Author: Alex Winn

The Trip That Almost Did Not Happen

Location: Dubrovnik, Croatia

You will all see and read in a later blog why there was a very real chance I would not have been able to go on this trip – but that’s a story for another time. A few years ago, my parents began a tradition of traveling to a new European country each summer and exploring for at least three weeks. I can say with the utmost certainty that my love and desire for adventure and travel comes straight from them. Their first location that sparked this tradition was Ireland, followed by Greece, and this past summer Croatia. On their Croatia trip, they drove up and down the coast, stopping in cities such as Zadar, Split, and their personal favorite – Dubrovnik. Ever since hearing their Dubrovnik stories, and seeing my mom’s Instagram posts, it instantly became the number one place I knew I had to visit while abroad.

Funny enough – and this ties right back to that “late blog” story – my mom ended up joining my friends and me on our Dubrovnik trip. We flew in on a Wednesday afternoon (yes, we all skipped school) and left Saturday morning, much to our dismay. The trip overall was much pricier than we had anticipated, mostly due to our eating and spending time in the touristy areas, where meals ranged from 30 to 40 euro and drinks around 15. We quickly learned our lesson.

Because of an injury, I was not able to join my friends on their speed boat tour of the caves, so my mom and I decided to explore and do a guided tour of the walls. Yes… those walls – the ones featured in many scenes of the infamous Game of Thrones television series. Together, we climbed more than 600 steps, walking around the entire perimeter of Dubrovnik’s Old Town that is covered in orange tiles molded by the thighs of the women who once lived there. Although I am not much of a history buff, the history of the city was incredible, topped with my skyline view of the entire city to my left and sparkling Adriatic sea view to my right. It might have been one of the most touristy things to do, but it was truly incredible.

Visiting Dubrovnik, Croatia was not just another tally in countries I have visited, it was a dream-come-true. Despite being strapped in a medical brace, it reminded me and revived my love of travel and exploration.

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BEAAMMS Was Born

Locals: Pile-Kono Mountain

Our Airbnb sat on the hill just outside Dubrovnik’s Old Town, meaning that every trip in and our required an uber. While talking to one of our drivers, he told us that he had his own business – a small company called Simply H. H – as he told us to call him – offered us a discounted tour of the three most beautiful photo spots according to Croatian locals. Given that there were 8 of us and one of him, we decided to take him up on his offer. After spending a couple hours exploring Old Town, we met him outside the Pile Gate and to begin our local tour.

The first stop made us a little skeptical. He pulled the car over on the side of the rode and gave us only a few minutes to take pictures of… a bridge; yes, a bridge overlooking the water. Was the view beautiful? Yes, but it was not considered a ‘local spot’ like we were expecting. The next spot filled us with more hope – a run-down barn with a small waterfall in the background. I have to admit, it was like nothing I had ever seen. The sun cast a bright glow over everything, creating the illusion of shimmering air, and the surplus of water made the plants lush and green, and the river alive with fish. None of us wanted to leave but had to in order to catch the sunset at our final stop.

Driving up a two-way road barely wide enough for one car, we arrived at the top of a mountain overlooking the entire Old Town city, the hill surrounding it, and the Adriatic bordering the entirety of Croatia. It was something of a painting with the island perfectly placed in the sea, the sky painted with hues of pink, purple, yellow, and blue, and a mountain covered in fresh plants and rosemary leaves. After taking the mandatory “I was here” photos, my friends and I stood in a line and took a moment of gratitude.

The weeks leading up to this trip had been a blur of hospital visits and doctor’s appointments, but that all seemed to melt away at that moment. I was joined by my best friend – my mom – and the girls I had grown closest to abroad. Everything was perfect at that moment.

It was there, on the Pile-Kono Mountain, that we came up with a word to describe something that simply cannot be described by ordinary adjectives. An acronym for all our names: Bridgette, Em, Alex, Avery, Maddie, Michelle, Sophie. Just like that, BEAAMMS was born.

It Does Not Always Go as Planned…

Location: Munich, Germany

I traveled to Munich with my mind set on one goal: to experience Oktoberfest in all its beer-soaked and German glory. We chose the first weekend – September 20-21^st – equipped with only our sense of blind optimism and limited social media research. According to TikTok, we had to be in line by 8 a.m. at the earliest (false), tent camping was the best accommodation for location and comfort (false), and transportation between the campsite and festival site would be simple and easily accessible (most definitely false). Looking back and clearly experiencing some hindsight bias… consulting TikTok might not have been our best decision and was most certainly our first mistake.

We woke up at 7 a.m. at the campsite, thinking that would leave ample time for picking up our pre-rented dirndls and joining the Oktoberfest crowd by 8. The pickup location was a two-minute walk away according to the Google map provided by our dirndl vendor. Yet, after that two-minute walk we were greeted with nothing more than a 10-acre, overgrown grass field and a phone call informing us the actual shop was a 30-minute drive away.

At Lederhosenverlieh – the dirndl shop – all possible sizes in my pre-rented and chosen dirndl had been taken. I was instead given a red, white, and blue cotton number that screamed “God Bless America” even more than my American accent already did. I could have convinced people I was headed to a Fourth of July lake day rather than a Bavarian beer festival.

Eventually we arrived at Oktoberfest around 10 a.m., where the streets were lined with sauna-temperature tents filled with hundreds of people. Walking up and down each tent aisle, not a single seat or table was available. We walked from one tent to the next while trying the food that TikTok claimed was a must. I personally do not enjoy pretzels or bratwurst but “it’s part of the experience.” My bratwurst was undercooked, and schnitzel was overcooked and filled with gristle, so I skipped trying the pretzel figuring that third time was not going to be the charm.

Eventually, we found a tent and sat for two to three hours simply to pass time and justify our financial investment in Oktoberfest. All feeling equally defeated after getting no table, no beer, and no photos, we asked a kind older man to take pictures with his beer. That was the most Oktoberfest thing we did the entire day. After leaving not even ten minutes later, we booked a hotel room that night to avoid the campsite at all costs.

So, what did I leave with? A hotel room reservation and 20 euros in cash that was originally meant for a stein.

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…So, You Make the Most of It

Locals: Kufflers Weinzelt

Oktoberfest is a festival, but also a community and a culture – one I believe is overlooked or intentionally dismissed. Once you walk deeper into the venue, passing the main party tents like Hofbräu-Festzelt, you will find the smaller tents, favored and enjoyed by local Germans. This includes Kufflers Weinzelt, a family-run tent since 1984 and that can be found each year at Oktoberfest for two weeks.

After our hours of mishaps and misfortunes that Oktoberfest and specifically the Hofbräu-Festzelt tent brought us, we found ourselves near the back of the festival, past the carnival rides, and outside Kufflers Weinzelt – the last tent in the mile-long festival line-up. Inside, we spotted an open (though technically reserved) table in the center of Kufflers Weinzelt. We sat here for three hours – until the heat became unbearable – before leaving. Despite the table technically being reserved, the staff allowed us to sit until the reservation time, and luckily, they never showed up.

There seems to be a tradition of standing on the benches – not tables – during speeches or songs that are familiar, and this did not stop here in Kufflers Weinzelt. Though we were the only Americans in the tent, were still invited to stand, dance, and sing with the local German groups and families.

We – students around the world – go abroad to study and travel (though maybe not in that order) but we also go abroad to experience the cultures around the world that are so different to that of the States. The U.S. is a melting pot, but what a unique experience it is to travel to places and experience the individual cultures that make the U.S. that melting pot. Kufflers Weinzelt might not have been the most popular, international, English-speaking tent, but we found ourselves truly immersed in the German culture and traditions which made for an unforgettable experience.