Graduation and AMT BlackForest

Overview

Early summer 2023, Kathi and Chris went to Berkeley to see Lizzie graduate and then to New Jersey to see Andy graduate.

From New Jersey, we continued East to Vienna Austria to hang out with Joe and Bridget while we got over 9 hours of jet lag in preparation for doing the Adriatic Moto Tours Alsace and Black Forest Adventure.

We had planned to rent Vespa scooters in Vienna and do some riding around, but we only rented one scooter for one day and it was a bit of a bust. But Vienna is a really wonderful city and we had a great time there.

Note: calendar days are clickable to see each day of the trip

Note: calendar days are clickable to see each day of the trip

0) May 23 Tue	Fly to New Jersey, Andy's awards
1) May 24 Wed	Andy's graduation
2) May 25 Thu	Help Andy move, Fly to Austria
3) May 26 Fri	land in Austria
4) May 27 Sat	St. Peter's Cathedral, walking Vienna
5) May 28 Sun	Vespa to raptor sanctuary Greifvogelzuchtstation Hagenbachklamm
6) May 29 Mon	Leopold Natural History Museum
7) May 30 Tue	Snow Globes, Art Fakes, Rebecca show
8) May 31 Wed	Train Vienna to Munich
9) Jun 1 Thu	Walking Munich, River surfing, Tech Museum
10) Jun 2 Fri	Train to Freising, Munich, Zurich, Zug
11) Jun 3 Sat	Chris ride Zug→Freising, AMT Day 1 Arrival meeting
12) Jun 4 Sun	AMT Day 2 (ride) Munich - Füssen
13) Jun 5 Mon	AMT Day 3 (ride) Füssen - Lake Constance
14) Jun 6 Tue	AMT Day 4 (ride) Lake Constance - Ribeauville
15) Jun 7 Wed	AMT Day 5 (rest) Ribeauville rest day
16) Jun 8 Thu	AMT Day 6 (ride) Ribeauville - Black Forest
17) Jun 9 Fri	AMT Day 7 (ride) Black Forest - Rothenburg ob der Tauber
18) Jun 10 Sat	AMT Day 8 (ride) Rothenburg ob der Tauber - Munich
19) Jun 11 Sun	Hang out in Freising
20) Jun 12 Mon	Kathi fly home, Chris begins Central Europe Solo Tour

click a calendar day to see daily details

Adriatic Motor Tours, Black Forest Tour

This organized tour was the core of our trip. We love Adriatic Moto Tours. They have great guides, don't nickle and dime you, provide a great experience, and they generally attract some very nice people to ride with. Highly recommend.

The Adriatic Moto Tours Alsace and Black Forest Adventure.

Who was riding

Kathi riding a Yamaha MT-07
Chris riding his Ducati Multistrada
Lisa and Mark riding double on a BMW R1250RT
Mac McAlpin riding a BMW R1250RS
Bones riding a BMW R1250GS
Charles riding a BMW R1250GS
Boris Klančnik our guide on a BMW R1250GSA
Žiga Ban driving the rescue van

This was an experienced group. All of us had been on an Adriatic Moto Tours trip at least once before.
We really enjoyed riding with everyone and hope to meet some of them again in the future.

Flights

May 23 Alaska PDX→EWR nonstop

Tue, May 23  9:37 AM PDX -5h23m-> 6:00 PM EWR  AS 290

May 25 Aer Lingus EWR→DUB→VIE

Thu, 25 May 17:20 EWR -6h35m-> 04:55 DUB   Aer Lingus EI100
1h15m layover Dublin (min connection time is 1hr, verified by calling Air Lingus)
Fri, 26 May 06:10 DUB -2h50m-> 10:00 VIE   Aer Lingus EI660

June 12 (Kathi) KLM MUC→AMS→PDX

Mon, Jun 12  07:00 MUC -1h35m-> 08:35 AMS  KLM DL9582
layover 2h0m in Amsterdam
Mon, Jun 12  10:35 MUC -10h20m-> 11:55 PDX  DL179

Jun 28 (Chris) KLM ZUR→AMS→PDX

Wed, Jun 28  07:00 ZUR -1h40m-> AMS 08:40    KLM DL9482
layover 1h55m in Amsterdam
Wed, Jun 28  10:35 AMS -10h20m-> PDX 11:55  Delta DL179

Scooter rental Vienna

NOTE: DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY
Scooter Vespa LX 250 from Cash4Car €36.00 24 hours, 100 km included
location map
streetview
hotel to scooter-rental place 30min walk, 2.3km

Potential Scooter Rides

I had planned a bunch of Scooters in Vienna tour rides, but Kathi wasn't up to riding before her jet lag was done and we didn't find good scooter rentals, so that didn't pan out as planned.

Vienna Wineries loop

See vienna_wineries.[csv,gpx]
• Vienna wineries loop 56km 1h40m or

Farms and Mountains loop

See vienna_farms_mountains.[csv,gpx]
Farms and Mountains loop 3h2m 117 km "the gentle hilly landscape of the Vienna vineyards"

Danube loop

See vienna_danube.[csv,gpx]
Danube loop 1h43m 63 km small castles, walk in forest, raptor sanctuary

the Bucklige Welt (hunchbacked world) loop

See vienna_farms_south.[csv,gpx]
the Bucklige Welt 4h30m 223 km

Castles and National Park loop

Castles and National Park loop 4h25m 209 km Seewinkel NP and castles Halbturn, Esterhazy, Laxenburg, Belvedere

Rebecca Show

This was a big hit, very nice show, highly recommend!

Rebecca - musical
Tue, May 30 Rebecca show 6:30pm
EVENT VENUE/HALL: Wiener Raimund Theater - Wien, raimundtheater Wien - Wiener Raimundtheater, Wallgasse 18-20, 1060 Vienna

The VBW hit musical REBECCA is finally returning to the Raimund Theater
The two most successful German-language musical authors Michael Kunze & Sylvester Levay ("Elisabeth", "Mozart!") have created another great masterpiece that has already captivated more than 2 million visitors in 12 countries and 10 languages worldwide. The spectacular production, based on the world-famous novel by Daphne du Maurier, can finally be experienced again in Vienna after many international stations in the captivating production by US star director Francesca Zambello.
Romance, dark secrets and eerie suspense

The world-famous material, which was already nominated for 11 Oscars in the cinema version by Alfred Hitchcock and only recently celebrated success in the Netflix remake, also guarantees a wonderful evening full of romance, dark secrets and dark emotions in the legendary musical adaptation of the United Theaters Vienna eerie tension.
The romantic love story at Manderley Castle gradually develops into a gripping thriller with many intrigues and dark surprises. Breathtakingly staged, with magnificent scenery, gripping melodies, a unique, large live orchestra and amazing special effects, REBECCA is a musical experience in a class that you should not miss.

(in German with English surtitles | Recommended age: from 12 years)

Expenses

So how much did this all cost?
It's a little complicated because the trip was in three quite different parts:

Hanging out and walking around Vienna for a week without really doing much expensive stuff, but staying in a very nice hotel.
Doing a relatively expensive organized tour including renting one motorcycle for a week.
A budget-level, solo tour on my own bike around some of the least expensive areas in central Europe.

That said, here's a rough summary of all the expenses. I hope this helps you figure out if you want to / can do something similar. If you can, it is definitely worth scraping together the dough.

Flights

Date	Who	Flight	Cost
May 23	CU&KB	Alaska PDX→EWR	$317.80 + $100 baggage
May 25	CU&KB	Aer Lingus EWR→DUB→VIE	$1,589.58
June 12	Kathi	KLM MUC→AMS→PDX	€745.01
June 28	Chris	KLM ZUR→AMS→PDX	757.07 CHF ~$819.33
		Total	~$3635 ($1817pp-rt)

Hotels

Dates (Days)	Hotel	Cost	USD equiv
May 23-25 (2)	Best Western Premier NYC Gateway Hotel, North Bergen NJ USA	$341.93	$341.93
May 25-30 (6)	Hotel Beethoven Wien, Vienna Austria	€1179.90	1268.30
May 31-1 (2)	Hotel marc münchen in Munich Germany	€340	365.47
Jun 2 (1)	Munich Airport Marriott Hotel, Freising, Germany (extra night)	€160	171.99
Jun 3 (1)	Freising Airport Marriot Germany	tour inc
Jun 4 (1)	HOTEL MUELLER HOHENSCHWANGAU Austria	tour inc
Jun 5 (1)	VIENNA HOUSE ZUR BLEICHE, Switzerland	tour inc
Jun 6-7 (2)	HOTEL DE LA TOUR, Ribeauville, FRANCE	tour inc
Jun 8 (1)	SCHLOSS EBERSTEIN, Black Forest, GERMANY	tour inc
Jun 9 (1)	HOTEL REICHSKUCHENMEISTER, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, GERMANY	tour inc
Jun 10 (1)	Munich Airport Marriott Hotel, Freising, Germany	tour inc
Jun 11 (1)	Freising Airport Marriot (extra night)	€160	171.99
Jun 12 (1)	HOTEL V PODHRADÍ, PŘIMDA, Czech Republic	€59 (?)	63.42
Jun 13 (1)	Arkada Hotel Praha, Prague, Czech Republic	€65	69.87
Jun 14 (1)	Penzion Start, Ostrava, Czech Republic	€36.90	39.66
Jun 15 (1)	Resort Barca Camp Košice, Slovakia	€67.50	72.56
Jun 16 (1)	Maverick Hostel and Apts, Budapest, Hungary	€87.45	94.00
Jun 17 (1)	Centrum Apartmanház Pécs, Hungary	€62.36	67.03
Jun 18 (1)	Good People Design Hostel, Belgrade, Serbia	€59.67	64.14
Jun 19 (1)	Casa Budulan, Severin, Romania	250 lei	55.16
Jun 20 (1)	T House, Sibiu, Romania	224.91 lei	49.63
Jun 21 (1)	Casa Postavarului, Braşov, Romania	237.50 lei	52.41
Jun 22 (1)	Casa Transilvania, Satu Mare, Romania	150 lei	33.10
Jun 23 (1)	City Center Best Apts, Bratislava, Slovakia	€70.11	75.36
Jun 24 (1)	Pension Wachau, Wörthersee, Austria	€89	95.67
Jun 25 (1)	Albergo Garni Barancio, Auronzo di Cadore, Italy	€46.50	49.98
Jun 26 (1)	Posthotel, Strengen am Arlberg, Austria	€75	80.62
Jun 27 (1)	Stayed with Joe and Bridget in Zug	$0	0.00

	Total w/Kathi	~$2320 (avg $232/night)
	Total solo	~$963 (avg $60/night)

Gas prices

Gas prices in Europe vary only slightly between in city and countryside stations. Much less than in the USA. Overall, I was averaging very close to €0.10/km in all the countries. Since I rode close to 7000km, that's €700 for fuel or about $750.

For comparison, in WA USA, fuel prices right now are between $4.60 and $5.60/gallon and the Ducati Multistrada gets about 45 mpg, so fuel cost is €0.06/km — €0.07/km. Think driving in Europe is about 50—65% more expensive than in USA.

Tour & Incidentals

Desc	Cost
Adriatic Moto Tours 11 days hotels + motorcycle, etc (2)	€7680
Kitty	€200
Fuel	$440
Scooter rental	$54
Guide Tips	€500
Restaurants	$1000
Groceries	$128
Show tickets, museum tickets, train tickets, etc	€247.68 + $171
Other incidentals	$35
Currency conversion fees	$19.83
Misc cash	$290
Total	~$4000

I may have missed a few things and double counted others, but I think I'm within 5%.
Also, this includes both our combined tour, visits to New Jersey, Vienna, Munich, and Chris's solo tour.
Gross approximations:

Airfare  $4000
Tour     $7700
Hotels   $3000
Other    $4000
         -----
       $18,700 for Kathi's 21 days and Chris's 37 days --> $322/pp/day including everything

Chris's Central Europe tour

On to Chris's post AMT Central Europe tour