Monthly Archives: December 2007

Cosmotourist.com

Hey everybody,

I need some help.  As you know it’s christmas time and of course my income takes a hit during the winter months…and, honestly, most of you aren’t giving me any christmas presents, so I thought of a way you could give me something without much work.

I’m in a contest that if I win I get $400 to spend on travel…let’s say to the states to visit friends and relatives.  I REALLY want to visit the states, it’s just so damn expensive.  I need to get about 20 people to sign up on cosmotourist.com and “subscribe” to my posts on Germany.  You can easily turn off e-mail notices, etc. so that it’s no hassle to you at all and only takes a few minutes.

If you plan on going to Germany, reading some of my tips might be a good idea too…

Anyways, go to: www.cosmotourist.com and sign up.  Then, go to my profile:   http://www.cosmotourist.com/myct/profile/u/NOFXmike/t/ and on the left hand side you should see a link to click to subscribe.  Don’t click the one that says “all postings” click the one on Germany, please.  Otherwise I don’t get credit 🙁

I really will win $400 if I get 20 of you to do this, so you can look at it as giving me like $20 each as a christmas present!  The contest ends January 6th…so please…

sign up

then, subscribe:

subscribe to my exploring Germany scout posts

For enlargement:  http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o14/NOFXmike/46%20TT%20Protourist%20and%20myspace%20use%20pics/bild3.jpg

Added a private tours page

So, for all those who randomly stumbled upon my blog because you’re heading to Munich and typed in Tours + Munich on Google…

I finally got around to adding a lil advert of my own on here, for private tours.  There really is so much of Munich and the area that just don’t fit into the regular tours and I find it fun to personalize the tours for specific interests.  As far as prices go, I’m open for offers.  I know what you would pay by going through my normal tour company or past companies and I can of course go under that, but at the same time, of course, I’m trying to make a living and will do my best to make Munich an unforgettable experience.

Movie about guides?

So, I was given a tip to check out the trailer for a new movie about tour guides in Berlin called “Guides”.  I watched the trailer and it’s absolutely hilarious to me…it might not be to all, but worth at least checking out if you want to know what I deal with here in Munich.

 The movie is a comedy “mockumentary” about the politics of tours in Berlin.  The main guy you see in the trailer is based on a guy I’ve met here in Munich a few times, his name is Chris and he runs a company that gives free advertisement heavy tours which are scripted by, apparently, a 12 year old.  Anyways,  of other two characters in the trailer I recognize one, and from the trailer at least the film maker did a really good job.  I can’t wait to see it.  The politics of tours here is disturbing yet can be entertaining if you distance yourself from it.  Anyways, check out these links:

The trailer on youtube

The myspace site of the company that produced it, explaining “Guides”

Rainy days in Munich

Everyone and their dog seems to be telling me how much snow MN has gotten, but what we’ve got here is what we have normally about this time of year, temps hovering just above freezing and a constant drizzle…making for general misery.

That being said, tomorrow I’m going to Neuschwanstein most likely with 20 very random new friends from 10 different countries…all pretty miserable about the weather, but kind of in awe of the palace none the less.

If there are any random readers out there that have never been to Munich, I also want to mention that I do private tours as well, if you have odd interests for example or just want a more casual or lengthier tour, I’m your man.  Recently I was talking to other guides about top sights of the Munich area that just don’t get tourists, I’d love to take tourists to these places, but the tourists only have 2 days in town total and they’re going to Neuschwanstein with one of them, so what do you do?

For any friends/family, please understand that Petra and I have to figure out our vacations by the end of January, so if you intend to visit us or stay at our place or whatever…unfortunately we’re not that flexible after Feb 1st…before that time, we can take a few days off or whatever for free private tours no problem.

Am I the only one who wishes Led Zepplin would die already?

Just checking in

Hola everybody,

 Let’s see, on Tuesday I had a Salzburg tour, a pretty good size group, but only a so-so tour from my point of view.  I guess partly because of the crap weather.  Wednesday I went postering around Munich, and the same for Thursday.  Today, I decided to try out visiting a German dentist.  Well, sorta.

 Since I don’t have dental insurance, I decided to head over to the Dental college and see what they could do.  Well, it only cost me €25, however, they only put in a “temporary filling”…so I’ll have to go to a normal dentist for that *sigh*.

I went out drinking with Brendan (office manager, dachau tour guide) last night…that was actually weird, not our most fun night out, but always good to get out and have a few with Brendan.  Apparently he wasn’t feeling that great toward the end *cough*

Our tour office has been ripped apart for the last month or more due to a rat…it’s being put together now, but still not close to done from what I’ve seen.  It’s kind of weird because we’re working out of our old office, which is just next door, but it’s no where near as flashy, hidden being our bike rental sorta.  Although this year’s season is long gone, my tours have been pretty sizable lately and I don’t see any real downturn there…which is good.  Lots of planning to do for next year, who knows what we’ll do as we prepare for yet another round with the various evil competitors…but I think the past year was pretty good overall, and certainly I did better than ever…I like doing better each year, it gives me a feeling of accomplishment, even if I didn’t make that much, it’s more than last year.

busy, busy.