5 Travel Tips That’ll SAVE YOU In Germany

5 Travel Tips That’ll SAVE YOU In Germany

Did you know that Germany produces one third of all the beer varieties in the entire world? Or that the first Oktoberfest was actually a wedding celebration for King Ludwig, who wanted the entire city to celebrate with him? What a guy. To many, visuals of Oktoberfest with unlimited pints of beer come to mind when thinking of Germany. However, many first timers not only end up beerless, but also struggling to navigate as they’re lost in translation while in Germany. And worst of all, they end up offending the locals who are pleasant people, but also not afraid to give you a piece of their mind. All because they overlook critical cultural norms that often make or break trips to Germany. But lucky for you, there’s five simple things you can do to avoid ending up like those travelers. And to understand them, we can learn from Alex and John, two Americans who recently traveled to Germany. Their story truly highlights the power of these tips as they followed the same itinerary, but each had two totally different experiences. On one hand you had Alex, the planner, who wanted to be as prepared as possible before landing in Germany. On the other hand, John was Mr. Go-With-The-Flow. All it took was one google search to tell him that roughly half of Germans speak English and he assumed navigating Germany would be a breeze. He was so confident that he even made a friendly little wager with Alex that he would capture the best pictures from their trip. Poor John did not know what he was in for. Before they knew it, they were on a plane to Germany headed to their first stop, the beautiful capital city of Berlin. Immediately upon arrival, Alex’s planning effort started paying off dividends. He was embraced with a warm welcome by the locals as he started practicing the basic German words he learned during his planning. Plus, he was able to efficiently get to his hotel after a long flight. But what about John? Well, he learned the value of knowing the basics. John was met with looks of bewilderment when he immediately started speaking English to the locals. Although he read that most Germans can speak English, he overlooked the cultural courtesy to at least attempt to speak a few words in German. Regardless of how many people can speak English, it’s important to show you are at least trying so you need to make sure to know the basics. Words like Danke (thank you), Bitte (please), Entschuldigung (excuse me) and Tschüß (goodbye) are a good start. As long as you show effort, most Germans will come to the rescue with English to help you with whatever you need since most can speak the language. As you can see, right off the bat Alex and John were off to two completely different starts based on one of those critical cultural facts. But the majority of the vacation was still ahead of them, along with the friendly wager. The first task was to get pictures next to each of the historical sites on the Berlin Half Day Walking Tour. And there were plenty like the Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall, the Holocaust Memorial, and the rebuilt Reichstag. The tour was set to start at 9am. Both Alex and John were ready to go. However, Alex was the only one truly prepared because while he was brushing up on his German, he came across an important reminder about German culture. See, Alex was reminded that in German culture, punctuality is of the utmost importance. Being on time is not enough. The expectation is that you are at least 10 minutes early. So Alex arrived 10 minutes early to the tour, which was right on time. John on the other hand, was shocked to find no sight of the group when he arrived at the meet up spot at 9am. He waited fifteen minutes. Then thirty. Before you know it, an hour had gone by. With Alex not responding, stress and anxiety officially set in and John was about to call it quits. At that moment, John saw the group coming back around and gratefully joined them. He was so grateful, he even gave the German group leader a hug. Strike two for poor John as he learned the need to understand and have respect for German etiquette. And for Germans, two of the most important signs of respect are being on time and respecting personal space. I mean, there’s a reason why Berliners are known for the Berliner Schnauze. While John was able to join the rest of the tour, he quickly fell behind in the wager by missing some of the destinations. No problem, he thought. He’ll make up for it soon enough in Munich. But first, it was payback time. He was going to get his friend Alex back tonight over a few beers. But instead, John would end up owing Alex for another missed insight about the German way of life! That’s right. That night the two of them went out for some beers because, again, you can’t go to the beer capital of the world and not enjoy some fresh pints. John elected to cover the first round and his plan was simple – make it a late night so Alex would be exhausted for the next day, allowing John to even up the score for the wager. But that plan quickly went by the wayside as John whipped out his credit card to pay. He was humiliated as he was met with a frustrated Berliner seemingly barking at him to get lost. What was the problem, he thought? Just as he was about to turn around to do a minor walk of shame, Alex slid in to save the day with cash to cover the drinks. You see, in many parts of Germany, even the cities, cash is still king. Alex knew this and made sure to take a ton of cash out for the trip – specifically in Euros. So now John owed his buddy money and was down in the challenge. As he got back to his hotel, he promised himself that Munich would be a fresh start. But on the way to Munich, John found himself in a situation he never could have even imagined. All because of an incredibly important fact about traveling between German cities. In Germany, there’s a few different ways to get around. The quickest, but most expensive way is by flight. That’ll run you just over one hundred euros on average and take just over an hour. The other two options are by bus or train. While taking a bus is the cheapest way, only costing around twenty euros, it’s also the longest. Between Berlin and Munich, it’s a painful seven hours. So most people, including John and Alex, opt for the middle option, or to take a train, which will run you about forty euros and take about four hours from Berlin to Munich. Sticking to the important lesson learned earlier, they both arrived early and were fortunate to find two seats together on the popular train that was absolutely packed. But just as they were getting settled, John felt a tap on his shoulder – he was horrified to learn he was sitting in someone else’s seat! But how? Well, while not always required, often people book seats in advance when traveling on trains in Germany due to the popularity and the potential repercussions if you don’t. And those repercussions would really drive this lesson home for John, as he ended up having to sit in the bike storage carriage given how packed the train was for the next four hours. So as you can imagine, John was ready for this trip to be over already. But he had nowhere to go and did now have some valuable knowledge under his belt, which would turn the trip around once he arrived in Munich. The two had a blast traveling through Munich and Hamburg, getting a ton of great photos of historical sites like the Nymphenburg Palace, the Deutsches Museum, and the Miniatur Wunderland. Surprisingly, John even made a comeback in the friendly wager when Alex slept through one of the mornings in Munich. But putting the friendly wager aside, maybe the real winner was who knew the final tip when traveling in Germany. And this time around, it was John who was on the right side. You see, during that painful train ride to Munich, John decided to do some research to see if there was anything else he should know in advance about Germany instead of learning it the hard way. Meanwhile, Alex slept peacefully in his seat, reaping the rewards of his initial knowledge. Unfortunately, that knowledge had a blind spot. And it reared its ugly head on the last day of the trip. On Friday night, two days before they were set to depart, they both spotted cool souvenirs in a local Hamburg shop. Now, Saturday was jam-packed with last full day activities so it’d be hard to visit the store. However, John got up early and made sure to get to that store before Sunday. Meanwhile, Alex figured he’d grab what he needed Sunday morning before the flight. Instead, it was now Alex’s face that had a look of shock on it as he saw all the stores closed for the entirety of the day. In Germany, most stores are closed on Sunday in accordance with the law. Locals use this time to indulge in outdoor pleasures like hiking or hanging out in the park. Alex was devastated. But luckily for him, his friend John was now the one coming to the rescue as he grabbed an extra souvenir for him – I guess that’ll make up for those beers back in Berlin. One thing is for sure, we know you won’t end up like either Alex or John on your trip to Germany because you now know what to do! And if you want to know similar tips that’ll very likely save a summer vacation in Italy, then make sure to click on this next video!

Did you know that Germany produces one third of all the beer varieties in the entire world? Or that the first Oktoberfest was actually a wedding celebration for King Ludwig, who wanted the entire city to celebrate with him? What a guy.

To many, visuals of Oktoberfest with unlimited pints of beer come to mind when thinking of Germany.

However, many first timers not only end up beerless, but also struggling to navigate as they’re lost in translation while in Germany. And worst of all, they end up offending the locals who are pleasant people, but also not afraid to give you a piece of their mind.

All because they overlook critical cultural norms that often make or break trips to Germany.

But lucky for you, there’s five simple things you can do to avoid ending up like those travelers. And to understand them, we can learn from Alex and John, two Americans who recently traveled to Germany.

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00:00 Did You Know This About Germany?
01:32 Tip #1 – Know The Basics
02:51 Tip #2 – Sei Höflich
04:33 Tip #3 – Some Say It’s Still King
05:44 Tip #4 – U-Bahn, S-Bahn
07:11 Tip #5 – Sorry, We’re Closed

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