Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Munich Trip Report--A Joyous Celebration of Kitsch and Schmaltz

Okay, okay, I admit to exaggerating right from the title. Our Oct. 2-11 trip to Munich was not so much joyous as it was quietly satisfying, and Munich, of course, is not a kitschy little village, but quite a cosmopolitan place (though indeed both kitschiness and schmaltziness can be found there in abundance).

Since our trip was enhanced by much of the valuable information we received from generous travelers on this forum, I want to write a trip report that may provide information for others who seek it. I'll also describe some of the beauty we saw, some of the wonder we felt, and, yes, some of the humiliation I experienced in this land so far from our home.

TRIP PLANNING

Even for unambitious trips like this one, I tend to do a good deal of planning at home. I do almost all the planning for attractions to see, and go to many of them alone, since my husband is in meetings much of the time. When he's free, he wisely adopts a "Yes, dear," attitude, and goes along with what I want (though he refuses to pronounce it correctly: "Nyeth, dear.").

Guidebooks

DK Eyewitness Guide to Munich & the Bavarian Alps--The Munich guide is consistent with others in the Dorling Kindersley series, a favorite of mine. It is so helpful to get to see pictures of attractions beforehand; many of the recommendations are good, too.

Fodor's Citypack--Munich's Best--Short, useful descriptions of top attractions in a highly portable format. The large map was a bit too unwieldy for constant use, but for times when we needed street-to-street specificity, it was good to have.

Websites

www.muenchen.de/home/60093/Homepage.html (official Munich tourism site, English language version)--Helpful city information, with some ideas for sightseeing.

www.germany-info.org (website of German Embassy in D.C.)--Helped us figure out passport requirements. etc. For instance, it turned out DH's passport had enough time left on it--3 months past date of departure from Germany--but only barely. Had we stayed 10 more days, there would have been a problem.

Language Tapes

Random House Living Language--German--A box with 2 cassette tapes, a dictionary, and a book of German lessons. This worked as well as could be expected in helping to bring my pitiful, rusty German up to muster, and it was one of the rare sets available in cassette format.

Fodors.com tips that we applied

Taking an ATM card (perhaps the most useful tip)--We've always carried enough American currency for a trip, and exchanged it for Euros as needed, because the only alternative we had thought of was to use unwieldy traveler's checks. But since reading post after post here, we got an ATM card to use for travel and, after this trip, we're convinced: Getting Euros by ATM is the way we'll go from now on! DH carried dollars as a backup, but the card worked well, and we got a good rate (though we didn't get any receipt from the ATM, or info at the time on the rate we were getting).

Here's what we did: We set up a new checking/ATM account with funds dedicated to travel (reasoning that this protected our "real" account from possible theft). Now, go ahead and call me a Luddite, but I had never used an ATM, even in the US, before this trip. So I tried out the card before we left, and we had no problems. I did call the bank to tell them our departure and arrival dates.

We got a good exchange rate and paid 1% for use of the ATM, but since exchange kiosks build an extra percentage into their exchange rate, we got a better deal as well as a faster, more convenient procedure.

I'm running on and on about our ATM card, but, really, I just feel vindicated! DH was dubious about it, to say the least, and only reluctantly tried it--after the first time I used it and got Euros easily, I was all, "Neener, neener, neener!"

Packing lightly--For the first time, I packed no more than was really needed, and wore everything I packed, and it was great. It was so much easier to get around with only a 24" bagand a wheeled backpack. My clothing was even more compact than my husband's: He had a 26" bag and carry-on. (Actually, I believe that on this site, "packing light" is defined as two people taking enough clothes for a 30-day trip in a single 22" suitcase!) Obviously, part of the trick to packing lightly was taking fewer clothes, but it also helped to pack more tightly, which I did by using packing "cubes"--ours were Eagle Creek brand, and they worked well.

Taking melatonin to sleep on plane/counter jet lag--About a week before leaving, I started taking 5 mg/night, and I found it helped with my sleep at home! It would almost certainly have helped on the flight, had annoying circumstances (described later) not intervened, and it induced sleep at the hotel (though it rarely needed inducing). My experience, though, was that it did nothing to lighten my jet lag, which, as usual, was considerable.

Taking a train from airport to hotel--Another thing I'd never tried before. When we travel, we go straight from the luggage carousel to the taxi stand (or sometimes to a car rental kiosk), but this time we headed to the train platform right in the airport, and it was so convenient--we arrived at a station that was directly below our hotel lobby! Of course, it wouldn't be this easy in every city, but here it worked out great (having smallish luggage helped, of course).

On a related note, at the airport we bought a Munich Welcome Pass covering 3 days of train transport and also offering discounts on museum admissions, etc. In hindsight, at 43?, this may not actually have saved money for the two of us, but for a larger group, I think it would almost always be sound. And it was very convenient for us.