That one time we were stranded in Ansbach…

Hi guys,

I’ve traveled to western Europe 3 times now, Thank the Lord and my inability to sit still. 🙂 My last visit in October, however, wasn’t solo. I went with my boyfriend, who will hence forth be referred to as Felicia, solely because I find it hilarious. If you’ve seen the movie Friday, then you know what I’m talking about.

Any who, the first part of the trip was a love dedication, where Felicia’s brother proposed to his beautiful fiancé in front of the Tour de Eiffel. It was starlit, it was emotional, and it was a magnificent moment with his family. After the first two weeks of planning, secrets, proposal, and vacation, his family left and it was just Felicia and I left to explore more of Europe.

We journeyed over to Germany because Felicia had never been and to visit two very special people. This blog post will be concerning the younger and funnier of the 2, Felicia’s best friend, Lee. He lives in Germany at the moment while serving the US of A and we took a train to see him.

Now, as you all will soon begin to learn about me, I LOVE a good deal. I love a good deal more than freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Ok, that’s a lie, but I love saving money! And my new way to save while traveling is to book through AIRBNB. I’ve used them domestically and internationally and I can not stop raving about this company! SO in my valiant efforts to maximize our Bavarian adventure, I booked an AIRBNB in the town we were meeting Lee, Ansbach. The AIRBNB host did not speak english, and I most certainly don’t speak German, but I learned “stop” and “go” in the most unfortunately hilarious of ways (post to come). Thus, In our text communication, I resorted to google translate to move me along and book my cheap 1 night in Ansbach.

We arrived around 11:30 pm, and it was here where the fun began…

Lee met Felicia and I at the train station, he took a cab there. If you’ve never heard of Ansbach, don’t worry, neither had we! Haha! We just picked a meeting point and Lee had heard it was a quaint little town. Quaint little towns are also small, dead little towns at 11:30 at night..After a short while, a cab came around and we departed the train station to the AIRBNB I was so excited about. Our driver spoke a little english, but the GPS led most of the way.

Now, to be clear, I informed my host that it would be 3 people, 2 boys and 1 girl. Her listing said they could accommodate 3, but it was most comfortable with 2. When we arrived we asked the cab to wait, just in case anything went wrong…

The house was in a dark, desolate area, and we didn’t even make it to the front door before someone came outside. I was a bit concerned because I didn’t have wifi, so I couldn’t check my messages to ensure everything was good to go. However, since my account had been charged and she accepted my payment, I assumed as such. Thankfully our host had a son who was able to communicate with us and broke it down real easy. NO THREE PEOPLE ALLOWED.

::Slams on breaks::: “What!? But your post says 3!” and the woman just shook her head, no, no, NOPE. I felt hopeless and defeated. I had gotten so good at the Airbnb thing, that I thought for sure I’d be fine with google translate, but apparently I don’t know how to translate effectively. Because when I typed in her response (the next day finding wi-fi) I realized she had indeed said Nein!! Which means no in german, just in case ya didn’t know. Hahahahahaha, it’s funny now thinking about it. At the time, it was pretty funny too. But not right away, because right away we were stranded in Ansbach.

So, the three Americans hop back in the cab and ask the patient, but increasingly irritated, driver to bring us to the city center, or wherever we can find a hotel. Since Ansbach is such a small town, it was only a few minutes away. She drops us dead city center, and when I say dead, I literally mean there was not a single soul out on the streets.. We walk into the hotel she brought us to, only to find no vacancies. And thus began our search, wandering the streets, taking in the architecture lit by the sparing street lights, and popping in and out of hotels/motels. After what seemed like FOREVER (Remember, I over-pack, so my backpack was waaaayyy ready to get off of me!), we finally found a decent motel that was charging 120 Euro for 2 people, 1 room. We asked if we could all be in one room, no he refused. And so DID I! I can’t help it! The budget diva in me said “Heck to the no! I will find away!” So I dragged my boys out and we continued the search. Sometimes my stubbornness pans out, and other times it doesn’t. It seemed to be going the latter after another half hour of searching until we stumbled upon the light! By that I mean, a lit up hotel. And not just any hotel, but a 4 star, 17th century building right in the middle of the city center.

I know what you’re thinking, This isn’t a deal, this isn’t even in my budget, I don’t do hotels! But when that 36 pound pack has been pulling you down for the last 3 hours, sometimes you just give in. And the boys had enough of my search and wanted to stop already. So we walk into this elegant, chandeliers everywhere, lovely lobby and meet the front desk manager, Anna.

Anna just so happens to tell us that the hotel does have a vacancy, and the prices were 120 Euro for one room. We said great! We’re already saving 60 euros from the top. But just like every last person, no 3 people per room! It seemed the German Hotel culture was not about cramming rooms to save $$$. We ( the guys) agreed and asked for another single room, which she didn’t have. Upon further searching she informed us the only room she had available, that would accommodate all three of us, was the master suite.

At this point I’m hanging my head in shame, ashamed of myself and serious fail in booking a cheap evening stay. But then Anna went on ahead and made our freaking night. The boys asked if we could have the suite for the price of the base room, and would you believe it? She said yes! Anna gave us the suite for 120 Euro, on the top floor, no elevators of course, and off we went!

Now we know everything in Europe is smaller than most American hotels. But what we had in store was oh so much more than we expected.

There were 5 beds, windows all around to view the city, two separate bedrooms, a living room, gold- plated bathroom! What?! Of course my pictures suck, but believe me people, this room was worth way more than 120 euro, especially for a weekend night. We were so stoked that we asked for another night and she gave it to us for the same price.

It was a rocky start to our weekend Lee adventure, but thanks to Anna at the Hotel Burger Palais, yes burger palace to you hungry americans, it was a time we won’t soon forget. If you’re ever visiting Ansbach, or the neighboring town of Nuremburg, be sure to check out Hotel Burger Palais. I don’t know if you’ll get the sweet, sweet deal we did, but it’s always worth a try. 🙂

P.s. Airbnb did credit me $50 for the crazy miscommunication with the host and most definitely didn’t have to. 🙂