Brandon O'Brien

Monday, September 12, 2022 @ 11:00 PM in 2022 Germany and France

We woke up around 5:30am in Nice this morning, got all of our bags packed and ate some yogurt and leftover pizza for dinner. We were aiming to catch the 6:50am tram to the airport so left with time to get down to the station. We got to the Alsace Lorraine station with plenty of time to buy our tram tickets and get to the platform before the tram came.

There were about 12 stops before we got to the airport but it went by pretty quick. When we got to our terminal, around 7:15am, we had to check in with Lufthansa since they were our first leg of the trip from Nice to Munich. There wasn't any line to check in which was great. Our flight was set to board at 8:25 with a departure at 8:55 so we figured we'd have time to grab a coffee before jumping on the flight.

Wrong! When I had originally booked our flights back in February, Dakotah wasn't born yet and we didn't have any clue what his birthday, name or even gender would be. In order to get the ticket, I just put an estimated birth date and the name Baby OBrien. When he was born, I called United and got his information updated but apparently this change didn't propagate down to Lufthansa.

When we tried checking in, they told us they wouldn't be able to since Dakotah's name didn't match what they have on their system. They said since the ticket was booked through United, there wasn't anything they could do and I should call United to try and get this fixed. Damn, now the stress factor had kicked up. We had about 45 minutes to try and rectify this situation before we needed to board.

I made a call to United and after trying to explain the problem, they said it should be fixed. We went back to the counter and they said it still hadn't been updated. Ugh. Another call to United, speaking to a different person, and they did something else and said now it should really be fixed. Ok, back to the counter and they said it still wasn't updated. When I was on the phone with a 3rd United representative, the Lufthansa attendant came over and said we should try going to the actual Lufthansa service desk to see if maybe they could help.

While walking over there, I was trying to explain to the 3rd United rep the situation and to convey the urgency but she told me that since the ticket was partially used (the flight over counts), they were unable to change anything. I'm not sure why it took three people to tell me that. I asked to speak to the supervisor while Sam was talking to the Lufthansa service desk. The Lufthansa people repeated that they weren't able to do anything so I asked what would happen if we booked a new ticket for Dakotah and at least get to Munich. From there, everything should be fine since his name was right in their system.

Sam started that process while I was talking to the United supervisor. She did some more digging and confirmed that it was still showing the wrong information on Lufthansa's side. At this time they had finished buying Dakotah a new ticket so I told the United supervisor we should have everything fixed now. She said they'd refund the ticket if we filled out feedback once we got home.

By now it was around 8:15 and we ran back over to the check in counter. The rep ran into some problem and had to go talk to someone else. Minutes passed, then more minutes passed, and finally she came back and said that since Dakotah was still attached to my ticket, they were running into a problem since they wouldn't be able to check me in without him (and they wouldn't be able to since he was listed as Baby OBrien). She told us to go down to the other rep and that they were working on it.

More waiting and by now it was getting to the point where even if they got us checked in we were afraid we'd miss our flights anyway. The rep did a little more talking on the phone and finally told us she got it figured out. Apparently she was able to get his info updated on our original ticket and they refunded the new ticket Sam just bought. With our tickets in hand we ran over to security which fortunately wasn't too crowded. We were the last ones to our gate, got checked in, then boarded a bus that took us from the gate to the plane.

I was really convinced we'd lose our bags since we checked in so soon to departure but when we got to the plane I saw them re-opening the luggage hatch to put our bags on. Crisis averted!

From here on out the flights were pretty uneventful. Flying from Nice to Munich was beautiful. It started out with nice views of Nice and Monaco then we started heading over the Italian and German Alps before getting to Munich. While flying over Munich, you could see the Oktoberfest grounds and the main city center.

We were able to get a little sleep on the big flight between Munich and Houston. Customs in Houston went pretty fast and we grabbed some Panda Express for a light dinner before getting on the final flight to Albuquerque. We chatted with some people sitting near us, one of which has a three month old and is planning on traveling to Germany with her daughter to visit family in October.

Once in Albuquerque we got our bags and started the drive to Santa Fe. Knowing we weren't going to have anything in the fridge to eat, we grabbed another quick bite at Wendy's. We got home around 10pm, got settled and then got ready for bed. All in all we were up for about 24 hours from the time we woke up in Nice to the time we got home and were ready for bed.

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Tags: nice, france, munich, santa fe, travel

Posted from: United States

Tuesday, August 30, 2022 @ 8:25 PM in 2022 Germany and France

Day 6

Today started out reasonably well. We both got some sleep and Sam ran downstairs to the coffee shop and picked us up some Chai. We made some croissant sandwiches for breakfast, finished packing and then went down to the train station to catch our first train of the day. We thought it might take a while to find our gate but it was actually pretty easy. With some time to kill, Sam set off to find another coffee and a snack.

We boarded our train and got settled in for the 3 hour ride to Mannheim. It was pretty uneventful, although we were losing time at each stop and we weren't sure if we'd make our 11 minute layover from Mannheim to Strasbourg. Lunch was leftover pizza from last night, which was actually pretty decent on the train. Some of the towns and countryside we passed through were really neat. Many of the towns had cathedrals or towers in the middle of them. Near Stuttgart, there were some vineyards on what looked like sheer cliffs too. When we left Stuttgart, the train said it was running 8 minutes late but we made up a little bit of time. Before arriving in Mannheim, they showed a list of updated connections and showed that our train to Strasbourg was also running a little late. With a sigh of relief, we didn't need to rush to get to the other gate.

Once we got to Mannheim, we got off and went to gate 5 where it said our train would be. We were supposed to be on the TGV9580 which went direct to Strasbourg. This is where the day went from chill to stress-fest. Our train was supposed to depart at 2:48 (after delays) and at 2:47 a train pulled up to gate 5. Not thinking anything about it, we got right on the train, found car 11 and sat down. One of the seats we were supposed to be in was taken, but that didn't seem too weird since some people kinda sit wherever they want and then move if the person with the reservation comes. Right as the doors shut and the screens updated to show the next stop, I realized we were on the wrong train. This one was going right back to Stuttgart (about 40 minutes away), and not Strasbourg.

With no other options, we were stuck on the train and had to figure out another way to get to Strasbourg from Stuttgart. The train we were supposed to be on was the only direct from Mannheim, so backtracking to Mannheim again wasn't going to help us out. We found some regional trains that would require two different transfers but would ultimately get us to Strasbourg (albeit, 2.5 hours after we were supposed to get in).

Back in Stuttgart, we jumped on our first train which was an extremely overcrowded commuter to Karlsruhe with a 50 minute ride time. Once in Karlsruhe, we got on another packed train to Appenweier. This one was doubly annoying because our huge roller bag took up like 3/4 of the aisle so every time someone wanted to walk by, they had to shimmy around the bag. There weren't any restrooms on this train either and Dakotah was in serious need of changing. With several delays and stops, we finally made it to Appenweier after about 45 minutes.

Due to the train being late, we missed our connection in Appenweier but fortunately there were trains running every 30 minutes to Strasbourg. This at least gave us time to change Dakotah at the train station (on the top of our suitcase in the parking lot, lol). At 6:11 we jumped on our last train of the day and made the 11 mile journey across the Rhine river into France.

After finally arriving in Strasbourg, we had to jump on the tram to take us into town. The tram station we got off at was just a couple hundred feet from the Airbnb which was convenient. What wasn't so convenient was having to carry a 50 pound roller bag up 3 flights of several hundred year old stairs to get to our apartment. After a lot of sweating (I was carrying Dakotah, my backpack and the roller bag), we made it and were able to get to our room.

By now it was well after 7pm and we were tired, hungry and thirsty. We gave Dakotah a quick clothes swap and then went back downstairs to eat at a microbrewery and restaurant called La Lanterne, directly across from our Airbnb. Sam and I each got a beer (I had an amber and she had a weissebier). For food, I got a chicken cordon bleu with spatzel and mushroom sauce while Sam got a burger and fries. All the food and beer was good but we were super stuffed and tired.

Since it was already dark out, we decided to take a walk to Strasbourg's Notre Dame Cathedral which wasn't too far away. The cathedral took a couple hundred years to build (starting in the 1100's) and looks really neat, especially at night. We walked around the entire cathedral then made our way back to the Airbnb. Unfortunately due to historical regulations, they couldn't put A/C in the unit so have a couple of fans blowing to try and cool it down. It was still really hot in the room but not too long after getting home it started raining which helped cool things down considerably (it also helped get people off the streets, which was pretty loud from our open windows).

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Tags: germany, munich, trains, france

Posted from: France

Monday, August 29, 2022 @ 7:22 PM in 2022 Germany and France

Day 5

Today was a much needed rest day after several late nights and very little sleep. We got up around 8:30am, made some coffee in the room and then I set out to track down some laundry detergent so we could do a load of laundry in the basement of the hotel. There was a DM store around the corner and I found some laundry sheets there (basically sheets of soap you use). I went down to the laundry room to see if any of the machines were being used and saw a sign that said no detergent was needed... the machines automatically added it. Whoops. At least the detergent was cheap and doesn't take up much space.

I brought all the laundry down, put it in the machine and then started looking for a coin slot or start button. Turns out you had to use an app to reserve and start the machines. Not a big deal, but the wifi wasn't working in the basement and it was below ground so I didn't have any cell service. I went up to the lobby to download the app and get it started. For some reason it wouldn't let me immediately start it but I had to wait 10 minutes before it would let me start the machine.

Once we finally got the laundry going, Sam and I headed out to find some coffee and grab a quick snack for breakfast. By now it was getting close to 11 and we didn't want too much food since it was getting close to lunch. We found a Coffee Fellows near the train station and got a cappuccino and blueberry muffin. After that, the laundry was ready so we came back to switch it over to the dryer.

Not really sure what to do, we headed down to the Oktoberfest grounds to see all of the beer halls under construction. Back in 2008 we were able to walk through the grounds but now they have the whole thing gated off. We walked around it a little while and got to the Bavaria statue where we sat down for a little while and fed Dakotah. Allie video called us so Emmie and Sofie could see Dakotah again too.

I got a notification that the clothes were done so we went back to the hotel to grab our clothes and then find some food. Along the way, Sam found a couple Thai restaurants pretty close to the hotel so we picked one to try. The food hit the spot and it wasn't as heavy as sausage, potatoes and cabbage would have been.

We came back to the hotel for a quick break before heading out for an aimless wander around town. We started going through the botanical garden / park near our hotel, making our way back down to the Marienplatz and over to the Hofbrauhaus. After snapping a quick pick there (didn't need to go in since I had been there before and wasn't really feeling the need for more beer), we walked through Old Town and the Promenadplatz. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a Rewe to grab something for breakfast in the morning. We landed on some croissants with cheese and meat.

Not really sure what to do for dinner, we went back to the same Doner place we had for lunch yesterday and got a couple pizzas. One was mushroom and prosciutto and the other was spinach, onion and feta. We brought them back to the hotel, ate and have been getting ready for our train ride to France tomorrow. Fortunately the train doesn't leave until 11:30am so we have plenty of time to get packed up in the morning. We also have some leftover pizza we can eat for lunch.

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Tags: germany, munich

Posted from: Germany

Sunday, August 28, 2022 @ 7:41 PM in 2022 Germany and France

Day 4

After a late night at the wedding, we got as much sleep as we could but were still up and hungry by about 7:30am. We had another big breakfast buffet and got to say goodbye to Tom, Kay, Scott, Stef, Marrit and several other people who happened to be up early enough to catch breakfast. Once we finished up, we went back to the room to pack up our bags which was quite the undertaking. We already had a pretty heavy roller bag but adding the steins and a few beers added even more weight.

Our plan was to walk all the way down to the train station with the big roller bag, but Allie and Al said they'd take it in the taxi with them. That was really helpful and saved us some awkward pushing and pulling on some of the hills down to the station. It was raining a little bit but not too bad. Sam and I actually beat Allie and Al down to the station so we went ahead and got our tickets. A lot of people ended up being on this train back to Munich or the Munich Airport. We got to ride with Allie, Al, Deb and Amir.

Once the train started rolling, it really started to downpour and rained the entire ride down to Munich. We said our goodbyes to everyone at the station and set off for the hotel. Fortunately our hotel was pretty close to the train station so it wasn't too long of a walk in the rain to get there. It was only around 1pm and we weren't supposed to be able to check in until 3pm but we figured we'd try. The hotel we're staying at is a different style and doesn't actually have a check-in staff but instead uses a kiosk. I tried to check in but it was telling me our room wasn't ready. It was still raining and we didn't want to have to go to a cafe or something and hang out for two hours with all of our bags. There was a help phone next to the kiosk so I gave it a call and asked if they could check on the room availability. Fortunately they had just cleaned the room so they updated their check-in system and we were able to move in.

We're staying in an extended stay style room which has a small kitchenette and "separate" seating area with a couch and small table (it's really just a basic studio apartment). They have a laundry room in the basement so we'll definitely get a load of clothes going tomorrow. Dakotah has dirtied a lot of his shirts already and it'll be nice to get a fresh start before we head into France.

While Sam was getting things organized at the hotel, I ran out to find some lunch. It was already about 1:30 and I didn't feel like walking too far or waiting too long for food, so I found a restaurant called Doner Deluxe and got the Doner Teller box (basically a doner kebab without the bun but on top of fries). I brought it back to the room and we quickly demolished it.

With full stomachs and it still being gloomy out, we laid down for a while. Unfortunately I wasn't able to fall asleep but Sam got a good nap. Before dinner we opened a beer Mike and Anne handed out in their wedding favor goodie bag. I was looking around for restaurants and found a place called Bento Ya which had a lot of Asian food. Sam and I both got some Ramen which was perfect for a rainy and gloomy day. For some reason they didn't take Visa at the restaurant so we had to pay in cash. All I had was a 50 euro bill and Europeans notoriously hate breaking large bills but we didn't have another choice. We walked around a little bit after dinner but ultimately just came back to the hotel to call it an early night.

Tomorrow we're going to hit the Oktoberfest grounds and then see the Hirschgarten. The plan is to make it a pretty chill day without any real rush to get up in the morning.

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Tags: germany, munich, miesbach

Posted from: Germany

Friday, August 26, 2022 @ 11:29 PM in 2022 Germany and France

Day 2

This morning I actually felt pretty refreshed! We were able to get a little sleep last night which really helped get feel better.

We went down to the hotel breakfast around 7:30am and were pretty amazed with the spread. They had a huge assortment of cheeses, meats, pastries, juices and hot breakfast items. We hung out in the breakfast area for a while sipping on coffee and enjoying some relaxing time. The server who was cleaning the room kept coming over to us and talking to us about Dakotah and her grand baby.

After eating, we went back to the room and started packing up. After feeding Dakotah, I went out to get some saline drops for him since his nose seemed really stuffy last night. I think all the dry air on the plane really made it hard for him to breath and fortunately clearing out his nose seemed to really help.

Once we packed up, we met with Scott and Stefanie outside the hotel where they took our bags and parked their car. The plan was to walk around the pedestrian area near the Marienplatz, get Doner kebab for lunch and then try to hit the Oktoberfest grounds. We waited around the Marienplatz for about 20 minutes to see the Glockenspiel do its thing at noon and then got a little sidetracked at the beer garden at the Viktualienmarkt. We also met up with Eric and Emily there before realzing how late it was getting and that we wouldn't really have time to do much else.

We went and got some Doner for lunch near the Hauptbahnhof after checking out the Karlsplatz. The Doner was really good and something I haven't had in years since I was last in Europe.

Eric and Emily went to the train station and got on the train to Miesbach while Scott, Stef, Sam and I went back to their car and drove to Miesbach. We got to see some of the Alps on the way to town. The scenery got really nice with more of an alpine farmland and dairy feel to it as we drove into town.

After checking into the hotel, we showered and got ready for the rehearsal dinner. The rehearsal dinner was really fun and great to see everyone again. We sat with Allie and Al and had a few beers over the course of the night alongside many typical German food options in the dinner buffet.

We stayed up a lot later than we were planning to, but it was hard to leave the party. It's now about 11:30pm and we really need to get to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long day with the wedding planning to go well past midnight.

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Tags: europe, germany, miesbach, munich

Posted from: Germany

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.

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Tags: germany, munich, bier

Posted from: Germany

Sunday, August 31, 2008 @ 11:00 PM in 2008 Europe Wedding

A recurring theme with our planning of this trip was being overly ambitious in regards to seeing as many sights as we could. That being said, we spent today mostly on trains traveling from Frottstadt to Venice, via Munich.

We said goodbye to all of our friends in the morning as everyone was going their separate ways. Patrick and Chrissy were heading off to spend some time with Tobias while Scott and Stefanie were going to their honeymoon in the Greek islands.

We left Frottstadt around 1:30pm and after several connections got to Munich around 6:40pm. We had a couple hours to kill before we had to catch our overnight train to Venice which left a little after 9pm. We walked around the main square area of Munich and had dinner while waiting for our train.

The train wasn't too bad. We were in a room with 6 beds that were stacked hostel style. I remember waking up quite a bit, but that's to be expected on sleeper trains.

Note: This post was written about 13 years after I went on this trip. Unfortunately I didn't keep a journal so this is pieced together from our itinerary and photos.

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Tags: germany, frottstadt, munich, venice, train

Posted from: Germany

Friday, August 29, 2008 @ 9:00 PM in 2008 Europe Wedding

We all checked out of the hostel by 6:00 this morning (tough after all the drinking yesterday) so we could catch our first train in the journey up to Frottstadt. Our first train left Munich at 7:22am with a connection in Saalfeld and Neudietendorf before finally arriving in Frottstadt at 11:30am.

We met Scott and Stefanie at the train station and they drove us through town and to the hotel we'd be staying at for the ceremony.

The main event of the day was the big reception / party that Stefanie's family threw. There was an overwhelming amount of beer flowing and everyone had a great time hanging out and catching up.

Note: This post was written about 13 years after I went on this trip. Unfortunately I didn't keep a journal so this is pieced together from our itinerary and photos.

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Tags: germany, munich, frottstadt

Posted from: Germany

Thursday, August 28, 2008 @ 9:00 PM in 2008 Europe Wedding

Most of today was spent on a bike tour that hit several beer gardens and took us through several of the sights in Munich. We got to see people surfing in the river in the Englischer Garten too.

We ended the night at the Augustiner brewery where we all had some delicious beer.

Note: This post was written about 13 years after I went on this trip. Unfortunately I didn't keep a journal so this is pieced together from our itinerary and photos.

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Tags: germany, munich

Posted from: Germany

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 @ 9:00 PM in 2008 Europe Wedding

We arrived in Munich a couple weeks before Oktoberfest, but there was still a lot of beer to be drunk! Our train from Paris departed at 7:25am and got us into Munich at 1:30pm after a transfer in Stuttgart. The train systems throughout Europe are incredible and do a great job of getting you around. This trip was my first time using the trains and I really came to appreciate how easy they were to use.

After we got to Munich, we checked into our room at the Euro Youth Hostel and then set out to meet up with Patrick, Chrissy, Scott and the rest of the gang that showed up for the wedding. Our meeting spot was the Hofbrauhaus! I tried ordering a half liter of beer but was shamed by the waitress into ordering a full liter, haha. We also had some sausages with good German mustard. All in all the experience was fantastic.

After beer and food, we wandered around Munich and somehow ended up at a playground. We goofed around on the ropes for a while before we stumbled on the Oktoberfest grounds and walked around there as they were setting up.

We finished the night at another beer garden before heading back to the hostel to call it a night.

Note: This post was written about 13 years after I went on this trip. Unfortunately I didn't keep a journal so this is pieced together from our itinerary and photos.

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Posted from: Germany