I’m Dreaming of an Unplanned Christmas

Gutentag! The voting for the fifth Drop Me Anywhere vote is now closed. You have spoken and I’ll be drinking Glüwein within the next couple of weeks. If you didn’t read the article which this vote was based on, you can read 10 Drinks Around the World here. “Glüwein is a mulled wine with citrus, spices, sugar, and a bit of brandy. “Sugar and spice and everything nice; just like me (I might be just a bit more on the spicy side)!

Do you remember the last trip where you voted for me to go visit the Mayans and I ended up in Mexico? Remember how I told you that I hadn’t been very excited about it yet the trip completely changed my opinion? (No? Read that here.) Well, this is a little different. You see, the top item on my life’s bucket list is to spend Christmas in Switzerland. What’s that? Well, yes, of course I understand that Switzerland and Germany are completely different countries. It turns out that my fantasy is more about Christmas markets, mulled wine and freezing my touchas (is that German?) off. As they have all of those in Germany, not only will I be fulfilling your wishes by spending Christmas in Germany, but I’ll be checking something off my “Beste kommt zum Schluss.”

I would like to salute the runners-up – Japanese Sake, which came in second, followed by Danish Snaps, French Champagne, Puerto Rican Rum, Prague Absinthe, Belgian Trappist Ale, Mexican Tequila, Scottish Whisky, Peruvian Pisco, and Cayan Mudslide (again, the official drink of a Middle Eastern real estate developer – read here).

So, what’s next? As always, I hop on the internet and stress about airfares (argh, even this minimal amount of planning freaks me out). My biggest planning is currently about renting out my house. Yup, still trying. It’s very much like dating – the renters I want, don’t call, and those I’m not interested in are interested in me. I stare at my phone willing the desired renters to call. Yup, very much like dating. So this leaves the decision of whether to book a one way, or a round-trip ticket. I haven’t a clue.

As far as the language goes, I took a semester of German while in college. It was more of an effort to figure out what my grandparents were saying when they spoke Yiddish (somewhat German based). Not only did I do very poorly, I never figured out Yiddish either. I do know that when you raise your glass in a toast, you say “Prost,” which means “Cheers.” This toast comes with a warning – DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT use this toast in Romania as “Prost” in Romania means “Dumb Ass.” (Not kidding.)

So let’s raise a glass and say “Prost” (the German one, not the Romanian one) to drinking Glüwein in Germany this Christmas. I’ll check-in soon.