This is an All Ears English podcast episode 2029.
Is travel the path to happiness?
Find out in Germany.
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Hey Lindsey, how are you?
I'm feeling great today, Aubrey.
Happy to be on the mic and excited to talk about Germany.
It sounds like we're going to talk about Germany today.
Yes, we are talking about Germany.
I love Europe.
I loved Germany.
I went when I was 18.
What about you?
Have you been to Germany?
Recently, I have.
And it was really my first time other than airport stuff, right?
So we were in around Christmas of 2021.
We were in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg way up in the north.
And a few other places like Nuremberg.
It was an amazing trip.
Yeah.
Oh, that is awesome.
And did you find, were you able to meet a lot of people who spoke English, or did you learn some German?
You know, the English there is incredible.
The English there.
Normally when I travel, I do like to learn the language, but I was just in a chaotic moment in life.
I didn't have the time.
And so but the English was amazing.
Yes, I found the same, right?
I didn't have a lot of time to learn a lot of German.
I really try to learn the language before I go somewhere.
But I had like a 15 country Eurorail pass.
And just because my train pass went to Germany, I was able to visit a few cities without really planning to go.
So there was no chance to learn any of the language.
But I was, like you said, really impressed and amazed at how many of the locals that I met spoke English and were able to chat and connect with me.
So I was grateful.
I mean, it's about the connection, right?
So it's always good to default to learning the language, but if, for some reason, you just can't do it, it's the connection moments that you look for right.
Asking about the culture, asking locals about their culture, learning about their history, right?
And norms and things like that, that will build connection.
Absolutely.
Right.
So we want you guys to with the English that you have learned.
It would be amazing if you have time to pick up some German, but you will find that your English gets you really far in Germany.
So we wanted to share summer is amazing in Germany.
There's so much to do.
The weather is amazing.
So much beautiful landscape. landscape with the Alps.
So we're going to share some of the three things that make August amazing in Germany.
And if you have a chance to plan a last minute trip, go to Germany.
Yes.
And I have a personal testimonial.
A friend of mine, her name is Taylor.
She lives in Berlin and she loves Berlin in the summer.
Loves it.
In the winter she sometimes comes back home because it's challenging in the way it's very far north Berlin.
But she says Berlin in the summer is like kind of like a Paris, with cafe tables out everywhere and just so many people out on the street.
So much sunlight because it is so far north.
Right.
Exactly.
So it's a lot of light even till pretty late.
Big nightlife.
But also...
There's festivals.
So we're going to get into three things that were recommended.
We found an article on BookMonday.com.
And all of this sounds amazing.
It makes me want to go to Germany tomorrow.
For sure.
But before anyone goes to Germany, first, we got to hit follow on All Ears English.
Right.
So guys go ahead and open up your listening app if you're listening on Apple Podcast or Stitcher Radio.
Wherever you listen, there's a follow button somewhere.
Hit that follow button now, because we have some incredible episodes coming up for you this summer and you definitely don't want to miss them.
So hit follow now.
Good stuff.
Awesome.
Yes, absolutely.
So let's go into the first one, right?
One of the reasons that August is amazing in Germany. is the summer festival season.
So throughout the summer, Germans love festivals like we all do.
There's an apple wine festival in Frankfurt and Berlin has an international beer festival.
Those both sound amazing.
Oh, yeah.
It's really fun in Germany being in the beer halls, right?
And especially you can see that they do that outside too.
They bring the tables outside and just the atmosphere around beer is really cool.
Absolutely.
And there's a lot of smaller festivals and musical events in August.
So if you have a chance to go to Germany, wherever you are, look up a festival you can go to.
This is a great chance to connect with locals because they will all be there.
I love it.
I love it.
So good.
And what would be the second suggestion, Aubrey?
What do you think?
Yes, I love this.
It's to hike the Bavarian Alps, which are near or there's...
A good place to go if you're wanting to do this is near Munich that it's very tourist friendly.
It sounds like I haven't had a chance to go, but it's on my bucket list, especially after preparing this episode, because it sounds like even if you go to Europe and you're using the trains, you can still hike the Alps, because the pathways are really well maintained and clearly marked.
So it's basically impossible to get lost there.
Sometimes I'm a little nervous about hiking in places I'm not familiar with, but it sounds like in the Bavarian Alps they've made it a little more tourist friendly.
Yeah, I've heard you're walking around the Utah desert on your own, Aubrey.
We need these trails.
It's not advised.
Not advised at all.
Yeah, I've heard this about Switzerland too.
I think there's because after doing the Patagonia trek, I talked to a lot of people who do these kinds of long-term treks right.
Hiking, camping, staying in hostels along the way.
People mentioned something in Switzerland as well.
So I think there's a nice trail structure all around Europe.
Yes.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And this sounded really cool that most of the peaks, most of these hikes you would do.
There are mountain huts at the top with restaurants.
They're connected by cable cars a lot.
So you don't have to take a lot of gear and food.
You can just take like a small backpack with water and go and plan to have lunch at the top.
It sounds like it sounds amazing. like heaven.
That's pretty amazing.
And enjoy good local food.
I mean, a big thing that we really enjoy.
And I know I did an episode about Germany when I came back in 2021, but I can't find it on the blog.
So guys, try to go and search in our podcast for an episode around January, February of 2021.
I had some interesting questions about, you know, well, about the food scene.
Definitely sampling the food in Germany is a must, right?
Absolutely.
Yes.
Yeah.
So anyways, good.
Okay.
What else did this article recommend of what we should do?
Yeah.
So we know, of course, Germany has lots of really interesting museums.
But one thing is interesting in August that there's on August 26, Berlin's museums stay open until after midnight.
So just like you said, it's light later.
The nightlife is really fun.
Things are open.
And if you happen to be able to travel there in August, then you can go and check out some of the museums until midnight, with lots of special exhibitions and events.
Oh, 100%.
And definitely, you know, along the theme of museums, go visit the Berlin Wall, right?
Of course, you can't miss that.
It's just amazing walking that wall and being so close to history in such a profound way.
It's incredible.
Absolutely, right?
We've all been, had the chance of reading books and seeing films and learning the history, but to actually be there in person and to see, you know, the wall, to see some of the ruins in Europe there's just so much history.
It's amazing.
And it's so accessible.
Transportation is so easy in Germany.
It's just everything.
I know we went there kind of still during COVID, but every single bar you had to show your ID and your vaccination card.
You had to be vaccinated and boosted.
So it was like I didn't get COVID.
I felt very safe there.
And so things are well set up.
People are responsible, socially responsible, more so than in the U.S.
Good to know, right?
Go somewhere where you're going to feel a little safer in the health realm.
Yeah.
Avoid the U.S.
Go to Germany.
Yeah.
This advice.
It makes me think so much about this concept of the human mind and how it responds to light in terms of well-being, because we're talking about Germany in the summer.
We may not write the same article about Germany in the winter, but we were there in the winter and it was great.
It's just that the sun went down at four in the afternoon and came up at nine.
That is interesting to think about.
That's like when I head up to Idaho in the summer and it's light much later, like it'll be 10 PM and there's still quite a bit of light, and it's as opposed to Arizona, where it's dark quite a bit earlier.
Just the further you go north.
Like Alaska, some people live in Alaska and then it's light all night long.
Wow.
Well, how does that make you feel?
Like when you're in a place that has so much sunlight, what are your thoughts on that?
Because it's always interesting to see what creates well-being in humans.
Yeah, I think there is a connection, right?
The more sunlight, the longer the day's light is.
It really is related to, I think, how positive you feel and how upbeat and light everything feels.
And then the more darkness there is, you can't help but let that affect your mood a little bit.
Yeah, I would like to hear from some of our listeners who live in places where there is extreme differences, right?
Northern Europe, the Northern US, where you do see between winter and summer, huge differences.
Write to us, guys.
Let us know how you alter your lifestyle based on the amount of light.
Like, how does that affect you?
And maybe we can have an episode on how to talk about that.
Very, very specific topic.
I love that.
So interesting.
Yeah.
What's the takeaway for today's episode about Germany?
Yes, guys, your English is going to get you far.
You can travel to a lot of places, even if you don't have time to pick up a lot of the language.
And August is an amazing time to visit Germany.
So if you can plan a last minute trip, we highly recommend it.
And definitely, as we always suggest, see if you can connect with a local you know.
See if you can connect.
We said language learning is one way to do that.
Again hopping on a language learning marketplace to hire a tutor.
Then maybe you can meet up with them when you're in town.
Oh, I love that idea.
Absolutely, right?
Attend a festival, try a hike, go to one of these midnight museums, right?
There are so many opportunities where you're going to be where the locals are.
Strike up a conversation.
I love it.
We've given you so many conversation starters on this episode.
Now go out and use one of them.
And just the feeling of being out in the world, like just coming back from Egypt a few weeks ago.
I unfortunately already feel it going away.
But it's an incredible feeling when you've been out in the world, in a new place globally.
It's like your mind has been totally turned upside down and transformed.
I don't even know how to explain it, Aubrey.
You know the feeling.
I know it.
You know, right.
It just the world opens up to you, because we can't help, when we're just in one place, to start feeling sort of closed in and like our own little bubble.
And then when we go out in the world, especially a place that has a very different culture or language than ours, the world opens up and we feel such a like a brotherhood, a sisterhood with everyone else.
And we want to connect with everyone else.
And just a sense of curiosity.
There's the connection.
There's also like, oh, wow, this history, I really want to learn it.
Because maybe I brushed over it in school and now I really want to learn the history of Egypt, right?
I really want to understand these ancient pharaohs and what happened.
Like we just get more plugged into life.
Yeah.
It feels more real, right?
This history that we've just read about or seen films about is suddenly real, real people, real places.
And we want to know more about it.
So travel as a path to happiness, right?
Travel and connection.
Love it.
So good.
All right.
Great to chat with you, Aubrey, about these things.
And I'll talk to you very soon.
Awesome.
See you next time, Lindsay.
Bye.
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