Happy Thanksgiving to all my family and friends both near and far! I’m spending another Thanksgiving 4,000 miles away from home but I’m lucky enough to have my younger sister, Loren, in Heidelberg with me this holiday season. Hopefully, you’re around the ones you love and care about this Thanksgiving.
During one of my days in Reykjavik last month, Nichole and I rented a car with Ty, a guy we met in our hostel, and headed out to Iceland’s iconic Golden Circle route. Let me just say, this drive is probably one of the most beautiful drives I’ve ever taken in my life. Ty was in charge of driving and we spent all day meandering the nearly desolate roads of Iceland. As you can see from the photos below, we had sunshine and perfect (although really cold) weather the entire day!
Americans are obsessed with their genealogy! I attribute it to our lack of a collective heritage. My German friends and my Dutch friend have all remarked how much Americans loving researching and talking about their ancestry. I definitely fall into that stereotype!!!
It’s no secret that I think Budapest is one of the best cities in all of Europe. A clash of old versus new, east versus west, buda versus pest. A few weeks ago, I wrote a post documenting my time in Buda. I’m just now getting around to finally writing about my time in Pest, on the east bank of the Danube River.
25 years! 25 years ago, the Berlin Wall fell (also known as der Mauerfall in German or literally “the wall fall”). Although there had been rising protests in East Germany in the months leading up to November 1989, no one actually thought the wall would fall and Germany would be reunified. In an amazing series of events (read my blog post from last year: here), the wall fell on November 9, 1989 and the process to reunify Germany began.
Here we are 25 years later. Germany is not only reunified but a global superpower. Both the President and Chancellor of Germany are originally from East Germany and the generation of children growing up in Germany right now never knew a divided country.
For the past few weeks, I’ve been kindly asking (umm, potentially pestering) Margo from Guten Blog Y’all to come to the largest pumpkin festival with me in Germany! I met Margo this past spring after seeing tweets from her. She’s also an expat in Heidelberg and we hit it off immediately (I mean, she likes traveling, J. Crew, good coffee, and wine…how could I NOT like her?!). After spending Friday together celebrating Halloween (I went as Britney Spears and refuse to put pictures on my blog but if you’re interested in my costume, check it out over on Instagram), we decided to venture to the pumpkin festival on Saturday.
In a very un-German-like fashion, Deutsche Bahn (the train company of Germany) will be experiencing its largest train strike ever this weekend. From Thursday at 2 am until Monday at 4 am, train travel in Germany will be almost completely at a standstill. There has been ongoing disputes between the drivers’ union and Deutsche Bahn to increase wages by 5% while lowering the work week from 39 hours to 37 hours.
Strikes rarely ever happen in Germany (at least compared to its counterpart in France) so this is definitely going to paralyze anyone traveling this weekend! Furthermore, this weekend is the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall so it is going to be hectic for people trying to get to/from Berlin.
I’m headed to Amsterdam on Friday so I could potentially be affected by this strike. I’m supposed to take a train from Cologne to Amsterdam. Crossing my fingers that the replacement schedule being released by Deutsche Bahn includes my train! However, due to some quick thinking, I’m set to make it to Amsterdam this weekend…with or without the train.
So if you’re affected by this strike (or any train strike in general), there are a few things you can do! After having a 5 minute freak out (which I did internally in a coffee shop yesterday), I started researching potential solutions. Here are a few alternatives if your train is canceled:
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1.5 to 2 days prior to each day of the strike, Deutsche Bahn is publishing a list of trains running or alternatives. So if you’re booked on a Friday train (like I am), they will release the schedule Wednesday evening online and on their app (DB Navigator…which I highly recommend you download if you live in Germany. Best travel app ever!). They hope to still run 1/3 of the trains so you might get lucky!
If you miss your connecting train and/or your train never comes, you are allowed to take the next train going to your destination even if it is a higher quality train (say an ICE vs. RB) at no additional cost! However, there are restrictions where this isn’t allowed including the Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket, the Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket, and the Länder-Tickets as well as special offers. I’d definitely double-check with a Deutsche Bahn travel center because the rules can get a bit fuzzy in terms of what is and isn’t allowed!
After my 5 minute panic, I immediately booked a bus ticket for 35 Euros between Cologne and Amsterdam with MeinFernbus. I’ve traveled multiple times before with this bus company and absolutely love them. Best part? If my train ends up running, I can cancel my ticket with MeinFernbus and get an 100% voucher to use in the next 12 months. Considering I’ve used MeinFernbus multiple times this past year, I’m certain that those 35 Euros won’t go to waste! I can use the 35 Euro voucher on any route, not just the Cologne to Amsterdam route 🙂 To me, it’s a win/win situation.
MeinFernbus plans on adding additional buses for this weekend to combat the high volume of people trying to use them. Another place to search for buses/alternative routes is through busliniensuche.de. Guys, this is an amazing website even if there isn’t a strike! It shows you all your bus options for your selected route from all the bus companies. You can also do a time and price comparison with the trains (which isn’t relevant this weekend…but in the future!).
If you plan on going by bus, book ASAP! My bus to Amsterdam for Friday is now completely sold out…things are filling up fast!
Pretty much people post their route, how many seats they have available, and the price. Initially, I was really skeptical of this website. I mean, how is this possibly safe? However, I’ve had multiple friends use this to get from Point A to Point B FOR CHEAP! If you’re a female, you can even search for female drivers only. Not only is this actually quite safe and cheap, but you can make a friend out of the trip! There are tons of people going between the major cities every single day so you will definitely be able to find a ride. Sometimes, these drivers will drop you off in a nearby city or a city along their route 🙂
Probably the most expensive alternative but if you 100% must get to a place at a certain time, this might be your best solution. Also, if you’re going with a few people, then you can split the cost of the car rental and gas!
Know your rights if your train is canceled or delayed!
Don’t speak German (or English) well? Stick the links into translate.google.com and it will do a pretty good job of translating the webpage into the language of your choice.
Remember, the train strike isn’t the end of the world and there are still multiple options to get to your final destination! Deutsche Bahn has also set-up a free hotline for this weekend at 08000 99 66 3 (usually it costs money to call their hotline). This number is their special number specifically for the strike. If you call their normal hotline number, you’ll still be required to pay for making the call.
Good luck and I’d love to know if you have any other hints or tips for combating the train strike this weekend!
I love American football. Actually, to be honest, that’s a total understatement. I live and breathe American football from August to February. Even though I grew up in Washington, D.C., I’m a Detroit Lions fan through and through. My Dad was born and raised in Michigan, instilling his love and passion (and occasional frustration) of the Lions in me. As a young boy, he remembers them winning the NFL Championship (pre-Super Bowl) in 1957. Lions football is a special bond between me and my Dad. Whenever I’m home, I spend every Sunday afternoon planted on the couch watching the game with my Dad. It’s just our thing…we love football and we love the Detroit Lions!
When I found out the Lions were playing in London this season, I knew I had to get tickets. And then I found out the tickets went on sale on my birthday. It was a sign from God that I was meant to be at the game! So I rounded up a group of my American friends plus the token Brit and we headed off to London this weekend to see the Lions beat the Atlanta Falcons! 🙂
The weekend started at the NFL Fan Rally at Trafalagar Square on Saturday. They brought out the main players of the Lions (can you see Stafford, Bush, Megatron, Suh, Raiola, etc. plus Head Coach Caldwell??) who all gave some sort of inspiring, pump-up speech. After totally fangirling over them, we got to mingle with the crowd and bond with other fans from both near and far!
Classic tailgate! It was awesome to not only see a ton of Lions jerseys, but also the jerseys from other teams. It seems as though the citizens of London are genuinely excited for American football.
Me and my boyyyssss! Laurence is a Brit (and thus has no favorite NFL team), Greg is a huge Green Bay fan (yuck), and Paul is a die-hard Saints fan. The Lions beat the Saints the week before the game in London so it was a bit awkward for Paul to now be rooting for the Lions. However, as he said, the Falcons are sworn enemies of the Saints so he had to be a Lions fan!
Representatives from the NFL were handing out temporary tattoos…so obviously Greg and I had to put them on our face. We awkwardly forgot about them the rest of the day and went to restaurants, bars, etc. with them on our face 🙂
Getting interviewed by a reporter from the Detroit Free Press. It was such an exciting moment for me. I mean, a major newspaper that I read wanted to interview me! Unfortunately, I don’t think my interview made the cut but it was still an exciting experience (and thank you Greg for your quick thinking and snatching this photo of me being interviewed!).
I loved seeing all the decorations on Regent Street for the NFL games! They seem to really be getting into the American football spirit in London!
We woke up bright and early for the game on Sunday! Thankfully, due to daylight savings happening in Europe this past weekend, we got an extra hour of sleep. Yippee! The game was being played at Wembley Stadium and was completely sold out. It was pretty awesome!
The line from the tube station to Wembley Stadium. Look at all those fans!!!
Because Laurence is British, we gave him the honor of wearing this Lions temporary tattoo face mask! hahaha..it didn’t even last until the second half (although in his fairness, he couldn’t move his face with the mask on and he really wanted to eat!)
Little Mix performing before the game started. You have to admit, their song “Salute” is quite catchy! For anyone who doesn’t know who they are, they’re like the “It” girl band in the United Kingdom right now.
Our first half feelings vs. our second half feelings. At halftime, the Lions were down 21-0!
‘MURICA!!!
LET’S GO LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Final play of the game. Sorry for the blurriness but I was jumping up and down, and yelling like crazy! After being down 21-0, the Lions came back and made it 19-21. With 4 seconds left and within field goal range, the Detroit Lions brought on the field goal unit to kick the field goal and win the game. Well, our kicker missed and time had run out. After falling back in my seat, people started asking what was going on on the field. Well, the refs called it a delay of game penalty which meant that our kicker had to back up 5 yards and kick again. By now, I’m screaming and jumping like crazy (I think the Brits had no idea what to do with me. They’re a bit more…subdued. At one point in the 4th quarter, I turned around to our section and yelled at everyone to stand up! haha!). So this picture above is the second field goal attempt. And guess what, our kicker MADE IT! Lions won 22-21. Best game of my life.
Thanks for such an awesome time in London guys and LET’S GO LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I should preface this by stating that to say that I’m obsessed with the Royal Family is an understatement. My motto of my summer in London was, “WWKMD” or “What Would Kate Middleton Do.” When Kate and William got engaged, my Dad personally called me to deliver the “devastating” news to me. I woke up at 2 am to watch the entire Royal Wedding and spent hours glued to the screen. When Kate announced her recent pregnancy, it felt like I was the one pregnant! I received emails, messages, tweets, instagrams, etc. from friends around the world! Guys, I’m fully on Royal Baby #2 watch.
I attribute my fascination with my ancestry to having been born and raised in the United States. Considering that almost the entire population traces its roots to another country, people are generally very interested in family history. This past summer, I started tracing my family history. I plan on eventually doing a longer post on my family history (including the results of my Mom and Dad’s DNA testing), but I found out that I’m related to a soldier that fought in the American Revolutionary War and that side of my family established themselves in present-day New England during the 1650’s! Furthermore, I’m living in the same state in Germany that my ancestors resided in over 500 years ago. Funny how everything ends up going full circle, right?
