EuroTrip 2026: It All Started With Oktoberfest
September 11, 2026
Like a lot of our adventures, this one started with a conversation that probably should have ended with another round of drinks.
We had just finished dinner at the Tori Gate in Tampa with our friends Tom, Megan, and Mike. The five of us were standing around deciding whether to go somewhere else for drinks or call it an evening. Somehow, the conversation drifted to Japan, where Teresa and I had traveled with Megan and Mike. Tom had also been to Japan a couple of times, so there were plenty of stories to share. Eventually, the conversation turned to other places we'd like to visit, and somewhere along the way, Oktoberfest came up.
I don't remember who mentioned it first, but I do remember that the idea seemed to appeal to everyone. After all, getting together with friends to drink beer in Germany sounded like a pretty good excuse for another vacation.
And just like that, what started as a casual conversation outside a restaurant became the beginning of another adventure.
Of course, deciding that Oktoberfest sounded like fun and actually getting everyone to Germany were two entirely different things.
The Gathering of Friends
Over the following months, the idea grew. We invited other friends and family members, and at one point, I believe we had around 12, maybe as many as 18 people expressing interest. We even set up a Discord channel where everyone could discuss destinations, dates, and possible itineraries.
The interesting thing was that we weren't planning a traditional group tour where everyone traveled together from beginning to end. Oktoberfest was the one thing we wanted to experience together, but how everyone got there, and where they went afterward, was entirely up to them.
Some people talked about starting in Poland, others in Italy, Belgium, or England. For some, Munich would be the final stop before heading home. Others considered starting their vacations there, while still others envisioned Oktoberfest as the midpoint of a longer European adventure.
The idea was simple: travel where you wanted, see what interested you, and meet up in Munich for Oktoberfest.
As the months passed, however, the original group began to shrink. That's not particularly surprising. It's easy to get excited about a European vacation while standing around talking with friends. It's another thing entirely when you start coordinating schedules, vacation time, finances, and everything else that comes with international travel. Eventually, the group settled at five: Tom, Megan, Mike, Teresa, and me. And honestly, that worked out pretty well. These were friends we'd already shared adventures with, people we enjoyed spending time with, and people we knew we could have a good time with, even when things didn't go quite according to plan. And if you've traveled internationally, you know that last part can be important.
Choosing Our Own Adventure
Once we had the dates for Oktoberfest, Teresa and I started working backward to figure out what else we wanted to see. After all, Oktoberfest runs for roughly two weeks, and while spending a couple of days there sounded like a great time, spending the entire two weeks drinking beer and eating pretzels wasn't exactly what we had in mind. There was far too much else to see.
We considered several possibilities. Returning to Prague would have been wonderful. We'd visited parts of Eastern Europe before, and Prague was somewhere I'd happily visit again. Austria and Switzerland were also possibilities, along with other parts of Germany.
The problem wasn't finding places we wanted to visit. It was narrowing the list down to something we could reasonably enjoy without spending the entire trip traveling between destinations.
We eventually decided to begin in France. Teresa had been to France several times, mostly for business, and we'd visited together in September 2000 for our fifth wedding anniversary. Back then, we'd decided that every five years we'd try to celebrate our anniversary with a significant trip.
It was a nice idea, although life, schedules, and priorities have a way of interfering with even the best intentions. We've certainly traveled internationally since then, just not always according to that original five-year schedule.
This time, France offered us something we hadn't experienced together: Disneyland Paris. We'd recently visited Disneyland in California during its 70th anniversary celebration, and we'd also experienced Tokyo DisneySea during our Japan trip. So the opportunity to visit Disneyland Paris, still Euro Disney in the minds of some of us, was a pretty good excuse to begin our European adventure in France. And since we'd be in Paris anyway, there were certainly a few other things worth seeing.
Returning to Germany
Germany was more than just the country hosting Oktoberfest for me. I was born in Augsburg during Dad's first military assignment in Germany, and our family returned to live in Germany again during his second assignment. We lived in Kaiserslautern, and my parents took us sightseeing around the country.
I was quite young during those years, so my memories are limited. There are places I remember visiting, others I know only through family photographs, and a few where I'm no longer entirely certain whether I remember the place itself or simply remember seeing pictures of it. Heidelberg was one of those places.
My parents took me there when I was around four or five years old. I remember fragments of the visit, but not nearly enough to say I really knew the city. Over the years, I'd read about Germany's castles and historic towns, and Heidelberg remained somewhere I wanted to see again.
There were other places in Germany that interested us as well. Some were familiar, some were entirely new, and others were places I'd visited so long ago that returning would practically be a first experience.
I wasn't planning a trip down memory lane. We were going to Germany to enjoy ourselves, explore some interesting places, and meet our friends for Oktoberfest. But if we could revisit a few places along the way, why not?
Traveling Without the Rush
One thing Teresa and I agreed on early was that we didn't want this to feel like one of those traditional bus tours where you're up at six in the morning, your luggage has to be outside the door by seven, and you're on a bus by eight, heading off to the next destination.
We've done that kind of traveling before, and while there are advantages to having everything organized for you, it can also be exhausting. You spend hours traveling, arrive somewhere tired, rush through whatever attractions are on the schedule, and then do it all again the next morning.
This time, we wanted something different. Our plan was to use Europe's rail system, spending a few days in places that interested us before taking a train to the next destination. Ideally, the train rides would be two or three hours, giving us time to enjoy the scenery, relax, and arrive ready to explore. That was the plan, anyway.
As we discovered, European trains don't always cooperate with carefully constructed itineraries. There were missed connections, unexpected delays, and a few occasions when what should have been a relatively short journey turned into something considerably longer.
Still, I wouldn't trade the experience. Neither of us had to concentrate on driving, navigate unfamiliar roads, or worry about parking in historic city centers. We could sit back, watch the countryside pass, and occasionally wonder whether we were actually on the correct train. Most of the time, we were.
The Adventure That Followed
By the time all the planning was finished, Teresa and I had an itinerary that would take us through France and Germany, with stops in Paris, Disneyland Paris, Koblenz, Heidelberg, Baden-Baden, and Tübingen before meeting our friends in Munich.
Along the way, we'd explore historic cities, visit castles, enjoy some wonderful meals, occasionally get thoroughly confused by train stations, and discover that even a carefully planned trip can produce some unexpected adventures.
And then there was Oktoberfest itself. What began as five friends standing outside a Tampa restaurant wondering where to go for drinks eventually turned into five friends standing in Munich, dressed in varying degrees of Bavarian attire, surrounded by thousands of people who had apparently come to Germany with much the same idea.
There were places we didn't get to see, things we would have done differently, and a few experiences that didn't go quite according to plan. But that's part of traveling. If everything happened exactly as expected, we'd probably have fewer stories to tell.
This series is our account of those experiences: the places we visited, the history we discovered, the people we encountered, and the lessons we learned along the way. And it all started with a conversation about where to go for drinks.
Paris — A City Best Experienced, Not Just Visited
One of the best decisions we made in Paris was actually one Teresa made before we ever left home: finding the right hotel.
Disneyland Paris — Dragons, Roller Coasters, and a Mission to Ride Everything
Our trip to Disneyland Paris began with a little unfinished business from our arrival in France: our missing luggage.
Koblenz — Two Rivers, a Fortress, and a Lesson in German Train Travel
After Disneyland Paris, we headed toward Koblenz, a city at the meeting of the Rhine and Moselle rivers.
Heidelberg — Childhood Memories, Castle Legends, and a Little Cheese
Of all the places on our trip, Heidelberg held a special place for me.
Baden-Baden — A Little Luxury, a Red Carpet, and an Unexpected Dinner
This time, at least, there was a taxi waiting at the train station.
Tübingen — A Beautiful Old Town and the Tour We Missed
We left Baden-Baden by taxi for the station, then boarded the train toward Tübingen.
Munich — A Stop in My Birthplace, Two Unwilling Taxi Drivers, and a First Oktoberfest Beer
After our abbreviated visit to Tübingen, we collected our bags and set off for Munich.
Oktoberfest — Day One: Lederhosen, Beer Tents, and a Whole Lot More Than Beer
We were in Munich for Oktoberfest, which is a funny destination for somebody who has never been much of a beer drinker.
Oktoberfest — Day Two: Comfortable Clothes, a Glockenspiel, and the One That Stayed on the Shelf
We came down for breakfast at Hotel Cocoon after our first full Oktoberfest day.
Ludwig II’s Bavaria — Neuschwanstein, Oberammergau, and Linderhof Palace
After two full days of Oktoberfest, we were a little tired, but we had a big day planned: a bus tour of places associated with Bavaria's King Ludwig II, including a castle and a palace.
Air France: Getting There Was Half the Trouble. Getting Home Was the Other Half.
Teresa has always been good at finding travel deals, and I don't just mean the cheapest seat on the airplane.
Oktoberfest: Full Circle
1967–2026 | Nearly Sixty Years Between Visits
A Little Help From AI
I should probably mention one other part of the planning process, particularly because Teresa likes to remind me that I use artificial intelligence entirely too much.
I used AI quite a bit while putting this trip together. It helped me explore possible routes, compare travel times, research destinations, and organize an itinerary that made sense geographically.
That doesn't mean I blindly accepted everything it suggested. Anyone who's worked with AI for more than a few minutes knows that it can be remarkably helpful and occasionally spectacularly wrong.
The same applies to these articles. These are my experiences, my observations, and my recollections of what happened along the way. Much of the material began as me talking through our adventures, just as I would if I were sitting across the table telling a friend about the trip.
AI helped organize those thoughts, clean up the writing, and research some of the historical details.
I think of it as AI-assisted writing rather than AI-generated storytelling. The stories are mine. The technology just helps me tell them a little better. Teresa may still disagree about how much I use it.
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