Alps roadtrip

03 May 2023 - Austin Shen

We went on a road trip! Reunited with Ruby after a month of travel - it was nice to split up the time apart with a short holiday together. We rented a decked-out campervan and drove around with only a vague plan, not really knowing where we’d sleep each night. The idea was to spend time in the Alps around the south of Germany and in Austria (where there are no kangaroos). We wanted to see Innsbruck, Salzburg, Munich, relax in the Aqua Dome thermal baths, and do a few hikes along the way. Pretty ambitious for a few days on the road.

In many ways things went as expected. For example:

• it was often cloudy and there was a lot of light rain
• we tried German beer (in the 1L large steins) and pork knuckle with sauerkraut
• people drove very fast in German cars on the motorway
• getting comfortable naked with nice strangers at the thermal baths
• learning about all of the cool things at the Deutsches Museum and running out of time

But also there were a few nice spontaneous decisions and surprises:

• stumbling across a carnival in a small town (Tegernsee), and sticking around to enjoy Bavarian folk music
• Allianz Arena to read about how great Bayern are
• a fancy 9 euro bottle of water - so delicious
• Hofbrauhaus with Katie and Hendrik for our last day in Munich!