Travel Blog: European Trip (Day 1)
Sports Chief Photography/Garett
Last week I took the biggest trip of my life when I, along with Thanny, Beno, and Lebo from The Sports Chief, boarded a plane and left for Europe. None of us had ever been out of the country before, so this was a big trip for all of us on many levels. We boarded the plane around 4:00 in the afternoon in Charlotte and settled in for an eight-hour flight to Munich, Germany. We tried our best to sleep in the cramped plane seats, but no one had any luck, even though we came prepared with newly purchased travel pillows. After flying for eight hours, and considering the six hour time difference, it was right at 6:00 a.m. when our plane landed in Munich. We were all set to begin our second full day without any sleep in between.
To say we were tired was an understatement. But we were in another country for the first time in our lives, so we were eager to see what awaited us. We picked up our rental car, which was a Mitsubishi SUV, and were on our way. The first thing was first: we needed to find breakfast. So, what do four Americans do for breakfast when they’ve been in a foreign country for about an hour for the first time in their lives? They stop in at the first McDonalds they see. After a quick breakfast, which was similar but different from the American McDonalds menu, we set out for Hallstatt, Austria.
Hallstatt is famous for its beautiful scenery, so we wanted to fit it into our trip’s tight schedule and take some scenic photos. But luck would have it that it was raining all day and we just couldn’t escape it. After driving for a while out into the Austrian countryside, we decided Hallstatt just wasn’t in the cards since it was raining pretty hard and traffic came to a complete standstill. The rain just wouldn’t have allowed us to take the photos we wanted to take.
Needing something to replace Hallstatt on the itinerary, Lebo saw on his phone the Red Bull Hangar-7, which he thought looked pretty interesting. We decided to pursue that and see what it had to offer, especially since it was in Salzburg (where we would be staying that night) and was free. Located at the Salzburg airport, the Hangar was a huge glass structure that encased historical airplanes, helicopters, motorcycles, Formula 1 cars, other race cars, a restaurant, and a bar. It was neat to check out all the different exhibits it featured that were Red Bull sponsored. Brian Vickers’ Red Bull NASCAR car was even there, all the way from North Carolina, which was a nice touch of home for our first day on another continent.
Being absolutely exhausted from traveling and being up so long without any sleep, we decided to head to our hotel around 3:00 p.m. We were staying in Hotel Gerl in Salzburg, Austria, which was small, but pretty nice. Even though it was only just after 3:00, we dropped our bags off in the hotel and decided to look for dinner. The problem was we didn’t know where to go for dinner. We checked our phones and found a few places, but this was the moment we discovered that the restaurant scene is entirely different from what it is in the United States. There weren’t any chain restaurants like Chilis or Applebee’s, and fast food was almost non-existent.
Sports Chief Photography/Garett
The first place we found on our phones was a small, pretty nice sit-down place to have authentic Austrian food. Upon walking in, we only saw one table occupied with people, who were just chatting and having drinks. Not knowing whether to wait to be seated or to just take a seat, we hesitantly walked around until we found an employee and asked her if we were supposed to just sit anywhere. “I’m sorry, we don’t serve dinner until 6:00, just drinks,” she told us in a heavy Austrian accent. After a long day of traveling, time was lost to me at that point. I asked what time it currently was, thinking we could wait 20 or 30 minutes or so until 6:00, but I was answered with, “3:40.” Waiting 2 hours and 20 minutes wasn’t an option, so we moved on to the other place someone found on their phone.
It was a more casual place that served “who knows what,” but it looked like a pretty large sit-down place. Part of a huge mall complex, we had to park in a parking garage to get there. The problem we ran into this time was the availability of parking. We circled the parking deck for no less than 45 minutes looking to grab a spot that was nowhere to be found. Finally tired of doing that and exhausted of options that served food that we weren’t accustomed to (I’m sure there were other places around, but we had no luck in finding any, especially at that time of day), we settled on keeping it simple and eating Subway in downtown Salzburg. So, our first two meals in another country were two American chains.
After a quick bite to eat, we decided to go back to the hotel, get settled in, and get some sleep in preparation for a week ahead of us. It felt wonderful to lay down and close my eyes. We probably slept for about 10 hours that night before our alarm went off the next morning for a full day that included the Eagle’s Nest and Oktoberfest (more on that in the next blog).
The first day was honestly a difficult one for all of us. Not only were we totally worn out, but we felt so out of place in every way possible. Roads and road signs were way more difficult to decipher, we couldn’t read hardly anything since it wasn’t in English, opening doors kept tripping us up since they were push-open (even though they had handles) instead of pull-open, we had trouble getting the car to work, the elevator button was very confusing, television programs were not in English, and many other everyday things were non-existent or very different. We felt far from home and wondered if the rest of the trip would get any better. It did. Tomorrow I’ll post the blog for day number two.
Garett