My Ryanair flight from Milano to Frankfurt only cost me about 40 euro (1/4 the cost of the train), and was just a 1-hour jump over the alps. Strangely enough, the bus ride from the airport to the city takes longer than the flight (because I took a budget airline). On the flight I was seated next to a American family that lived in Germany because daddy was a soldier, and on the bus ride from Frankfurt I was sitting with some Canadians.

On the bus ride from the Hahn Airport I made friends with Tim & Alan, two Canadians who were visiting Germany and Scotland on a little vacation. They had once lived in Frankfurt awhile ago, so I talked to them about the city, and learned a bit about what it was like for them to live there. We managed to talk the entire bus ride in, and once we arrived some time after midnight I set off to find a hostel in Frankfurt.

I didn’t get more than a few steps away from the bus stop before Alan came up to me and asked if I would like to stay in their friend’s apartment for the night, before they were to head out in the morning. They seemed friendly and genuine, and I knew I could expect to share some more laughs as we already had on the bus, so I gladly agreed to come along.

I was offered wine before bed, and sandwiches and tea were ready in the morning. They were both so generous, and it was a really great experience to have so much trust between people that were nearly strangers. It was raining in the morning I left, so the guys helped me fashion a rain-cover out of a trash bag that would protect my backpack from the rain as well, and again I was off to discover my hostel, but this time for real.

I first set off towards whatever looks most likely to have a hostel or be a tourist destinatio, which is a good practice for learning the layout of a city, if you have the time on your hands. It results in hours and hours of walking, but everything is new, and the unknowns of it all are kind of exciting.

Eventually I tired of exploring and asked directions to the nearest Jugendherbege, which is “youth hostel” in German. It was to be my first conversation ‘auf Deutsche’ in Germany, and man was I in for a surprise. The gentleman I asked for help was originally from Austria I think, and he had a fairly strong accent, and spoke a bit too fast for me to understand. He was patient enough to deal with my requests to speak more slowly, (Sprechen Sie langsamer, bitte) and got me going in the right direction.

I got to the hostel which was in a moderately shitty area of Frankfurt, as is true of most areas immediately surrounding main railway stations, and settled in for a quick nap. I got up in the evening and went to have a beer in the bar for what seemed like it would be a quiet night. At about 10pm a group of musicians from Barcelona dressed up in Harry Potter robes showed up in the bar/reception, and started playing some tunes with no shortage of volume and intensity. Everyone in the hostel got really into it, so they kept playing for at least an hour. I got a quick video of them playing and people singing, but I should have done another one later because the crowd at least doubled.

The next day I was set to meet up with Henning, a friend who had lived and studied in San Diego with me, but is originally from Germany. I spent the earlier part of the day touring the city a bit more, seeing an old church, and a massive mall with the most intense glass architechture. I also managed to pick up a mobile phone, finally, which came in handy when I was trying to meet up with Henning later that day. It’s hard to imagine how I survived the first 20 days without a mobile!

After a bit of touring and picking up the phone, I was off to the train station to find my way to a little city called Offenbach, located just outside of Frankfurt. The metro in Frankfurt has to be (at least intially) one of the most confusing public transport systems I have seen, and I am writing this after having ridden metros in at least 8 major european cities. I made a good number of trips between the various legends, tarif tables, and maps (which were not next to eachother) before finally caving in and asking the help of a local.

It felt weird getting the intial reaction from people in public transport when you ask for help. They initially turn away when you ask for help in a metro (since 99% of the time that means you want money). After explaining in a sentence or two that I had no idea which ticket to buy, and that I had plenty of money for it, but was just confused, I got a young german businessman to come to the rescue. As a testament to how terrible the transport system is (at least in this particular station), it took even the native 3 or 4 trips between the various tables and chart and maps to figure out which fare I needed, and even after that he had to explain that the ticket I was buying wasn’t actually for the station I needed(!), but was equivalent because of the ‘zone’ it was in…

I got to Offenbach and met up with Henning, who was decked out in business attire after working all day. We went and grabbed some delicious turkish food (which is on every street corner in Germany), before heading out for some Apfelwein (Apple Wine), the local drink of Frankfurt.

I spent the next couple days mostly relaxing, and doing some little chores. I got my laundry done, and found a massive dragon statue in a playground that I was able to climb around on and do some flips off of for a little workout. We also met up with Henning’s friend Mitja who joined us for some Apfelwein before I set off to meet up with my ride to Berlin.