[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Source[/caption]

With so many places and so little time to see everything Europe has to offer, trying to figure out where to travel to on your next vacation can be tough. While different destinations are recommended at different times of the year, not many of us have the luxury of traveling to those specific cities during peak season. But that shouldn’t dishearten travelers as Lonely Planet feels the best way to bag a bargain and avoid huge crowds is by resisting high travel periods all together.

To help you figure out your next getaway, why not play a bit of Travel Bingo?

Travel Bingo is obviously a little less common than a travel bucket list, but the game has proven quite useful for the travel industry in a variety of ways. A number of travel bloggers have fashioned their own cards as a strategy to combat boredom during flight delays, with one prime example in the form of Airport Bingo by How I Became Texan. And for bingo providers like Gala Bingo, holiday giveaways such as the Las Vegas Vacation Promotion encouraged more gameplay online. Because of the versatility of bingo when it comes to travel, there’s really no reason why you can’t use the game as a guide for your next big adventure.

Here are the instructions in making your travel bingo card:

Make a list of 25 of destinations with European-specific activities (i.e. Watch the Northern Lights in Svalbard, Norway; Ski in the Swiss Alps; Kickstart your day with espresso and grappa in Rome, Italy, etc.). Once you’ve got all 25 items, you can either type them out on Print Bingo to automatically generate your card, or you can construct your own card, printing images from the internet to pair with the words. The DIY card is visually more appealing and gives you a little sneak peek of what’s to come in your travels. Once you’ve got your card sorted, take two different colored dice so that one represents the rows while the other represents the column. Rolling both dice will determine the next destination to cross off your bucket list. If you happen to roll a 6, you may use that as a free choice for the said column or row, or you can just roll that particular die again if you can’t decide.

After each adventure, check off the items with photographic evidence of your accomplishment.

Happy travels!

 

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About the Author, Diane Law

Diane has been a school teacher for nearly a decade now. During her spare time she enjoys writing for several travel blogs as well playing chess with her brother.

I despise the phrase "I don't have time". It actually makes me angry when people say it because it's just plain wrong; we all have the same damn amount of time allotted each day. The difference is we all prioritize our time differently and that is what we all need to recognize. You have time - 24 hours in a day - and you are instead choosing to go work out, study, or sit in bed and relax. You know what? That's ok because that's your higher priority and we all need to prioritize things.

I've missed blogging a lot these past few months, but it's not because I haven't had time. I've had the same amount of time as all of the all-star bloggers churning out posts alongside full-time jobs. Instead, I've chosen to prioritize the new things in my life such as my master's program, a new job, making friends, and discovering Munich. I cannot say I've 100 percent reached the high bar at any of these things, but I've succeeded in each them enough to continue moving forward with them all, knowing my effort is worth it. As I continue to adjust to this new life of mine (because it is truly a 180 from my past time in Germany), I hope to find time to blog more regularly. For now, I will blog when I want to and when I feel the time is right, like right now.

I am entering my second Christmas break in Germany and it sure feels well-deserved this go around. Before I even moved to Germany, Munich was my city of choice. Life had other plans for me and directed me to Karlsruhe and it sure was meant to be there, but this year, my time for this special city finally came.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900"] view from atop my university bar/cafe[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900"] just another day at Starbuck's in Munich[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900"] Marienplatz[/caption]

I've only been living in Munich just over three months, but so much has happened since then. My transition to Munich has been as easy as it could be. Here's a bit of how I've spent my time these last three months.

I started my masters degree and already took my first 2 of 6 semester exams. The semester ends February 15, so I will be spending my second Christmas in a row in Germany due to my next four exams beginning at the end of January. Unfortunately, my bachelor's-degree-style night-before-the-exam cramming doesn't fly here, so I will be catching up on school during my holidays, with some mega guilt free relaxation in the mix.

Although I won't be home at Christmas, I will be traveling to Texas, New York City, and Boston during my semester break in March. I've never been to NYC or BOS, so booking this trip was extremely exciting. But, what makes it pee-my-pants exciting is that I'll have the Freund in tow. He's been to the US, but never with me, and certainly not to Texas, and I can hardly handle the excitement.

I found a job! This is exciting as it is a) a fantastic resume builder and b) finances my studies here, a.k.a. no student loans. The 20 hours/week is killing me alongside my 24 hours/week of class, but it's working out and I'm slowly finding the balance. I'm working on a team that enables project managers push their projects through on time and also implements lean and agile programs and processes.



[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="912"] Campeon, Neubiberg[/caption]

Growing up in Houston, I think you realize that one day a large chunk of your day will be spent commuting, but I of course never envisioned my commuting to be by train. Well, with half of my classes 1 hour away (thankfully only this semester) and work 30 minutes away, I spend a lot of time on trains and subways. It's less than glamorous and I now understand why people complain about the DBahn. Nevertheless, I'm thankful that at least I can read, Internet surf, etc. and am not stuck in traffic behind the wheel (even if I am stuck waiting in the cold for a late S-Bahn).



I don't know if you remember what the travesty that was my former kitchen looked like when I moved in, but as my friend so eloquently put it, we "went from an Opel to a Ferarri".  German kitchens are not built-in like our uber-expensive US versions, so it's actually pretty easy to upgrade. After several issues including a broken oven and a leaking sink, our landlord finally bit the bullet and bought us a new kitchen. We picked up this puppy from an incredible penthouse flat in Munich because the owners "did not like the color" anymore. We would have taken a purple kitchen at this point, so we feel a bit like we hit the jackpot, especially after learning our landlord stingied his way into paying less than 1000 Euros for everything, appliances included! It's got all the snazzy German Siemens appliances and we also added a dishwasher to our appliance offerings. I wasn't thinking about moving before, but you bet I'll be staying put through my degree.



I've also survived my first several weeks in a long-distance relationship. The fact that I would not get any studying done if the Freund lived here is about the only positive, but I'm dealing in special thanks to reduced train fares and Google Hangouts.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900"] completely and utterly thankful for my personal economics tutor[/caption]

I've been able to enjoy Christmas time in Germany. The Christmas markets really are something special and Munich has handfuls of them to experience. Walking down the main shopping streets, it's impossible not to get to get caught up in the hustle and bustle, which is the actual essence holiday time to me. I always know the holidays are here when the stores are packed and the lights are on. It's hard being away during the holidays, there's no arguing it. Come the 25th, I'm sure it will be hard not to shed a tear or twenty (I cry entirely too easily), but I'm also looking forward to my first holiday with the Freund and others. Germany is experiencing a very mild winter, but I'm at least hoping for some snow south in the mountains because a fun day trip is in order!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="900"] our post exam Glühwein[/caption]



Perhaps most importantly, I've made some new friends that I could not do any of this without. Without these people, I could not sit through a lecture, and with them, I sometimes don't have to as we march right out of those four-hour lectures during the coffee break. We can complain to each other nonstop, and no one complains about all our complaining. That's friends right there.

When I rebranded my blog, I wanted each post to have a purpose, to be well-written, and to help out someone. I realize this checks none of those boxes, but sometimes I like to break my own rules (this is very clear when I put myself on a diet). It feels good to blog again and I hope to be around again shortly. Until then, I ask everyone to reconsider their words next time they want blame a lack of time for not doing something. Let's all eliminate that lame excuse from our lives. I wish everyone the happiest of holidays!

Frohe Weihnachten!

liebes Tagebuch,

I want to check in because I've missed this blog and my readers dearly.

I absolutely hate the phrase "I don't have time" because everyone is given 24 hours in a day to spend how they choose; it's just prioritized differently. Lately, Speaking Denglish has not been a priority. If I'm being honest, my priorities on the productive side are Europe Itinerary and organizing my move. On the unproductive side, well I'm a bit addicted to "The Good Wife". My Google Keep list of "Blog Post Ideas" lengthens daily, yet I cannot seem to just sit down and write about:

- my weekend in Paris catching up with my college roommate, Sterling

- a canoe trip and farewell party to my best friend and sister in Karlsruhe, Lauren

- the first weekend getaway with the Freund to Dresden

- an American-Germany World Cup match watch party

- European travel hacks

- apartment hunting in Munich

- small business and blog expense tracking

Despite my absence, I am itching to write about these spread-across-the-board topics and more.

When I rebranded, I promised myself to not write just for the sake of publishing, but rather to provide quality content. Yet, I want to tell you so badly right now that I found an apartment in Munich and I'm moving there WEDNESDAY, that my roommate is also an American also in my Master's program and I hope we can be two peas in a pod, that I'm planning a big family adventure in September, and that the Freund and I will have a big test living together for the next six weeks. Geez, I'm seriously winded just thinking about it all. Once I get moved out/in, this blog is becoming a top priority. I love what it stands for and even more, I want to record this epic summer of changes and new directions.

For now, I'm just here saying 'hallo', checking in, and checking out.

Canoeing on the Altrhein

Fabulous Paris hideaway

many trips to my new city

colorful Dresden

This post, and all future posts of this sort, is inspired by my Fluent Denglish sponsor this month, Kate of Diaries of an Essex Girl who hosts a Daily Diaries link-up each Friday. Kate, much like myself, blogs about expat life in Germany, while also sharing some killer life and blog design tips. Daily Diaries was started to take the pressure off blogging content relative to your niche, because what's a blog if we can't record our own lives? So, Daily Diaries serves the purpose of writing things down for yourself to be recorded forever in blog history.

It's also that time of the month (no, not THAT time) - time for the monthly sponsor giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And finally, my first diary entry.

liebes Tagebuch,

People back home often inquire about what I do all day. I don't blame them. To my friends, who mostly opted for the 9-5 career path, the concept of me working 20 hours a week, mostly in the evenings, leaves a lot of theoretical free time. While I do engage in my fair share of Netflix marathons, it's weeks like this that make me wonder if there are enough hours in the day to accomplish things AND find time to enjoy yourself (because let's get real, I do have time for one or the other).

It's hard to call your life insanity when you work part-time at a bar, but that's exactly what it feels like right now. I returned to Germany via a red-eye flight out of my hometown of Houston two weeks ago. I arrived on a Wednesday afternoon at 15:00, went to work at 18:00, and stayed there until it closed at 03:30, upon which I went drinking after with my coworkers, and arrived home at 05:30. After sleeping for the better part of Thursday, I woke up, unpacked, re-packed for my next trip, and returned back to the pub for my shift, where I was until 02:00, then returned home and went to sleep. The next morning, I boarded a bus with the Freund for a 9 hour trip to Dresden. Four days there, and another 9 hour bus trip back, well... you get the picture.

Throw itinerary busy-season and my Munich apartment hunt in the mix, along with this poor neglected blog, and it seems like I never had time to recover from my best friend's wedding, the time change, and my drinking excursions in Houston, Dresden, and here in Karlsruhe. Beyond this madness, I attended my friend's live DVD recording concert, my au pair "kid's" 18th birthday party, the weekend long beer festival at the local brewery, and fought the battle of productivity a midst a heat wave in Germany.

This first Daily Diaries entry is a bit of a cheat, as I pre-wrote it because I am actually in Munich right now viewing four apartments. Fingers-crossed, thumbs tucked, whatever you do in your country, one of these works out so the apartment hunting stress is eliminated. Regardless, I know I'll be a bit stressed up until the point I'm settled in Munich, but I know how things go and somehow they always work out.

That's enough complaining about being busy liebes Tagebuch, I'm sure things will calm down next week and I'll be back to marathoning "Orange is the New Black" season 2 and "The Good Wife", also season 2. Here are some snapshots of my week.

This will be the first an last time ever that people refer to Germany as "hottest place in Europe". via @tagesschau pic.twitter.com/TSrgPu1u8k — Herr Goljadkin (@legereaude) June 10, 2014

Meanwhile, yesterday in Germany...

My friend, Ankur, and his band, Fire on Dawson, shooting their live DVD concert.

My boss gave me three knock-off, 2010 German World Cup jerseys for the upcoming events. Although I'll be working most of the games, I'm still looking very forward to the madness, especially the Germany-US game on June 26!

Marvin was 15 when I began my au pair year. On Saturday, we celebrated his 18th birthday with some legal cocktails! How time flies...

So, friends and family, do not fret, or be too envious, I do have plenty of obligations to make sure life isn't fun 100 percent of the time ;) .

What'd you get into this week?

My 25th Birthday fell on Easter Sunday this year. For my birthday, I usually like to force my favorite things upon my friends. Therefore, my birthdays usually consist of food, drinking, and games. I enjoy a good themed event too and decided to integrate a little Easter into the birthday festivities. I decided to leave out the extreme preppy element instilled in me growing up and not heavily encourage my friends to wear pastels, but there was plenty of Easter left to go around.

Egg Dying

Who knew how much egg dying evolved? Not me. Instead of dipping into cups filled with vinegar and dye, we were rolling dyes and metallics around in our glove-covered hands to make tie-dyed, sparkly eggs. The best part was after it was all said in done, informing everyone that these eggs were not hard boiled and we would be using them for the "mysterious" egg toss.

Easter Beer Hunt

I'd always heard rumors of integrating alcohol into Easter egg hunts, but I still was not sure exactly how to do it. I heard about Jell-O shots (or regular shots) in plastic eggs, hiding beers that participants had to drink upon finding, and more. Ultimately though, I decided I wanted my guests living for the rest of the party.

Supplies (for 10 people)

25 beers (preferably green bottles for camouflage, we used Beck's)

25 little alcohol bottles (we used Kleiner Klopfer)

1 "golden egg", a small, special bottle of alcohol (we used Havana Club Especial)

10 buckets (€1 each at the Euro store)

Paint pens or permanent markers

Prize (in this case, an Easter mug filled with chocolate bunnies)

Ice (optional)

How It Works

A volunteer hides the items throughout the garden and entry area to the house. In the meantime, every one decorates their bucket. The buckets are used to collect their findings.

The hider, then explained the boundaries and the rules. Each beer and small bottle was worth 1 point. The gold egg was worth 3 points (although you can allot your own amount).

Let the hunters loose. When everyone is struggling to find more items, regroup and count found items to figure out how much is missing. You don't want any kiddos finding the booze later.

Our Easter Beer Hunt was particularly funny. Our hider did almost too good of a job, which was surprising given his small parameters to hide the "eggs" within. When we walked out ready to race, we found two children in the sandbox holding beer. Oops, that was two found! Otherwise though, we had to gather and figure out how many were missing. With the help of the hider, we were able to find the missing drinks. Then, you can dump ice in each bucket and everyone has their own party favor to drink for the evening or to take home!

Egg Toss

The Egg Toss was maybe my favorite part because egg tosses are apparently a pretty American activity. Everyone thought I was joking when I told them the eggs were in fact still raw and that they would bust open if not handled properly during the event. Everyone specially selected their tie-dye egg and partners and we lined up in the garden, initially about 1 meter apart. With every toss, the left line moved a step backwards. This continued as teams were slowly eliminated as they failed to catch their eggs. When 3-4 teams were left, we were out of room to move! That surely never happened as kids. We were at about 20 meters now - an intimidating distance for eggs hurling your way. So, we decided to make it even more interesting and use our non-dominant hands for tossing. That eliminated the rest of the teams, leaving one winner egg free and the rest of us cleaning up the mess (which was actually super easy on the grass, just scooping up the remains with paper towels).



 





The remainder of the day consisted of introducing more people to chile con queso (they loved it, naturally) and grilling up some burgers. Simon was the winner of the day, winning the egg toss, Easter beer hunt, and eating 4 burger patties... although I got second in everything (well, not burger eating) and you know what they always say...

First is the worst, Second is the best

and by they, I mean fifth graders and playground politics.

Burger Porn

I may have chosen to skip out on the beer festivals this year (see 2012, 2013), but dang it sure was a good day. I never thought birthdays were supposed to get better with age, and maybe that haven't gotten better, per say, but they've sure stayed consistently on top. It's days like this that make me so thankful. I moved abroad knowing no one, and while it can be sad to realize that most people at my last birthday party are no longer here (expat life), I'm all too thankful for the new people in my life that made this day perfect.

I'm feeling good about 25.

After a week of being quietly online, I think it's time for an official launch of Speaking Denglish!

What happened to ifs ands & butts?

Although ifs ands & butts made for some good play on words, I felt in no longer defined the purpose of my blog and what I'm doing with it. If you can believe it, ifs ands & butts was online for over four years. I began it merely out of necessity to display some writing as a PR student. Despite my studies, I knew nothing about the blogging community (nor can you ever without being an active participant) and throughout the years, I evolved as a writer, designer, and brand. I became associated with au pairing, which was great during the time and immediately after, but it's been two years and the au pair process evolved. It is something I can no longer provide advice on, nor do I want it to be a part of my brand.

ifs ands & butts still lives amongst the Interwebs, but as an archived file within Speaking Denglish. I surely did not want to lose my work and memories, but I wanted a (almost) fresh slate and chance to start over, knowing what I know about blogging now.

Why Speaking Denglish?

Denglish, a language mashup of German and English, metaphorically represents my life and blog content. I am an expat, or Texpat (Texan Expat), living long-term in a foreign country. I speak Denglish, dropping German words in my English conversation and vice-versa.

Mission Statement

To provide accurate and helpful information for other expats and those interested in expat life, particularly in Germany, whilst also keeping an online memory book to share with friends and family all over the world.

Why today?

Well, I heavily considered this blog switch for ages and it finally just seemed 100 percent right. Also, it's my 25th birthday and Easter Sunday. I'd say it's a pretty good day for a blog launch (despite any and every marketer ever knowing this is a terrible day to launch as no one is online).

Please, take a look around.

I am still working out some bugs with my trusty coding guy, but I could not hold in my excitement anymore. Broken links and redirects will take about another week to properly sort out, but I'm back to blogging and couldn't be happier. For those that look really well, there's some pretty damn good Easter Eggs hidden somewhere on my blog as a reward to you.

But that's not all...

For those who don't find a lucky easter egg, I'll give you another chance to achieve greatness. Yes, greatness is only $25 smackers and a sidebar spot.



Thank you to all of my ifs ands & butts readers who emailed and commented encouraging me to follow my heart and stomach instead of my head, to all of those who stuck around anyway, to my offline readers who keep encouraging me to pursue this hobby by reminding me of their readership, and to everyone who's every answered questions in online forums - you're helping more people than you realize!

Follow Along: FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | GOOGLE+ | BLOGLOVIN' | FEEDLY

You know when you arrive at a party and realize you are probably not cool enough to be there? That's a Turtleneck Club party. Somehow, by the grace of God, or perhaps by the sheer un-compensated amount of work we've poured into Karlsresource, we were invited to a gathering of Karlsruhe's elusive Turtleneck Club. Naturally, we jumped at the opportunity to be a part of this spectacular evening. Karlsruhe lacks the cool factor of other German cities like Berlin and Hamburg, but there are some people that appreciate Karlsruhe enough to bring some special events of their own to this gem of a town. So, what is the Turtleneck Club?

Simply put, the turtleneck reminds us of a time when letters were written by hand, when a glass of booze had bite, and wearing one meant the hammer was cocked and it was time to get it on.

The Turtleneck Club was founded in Karlsruhe, and yes, you do have to wear a turtleneck to the gatherings. My mother found this hilarious as she could not force a turtleneck over my head as a child and yet here I was, wearing one for a night out. Craig and gang executed everything flawlessly. We met at The Commodore Room for some good ole fashion socializing with Hendrick's Gin-based drinks: classic gin and tonic with cucumber, basil smash, and the third is escaping me. Mid-way through the gathering, Craig, the founder, opened up another room for a photo shoot by Sebastian Heck. We are still awaiting the mass of photos from the shoot, but luckily we've received a few teasers I can share with you. Then, we were whisked off to another location on a tram from the 1930s. We were not transported empty-handed either, but with roadies packaged especially for the event by Der Kofferraum. We arrived at HubBar for you guessed it, more gin. This luxurious night was not only packed with premium drinks, but premium people. I have been in Karlsruhe sometime now, and lately I've been pretty lazy when it comes to expanding my social network, but nights like this remind me how much I love making new friends.

official Turtleneck Club membership pin

photo credit: her.self photography

photo credit: her.self photography

photo credit: her.self photography

photo credit: her.self photography

photo credit: her.self photography

photo credit: her.self photography

photo credit: her.self photography

photo credit: Sebastian Heck

photo credit: Sebastian Heck

Craig packin' heat.

photo credit: her.self photography

photo credit: her.self photography

photo credit: her.self photography

photo credit: her.self photography

photo credit: her.self photography

Cheesin' hard

The next day was spent in bed with my first pizza delivery in Germany. I'd put it off long enough and this Sunday afternoon required not moving out of my biscuit.

Thank you Craig, Turtleneck Club, The Commodore Room, and HubBar for a fantastic evening!