April 23, 2025 • 31 mins
Join travel advisors Ryan and Julie as they discuss Ryan's recent river cruise experience on AmaWaterways' Romantic Danube itinerary. In this episode, Ryan shares the first part of his journey, including his pre-cruise adventures in Munich, Germany, and his initial experiences aboard the ship.
Episode Highlights:
- Ryan participated in AmaWaterways' "Seminar on the River" program, combining a typical river cruise experience with special training sessions for travel advisors
- The cruise sailed from Vilshofen, Germany to Budapest, Hungary on a 7-night journey
- Ryan discusses his pre-cruise stay in Munich, including hotel selection strategies and a food and beer walking tour
- Detailed insights about logistical considerations: currency exchange, phone service, language barriers, and jet lag management
- Transportation from Munich to the embarkation point in Vilshofen via train
- The welcoming experience on the ship, including a special Oktoberfest celebration hosted by the town of Vilshofen
- Port visits to Passau, Germany and Linz, Austria, with excursion options including Český Krumlov in the Czech Republic
- Discussion of AmaWaterways' included excursions and how they're organized into different activity levels (gentle, regular, and active)
- Ryan's experience traveling solo and how river cruising naturally facilitates making connections with other travelers
AmaWaterways River Cruise Insights:
- Excursions are included in the cruise fare (with one exception in Vienna)
- Options to book pre/post cruise extensions in destinations like Prague
- The logistics of booking air through the cruise line and transfer considerations
- How excursions are organized into small groups for a more intimate experience
- Why river cruising works well for solo travelers
Stay tuned for the next episode where Ryan will continue sharing his Danube River cruise experience, including shipboard life, dining, and more port adventures!
Whether you're considering a river cruise or just curious about European travel, this episode offers valuable insights about planning, logistics, and making the most of your adventure.
Want to cruise with Ryan and Julie in July 2025? Join our cruise with friends of the podcast (yes, that's you as a listener)!
Check out the details: https://forms.gle/Jpikq82XPQS63v5N8
Visit our website, allthingstravelpodcast.com, for freebies and more podcast info!
Ready to plan your vacation? Most families are confused and overwhelmed when planning a vacation. We work with you to plan a trip perfect for your family. Saving you time, money, and stress!
Visit our website www.allthingstravelpodcast.com and click on "Plan Your Next Vacation"
Join the travel conversations and the fun in our Facebook Page and Instagram Page!
- Please share the show with your travel buddies!! Click this link and share the show!
- Never miss an episode and help us take you to the top with us by following and leaving a 5-Star review on your favorite podcasting app!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to all things Travel
River.
Cruising combines an immersiveexperience that allows you to
explore a region of the worldwhile enjoying a luxury hotel on
the rivers.
recently returned from sailingat the Dan U River with Amma
Waterways, and today we're gonnadiscuss this amazing trip.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (00:21):
Listen in with travel advisors and
destination experts, Ryan andJulie.
He is your travel professorteaching you everything you need
to know to have a magicalvacation.
And I am a Disney lovingMaryland mom of three and a
specialist in family travel.
Whether we're discussingincredible destinations, top
vacation tips or sharingpersonal stories, it's always
(00:43):
all things travel.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (00:46):
hi Julie.
How are you doing?
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (00:48):
I am doing well.
This is the first time that wehave been on a Zoom type video
thing or talked for an actualperiod of time in weeks because
Ryan keeps leaving to travel,which is kind of the whole point
of things.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:04):
Yeah.
So I'm super excited to talkabout last trip with, ammo
waterways.
what do you have going on?
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:12):
Well, we're recording this on Easter.
We had a great day hanging outwith family.
Happy Easter.
We've been egg hunting for thepast, seven hours.
Um, not like,
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:24):
do it hardcore.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:25):
it's not like it's one egg hunt that's
really hard.
It's that we find the eggs andthen the children hide them
again and again so yeah, theyhad a great day.
But otherwise we're just, movingalong right into spring.
we're kind of through springbreak season now and, moving
towards summer.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:40):
Yeah.
Well, I had a good familyweekend, with brunch and all
that kind of stuff for Easterand, playing cards on the deck
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:49):
Ugh.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:49):
just some good times.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:50):
Yeah.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:51):
it's good.
it feels good to definitelyhaving come back from Europe and
feel like spring is finallyhere.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:56):
Our weather in Maryland has been
just perfect.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (02:00):
So with this trip, Julie, I was
with Amma Waterways, which we'vetalked about before, on the
podcast.
I was doing what's called aseminar on the river, where a
group of travel advisors jointhe other guests.
And are part of the overallguests on the ship.
But we have some specialtraining as we're going along.
(02:23):
We have several meetings.
We have special, some specialthings going on specifically for
travel advisors.
I.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (02:30):
That's amazing.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (02:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I did the romantic Dan Uitinerary.
So I am all excited to talkabout this.
I wanna talk about Ammawaterways.
I wanna talk about the Dan U.
Super excited.
But first, if you have notlistened to last week's episode.
We do a really good job,especially Julie does a really
good job of talking about allthings Disney dining and you're
(02:54):
gonna get a crash course and howto make sure you get the
reservations you want and whatrestaurants you should focus on.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (03:01):
Okay, so we're gonna run this kind of as
like a, like a q and a, like aninformal interview where I'm
gonna ask Ryan a bunch ofquestions and he's gonna
hopefully give us some goodanswers so we can get a good
look into Alma waterways and hiscrews.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (03:16):
okay.
Sounds good.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (03:17):
what kind of reservations did you set up
in advance for this trip?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (03:22):
Yeah, so I think, when you're looking
at something like a rivercruise, you can set up several
different things.
You can set up obviously, yourstate room and your reservation.
You can set up airfare andtransfers and either a pre or a
post tour, associated with thecruises.
I was originally going to do apre tour in Prague, but those
dates did not work for me, so Iended up doing my regular cruise
(03:46):
accommodations and then I did myair through Amma'cause I wanted
to have that experience.
I'd never done that before.
that was really well set up.
Especially later on when I talkabout my transfer at the end, I
was really happy that I'd donethat air with them.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:01):
So back up a moment, because you said
you were gonna do a pre tour andPrague, I was under the
impression you did a pre-tour.
Was it just, you just arrivedearly?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:12):
just
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:13):
I.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:13):
early, so I,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:14):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:15):
spent some time in Munich, but that
was on my own.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:17):
Got it.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:18):
Amma,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:19):
gonna say.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:20):
With this cruise offered a pre-trip
to Prague.
Sometimes they offered things atthe beginning and the end.
Sometimes they offered the samething, the beginning and the
end.
Sometimes they offer differentthings.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:31):
where did the ship sail
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:33):
the ship sailed from Vil, Chauvin,
Germany.
It was a seven night cruise, andit sailed all the way to
Budapest, flew into Munich and Iflew out of Budapest.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:45):
Could you have done a post cruise in
Budapest or No.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:48):
they did not offer one for this
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:49):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:50):
No.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:51):
Got it.
But sometimes they do it just.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184 (04:52):
obviously were staying and doing their own
thing, but not through Rama.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:57):
Got it.
And that's one of the thingsthat I think is really unique to
River Cruising is being able toadd those pre and post tours on,
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (05:04):
Yeah,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (05:04):
they really make it feel like a very
all inclusive type trip.
I know most of the time, when Iam booking those kinds of things
for my clients, those pre andpost tours will include
transportation.
You're staying at the hotelwhere everyone else is staying.
You're having certain toursincluded, meals included, and I
just think that's a really greatway to get introduced to the
(05:24):
area that you're in.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (05:26):
and get introduced to folks you're
gonna be traveling with
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (05:28):
You mentioned that you flew into
Munich.
Was that, your first time inGermany?
What was that like?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (05:34):
so I joke'cause I've been to Germany
multiple times, but I've neverbeen to Germany'cause I've only
been in the airports.
in fact, Munich Airport I'vebeen in most when it comes to
Germany.
I did my flights with Ammawaterways.
However, my transfers were notincluded because I didn't not
come in the day of the cruise.
I decided to come in a dayearly.
I did not have that beginningtransfer, but that was okay
(05:55):
'cause I wanted to kind of gooff and do my own thing.
I traveled Indianapolis toWashington, DC and then
Washington DC to Munich,Germany.
I got in at seven 15 in themorning, in Munich.
And so the flights went fine.
Everything was great.
no problem there.
I strategically chose a hotelclose to the train station
(06:20):
because I knew the next day Iwas taking the train to Vil
Chauvin where the cruise was.
I also knew I could take thetrain from the airport directly
to the train station by myhotel.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (06:32):
Amazing.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (06:33):
I chose that as a central place
plus it was a quick 20 minutewalk to old town where I wanted
to do some touristy things.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (06:40):
And was that a hotel you found on your
own or suggested by Alma.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (06:44):
So Amad does not offer hotels
unless you're doing the precruise.
So I just was kind of off on myown.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (06:51):
Got it.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_18481 (06:51):
several people on the cruise experienced
this.
I was looking at, hotels inMunich and I, one could not find
anything, and two, I could notfind anything that was.
sort of price that I wanted topay.
And I found out later when I didmy excursion that there was a
conference that only happensevery three or four years, that
(07:13):
was happening in Munich at thesame time, for heavy
construction.
those huge cranes that arebuilding that are, you know,
working on buildings in Dubaiand all this kind of stuff.
That's the conference that wasgoing on.
So literally all of Munich wasfull of these construction
folks.
and that's where all the hotelrooms went.
(07:35):
So I found the train station.
Perfectly fine.
I just bought my ticket there atthe airport, got on the right
train.
I've traveled in Europe viatrain before, so I'm a little
savvy.
I had done some pre-work to knowwhat I was doing and it took
about an hour to get to thecentral station and my hotel.
luckily my hotel room was ready.
(07:55):
I was planning on just droppingoff my luggage and then heading
out for the day, but I was ableto shower, get cleaned up,
settle in, and that was reallynice.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:05):
So talk to me a little more about the
travel portion.
I'm gonna ask a couple extraquestions.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:10):
Yep.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:10):
Did you have to do any entry paperwork?
So did you guys have to doanything for this trip?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:15):
No,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:16):
Got it.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:16):
now, the EU does not have that set up
yet, It was like every othertime I traveled to Europe,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:21):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:22):
no issue at all.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:24):
Did you do any sort of currency
exchange?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:27):
I just went to an ATM and took out
cash.
I find the exchange rates fine.
I got, some cash to start out.
in Europe compared to evenseveral years ago, cashless is
akay.
you know, getting a, getting acoffee and a pastry at a place
before you could never thinkabout using your credit card,
and now it's no issue at all.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:49):
you just alerted your credit card
company?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:51):
So my credit card company doesn't need
to know.
But my debit card, company does.
I went to the bank the weekbefore and gave them the dates
of where I was traveling, theyentered it onto my account.
'cause remember I was also goingto Mexico
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:04):
Yeah.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:05):
So I had lots of movement.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:07):
So when you say you got cash at the ATM,
you mean the ATM at the airportin Munich.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:12):
I did.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:12):
Okay.
just wanna confirm that.
Did you f.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:15):
The only thing I will say for folks,
and this is the same thing I sayin the us, if you're in a city,
make sure you use an ATM that'sassociated with a bank, which is
easy to find and make sure thatyou use an ATM that looks like
it's in good shape.
It's not beat up or kind ofsketchy.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:31):
Okay.
I have a couple more logisticalquestions before we talk more
about the ship itself.
I know that you were in Mexicoright before the crew, so how
did it work with your phone?
Did you have to pay extra to useyour phone?
Talk to listeners about how thatworked.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:47):
So with, so I have at and t and,
Mexico and Canada's included inmy plan, so I didn't have to do
anything special there.
But what the international planfor at and t is, it's 12 hours a
day.
Up to 10 days, and then it'sfree after that.
So basically every day I wasusing my phone, it cost$12.
(10:11):
Once I got to 10 days, itdoesn't cost any more money.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:15):
So you were using it as you normally
would and allowing them tocharge you that money.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:19):
I turned it on and just used it.
And, you know, one for work andalso personally doing things
like Google Maps for walking,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:27):
Yeah.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:28):
it makes too much sense that 12
hours a day to have thatsupport.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:34):
And like that feeling of safety and
security, right?
you have this one thing you canrely on.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:38):
and I will tell you, my phone worked
exactly the same as it did inthe United States.
No issues with calls, texting,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:45):
wow,
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:45):
all was perfectly fine.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:47):
how do you feel about the language
barrier?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:50):
it was funny, when we were in Mexico
the week before, my fiance isbiracial and folks assumed that
she spoke, Spanish, which shedidn't.
And everyone expected me tospeak German, which I didn't.
one guy got mad at me'cause hewas asking directions and I just
said, I don't know.
I have, I've traveled in a lotof European countries and I know
(11:15):
when to play the tourist card asfar as just kind of shrug and,
point and all that kind ofstuff.
I ran into some problems thefirst day'cause I was so
exhausted'cause I didn't sleepand I'm just kind of fumbling
around from time to time.
but I didn't find a problem atall, especially when you're in a
tourist place like Munich.
They're just so used To peoplefrom all over the world, and
(11:37):
English continues to be auniversal language across the
world.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (11:41):
how was your jet lag?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (11:43):
my jet lag was not bad, I'm really bad
at sleeping on planes.
I can kind of zone out for alittle bit.
And so I always just assumedthat I'm not going to sleep and
that I'm surprised if I do, butI did not.
so.
I went, I'll talk a little bitabout Munich in a second.
I went out for part of the day,came back and laid down for
(12:06):
about an hour and just kind oflet myself, relax.
I don't even know if I reallyfell asleep.
and then I went out for anexcursion, that evening, and I
got back to my room probablyaround 10 o'clock.
it was time to sleep and Islept.
I woke up in the middle of thenight for about a couple hours.
I finished the series, whiteLotus, and then went back to
(12:26):
sleep and then, and then.
And then went back to sleep fora little bit more, and, then the
next day is always a little, alittle tired.
And then after that, I'm alwayson
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:37):
Good.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:37):
it's
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:38):
Yeah.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:38):
so
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:39):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:39):
lag is hard, but I'm used to it, I know
what to expect.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:43):
tell us about this excursion in Munich.
'cause this looked so cool.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:46):
yeah, so Munich, I did a couple
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:49):
I.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:49):
I was about 20 minutes from Old Town,
so I wanted to go check thatout, check out the architecture,
check out the Guan spiel, whichis the clock where, you've got
the.
figures dancing around atdifferent times.
they have this really good foodmarket, like outside food
market.
So of course, I'm trying some
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:08):
Shocking.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:08):
I'm trying
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:09):
Shocking.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:09):
know, some pretzels, things like that,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:11):
Is anyone surprised Ryan found a food
market?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:14):
It's just classic Bavaria, so
sausage, pretzels, beer, it'sjust cool.
I walked around there a littlebit, checked some stuff out, one
of my past university studentsis German and actually lives in
Munich.
I was hoping to.
Touch base with her, but she wascoming back from Berlin for a
work trip and the train gotstuck, so I wasn't able to, I
(13:36):
went and found some coffee, wentback to the hotel relaxed, and
then at five that night I had abeer and food of Bavaria walking
tour.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:48):
Of course.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:49):
Yeah, so we met at the office, which
ironically was literally acrossthe street from my hotel.
I did not plan that at all.
So it just worked out.
we met with our guides, anEnglish woman.
Who lives in Germany and therewas about 12 of us.
I was, there was only two of usthat weren't part of this
conference, this constructionconference.
(14:10):
We had a beer at the office andshe told us some, intro
information about the beerculture in Germany.
then We walked down to theOctober Fest and Beer Museum,
and we had a pretzel tasting andtasted three different kinds of
beer.
we did a walking tour throughOld Town of Munich, including a
famous beer hall.
(14:30):
So we could see that wholeculture.
the local, football team wasplaying that night.
so there was a lot oftestosterone in Old Town then we
went to a restaurant and had aprivate area where we had a
Bavarian dinner.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (14:45):
Oh my
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (14:45):
think, cabbage and sausage and cheeses
and meats You know, just really,really good stuff.
And of course, another beer.
by that point, that was the endof our night and I, walked back
to the hotel Yeah, that was agreat experience.
it was a really good excursion.
I booked it through via tour.
it was$75.
(15:06):
It was three and a half hourslong.
I thought it was very, worth itas far as cost for time,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:11):
Wow, that's amazing.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:13):
Yeah.
So that was my day in Munich.
Munich was a wonderful place.
if I would've had more timethere, two things I would've
done.
My son is heavily into racingand, I would've gone and checked
out BMW.
There's the BMW factory andmuseum there.
And I would've also, Gone todau.
The, concentration camp theWorld War II concentration camp
(15:36):
is a good day trip away fromMunich.
Those, those are two things Iwould've added, onto my trip in
that area.
But Munich was beautiful.
I'll definitely go back.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:45):
So, on the topic of Munich, where
exactly did the ship leave fromagain?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:50):
they, left from a small town called
Vil Shohan, which
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:53):
So is,
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:54):
two and a half hours away.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:55):
is Munich the easiest place to stay?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:58):
Yes, Munich is the easiest entry
point for that port.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:02):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:03):
if you were sailing out of Passau.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:05):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:05):
a lot of Dan U River cruises will do
that
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:08):
Awesome.
talk to us about getting to theship and what that next day
looked like for you.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:14):
So the next day, my goal was to get to
the ship because the cruise wasofficially starting.
and so I got online andpurchased my ticket for the next
day, so I knew what time I wasleaving.
I was leaving at nine 30 in themorning
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:29):
On the train.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:29):
I went across the street to the train
station, had some breakfast,Waited for the train.
The only hiccup was I knew Iwanted to do some work and so I
paid for a first class ticket.
'cause I wanted a little morespace and a little more comfort.
And when the train came, therewas no first class train car, I
still had a nice seat and wasable to get everything done, but
it's kinda like, well there's 15bucks wasted.
(16:51):
very easy train ride.
if you've ever taken the trainin Europe, it's almost always
very efficient, very well done.
they're always keeping you ontime, you know exactly when
you're getting places.
about two hours and 15 minuteslater.
I was in Vil, Chauvin, Vil.
Chauvin is a very small medievalvillage.
the good thing that Amma does inall their pre-work, they have,
(17:16):
maps of, the train station.
they know a lot of people willbe coming that way.
Here's how you get to the ship.
I kind of wandered down, throughthe city center.
it was about a 10 minute walkand all of a sudden I saw the
Amma ship.
there was a gentleman in a crewoutfit.
I said, Hey, can I drop my bagsoff here?
I know I can't check in yet.
Check in was technically 3:00 PMhe said, sure.
(17:40):
And so I, And so I gave himluggage.
He kind of took it down.
I, I heard him say to the, tothe other guy, this is heavy, be
careful.
and then I was taking picturesof the ship and I come back
around and he is smoking acigarette.
So I joked, I'm like, oh, I'msorry I interrupted your smoke
break.
And he laughed.
Well, come to find out later,Julie, that was the captain that
I had take my, luggage on theship.
(18:03):
So It was all good.
That's the level of customerservice that Amma Waterways
provides.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (18:10):
He is probably like this passenger.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (18:12):
so I had about two hours in the
afternoon I found some lunchwalked around and checked out
Vil, Chauvin had some coffee andenjoyed the day.
It was beautiful weather.
And then about two 30 I wentback and the ship was, The ship
was open, ready to go.
I checked in with theregistration desk.
They gave me my key.
(18:33):
my luggage had already been putin my room.
My room was
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (18:35):
By the captain.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (18:37):
By the captain?
Yes, probably personally.
then I went to the lounge andrelaxed for a bit At about, five
o'clock everybody who was onlike the pre-tour and
everything, they were there.
So everybody kind of, cametogether in the lounge.
The lounge on a river cruiseship is the meeting point for
everything, the cruise managerintroduced herself.
(18:59):
and said, we have somethingspecial for you.
Every time we're docked in VilChauvin, the city of Vil
Chauvin, puts on an October festfor us.
So she invited us all to leavethe ship, and right there on the
pier was a tent.
And we had folks from VilChauvin that were playing music
and passing out beer.
And there were pretzels forappetizers and it was a really
(19:21):
good time.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:22):
That's amazing.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:24):
Yep.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:24):
I just wanna clarify one piece about
transfers.
you mentioned that you did notbook transfers through Amma
because you flew in the daybefore, and they only provide
those if you're flying in theday of, which really is just so
ironic to me that a lot of thecruise lines do that they only
provide transfers the day offrom the airport.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:44):
Don't
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:44):
tell you.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:45):
the day of.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:45):
Right.
So it's just so ironic to me.
But anyways, had you flown inthe day of, would it have been
like private transportation fromthe airport down to Vil?
Chauvin?
Would it have been your trainticket was included.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:57):
My guess is they would've, kind of
corralled folks that weregetting in around the same time
and we would've had a sharedtransfer.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:05):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:06):
So before we talk about rest of
the, Julie, I'm gonna talk aboutwhere in the world is all things
travel.
So as I looked at locations, onethat was interesting, that
popped up for me because you andI just met an awesome friend
there named Brittany, and wefound out that she lived in
Oahu, Hawaii.
(20:27):
And so it was fun to see thispop up on my, stats.
I wanna go out to Oahu withBrittany, what do you think we
should do in Oahu?
Julie, what would be a fun thingto do?
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:39):
Oh my gosh, Ryan, I think we need to
go to the Giovanni Shrimp truck
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:43):
All
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:44):
maybe.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:44):
so this is what we're gonna do.
we're gonna fly into Honolulu.
We're gonna rent a car.
We're gonna pick Brittany up'cause she lives right by Pearl
Harbor.
We're gonna drive up to theNorth Shore and have some
Giovanni shrimp truck.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:55):
amazing.
And then go sit on the beach.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:57):
That sounds great.
Brittany, we are so glad thatyou live in Oahu, so we could
feature Oahu on today's allthings travel.
j_1_04-20-2025_1848 (21:06):
Absolutely.
Brian, recently we did anepisode about solo travel, but
this was like.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (21:13):
this trip for me was solo travel on
steroids.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (21:16):
Right, exactly.
So tell us a little about likehow that felt.
Were you nervous about doingthat?
How did that end up working outfor you throughout the trip,
ryan_1_04-20-2025_18481 (21:25):
Meeting up with people is very easy.
you're in the lounge, sittingaround, going on excursions with
different folks.
So it's easy to strike upconversations.
Dining is very easy just to sitdown because there's a lot of
like tables that are side byside, like in restaurants, so
you can sit down and chat withfolks.
(21:46):
river cruising really allowsitself to socializing and
meeting people.
there are, you know, groups ofcouples that travel together and
stay on their own, but really,to be honest, it really lent
itself to meeting folks andtalking.
and really to be honest, theonly.
Time it could be awkward isdinner time.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:07):
Mm-hmm.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:08):
that's the first activity right after
this October Fest.
So I go in and
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:12):
After
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:12):
the
j_1_04-20-2025_184 (22:12):
Octoberfest,
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:13):
after October Fest.
No, I'm saying like that's whendinner was.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:17):
But it's like you just had all this food
and then they're like, time fordinner.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:21):
yes, absolutely.
Of course you don't wanna missdinner.
I sat down next to the womanfrom Amma Waterways that was
leading our seminar, and she wasalready talking to a few folks,
so I joined in with them.
by lunch the next day I had acrew of.
eight of us.
it just happened organically.
I'm from Indiana.
There was somebody from Miami,somebody from Boston, somebody
(22:42):
from Tampa, somebody fromAustralia, somebody from Madrid.
this person knew this person andthis person knew this person,
and we just kind of became acrew
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:51):
And were they all solo traveling as well?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:54):
Most of them were so, oh, and there
was another woman from Denver aswell, and it was very
interesting because most of themwere solo traveling, so we found
each other and became a funlittle group to sit during, the
happy hour time and at meals.
we weren't always together.
Maybe there was a couple of usor, the big group was together.
that was a lot of fun.
you don't have to be social, butriver cruising really does allow
(23:16):
you to be social.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (23:18):
All right.
That seems like a lot of peopletraveling solo.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (23:21):
I was very surprised.
and all of them that weretraveling solo were very happy
with Amma and with the RiverCruise.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (23:29):
All right, do you wanna talk a
little bit about, yourexcursions, your port stops,
those kinds of things?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (23:35):
Yeah, so just to give you an idea,
with Amma, the excursions areincluded.
In fact, there's only oneexcursion that cost extra money
on
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (23:44):
I.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (23:45):
and that was a concert in Vienna in
the evening, everything else wasincluded and every day.
There were three options when it
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (23:55):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_1 (23:55):
excursions.
Often a gentle option, a regularoption, and an active option.
And really it depended on yourlevel of activity.
and then sometimes those wouldall be the same just different
based on activity level, orsometimes there would be
different ones to choose from.
But again, all included.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:15):
did you have to pick the excursions in
advance?
Like sign up for them?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:19):
30 days beforehand, you went in and
picked them on the Amma app, but
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:24):
I.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:24):
with this river cruise, there was
never a time where, any of themwere sold out or full.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:30):
Wow.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:30):
So Basically what you would do is
you may want, if you'retraveling with a group, you
wanna make sure you're in thesame group, within the same
excursion.
because what they really try todo is have small groups.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:43):
Mm-hmm.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:44):
say, 40 people are going.
on an excursion, they might havefour different guides on that
excursion based on color so thatthey only have 10 people
together.
you don't have this big giantgroup.
You have smaller groups, whichis really nice.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:03):
how would you make sure you're in the same
group?
Do you just show up together?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:06):
you go to the registration desk
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:08):
Got it.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:08):
of cards beforehand
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:10):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:11):
So you all are in the red group or the
gray group
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:13):
But you don't have to set that up in
advance.
You can do it on board.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:16):
Yeah.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:17):
Got it.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:17):
A hundred
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:18):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:18):
after breakfast,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:19):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:20):
check in with our group and say, who's
going where?
the joke was kind of like,Ryan's gonna take care of it.
I would just go get everybody'scolors and everything and since
I had been on the cruise before,I kind of knew that was the
system that they had.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:32):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:32):
sure, I could do that.
okay.
So let's talk about the firstday.
we've got that evening done.
about mid-morning we start tosail.
So that was really kind ofexciting, right?
we go from Vil Chauvin to PassauGermany, and like I said,
sometimes the river cruises willstart here with the Dan U.
(25:53):
Passau is considered the city ofthe three rivers because there's
three major rivers that convergein Passau, which made it a very
wealthy city because of trade,military advantage, and the salt
trade, now it's kind of a smalllittle university town, we had a
nice walking tour with a lawstudent, there at the university
(26:15):
and just kind of learned aboutthe history and immersed
ourselves in German culture
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (26:22):
That sounds so sweet.
I like that it was by auniversity student.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (26:26):
the next day we woke up in Lins,
Austria.
we had officially left Germanyand you had several different
options for this day.
You could go to, Chesky, KrumLove, which was in the Czech
Republic, or Salzburg, Austria.
(26:46):
Salzburg is the classic, let'slearn about, the sound of music,
kind of stuff.
The people that did that lovedit.
I had a little different tack.
I'm like, if I go to the CzechRepublic, I can go to five
countries on this, on thiscruise.
So I spent the day and I didthat and I absolutely loved it.
It was such a charming littletown.
(27:08):
Chesky crew, ma is consideredthe little Prague and, It has
the second largest castle, inthe Czech Republic, Chesky, Krum
Love had a really nice excursionthere.
I, had a really nice lunch.
I asked the lady where to go toget some real Czech food.
So I had some beer, Duck andpotatoes and cabbage and all
(27:30):
that yummy stuff.
then when we got back, the guidesaid, if anybody wants to do a
walking tour in Lin, I'll dothat.
so I, took a little walking tourthrough Lin Austria, very
beautiful little town.
Lots of interesting things.
That was actually the town thatHitler was planning to retire
to.
(27:51):
So all of the artwork andeverything that was being stolen
by the Nazis was going to cometo LY and be displayed.
That was gonna be kind of hisgrand place.
in fact, we were in a churchbecause if you're on excursion
in Europe, you need to go to achurch and, was kind of this
dome in the back of thesanctuary.
(28:14):
the guy pointed it out and said,you know, I know it looks very
different.
He said, this is where, AdolfHitler was baptized when he was
nine, and we actually covered itup because we don't want people
to memorialize it in any way.
he said, the baptistry is stillused, but we don't have it open
(28:35):
to anybody else.
So it was, You kind of stop fora second, right.
when you're in the CzechRepublic that day and you're
hearing about communism and, theeffects on the local culture
and, you're in the midst ofWorld War II and the effects of
World War ii and it was reallyinteresting.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (28:51):
And that's such a bringing history
to life moment.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (28:54):
100%.
And then we get back to theship.
And during our sip and sail,which is our kind of happy hour
before, dinner, our cruisemanager says, we have an
announcement to make.
We have an issue going on withthe ship, and it may impact the
next couple days of our trip.
(29:16):
And Julie, I'm gonna waitbecause we've already talked
enough today.
I'm gonna talk about those in asecond episode,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (29:23):
Awesome.
I can't wait.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_18481 (29:25):
there's so much more to talk about.
We're gonna talk about life onboard.
We're gonna talk about food.
We're gonna talk through therest of this amazing romantic
Dan U I'm super excited.
next episode, we're gonna talkabout it all.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (29:40):
I can't wait to hear it.
you wanna plan a trip to anamazing destination, but dunno
how to get started.
As your travel advisors, we workwith you to create a customized
itinerary for your vacation andtake the stress of planning away
so you can focus on the fun andcreating memories.
You can reach out to us at allThings travel podcasts.com and
click contact us.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (30:02):
We look forward to talking to you
next week on all Things Travel.
When I discuss the second halfof my river cruise,
Hello and welcome to all things Travel
River.
Cruising combines an immersiveexperience that allows you to
explore a region of the worldwhile enjoying a luxury hotel on
the rivers.
recently returned from sailingat the Dan U River with Amma
Waterways, and today we're gonnadiscuss this amazing trip.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (00:21):
Listen in with travel advisors and
destination experts, Ryan andJulie.
He is your travel professorteaching you everything you need
to know to have a magicalvacation.
And I am a Disney lovingMaryland mom of three and a
specialist in family travel.
Whether we're discussingincredible destinations, top
vacation tips or sharingpersonal stories, it's always
(00:43):
all things travel.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (00:46):
hi Julie.
How are you doing?
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (00:48):
I am doing well.
This is the first time that wehave been on a Zoom type video
thing or talked for an actualperiod of time in weeks because
Ryan keeps leaving to travel,which is kind of the whole point
of things.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:04):
Yeah.
So I'm super excited to talkabout last trip with, ammo
waterways.
what do you have going on?
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:12):
Well, we're recording this on Easter.
We had a great day hanging outwith family.
Happy Easter.
We've been egg hunting for thepast, seven hours.
Um, not like,
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:24):
do it hardcore.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:25):
it's not like it's one egg hunt that's
really hard.
It's that we find the eggs andthen the children hide them
again and again so yeah, theyhad a great day.
But otherwise we're just, movingalong right into spring.
we're kind of through springbreak season now and, moving
towards summer.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:40):
Yeah.
Well, I had a good familyweekend, with brunch and all
that kind of stuff for Easterand, playing cards on the deck
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:49):
Ugh.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:49):
just some good times.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:50):
Yeah.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:51):
it's good.
it feels good to definitelyhaving come back from Europe and
feel like spring is finallyhere.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (01:56):
Our weather in Maryland has been
just perfect.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (02:00):
So with this trip, Julie, I was
with Amma Waterways, which we'vetalked about before, on the
podcast.
I was doing what's called aseminar on the river, where a
group of travel advisors jointhe other guests.
And are part of the overallguests on the ship.
But we have some specialtraining as we're going along.
(02:23):
We have several meetings.
We have special, some specialthings going on specifically for
travel advisors.
I.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (02:30):
That's amazing.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (02:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I did the romantic Dan Uitinerary.
So I am all excited to talkabout this.
I wanna talk about Ammawaterways.
I wanna talk about the Dan U.
Super excited.
But first, if you have notlistened to last week's episode.
We do a really good job,especially Julie does a really
good job of talking about allthings Disney dining and you're
(02:54):
gonna get a crash course and howto make sure you get the
reservations you want and whatrestaurants you should focus on.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (03:01):
Okay, so we're gonna run this kind of as
like a, like a q and a, like aninformal interview where I'm
gonna ask Ryan a bunch ofquestions and he's gonna
hopefully give us some goodanswers so we can get a good
look into Alma waterways and hiscrews.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (03:16):
okay.
Sounds good.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (03:17):
what kind of reservations did you set up
in advance for this trip?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (03:22):
Yeah, so I think, when you're looking
at something like a rivercruise, you can set up several
different things.
You can set up obviously, yourstate room and your reservation.
You can set up airfare andtransfers and either a pre or a
post tour, associated with thecruises.
I was originally going to do apre tour in Prague, but those
dates did not work for me, so Iended up doing my regular cruise
(03:46):
accommodations and then I did myair through Amma'cause I wanted
to have that experience.
I'd never done that before.
that was really well set up.
Especially later on when I talkabout my transfer at the end, I
was really happy that I'd donethat air with them.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:01):
So back up a moment, because you said
you were gonna do a pre tour andPrague, I was under the
impression you did a pre-tour.
Was it just, you just arrivedearly?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:12):
just
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:13):
I.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:13):
early, so I,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:14):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:15):
spent some time in Munich, but that
was on my own.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:17):
Got it.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:18):
Amma,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:19):
gonna say.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:20):
With this cruise offered a pre-trip
to Prague.
Sometimes they offered things atthe beginning and the end.
Sometimes they offered the samething, the beginning and the
end.
Sometimes they offer differentthings.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:31):
where did the ship sail
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:33):
the ship sailed from Vil, Chauvin,
Germany.
It was a seven night cruise, andit sailed all the way to
Budapest, flew into Munich and Iflew out of Budapest.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:45):
Could you have done a post cruise in
Budapest or No.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:48):
they did not offer one for this
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:49):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:50):
No.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:51):
Got it.
But sometimes they do it just.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184 (04:52):
obviously were staying and doing their own
thing, but not through Rama.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (04:57):
Got it.
And that's one of the thingsthat I think is really unique to
River Cruising is being able toadd those pre and post tours on,
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (05:04):
Yeah,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (05:04):
they really make it feel like a very
all inclusive type trip.
I know most of the time, when Iam booking those kinds of things
for my clients, those pre andpost tours will include
transportation.
You're staying at the hotelwhere everyone else is staying.
You're having certain toursincluded, meals included, and I
just think that's a really greatway to get introduced to the
(05:24):
area that you're in.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (05:26):
and get introduced to folks you're
gonna be traveling with
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (05:28):
You mentioned that you flew into
Munich.
Was that, your first time inGermany?
What was that like?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (05:34):
so I joke'cause I've been to Germany
multiple times, but I've neverbeen to Germany'cause I've only
been in the airports.
in fact, Munich Airport I'vebeen in most when it comes to
Germany.
I did my flights with Ammawaterways.
However, my transfers were notincluded because I didn't not
come in the day of the cruise.
I decided to come in a dayearly.
I did not have that beginningtransfer, but that was okay
(05:55):
'cause I wanted to kind of gooff and do my own thing.
I traveled Indianapolis toWashington, DC and then
Washington DC to Munich,Germany.
I got in at seven 15 in themorning, in Munich.
And so the flights went fine.
Everything was great.
no problem there.
I strategically chose a hotelclose to the train station
(06:20):
because I knew the next day Iwas taking the train to Vil
Chauvin where the cruise was.
I also knew I could take thetrain from the airport directly
to the train station by myhotel.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (06:32):
Amazing.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (06:33):
I chose that as a central place
plus it was a quick 20 minutewalk to old town where I wanted
to do some touristy things.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (06:40):
And was that a hotel you found on your
own or suggested by Alma.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (06:44):
So Amad does not offer hotels
unless you're doing the precruise.
So I just was kind of off on myown.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (06:51):
Got it.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_18481 (06:51):
several people on the cruise experienced
this.
I was looking at, hotels inMunich and I, one could not find
anything, and two, I could notfind anything that was.
sort of price that I wanted topay.
And I found out later when I didmy excursion that there was a
conference that only happensevery three or four years, that
(07:13):
was happening in Munich at thesame time, for heavy
construction.
those huge cranes that arebuilding that are, you know,
working on buildings in Dubaiand all this kind of stuff.
That's the conference that wasgoing on.
So literally all of Munich wasfull of these construction
folks.
and that's where all the hotelrooms went.
(07:35):
So I found the train station.
Perfectly fine.
I just bought my ticket there atthe airport, got on the right
train.
I've traveled in Europe viatrain before, so I'm a little
savvy.
I had done some pre-work to knowwhat I was doing and it took
about an hour to get to thecentral station and my hotel.
luckily my hotel room was ready.
(07:55):
I was planning on just droppingoff my luggage and then heading
out for the day, but I was ableto shower, get cleaned up,
settle in, and that was reallynice.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:05):
So talk to me a little more about the
travel portion.
I'm gonna ask a couple extraquestions.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:10):
Yep.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:10):
Did you have to do any entry paperwork?
So did you guys have to doanything for this trip?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:15):
No,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:16):
Got it.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:16):
now, the EU does not have that set up
yet, It was like every othertime I traveled to Europe,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:21):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:22):
no issue at all.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:24):
Did you do any sort of currency
exchange?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:27):
I just went to an ATM and took out
cash.
I find the exchange rates fine.
I got, some cash to start out.
in Europe compared to evenseveral years ago, cashless is
akay.
you know, getting a, getting acoffee and a pastry at a place
before you could never thinkabout using your credit card,
and now it's no issue at all.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:49):
you just alerted your credit card
company?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (08:51):
So my credit card company doesn't need
to know.
But my debit card, company does.
I went to the bank the weekbefore and gave them the dates
of where I was traveling, theyentered it onto my account.
'cause remember I was also goingto Mexico
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:04):
Yeah.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:05):
So I had lots of movement.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:07):
So when you say you got cash at the ATM,
you mean the ATM at the airportin Munich.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:12):
I did.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:12):
Okay.
just wanna confirm that.
Did you f.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:15):
The only thing I will say for folks,
and this is the same thing I sayin the us, if you're in a city,
make sure you use an ATM that'sassociated with a bank, which is
easy to find and make sure thatyou use an ATM that looks like
it's in good shape.
It's not beat up or kind ofsketchy.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:31):
Okay.
I have a couple more logisticalquestions before we talk more
about the ship itself.
I know that you were in Mexicoright before the crew, so how
did it work with your phone?
Did you have to pay extra to useyour phone?
Talk to listeners about how thatworked.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (09:47):
So with, so I have at and t and,
Mexico and Canada's included inmy plan, so I didn't have to do
anything special there.
But what the international planfor at and t is, it's 12 hours a
day.
Up to 10 days, and then it'sfree after that.
So basically every day I wasusing my phone, it cost$12.
(10:11):
Once I got to 10 days, itdoesn't cost any more money.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:15):
So you were using it as you normally
would and allowing them tocharge you that money.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:19):
I turned it on and just used it.
And, you know, one for work andalso personally doing things
like Google Maps for walking,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:27):
Yeah.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:28):
it makes too much sense that 12
hours a day to have thatsupport.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:34):
And like that feeling of safety and
security, right?
you have this one thing you canrely on.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:38):
and I will tell you, my phone worked
exactly the same as it did inthe United States.
No issues with calls, texting,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:45):
wow,
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:45):
all was perfectly fine.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:47):
how do you feel about the language
barrier?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (10:50):
it was funny, when we were in Mexico
the week before, my fiance isbiracial and folks assumed that
she spoke, Spanish, which shedidn't.
And everyone expected me tospeak German, which I didn't.
one guy got mad at me'cause hewas asking directions and I just
said, I don't know.
I have, I've traveled in a lotof European countries and I know
(11:15):
when to play the tourist card asfar as just kind of shrug and,
point and all that kind ofstuff.
I ran into some problems thefirst day'cause I was so
exhausted'cause I didn't sleepand I'm just kind of fumbling
around from time to time.
but I didn't find a problem atall, especially when you're in a
tourist place like Munich.
They're just so used To peoplefrom all over the world, and
(11:37):
English continues to be auniversal language across the
world.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (11:41):
how was your jet lag?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (11:43):
my jet lag was not bad, I'm really bad
at sleeping on planes.
I can kind of zone out for alittle bit.
And so I always just assumedthat I'm not going to sleep and
that I'm surprised if I do, butI did not.
so.
I went, I'll talk a little bitabout Munich in a second.
I went out for part of the day,came back and laid down for
(12:06):
about an hour and just kind oflet myself, relax.
I don't even know if I reallyfell asleep.
and then I went out for anexcursion, that evening, and I
got back to my room probablyaround 10 o'clock.
it was time to sleep and Islept.
I woke up in the middle of thenight for about a couple hours.
I finished the series, whiteLotus, and then went back to
(12:26):
sleep and then, and then.
And then went back to sleep fora little bit more, and, then the
next day is always a little, alittle tired.
And then after that, I'm alwayson
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:37):
Good.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:37):
it's
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:38):
Yeah.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:38):
so
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:39):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:39):
lag is hard, but I'm used to it, I know
what to expect.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:43):
tell us about this excursion in Munich.
'cause this looked so cool.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:46):
yeah, so Munich, I did a couple
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:49):
I.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (12:49):
I was about 20 minutes from Old Town,
so I wanted to go check thatout, check out the architecture,
check out the Guan spiel, whichis the clock where, you've got
the.
figures dancing around atdifferent times.
they have this really good foodmarket, like outside food
market.
So of course, I'm trying some
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:08):
Shocking.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:08):
I'm trying
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:09):
Shocking.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:09):
know, some pretzels, things like that,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:11):
Is anyone surprised Ryan found a food
market?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:14):
It's just classic Bavaria, so
sausage, pretzels, beer, it'sjust cool.
I walked around there a littlebit, checked some stuff out, one
of my past university studentsis German and actually lives in
Munich.
I was hoping to.
Touch base with her, but she wascoming back from Berlin for a
work trip and the train gotstuck, so I wasn't able to, I
(13:36):
went and found some coffee, wentback to the hotel relaxed, and
then at five that night I had abeer and food of Bavaria walking
tour.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:48):
Of course.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (13:49):
Yeah, so we met at the office, which
ironically was literally acrossthe street from my hotel.
I did not plan that at all.
So it just worked out.
we met with our guides, anEnglish woman.
Who lives in Germany and therewas about 12 of us.
I was, there was only two of usthat weren't part of this
conference, this constructionconference.
(14:10):
We had a beer at the office andshe told us some, intro
information about the beerculture in Germany.
then We walked down to theOctober Fest and Beer Museum,
and we had a pretzel tasting andtasted three different kinds of
beer.
we did a walking tour throughOld Town of Munich, including a
famous beer hall.
(14:30):
So we could see that wholeculture.
the local, football team wasplaying that night.
so there was a lot oftestosterone in Old Town then we
went to a restaurant and had aprivate area where we had a
Bavarian dinner.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (14:45):
Oh my
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (14:45):
think, cabbage and sausage and cheeses
and meats You know, just really,really good stuff.
And of course, another beer.
by that point, that was the endof our night and I, walked back
to the hotel Yeah, that was agreat experience.
it was a really good excursion.
I booked it through via tour.
it was$75.
(15:06):
It was three and a half hourslong.
I thought it was very, worth itas far as cost for time,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:11):
Wow, that's amazing.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:13):
Yeah.
So that was my day in Munich.
Munich was a wonderful place.
if I would've had more timethere, two things I would've
done.
My son is heavily into racingand, I would've gone and checked
out BMW.
There's the BMW factory andmuseum there.
And I would've also, Gone todau.
The, concentration camp theWorld War II concentration camp
(15:36):
is a good day trip away fromMunich.
Those, those are two things Iwould've added, onto my trip in
that area.
But Munich was beautiful.
I'll definitely go back.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:45):
So, on the topic of Munich, where
exactly did the ship leave fromagain?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:50):
they, left from a small town called
Vil Shohan, which
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:53):
So is,
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:54):
two and a half hours away.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:55):
is Munich the easiest place to stay?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (15:58):
Yes, Munich is the easiest entry
point for that port.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:02):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:03):
if you were sailing out of Passau.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:05):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:05):
a lot of Dan U River cruises will do
that
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:08):
Awesome.
talk to us about getting to theship and what that next day
looked like for you.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:14):
So the next day, my goal was to get to
the ship because the cruise wasofficially starting.
and so I got online andpurchased my ticket for the next
day, so I knew what time I wasleaving.
I was leaving at nine 30 in themorning
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:29):
On the train.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (16:29):
I went across the street to the train
station, had some breakfast,Waited for the train.
The only hiccup was I knew Iwanted to do some work and so I
paid for a first class ticket.
'cause I wanted a little morespace and a little more comfort.
And when the train came, therewas no first class train car, I
still had a nice seat and wasable to get everything done, but
it's kinda like, well there's 15bucks wasted.
(16:51):
very easy train ride.
if you've ever taken the trainin Europe, it's almost always
very efficient, very well done.
they're always keeping you ontime, you know exactly when
you're getting places.
about two hours and 15 minuteslater.
I was in Vil, Chauvin, Vil.
Chauvin is a very small medievalvillage.
the good thing that Amma does inall their pre-work, they have,
(17:16):
maps of, the train station.
they know a lot of people willbe coming that way.
Here's how you get to the ship.
I kind of wandered down, throughthe city center.
it was about a 10 minute walkand all of a sudden I saw the
Amma ship.
there was a gentleman in a crewoutfit.
I said, Hey, can I drop my bagsoff here?
I know I can't check in yet.
Check in was technically 3:00 PMhe said, sure.
(17:40):
And so I, And so I gave himluggage.
He kind of took it down.
I, I heard him say to the, tothe other guy, this is heavy, be
careful.
and then I was taking picturesof the ship and I come back
around and he is smoking acigarette.
So I joked, I'm like, oh, I'msorry I interrupted your smoke
break.
And he laughed.
Well, come to find out later,Julie, that was the captain that
I had take my, luggage on theship.
(18:03):
So It was all good.
That's the level of customerservice that Amma Waterways
provides.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (18:10):
He is probably like this passenger.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (18:12):
so I had about two hours in the
afternoon I found some lunchwalked around and checked out
Vil, Chauvin had some coffee andenjoyed the day.
It was beautiful weather.
And then about two 30 I wentback and the ship was, The ship
was open, ready to go.
I checked in with theregistration desk.
They gave me my key.
(18:33):
my luggage had already been putin my room.
My room was
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (18:35):
By the captain.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (18:37):
By the captain?
Yes, probably personally.
then I went to the lounge andrelaxed for a bit At about, five
o'clock everybody who was onlike the pre-tour and
everything, they were there.
So everybody kind of, cametogether in the lounge.
The lounge on a river cruiseship is the meeting point for
everything, the cruise managerintroduced herself.
(18:59):
and said, we have somethingspecial for you.
Every time we're docked in VilChauvin, the city of Vil
Chauvin, puts on an October festfor us.
So she invited us all to leavethe ship, and right there on the
pier was a tent.
And we had folks from VilChauvin that were playing music
and passing out beer.
And there were pretzels forappetizers and it was a really
(19:21):
good time.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:22):
That's amazing.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:24):
Yep.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:24):
I just wanna clarify one piece about
transfers.
you mentioned that you did notbook transfers through Amma
because you flew in the daybefore, and they only provide
those if you're flying in theday of, which really is just so
ironic to me that a lot of thecruise lines do that they only
provide transfers the day offrom the airport.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:44):
Don't
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:44):
tell you.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:45):
the day of.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:45):
Right.
So it's just so ironic to me.
But anyways, had you flown inthe day of, would it have been
like private transportation fromthe airport down to Vil?
Chauvin?
Would it have been your trainticket was included.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (19:57):
My guess is they would've, kind of
corralled folks that weregetting in around the same time
and we would've had a sharedtransfer.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:05):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:06):
So before we talk about rest of
the, Julie, I'm gonna talk aboutwhere in the world is all things
travel.
So as I looked at locations, onethat was interesting, that
popped up for me because you andI just met an awesome friend
there named Brittany, and wefound out that she lived in
Oahu, Hawaii.
(20:27):
And so it was fun to see thispop up on my, stats.
I wanna go out to Oahu withBrittany, what do you think we
should do in Oahu?
Julie, what would be a fun thingto do?
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:39):
Oh my gosh, Ryan, I think we need to
go to the Giovanni Shrimp truck
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:43):
All
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:44):
maybe.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:44):
so this is what we're gonna do.
we're gonna fly into Honolulu.
We're gonna rent a car.
We're gonna pick Brittany up'cause she lives right by Pearl
Harbor.
We're gonna drive up to theNorth Shore and have some
Giovanni shrimp truck.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:55):
amazing.
And then go sit on the beach.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (20:57):
That sounds great.
Brittany, we are so glad thatyou live in Oahu, so we could
feature Oahu on today's allthings travel.
j_1_04-20-2025_1848 (21:06):
Absolutely.
Brian, recently we did anepisode about solo travel, but
this was like.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (21:13):
this trip for me was solo travel on
steroids.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (21:16):
Right, exactly.
So tell us a little about likehow that felt.
Were you nervous about doingthat?
How did that end up working outfor you throughout the trip,
ryan_1_04-20-2025_18481 (21:25):
Meeting up with people is very easy.
you're in the lounge, sittingaround, going on excursions with
different folks.
So it's easy to strike upconversations.
Dining is very easy just to sitdown because there's a lot of
like tables that are side byside, like in restaurants, so
you can sit down and chat withfolks.
(21:46):
river cruising really allowsitself to socializing and
meeting people.
there are, you know, groups ofcouples that travel together and
stay on their own, but really,to be honest, it really lent
itself to meeting folks andtalking.
and really to be honest, theonly.
Time it could be awkward isdinner time.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:07):
Mm-hmm.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:08):
that's the first activity right after
this October Fest.
So I go in and
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:12):
After
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:12):
the
j_1_04-20-2025_184 (22:12):
Octoberfest,
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:13):
after October Fest.
No, I'm saying like that's whendinner was.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:17):
But it's like you just had all this food
and then they're like, time fordinner.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:21):
yes, absolutely.
Of course you don't wanna missdinner.
I sat down next to the womanfrom Amma Waterways that was
leading our seminar, and she wasalready talking to a few folks,
so I joined in with them.
by lunch the next day I had acrew of.
eight of us.
it just happened organically.
I'm from Indiana.
There was somebody from Miami,somebody from Boston, somebody
(22:42):
from Tampa, somebody fromAustralia, somebody from Madrid.
this person knew this person andthis person knew this person,
and we just kind of became acrew
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:51):
And were they all solo traveling as well?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (22:54):
Most of them were so, oh, and there
was another woman from Denver aswell, and it was very
interesting because most of themwere solo traveling, so we found
each other and became a funlittle group to sit during, the
happy hour time and at meals.
we weren't always together.
Maybe there was a couple of usor, the big group was together.
that was a lot of fun.
you don't have to be social, butriver cruising really does allow
(23:16):
you to be social.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (23:18):
All right.
That seems like a lot of peopletraveling solo.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (23:21):
I was very surprised.
and all of them that weretraveling solo were very happy
with Amma and with the RiverCruise.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (23:29):
All right, do you wanna talk a
little bit about, yourexcursions, your port stops,
those kinds of things?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (23:35):
Yeah, so just to give you an idea,
with Amma, the excursions areincluded.
In fact, there's only oneexcursion that cost extra money
on
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (23:44):
I.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (23:45):
and that was a concert in Vienna in
the evening, everything else wasincluded and every day.
There were three options when it
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (23:55):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_1 (23:55):
excursions.
Often a gentle option, a regularoption, and an active option.
And really it depended on yourlevel of activity.
and then sometimes those wouldall be the same just different
based on activity level, orsometimes there would be
different ones to choose from.
But again, all included.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:15):
did you have to pick the excursions in
advance?
Like sign up for them?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:19):
30 days beforehand, you went in and
picked them on the Amma app, but
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:24):
I.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:24):
with this river cruise, there was
never a time where, any of themwere sold out or full.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:30):
Wow.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:30):
So Basically what you would do is
you may want, if you'retraveling with a group, you
wanna make sure you're in thesame group, within the same
excursion.
because what they really try todo is have small groups.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:43):
Mm-hmm.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (24:44):
say, 40 people are going.
on an excursion, they might havefour different guides on that
excursion based on color so thatthey only have 10 people
together.
you don't have this big giantgroup.
You have smaller groups, whichis really nice.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:03):
how would you make sure you're in the same
group?
Do you just show up together?
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:06):
you go to the registration desk
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:08):
Got it.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:08):
of cards beforehand
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:10):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:11):
So you all are in the red group or the
gray group
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:13):
But you don't have to set that up in
advance.
You can do it on board.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:16):
Yeah.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:17):
Got it.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:17):
A hundred
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:18):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:18):
after breakfast,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:19):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:20):
check in with our group and say, who's
going where?
the joke was kind of like,Ryan's gonna take care of it.
I would just go get everybody'scolors and everything and since
I had been on the cruise before,I kind of knew that was the
system that they had.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:32):
Okay.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (25:32):
sure, I could do that.
okay.
So let's talk about the firstday.
we've got that evening done.
about mid-morning we start tosail.
So that was really kind ofexciting, right?
we go from Vil Chauvin to PassauGermany, and like I said,
sometimes the river cruises willstart here with the Dan U.
(25:53):
Passau is considered the city ofthe three rivers because there's
three major rivers that convergein Passau, which made it a very
wealthy city because of trade,military advantage, and the salt
trade, now it's kind of a smalllittle university town, we had a
nice walking tour with a lawstudent, there at the university
(26:15):
and just kind of learned aboutthe history and immersed
ourselves in German culture
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (26:22):
That sounds so sweet.
I like that it was by auniversity student.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (26:26):
the next day we woke up in Lins,
Austria.
we had officially left Germanyand you had several different
options for this day.
You could go to, Chesky, KrumLove, which was in the Czech
Republic, or Salzburg, Austria.
(26:46):
Salzburg is the classic, let'slearn about, the sound of music,
kind of stuff.
The people that did that lovedit.
I had a little different tack.
I'm like, if I go to the CzechRepublic, I can go to five
countries on this, on thiscruise.
So I spent the day and I didthat and I absolutely loved it.
It was such a charming littletown.
(27:08):
Chesky crew, ma is consideredthe little Prague and, It has
the second largest castle, inthe Czech Republic, Chesky, Krum
Love had a really nice excursionthere.
I, had a really nice lunch.
I asked the lady where to go toget some real Czech food.
So I had some beer, Duck andpotatoes and cabbage and all
(27:30):
that yummy stuff.
then when we got back, the guidesaid, if anybody wants to do a
walking tour in Lin, I'll dothat.
so I, took a little walking tourthrough Lin Austria, very
beautiful little town.
Lots of interesting things.
That was actually the town thatHitler was planning to retire
to.
(27:51):
So all of the artwork andeverything that was being stolen
by the Nazis was going to cometo LY and be displayed.
That was gonna be kind of hisgrand place.
in fact, we were in a churchbecause if you're on excursion
in Europe, you need to go to achurch and, was kind of this
dome in the back of thesanctuary.
(28:14):
the guy pointed it out and said,you know, I know it looks very
different.
He said, this is where, AdolfHitler was baptized when he was
nine, and we actually covered itup because we don't want people
to memorialize it in any way.
he said, the baptistry is stillused, but we don't have it open
(28:35):
to anybody else.
So it was, You kind of stop fora second, right.
when you're in the CzechRepublic that day and you're
hearing about communism and, theeffects on the local culture
and, you're in the midst ofWorld War II and the effects of
World War ii and it was reallyinteresting.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (28:51):
And that's such a bringing history
to life moment.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (28:54):
100%.
And then we get back to theship.
And during our sip and sail,which is our kind of happy hour
before, dinner, our cruisemanager says, we have an
announcement to make.
We have an issue going on withthe ship, and it may impact the
next couple days of our trip.
(29:16):
And Julie, I'm gonna waitbecause we've already talked
enough today.
I'm gonna talk about those in asecond episode,
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (29:23):
Awesome.
I can't wait.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_18481 (29:25):
there's so much more to talk about.
We're gonna talk about life onboard.
We're gonna talk about food.
We're gonna talk through therest of this amazing romantic
Dan U I'm super excited.
next episode, we're gonna talkabout it all.
j_1_04-20-2025_184816 (29:40):
I can't wait to hear it.
you wanna plan a trip to anamazing destination, but dunno
how to get started.
As your travel advisors, we workwith you to create a customized
itinerary for your vacation andtake the stress of planning away
so you can focus on the fun andcreating memories.
You can reach out to us at allThings travel podcasts.com and
click contact us.
ryan_1_04-20-2025_184816 (30:02):
We look forward to talking to you
next week on all Things Travel.
When I discuss the second halfof my river cruise,
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!