Christmas Market Bad Hindelang

Christmas Market Bad Hindelang

I have previously written about Christmas markets, namely the ones in Munich that I liked best. Last weekend I took a day trip to one in a town farther away but equally great: Each year for about two weeks the cozy town Bad Hindelang in the beautiful Bavarian mountains welcomes its guests for the Christmas Market Bad Hindelang.

Christmas Market in Bad Hindelang

Christmas market Bad Hindelang

Where?

Bad Hindelang is a rather small town in the Bavarian mountains. Its Christmas market spans over the whole center of the town with most streets closed off for traffic. You’ll have to pay an entrance fee (app. 5€) to get in, but they offer a lot of special activities as well which makes the Christmas market to a true experience.

When?

It is held during the first two weeks of December (over 1. and 2. Advent weekend). If you prefer a quieter athmosphere, it might be better to go during the week as weekends and especially evenings can get extremely crowded. I’d advise you to either go around lunch time and have lunch there (the food is amazing) or on a week night to see all the lights there.

How to get there?

Bad Hindelang doesn’t have its own train station, so the closest one would be Sonthofen. It can be reached easily from Munich and any other bigger city in Southern Bavaria. From the train station, simply take one of the shuttle buses that run every 30 minutes and drop you off right in front of the Christmas market Bad Hindelang. If you decide to drive there, please note that apparently parking is limited. Parking is also located a bit outside of Bad Hindelang with free shuttle buses going to the Christmas market every 10 minutes or so.

What to try?

Definitely come with an empty stomach because all the food and drinks that they offer make it really hard to choose. I’d always go for Kässpatzen which is a typical Swabian/ Bavarian dish made with spaetzle and lots of rather sharp cheese. It’s my favorite dish anywhere when prepared fresh (which they do). If you like meat better, you should try any kind of Bratwurst there. They had a spicy and long one with Kraut that looked delicious. Also, crepes or waffles are always a good choice for dessert.

As for drinks, the standard choice would be Glühwein (alcoholic spiced wine) or Kinderpunsch (non-alcoholic spiced tea), but there are lots of other more fancy things like Hot Caipirinha or Hot Aperol Sprizz to name a few. Just be safe and don’t drink and drive.

Some impressions

Christmas Market Bad Hindelang

A stage setting on which they perform plays or where you can sit on Christkindl’s chair

Christmas Market Bad Hindelang

As you can see, we went on a wonderful sunny afternoon. The mountains were visible just great.

Christmas Market Bad Hindelang

Many arts & crafts are sold in these little booths.

Christmas Market Bad Hindelang Christmas Market Bad Hindelang Christmas Market Bad Hindelang

Christmas Market Bad Hindelang

They made and sold Angel’s Locks: Basically deep fried potatoes that were shaped into locks. It looked delicious and the line in front of the booth was so long.

Christmas Market Bad Hindelang

Beautiful paintings on the house walls

Christmas Market Bad Hindelang Christmas Market Bad Hindelang Christmas Market Bad Hindelang Christmas Market Bad Hindelang Christmas Market Bad Hindelang Christmas Market Bad Hindelang Christmas Market Bad Hindelang

Feel free to also check out their website for additional information!

A Traveler's Reading List

A Traveler’s Reading List 48/2016

Christmas is right around the corner and I’m feeling very busy shopping for gifts and still finding time to explore Christmas markets in Bavaria. I haven’t been reading anything yesterday and my Traveler’s Reading List 48/2016 today will also be quite short. I myself have published a post on my recent Liebster award nomination – if you want to read a lot about me, check it out and leave me a comment!

A Traveler's Reading List

#blogpostsaturday

I loved Ellen’s post on the importance of disconnecting. With the holidays coming up (and in general) I just couldn’t agree more: We spend way too much time in front of electronics (hello from my Macbook) and sometimes we just need to let go and go out. I myself have recently turned off all my notifications on my phone and I must say that I have become much more productive and chill. No more buzzing and beeping, I still check my phone regularly, but if there should be any emergency I believe that people will simply call me.

Lena shares with us how she plans her trips. I always find that interesting to hear from a different perspective, there are just so many ways to plan a trip and so many good tips and tricks out there! I recently posted that I rely a lot on free travel apps, simply because I try to minimize luggage space and always have my iPhone at hand.

Also, I can totally relate to Silvia’s post “13 Reasons You’ll Wish I Never Came Home for the Holidays“! I remember when I came home for the holidays while I was teaching abroad in Ohio and how awkward it all felt. Mostly because I was very aware that I had experienced many things and made different friends which was just hard to share!

Millie’s post is a collection of the 8 museums that you must visit. Clearly the museum nerd in me soaked that post up! Awesome collection, I must admit, and unfortunately I have only been to one.

Having been to Seattle recently I loved all the cute coffee shops they have besides Starbucks. See this post if you want to read about three unique coffee shops in the Seattle area. Sadly, I visited none of them, but that will just be one more reason to return then.

Stephanie shares her first solo hike up Montserrat mountain. If you look at her pictures, you know that the view certainly was a reward!

A very cool post comes from Shannon who planned a cheap trip to Birmingham and shared it with her readers. It’s funny because very often I do that as well – plan a trip that I don’t take.

Hannah’s post is on battling jet lag and contains so many great tips! I had collected some of my tips here when I arrived in Seattle in July!

As some of you know, I’ll be going to Lindau and Prague next. Both in winter and I’m expecting very cold temperatures. Just in time today I read Christine’s advice on how to prepare for winter travel! She mostly focuses on driving by car, but the whole “pack light but wisely” is something that I need to remind myself of all. the. time.

Christmas markets in Paris look awesome! I have been writing about Munich’s markets and will add some Bavarian markets soon enough, but this post by Kristine just makes me want to hop on a plane to Paris and spend some time there!

My blog feed

I’m still not sure what to get most people for Christmas, so I think I’ve now read almost every gift guide of 2016: 35 Gifts For the Wanderlust-Obsessed Person In Your Life

Instagram amazes me every day. I love following all the wonderful people there and especially seeing all the heavenly places that they visit: The Top 20 Worldwide Instagram Spots Of 2016 For some reason LAX is on there and I keep asking myself: WHY?!

Traveling Abroad: Do’s and Dont’s: It’s College Humor but in some way so heart-breakingly accurate.

It always makes me so happy to see photos from Malaysia. That really was a great trip. I may not have been to all of these places, but there is always something left to do: 16 Incredible Malaysian Destinations That Aren’t Kuala Lumpur

Enjoy the read! I’ll be exploring Lindau at Lake Constance next week and hopefully be back with fresh memories, great pictures and in time for a new edition of A Traveler’s Reading List. Stay wanderlustig!

Nomination for a Liebster Award

Oh, how exciting, I am nominated for a Liebster Award!

Liebster Awards

First of all, thanks Neha and Abhishek!

I’m very honored to receive this nomination. For some weeks now, I have seen fellow blogs being nominated and it makes me so happy that I can join the club now. Let me introduce Neha and Abhishek from Revolving Compass: They are, as they say on their blog, a techie couple enthusiastic for traveling which is a passion that they share. First as a couple and now together with their toddler they have been exploring wonderful places in India for over 3 years! Please keep these wonderful posts coming, I wish you all the best for your future adventures!

Now, You’ll probably ask: What is the Liebster Award?

When I started my blogging adventure more seriously and joined all these awesome groups on Facebook, I kept seeing blogs being nominated for a Liebster Award and nominees talking about it. Even though I didn’t really know what it was, I actually applied and mentioned my blog on the very first day. Now I know as it is stated on the Facebook Page:

The Liebster Award is a way of promoting and recognizing fellow bloggers, (on the internet) for their efforts and accomplishments in becoming a blogger.

Doesn’t that sound just great?! Bloggers being supportive of other bloggers is just a wonderful and generous thing. As Neha and Abhishek mentioned in their entry, the name of the award – Liebster – comes from my homecountry – Germany – and it means: The dearest and kindest. And that it just is, the dearest and kindest way to connect fellow new bloggers in the industry, to give them exposure and the recognition they earn for sharing their stories with the world.
When you are nominated for the Liebster Award, you are supposed to do the following:

  • Thank those who nominated you and link the blog in your post
  • Write an intro about the Liebster Award and spread the awareness
  • Answer the questions about your blog
  • Nominate another 5 to10 other people for the Liebster Award and inform them via social media
  • Set up a few interesting  questions for the nominees

So, here come my answers to Neha’s and Abhishek’s questions

Thanks for the great set of questions, guys! I’ll do my best answering them! It has been such a great week for me reflecting on all your questions.

What inspired you to start traveling?

Actually, I was 15 when I took my first flight and traveled to another continent, so I’d say I started traveling extremely late. All my other friends had been traveling way before that age. At the same time, I suppose that it impressed me even more than others who had been traveling a lot before. I remember sitting in the plane back to Germany (from New York City) at that time, crying because I was overflowing with emotions: Happiness because I just had so many great days and sadness because I had to leave and go back to school. That moment I promised myself to keep on exploring different countries and cultures.

Which travel destination is the closest to your heart and why?

Definitely the USA: see the story above. Also, I spent a year living in Ohio and have so many fond memories of that time. I have also visited a couple of places there already (such as New York, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland) and was always so lucky to meet great new people or catch up with old friends. When I’m there, it only takes a couple of hours and I feel at home.

What fuels the motivation behind your travel blog?

At first, I wanted to share my adventures with friends and families and the blog served as a convenient method to let them know that I was still alive whenever I was abroad on a solo trip. Then I realized that I have so many stories to share and tell with others and I decided to make this blog more public to inspire others that they can do it as well. Traveling or traveling alone is fun, not scary! I’m very passionate about the places I have been and I love to inspire and share my ideas or share my advice.
I also enjoy writing in English, even though German would be an easier choice. I’m Munich-based and I have had visitors from different countries now, which was when I realized that I should also share some tipps and tricks about Munich. It’s a wonderful city!

Where do you envision your blog a couple of years down the line?

Hopefully still going strong and maybe even stronger than now,
I want it to be filled with many new adventures, destinations and tricks for everyone out there. Plus, I’d love to be able to make people go out and travel more. I also want to keep up adding more photos because apparently the move from the free wordpress site deleted them all.

How do you combat home sickness after days of travel?

This is actually a subject that I have been thinking about a lot lately. I usually try to stay busy and go out. Take a walk, explore, calm myself down. Keeping in touch with friends and family can help as well. But all in all, I’d say that the most important part is to remember that homesickness or loneliness is a normal part of being “on the road” and that you can allow yourself to be lazy or sad or anything you want to be. It’s important to be at peace with yourself and what you feel when you are traveling.

What is the most important thing you have learnt during your travel journey?

For me, the most important thing that I learnt was and still is that you can’t plan everything. I’m a pretty organised person when I am at home and when I write my dissertation, so of course I try to be as prepared as possible when traveling. I’ve learnt over the last couple of years that I have to let go and be more spontaneous.

What was your toughest travel experience so far?

I haven’t had many bad experiences, luckily, compared to many other travelers. The toughest experience thus was probably being robbed in my dorm by the girls I shared the place with. It sucked pretty bad and almost ruined a perfectly pleasant stay in San Francisco. Plus, I felt so stupid and bad loosing all the cash.

Do you have a bucket list that you are ticking off slowly?

I do have a very long bucket list. It keeps growing and growing, especially now that I am home-stuck for a little while. Many destinations on my bucket list are far away, such as Canada, Japan and New Zealand. Other than that, I have many different cities that I want to visit for the first time or for a second time, such as Prague (going there in January now!), London, Paris, Rome or New York City.

What was the most heart touching experience you had during your travel ?

I’m always touched when I meet nice people on my trips. Since I am usually traveling on my own, these short or long encounters always make me feel happy. On my last trip I took the train from Portland, OR, to San Francisco, CA. When I entered, all window seats were unfortunately taken, but the woman next to me switched seats with me for a couple of hours so that I was able to enjoy the view. She told me that I was a guest and should enjoy my trip and that I would do the same in Germany for her. It was incredibly sweet of her!

Given a chance to travel day in and day out, would you grab it?

Probably not – to give the short answer. I love traveling, but a huge and wonderful part for me is coming home which requires having a homebase somewhere. For me, traveling is giving myself a timeout, being more spontaneous and having an adventure on my own. I’m investing a lot of time and energy into my studies which I am also very passionate about and could never give up completely!

What would be your one liner for someone who wants to start travel blogging?

It’s my favorite saying and the tag line of my blog: “Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” (Confucius). In a longer version: Go out and do it, but do it with all your heart and be yourself.

Here are my nominees for the Liebster Award 2016:

1) Wading Wade
2) Abstract Heaven
3) TravelTorgeir
4) The Wandereuse
5) Little Duckie’s Adventures
6) Up&At’Em Travel
7) Island Girl In-Transit
8) Loudy’s Dream
9) Honey in the Desert
10) DreamTrip of a Lifetime 

Congratulations! I can’t wait all of your answers to my questions!

And my questions to the nominees:

  1. What is your favorite place in your hometown or home country?
  2. How do you finance your travels?
  3. Which places are on your bucket list?
  4. What was the best experience that you had while traveling?
  5. Which travel tip would you share with a new traveler?
  6. What inspires you to travel and blog?
  7. How did you come up with your blog name?
  8. How has your travel style changed as compared to when you just started traveling?
  9. What is the one thing that always makes you cringe when you are traveling abroad?
  10. What do you struggle with as a travel blogger?
A Traveler's Reading List 47/2016

A Traveler’s Reading List 47/2016

Good evening everyone! How has your week been going? I’ve been busy catching up with old Gilmore Girls episodes before I can finally watch the new season. I have managed to escape a few spoilers for while, but I don’t know how long I want to do that! Except for that I spent my weekend at home like a hermit typing in many words of my PhD thesis. It feels good to be productive and to have a weekend for myself every once in a while. But let’s start: Here comes my Traveler’s Reading List 47/2016!

A Traveler's Reading List 47/2016

#blogpostsaturday

As always, I have been incredibly late with catching up with all the amazing blogposts that are shared every Saturday.

A pleasant surprise awaited me on Friday though: I was nominated for a Liebster Award by Neha and Abhishek from Revolving Compass and I’ll thus be working on my blogpost for next Thursday. If you want to know what it is and if you are curious of the questions that I have to answer, please check back next week! This week’s post was on 10 Christmas gifts for travelers, all of them chosen wisely by me!

I’ve been reminded of my ignorance and laziness when I read Vicki’s post with so many great social media & SEO tips for newbie bloggers. Let’s see how many tips I will be able to integrate in my daily blogging!

Christina shared how she monetized her travel blog. I’m not really good at that yet and don’t expect to make much money any time soon, but I’d love to one day earn enough to finance my blog and a bit of my travel expenses.

Laura shares her strategies on how to save money each month to spend on traveling. Sounds great, but I still have to work on my shopping habits!

I loooove travel fails and have encountered so many myself. Of course I had to read Jennifer’s entry from this week! I also shared a story of mine in her comments.

Anne shares her packing list for world tour which includes some great tips and tricks!

I’m always so happy to read on places in Romania. Sibiu does really look like a fairytale city, so you should check out Mihaela’s post! If you like traditions, then Cory’s post on 7 Romanian customs which will make you superstitious will be a great read for you!

Let’s all say a big congratulation to Naomi on her one year blogiversary on her travel blog Probe around the Globe! Her Q&A is super interesting and shows how much work she spends on her travel blog!

My blog feed

My blog feed has been swamped with news on the new season of Gilmore Girls, so there weren’t many posts that I could read, unfortunately!

12 Brilliant Packing Hacks If You Don’t Wanna Check In Luggage

I Tried 5 Sleeping Hacks For Long-Haul Flights And It Was Damn Uncomfortable

21 Cosy Winter Comfort Foods Everyone Must Eat In Scotland

Why This Couple is Traveling Africa, and You Should Too!

How To Quit Your Corporate Job To Travel Without Burning Bridges

A Charming Charleston Destination Guide

Digital Nomads: The Uplifting Beauty Of Living And Working Anywhere You Want

How to live a life of travel even with a full time job

What have you had on your Traveler’s Reading List? What did you do last week?

A Traveler's Reading List 46/2016

A Traveler’s Reading List 46/2016

How did your week and weekend go? I’ve been really busy so that I’m just getting around to catch up with my reading list. #blogpostsaturday becomes more and more a Sunday thing for me, but I sincerely hope that that’s ok with everyone. I published one post on Thursday, as always, and I’ve been busy on Instagram sharing pictures from Pittsburgh in 2014. It’s as much blog time as I can spare each week, I guess. But let’s continue with what I started last week: A traveler’s reading list 46/2016!

A Traveler's Reading List 46/2016

#blogpostsaturday

Although I’m not sure whether I want to make my blog a business or not, I was glad to find Madi’s post. I’d love to at least earn as much as I spend on my blog, so I’ll have to get to work on some points that she is talking about!
I l loved Emily’s very honest post on why she and her fiancé stopped traveling half-way through their adventure year. I believe that it is so important to listen into oneself and evaluate what one wants from life.
Shannon reviewed google trips, which I will have to see for myself, but it sounds quite good!
Becca has been nominated for the Liebster Award (congrats!) and thus answered 10 questions about herself and her blog!
A very funny and a bit sarcastic post came from Katie with “How to Save Money For Travel – The Tricks Nobody Will Tell You”.
To read about a visit to Landsberg am Lech made me incredibly happy, because I keep telling people to go there. It’s such a cute little city!
Meg writes about first week travel blues which I totally think is a thing, it is basically what I meant with homesickness in my post a few weeks ago.
Ever heard of Boerum Hill?! I hadn’t which is why Victoria’s post cam just at the right time.
Here is a list of some travel hacks if you don’t know them already. Even though I technically do, I sometimes forget to follow them…
Another post on visiting a city in Germany: Kristine went to Trier, and it looks like she and her boyfriend had a really good time!
Ever since my trip to Thailand, I looove Thaifood (if it is not too spicy). See this post for five fav dishes to try! And this post will make you want to go to Bangkok! Which makes me want to agree with Bidisha who in her post names seven reasons to revisit places.

My blog feed

Adventurous Kate (who I have been following for quite some time and admire A LOT) writes about The Conversation. I’m sure everyone has been there, probably with different topics.

5 budget European destinations

How To Survive Being An Exchange Student In 5 Simple Steps

6 of the best art stops in Oxford, UK

Ultimate Female Packing List for Ireland in Summer (with camping tips)

How to unplug from and minimize your possessions

13 Things Every Person Can Look Forward To For Winter In NYC

On the Shores of a Pink Lake in Australia

That’s that for this weekend! Leave me a comment if you liked my list or think that I need to read something special for next weeks list!

 

A Traveler's Reading List 45/2016

A Traveler’s Reading List 45/2016

A Traveler's Reading List 45/2016

I love reading, I always have. In the last few months, my blog link list has grown steadily and for the last weeks, I also started following the #blogpostsaturday on Facebook. Many awesome travel blogger share their posts each Saturday and people read and comment on each others posts. I love the commitment to eachother and the knowledge that spread between eachother. Which is why I decided to create a (hopefully) weekly traveler’s reading list in which I can share the blog posts that I have read each Saturday.

We can probably all agree that this week has been intense with media and especially social media overflowing with articles on the US election – whether it was people mourning or gloating. I myself was too surprised or shocked this week to keep up reading my blog feed. It took me quite some time to catch up and I’m still not done with #blogpostsaturday.



 

Here is what I read this week:

#blogpostsaturday

Nika published a post on her visit to the concentration camp in Dachau and whether it was worth the visit in comparison to Auschwitz, also in regards of how emotional prepared one has to be to do so. I was a bit careful at first when I saw Laura’s post on how to stay in Europe for $2.80 per day, because it sounded too good to be true. The secret is house-/ pet-sitting and I’ll need to look into that now! I really loved this post on Amsterdam in the fall, especially her pictures are wonderful and make me want to head there immediately! Taylor’s gift guide with ideas for backpackers is inspirational, I have planned a post in ideas myself, but it is good to see, that each one of us has different ideas!  I loved Alice’s reflections on the concept of home, it’s something I have thought about a lot myself lately. Daphne from girlswanderlust collected 10 possible jobs that one could do while traveling the world! Brigitte reflects in her post on Remembrance Day in Germany. I’m a bit torn on that subject, but I also always question the concept of heros in general. Cristina shared a sample one week itinerary for Italy, it would be too short for me, but for someone coming to Italy for the first time and with only a week-long vacation it might be great! If you are looking for a winter getaway, you should check this post on winter in Romania. I always rather dreamed about Christmas in the sun, but I get that people like the fluffy white snow! Stacey shared her adventures in London for one day and Sarah the perfect 16 hours in Bristol! Maybe I really need to do more of those shorter trips! Katie’s guide of things to do in Talinn was a good read, I always like these guides, they give you an overview of things to do! And I wholeheartedly agree with Carly that Rothenburg ob der Tauber deserves more than one day – I’d say that almost every city deserves that! I found this post on what to bring in your hand luggage on a long flight quite helpful! Have you heard about the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) that opened a while ago in DC? Marissa shares her first visit there!

My blog feed

A poem on being a long-term traveler

49 ways to travel (and live) better

4 Things I Learned Backpacking Solo

For When You Feel All Too Small In This Big World

This Is For The People Who Crave Travel

How To Plan And Have A Kickass Time On Your First Solo Trip

Why Traveling Solo Isn’t Always Glam

Enjoy the read if you find the time and have a wonderful week!

E.