We made it to Germany. Neither Linda nor I slept much on the nine hour flight. We arrived at the Munich Airport around 10:00 AM, cleared customs, found our bags, and made it to the train station.

A train left right away, and we arrived at our hotel in Unterföhring by 11:00. Unfortunately, it was too early to check in, but Sophie, the desk clerk let us store our bags while we went for a walk, looking for food and beer.

We walked along wet streets and wetter paths through Englisher Garden and found the Aumeister Beer Garden.

We found food and beer.

We’re back at our room now, dry, clean, and trying to catch up on sleep. Our friends Gary and Susan get here tomorrow and we’ll share a two-bedroom apartment with them for a week.

Guten Nacht.

We officially started our European trip this morning, but had a day layover in Houston. We arrived just past 1:00 PM, hopped a shuttle to our hotel, then took an Uber to the Houston Botanic Garden.

After walking through the park for a couple of hours, we took another Uber to Captain Benny’s, a pretty funky seafood restaurant built into an old shrimp boat.

One night here, and then we fly to Munich, with a brief layover in Atlanta.

We’re on our way. Five AM came early. Two cups of coffee got us moving. Our friend and neighbor Kelly drove us to the airport. We’re checked in and waiting for our first flight to Houston.

We’ll stay the night in Houston and then fly out tomorrow morning for Munich. Hopefully, we’ll meet some of my old buddies from my days working offshore. Or, in the case of James, my days as a consultant for Hewlett-Packard.

If we don’t get a chance to see our friends, I guess we’ll hang out at hotel drinking Shiner Bock (the second best thing to come out of Texas, after ZZ Top).

Life is a journey.

The car is wrapped, we’re ready to leave.
After all these months, it’s heard to believe.
In a few short hours, we’ll be on our way.

In the morning, we’ll be Houston bound.
The next day, we can be found.
Arriving in Munich, waiting to join our freinds.

We’re leaving on a jet plane.
It’ll be a month till we’re home again.
We’ll have tales to tell when we get home.

Our first leg of our journey takes us to Houston. We’re flying Alegient Airlines there in the morning, then have a night in a hotel before flying out the next morning to Munich. We’ll be in Munich the morning of May 8th and stay in a hotel near Englisher Gardens before meeting up wih our Canadian friends Gary and Susan. They have a two-bedroom arpartment in Munich for a week and asked us to join them, after I told them I used to live in Germany and speak German (enough to get around comfortably).

Guten Abend, my friends. Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Our European vacation starts in a couple of days. Time to start packing.

Actually, we already started. I have my Osprey backpack. Linda had one too, but opted at the last minute to take a roller-bag.

I’ve got my bag packed. Linda is still working on hers.