First Trip Around Germany....... Alone (May 11-13) -- Part 1

Kiel Train Station

(Everything typed in real-time...as it is happening, Enjoy!)

Man, I had to keep my word to myself and get out and travel throughout Germany! Its the second week of the season and we have a bye week (no games scheduled) and I knew I wanted to get out and travel. Originally I planned to go to Amsterdam with a teammate but as the free weekend quickly approached us, his plans seemed to be fleeting as there weren't any confirmations in place for the trip.  I refused to sit still and end up being stuck in Kiel for my off weekend. I began to research different places I could travel to, with or without anybody!  Several places came to mind that I had previously heard of, or that friends here in Kiel suggested, such as Berlin, Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark; Pargue, Czech Republic; etc. I wanted to stay inside of Germany so I first chose Berlin because it is the Capital and I heard there were great parties in the big city. I had a couple friends telling me they would go with me but between work obligations and just plain laziness those plans also flaked. I was still considering going alone but after realizing that we play in Berlin the following week and that me and my teammates would more than likely stay in Berlin after the game to party, I figured I should take this opportunity to travel else where (somewhere we will not play this season) so I began to research options outside of Germany. Copenhagen (Denmark) and Prague (Czeh republic) came to mind because I had previously heard of these places in movies etc.  However, given such short (and very last minute) travel plans  I decided to look for different places in Germany (where I wouldn't visit for a game). After looking at our game schedule, Viola, there it was, Frankfurt, Germany! This is another huge city that I had heard of before coming to Europe and even better, we don't play a single game there. With the help of my good friend/teammate (speaks fluent German) the night before I researched a very cost efficient way to get to Frankfurt. After solidifying a way there through a popular carpool website here in Europe, I quickly researched a hotel to book. I was a little worried about finding availability due to the fact that I was booking the hotel room the morning that I was scheduled to leave! After comparing several mid-ranked hotels and hostels on TripAdvisor.com I decided upon a hotel named the Mercure Hotel-Kaiserhof City Center.  I just went off of price (decent for such a last minute booking) and location (as the name suggested, located in the city center just steps away from the main train station) and most importantly, Faith! So there it was, 8:30am on a gorgeous morning in Kiel, Germany and I had set travels plans for a weekend in Frankfurt, Germany.....alone! Im thinking to myself, "I am not scared and this is what I wanted, to travel... So let's get iiiiittttt!"

Train Ride Into Hamburg

Hamburg Main Train Station

 My travel plans called for me to catch a quick hour long train ride at 2:20pm to the bigger city of Hamburg where I would meet my carpool partners for our scheduled departure of 3:45pm to Frankfurt.  Google maps tells me it takes approximately 5 hours and I'm thinking to myself, "damn, that's a long time to be in a car with some random German folks I just met in another part of the world that I am totally unfamiliar with!........ Fuck it" hahaha. Sometimes in life you have to take risks and in my experiences, most of those risks have turned out to be awesome decisions that created life-long pleasurable memories! So here I am, sitting on the train to Hamburg a little anxious (not necessarily nervous) to really begin this journey to the bottom of Germany! 3:03pm

6:35pm

Hamburg Train Station/Mall

Curry wurst!

Boy do I feel good right now! Got to the main train station in Hamburg which was more like a mall, and felt even more anxious knowing that I would soon meet my fellow travelers. As I walked aimlessly through the station in search for the passenger pick up area I walked past a curry wurst food place and I had to stop and treat myself to the awesomeness locked inside those little sausages and pommus (fries). Soon after I finished my food I contacted my driver and he assured me that he would be there shortly in a small blue car wearing a black shirt and black ball cap.  After taking out some cash from the ATM (in case some crazy shit happens and I have to ditch these random people and make a run for it! Haha. But seriously) I made my way outside and after a few calls back and forth we find each other.  Relief!  He's a tall young looking German guy (later found out he is only 22) wearing a faded black shirt, basketball shorts, a snap back hat, and Chuck Taylor's; skateboarder look. Not what I expected but definitely a lot better than the 35 year old weird looking German guy who was planning to butcher me (this is what I was prepared for mentally!).  The guy, Joe, spoke great English and immediately came off as a cool guy that I wouldn't mind riding with and as we walked to his car he told me that his girlfriend would be accompanying us (also a plus knowing he isn't gay! -no offense).  I could see her as we approached the car and I'm thinking "ok Joe, not half bad! I see you have a little taste".  She wasn't my usual cup of tea but she was a tall and slim nice looking German girl with a pretty face; good job Joe.  We all get in the car and start to drive, Frankfurt here we come!

My Travel buddy, Joe!

The Road to Frankfurt

We begin with the usual small talk, where are you from? What brings you here? Blah blah blah. They were a bit impressed with my ambitious decision to travel alone after only being here for a month; Bawse!  Anywho, we get the usual stuff out of the way and hit the autobahn and now we're cruising. I fall asleep after about 45 minutes of driving which I definitely said I wouldn't do in case these random people took me off into the German woods to never be heard from again. Haha.  For some reason I felt at ease after talking to them and the light drizzle of rain that started up didn't help either.  Sleep!  I wake up after about an hour to my phone ringing and it's my coach.  Earlier I found out that he used to coach in Frankfurt so I called him to see if he had any contacts for me out there and much to my appreciation he did and was calling me to confirm that he had a friend (female- always a plus!) that lived there who would take good care of me in the big city!  Now I'm feeling even better about this trip knowing that I would more than likely have someone there who knew someone I knew and could show me the ropes!  In the midst of all of that, my boy Joe let me know that they would be down to grab a few brews later tonight if I didn't have anyone to hang with. Cool.  The next cool thing happens a few minutes later; their iPod dies. Haha.  He turns and asks if I had an iPod and if I wanted to play some music. Of course I do, two actually (iPod and iPad) and so I hook it up.  Now obviously I want to play something that we would all enjoy but i didn't think we would have the same taste.  I asked what artist he knew of from America, his answer: Cyress Hill. Ummm, "Jump, Jump"???  Ok, this will be a bit harder than I thought.  I play a couple songs from Wiz Khalifa and they seemed to think it was ok so i decided to pull out my other iPod and turn it to the playlist entitled "white boy". Hahaa, seriously!  It is a list of songs that I gathered throughout college at Duke University (predominately white) and everybody knows after years of some partying at Shooters near Duke' s campus, you'll come across some good "white boy playlist" worthy songs.  I know every black person has a playlist similar to this! Don't front!  So as the songs by artist including 3OH!3, Finger 11, P.O.D, and David Cook are currently coming through the speakers I notice a few grins and head shakes. Yes! Showing off my diversity in music a little bit. As I am typing this experience on my iPad I notice that the ninth song on the playlist is playing but shit, I only have 12 songs on this list! Hey, I said I was diverse but I didn't say how much! Haha.  12 songs out of a few thousand isn't too bad huh?  Well, with a little under 2 hours left on the road I'm trying to think what list i could play next.  I could say fuck it and just play my usual Wale, Meek Mills, and Project Pat but I think the 'gangsta shit' might be a bit overwhelming so maybe I'll play some Michael Jackson! Haha. But seriously, they looove them some MJ here in Germany. Yea, that sounds like a plan. Now, I told myself once we got under two hours left I would make my first drink of the trip. I bought two fifths of vodka before i left and they are sitting here next to me in my back pack and I must keep my word to myself, right??

Vodka...

Well, cheers! 7:25pm. ETA: 9:00pm








9:25pm

Almost there!

Of course I played about 25 minutes of Michael Jackson but once I started drinking, I had to go ahead and start up the rap tunes for the rest of the hour and a half ride! Haha. They seem to like it a bit, or maybe they were just acting, but who cares! ha. We made a bathroom stop and went 15mins out of the way on accident once we left the rest stop so we are a little off schedule but GPS says we are only 18 mins away from my hotel and now I'm getting excited. Ready to see what it's alllll about! I checked the weather forecast before I left Kiel and much to my disappointment it said 90% chance of rain tonight, bummer! We are now 17 minutes away and the skies are clear so hopefully the Lord felt my heart asking for a wrong forecast for this weekend (20% chance on Saturday night) and will let the rain hold off until I leave. Here in Germany (at least in Kiel) you can never be too sure about the weather. Sunshine one minute, rain pouring down the next! Let's keep our fingers crossed! I can see the lights of Frankfurt now as we are driving in

Frankfurt = Manhattan of Germany

.... Yessss! 9:33pm


9:48pm,  I made it!! Quick video outside of my hotel...





















Feel free to leave comments with your thoughts! Thanks for reading! More to come soon!