’48 Hour Guides to Germany’ now free to download!

Holocaust memorial, Berlin

It’s been 5 months since my trip to Germany ended.

Just getting off the plane in Edinburgh Airport today I was eavesdropping on a conversation between excited German tourists. I was standing in the queue with them for the airport bus to town. Listening to them yap away, got me dewy eyed and nostalgic about the trip and experience.

Suddenly I was back where it all began.

Excerpt from my 48 Hour Guide to Hamburg

Hamburg. 19th March, 2013. A bitterly cold winters day.

Getting off the plane at Hamburg airport while everyone was shivering in the sub-zero freezing temperatures, just listening to everyone converse in German sent a warm chill down my spine.

The alien tongue was an invitation to learn something new, to immerse myself in a different landscape and reality.

An invitation for adventure. 2 whole months of exploring a country and getting to know it’s people, culture, language, food and landscape.

So what happened next?

The remnant of the journey is now not just a tweet, an instagram and stuck in thoughts.

It is now a book.

You can read about all of my 48 Hour adventures in Germany by downloading FOR FREE my ‘48 Hour Guides to Germany’ from the German National Tourism website.

Now that some months have passed, I have a better perspective of the whole trip.

Sometimes life is funny. You are so caught up in the moment that it often takes months before you realize the magnitude of what actually happened.

Looking back at the project one of the takeaways was that I have got to know the country a lot more better. There is so much rich diversity within this country in terms of it’s food, history, culturally and also it’s natural heritage.

The food is one great example of this amazing diversity- I savoured everything from the tasty and very unhealthy Bremer Knipp to the Swabian Spatzle and the Nuremberger Bratwurst.

Kolsch!

Then of course each region has it’s own amazing range of beers.

If I had to stick my head out and say what my favourite beer then I’ll vote for the Kolsch from the Fruh brauwerei with Augustiner and the amazing Rotbier at Herr Engel’s Aldstadthof Hausbraurei in Nuremberg, my other favourites.

Seen from a train window- Wind Turbines, somewhere in a field in North Germany

When I look back at the pictures , one of the things I miss is just sitting at the train window.

Enjoying the beautiful German scenery outside.

From lush flat green fields and wind turbines of the windy north to the beautiful Rhine, the fairytale medieval castles and forests of the south.

Deutsche Bahn is THE way to explore the amazing landscape of Germany.

Dusseldorf’s Mediahafen skyline

Then you have the stunning contrast of architectural styles everywhere: from the Gehry inspired futuristic skyline of Dusselfdorf’s mediahafen to the ‘Baderarchitecktur’ of Rugen and the half timbered villages of the south.

As you flick through the guides, you’ll also notice how affordable Germany is- beer was often cheaper than bottled water, tons of affordable and tasty snack ‘imbiss’ joints and excellent bakeries in each city I visited, I stayed at the excellent and comfortable Jugendherberge hostel network,  great value public transport network, tons of history and stories on every street corner for you to dip into plus the fact that many of the best museums in the country offer free and discounted entry on certain days of the month. This country is perfect for any BudgetTraveller.

48 Hours In Munich: Meet the friendly locals at Viktualienmarkt

Biggest takeaway is that contrary to the stereotype, German people are some of the friendliest and hospitable people I’ve encountered on my travels. If I had any questions or problems-everywhere I’ve been, people have been polite, courteous and eager to help.

So if you are yet to visit Germany, make sure soon or in 2014, you do make a point of visiting this beautiful country.

‘48 Hour Guides to Germany’ are now ready to download for free from the German National Tourism Office.

For convenience, we’ve divided the book into 12 different chapters and mini e-books so you can download whichever destination you are interested in reading about.

Mata Hari, Stuttgart

There has been a lot of effort poured into this project since the trip ended,-more research and getting to know more about the places I visited, sitting down and writing the guides and then shifting through the 5000 photographs and pulling together the pictures for each guide.

Catharina Fischer from German National Tourism Office and her team have been amazing in putting my words and pictures together and helping create these guides.Thank you for this amazing opportunity!

I hope you , the reader and traveller, enjoy the end product and do use it for your future trips to Germany. If you have any feedback and thoughts to share, please leave a comment below or mail me at europebudgetguide AT gmail.com 

The journey also lives on through the images on Instagram and various interesting tweets from fellow travellers- please check the hashtag: #youthhotspotsgermany and join the conversation with your images and tweets.

+ Discover more youth hotspots and cool places to eat, things to do across Germany on their website , feel free to add your own and also do download their free youth hotspots app that is now available on the Apple Store & Android Store .