Here we go…

Another adventure has begun!

It’s been just 3 short months since I came back from my Cuba trip but, what can I say, I’ve got the travel bug and the only way to cure it is to do more traveling.

Over the next 3 1/2 weeks I’ll be traveling throughout Germany visiting over a dozen cities.

Origin story

So, how did this Germany trip all come about?

Well, planning for this trip actually started before I even left for my last trip.

Way back in mid November my friend Shawn shot me a message on Facebook.   He was going to London for a weekend in April and after that he wanted to travel somewhere else in Europe for a few weeks.

He wanted to know if I was up for another trip…

Well, I mean, duh, I’m always up for another trip!

So, despite at the time being immersed in planning out my upcoming trip to Cuba in January, I began to look at what trip to do after that in April.

Germany

So, why Germany?

Well, turns out with all my visits to Europe in 2013, 2015, 2017, and again in 2023, I had visited almost every other country in Europe.

In fact, the only countries I have yet to visit in Europe are Germany, Greece, Belarus, San Marino, and Andorra.

Despite visiting Europe so many times, I had purposely left off Germany from my itineraries for one simple fact – I wanted to be able to devote enough time to see the country properly.

With most other countries you can visit them within a week and move on to the next country.   With Germany, however, I knew it would take much longer to properly experience all the country had to offer as there’s just so many unique cities to visit.

In my mind, that amount of time was about 3 weeks and I knew that it would have to be a separate trip unto itself.

By the way, as a side note, it’s also the exact same reason I have yet to visit Greece.

Anyway, this all fit in perfectly.

Shawn was looking to travel for another 3 weeks and it coincided with when I was planning on traveling again anyway.

And, so, Germany Trip 2024 was born…

Who is Shawn?

Shawn is one of my oldest friends and part of my group of poker buddies I play with every week.   He’s an actor and event organizer and a genuinely nice guy.

We first met many moons ago when he was teaching an improv class in downtown Vancouver.   At the time I was looking for all sorts of extracurricular activities and classes to do as a way to expand my social circle.

And boy, did the improv class ever deliver!

Not only was it so much fun but my entire group of long time friends came from that class.

Years later, we’re still all connected and, now, I’m embarking on a three week trip with one of them.

Trip planning

Once I had returned from my Cuba trip at the end of January, it was full speed ahead on planning for Germany.

After so many different trips, it’s become much easier for me to plan these trips as I’ve learned from my mistakes and as I prepare more and more, there’s less I have to do for the next trip.

That’s not to say that there wasn’t alot of planning put into this trip, because frankly, there was.

It was just easier.

I didn’t have to go out and buy a bunch of travel gadgets or stuff like that.   It was more about planning out the itinerary of what cities to visit, how to get from point A to point B, where to stay, and what to do.

By March I had pretty much everything planned out which left me with a good month or so of just anticipating the countdown clock hitting zero.

One last meal

I work at the Keg steakhouse and my last shift was yesterday.

My friend Adrien from work had been in an accident recently and I had offered up my beloved yellow Mustang to her while I was away.

Why do I mention this?

Well two fold.

One, she gave me a ride to the airport today.

And, more importantly, it meant I could drink last night cause she’d be driving me home in my car.

Now, normally, I’m not a big drinker anyway, but with the reigns set free, I decided to treat myself last night.

First off, a bottle of Jacobs Creek Moscato.

Make fun of me all you want, but I love this amazing, sweet white wine.   It literally goes down like juice and, damn, it’s so smooth.

For dinner, I went for four courses: Caesar Salad, Mushroom Neptune appetizer, a Sirloin with a seafood topper, and Creme Brulee for dessert.

Amazing.

When the bill came, along with my staff discount, I was told that my bottle of wine had been taken care of.

I was in shock.   My bill total was only $47.

So, naturally, I left a 100% tip.

Turns out Adrien actually bought my wine and I ended up paying her back the favour with the monster tip.

What can I say, us Keggers take care of each other.

Off we go!

At 1pm today Adrien drove to my house to pick me up to take me to the airport.

It’s so weird being a passenger in my own car but, honestly, I kinda liked it.

The ride to the airport took about an hour and, despite a last minute detour where we missed our exit and went in the wrong direction, the ride was seamless and we got to the airport just after 2pm.

I had just over 2 hours before my flight left.

Security

Because I had already checked in online and didn’t have any checked baggage, I went straight to the security area.

There was only a minimal line there, and once again, arriving 2 hours before my flight proved to be overkill and I was in and out of security in about 20 minutes.

That’s not to say there wasn’t some adventure in that 20 minutes…

First, as I approached the area, a lady pulled me aside for a random swab test of my bags.

I’ve never been through this before but I didn’t care, I had nothing to hide and I had all the time in the world.

She swabbed both my bags and had me open up my laptop to swab it as well.

Very thorough.

Of course the test came back negative and I was soon on my way to rejoin the line.

I put all my stuff in the trays and I sadly watched one of my trays divert to the secondary inspection belt after it went through the xray machine.

I had even been proactive and packed my toothpaste and face wash in a separate baggie but, alas, onto secondary inspection.

And, wouldn’t you know it, the guy took my laptop and swabbed it.

Okay, then.

I just kinda chuckled.

Anyway, that was my mini adventure through security.

And that brings us to now.

I’m literally typing this blog as I’m waiting to board my flight to Germany.

Germany Trip 2024 has officially begun!

Hope you’ll tag along with me…