Beer, tents, and lederhosen: 10 things I learned at Oktoberfest 2011

Exhausted, after a combined 16 days in Turkey and Tallinn, I landed around 9:30pm in Munich. I waited for my suitcase at baggage claim, looking forward to checking into the hotel and taking a nap. Mike and Patty were coming a bit later, but I had time to rest before they arrived.  Then, as is normal when I travel, something unfortunate happened.  My bag decided to spend the night in Copenhagen instead of coming to Munich. I hate that feeling when the last bag is picked up and the carousel stops moving.  And you are still standing there all alone like a loser.  You look around the half-empty claim area and anyone nearby looks at you and just knows..."sucks to be that guy".  I was really irritated and the first airport person I asked for help wouldn't help me (and spoke to me in that really annoying polite/condescending way that makes you mad, but you can't really be mad because they were polite). The next person was very helpful and told me that my bag would arrive in the morning. At this point, I didn't care, I just wanted to sleep. I didn't need my suitcase for that.

And thus began the weekend where I learned 10 things to make for a successful Oktoberfest:

1. Wear awesome clothes

Mike and Patty (US friends who live in London) arrived about an hour after I got to the Marriott Courtyard hotel in the city center. Since I didn't have other clothes, I decided to wash my clothes in the sink while I waited for them. When they arrived, we decided to go for a drink. I only had the 2XL plain white t-shirt that the airline gave me, so that's what I wore out. While everyone else in the city was wearing lederhosen and dirndls, I was in a semi-transparent white t-shirt that was 3 sizes too big. I looked awesome. 

It's like a dress

2. By awesome clothes, I meant lederhosen or dirndls

The next day, since I didn't have clothes, and since we wanted to buy lederhosen anyway, we set off to do some shopping. A couple hours (and 130 euros) later, we had outfits. Some places were charging up to 260 Euros for a complete outfit, but I was not ready to spend that much. I don't even spend that much on real clothes.  I went for a cheaper pair of leather pants and a pink shirt.  Patty had a pink dress, so we looked like twins.  She didn't mention our potential matching outfits before I bought it because she didn't want me to spend anymore time trying to decide what to get.  Usually the guy is the one saying "yea yea looks good" (without looking), to make the girl hurry up and buy stuff so he can go home to watch football. 

At this point, I realized that I didn't even need my suitcase because I was going to wear this same outfit all weekend anyway...

Heading out in our new outfits

3. Watch your step

Munich during Oktoberfest is much different than it was during the Christmas markets last year. There are people dressed in costumes everywhere, everyone is drunk, I saw 2 people projectile vomiting (one almost got hit by a train when he leaned over to let it out), and I stepped over countless puddles of who-knows-what (on sidewalks, train tracks, in elevators, etc). Even with all the drunkenness, it definitely felt friendlier and more civilized than Queen's Day in Amsterdam (that might be hard to believe based on this initial description). The Germans must be polite drunks (not like in the movie "Beerfest").

Outside the tents

4. Bring friends from around the world

After we were dressed, we walked the 20 minutes to the Oktoberfest tents to meet recently engaged cousin Karen and her fiance Daniel, who were visiting from Boston with Daniel's Harvard B-School class, and friends Jen and Jeff, who are from the US, but recently moved to Zurich with PwC. Afterwards, we met Francis (PwC friend who lives in London) who stayed with us, and after dinner, we met up with Seif (Egyptian friend who used to live in Warsaw) and a few of his friends (they all live in Germany now). We had a couple drinks at a youth hostel that has a cheap and casual bar near the Marriott.

On day 2, Kate (from my St Pete and Barcelona trips) met us there with her friend Anna. They had gotten in from Dusseldorf the night before and were well rested for this big day. They only did one day of Oktoberfest, so they planned to go big (and they did, lasting nearly 15 straight hours). Eerik and Asia (who used to live in Warsaw but now live in Munich) met us for a bit, and another friend Melissa (from Chicago) was in town with some of her work friends. Later that night we met up with EJ (who lives in Amsterdam now) and Debashis, an American friend who lives in Warsaw.  Is was great to see so many international friends in one place!

Francis and Anna wondering if Kate is going to share

5. Get to know your neighbors

We first stopped by Hippodrome, but it was packed. I didn't really know what to expect with these tents...there are people EVERYWHERE, the wooden tables packed elbow to elbow, waitresses running around carrying huge plates of food, or up to 10 1-liter steins of beer. The bands play cheerful music and everyone stands up to sing. And every once in a while some guy (or girl) will stand on the table and chug their liter. Or get booed if they tried and failed.

The atmosphere was a lot of fun, as everyone makes friends with everyone else, and it was even more crowded since it was the weekend. You definitely don't get much personal space.  And not everyone wears deodorant. 

How does she carry all those at once?

We met lots of old and new friends, including this old Italian guy who kept kissing me

If you do this, you get cheered

6. Stay out of the way

The thing that impressed me the most is that with so many drunk people, and with people coming and going constantly, and with all the food and drink orders, they keep it VERY organized. Even though it's packed, it doesn't seem packed. The walk ways are always clear, people are not lingering around, lines move quickly, and it seems like they are always in control. That's why we got yelled at by security many times on the first day. We were dumb Oktoberfest virgins standing in the way.  We stood there because it was clear and spacious...which apparently is because they don't let anyone stand there!  Makes sense.

Packed in Hippodrome

7. Get there early

On the Friday, we didn't have a table reservation (even though I started the process of trying to get one back in May), but we ended up finding seats in the Spaten tent at around 2pm. We only had it for a couple hours because the table was reserved after 4pm. That was fine, because at least we had enough time to eat and have a couple beers.

After a failed attempt to bribe someone to go into another tent to get seats, we did some bumper cars and walked around the amusement park (the bribe worked, as he took the money, but we didn't get seats). Instead of going back into the tents, we decided to go to Marienplatz and eat at Hofbrauhaus, a place that I went to with Mike, Pascale, and Lukasz last year. It's a great atmosphere with good food and big beers (almost like a year-round Oktoberfest).

The next day (Saturday), we got to the tents at 8am to get a good spot in the Lowenbrau tent. And 8am was almost too late! There were hundreds of people already in line, and we got one of the last tables with a 5pm reservation (meaning we could stay there til about 4:30). Chen was very aggressive in securing us the tables on both days, as there are hundreds of people fighting for each of them.

Daniel, Karen, Patty, Mike, Jeff, Jen, and me in Spaten

8. Hope the airline loses your suitcase

Because of my lost suitcase for 24 hours, the airline will reimburse me for all toiletries and underwear that I must buy. I got some deodorant and toothpaste and some hot new boxer briefs. Literally, it's really hot down there. They'll also reimburse for half of my clothes, so hopefully they feel like lederhosen is a necessary purchase. I mean, it's clothes I had to have!

9. Eat a lot of pretzels

It absorbs the beer. And this is the proper way to do it:

 The secret to Oktoberfest survival - eat lots of pretzels

10. Do some sightseeing

And by sightseeing, I mean "look up at the buildings as you walk from beer tent to beer tent". You might see something nice.

Oh yea, we did some sightseeing too (kinda)

It took me a few days to recover and re-hydrate myself. But it was definitely a fun trip and I would love to go back again next year!!  Who's coming with me???