Oktoberfest: the perfect way for Ben and me to end the last four crazy weeks of travel through Europe. Unfortunately, we could only stay for the first day—Ben had to get back to London for orientation at King’s College and our plan was to fly out the next day, shortly after noon.
But, for the time being, our thoughts were consumed by Oktoberfest—over two weeks of beer, celebration, and Bavarian bliss—one of the most famous festivals in the world, and the one that I had most wanted to go to in my lifetime. Now, the dream was coming true.
We woke up at 9 am that morning and loaded my backpack with bread, cheese, and beer in hopes that we could save some money at the festival. Then we took the train through Munich to the stop nearest the Oktoberfest grounds, and followed the swarming crowds for about a half mile walk until we finally reached the site.
Upon entry, the place looked more like a carnival than a beer festival; a huge ferris wheel spun off to the left, and several roller coasters and candy shops lined the street en masse. I avoided them all, knowing their prices would be ridiculous. Our primary objective was to find seats inside one of the fourteen beer tents—no easy task, considering how late we showed up and how many people were stifling the streets.
Eventually, the three of us found seats outside a tent—my backpack was emptied at the entrance, and all of our plans for thrift were lost right then and there—and we ended up sitting next to a group of older Italian guys. Liters of beer came at 8.55 Euros per beer (roughly 13 US dollars). I drained two in quick succession and became staggeringly drunk almost as quickly.
The rest of the day passed in a haze. At some point, I passed out on a hillside near the grounds for awhile, and eventually headed back to Max’s house ahead of the rest of our group because I was very tired and couldn’t bear to drink any more.
The whole night, I had a throbbing headache and was unable to sleep at all. I threw up a couple of times. Eventually, I resorted to sipping water and munching stale pretzels to thwart a potentially disastrous hangover.
But the complications of getting back to London were only just beginning… with all our focus on Oktoberfest, alongside stumbling around drunk the whole day, Ben and I had neglected our preparations for the next day. This would come back to haunt us, just as my foolish hurry to drink came back to haunt me—and it made for a very long and frustrating trip back.
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
