Thanks to the Deutsche Bahn website, I was able to keep tabs on Dion's train and it was on time all the way. Sasha had gone straight to the airport, and we met here there, checked the bag in and we were through security. There was a celebratory beer while waiting to board the plane (which was late!), the flight with Air Berlin to Munich was pretty standard and then there was the long commute from the Airport to Munich city center by train. Eventually we got ourselves to where we were staying, made a plan for the morning and went to bed.
When we did Oktoberfest last year (for a recap on that, see here), we had an absolute blast - but I fully expected it to be the only chance for me to attend it. Somewhere along the way though with moving to Germany, the thought entered our minds that perhaps we could go again. We knew some friends who were doing it again, or doing it for the first time - but upon moving to Berlin, we were in no position to commit to such an event as we didn't even know whether we would have the money to attend or even still be in Germany by that stage. When I got the temporary work at the School, it would take me into the 2nd week of September and meant with our existing funds and what would be coming in from the temporary job, we would have the means to stay until the end of September in Germany. At worst, having not found permanent jobs, Oktoberfest would be our swansong before heading on our way back south; at best, we would be working and could attend for the weekend. Either way, we could go. We sounded out friends, picked a weekend and started looking at everything for myself, Sasha and our friend Dion who would be in Europe at the time and was keen to come with us. Flights were not horrendous, and we were able to book decently priced flights for the Friday night from Berlin to Munich, and on the Sunday night back to Berlin. Accommodation proved more problematic - Munich is very expensive at this time of year, but also a lot of places are sold out. Airbnb was our best option considering everything else, but still very pricey and the locations not great. Until that is, a place just suddenly popped up one day about a week into our search - for half the price of all the other places and in a convenient location to the U-Bahn that could get us to the Oktoberfest grounds. With that locked in, it was just a matter of Dion getting some imitation Lederhosen he could wear, myself getting an actual pair at a good price (I had chucked the imitation ones I had from last year in the move from the UK to Germany in the effort to get rid of excess weight) and getting Sasha's pretty Dirndl from last year drycleaned. All looked well until the Friday we were flying out when a massive curveball hit us - Dion, who was travelling from Wroclaw in Poland to Berlin by train had missed his train connection in Poznan because his first train had been late. At first when he told me this it did not sound like a big deal because usually there are hourly connections by train between major cities and centres - but not Poland it seems. The next direct train from Poznan wouldn't leave until 4.30pm, some 4+ hours after the train Dion was meant to catch - instead of Dion arriving in Berlin around 3pm, he would now arrive about 7.20pm. Our flight to Munich, the last one for the night departed at 9.20pm. I did the sums on various options for how Dion might be able to still get to Munich without coming to Berlin, or flying out to Berlin the next morning but they were all impractical or overpriced. Usually you are meant to be at the airport 2 hours before your flight, which would be the time Dion arrived in Berlin if his new train was on time. But there were some things in our favour - Tegel has an old, odd layout where each gate has its own check-in desk, next to its own security check and the boarding gate is right on the other side of the x-ray machine - you could rock up to the gate right up until gate close at 8.40pm and you would be fine. The hard part - getting from Berlin Ostbahnhof where Dion would arrive, to Tegel Airport in time before the gate closed. My transport app said it would take close to an hour, so if everything was on time we should be able to catch the plane. But Dion would have his large travel bag with him and there would be no opportunity to chuck it home - it would have to come with us. Could we add the bag to our booking at this late notice, and would they charge the earth for it? turns out yes we could and no they wouldn't - we were sorted, so long as Dion's train kept to time. If it was more than 10 minutes late, I was to head to the airport without him and he would sort himself out in Berlin for the weekend - there would be no opportunity to give him the keys to our place. Thanks to the Deutsche Bahn website, I was able to keep tabs on Dion's train and it was on time all the way. Sasha had gone straight to the airport, and we met here there, checked the bag in and we were through security. There was a celebratory beer while waiting to board the plane (which was late!), the flight with Air Berlin to Munich was pretty standard and then there was the long commute from the Airport to Munich city center by train. Eventually we got ourselves to where we were staying, made a plan for the morning and went to bed. On the first day, we went hard - we managed to get a table in the Augustiner tent at opening with our friend Jacob and his Oktoberfest group, plus two American girls who happened to sit at our table. Eventually we shifted to the Hacker Festhalle where we caught up with our friend Nat and her group, continuing to drink and dance away. Dion bowed out about 5pm, which considering we'd been at it since 9am was a good effort and Sasha & I followed after 7pm sometime (only realsing when we left that we'd never had lunch!). The next day we took things more easy, not because we felt too worse for wear but to just enjoy the atmosphere and the rest of the grounds. We partook in a number of rides, some lunch and a Stein sitting in the Beer Garden at the tent which does the Ox (but I had Pork Knuckle, and didn't learn my lesson from last year that one is too much for one person), caught up with Nat again in the afternoon in the beer garden at another tent, and after some Kaiserschmarrn and a ride on the Ferris Wheel we started making the trip to the airport and flew back to Berlin - a bit of a whirlwind, but thoroughly enjoyable trip. So that's two (zwei) Oktoberfest's we've done now - will there be a third? at this stage, who knows but I've done twice as many as I ever expected to so that's not bad going!
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A Kiwi out travelling in the UK and surrounding countries Archives
August 2019
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