This was a big part of the trip because I was going to celebrate turning 30 at Oktoberfest. I can’t remember when I decided to celebrate my 30^th at Oktoberfest, but all I know is the idea appealed to me from the get go as soon as I thought of it.

I had to get to Dortmund Station to catch a train at 5:15am. I don’t know how I did it, I don’t know if anyone else experiences it but I swear if you have to wake up extra early for something important, somehow you manage to do it no matter what.

I had to change at Mannheim half way through. I even set an alarm clock to make sure I didn’t risk missing my stop in case I overslept. I’m pretty certain I would’ve missed it had I not set that alarm.

I arrived in Munich by lunchtime and had less than 2 hours to check in and get to the Allianz Arena for the Stadium tour. I booked it while I was on the train and although there was a later slot on the tour, I thought I’d gamble thinking I could make it.

When you book the tour, the only option you have is to buy a combi ticket stadium and museum tour unless you’re part of a school or business tour from what I gathered on the website.

I didn’t realise until I got directions from the Hostel that the Allianz Arena wasn’t close to the central area, it’s easy to get to. You’ll travel 45 minutes at most to get there. Once you’re out of the station the walk to the stadium itself takes at least 10 minutes although it feels like a lifetime. It’s one of those long walks where although you can see the stadium, it’s a long walk even if it doesn’t look it at a first glance.

The Allianz Arena looks much bigger than the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund despite the lower capacity. The tour takes an hour whereas the Borussia Dortmund one took 2 hours, and there are tours in different languages on offer. It’s better than being given a headset to listen to a translation as was the case in Dortmund.

There are some really nice tributes in the Bayern Munich Museum, it’s much bigger and has a more personal interactive feel than the Borusseum.

On the way back I got off at Münchner Freiheit, this is the area to go to if you want to find somewhere to eat. I made my way back to central Munich on foot. On the way I went past the Siegestor Arch which is on a pavement in the middle of a main road, so you’re still able to have pictures with it.

I came at a bad time, as I’m getting the camera ready a load of people turn up which is no biggy. All that’s required is bit of patience and you may as well use the time to appreciate your surroundings.

Then out of no where some random fella on a bike rides up, parks his bike right in the middle and in the way of any photo opportunity. He gets off, walks up to me and hands me his phone and gestures at me to take his photo. I’m standing there perplexed along with the other people who were trying to take photos.

Sure enough I take some photos in the hope he’ll bugger off so I can get back to taking some pictures. Instead he comes up and introduces himself, I think he said his name was Ahmed. I was still trying to process what was happening as he introduced himself.

Anyway Ahmed is so grateful that I took his photo that he demands to take one with me. I mean who am I to say no to a photo request? Needless to say, I fulfilled his request and he rode away.

All of this happened in the space of 2 minutes. It was a bit of a whirl wind of mixed emotions, I went from being ready to tell him to do one to becoming his temporary best friend.

I continued walking back through Munich on the way to the Hostel, I stopped off at Augustiner-Keller for a beer. I got a taste of what to expect at Oktoberfest, I was shocked at how many of those 1 litre glasses the waitresses could carry at once especially when you consider how tiny a few of them are. I struggled to hold my beer glass without my arm aching!

With so much to explore in Munich I found a free walking tour which began from Marienplatz. From chatting to one of the tour guides this is where I found out the tour guides and not the company running the tours decide the route of the tour.

Free walking tours are good, but I couldn’t help but think you might miss out on seeing something good because the tour guide decides to go on a different route, and you never know if it’s going to be as good as one of the other tours.

Credit to them where it’s due, the tour guides do multiple tours each day. They’ve got a lot to learn and the fact they do multiple routes gives them options and they’re unlikely to get bored because they can change it up.

Our tour guide told a couple of stories about Oktoberfest and for this one, it’s the sole reason why you shouldn’t take your passport as proof of ID if you’re planning to consume lots of beer. 14,000 passports were found at Oktoberfest in 2017, that’s not taking into account the passports handed into lost and found.

This story might gross you out but I’m going to tell it anyway because it’s one of the most unusual stories I’ve heard. A man went to the lost and found to ask if anyone handed in his false teeth (yes somehow someone lost their false teeth!).

The person at the desk wasn’t sure but said the man could search the 3,000 false teeth that were handed in (like seriously!?). The man then proceeded to start trying on some of the false teeth in the hope he could find his (WHAT THE FUCK!), and apparently he gave up after 10 or 15 minutes. How many false teeth can you try on in that time before you give up? In his position I wouldn’t have bothered if I was told 3,000 others were handed in.

After the tour I went for walk along the Isa River. Although the river runs through the centre of the city, it has some good routes for people wanting to get away from the beer gardens and tourists spots. On a perfect summer day it’s the ideal place to sunbath. It didn’t look too busy which is ideal for those of you that don’t enjoy big crowds.

On the way back from the river I popped into the Oktoberfest Museum, and as you can imagine it’s based on the history of beer and the Oktoberfest festival. It’s based inside an old town house and can be a bit of a mission to find.

There are several floors in the museum; you’ll see some bizarre looking stuff (which I’ll struggle to describe) on the first floor, and on the top floor you’ll see all of the old official posters of Oktoberfest and many of the old beer glasses and cans. There’s also a 10 minute film on the origins of Oktoberfest and its evolution.

After dinner I made my way to the popular 3 floor beer hall, Hofbrauhaus. It was packed with tourists mixed with locals, there was a good atmosphere with people mixing together. One thing that stood out was the look on the faces of the locals when some English tourists decided to serenade everyone with some football chants.

Hofbrauhaus is situated between Marienplatz and Odeonplatz, and it was so packed there was barely room to sit on the steps in the garden. Luckily being a solo traveller I found a table that had a spare seat.

At the table I sat with Maya and Neeraj who live in New York. As well as Oktoberfest they were doing a bit of travelling around Europe for a mixture of business and pleasure. We had some common ground as we all had a mixed heritage. I love hearing about other people’s travel plans because it adds to my own bucket list.

I don’t know if it’s because I have a mixed background, but I’ve always found it interesting hearing about other people’s heritage and background. Although you can learn about different cultures from travelling, you can also learn from finding out about someone’s heritage and how they’ve grown up from a totally different background.

Me and Neeraj hit it off, he’s a Manchester United supporter like myself and started following them because of Eric Cantona which is the same reason I started supporting them. I think by the end of talking football and sharing fond memories of our team and King Eric, we converted Maya to becoming a Manchester United fan.

There was another group of Americans from all over the States. One of them had been to Oktoberfest and gave us the lowdown on what to expect. I didn’t know if I was fearful for my liver or excitedly anticipating the experience.

It’s the morning of the first day of Oktoberfest and I’m up early to check out of the Hostel and move to an Airbnb. The Hostel didn’t have enough room to accommodate me for the extra 2 nights. They offered me another room but it was at an extortionate rate.

Even booking an Airbnb was a mission. I had 2 Airbnb hosts cancel on me and while waiting on a couple of others to answer some questions, they got booked up quickly. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I found a good one and booked it…and prayed the host wouldn’t cancel the booking!

On my way to checking in, I got a text from the host, Liliana informing me that 2 people were also staying at her place while I was there. As I’m about to head out I bump into the other guests, James and Damus from Fort Worth, Texas. On first impression they seemed pretty chilled, we had a brief chat and there seemed to be a good vibe which was good because you want to get on with the people you’re sharing a place with.

All checked in without drama, I head to the Viktualienmarkt near Marienplatz for breakfast. You’ll be spoilt for options and having looked around at other places to eat it looked like the market is your best bet for some decent food.

Everything was timed really well thus far as I made my way to the start of the Oktoberfest Parade. Initially I struggled to find a place. I noticed a space in the side of the temporary seating area. A nice German man helped me and a few others up on to the stand and I got myself a good view of the parade. Part of me felt sorry for people who were queuing to get seats, but if there’s an opportunity you’d be silly not to take advantage of it.

This parade is one of the best you’ll see. Everything about the parade was awesome, from the floats to the costume designs, not to mention the music. You’ll notice people drinking beer as they go through Munich on the floats. It’s the one time I wish I was part of a parade, I’m sure free alcohol would entice anyone to dress up and be part of a parade!

Before going to Oktoberfest I went to check out the Olympic Park. You won’t realise how big the complex is until you get off at the metro station, you could easily spend at least an hour going around looking at everything at a leisurely pace. For 7 Euros for something that wasn’t going to be too time consuming, I thought it was worth going on the Olympiaturm.

When you arrive on the first floor of the deck there’s a place for refreshments as you would usually find, and there’s a rock and roll museum which I found random. It’s really small which seemed borderline pointless. I always thought you would associate museums with being fairly big and having a lot of exhibits and tributes.

You won’t get the best photo opportunities because of the reflection in the window and there’s a bit of the building structure obscuring the view.

I didn’t realise there was a second viewing floor until I saw some people going up there. It isn’t sign posted very well. It’s an outside viewing deck with a better view and nothing in the way of a good photo opportunity.

After finishing with the tower, I walked around the Olympic Park complex, it’s nicer than I imagined. There’s a fair bit to do, and by the looks of it you could easily spend a few good hours here on a sunny day. If I come back I’ll probably spend a bit more time here.

A couple of hours after the opening of Oktoberfest, and it was time to have a look around. I wasn’t fussed about spending too long there as the big day would be the day after. The main aim was to check out which tents I wanted to go to, and of course enjoy it all in the meantime.

I spent between 3 – 4 hours. To give you a rough idea of how mad it is around here, approximately 600,000 visitors visit Oktoberfest everyday in the 2 week festival. Being there at the time I struggled to believe all the rides and tents could contain that many people.

I went to the Hofbrau-Festzelt tent. It’s one of the more traditional tents and one of the largest with 10,000 seats. Despite being packed as anyone would expect, it took an approximate 10 minute turnaround from ordering a beer to having it in my hand, which halfway through the opening day of Oktoberfest is impressive.

I tried my luck at the Lowenbrau tent. This is one of the most popular tents because it serves one of Munich’s most famous beers. I knew I was unlikely to get in. I waited for 20 minutes before I began to contemplate heading off to get dinner. I knew it was the right time to call it a day after seeing a couple get rugby tackled out of the tent by security.

After dinner and an evening exploring more of Munich I went back to the Airbnb. James and Damus arrived not long after and we spent a bit of time talking and swapping tips for Oktoberfest and Munich.

They’ve got their own podcast called ‘Raise A Glass Podcast’. They talk about all sorts of things ranging from their interests to what they got up to during the day, it seems relaxed from the sounds of it, and the kind of podcast in which they wing it. They asked me to be a guest on their podcast which I gladly accepted; I mean how cool would it be to be a guest on a podcast!?

I got up bright and early in morning and got to Oktoberfest as it opened. Despite having to queue at the entrance for about 30 minutes, getting into the Lowenbrau tent was not an issue.

I could have my pick of the seats and picked a table near the stage. The table next to me was occupied by Anna, Nicole, Gina and Tom from Oregon in the States. Tom and Gina had friends who lived in Bavaria and would go their own travels after Oktoberfest, while Anna and Nicole had some skiing and hiking trips of their own planned.

I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my 30^th Birthday than travelling solo to the world’s biggest beer festival and drinking with people I just met. It just seemed right, maybe even perfect. You’re turning 30 once so you may as well go big and do whatever you enjoy!

They were genuinely a good bunch like most people you meet when you’re on a trip. As a solo traveller, you experience all sorts of things meeting people, but it always adds to the positive experiences of travelling alone and in this case my Birthday celebration.

Anna celebrated her Birthday not long before coming here. She bought a beer for us to share in celebration. Even sharing a litre of Germany’s finest beer would be more than enough for a casual drinker.

After a few hours in Lowenbrau it was time to try another tent. I went to the Augustiner Festhalle tent which is another of the main tents at Oktoberfest. This tent is known for brewing the most traditional beer in Bavaria. I managed to get in quickly and found a table next to some local Bavarians. It wouldn’t be an authentic Oktoberfest experience without drinking with the locals.

A couple of more beers later and I started to feel a little worse for wear. As soon as I stepped outside the heat really got to me. At that point it was approaching 5pm and having been there since 10am, I realised it was time to head off. I was happy with the amount of time I spent and didn’t fancy getting blind drunk. What didn’t help was not eating much, all I had up to this point was some traditional Bavarian white sausages for breakfast.

The issue for me is I only drink water, and because I’m heavily reliant on water I become dehydrated more easily. Although I didn’t drink much, taking into account that German beer is stronger than anything I’m use to, as soon as I stepped outside the sun and dehydration hit me straight away and I began to struggle.

Although it took a while I felt better after food and a lot of water. I spent the evening seeing some more of Munich. Looking back on the day, it was perfect. I couldn’t ask for more as far as celebrations go. To everyone I met along the way and to everyone back home and everywhere who wished me Happy Birthday, thank you!

Up earlier than expected and all packed, I killed time going out and about in the centre of Munich. There’s so much you can do here it would’ve been a waste to just sit there and let the time tick away.

Before heading off to get the train to Leipzig, I went on James and Damus’s podcast. I’d never been on a podcast before. Never in a million years did I think my first podcast experience would be with a couple of American guys I met a few days before. I didn’t know what to expect but as far as my first podcast experience goes it was a good one which you can check it out here.

There’s so much more to this place than you can imagine. Munich is probably too posh for someone like me to settle down in, but even if you don’t go for Oktoberfest there’s enough exploring on top of the beer drinking to be done.

A few pointers if you’re planning to go to Oktoberfest, you can reserve a table in a tents which I believe costs around 80 Euros and includes food and beer. Tents tend to be reserved a year in advance which I didn’t realise until I booked the trip, and accomodation is usually booked up very quickly. The first few days will be packed but if you turn up early enough you can get into a tent and get a table.

I got very lucky with how everything played out with accomodation and Oktoberfest which I think is down to being a lone wolf traveller. Regardless if you’re travelling solo or in group, if I could give you one tip to make the most of the Oktoberfest experience…savour every moment.