"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club" - Jack London
Well, I visited Germany. It’s been a while since the last post but as I said - from now on, I only post about travelling. About the trip now, I & several other guys from my university got the opportunity to visit Hanover Fair in Germany. Hanover Fair is one of the world’s largest trade fairs and it covers industrial technology, energy and logistics.
Group of 15
The 15 of us went to Bremen by plane. After the arrival we rented two cars for the whole trip. Most of us didn’t know each other but we started to get familiar when we walked around Bremen and went to a restaurant together. That day we also had a tour planned. We visited Beck’s brewery and did some beer tasting too. After some history and industry lessons about the company and factory, we were put behind a long table and we were served as many beers as we wanted to. Some of us were quite tipsy after the sit-down. We couldn’t stay for long though, we had to drive to Wolfenbüttel to check into our accommodation. We had some beers altogether and got to know each other.
@ Bremen
In search of a decent restaurant
Beck's factory in its full glory
Merch
The second day was the hardest. We woke up quite early and drove to Hanover to visit the fair. As it was the first day at Hanover Fair, we decided to just walk through the whole area - clearly it was way larger than I had expected because it took me a whole day to do it. I even realized later that I had done over 25 000 steps that day. I saw many cool stuff and companies. Astonishing robots were everywhere and companies which I’ve only heard of were there and I got the chance to talk to them in person. Even though everyone was exhausted, we wanted to watch the Champions League match Liverpool vs Roma. We went to a local bar and ordered a few drinks and watched how Liverpool smashed Roma. It was fun.
This was just one of the many halls - the fair had in about 250 000 visitors
Need this robot so I wouldn't need friends anymore
Automated Star Wars action (I haven't seen the whole series though)
The lady at the right moves her hands and robot follows her
Get your grip from these guys
Found this precious thingy, next time she'll find me
The bar we watched football in was okay, I didn't like that smoking inside was allowed
Midnight
The third day was the most productive one. As I had discovered the whole fair area the day before, I pretty much knew where I wanted to be that day. For the most of the day I decided to stay in Hall 27 which was an energy-oriented building. I chatted with a few company representatives and listened to lectures mostly about hydrogen fuel cells, solar power and energy market opportunities. I had some lunch and I knew that there is a test track where one can drive an electric car so it was obvious that I wanted to go there as well. I was hyped that maybe I can drive with a Tesla but unfortunately it had an age requirement of 25. However, I got to test drive a Honda Clarity which is a hydrogen vehicle and maybe it was just that I hadn’t driven for some time but it felt really great. The acceleration was top notch. After the test drive I saw a concert taking place nearby and it was really cringe. Just imagine forklifts, lawn mowers and upbeat rock music altogether.
A lecture about Mexico's energy market
Honda speeding on the test track
Tractor festival 2K18
Anyway, in the evening, most of us were too tired to do anything. I thought about going to sleep early but I wanted to take a walk alone in that beautiful town we settled ourselves in for these five days. As I was just enjoying the time alone, two guys came to me and started speaking German. I told them that I only speak English but they weren’t too good in English and we split up at first but then they came back to me and one of them tried his best to talk with me and the other just tried to talk with me through the other one. It was a little bit awkward at first but after an hour long walk with these guys I heard interesting stories how they had to leave Afghanistan because of the war and how they get to live in Germany. I had never talked to a real refugee before and these guys were really friendly.
"Lone ranger riding through an open space"
@ Wolfenbüttel
Selfies are still a thing, right?
Furthermore, the fourth day in Germany included a lots of driving. In the morning, we visited the fair as usual. This time I listened to a lecture about virtual reality and had a discussion with a guy who works for Autodesk which is a company that produces software for engineers and architects. Sadly, it reminded me that I have some homework to do in technical graphics. We left the fair at the afternoon and headed towards Wolfsburg. On the way there we went to KFC which obviously tasted as good as always.
Look at my face and tell me I wasn't tired
Road trip
We visited Autostadt vehicle museum in Wolfsburg. I loved that I got the freedom to visit it the way I wanted, without a guide. I saw many special classics which I won’t see on the streets. Odd part was that some cars there were really common and basic. However, the classics were unforgettable. After the visit we had a long ride back to our place of stay. This night we partied, it was the last night together so we decided to spice it up.
Ford
Retro session
Chromed Bugatti looks like something you'd see in GTA
Business trip
Lambo on the wall
Don Diablo
The last day didn’t start so perfectly. The previous night ended late and drunk. In the morning, we had to clean up the house and give the keys to its owner. In addition to that, we had a tour planned in Jägermeister factory. It was really awesome and all but the only issue was that visiting a factory which produces alcoholic drinks while having a hangover didn’t feel too good at that time. However, I learned much about the history and making of this legendary drink. After that, we did a quick shopping thingy and hurried to airport. We barely made it to the flight home.
Free stuff, aye
Not enough cars in this post already
The whole trip was really amazing and unique. Every time I go abroad, I realize more and more that I love to visit new places and meet new people. Even though I’m not a fan of beer, Germany made me drink it more than I usually would. The first fair experience for me was very educating. Next time I’ll surely know how to prepare myself better and what to expect of this kind of event. I love it that this trip had several different values in it. For example, usually I travel to mostly have fun and socialize. This one was a little bit different because the main reason was to visit the fair and educate myself by talking with companies that are my future potential employers or business partners. Of course the trip had the cultural value too - I drank more than enough beer and visited a car museum. Next time I visit Germany, I’m going to see a Bundesliga match too.
Green life, bro
