Recently I can’t update my blog frequently like before due to my work. Especially early of this year I didn’t update it at all because I had my work visit in Germany and Austria for almost 2 weeks.

So I decide to write about the summary the things I learnt in this trip before writing the actual posts about it. (Since I haven’t finished my Taiwan posts yet.)

• I didn’t do any researches for my first trip to Europe because my work schedules were very tight and I didn’t know the trip schedule until a few days before traveling. However I did prepare the items list I might have a chance to buy there. I know many respected German brands like Lamy pens or synthesizers in Eurorack format which are hard to find in my country.
• People in my country know Europe for its hard visa application. I didn’t have much problem since my employer supported me. However I need to bring the documents I used for application especially vendors’ invitation letter. Because they were asked by an immigration.
• Travelling in Germany and Austria is very convenient. There are many type of trains and tram. Tickets buying isn’t that hard. You can buy them from vending machines inside stations, platforms or inside some trams.
• However you have to be careful to buy the right ticket type. Also if your tickets aren’t validated from the machine, you have to validated them manually. If you travel a lot in the long distance or stop many times, the day ticket maybe a better choice for you.

• One thing I heard about Europe before traveling is the portion of meals are larger and more salty than the ones in my country. Although it is true. It isn’t really that bad.
• About the native food. I found out each states of Germany and parts of Austria have different native foods. Some dishes may be the same name but are cooked in different ways. However breakfast buffets in hotels are almost the same. They mainly have hot dishes like eggs, bacon, sausage and cold cut dishes like ham, salami and cheese which may make you bored.
• About beverage. I missed a chance to try famous drinks like beers since I don’t drink. But there are still interesting soft drink like a carbonated orange flavor cola Spezi and juice mixed with sparkle mineral waters for trying out.

• People I met here are both good and not as good as I expected. I think they have honest personality and their own space. Unlike my country which people are very easy to know each others. For the language. Both Germany and Austria use German as their official languages. So I had troubles to communicate with them sometimes.
• Europe countries have a bad reputation of crime which will go to tourists in many ways. So we have to stay focus at all time. I experienced the taxi driver cheating on the fare which I am still lucky for just paying an expensive fare.

In my opinion I get new perspectives on my life and work in this trip. I think I should stay longer in some places. I can only hope I can go there again in the future without taking any works with me.

I may write posts about this trip after I finish my pending Taiwan trip posts. (It’s almost finished.) Please look forward to it.