27 Days Meandering through Central Europe: Day 1

June 26, 2014: Cologne, Germany - Jungendherberge Köln-Deutz

I've driven to Cologne, Germany in a rented BMW 3 wagon and my impressions of driving on the Autobahn just feels so nature.  No wonder they've called it the 'Ultimate Driving Machine". I finally started off this dream trip and I'm just awestruck that I'm really in Central Europe... in Germany. After getting delayed in Turkey for departure, I finally left Incirlik AB for Japan.  The plane stopped briefly in Italy at Aviano, and my first impressions of mainland Europe and the Italian Alps made me super excited to be undertaking this trip that I've dreamed and planned for months.

Town of Ramstein, Germany

I arrived at Ramstein Air Base around Noon on the 26th of June and was taken aback by seeing a large base again with actual services. My last contact with anything Turkey was by seeing a couple co-workers heading back to the United States on leave.  I waved "Hello" as I walked up to Passport Control.  The German officer looked at my passport for a minute and I was cleared to start my journey.  Some people asked what I was doing, and I simply told them I was touring Europe.  They grinned and wished me luck.

Walking outside on this partly sunny day, I gazed at the massive hotel on base.  Then I walked up to the BX, and I had to admit that Ramstein's BX complex is massive and had lunch there before leaving for Ramstein village to the west to catch a train for Wörrstadt, a village 23 kilometers southwest of Mainz.  Going to Wörrstadt wasn't in the original plan, but my Eurail train pass was held up at that FedEx local processing facility after the Ramstein hotel I planned to hold the rail pass at did not want to hold it.  It was quite frustrating since the rail pass people stopped changing the receiving address on the pass, forcing me to have it held by FedEx in Germany.  Before I left Incirlik AB, I ordered the rail pass to be held at a FedEx facility in Germany so I could pick it up. 

The Ride - BMW 3 series M-Wagon

Right before the trip started, I was strongly considering heading south to Switzerland first than circle east to the rest of the cities I was determined to visit.  But I was checking weather around the Matterhorn in the days before leaving Turkey and had to have a backup plan to switch directions of travel of my circular route. It wasn't until during lunch hour in Ramstein Air Base that I was fully committed to head to Cologne, Germany, then eastward to Berlin.  I was gambling that the weather would improve a month later for seeing Switzerland when it was sunny.

I proceeded out of the west gate of Ramstein and walked to nearby Ramstein village to catch a train to Landstuhl and onwards to Wörrstadt.  Unfortunately, my walk to the train station missed the train to Wörrstadt by 5 minutes.  Here I was standing at my first train station in central Europe, chilling in the middle of Ramstein village not knowing what to do next.  I needed WiFi to figure out my next steps on my tablet and quickly ruled out getting a train to pick up the train pass.  I found this quaint cafe to figure out my situation just west of the train station and drank carbonated water. I needed to rent a car I figured, I could take the finanical cost since it was budgeted for such an emergency.  There was a car rental place in Ramstein, but it was already closed for the day, but found one in Landstuhl.  I decided get on the local train to Landstuhl.  The first thing I noticed on the train was that a lot of the passengers on the train had the Germany football attire on.  It was the full height of the World Cup season, and I was in the middle of it all. I grinned inside because I knew I was traveling Europe at a good time.

Driving on the Autobahn

Landstuhl is a small town southwest of Ramstein along a major transportation corridor between France and Western Germany. ICE high-speed trains traveling between Paris and Frankfort, along with a major Autobahn route crossing the length of Germany passed through the town.  It was here that I would debark from the station and walk to the nearest car rental place that I located earlier. One couldn't really tell there was a Europcar rental place here, and for 100 Euros and 15 mins of paperwork, I was behind the wheels of the only car on the lot, which was a BMW M3 touring wagon. I even walked passed it on the way to the office too, thinking, "Ah, nice car... too bad I'll have a piece of crap." It was a pity it was an automatic, but this car was full of fancy gadgets that I really didn't have time to mess around with it.  That German had to know what I was going to do with that car, and that was to drive as fast I comfortably could.  If I could get away with speeding in a country without getting a ticket, it would be in Germany on the Autobahn.

Public World Cup Viewing - Mainz, Germany

Driving the Autobahn in a non-urban area gives way to an experience I've never felt before, and coupled with this ultimate German driving machine, it made driving an art.  I rolled across Western Germany through beautiful rolling hills with the nicest car I've ever driven on the best roads I've had a chance to drive on.  Traffic bottled up at various construction zones, but the pavement everywhere was so smooth.  Like in Turkey, the Autobahn was built for enjoying speed.  Every curve wanted me to enjoy speed, feel like racing... For all the initial headaches the beginning of the trip had, I forgot about it all as I pushed this glorious BMW for all the time I had.  As much I love my Subaru Twin Turbo B4 straight from the land of Japan, age and poor maintenance shown on the car compared to this newer BMW.  I cannot say enough about my driving encounter with this BMW.  I know they are a pain to maintain, but at least I knew I wasn't maintaining this car.
  

Windmills - Worrstadt, Germany

My drive to Wörrstadt gave me my first impressions of Germany and how true that their push for renewable energy prevails in the country.  Sleek looking wind turbines dotted the landscape everywhere between Ramstein and Cologne.  Rows of solar panels edged up to the Autobahn, I've seen anywhere where renewable energy was so prevalent. 

By mid-afternoon, I finally arrived at Wörrstadt to pick up the Eurail train pass.  I had a little difficulty navigating to find the FedEx facility, but it was well hidden in an industrial park surrounded by a rolling farmland dotted with windmills. I parked the car and walked in the office with beaming optimism that my journey across Central Europe was truly about to start.  A nice, young German lady working the distribution facility in Wörrstadt was gracious enough to check into my package inquiry; only to politely destroy my optimism, stating it was actually at Cologne/Bonn Airport.  She didn't state why it was held up there, but she offered to inquiry about it.  I politely declined and said I would go to Cologne to pick it up myself. She was quite skeptical of my ability to pick it up there, and I left the office with that thought embedded in my mind as I got in the BMW.

Cathedral - Mainz, Germany

Stepping back into the car, I mused on the next hurdle facing me to get this trip off the ground.  I talked to myself about not getting the rail pass early enough to get to Turkey, but if that happened, I wouldn't be driving this sweet car.  I was embracing the spontaneous circumstances, deciding on-the-fly.  I knew what I wanted to see, how it would happen would be as the day comes.  I drove back onto the Autobahn towards Mainz, knowing I had to go to Cologne.  Embracing this mindset of flexibility was the fact before I left Ramstein, I didn't set up any lodging reservations anywhere until I had a firm grasp of the rail pass.  I thought that if I got the pass in Landstuhl, I would stick around in Mainz, but if not, I would go to Cologne... and in the end, I had to be in Cologne.  

Arriving in Mainz, Germany tested my urban driving skills in a foreign country as I had only a rough idea of how to reach the center of town.  I only knew that running into the Rhine River was enough for me to take a break and enjoy a bit of a day busted by bad news.  I eventually ran into the Rhine and took the BMW into a parking garage near the Rhine as an easy landmark to get back to the car later for the next drive to Cologne.

With my worries about the rail pass in the front of my mind, I was puzzled by the nearly deserted look of Downtown Mainz, until I spotted the Germans with German flags and football apparel throwing my back that it was World Cup season.  This wasn't any other day in World Cup, but it was an important match up between Germany versus USA.  I followed them until I ran into a public viewing area showing the game live on a big projection screen in an area that was usually a park.  There were so many Germans here, and other foreign travelers with their respectful flags... Brazil, USA, Spain.  It was no wonder the city was deserted, it was World Cup season and an important match was going on.  Everyone was gathering wherever large screen TVs were present.

Christuskirche - Mainz, Germany

I walked on through the city, spotting more restaurants, with patrons and non-patrons staring intensely at large TV screens. Game on, beer in hand.  I took photographs with the mind to sit down and eat, watch the game, but I was in scenery overload.  I meandered around Mainz Cathedral, eerily quiet from a typical summer day, a nearby restaurant, masses of Germans watching the TV screens as Germany was soundly beating the US late in the match.  Hunger overtook me and I searched for food, leading me to a supermarket.  Instead of a meal, it was more of a glorified snack.  There would be time for a meal later I thought.

Gradually retracing my steps back towards the train station, I needed WiFi to make accommodation in Cologne on incredibly short notice, I chose a hostel across the river from the main train station in Cologne.  Suprisingly, plenty of Germans were going about their business as the game was going on, but it was early in the progression of the World Cup 2014.  I strolled in Starbucks and made my reservation while listening to the Germany vs USA game as it ended.  A lot more people were moving about the city as the game concluded, the streets filled with a healthy amount of car honks filled the air in celebration of Germany's victory.

It was about 5 PM as I got back on the road again towards Cologne.  I drove on Autobahn 61 on the east side of the Rhine River Valley edge towards Bonn.  The plane ride and being awake for awhile finally took it's toll on me shortly after leaving Mainz.  Somewhere south, outside of Koblenz, I pulled into a rest stop and took about a 90 minute nap in the BMW.  I actually felt quite comfortable in the leather seats. I awoke as dusk approched and launched the BMW into action once more to close the gap to Cologne.

As I drove northward, convoys of trucks hauling wind turbine blades and tower pieces traveled south towards Frankfurt.  The distinct array of amber lights clipped passed me as I raced in the opposite direction.  I was still amazed by Germany's determination towards green energy that I only read in the news.  Around 10 PM, I was diverted to Autobahn 565 straight into Bonn as construction shutdown the highway.  The darkness made navigation only by signs, making things a bit more difficult than usual.  Eventually, I crossed the Rhine and back south onto Autobahn 59.  Fortunately, the construction detour made my arrival to the hostel very convenient. The handy GPS on the BMW guided me onto Autobahn 565 to drop me right in the Deutz neighborhood of Cologne, just on the east banks of the Rhine.  

I had a rough idea of the specific location of the hostel and frustratingly drove in circles for about 20 minutes, it was very reminiscent of the driving confusion I had during the Black Sea trip looking for the hotel in Amasya. I was forced to park and scout by walking around which was taking way too long.  I eventually found the hostel with a handful of minutes until midnight. Exhausted, I checked in to the hostel.  This particular hostel is part of a large national network under the domain of Hosteling International or HI.  They had everything ready as soon as I arrived, although quite late.  I took the elevator up and walked into the room.  I tried the stealth approach to the roommates sleeping as I unpacked for the night... my first night in Europe reaching its conclusion. 

                                     

27 Days Meandering Through Europe: Prologue

It's been nearly six months since traveling through central Europe, you've heard how much I loved traveling the continent solo.  I about to publish a day-to-day account of my travel through a continent that I dreamed of traveling since I could draw maps. The planning for Europe began the day I learned about getting assignment to Turkey, back in August 2012.  It was so rough, I wanted to see it all... all the cities, tourist sites, places no one goes to, etc.  There is a good reason there are many travel books on Europe, there is too much to see in one trip.  By the time June 2014 rolled around, I settled with four countries over a months time after reading so much of Europe.

How did I sacrifice all of Europe for four countries in planning that took over a year?

Simply it came down to time management, travel logistical planning, budget, and USAF travel paperwork. I am not going to lie, planning this trip was very difficult and the route changed a lot until three months until departure.  Big trips require a lot pre-planning to forestall difficulties, but as you also heard was that there was plenty of troubles on the trip as well, but that is part of the beauty and curse of these travels.

During most of my time in Turkey, the main travel plan was to be mostly restricted to overland travel from Istanbul to Ramstein. I was planning to bridge the continent overland and cover a lot of ground, I had three major routes across Europe and all were scrapped in the Spring 2014.  There were three things that I ran into that factored into reducing to the present Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, and Switzerland route.

As for USAF paperwork, I can say this.  Submit early and do not submit your entire travel route, or it will count against you in their cost estimate.  This alone made me abandon the overland route that I mostly fleshed out during my tour in Turkey.  The focus shifted to favorable entry and exit ports of entry for traveling Europe which formulated the circular route I took in central Europe.

1) Understanding Travel Time Management
Through months of research online, the recurring theme of travelers was managing their grandiose trips across Europe.  They felt rushed jumping from one big city to another.  On the trip, my conversations with fellow travelers at hostels reinforced this sediment.  Yes, the major cities of Europe are worthy of visiting, but there is a lot of charm in the small towns of Europe.  It reveals a more authentic European experience from the regular tourist traps of the biggest cities.

If you understand that travel/moving day isn't a sightseeing day, you suddenly realize that you have less days for seeing than for traveling.  It's in one's favor to make shorter travel hops to maximize since travel days are taxing with packing, finding the next train, gaining orientation in the new city, finding the hostel, eating, etc.  Travel days is pretty much lost time to seeing the glory of Europe.  Don't kid yourself that one can defy this, it really does happen.

I came away with a deeper appreciation with my longer stays in the different cities of Europe.  Parting advice, you need a minimum of three days to enjoy a city in Europe, four to five days for large cities like Berlin or Prague.  This is outside of travel days getting in and out, so in reality that's dedicating a minimum of five days to one city in all.  You'll have to visualize on a calendar or you won't see it.

2) Logistical Planning
Figuring out getting from A to B is paramount after solidifying where you roughly want to go.  Since rail is the primary mode of transport of European travel, you have to figure out the most effective budget for transportation.  You could pay out of pocket or pay for a Eurail rail pass.  There are a lot of online resources detailing this and the cost analysis between the two.  There are two definitive websites that I consider fundamental to making a smoother travel process: www.seat61.com and www.rome2rio.com

Seat61 is simply the encyclopedia of train travel on all the habitable continents on Earth.  Managed by a British man who has worked with British Rail and the Ministry of Transport over the decades, this site is the most recommended site for beginning your plans of travel around Europe.  The site has an article on the benefits and pitfalls of the rail pass, as you will see that the rail pass value has decreased in certain countries in Europe.

Rome2Rio is another site to plan out specific times and flesh out a transportation cost for the travel budget.  I don't know how the world would live without this site since it crunches out route data and cost estimates from the maze of websites dedicated to specific nations all on one site. It will show you where the information was obtained from.  This site is useful in determining whether or not a rail pass is worth the cost.

In my planning, and as you will eventually deduct is that the rail pass is most effective in central Europe.  The United Kingdom isn't part of the Eurail program, the Eurostar train between France and England is reservation only, the high-speed trains in France, Spain and Italy require reservations and have limited seats for rail pass holders. I wanted to make my transportation logistics very simple and stick to the rail pass benefits, something of which the four countries chosen did well in not adding in hidden costs, except the train to the Matterhorn.

I will note that if you have a rail pass, you can get onto the train, but for the busiest routes that a reservation maybe required or extremely helpful since they do get crowded and full.


3) Budget
For the traveler with no equipment, there is about a rough $1000 to spend on getting travel equipment and the rail pass for doing something I did.  Mainland Western Europe is expensive and you will spend $100 USD to enjoy it at least.  Eastern Europe can be enjoyed from about $50, but a comfortable daily budget is $70.  My time in Switzerland was the most expensive and I was easily burning through $100 per day, probably closer to $125 to decently enjoy the country.  I would consider Britain would cost close to Switzerland. Before the trip, I roughly estimated that I would average a $100 day budget with an extra $400 emergency.  I can tell you that my daily budget estimate was very close to what someone would probably spend unless they like to pinch pennies... maybe at the expense of the enjoying Europe.


You'll read my day-to-day personal experience of central Europe during the height of the World Cup coming soon.  I had to be flexible, become acqainted with beer in all the different cities I visited.  I was never alone, you'll encounter fellow travelers from all walks of life doing the same thing you will be doing... getting in their quintessential European experience.  At every hostel you'll visit, you'll mingle with travelers, hear of personal triumphs and experiences, gain advice.

At the end of the day, when you're ready to see Europe.  No research in the world is going to prepare you for an experience of a lifetime.  Enjoy it, if something doesn't go your way, it's an opportunity!  There is too much to see in Europe in one trip, be glad what you about to see, and you'll hunger to see more another time, God willing.