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Map of full European Delivery trip.

The trip has been over for almost a week now, but I'm still feeling nostalgic about it. I had a great time bonding with the boy and of course, driving around Germany with a great car which I am already missing! I just realized I forgot to post the full itinerary. It's just a tad different than the original plan due to a few detours, but all-in-all, the navigation was great and got us to where we needed to go with very little hassle. I only wish I took more photos and videos along the way.

Here's the waypoints:

A. Munich Airport
B. Munich (Renaissance Hotel & BMW Welt)
C. Spitzingsee (ArabellaSheraton Alpenhotel)
D. Schwangau (Hotel Alpenstuben, Schloss Neuschwanstein & Sommerrodelbanh)
E. Stuttgart (Hotel Achat & Porche Museum)
H. Adenau/Nürburg (Blaue Ecke Hotel, Nürburgring)
G. Brühl (Phantasialand)
I. Frankfurt (E.H. Harms & Frankfurt Airport) 

Interactive Google Map: http://tinyurl.com/pdr8l5

Although there were two disappointments (no BMW Factory Tour and Nürburgring track day), the trip was still amazing. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Overall, I still saved money. By my calculation, I saved almost $3k under MSRP inclusive of all expenses (air, hotel, food, gas, food, souvenirs). And if I were to have purchased the car using the Costco discount and just had it delivered in the U.S., I would have only saved about $30. In other words, I was able to get an entire vacation, plus souvenirs for an extra $30. Come to think of it, the majority of the souvenirs were bought by the boy using his savings, so I still saved about $170 under the Costco price. 

If we didn't just trade the minivan in for a CX-9 a couple weeks ago, I'd say we should look into getting an X5 using European Delivery and take the whole family, hehehe.

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Posted August 15, 2009
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The boy, just before boarding the plane back home.

Auf wiedersehen! Ich liebe Deutschland!
 
{ Sent from my iPhone }

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Posted August 10, 2009
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Leaving our drop-off location and heading to airport. Goodbye M3.

*sniff* it's been a fun week. See you again in 6-10 more...
 
{ Sent from my iPhone }

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Posted August 10, 2009
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Boy bounces on a trampoline.

 I've tried to get him to go on stuff like this before, but he usually hasn't been interested. This time, he saw this and asked to go on it before I even knew it was there. He seemed to have a good time, but periodically he had to adjust the harness mid-air since it was...er...bugging him.

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Posted August 9, 2009
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Example of the fog at Nürburgring when we drove in on Saturday. Track was closed that day too.

The thought never crossed my mind that this fog would have prevented us driving on the Nürburgring. I found out today that the track was also closed the day this video was taken...guess this should have tipped me off. I'm very bummed that we came all this way and didn't get our track day in. Who knows when our next opportunity might be. I'm thinking it will be a LONG time from now :( 

The boy took the news of the track closure surprisingly well. I thought he was going to be cranky all day. I think taking him to Phantasia Land was a good distraction.

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Posted August 9, 2009
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Really good sauteed mushrooms and onions. You don't typically find this at U.S. theme parks.

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Posted August 9, 2009
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This ride was AWESOME. Doesn't look as fast in the video though.

(download)

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Posted August 9, 2009
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Day 7: Misc shots of the boy at Phantasia Land

       
Click here to download:
Day_6_Misc_shots_of_the_boy_at.zip (1097 KB)

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Posted August 9, 2009
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Day 7: Wow...full-body dryers for water rides!

(download)

Since we didn't get to drive Nürburgring today (low visibility due to bad weather), I took the boy to the German equivalent of Disneyland. Much smaller, but very similar. This was one very different/interesting thing though...at each of the water rides, there is large dryer outside people can use to dry off. Nifty...and fun!

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Posted August 9, 2009
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Day 6: The boy loves comforters. Looks like he's sleeping in the clouds.

   
Click here to download:
Day_6_The_boy_loves_comforters.zip (284 KB)

He's always wrapping himself up in blankets. Literally, wrapping up like a burrito...and the comforters and pillows in this hotel look so fluffy this may very well be his ultimate sleeping situation.

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Posted August 8, 2009
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