. I checked into my room, showered, shaved, changed clothes, changed bags, and checked out of the room.

06/23 CO 1703 LAX - EWR
I managed to stay awake to make the plane, watch the safety video, and eat breakfast then snoored until approach into EWR. The arrival was early and I went to find the Princess in the CO PC. We had a few drinks, then shopped, then joined the jungle at the gate for our flight to AMS.

06/23 CO 70 EWR - AMS
Nice flight and dinner. I had the veal chop and some wine then hit the hay. The Princess didn't snoor so I got a pretty good sleep.

06/24 KL 1857 AMS - DUS
It took close to half an hour for the bus to get loaded and take us to our dual prop plane to DUS. The flight was about 45 minutes long. When we arrived in DUS, we found our luggage and wasn't stopped by customs so we found a taxi and headed to the DUS Four Points.

From here, my DUS adventure pretty much mirrors Rachel's except she wouldn't eat the Vegemite. I had a lot of fun, drank a lot of great ALT and a few glasses of Kolsch (Thanks Dirk!), met a lot of new friends, and hope to go back next year.

Germany by train part 2 coming up!

Dave,

I'm glad you wrote this report. I can 'feel your pain' concerning your Planes, trains and automobile adventure.
Didn't John Candy and Steve Martin do this? ;) :D

Our new travel software system for business travel at work told me that I had to fly HP over CO to save the company around $350. Nothing that I could do about it.

ouch! They are indeed great at getting everywhere LATE. I can remember a couple looooong layovers with them in PHX when I was in college! :o Pretty funny, asking them for a ticket to Germany, I can image the agent's response.

Before I left for this trip, SPG kindly targeted me for a 5k for 5 day stay promotion and I could earn up to 15K. My initial LAX Four Points park and fly counted as 1 day and the DUS Four Points gave me 4 more days. With the rest of the stays, I ended up with 9 nights and still have 1 more stay in PDX.

06/28 ICE 513 Dusseldorf to Munich 07:25am - 12:25pm
I absolutely love to travel by train! I bought a 5 day Germany/Benelux Europass for First Class travel along with the rail protection plan for $357 which included the shipping and handling fee. I also bought my First Class seat reservations $106. Both in USD.

Bernie tried to give me another routing but the US Europass agent wasn't too keen on changing my reservations to I just keep the ticket. I shared a table seat with a businessman who was nice and talkative. I walked to HBF from the Four Points (about 15 minutes) and waited for my train. One thing about the bathrooms in German train stations, if you have to go, bring money! 60 cents to use the urinal. Nice relaxing trip as I just gazed out the window and watched the country side go by.

Took a taxi to the Four Points Munich Central. No Platinum ammenity offered but had a decent room. I walked into town and ate at a little cafe where no one spoke English but I found what I thought was a steak but turned out to be a large porkchop (I hope) and found it to be quite good. The Weisbier was excellent!

Walked to the Haufbrauhus for what else and enjoyed my favorite athletic event, elbow bending. Drank a Mass of Weisbier then a Dunkle. The place was filled with American tourists so we all took turns taking pictures for each other. I walked back and did a little window shopping before returning to the hotel. I went back out and found a little pizza shop so had a piece and a salad then turned in for the night.

06/29 ICE 1612 Munich to Berlin Zoologisc 06:37am - 13:39pm
I took a taxi over to the HBF and waited for my train. This time, I was sat in a glassed in cubicle with 3 businessmen. After the first stop, two of them departed and the other guy was busy with his laptop. He had a newspaper on the table and it was in English and had a story on California. I told him that I live in California and we talked for the next few hours about business, travel, wine, and the USA. He was getting off at my stop so he took me to the subway and told me about a good little pizza place under the train station tracks. He also invited my back next year to Munich and he would take me on a tour of the German wine country.

I stayed at the Westin Grand Berlin for the night. I checked in and was upgraded to a suite! I choose a bottle of white wine for the ammenity then headed out to see Berlin. The Brandenburg gate was behind the hotel so a short 5 minute walk and I was there. I took a few pictures, it started to rain and I started to walk. I ran into a free walking tour of Berlin so I joined them and hit the jackpot. The tour was the New Berlin walking tour. We walked to the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Unter Den Linden, Hitler's Bunker, the Holocaust Memorial, the Postdamer Platz, The Wall, the Deathstrip, SS Headquarters, and Checkpoint Charlie. The tour continued after the guides lunch break but I went on by myself as I was hungry and thirsty. The tour continued on to the Gendarmenmarkt, the Bebelplatz, Humboldt University, the State Opera House, Museum Island, the TV Tower, and more.

They also have specialty tours such as the Jewish Berlin, the Third Reich Berlin, and the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp tour. I might go back to Berlin to take these tours. These tours have a small cost for them.

I was told by my train friend and the hotel desk clerk to try the Twelve Apostles restaurant. I had a pretty good pizza and a great glass of Pils. The pizza bottom crust was like a crepe and not very cheesy but was satisfying! I went into a couple of bookstores then headed back to the room for a shower. My bottle of wine was chilling. I thought I would receive a German wine but it was from Chili. No problem as I parked in on the couch and watched a Nazi War Document Film in German while sipping the wine. Missydarlin called to say hi then it was pretty close to bedtime so I hit the hay. Had a nice breakfast buffet before checking out. I really enjoyed this hotel. Everyone was so nice and I even received a copy of the USA Today in the morning on my door.

06/30 ICE 652 Berlin Zoo to Cologne HBF 08:55am - 13:14pm
On this trip, I had a window seat to myself and read and napped most of the way. I had to change trains in Cologne for the rest of my trip to Brussels.

06/30 Thalys 9444 Cologne HBF to Brussels Midi 14:12pm - 16:32pm
Again, a single seat and a nice ride to Brussels Midi. I was there last November and love Brussels! Thank you Cheryl! I took the taxi over to the Brussels Four Points and had a decent room. I took a free movie rental as the ammenity then took a taxi over to the Grand Place. I needed to make a Chocolate Run for the girls at the FishTale and bought several other gifts while there. I sat in the courtyard at a small cafe talking with a few other tourists from Germany and Amsterdam. They all spoke English and they were very interested on our upcoming election. One of the guys even bought me a beer. I had a Chimay then a couple of Duvel's while I ate a pretty good steak and fries.

I explored the streets for awhile then took a taxi back to the room, showered, and watched the movie. It was boring so I hit the hay as I was beat.

07/01 Thalys 9309 Brussels Midi to Amsterdam Schiphol 08:25am - 10:49am
Took a taxi to the station and boarded on time. Received a passport check once we hit the Netherlands border. Nice countryside and I saw a couple of windmills. I decided to stay at the airport in the KLM lounge instead of venturing into AMS as my flight was at 3:50pm but I was tired and didn't want to get teased with all of those red lights! The passport control and security line took an hour to get through. I checked my bag as the agent told me that 1-1/2 hours was plenty of time to get through US Customs and on to my plane.

07/01 CO 47 AMS - IAH
Left on time, had a nice dinner of steak and merlot then snoozed for bit. Watched a couple of movies and got ready to land. Our gate was taken so we waited on the ground for twenty minutes for the gate to clear. They finally took us to another gate and started to unload the luggage but the jetway broke down and we couldn't deplane. They attached the tow and moved us back to our original gate and now I had less than 20 minutes to my departure to LAX. I ran through immigration and customs, found my bag, gave it to the bag agent then found out that my LA flight was delayed on the incoming so I made my flight.

07/01 CO 47 IAH - LAX
Declined dinner and snoozed a little. Arrived into LAX around 11:30pm and took the shuttle over to the Four Points for another nights stay. I was just too dog tired to drive home and was glad that I booked this room. I think that I slept for at least 8 hours. Got up, and went to Babe's for breakfast. If you have been to Long Beach and you have had the pleasure of breakfast at Babe's, you know I was missing the food!

In review, I had a lot of fun and enjoyed the traveling by myself. Next time I will probably bring two smaller bags instead of one large one as it was a hassle on the trains. I do have pictures to post so you will see them very soon. I am looking forward to my next trip to DUS and will probably spend more time in Berlin, Brussels, and my first trip into Amsterdam next year.

I hope that I didn't bore you with this report! Thanks go out to Auh20 and Wingless for helping me out with USD's since my card wouldn't work. Prncess674 for the ride over the pond, SkiAdcock for pushing me to go, djohannw for the Kolsch, FLYGVA for the DUS walking tour, Rudi for my first SideCar and Bernie for his hospitality! Looking forward to seeing Cathaana over here in a few months and hugging Belle3388 again!

Dave

Oh....my......goodness!!!!!

Well, what was I to do? After 2 large 23 oz beers, I said what the HE!!, I have to get to LAX so I rented a car, left PHX at 11:15pm and drove like HE!! to get there. After many coffee and other stops, I pulled into the Hertz lot at 5:00am.

What a way to start a trip, Dave! And then you compounded the lack of sleep with a 9 hour time change. I'm surprised you ever got rested enough to enjoy Europe.

I have to say, I was a skeptic when I heard about all the train travel you had planned. It seemed a lot of time on wheels instead of on the ground. Now that I've read your report, I see that was a great part of the pleasure for you.

I'm counting on seeing you in Singapore in January.

Dan,

I thought about that movie often during the trip. I was also wondering what was next to go wrong? It was a fun adventure to say the least.

Dave

Carol,

Yes, you are right, I love train travel and I had my skeptics but I enjoyed it and that is all that mattered! I just hope I don't have this kind of hijinks when I head to SIN in Jan.

Dave

Holy cow, I just did that drive two weeks ago (actually started in Tucson) and it was early morning, after a good night’s rest, sans the couple of beers. Way to gut it out…glad you didn’t crash. Sounds like it was worth the effort to catch the plane (some people will go to any lengths to get a Sidecar).

Dave ... you overlooked mentioning the 2 yards of ALT bier. ;)

I feel very honoured, that to share a sidecar seems to be part of your motivation to have undertaken that trip and visit!

It's really a miracle that you actually made it to DUS. :D
Glad you enjoyed the rest of your trip.

A horrible start for a trip to DUS. I enjoyed your trip report. Also being in DUS, I haven't used the THALYS to go to Brussel yet, but think, I will do it in the next time.

Again, it was nice to meet you in DUS and I hope to see you again.

Jan

I feel very honoured, that to share a sidecar seems to be part of your motivation to have undertaken that trip and visit!

Rumour has it he did it mainly for the VEGEMITE. ;)

You ate an awful lot of pizza for being in Germany, newself! :p Glad you had a good time & see you at future Int'l Dos. I saw the pics at last weekend's Long Beach/Olympics Do, but am sure the others will enjoy them when you get them posted.

Oh well, we finally got there just in time for a 20oz ribeye and several pints of FlatTire. The waitress asked my business partner, "FlatTire?" "No, he said, missed the freeway offramp."

Hilarious. I said that the first time I saw Flat Tire. Quite a unique name for a beverage.

Thanks, newself! :)

Sorry to have just missed you! :(

See ya' next time, I'm sure! :)

-Mark