July 2nd first ED trip report with pictures

Ok, so I've just returned from one of the best vacations my wife and I ever had!
I'm late with this report mainly because the only electronic device (other than my camera and camcorder) that I had on this trip was my iphone…so I’m really sorry for missing the 12hr rule.
So here goes part of the story together with a few pictures.
So I took delivery of a modestly loaded F30 328i on Monday, July 2nd. We arrived at the BMW Welt in the morning, after having stayed the previous night at the Leonardo Royal Munich Hotel, on Moosacher Strasse. I thought it was a nice hotel, new, inexpensive with cold AC and great service. Perfectly safe and quiet neighborhood, easily accessible by subway. We had a 15 min walk with luggage to the Welt. We got there around 9 o'clock. Right at the front door, the lady took all our baggage except for a small backpack and gave us a receipt, then showed us the way to the Premium Lounge. There, we were greeted by Lana, who checked the passport and then had us sign some preliminary paperwork, gave me the temporary car registrations (one to use in Germany and one for outside of Germany) together with drop-off instructions, other papers and also advice not to drive into Liechtenstein as it is not allowed. We had breakfast, used the computers in the lounge to reserve a spot for the drop-off day with LogINOUT Munich and then headed down to the showroom. They had given us a voucher for a free engraved keychain and a 10 EUR credit at the gift shop, which we used to buy an 8 EUR safety vest and several other souvenirs.

As it was getting close to 11.30, we went over to the meeting point for the English factory tour. The tour lasts for about 2 hours, you head across the street to the factory, where the actual F30 and F31s are being built. Amazing process and technology, plenty of robot work but still with some human work here and there. We enjoyed the paint shop the best
We came back to the lounge around 2pm and had a nice meal. Great Bavarian food, great deserts and drinks. At 3, our delivery specialist came and took us for our most awaited moment …the actual European Delivery. She took us through all the features in detail; we took pictures, asked questions. The car unfortunately had 1 mile on the odometer, but the tank was 1/3 full. The lady even gave us her email address and told us to email her with anything...including to go out if we’re back again in Germany in the future My wife declined doing the victory lap, so I had to do that , following which we went outside, took a few pictures outside the Welt and then hit the Autobahn towards the Czech Republic.


We stayed 2 nights in Prague in a botel (hotel on water in a boat). The city is beautiful, although the old town was crowded with lots of things to visit, most people speak English and the food was good and cheap.
We then took some small roads (not very good) and went south to Salzburg, Austria. We had the choice to go back to Munich and then Salzburg, but chose the smaller distance (about 200km less), although the time was the same. The city of Mozart did not disappoint. Nestled in the mountains, we enjoyed cooler air, a pedestrian only center, great sightseeing, great little restaurants with Goulash soup and Wiener Schnitzel and the best breakfast ever at the Fingerlos cafe (highly recommend if you're in town). We were there for 2 nights, after which crossed into Italy and arrived in Venice.

We actually had the hotel in Mestre, where the car stayed parked the whole time. The 2 days in Venice were hectic. We had very high temperatures, unbelievable crowds and it was overall probably the destination we enjoyed the least. You have to watch your pockets closely as there are thieves mostly taking advantage of crowded buses. Beautiful city though, but will probably not return. We also had a not so pleasant experience while there. We bought return train tickets to go from Mestre to Treviso to visit the city and try the Prosecco wine. When it was time to return at night around 10 pm, we sadly found out that the Italian Railways were on an unexpected strike....the only option was to pay 40 Euros to get a cab back to Mestre.

The next 2 nights we spent in Bellagio at Lake Como. Beautiful place to relax but again, only after the car was safely parked. Getting to Bellagio was tough because of the one-lane sized road where there was 2-way high-speed traffic, including lots of motorcycles...nice drive which I enjoyed, but my wife was stressed out the whole time.

We left Lake Como, took the road through Switzerland, through St Moritz into Austria and then stopped in Fussen for 2 nights. We actually stayed in Hopfen am See (http://www.fuessen-hopfen.de/) , which is a nice little village about 5 km away from Fussen, quiet with a beautiful lake and a relaxed atmosphere.

On our final day, we drove back to Munich. This was the chance to push the car on the Autobahn, as we had gone over the first 1,200 miles and got to drive 140mph for a brief period of time...(crazy, I know, but doable) …no reason why the US can not have at least a 100 mph limit.

We dropped the car off on 7/12, at 3 pm, and at 4 it was loaded onto the truck. We stayed at the Kempinski hotel inside the airport and took the flight home the next morning.

Some conclusions...
As I said, this was a great adventure. We enjoyed every moment of the trip. At the end of 12 days, we had driven about 1,300 miles and fortunately had no major incidents.
We probably wanted to see as much as we could in this little time, so this probably left us perhaps a bit tired at the end. But would we do it again? In a heartbeat.
This is IMO, the best way to buy a car, especially with the program that BMW has in place.

I lastly want to thank again the community here for being a source of great knowledge and to Greg Poland, who although I've never met, with me being here on the East Coast, was a great person to deal with and made this adventure possible.
I'm already trying to see how to get back next year, perhaps for another delivery... maybe transfer the lease in 1 year, or …any other thoughts?

Waiting now for PCD …car should be loaded onto Integrity and depart Bremerhaven on 7/21 with arrival into Brunswick, GA on 8/9.

Beautiful pics! Looks like you had a fabulous trip. Now the painful waiting starts...

Qq

Loved your recap, NE! Not sure what the victory lap is. Should I search or will an experienced ED-er fill me in? Need to prepare...start training.

Fantastic pictures!

Thank you so much for sharing.

Originally Posted by Loganradio

Loved your recap, NE! Not sure what the victory lap is. Should I search or will an experienced ED-er fill me in? Need to prepare...start training.

Just before you exit the Welt, you do a loop around the delivery place, inside the Welt, then actually come out....but don't know why the call it like that though.