Munich Airport - Was fur ein Chaos!

Some time ago, Laureen and I were supposed to visit Hungary for research on a novel that I have been working on for years. Sometimes they actually take a very long time to write when the content has to be as accurate as possible. This novel was something different than my previous books - it would be a historical fiction about Vlad the Impaler.

    It is still being written. As stated, it sometimes takes a long time for this sort of book to be written, especially by someone like me, who, while watching a movie on television, fact-checks everything.

    “You know,” Laureen will say while I ask The Google this or that. “It’s just a film, not a documentary.”

    “I know,” I will respond, “but they would never do that in real life.”

    “It’s a science fiction movie set a thousand years into the future.”

      “Facts are facts, even in the future,” I would answer.

    I needed to visit Hungary because that is where the story of Vlad III rolls through. Not only was he in Romania, Wallachia to be more exact, but he ended up, through trials and tribulations, traveling to Hungary and then to what would become present-day Slovakia.

Vlad III, the hero of Romania

    But when I informed Laureen that the flight plan called for a stopover in Vienna before proceeding to Budapest, that was that.

Laureen Beyer in the heart of Vienna

    The songwriter, Billy Joel, once penned a song entitled Vienna on his album The Stranger in 1977. It was a sad song about a youth trying to find success too quickly and not wanting to slow down until he had reached the pinnacle in his career. It was actually a soul-felt story about Billy Joel traveling to Europe to get in contact with his estranged father. One day he saw an elderly woman sweeping the streets. He thought it a shame that she had to do that, but was reminded by his father that she was proud of the work she was doing and no one should feel sorry for the manual labor she did. She was happy even in her aging years.

The Danube River flowing through Vienna

     One line in the song really stood out to Laureen; When will you realize Vienna waits for you.

    Well, Hungary was off that scheduled research trip, and instead we spent a wonderful two weeks touring around Austria, and of course, spending ample time in the beautiful city of Vienna along the Danube River.

This current trip from LAX would land us in Munich, Germany, for the connector flight to Budapest, another city on the Danube. 

    

Buda Castle across the Danube River

    An interesting side note: Budapest was once two separate cities, Buda and Pest, facing each other across the wide, long Danube. If we want to get extremely technical, there was also the independent city of Obuda (or Old Buda) just north of Buda with ancient roots dating back to Roman times. But let’s not digress. Buda and Pest for our purposes.

    Buda is the hilly western side of the Danube where the castles and medieval streets are located. Pest in the flat eastern side of the river that the commercial, political and cultural aspects of the city are located.

Another view of the Danube and the Buda Castle

    In 1873, the two towns decided that perhaps one is better than two, and Budapest was declared the capital of Hungary. It sounded better than Pest-Buda, after all.

    Our original plan was to stay in Hungary and research the tales and myths concerning Vlad III. We would spend a few days in Budapest, then travel to Visegrad, about 26 miles north of the capital.

    Then we started researching other things other than Vlad. Slovakia is close and home to gorgeous landscapes and wonderful restaurants, especially in Bratislava. And the little town of Cachtice was within driving distance, which was once the home of the most notorious female serial killer known, Elizabeth Báthory. Who wouldn't visit the castle where she may have murdered up to 600 young women?

    As with any trip, more and more places started to fill the agenda. And Poland showed up on this trip since we both had wanted to visit and honor the victims of the Holocaust in Krakow.

    “You know, we only have twenty-one days,” I told Laureen.

    She smiled. “And when have we ever gone on vacation? It’s moving and shaking the entire time. This trip will be no different.”

    And it wasn’t, until we flew into Franz Josef Strauss Airport in Munich, Germany, where we had to catch our connecting Lufthansa flight to Budapest.

    In November of 2025, the rollout of the EES, Entry/Exit System, began in Munich and was fully operational (more on that later) for all non-EU/non-Schengen travelers. 

    Schengen is a border-free travel zone for 29 European countries. It allows 450 million people to move freely across internal borders without a passport check. It was fully implemented with all those countries in April of 2026.

    We were not part of those 29 European countries comprising the Schengen zone. And our experience with not being one of those 29 European countries was rather trying.

    Nope, not trying, more like traumatizing.

    As with most travelers who need connecting flights, time is of the essence.  Munich Airport did not understand the sort of urgency when a passenger can not make it to the gate on time. 

    Watching your connecting flight wing into the air like a bird while you are still standing on solid earth with your carry-on clutched in white knuckles, and your checked baggage is suddenly 30,000 feet above you, can be chilling.

    We took off on time from LAX and landed in Munich at the exact moment we were supposed to. Then all hell broke loose as men and women sporting neon vests moved hundreds of passengers from this line to that line to do a pre-registration before getting into longer lines for the border control passage to the gates for connecting flights.

    One man motioned for us to get into a line that stretched nearly to Berlin before another motioned us to another nearer Stuttgart. There were no markers, signs, or Bratwurst showing travelers where to actually go to scan your passport, get a facial recognition photo taken, and have your fingerprints scanned.

    “You, you are in the wrong line, Dummkopf!”

    “I think he’s speaking to me,” I told Laureen, as I hustled from one line to another.

    The clock was ticking. Now only forty-five more minutes to catch our connector.

    “Who said this line, Dummkopf?” another vested person yelled at me.

    “See,” I said, as I hustled to another longer line.

    The crowd had easily grown to about five thousand passengers wondering which line they were supposed to be in.

    “This is German efficiency?” A man questioned next to us. 

    He was led away by a woman with really shiny pointed black shoes and pigtails.

    Finally, we were scanned, fingerprinted, and photographed and told to get into another longer line for the border control officer.

    We wouldn't make our connection unless a kindly older couple let us cut the two-mile-long line and go behind them, giving us a three-minute window to run down the gangway and make it to our plane on time.

    Laureen and I understand Pope Leo is thinking of canonizing them for their sacrifice.

Pope Leo XIV getting ready to canonize our helpers

    We made it to the plane, to Budapest as scheduled, and our driver was waiting for us to take us to our hotel.

    Things were looking up. We explained what we had gone through in Munich, and Matyas, who went by the name of Matthew, laughed and said, “You should see how bad it is in Frankfurt.”

    For some reason, all I could imagine was wild-eyed chimpanzees chasing passengers around the terminal, throwing excrement at them.

    That would have been worse than Munich, I think.

John can be contacted at: beyersbyways@gmail.com

USS Midway, San Diego

John in front of the USS Midway in San Diego

As I huffed out a large breath, wondering if my lungs would recuperate, I asked Laureen how many steps we had taken during our visit to the USS Midway Museum in San Diego.

“I think,” she replied in a gasp, “my watch says around sixty-five thousand, but that could be wrong since my eyes are tearing up and I can’t see clearly.”

That’s a lot of steps. I’m used to maybe two hundred per day unless I have to use the restroom more often, depending on the day of the week.

But here we were, visiting the USS Midway and traversing all around this wonderful aircraft carrier launched out of Newport News, Virginia, on March 3, 1945. It never served in WWII, but has seen plenty of action since it was officially commissioned in September of that same year.

Laureen and I love San Diego. Try to get there as often as we can, but one historical place we’ve never set foot on until a recent weekend was the USS Midway aircraft carrier, permanently docked at the Embarcadero waterfront at Navy Pier.

Why we hadn’t, in the past, taken a tour aboard this gorgeous water war machine, since it has been docked there for over twenty years, is a question we asked ourselves. Thus, the reason we had our walking shoes on and eyes watching the steps taken.

The ship is huge. Over one thousand feet long, 258 feet wide at its widest point, and as tall as a 20-story building. Wandering everywhere the tour allows is not for the weak of heart but is a must-see to truly marvel at the ingenuity and magnitude of what the United States Navy has to offer.

We walked the flight deck, studying the 30 aircraft meticulously taken care of over the vast four-acre area on the USS Midway. 

Just some of the helicopters for tourists to visit

There was the F-4 Phantom III, the A-9 Corsair II, the TBM Avenger, the UH-1 Huey helicopter, and so many more aircraft the visitor can wander and gaze at, including the one made terrifically famous in the Tom Cruise film, Top Gun, the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.

A plane for any aircraft enthusiast

Just one of many planes on display

It was a somewhat warm but overcast day as we wandered about the USS Midway anchored in the San Diego Bay, but nothing could deter us from the excitement of visiting such a naval marvel as this ship is.

When active, the ship boasted a complement of nearly 4,700 personnel, broken up into the regular ship's company, the aircraft wing, and the smaller but lethal group of Marines assigned to the ship.

It was a floating city. And with a city comes extracurricular activities to make sure no one ever got bored while circumventing the Earth.

One of the best events was the steel beach picnics, where bbq’s were set up on deck, and the crew played sports, sang songs, listened to music, and enjoyed other activities. Movie nights, talent shows, driving golf balls off the deck into the ocean, and skeet shooting were done regularly to make sure being away from home for long deployments didn't feel that long or lonely.

The flight deck is 4 acres, plenty of room for activities

Plenty of room for crew and guests to wander the USS Midway

Although the ship entered service not long after WWII ended, it saw plenty of action during the Vietnam War and the Gulf Wars. Sortie after sortie, planes took off and landed along the lengthy runway on the ship, making sure that American interests were well handled no matter where on the globe the floating fighting ship was.

As a floating museum, the USS Midway is a must for any history enthusiast or just any person wanting to climb aboard a historic piece of American pride and truly respect the men and women who once sailed her.

Looking southwest toward Coronado Island

There are dozens of volunteer docents, most retired military, who are glad to stand with a visitor and answer any questions that may pop up. They know the answers because they love the history and splendor of this ship and what it represents.

One docent, Terry, told us, “I love coming here and meeting people from all over the world. They ask questions, and I do the best I can in answering every one of them. Of course, if there weren’t any tourists, I would still come here; it’s an honor to those who served aboard her.”

Terry then told us of a tour to the Castle, where all the goings-on of the ship are run from. “If you hurry, you will get the first tour, which isn’t crowded; later in the day it can be an hour wait.”

I learned about waiting from Disneyland. I hate waiting in lines, so off we ran over the flight deck and within minutes were climbing steep metal stairs up four decks to where the command post sits high above the ocean.

These are really straight-up ladders comprising 12 steps per floor, and by the time I had made it to number 48, I was tired and decided to sit in the Captain’s chair overlooking all the action down below on the flight deck.

View of the flight deck from the Castle

The sense of power which overtook me was sensational while sitting in the commander’s chair. I ordered Laureen to launch 4 Tomcats to ensure we had the proper dinner reservations at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, or else!

Laureen enjoying the power of running the ship

She only smiled as she listened to the docent explain every nuance of the command bridge. The view was outstanding as we all looked out the wide glass windows facing Coronado Island, perhaps wondering what it would have been like gazing across open ocean waters, wondering if an enemy was also peering your way.

After leaving the Castle, we headed into the belly of the aircraft carrier to the crew's quarters, the many dining halls, the kitchen, the laundry, the engine room, the infirmary, the arms lockers, and so much more that I forgot all I saw except the number of stairways and ladders that each of the nearly 20 floors required to manoeuvre up and around.

One of the officers' quarters aboard the USS Midway

In the dining hall, in honor of those who did not return

The hallways were narrow, the ladders steep, the bunks tiny, which shows that to be aboard the USS Midway was a guaranteed way to keep in shape.

No one was knocking back a dozen Crispy Cremes and then racing up and down between decks. Nope, instant heart attack, though maybe with a smile on a glazed face.

We spent four hours on the ship, and that was probably not enough. But with nearly a hundred thousand steps on my made-up watch, I was tired and thirsty.

Luckily, there was the Cafe 41, which served adult libations on the aft deck, which helped with my parched throat and tired feet.

John R Beyer enjoying Cafe 41

Why we had not visited the USS Midway in the past, we don’t know. But we will be back again to enjoy all the Navy has to offer aboard this wonderful fighting ship.

John can be contacted at: beyersbyways@gmail.com

For more information: 

https://www.midway.org/

Stay In Your Element

John R Beyer always stays in his element

Laureen and I generally never recommend one hotel over another unless we have had a tremendous stay or a terrible stay during our many travels. And believe me when I say we have had some awesome stays in the past and some dismal ones.

When we stayed at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva, Fiji. That was one to talk about. A suite that overlooked Suva Bay and, further in the distance, the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean. Fabulous restaurants and a bar, attended by waiters and waitresses just waiting for us to order another drink. Well, waiting for me mainly.

Then we stayed in a thatched hut along the Amazon River in Peru, where guests were advised not to venture out into the jungle alone at night. Heck, the size of the insects crawling beneath our hammocks got us thinking that this was not where a sane person would wander day or night.

Our home away from home on the Amazon River, Peru

As any traveler knows, accommodations can either enhance an experience or detract from that experience. Let’s be honest, traveling is not cheap unless you are a good sprinter and can land on an empty boxcar in one leap.

So, as we travel, we look for the best quality in places to spend our nights. Are we always correct? Nope, but we do our best, like most folks who want to go out and explore.

After a recent blog, we received a couple of emails asking why we don’t recommend a place here or there. It is as if we travel and never stay the night. We fly to Italy and then return the same day without putting our tired heads on pillows.

We’re not travel agents or work for hotel chains. We go out around the nation or world and explore the best we can, but a couple of questions make sense. So, for this blog, we will discuss a place that we stayed in recently in San Diego.

America’s Finest City, the nickname for San Diego, is a place we love to visit no matter the time of year. In fact, I lived there a million years ago before moving north to the High Desert. After visiting time and again, Laureen and I joined the marina crowd for years and had a floatel; that name was given to our boat by our loving daughters. A floating hotel which they loved to use in the perpetually beautiful weather of San Diego.

The Beyer floatel

So, recently I suggested a weekend away. Laureen jumped at the idea, and we decided we wanted a place that we could just park our car and take the San Diego Trolley around town. 

After a bit of research, I came upon a newly constructed hotel by Marriott: The Element, in Mission Valley, right off Interstate 8.

The Element was completed in June of 2026 and boasted an eco-friendly, laid-back atmosphere for their guests. It was only a three-minute walk to the Rio Vista trolley station, which meant our vehicle could just sit in the parking lot for a couple of days, saving the cost of fuel and parking fees for the places we wanted to visit.

The trolley is a short 2 or 3 minute walk from the Element Hotel

San Diego has an extensive trolley system that allows passengers the comfort and affordability to go pretty much anywhere they want in this city by the bay. The tracks run for nearly 70 miles North, South, East, and West. A visit to the Mexico border? Hop on board. A visit to the snooty, rich enclave of La Jolla? Hop on board. Visiting relatives in Santee? Hop on board. Want to go Downtown? Hop on board.

It is a great system, and we took full advantage of it on this recent trip.

After a long day of riding the trolley and visiting Downtown, Little Italy, and Old Town, it was time to enjoy the spacious room that we had booked. 

Old Town geared up for the Day of the Dead festivities

Our home base was The Element, which shares a large plot of land with the Marriott right next door. Both hotels are interlinked in the services rendered for their guests. The picturesque waterfall pool at the Marriott is enjoyed by guests from both hotels. There are gyms, restaurants, and bars that patrons can enjoy during their stay in San Diego. The hotel is very family-oriented, with each room having a small kitchen, large refrigerator, microwave, and more than enough room for a large family to be comfortable.

One item that is not shared is the bicycles that The Element loans out to their guests. Tired of the trolley and wanting to stretch our legs, Laureen and I took advantage and rode several miles along the paths next to the San Diego River. Helmets are provided, as well as a written waiver in case a careless rider takes a header on Mission Center Road.

Laureen Beyer loving the free bike

The hotel also offers free breakfasts cooked on-site by professional chefs. They strive to be healthy, forgoing the usually highly processed breakfasts that most other hotels we have stayed at provide.

Our favorite breakfast was one egg, medium-cooked, laid upon a bed of mushrooms, ham, sweet potatoes, corn, onion, and spices. It was delicious.

Dinners have a large menu, from Flat Top Smash Cheeseburgers to Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Wraps. Of course, there are sides like the Tzatziki and Dill Pickle Chips ot the Salami and Fontina Board.

We had a view west toward Downtown overlooking the green belt surrounding the San Diego River. It was peaceful, quiet, and just a great place to rest and get re-energized for further adventures in the morning.

Overlooking the San Diego River from the Element Hotel

And, yes - San Diego has so much to offer for a weekend or longer visits.

John can be contacted at beyersbyways@gmail.com

For further information:

https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/sanme-element-san-diego-mission-valley/overview/?scid=f2ae0541-1279-4f24-b197-a979c79310b0

https://www.sdmts.com/transit-services/trolley