My first ED trip report (tons of photos) September 2012

This is my trip report for my first ever European Delivery. It was also the first time my friend and I have been to Europe. This forum is what had got me interested in having this experience. I have been researching this trip for almost a year. I want to thank everyone who contributed information to me on these forums that made my two week European trip an amazing experience. The input I received from this forum made the trip go extremely smooth. I am posting this report in hopes it may help someone else that is considering doing European delivery. Two words of advice for anyone considering doing European delivery - DO IT!

As far as camera equipment, we brought my Canon 60D DSLR with 18-135 mm Canon lens, a Samsung point and shoot, and our iPhone 4S's.

My car I took delivery of was a 2013 328xi Sports Line, Melbourne Red Metallic, Leather Dakota Black/Red highlight, Anthracite wood trim w/ highlight trim finishers in pearl gloss chrome, Cold Weather Package, Lighting Package, Premium Package, Technology Package, Sports automatic transmission w/ paddle shifters, Rear view camera, Park distance control, Auto high beams, and Harman Kardon surround sound system. I currently have a 2009 328xi in Montego Blue. This will be my 4th BMW.



Sunday September 9

Depart PIT 1345 USAir 1169 (Airbus A319)
Arrive CLT 1512


This was our carry on and checked luggage. We each also had a backpack. All bags were stuffed beyond capacity. We wondered how we could possibly bring anything back we bought. We ended up buying another suitcase in Vienna. Next time we wont be the typical crazy American tourist and pack a bit lighter.

I love flying through Charlotte. Its a nice airport, and we had time to grab a Jamba Juice and a burger at Bad Daddy's.

Depart CLT 1710 Lufthansa 429 (Airbus A340-600)

Lufthansa was an amazing airline. Service was excellent. Food was good and plentiful, free unlimited drinks (which we took advantage of), touch screen entertainment system at each seat in economy class. We took advantage of the Lufthansa-BMW discount which saved us a couple hundred dollars.



Monday September 10

Arrive MUC 0750

Cleared customs and met Peter after baggage claim. Peter drove us to BMW Niederlassung which is a corporate owned BMW dealership where he walked across the street to ADAC (German auto club) to purchase vignettes for the car. Peter then drove us to change our dollars to euros at the main train station. He then drove us to check in at:

Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski Munich
Maximilianstr. 17 Munich, 80539, BY, Germany
49892125270
(hotel has free wi-fi and valet parking in a secure garage and they will let you keep your key)


Peter picking us up at MUC.


Allianz Arena


First time on a German Autobahn. Peter explained the traffic laws and signs to us.




BMW Niederlassung

We took a 2 hour nap since we were tired from the flight and went sightseeing. We walked to Mierenplatz and saw the Glockenspiel. We had our first beer at the small beer garden in Mierenplatz. We then walked to St. Peter's church and climbed the 387 steps to the top for an amazing view (must see). We then walked to Viktualienmarkt where we had another beer at Wirtsgarten then went back to the hotel.





























The first of thousands of steps we climbed on this trip. Be in shape and bring comfortable walking shoes!

We ate dinner at Hofbrauhaus (mushroom pot, pretzel, original sausage platter) and of course had a beer. We then returned to the hotel and went to bed early.

Tuesday September 11

Woke up and walked to Mierenplatz to take U3 underground to BMW Welt. We checked in, signed the book, and went to the Premium Lounge to eat breakfast. We then met Sven our delivery specialist and took delivery of the car. After the victory lap, I had the car valet at the Welt and went on the English speaking factory tour (must see). After the tour we ate lunch at the Premium Lounge. We then went to the gift shop and got our keychain. From there, we went through the BMW museum. After the museum we drove back to the hotel.

Here is Prince Melbourne (delivery specialist Sven said it was a “he”):

Epic!

AMAZING trip report thank you! I loved the red roofs, I kept thinking about Charlie and the chocolate factory! Great pics, thanks for sharing!!! V/r, Tim

Looks like you had great weather on your entire trip! We had rain in Munich but as we headed south, the weather got sunnier. I enjoyed looking at all of your photos. Enjoyed your Como shots as we planned on going there but it was night when we went through on our way to Milan. We'll have to go back on our next ED. Thanks for posting a great trip report!

Originally Posted by 640GC

Looks like you had great weather on your entire trip! We had rain in Munich but as we headed south, the weather got sunnier. I enjoyed looking at all of your photos. Enjoyed your Como shots as we planned on going there but it was night when we went through on our way to Milan. We'll have to go back on our next ED. Thanks for posting a great trip report!

We did have great weather. The only time it rained is when we first got to Prague. We had a foggy morning at Como, but the rest of the trip was sun.

Bravo!!! Great show!!

Originally Posted by rgr887

Bravo!!! Great show!!

+1! Just finish reading your report! Wow!!!
Great shots, and a lot of them! Great post review!
Congrats on your car and your ED!
Thank you for sharing!

I've tried viewing your trip report twice now and the shot of the "Italia" road sign is the last one before a long series of empty picture boxes with red X-es on them. Pity. Thanks for posting and congrats.

Originally Posted by boothguy

I've tried viewing your trip report twice now and the shot of the "Italia" road sign is the last one before a long series of empty picture boxes with red X-es on them. Pity. Thanks for posting and congrats.

It is probably just taking to long to load.

It is a very nice report , may I ask which camera that you use to take these fantastic pictures ? Thank you for sharing and hope you enjoy the car after the re-delivery back to the States.

Originally Posted by redfish

It is a very nice report , may I ask which camera that you use to take these fantastic pictures ? Thank you for sharing and hope you enjoy the car after the re-delivery back to the States.

Canon 60D. Thank you!

that is one heck of a trip. Thanks for sharing, and congrats.

Originally Posted by boothguy

I've tried viewing your trip report twice now and the shot of the "Italia" road sign is the last one before a long series of empty picture boxes with red X-es on them. Pity. Thanks for posting and congrats.

I only get pictures up until the escalator view. The rest look like placeholders. I assumed the pictures just weren't uploaded to the thread yet. Too bad, because what I've seen is gorgeous.

Nice pics, it seems you took a vey similar route that my wife and I took a couple of months ago. We did not go to Italy (we were in Rome about a year ago), but your pictures from there look great. I think it is a better option than heading over to Switzerland as we did. Better food for a better price in Italy no doubt. Prague was indeed amazing...I highly recommend the Segway tour when you are there (for anyone that may be going soon)!!

We did bikes and segways, but did not manage to get on steeds, very cool.

Originally Posted by pjwal

Nice pics, it seems you took a vey similar route that my wife and I took a couple of months ago. We did not go to Italy (we were in Rome about a year ago), but your pictures from there look great. I think it is a better option than heading over to Switzerland as we did. Better food for a better price in Italy no doubt.

That was one of the reasons we didn't stay in Switzerland. It was expensive. Italy was much more reasonable and the food was amazing!

It looked the the weather god was with you all the time while you were there. Munich is certainly a beautiful city. I can't get enough of it. I know my way around the city by now. May I offer a suggestion. Post a few here to get us excited, but post the balance of your pictures to your favorite a photo host (flickr, photobucket, picasa... http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/image-hosting-websites. I use flickr because scrolling though the pictures is easy and painless. No fancy frills and no excess keying for seeing them sequentially.

Wow, nice pics and write up! Look forward to another one of these threads in 3 years when you return

Great trip report! We visited many of the places that you visited in Germany and Austria and your pictures brought back great memories. And everything looks better in bright sunlight! We had rain much of the first week of our 15 day trip and it was nice to see the colorful towns along the Alpenstrasse like Mittenwald in bright sun.

You have a very good eye for getting different angles of the various locations that we have all seen dozens of times before and it made the pictures that much more interesting.

We visited Switzerland during our ED and loved the time we spent there, but next time we are planning to skip Switzerland and do Italy and Lake Como.

Originally Posted by acevo8

Wow, nice pics and write up! Look forward to another one of these threads in 3 years when you return

I think that is a very good possibility!

Incredible trip report; took me 3 days to go through it so I could savor all the pictures. Bravo!