10 tips on travelling in Germany

Cheap airline tickets
I usually book my tickets in advance with Lufthansa/Swiss Air. They have offers for open-jaw round trips between Singapore and Europe at around SGD800. These include meals, 23kg checked in baggage allowance and 7kg carryon baggage allowance.

Where to stay?
For hotels, I would recommend Motel One which has several chains throughout Germany. If you are looking for something even more affordable, B&B is good as well. Wombats hostels in Germany are clean and very popular.

Good walking shoes
Besides uneven cobblestones, broken pieces of glass can be found anywhere on the streets of Germany. Expect lots of walking and climbing of stairs. Good walking shoes (preferably covered) are recommended and practical. No German would be seen with flip flops on the streets in Germany.

Buying train tickets

You can buy train tickets online from Deutsche Bahn website or from the ticketing machine. Usually, you get a discount for purchasing train tickets in advance. The ticketing machine generally do not accept big notes like 50 Eur. Remember to validate your ticket before boarding.

Train seat reservation

Long distance trains like Intercity Express (ICE), Intercity (IC) and Eurocity (EC) allow you to make seat reservation at around 4.50 Eur. Is it necessary? Nope. You can save money if you know which seats are not reserved. In the photo below, the window seat is reserved from Hamburg to Berlin while the aisle seat is available. If a seat is reserved from B to C and you are travelling from A to B, you can still sit down at that seat. Of course, that requires you to know the train route well enough.

Do I really need to buy a ticket? They don’t check anyway!

Yes! You wouldn’t want to be caught as a Schwarzfahrer (a person without ticket). It is good to plan your itinerary and purchase a day ticket on days that you would be doing lots of travelling within the city. You never know when you would get checked. I had a day ticket in Berlin and was taking S and U Bahns like nobody business and never got checked. However, I was checked shortly boarding the train in Hamburg.

The guys in the photo did not have the correct ticket and were each fined 20 Eur. If they did not have a ticket, they would each be fined 60 Eur. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Toilets

Generally, you need to pay 0.50 Eur to use the toilet. You can save money by using the toilet at the restaurants which you dined in, at the museums which you visit or on the trains. Note: you would need to pay to use the toilets at the train stations, but not the ones on the train.

In Europe, toilets are usually labelled as WC which stands for water closet. Ladies are also labelled as Damen while Gentlemen as Herren.

What to eat besides pork knuckles and German sausages?

You can try roast pork, Donerteller, and for Asian food fried duck with curry. Portion is huge by the way. If you have enough of meat, you can go for soup too. For authentic bayerisher cuisine, you can go to beer houses like Augustiner, Paulaner, Höfbrauhaus or Löwenbrau.

By default, water is sparkling. Order stilles Wasser if you don't want carbonated water.

Gelato and good quality ice cream can be purchased at 1 to 1.50 Eur per scoop. Get it in a cone.

Bayerischer Krustenbraten at Augustiner

Dönerteller 

Fried duck curry rice

Shopping

Generally, the same shops can be found in any city in Germany. Tourists can get VAT tax refund on items which cost at least 25 Eur. Bring your passport with you whenever you go shopping. In generally, plastic bags are chargeable. Hence, bring your own reusuable bag when you go shopping.

Besides chocolates (Ritter Sport) and sweets (Haribo), you can find lots of goodies at the supermarket. I like to buy wine at Rewe (a supermarket) and you can buy multivitamins at the drugstore (Rossman) at 0.40Eur. Compare that with the multivitamins from Watons which are also made in Germany.

At supermarkets, the cashiers do not pack the items for you. You would have the pack the items into the bags yourself. Make sure you pack the items fast enough as you would not want to be holding up the line.

Jay walking

There is no German equivalent of the word jay walking because the Germans do not jay walk. When in Germany, do as the Germans do. Do not jay walk.

Doris Home, Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan

My first impression of Sun Moon Lake was that it was a boring place. You see, the first time I visited Sun Moon Lake was with a tour group and all we did was had lunch near the lake. We didn’t even take a ferry ride because our tour guide told us it was not safe.

I decided to give Sun Moon Lake a second chance after seeing the beautiful photos of the cycling trail at Sun Moon Lake.

To get to Sun Moon Lake from my homestay near Fengjia nightmarket, I took a taxi to Taichung Gancheng bus station 干城站 for NT $245. At the bus station, I purchased the one way bus ticket to Sun Moon Lake for NT$190.

Here is a photo of how the Gancheng bus station 干城站 looks like.

Below is the schedule of the Nantou bus that departs from Taichung Gancheng station to Sun Moon Lake. Note that it is better to board the bus at Gancheng station than Taichung Railway station because the bus departs from Gancheng station and one is more likely to find a seat then. The bus journey is from Gancheng station to Sun Moon Lake took around 2 hours.

I alighted in front of the fire station at Sun Moon Lake. From there, I turned left and it was a short walk to Doris Home, my homestay at Sun Moon Lake. It was really easy to get there. You simply follow the cats and the paw prints!

Doris Home

Doris Home is a cats' theme homestay. It housed a total of 5 cats when I was there. Cats lovers should definitely stay at Doris Home! The homestay was impeccably clean and modern, the owners were helpful and friendly(they checked with me if I have any food allergy before they prepared the breakfast) and everywhere was full of cats!

In fact, I got a shock as I entered the room as I thought there was a cat lying on the bed. 

Kitten room

In the afternoon, I rented a bike at NT$200 and cycled around Sun Moon Lake for around 2 hours. I took the path in lime green and did a U-turn when I reached the steep flight of stairs.

Thereafter, I took a ferry to Ita Thao at NT$100 and spent the late afternoon there. 

Taoyuan Airport to Taichung

Paragliding in Luzern, Switzerland

I went paragliding in Luzene in March. As it was my first time paragliding, I opted for the basic tandem flight with a flight time of 10-15 min. The instructor picked my friend and I up at Luzern Hbf and drove us (together with another couple) to valley of Engelberg for paragliding. The actual site of paragliding can only be decided on the actual day as it depends on the weather condition and wind direction. As there were two instructors, my friend and I took the gondola lift up the valley together with the instructors while the couple waited at the valley for their turn.

Prior of paragliding, I watched a video from Paragliding Luzern webpage on how to take off. Basically, you run down a slope and get lifted up in the air. Sounds easy? That was what I thought and I was so wrong! There I was standing at the peak of the cliff, looking down and could not see the end of the valley! The instructor stood behind me and instructed me to run and take off. However, my legs were shaking and all I could do was to take a few baby steps. Before I knew it, I was dragged along and up in the air! Thankfully, the runway was short and we were gliding in the air within seconds!

The scenery was simply breathtaking! I immediately cast my fear aside and enjoyed the nature presented before me. It was so calm, so calm ..... until the instructor pulled the handles started to do a roller coaster in the air. Depending on whether you like roller coaster, the duration of peaceful vs exhilarating flight can be customized accordingly.

Photos and video was recorded and you could purchase this after paragliding.

Even though paragliding in Switzerland is expensive, I would still go for it. It is once in a lifetime experience and the view is simply amazing!

If you are keen to do paragliding in Luzern, here is the contact:

Paragliding Luzern GmbH in Kriens

basic flight: 150 CHF + 34 CHF for photo and video

http://www.paragliding-luzern.ch/e_flights.html

Tel: +41 78 760 63 60

pick up and drop off at Luzern Hbf can be arranged

Boots, helmet and jacket are provided

Bobby compact backpack

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored review.

Last year, I placed an order for Bobby compact backpack, an anti-theft bag by XD Design on a kickstarter website and it arrived just in time for my Europe trip.

What drove me to purchase the Bobby compact backpack was that I became a bit paranoid after reading and watching videos of pickpocketing in Italy.

Here is my review.

Pros:

+ Bag is padded, making it suitable for carrying laptop and fragile items such as bottles of wine.

+ Weight distribution is good. Does not strain back when carried.

+ Water resistant with bag cover to make it waterproof.

+ Can be strapped onto luggage handle.

+ Hidden compartments which are not accessible to others.

Cons:

- Bag has a definite volume and is rather bulky; it cannot be compressed and stored in the luggage when not in use.

- Mass of empty bag is around 800 g which is rather heavy.

- No external pocket for storing water bottle.

- Difficult to access side pockets 

An anti-theft bag makes it more difficult for pickpockets to steal things from your bag but it does not prevent your entire bag from being stolen. So, one still has to be vigilant and watch own belongings. 

Cinque Terre, Italy

Cinque Terre, literally translates to 5 lands, is a UNESCO world heritage.

What drew me to Cinque Terre was this breathtaking photo of Manarola. Colourful houses at a cliff by the sea. How beautiful is that!

Cinque Terre consists of 5 towns. I visited all 5 towns with the Cinque Terre card. In Mar 2017, the 2 day Cinque Terre card cost 23 Eur and allowed unlimited travel on trains and buses, Wifi access, use of public toilets, hiking on path 2 in Cinque Terre for 2 days. Without the card, each train ride between the towns in Cinque Terre cost 4 Eur. The frequency of the train ride is approximately once every hour. The train schedule is available online, however, there is a variation of ~10min of the actual timing from the online schedule.

Is the Cinque Terre card worth the money?

Yes, if you intend to visit all 5 towns. Otherwise, you could get the individual train tickets. Wifi access provided by the Cinque Terre card was limited, public toilets were closed and some of the trails on path 2 were closed.

Here is my take on the 5 towns.

Riomaggiore

Houses are pretty run down from the outside.

Corniglia

Most physically challenging and inaccessible due to the climb up to the town center. To reach the town center from the train station, it is recommended to take the Cinque Terre bus.

Vernazza

Most elderly friendly. Mostly flat ground and town center can be easily reached from the train station.

Monterosso

Largest and most children friendly. Have a beach and playground.

Manarola

Most scenic.

I stay at B&B Baranin at Manarola for 2 nights. It is located on a cliff. I remembered panting while rolling my luggage up the slope and carrying them up the stairs. In retrospect, perhaps, I would stay in the town center of Manarola, instead of up on a cliff. Breakfast offered by B&B Baranin was good though; the freshly-made croissants made my day.

I hiked around Manarola but not from one town to the next. Good walking shoes are strongly recommended.

I had dinner at Trattoria Dal Billy, which was a short walk away from B&B Baranin. Food was yummy and reasonable priced. In fact, it was so good that I had dinner there for 2 consecutive days! You should also try Sciacchetra, a sweet dessert wine which will be served after meal. 

Lobster pasta at Billy

Sciacchetra at Billy

Now, you must be thinking, if one has the time to visit only one town in Cinque Terre, what would it be?

If you have no problems climbing stairs and slopes, I would strongly recommend Manarola. I would recommend staying there for at least 1 one day, to catch the day and the sunset view and have dinner at Billy.

If you have difficulty with stairs and slopes, I would suggest Vernazza as the terrain is the most gentle. It is also beautiful.

Chianti wine tour, Italy

I have previously blogged about the great experience which I had during the Hunter Valley wine tour in Australia in 2015. Subsequently, I went for a wine tour in Khao Yai and more recently, Chianti wine tour in Italy.

As I had great experience with the Hunter Valley wine tour, I must say I have certain expectations of the wine tour and am rather disappointed.

I would do a comparison between the Hunter Valley wine tour and the Chianti wine tour.

The Hunter Valley wine tour costed AUD 100 (lunch excluded) while the Chianti wine tour costed 150 Eur (lunch included). Both were daytrips. For Hunter Valley wine tour, the pickup point was at my hostel whereas for the Chianti wine tour, the pickup point was at the travel agency's office.

The roads to the vineyards in Chianti were winding and uneven (worse than the roads to Genting Highlands!). A bumpy ride after winetasting generally made people feel uncomfortable. My friend felt nausea. Luckily, nobody suffered from motion sickness or vomited during the trip. In comparison, the journey to Hunter Valley in Australia was very smooth.

Chianti is famous for red wines and 80% of the wines we tasted at the 2 vineyards were red wines. It lacked variety. In Hunter Valley, we got to taste white wines, red wines and dessert wines and everyone managed to find something they like. In the first vineyard we visited in Chianti, there was a particular red wine which we tasted and I liked. Unfortunately, the bottle which we tasted was the 2009 bottle and it was not for sale, which made me wonder what is the point of letting us taste the wine if we couldn't buy it. We could buy the 2014 bottle but that was not offered to us for tasting and hence, nobody bought that. Seriously, they need to reflect on their marketing strategy.

Because of the long, winding and bumpy rides, we could only visit 2 vineyards during the Chianti tour. In comparison, I visited 4 wineries during the Hunter Valley tour.

My personal opinion is that the Chianti wine tour pales in comparison to the Hunter Valley wine tour and it was not as fruitful or enjoyable.