Germany has been high on both of our bucket lists for a long time. Charlie was anxious to drink beer in the heart of Bavaria and Brittany was more about visiting the Christmas markets, but regardless, we knew it wouldn’t be long before we splurged on a European trip to see this idyllic country. After being in Asia for nearly a year, the sound of hearty German food and baked goods were sounding better than ever. We were itching for fresh air and an atmosphere we could just kind of blend into for a while without the typical stares and mutters of “falang, falang” every time we ventured into public in Thailand. Not to say we don’t love Thailand because we do truly love it! But we were ready for a change.
You might recall that our original plan was to visit Australia in the month of July where we were to meet up with Charlie’s parents. Unfortunately, in the amount of time it took for us to sign them up for some credit cards with good mileage bonuses, flights skyrocketed. We tried to wait it out and see if they would come down. Instead, they just kept climbing. We finally came to terms with the fact that Australia was just not realistic for them anymore. However, his mom already took the time off work and they decided they were going to make use of it. They bagged Australia and settled on a road trip out west to Colorado. A trip that would consist of riding dirt bikes through the Rockies. A trip that Charlie would never let his dad go on without being a part of it. So immediately, plans changed and we were heading back to the States. We got on Skyscanner and began searching for flights. If you haven’t used Skyscanner, check it out immediately. Just be aware – it will become addicting and you might find yourself scanning in your sleep. We discovered that we could get a flight from Bangkok to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt to home for not much more than it would cost to go from Bangkok to home. It was settled. We were going to Europe much sooner than we ever anticipated!
We almost allowed ourselves 6 weeks to travel through Europe, but after adding up costs of accommodations and trains, we quickly cut it back to 3. We knew Europe was going to be much more costly than Asia so we were trying to mentally prepare ourselves for this big change. In all of our travels, we had never stayed in a hostel but it was starting to look like that was the only way we could make this trip happen. Even still, $40-50 per night per person adds up quick. We had such a hard time coping with the fact it was going to cost us nearly $100/night to stay in a hostel, sharing a room and a bathroom with other people. For those that are solo travelers, it totally makes sense. But for couples, this just seemed outrageous. Then Airbnb came to mind. We had never used Airbnb before but we’ve heard so many great things about it. After a quick search, it was apparent that this made way more sense than staying at a hostel. For only $65-85/night, we could not only have our own bedroom, but we could have our own private apartment if we wanted. In our last days before leaving Thailand, we made Airbnb reservations in Munich, Paris, Bruges, Amsterdam, Cologne and Berlin. (if you want to give AirBNB a try, sign up through our referral link and we both get a $35 credit toward our next trip…its a win win!—> click here) The only thing missing was Frankfurt, and since we were only staying there for one night after flying in, we decided to suck it up and stay in a hostel. The hostel we booked was centrally located, had great reviews and it was half the price of a hotel room. Could it really be that bad?
After a surprisingly fantastic flight on Air India, we arrived in Frankfurt. We quickly got through immigration and made our way to the S-Bahn, one form of Germany’s metro system, to attempt to make our way to the central train station (which is where our hostel was located). There is always a sense of uneasiness when you first arrive into a new country with a new language and you are trying to get your bearings. For some reason, that was ten fold this time. We are used to always being able to find our way around using English, but this time it wasn’t that easy (arrogant of us, I know). After fumbling around trying to figure out how to buy a ticket, we hopped on a train and crossed our fingers we were heading in the right direction. Once on the train, we realized all of the “next station” announcements were only in German so we had no idea which stop was ours. We were looking around for some sort of map with all of the stops listed and could not find anything so we were getting quite nervous. Finally, they announced we were arriving at Frankfurt Hbf (the main station) and hoards of people were unloading. We figured that must be the one and followed them off. The train station was really impressive! It was full of restaurants and eateries and trains coming and going left and right. It was exciting to see people running through the station and hopping on and off trains. We were like giddy school kids when it finally sank in we were in Europe!
…and then we stepped out of the train station. We literally took two steps out of the train station and were surrounded by total sketchiness. Sketchy people partaking in sketchy behavior. We tried to ignore it and make our way towards our hostel. The closer we got, the worse it got. We were staying smack dab in the center of the Red Light District. We checked ourselves in and were happy to finally drop our bags. It was almost 9 pm and we were surprised to find it was still daylight. We were anxious for a traditional German meal so we decided to brave the streets only to find that everything was closed and the only places that weren’t, were places we wanted no part of. We finally settled on a crappy pizza for $20 and watched plenty of drug exchanges take place before our very eyes. We shoveled down the food and made our way back to the security of our hostel as quickly as possible. We thought after a long day of flying we would have no problem getting a great night’s sleep and we could start fresh the next day. Wrong again. We managed to arrive during a heat wave and had to keep the windows open for at least a little bit of a cool breeze. Although there was absolutely no breeze and the sweat was rolling off us, we were serenaded all night long by the sounds of cracked out prostitutes roaming the streets, screaming at every person and car that passed. We lied in bed all night, staring at the ceiling until 5:30 am, completely let down. Germany was not at all what we thought it was going to be…
We dragged ourselves downstairs to the lobby at 5:30 am in hopes of a good cup of coffee and to charge our phones. We were surprised to find a few other guys down there already. Turns out, they had the same problems trying to sleep. One of the guys actually worked at the hostel, and after talking to him we started to feel a little better. We found out the RLD is only a couple of streets and you can escape it by walking just two blocks. No – not all of Germany is this way. He explained the reason they don’t cut down on the crime in this district is that they would rather keep it confined to those few streets rather than have them spread all over the city. Therefore, police tend to look the other way. Huge sigh of relief! He recommended we walk towards the river and we would be pleasantly we surprised to find that Frankfurt is actually a beautiful city.
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He was right! Along the river and in the center of Frankfurt we found the Germany we were looking for. We were in awe of the architecture and cobblestone streets and overwhelmed with the abundance of bread and baked goods. We found that Frankfurt was actually a lovely city, although often overlooked by tourists as more of a financial hub. We wished we had more than a half day to explore, however, we had already booked our train to Munich and were leaving that afternoon. Munich was the destination we were most excited about and could not wait for our first real train ride through the countryside of Germany.
Things weren’t necessarily smooth sailing though. Make sure to watch the video to check out Frankfurt and hear about the train troubles that ensued…
