First stop: Munich, Germany

I left Heathrow airport on Friday 24th September 2010 at about 3.30pm with a spring in my step (once I'd checked in my heavy, brand spanking new backpack, that is!).

I wonder how long it will stay this clean for...?

First destination: Munich, Germany.

With my oldest brother in tow (actually... who am I kidding? He was leading the way), we eventually made it to our other brother's house in Munich. What a city. 

We went out to dinner and, with it being Oktoberfest, everywhere was busy busy busy! We went to a mexican restaurant, and ended up having lots of cocktails, without truly understanding how expensive they were. 40 Euros later, I'm thinking that this will be a very expensive trip. Lesson learned on day 1 though... make sure you KNOW how much things are going to cost!

The next day (Saturday), saw us going out on some bikes to explore the city. This is by far the best way to see any (flat) city! What a beautiful day. Thanks so much for the guided tour, Nick & Nadine!

 

If you're a surfer, don't think that just because you in Munich and hence far from the sea, that you can't go surfing. There's a spot next to a tunnel in the centre of town (next to the English Gardens) where the water breaks in such a way that it's great for riding! Personally, I think they're crazy! There are some videos in my Picasa gallery if you want to see the surfers in action.

 

 View from the riverbank

 

 

 

View from the bridge

The rest of the day was spent cycling around, and then we went on a 'Beer Challenge' in the evening, which was pretty much a pub crawl. 

 

Had a great night, and went to bed pretty drunk, and excited about the the following day: Oktoberfest.

Oktoberfest

Having had good intentions of hitting Oktoberfest at 9am to secure a table, we instead woke up on Sunday feeling pretty worse for wear, and unconvincingly made our way to Weis'n (the German name for Oktoberfest) in the early afternoon, wearing the obligitory dirndle. 

 

As anticipated, there were no tables in the big tents, so we sat outside, and as is expected at such events, we got straight on the beer. The BIG beer. And it was good.

 

 

 

 

Strategically placed gherkins...

 

3 Mass (litre beers) later, and we went to find some food (with Nick managing to blag some free chips in the process). Then we made our way into the big tent. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! The last time I'd come to Oktoberfest in 2005, we'd stayed outside, and therefore missed out on the true Oktoberfest culture! The entire tent is filled with benches and tables, and everyone stands on the benches, singing and drinking with each other, and clinking glasses shouting 'Prost' with anyone whom they happen to make eye contact with. Every 15 minutes or so, the band plays the a traditional song, everyone sings together and toasts each other at the end. It really is great fun...

 

 

 

 

Santa Claus took me dancing...

 

The song, if you're wondering, goes:
Ein prosit, ein prosit der gemütlichkeit!
literally meaning a toast, a toast to being in the comfort of you all.
I meant to video it but forgot, so here's a youtube video of if you're interested... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR8VmCDdt5o 
i've been singing it non-stop for the past 2 days - joy!

3 more Mass beers later, and I'm feeling pretty happy, jumping from tabletop to tabletop to meet new people... and then we got thrown out of the tent because it was shutting! Oh the cheek of it. So we made our way out (along with our new German friends), and tried to get home. Oh - what's that? They've shut the tube because there's too many people down there? Great. Taxi it is then!

Next day I woke up feeling dandy. Adam on the other hand... not so great. We went for a stroll when he finally felt up to it, and that was pretty much all that our day consisted of. A nice relaxing day in the city of Munchen - not too bad for a Monday! Then we went out for an Afghan curry, which was delicious.

So today I had a pretty scary time of it trying to move some money to my new NZ bank account... I got locked out of my UK online banking. So instead of going to Dachau (as I'd wanted to), I spent a nervous couple of hours trying to reinstate my bank account from overseas. Not an easy thing to do when you've left all information about said bank account in England...

Wow... what an essay. I wonder how long it will take for my blog entries to diminish in length. The only reason this is so long is because I'm waiting to get my train to Berlin, and am killing some time. I'll give it 2 months, and a blog this length will be covering a full month.

So onto Berlin. But before that, I've got to pack that damn backpack again!

How on earth...

...do I fit all of this into one bag?!

I leave to go travelling tomorrow (the countdown is finally over!) and, true to form, I've left everything until the last minute. My first trial pack was done this afternoon, and I'm about to pack for real (hopefully!). I've since added some stuff... so I'm just hoping that it all fits in. I considered cheating and wearing all of my bulky items on the plane, but figured that's not going to serve me well when I'm trapsing through Tokyo in shorts, vest and sandals, with everything else on my back... so I've got to pack properly. Oh dear.

It's 4.45am and I've still got a few hours of work to do, including moving money to various bank accounts, sorting out my ipod, and packing all of my other belongings into mum's attic room. I leave home in 7.5 hours, and I need to fit in some sleep before then too. Nothing like leaving everything 'til the last minute, hey?! But then... how could anyone expect anything else from me?! ;)


I know that I'm breaking a major rule of backpacking, and ignoring the well-meant advice of family and friends but... I'm taking a pair of high heels. I love shoes, I truly do - so the thought of not having any for 2 - 3 years makes me very sad indeed! I know I could buy them later if I decide that I want them, but that costs money, and when I've got so many shoes already, I might as well take some! Hey - I can always send them home if I'm proved wrong...

So now I'm going to attempt to pack. Wish me luck... heavy things in the middle. Right... let's go.

Haha!! Not a chance. I've reached the top of the bag and still have all of this left to pack:

Maybe I was a bit too cocky thinking I could take high heels...

Moving onto attempt number two...

Oh god. This is actually impossible. What can I take out now?? I can't fit my high heels in... nooooo! Or my hiking boots (but then again, I do have walking trainers & walking sandals - are they overkill anyway?). Or several other bits of essential kit! And I have to re-pack this EVERY TIME I MOVE HOSTELS?!?! Oh cr*p.

What else can I take out? My first aid kit?! It's pretty big! Obviously not, but I wish I could. Can I put things in the outside pockets when it's going on a plane? Hmmm. I'm really not sure. Maybe books could go on the outside? People don't tend to want to steal books.

And it's HeAvY. Uh-oh...

That's it. There's no more room, so I'm just going to have to accept that I won't have heels for the next few years. Boooo. I'm glad I didn't get a smaller bag. How on earth do people do it? I know that I won't need it all, and that I'll get fed up with stuff and leave it along the way, but a girl's got to have clothes, right?? It's 6.00am now. It's taken over an hour to windle it down to what it is now:

The moral of the story?? If you're going backpacking for a few years, don't leave it until the night before you leave to pack your bag... and sort out your music... and your money.