I will not talk about the desire of being 40, rather than the experience that enabled me to reach my 40th flight. This time the destination was Germany. My best friend moved out there a couple of years ago with his wife and beautiful baby girl and they’ve been nagging me about visiting them. So in the end I thought I’ll go through the “sacrifice”. I booked the plane ticket and 2 days before New Years I was on my way to Munich. At the airport I had to wait 4 hours until I was ready to board (thanks to dad’s idea of going “early” as the roads were not quite safe due to the snow – well, the roads were safe and there I was, getting bored out of my skull). After going through security, I was looking for a socket to plug my computer into – no such luck. And since I didn’t bring a book with me (fatal mistake, but I was listening to my mom – never again on this topic) the boredom was even more powerful. The flight was uneventful, the food delicious, the magazines entertaining (for about 30 minutes – that’s how long it took me to read both of them) and finally I reached the destination – Munich.
Chris and his little family were waiting for me – something I was really glad for. We were on our merry way towards their town in the mountains – Oberstaufen. It’s a quaint little town, more of a ski-resort type town, but nonetheless very charming. We got to lay down the plans on where I wanted to go. They live very close to Austria, Lichtenstein and Switzerland, so I opted for those destinations. The next day we visited the absolutely gorgeous castle of Neuschwanstein. It is like a fairy-tale castle and I’ve read it served as inspiration for Sleeping Beauty’s castle in Disneyland. The castle is breathtaking and near it there is a bridge that is also breathtaking (not in a good way – boy did I have issues crossing that damn thing, me having a fear of heights and all). The really weird-as-in-lucky moment came when I bought some souvenirs. The amount of them was 20 euros and when I paid, I gave the guy a 20 euro bill. After they wrapped the gifts, the cashier hands me 30 euros back (he thought I gave him 50), so the souvenirs were for free and got some more money – talk about lucky *smug smile*. After the whole trip we were very tired so we went home. The next day was New Years Eve day, and Chris brought me to a waterpark. I loved every minute of it. As soon as we got in, the scent of chlorine hit me full force and my brain brought me back to the Bay of Dreams (indoor waterpark at Mount Olympus in Wisconsin). After 2 hours of frolicking around (went down tube slides, body slides, almost-free-fall-rides – Chris offered to pay me to go on one, which I did so he paid up) we left, picked up the girls and went shopping for the NY feast. The swimming took it out of us so I had to take a nap, which turned into a full-on 2 hour “nap”. We watched a cartoon (“The emperor’s new groove” – for role-playing of course as we know it by heart) then several minutes before midnight we left the house to go to the hospital (not as casualties but the hospital is located on the highest point of the city and the view of fireworks was the best from there). It was really great, I even made a wish (well, two wishes) on the full moon – they said that if you make a wish on a full moon at midnight between the years, the wish will come true *keeping fingers crossed*.
The fireworks were amazing, the champagne really good and around 3 a.m the Sandman claimed his prize and went to bed. The 1st of January was a day for relaxing (or so I thought). Chris insisted on dragging us on a rainy day to the town of Lindau. And I have to give him credit, it was really nice – narrow streets, cool little shops, lovely town square, colorful buildings. And what can make this day perfect? a meal at McDonalds *evil grin*.
On the 2nd of January we headed on the big trip. It was snowing like crazy, the roads looked dangerous, but we were all safe. Getting to Lichtenstein on a very windy weather, we wandered around, shopped for souvenirs, taking pictures – basically being tourists. From Vaduz we headed towards Switzerland.
Now, I know a lot of people think this country is all that, and I couldn’t agree more. The scenery was simply out of this world – small villages, large ski slopes, mountains covered with brilliant white snow and green trees – simply postcard material. We got to Rheinfal, a cool waterfall and done the touristy stuff again. This all ended around 7 p.m when we decided to call it a day and head home. On the road Chris and I did some soul-talking, the way we did when he was living here. Back home we watched a movie and then talked some more into the wee hours of the morning. My last morning in Germany found me at a waterpark again, this time a different one, smaller than the first with one slide, one swimming pool, lazy river and the main attraction – a round pool around 15 feet deep (4,5 m) and 2 diving boards 3 and 5 meters high. And being challenged, I jumped from the 3 m board – 3 times, and each time wondering what the Hell was I doing there. After the fun and games, we were on the road again, with a heavy heart(me). The security check went well, but again, no socket in the waiting lounge. The flight was normal, but my neighbor was not – she had her cell-phone turned on the whole time – seriously, was that really necessary? And that was officialy my 40th flight! A reason to celebrate.
The hard part of the trip was the road back home. It was snowing like nobody’s business and there was an extra stress factor – mom. Reasoning that she would have gone mad staying at home waiting for us, she came with my dad to pick me up. No matter how much I told them about my german adventures, I’m sure that more than half was not heard, due to stress and anxiety (may I suggest Paxel?). But at 2 a.m we got home, ate and went to bed.
All in all, my trip to the land of ski and bratwurst was amazing. I had a really great time, saw amazing places, lived great moments, I laughed a lot, so now I can sit back and enjoy my post-trip depression. Until the next trip that is!
