Thursday, August 25, 2022 @ 10:29 PM in 2022 Germany and France
Day 1
Today has been a really long day, but we successfully arrived in Munich, Germany with a 6 week old baby and no meltdowns on the plane! We woke up in Santa Fe around 6:30am on the 24th but didn't need to be on our first flight until around noon in Albuquerque. We figured this would give us plenty of time to get all of our last minute packing and organizing done and head out.
We left Santa Fe around 9am and made it to the ABQ long term parking a little after 10. It didn't take long to get the car unloaded and our bags on the shuttle bus which dropped us off at the United counter. Fortunately there weren't any issues getting checked in and our big checked bag was just barely under the maximum weight. Security was also a breeze since Sam and I both have TSA Precheck. No taking off shoes, belts, separating liquids, etc.
The first flight from ABQ to Houston was on a really small express jet with only three seats to a row (one seat, aisle and two seats). My backpack just barely fit in the overhead bin which says a lot about how small the plane was. The flight to Houston started off pretty normal but after about an hour they got on the speakers saying we might need to be diverted to a different airport due to thunderstorms over Houston. Uh oh, that would not be good.
Fortunately the storms cleared and we landed about 30 minutes late. Unfortunately that meant our layover was almost non existant. We ended up having to run through the hot and humid airport to get to our international flight. We arrived just as they were boarding group 1. We jumped in line since we can preboard with an infant but Sam couldn't find her ticket! After a quick jot over to the counter, we got a new one printed and got onboard before Group 2.
We were almost an hour late to takeoff due to the storms and a broken radio issue they had to fix. At least it didn't matter to us since we didn't have any more connecting flights, but a lot of people were getting really nervous.
As far as international fights go, this one was pretty standard. I tried sleeping but only got about 15 minutes of sleep on the entire 10 hour flight. I would have taken a sleeping pill but wanted to be alert in case Dakotah started to freak out and needed attention.
We were about as lucky as we could be in that regard. Dakotah didn't fuss and was a really great baby the entire flight. We either had him in my chest carrier or Sam was holding him. There were quite a few diaper changes over the flight but at least that wasn't a big deal since the bathroom had a changing table in it.
Dinner on the flight was quinoa with salsa and chicken, a side salad and a glass of wine, and breakfast was some yogurt and a biscotti. Customs in Munich was also a breeze, even though it was packed and took a while to get to the agent. Once we made it through customs we were a little worried that our checked bag might not have made it after the really short layover. We didn't need to worry though since it was there without a problem.
I tried buying some tickets for the S-Bahn to get us from the airport to downtown Munich but the ticket kiosk was asking for a PIN with my cardit card (we don't have a PIN). I had to get some cash but the ATM was out of service. We ended up finding another ATM and ticket kiosk but found out the kiosk didn't take 50 Euro bills (which is what I got). We tried another one and fortunately that one did accept them.
Train ticket in hand, we got on board and about 40 minutes later were at the Karlsplatz station. A short walk through some nice pedestrian areas and we made it to the Mercure hotel. It was a little before 1 and we weren't supposed to be able to check in until 3 but our room was ready and we were able to change out of or sweaty clothes and decompress for a few before heading out to find food.
We weren't sure what to eat so we went to the Augustiner Klosterwirt where I got the sausage platter and Sam got some schnitzel. To drink, I got a Dunkel and Sam got a Radler. Both the food and the beers were really good but after having almost no sleep in 24 hours and sitting on an extremely full stomach, we did a quick walk to the Marienplatz to see the Glockenspiel and then went back to the hotel.
I was able to nap for about an hour and a half while Sam watched Dakotah. We were going to try and meet up with Brandon B. but they were in the same boat as us and wiped out from their trip. Now she's napping while I'm writing about everything up to now.
After some quick napping, we hopped on the S3 line from Marienplatz up three stops to Giselastraße where we walked a few minutes to the Chinesischen Turm biergarten in the Englischen Garten. Sam and I split a giant pretzel, a radler and some couscous. It was really nice just chilling in the park as the sun went down. After we finished, we walked back to the Giselastraße station, back to Marienplatz and then walked back to the hotel.
Since getting back we've been working on getting Dakotah to fall back to sleep but it's not working too well. I think being chill for 36 hours has finally caught up with him and he doesn't want to go to bed.
We're keeping our fingers crossed that we can actually get some real sleep tonight.
Teaser photos:
Posted from: Germany