Surprise Layover in San Salvador

I’m supposed to be in Managua right now. I am not in Managua though, I am at a Quality Hotel near the El Salvador airport, outside of San Salvador. I was only supposed to be in that airport for 50 minutes but plans change. My flight was cancelled. The airline did right by us, however, and bussed us to this very decent hotel, gave us dinner and are bussing us back, albeit at 3 am (!),  for our early morning flight to Managua. Fingers crossed!

The Positives About the Surprise Layover in San Salvador

Some good things came of this unexpected stop: I got a new stamp in my passport, tried the local beer (not that good), watched some Americans do karaoke in the bar, and met two Nicaraguans who were sooo nice and made me more excited to live there! In fact, one of the people I met over dinner runs a small hostel in San Juan del Sur with his wife, who is American and is in DC right now to do the Women’s March. Small world!  So the surprise layover worked out fine. Just wish I could have used the pool – it looks nice.

school bus
Our transport to the hotel
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Munich Outside the Beer Halls

If you visit Munich and you don’t like beer or you just need a break from it, there are plenty of other things to do outside the beer halls.  We kept very busy exploring the other side of the city. Here are ways to spend your time in Munich outside the beer halls.

Walking Tour of Munich

Not much is open anywhere on New Year’s Day, so we signed up for a walking tour. I love doing walking tours when in a new city. You learn so much about the history and get tips from locals. As a big well visited city, Munich has multiple good walking tours. Our tour covered the downtown area and the history of the city, with a lot of focus on Hitler and beer.

Sandemans Munich Tour
Munich Tour – it was a big group for a cold New Year’s Day
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Touring Munich Beer Halls

More than any other place in the world, Munich is known for its beer halls. As beer drinkers, we had to try at least a few! So here’s what it’s like touring Munich beer halls.

Touring Munich Beer Halls

There are options to go on beer hall tours, but we found it very easy to do on our own. Find a beer hall, walk in, and find a seat and order. The hardest part was finding a seat. Seriously, a self-guided tour of Munich beer halls is easy.

I read that there are over 180 beer gardens in the city of Munich. Other towns in Germany have beer halls and breweries, but they are traditional to Bavarian culture, and as the capital of Bavaria, Munich carries the weight.

Here is a round-up of the beer halls we visited last weekend in Munich.

Augustiner Bierhalle

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