![\"16847531669_c6e32aa43c_b\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yourtypicalguy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/16847531669_c6e32aa43c_b.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nGetting to Germany is expensive. \u00a0Flights ranged from $850-$1500 round trip so to get 5 people to Germany is about the price of a used car. \u00a0You have several choices of airlines and they all run specials at various times. \u00a0I think that if you’re like me and going for “best price” you’ll end up on Turkish Air or SAS. \u00a0We chose SAS. \u00a0The flight was about 8 hours to our connection and then about 1.5 hours once we made our connecting flight. \u00a0Our flight was delayed 2 hours upon arriving to the airport. \u00a0People told us that this is not uncommon with international flights. \u00a0Other than hanging out in the airport a little longer this was not a big deal.<\/p>\n
Germany is 6 hours ahead of the US (east coast). \u00a0My friend said the quickest way to adapt to the time shift is sleep on the plane and to just stay up when you get to Germany and “push through” and go to bed at your normal bed time in Germany. \u00a0This would mean you have to endure one hell of a long day but it’s not too bad after that.<\/p>\n
Upon arriving to D\u00fcsseldorf airport, in Germany, it was a little confusing. \u00a0It probably didn’t help that I was tired but it wasn’t clear where our baggage was and no one really told us. \u00a0We finally found it. \u00a0Luckily my daughters CBYX program liaison (Bianca) met us at the airport and took us under her wing. \u00a0So getting the rental car and getting to my hotel was easy. \u00a0We can’t thank her enough for all of her efforts. \u00a0We really appreciated her!<\/p>\n
Hotels, Rentals and where to stay. \u00a0Traveling to Germany is expensive and everything in Germany can cost a bit more than the US as well. \u00a0We found most things to be comparable as the Euro and Dollar exchange rate was working to our advantage on this trip. \u00a0We stayed in our first place and coordinated it through HomeAway. \u00a0HomeAway is a house rental site where individual property owners advertise and rent their personal properties. \u00a0It was a good alternative to hotels for us due to the size of our family. \u00a0You need to be careful what you choose and do a little homework but you can find some really nice places. \u00a0I think we lucked out.<\/p>\n The first thing you’ll notice is the general size difference…of everything. \u00a0The cars, the streets, the stores, the houses, all are smaller. \u00a0Not a bad thing just a fact. \u00a0The byproduct of less space and smaller things is that you’ll find some pretty neat innovations. \u00a0Some are so cool you’ll think \u00a0“why don’t we do that, that makes so much sense”. \u00a0Example…all residential toilets have slim tanks or wall buried tanks mounted in the walls and have a small and large flush button. \u00a0Saves space, saves water…why not? \u00a0 One of my favorites was the windows. \u00a0They have windows that are full panes of sashless glass unlike our typical double or single hung windows. \u00a0The view out of this type of window is unobstructed by grilles and sash frames. \u00a0They are double hinged too…you can tilt the window in at the top allowing a breeze while being kid safe or change the handle position and the whole window will swing in allowing for max breeze. \u00a0Opening windows in Germany is important because there aren’t as many places with central air conditioning so the air exchange is not like our homes. \u00a0Opening windows becomes necessary to freshen up from time to time.<\/p>\n Germany is old, real old. \u00a0We in the US consider our country history…independence, civil war etc. “a long time ago” but the US time scale is like a few hours relative to Germany’s time line in history. \u00a0 Not making our history any less important but what you’ll notice is this age and historical character oozes from all areas of the German surroundings. \u00a0Architecture, monuments, churches…its a real eye opener and really quite an experience. Have you heard of the Neander Valley? \u00a0No? \u00a0Neanderthal Man?…yeah, that’s Germany. \u00a0Pretty cool.<\/p>\n Just a sample of the “Age” you feel while walking around the city. \u00a0A simple window sill that you can tell has been there a really long time.<\/p>\n On Easter Sunday I took a walk in the city and while the Church bells were going like crazy I snapped a picture of this church. \u00a0I am sure the people of Essen don’t even notice it but I really found it incredible. \u00a0This type of building and architecture is everywhere.<\/p>\n We were welcomed by my daughters host family and even invited to an Easter bonfire that is an Easter tradition. \u00a0The community will gather, socialize, eat and yes…drink a little beer. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n We thought we would bring a little USA to the event and had brought Smores makings all the way from home. \u00a0So out came the graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows. \u00a0It was so funny to see the locals with marshmallow stuck to their fingers but the German children really appreciated the sugar. \u00a0We were introduced to our own new campfire treat. \u00a0The Germans place uncooked dough on a stick and actually bake bread on a stick at their campfires. \u00a0It is less mess and more filling, so cool!<\/p>\n I would say one of my favorite features of Germany that stuck with me is the stone work in the streets and sidewalks. \u00a0Even in modern cities they use stone for streets, walkways and various areas that really give the city a unique character and texture that’s hard to explain unless you’re up close and can see it. \u00a0My photos don’t do it justice but gives an idea.<\/p>\n The photo below is actually from a Schloss (castle) that we visited. \u00a0The modern city stone work is not this rough \u00a0but you get the idea.<\/p>\n The other feature I like about the German mind-set is that they are willing to walk. \u00a0People walk a mile or two like its nothing. \u00a0Go to the store, grocery shopping?…just walk. \u00a0Mass transportation is readily available too. \u00a0It’s not uncommon for Germans to catch the bus, jump on a train, go to a city an hour away and then back. \u00a0This is an area where I really think the US could improve. \u00a0Then again we have such immense land and space its a harder thing to accomplish this network for travel but our cities and surrounding suburbs could certainly benefit from better mass transportation.<\/p>\n Lets talk Castles…”Schloss” in German. \u00a0I think Germany has more Schloss’s than the us has 7-Eleven’s. \u00a0All kidding aside there are literally too many to visit. \u00a0We started our trip in Essen visiting my daughter in a nearby city. \u00a0While there we branched out to neighboring towns and visited a couple of Water Castles surrounded by water motes.<\/p>\n The two water castles were very different but equally beautiful. \u00a0From old statues and monuments to a guy offering paid drives in his Lamborghini (no I didn’t drive it…) there were plenty of things to see.<\/p>\n I really wanted to take this Lambo out on the Audubon!<\/p>\n You will see some interesting vehicles in Germany. \u00a0What I like most are the many models of the car makers that we have in the US. \u00a0It’s interesting to see a Mercedes hatchback diesel that’s smaller than a Volkswagen Golf. \u00a0I wish we had a wider range of models for BMW and Mercedes in the US like Germany, they certainly would sell more cars. \u00a0Also its fun to see the cars you have never even heard of. \u00a0My son and I were constantly asking each other “whats that?” as we walked the streets. \u00a0I still don’t know what the car is in the picture below but I want one!<\/p>\n Driving in Germany is not too bad. \u00a0It’s important to know what german words mean “one way” and “do not enter” as there were a couple of those incidents on this trip. \u00a0Ha ha. \u00a0The driving location\/position for the cars and streets in Germany is the same as the US. \u00a0Road rules are more or less the same too. \u00a0Two road rules that stood out…if there is a person even thinking of crossing the road you had better give way and you never turn on red, ever, not even a right turn. \u00a0They also have an “almost green” light. \u00a0Our traffic lights go from green (go) to yellow (stop if you can) to red (stop)…but the germans add one more sequence…after a red light you will see a RED and YELLOW light at the same time which means “it’s about to turn green” . \u00a0Not sure why but I think it’s allowing those standard, stick shift drivers to get in gear and get their foot on the clutch. \u00a0There are far more diesel cars and manual shift transmissions in Germany. \u00a0It would be wise to make sure if you rent a car to let the rental car company know if you are unable to drive a stick shift. \u00a0I actually drove a VW Sharan, diesel, stick shift…that’s a stick shift mini-van! \u00a0Took a little getting used to.<\/p>\n Ok, I know you’re wondering about the Audubon. Yes I drove it and contrary to popular opinion it isn’t always “speed limit-less”. \u00a0It ranges near cities from 80-120khr that’s 50-75mph approximately. \u00a0On the country side while driving in more rural areas it was time to rock though. \u00a0I would drive on average from 100-115mph and there were cars passing me like I wasn’t even moving. \u00a0The best thing about the German highway driving is that people live by a rule…if you drive slow stay in the right. \u00a0You can pass on the left but if you see a rapidly approaching vehicle in the rear view mirror you better move over! \u00a0They take that rule very seriously and I have to say it works well and traffic moves along nicely with this simple concept. \u00a0You can actually get a ticket for driving too slow in the left lane.<\/p>\n Check back in a few days as I will outline my trip and list all of the places I visited and share many photos of the journey.<\/p>\n Stay tuned for Germany – Part 2<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My daughter was awarded a great honor. \u00a0She received the scholarship for the CBYX program. \u00a0This scholarship is awarded by\u00a0U.S. Congress, called the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Program. \u00a0This allows a student to live with a host family and attend high school in Germany while becoming fluent with the language and having a culturally immersive experience. \u00a0Needless to say she jumped at the opportunity and now my second oldest is signed up and getting ready to go as well! My family decided to go visit with my daughter, in Germany so I wanted to share the experience so anyone traveling there for the first time would have some perspective from this “first timer”. \u00a0This was my first trip to Germany and my first trip to Europe. \u00a0I am not a worldly traveler at all. \u00a0I am sure I will get few things wrong but I will do my best. Getting to Germany is expensive. \u00a0Flights ranged from $850-$1500 round trip so to get 5 people to Germany is about the price of a used car. \u00a0You have several choices of airlines and they all run specials at various times. \u00a0I think that if you’re like me and going for “best price” \u2026 Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[88,52],"tags":[103,102,101,100,99,98],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/yourtypicalguy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/16886299240_fc99a339b1_k.jpg?fit=2048%2C1361","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3RysV-89","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/yourtypicalguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/yourtypicalguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/yourtypicalguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yourtypicalguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yourtypicalguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=505"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/yourtypicalguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":547,"href":"http:\/\/yourtypicalguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505\/revisions\/547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yourtypicalguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/yourtypicalguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yourtypicalguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yourtypicalguy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n