We're back. We flew out Saturday afternoon (4pm) and managed to all get D1 to Munich. Though I will say the FA on the side my son and I were on was a joy,
. My BF was given 6A, I was given 6B and my son 6C. My son wanted the window (we were on the 767-400). The FA came over and first was upset we weren't the paying passengers who I guess were assigned those seats originally. Then she looked us up and down and said, Oh, you're non-rev and kinda rolled her eyes. She slacked BIG time on service. Not that we expected or asked for a lot, but she was too busy chatting up other passengers to take our orders, or bring us food/drinks. My BF on the other hand had FAs who brought him everything under the sun, nonstop drinks and snacks, etc, LOL. Oh well.
We all really slacked on sleep Friday night, hoping to sleep on the plane. That didn't happen. The cabin was kept WAY too hot. Plus as soon as we got on the flight I had to book everything (hotel, tours, train tickets, set up the esim, etc). That is the real joy in non-rev. Well first was would we get D1 (we had all decided it was D1 or we would pivot to Frankfurt). Then it was a race to book everything. So the first 2 hours were spent with me freaking out (and eating). When we landed we managed to figure out the train/subway situation. I used my Marriott FNC (35k) certificate that was expiring this month on the Aloft Munich. I used my Delta Stay credit for the other 2 nights (plus $290, LOL).
When we landed we couldn't check into the hotel. So we left our bags and headed out to do stuff. Day 1's plans were supposed to be the museum, maybe some of the buildings/gardens. We found ourselves at the BMW museum. It was hot....so hot. And crowded. SOOOOO very crowded! And I hit my wall, hard and fast. I was lightheaded, and exhausted and miserable. After making it through, we headed back towards our hotel. We needed food, which if I remember we got in the station (McD for me and the boy, the BF got some kind of sausage). Luckily the hotel had a room for us. When we got to the room we noticed it was HOT. Sure it was cooler than outside, but it was much warmer than the hallways. I managed to pass out on the bench in the room, while my BF had them come try to "reset" our AC. After a nap for all of us, we decided to venture back out. We managed to catch the Glockenspiel. At this point, my BF was already thinking of going home on Tuesday because of how bad this all was. We walked around for a bit, but again, it was HOT, and so crowded. We headed to a beer hall to try and get some dinner. But now my son had hit his wall. He was over the crowds and the heat and didn't like anything on the menu. So we left. We found an Italian restaurant. The idea was to just split a pizza between my son and I. I don't think the waiter understood and bought us both one. Considering they were $30/ea I wasn't too happy. Then of course there was the bottles of water, as well. The place had no A/C. It was miserable and cost us well over $100. At that point we decided to call it a night. We headed back to our hotel room where it was still UNGODLY hot. We managed to switch from the 5th floor to the 1st floor, and I think that helped us get a "cooler" room, but it was still hot.
Monday we had our castles tours. We got to see Neuschwanstein and Linderhof and stopped in Oberammergau as well. The bus had decent AC, lots of snacks and water too. Our guide was very knowledgeable and VERY into Ludwig LOL. I think my son was annoyed that she talked so much. But we redeemed the trip on Monday a bit. Plus the delta one seats didn't look great for going home Tuesday. We already had the room for the night, so I pushed for us to stay. Plus my 16yo wanted to get his first "legal" beer. So we all agreed to push forward. We got the boy KFC (which he said was nasty) when we got back from the tour (which was 10 hours) and then he passed out in the room, while the BF and I tried Augustiner Keller (which wasn't too far from the hotel). I ordered a "steak". It was white, and certainly not beef! I'm a very picky eater, and was upset there was no chicken to really be found! And then even more upset the "steak" wasn't beef. The BF ordered the white sausage but wasn't impressed. But he did like the beer, LOL. It's also crazy water is more than beer (which I don't like beer).
Day 3 was supposed to be Salzburg. But we decided it probably wouldn't be enjoyable for anyone. Plus my BF really wants to do Eagle's Nest and we couldn't pull that off. So we were going to just tour around Munich. We started w/ an American breakfast. My son was so upset there wasn't a bagel to be found anywhere. Oh and that McD didn't have sausage biscuits. So we went to Mr. Pancake, LOL. We were close to the Olympic Park so we headed over there. That's when we discovered the swim hall. And that anyone could visit it. My son was begging us to go, so we headed back, got our suits and towels and spent the afternoon at the pool there, LOL. He was excited they had all the diving boards open and just before we left, they opened the platform. So they both got to go off the 10m platform. After that fun we decided to hit up 5 Guys, LOL. In my defense, the food sucks in Munich, LOL. We tried to head out to the Siegestor and then the gardens, but my body hit its limits (and again, so freaking hot). Not to mention the Arch was under repairs and had a tarp up. UGH. So we headed back to pack up.
The way home, there were 28 Delta 1 open, so we had no problem getting a seat. We had a little time so we hit the lounge. Of course my 16yo had to go take a shower, because why not, LOL. We all got a little food, he snuck his last legal beer (at 9am) and we headed to the gate. This time I was 6C and my BF got 6B (my son got 6D). Since D1 was so empty they let DS swap to 7D which he liked the configuration of the seat better, LOL. I will say, 6C SUCKED! it was soooo narrow! I did not like the foot well at all either! I thought about trading rows, but figured out how to drop the side of my seat and made it more comfortable. I can see why my BF didn't sleep at all on the way to Munich. I finally got to have CHICKEN for our departure meal. I think we all slept several hours. They kept the cabin nice and cool. And the FAs were amazing this time. Mine kept bringing me more champagne. I don't really like to drink while flying, but I mean, champagne....free, LOL. Oh and I will say I busted out the compression socks for this flight. GAME CHANGER! I have been swelling recently on longer flights (like to the west coast). The socks did great.
So in a nut shell. We flew to German to swim, eat American food, and see the castles, LOL. My son is sold on Michigan even more now, LOL. I don't think I can ever do a long haul outside of D1! And jet lag is real. Even w/ sleeping a good amount on the flight home, I hit the wall when we got back. I think I'm pretty much back to normal now.
All in all, I spent about $1k. The aloft location was great, the AC was not. We have all decided Europe will only be spring/fall/winter. Or we'll be researching what the crew hotel is (as we assume they must have great AC). Part of me feels like we wasted so much time and opportunity. But then I remind myself, we have the ability to just do crap like this. While $1k isn't cheap ($580 of it was the castle tour), having "free" tickets makes trips like this more doable and less stressful to "see everything". We did what worked for us.....We gave up Vegas for this. I had palazzo booked from the Black Friday deals. But we were just there in May, and we're going in December for Zac Brown (and maybe Nov for New Kids). So I was okay pivoting our plans. 3 of us can now say we've been to Europe. I felt terrible my daughter had to stay home because she is starting her big girl job. But she would have hated every single second!
And if you made it through this novel, you should atleast get castles, LOL.
because that's we roll here), so MSRs will be easy to meet at that time. Currently the property tax payment will be the last big expense for 6 months.
. I also wouldn't be surprised if the AF for the plantium hits 4 digits.
