Milan to Munich

Milan to Munich

Unfortunately, the city transfers are very difficult for me during this trip, and the Milan to Munich one was doomed to be a pain from the start, yet got even worse in actual practice.

I knew when I booked this flight that something felt bad about it, given that it was from Malapensa (outside of Milan) at 8:30 AM, and not arriving in Munich until well after 4:00 PM, thanks in large part to a six hour layover in Vienna. That was bed enough, but having "enjoyed" the night before in the heart of Milan, my somewhat hungover body was not really ready for this transfer. I woke up (not really sure if I ever really went to sleep!) at 4:00 and arranged for a ride in the hotel shuttle to Bovisa, a local station, where they had the Malapensa Express. This is partly my fault, but I had assumed this was a bus, since a bus service by the same name left Milano Centrale; as it turns out, however, after spending nearly two hours in the rain under a bus stop where the driver had let me out, I finally managed to get my question across to another patron, who pointed out to me that the Express was actually a train. Though I had gotten up four and a half hours before the flight, my time was now getting tight. I had an unused metro/rail ticket in my pocket for just such an emergency, so I ran to the train and got on board. When the conductor came through, he asked for my ticket, which as it turns out was not valid on this particular train. So, even though in this case I had consciously bought an extra ticket the day before, it turns out I had to buy one, and pay a 5 Euro penalty, on the train. In any case, it got me to the airport in enough time that I was able to scarf down a quick breakfast (and beer) before it took off for Vienna.

The landing, unfortunately, was on time in Vienna, meaning I had nearly six hours to kill in the local airport. Since I was already a bit "worn out" from my previous night, I knew I could not spend the entire time in a bar, even with food, so I instead tried to look around for shops to occupy my time. Unfortunately, I managed to find Wolford, which is the European equivalent of a Victoria's secret. Since there is actually a young lady in my life at the moment, I managed too spend too much time, and too many Euros, buying items for her. (The sales lady did not help one little bit, only adding to the suggestions when I needed very little encouragement!) In any case, I'll forego the details, other than to say that after too many hours, too many stocking/garter purchases, and too many drinks, I managed to survive long enough to make the flight from Vienna to Munich.

Upon arriving in Munich, things went well. Although I could not find the Best Western airport shuttle, I decided to take a taxi from the airport to my hotel in Erding, a small town outside of Munich. As it turns out, this was not much of a loss, as I would find out on my departure that a taxi ride was barely any more expensive than the airport shuttle.

I arrived at the hotel about 5:30 PM, and though I was able to walk around the corner and see Therme Erding in the distance, I was too tired to try to make a quick trip. Instead, I had a couple of drinks and made it an early bedtime so I could get up the next morning and hit the world's greatest spa at opening time.