Planning
We decided to take a vacation and chose the destination of Central Europe, especially Prague, the most beautiful city in the world. Our purpose for this vacation is to explore History, Architecture, Nature, Local culture, and food. We chose September due to the weather, hoping for a less crowd and local festival like Octoberfest in Munich. After doing research through websites like TripAdvisor and Reddit, we decided that we will need 10 nights to cover places that are interesting to us. We have explored options on how to travel, ie. on our own or use guided tours from tour operators like Trafalgar, SOTC, Start, etc. The reason we choose to go on our own was we want flexibility (choice of hotel, place to visit, food, events etc) and to explore more than the tour has to offer. I have used Google Spreadsheet to Plan the Itenary.
Booking
Before we book anything make sure the Passport is valid for at least 6 months, the Visa requirement, and Covid restrictions. US Citizen does not require a visa to visit these places. We were fully vaccinated so no issue in traveling in these countries, although no one ask for any proof.
Air Travel
We decided to choose to fly through Lufthansa, the reason was, we wanted to choose Airlines which are local to the country we are flying to. Local Airlines has good infrastructure, resources, and frequency of flight, so in case something happens to a flight, there is likely hood that you don't have to spend nights in the airport. Of course, good customer service, and cancellation policies are another reasons. We need to check in bags too, and Lufthansa is allowed to check in one bag for free. To book airlines, I used Google Flight to track prices and book through the Lufthansa Airlines
website.
Trip Booking (Hotels, Activities and internal travel)
I was exploring various options on how should I book hotels and travel between countries through Airlines/ Euro Rails. I discovered an awesome website (company) tripmasters.com, that allow you to create your own iternary and book everything you need to do during your trips. They had amazing customer service and a great website to book all you need. I highly recommend that and will do it with them again in the future. Our trip is 3 nights in Munich, 2 nights in Prague, 1 night in Vienna, 3 nights in Budapest, and 1 night again in Munich for Octoberfest. Flying from Munich to Prague and Budapest to Munich, Train from Prague to Vienna to Budapest. So that we had the experience of Euro Rail.
Car Rental for Munich
In general, you do not need a Car Rental to travel in Europe, but since we want to explore our own and drive through the Autobahn motorway, Romantic Road, and other places, we decided to rent a car. This gives us flexibility and saves time to cover many places, which one can do with public transportation. There are many options to book car rental, but we decided to choose to use Costco Travel Car Rental (Alamo/Enterprise) due to cost. Sixt is most popular in Europe but it's twice the cost. We paid additional fees to choose a $0 damage waiver for peace of mind when we drive in the new country. Since we were also driving through Austria we have to pay extra to travel to a different country. In addition to that, we also purchased, Vignette to travel to Austria which is mandatory. Tripmasters.com also offers a car rental option, so do whatever makes sense for you.
Pre Trip
We already decided that we are going to have one big bag with a roller and 1 backpack per person so that you can move easily as you are going to too many places. Pack accessories based on the weather, such as a jacket, raincoat, umbrella, walking shoes, formal dress, etc. I downloaded the Lufthansa app and filled out every detail to make it easier when you are at the airport. The day before Travel we checked in through Lufthansa App (They will remind you 24 hours before your travel) and provided all info such as passport details. We selected seats based on recommendations from seatguru.com In addition to that, I also use Tripcase for all of my travels, so I have a record of where I travel and when. I also confirmed all hotels to make sure they have our reservations before we travel.
Day 0
At the airport, it was very easy as they have machine to print the luggage tag and drop it quickly. I saw big lines at airline counters for those who had not done check-in. We had a
Global Entry which comes with TSA Pre, so we zip into the gate quickly as well. As we were landing in Munich at 9am local time and we had an active day, I took Melatonin 10mg to help me sleep in an airplane to fight jetlag when we land in Munich. (Didn't help).
We landed in Munich on time, got our baggage, took some cash from ATM at the airport (used my Schwab Debit Card), went through the green channel (no custom check), and walk through the terminal into the Car Rental place to pick up our car. They gave us an option to pick up whatever we like (not luxury cars of course), we booked for Sedan and end up getting SUV with no additional charge. Took the video of the car's condition just in case. And we are on the way to our journey. The car (Volkswagon - forgot the model) was pretty high-tech in terms of safety, connectivity, and overall experience.
Our first stop was Dachau Camp, the first concentration camp. Entry is free but you have to pay for parking. We were on time to watch an hour-long documentary to see those horror pictures and testimony. The site was rebuilt so not as original as we thought. Looking back, this is the case with almost all places including palaces, and churches. They have a nice restaurant for lunch. Then we headed to Olympic park, a nice park with a lot of facilities like a swimming pool people use on daily basis. Then we went to my favorite Marine Platz followed by Dinner at
Thai Restaurant.
We drive through Romantic Road and passed Landsberg, and Scongou historical places. We bought the admission ticket for Hohenschwangau Castle online a week before, as it is interesting inside. We did not tour Neuschwanstein castle we just visited outside and went on a Marine Bridge hike to take some astonishing pictures. We parked the car, and hike up to Hohenschwangau Castle, it took 10 min. You ticket time is not flexible, so you have to wait until your time. We were an hour early so we took some pictures there. Later we hike down and took the bus to go to Neuschwanstein Castle, we bought return bus ticket. We went to the Marine bridge and did 30 min hike to get the great view of Neuschwanstein Castle. Later we drive through Fussen and back to Munich and had Bavarian dinner in one of the oldest pubs/restaurants, Hofbräuhaus Munchen, met local folks, and had a good laugh.
Day 3 (Salzburg, Hitler Eagle Nest, Chiemsee)
We drive through Austria (remember to buy Vignettes from Gas stations before entering Austria otherwise hefty fine), we filled out gas in Salzburg (Austria has cheaper gas prices than Germany) and headed to
Hitler's Eagle Nest. Our goal was the nature of the Alps and not Hitler's place. We booked the bus ticket that will take you uphill and back. Later went to Salzburg, Downtown, Mozart's birth place, and then
Chiemsee . We have to take the boat to Go to the island for the Castle. Come back late and had a Pizza for dinner.
Day 4 (English Garten, Prague )
We had a flight at noon, so we went to English Garten in the Morning for a walk and headed to the airport for a car rental return, and catch the flight to Prague. Rental car return is common for all Car Rental companies. We already checked in a day before, so we print baggage tags and drop the bags. Check-in at the counter has a big line glad we did online checked in. Interestingly, no passport check at the airport for traveling to Prague, as security, which is a machine, you scan your boarding pass and are ready to go.
We took an Uber from Airport to Hotel, and we checked in to the hotel and walk to Charles Bridge and
walk through the old town, with a beautiful church, an astronomical clock and some beautiful buildings. Then we took a boat tour through Charles bridge. We ate our dinner at
Quan dip, Lesser town on the bank of Charles bridge.
Day 5 (Prague Castle, New Town, Old Town)
We took a self-guided tour of the Castle which we bought it online to avoid the line. We witness Guard Changing Ceremony. In the afternoon, we took a free (Tip based) old town tour Jewish quarters, from
Sandeman's tour. later we went to New Town and visit the Dancing house (overrated). We booked the
Gondal boat ride but was canceled due to rain. We had booked a Medieval dinner at
Thunovská, restaurant since 1375 AD, we enjoyed dinner and entertainment there.
Day 6 ( Prage, Vienna)
In the morning we went to
Petrin Tower and then went to
Vysehrad. We use local trams and trains. You buy tickets for 24 hours and take any transportation as you like.
We pick up the bag from the hotel and call Uber to Prague Main Train Station to travel to Vienna by Train.
Train and Train Stations in Europe
If you have booked the ticket, you should have the Train number and date/time when the train is departing. Once you got to the train station it is big, a lot of people and for the first time not sure what to do so we went an hour early. But it is fairly easy once you figure it out. Basically, there is a blue screen which shows the status of the trains, just like the Airport. They assign platforms 15-20 minutes before departure, so you will not see your train info if you went there early. On the blue TV screen, you will see the platform number next to your train. Usually, there are 1 to 10 platforms, so find your platform and go there. Your train will be there, look at the coach number and seat number. Put your big luggage in the luggage area, and bring the lock to lock it. The train is not safe. Your backpack should be in front of you and DO NOT KEEP on the overhead area.
We lost our backpack from the train, we know those kids seating behind stole it, they target visitors. We had a passport in that and lost the passport. I belive now, that First class is safer than second class.
Vienna
It took 4 and half hours to reach Vienna. Once there, we took uber to go to our Hotel, and in the evening leave to
explore the Inner Stadt (Downtown) of Vienna. We visited Hofburg, Rathaus, St Stephen Church, Mozart Apartment. We had our dinner (Middle east food) in on of the food stall, near the station.
Day 7 (Vienna Palace and Budapest)
In the morning, we visited
Schonbrunn Palace, we booked the ticket before, however, there was no line to buy the tickets. They have a fantastic garden where you have lots of photo opportunities. Later we went to
Nunchmarket for eat our Lunch at
Dr Falafel .
Lost Passport (Luggage) in Train
Later in the afternoon, we took a train to Budapest. It took two and half hours from Vienna to Budapest's main train station. During this train journey, we lost our two backpacks, with Passports and many other important things like jackets, chargers, etc. There were two other families also there whose baggage was stolen. We tried to contact Police at Train Station, no response, they didn't even open the door and asked to go to a different police station. Other families know English and Hungarian, so they took us to the
district 8 police station to file a police report. There was another family who was waiting for them for 2 hours we no response from Police. All is we want to file the police report and they were not helping us. I saw many police there laughing, smoking, and having fun but not ready to talk to us. I called US Embassy in Budapest, they said they can reissue the passport on Monday, as Sat and Sun closed. So we gave up and use the Bolt (it is like uber, Uber does not work in Budapest) and went to an hour hotel. We did not expect the bag to be recovered as it is a human thing and the country we are in is not like the US, UK, or Germany.
We had a
dinner cruise on the bank of the Danube River. We had a great time, even though we lost our passports earlier.
This is a bus + boat tour to go some places. It was not an enjoyable experience given we spend the whole day on this tour. There is some interesting history of Roman on the way. We went to Szentendre town where shopping is cheaper compared to Budapest. On the bus, I was googling how to get the Passport. In the evening, we visited the Downtown area, and we had dinner at an Italian place across from our hotel
Corinthia Budapest
Day 9
Day 10 (Budapest, Munich - Octoberfest)
Our flight to Munich at 1:30pm and need a passport by then. In the morning (8am), we went to
US Embassy in Budapest to get our passports. Before going there we printed our old passport, itinerary, proof of citizenship, etc in the Hotel we stayed. The security at the gate does not allow us to take an electronic device like a smartphone or smartwatch in the building, so we left it at them. We know how much going to cost for a new passport ($165), and the price to take a picture with exact changes in Hungary (1500).
They were immediately available to assist us, give us forms to fill out, took pictures in the automated machine, and submitted fees and applications with photos. They understand our concerns and confirm that this (stolen luggage) is very common on the train. Within 2 hours we got our passports and headed to the airport. Big kudos to the people who work there and are very proud of US citizens and the USA.
There was another group who came from Canada (Canadian citizens) who also lost their passports and came with us to the police station. They have to wait 4 hours to get a police report. They were also going to Canadian Embassy on Monday, but it was closed due to Queen's funeral. So they have to go the next day on Tuesday to apply for the passport. However they got the passport the next day, so they have to rebook their flight, etc. Very unfortunate for them, and hence proud of being US citizens.
We landed at Munch Airport at 3pm and took the S8 train to check in to our Hotel. Munich Airpot has great public transportation, so you do not need Uber, which is expensive there. From Hotel, we took the tram, and trains to go to Octoberfest. Excellent vibe, great people, great food and beers. We enjoyed ourselves very well, we came back to the hotel late.
Day 11 (Munich - San Francisco)
Our flight was in the afternoon so we have plenty of time to go to Marienplatz and visited
Residenz.
After that, we come back to the hotel, and take public transportation (s8 line) to go to Airport. We already checked in using a new passport so dropped our bags and went to the gate. The guy at the Passport check did notice we got a new passport so they ask proof of the ticket when we visited from US to Munich. I had that handy to show it to them, and we are good to go.
When we reach SFO, we went through Global Entry, which has a machine, that detects my face and printed the receipt which we gave to the CBO Patrol officer, and head to get our baggage and out of the airport. The whole process took 20 min. Pretty Amazing!
It was such an enjoyable experience, we covered many places, which could not be possible with 10-day guided tours. We have great food, Bavarian, Medievalian, Hungarian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Indian, Italian, American (Burger King), and the Middle East. It was the most memorable experience. When we reach home, it was the best place in the world, regardless!
Tips for traveling to Europe:
- Make a plan, I have put to gather planning doc in a Google sheet template that anyone can copy and use it.
- Keep a copy of all your documents in the cloud such as Dropbox, Google Drive, etc
- Some of the tickets and torus buy in advance, as they are easily sold out or it helps you avoid standing in lines, especially in the busy season.
- Be extra careful when you travel to other countries. As a rule of thumb, whose currency is more than 10x the US Dollar. i.e 1 Dollar = 10 local currency or more (Germany/Austria is 1, Czech is 25, Hungary is 400). Extra careful when that ratio goes higher, with the exception of Japan.
- Euro Train - Travel in first class, and keep your bags in such a way you can watch, not on top of where you seat.
- Research before you go places, or restaurants, this will save you time. Save those locations in Google Maps
- Use Apps and tools - Google Maps (Direction including public transit, and routes), Google Calendar (what to do when, where), Google Spreadsheet (Overall plan), Google Drive (Backup documents), Google Translate, and Google Voice. (I am a big fan of Google's ecosystem compared to Apple and Microsoft so I might be biased. I use an Android-based Samsung Fold 4 phone.)
- Download the app from the airline you are traveling to, it helps you in case of gate change, check-in reminder, free entertainment, etc.
- You do not need a lot of cash, most places (even flea markets) take the wireless credit card. So it is safe, you get the best exchange rate, and you do not need to worry about money being stolen or lost.
- If possible, keep the backup phone (turned off), just in case, if the battery run out in the middle.
- Have comfortable walking shoes, we walk 150k steps.
- Always prepared for Rain, have a jacket or umbrella.
- If you rent a car, mark the location where you park.
- Prioritize to enjoy the moment and then take pictures.
- For car rental, choose the lowest option most likely you will get an upgrade for free. Costco Travel is great as you can cancel anytime and it includes an additional driver.
- For phone data plans in Europe, eSim works very well from Orange
Happy Travelling!
