A couple of weeks ago I travelled to beautiful
Bavaria in Germany to meet my American friends for the first time ever. We came across on
social media and while I was in Germany spontaneously decided to finally meet. Here's what my visit
looked like. Good morning everyone. I'm going to be on a very special trip down to Bavaria.
I'm here at Saabrücken main train station and I'm going to visit another YouTuber and
her family and I'm beyond excited. I can't wait to meet all of them and I will be taking
all of you with me so let's get onto the train. Look, here they are! My American friends. Hello! Welcome to the McFalls! Yeah, that's it. Hello everyone! Hallo! As you can see this
is not Jörg. I'm not Jörg. I have replaced him with this gorgeous woman. This is Sarah from the channel, you have to
say it - My Merry Messy Life! Yes. And they they are an American Family living in Germany.
Yes. You have to say how many people you actually are. Okay, so on our channel we say 'we are
a family of six with four kids, a cat and a hamster who moved from the USA to Germany
in February of 2021 and we're sharing all of our adventures and travels and culture
shocks with you along the way. Yes. And you know the funny thing is her channel, her wonderful
channel got suggested and I clicked on it and I I said, I watched the videos and I said
I just love the family. I just love everything they they do, how they come across and I had
subscribed. And the same exact thing happened to me yeah. Yes. YouTube suggested their videos
and as you guys know they have beautiful videos of the English countryside and her pottery
and her decor, her English countryside good decor and I was watching it like this is like
an HD TV show in the US. This is like gorgeous. I love this. And then I thought Kirsten and
Jörg seemed so nice and friendly. I had the same with you, I had the same with you. We
just started talking on Instagram messages. I think I reached out to her and I was like,
I know you don't know me but I really like your videos. What camera equipment are you
using? Because my travel videos were not nearly as beautiful as hers at the time. And I didn't
think that at all. I was watching your videos and it was like ours are so bad. Oh. I did.
It's not a lie. We're so self-critical, aren't we? I know. No, yours are absolutely wonderful.
And then we started talking. Like a year ago. Yeah, more than a year ago. We just kept talking.
Yes. We just didn't stop. And now - and now she's here. I can't believe it. Now that,
well, I'm still in Germany. Jörg had to leave for the UK because of his job and we were
able to meet. And I can't believe it. I'm here in Bavaria where I once left with Jörg.
Yes. And not far from here either. No, about like a 30 minute drive - yeah - 35 minutes.
Yeah. Can you say what you do on your channel for the viewers. Yeah, sure. We share about
our lives as a from an American perspective living in Germany and like the different cultural
changes and shocks that we experience from an American perspective. And most of our followers
are German. It's really funny. I know. They love to hear what Americans or foreigners
think of German culture. So we've learned a lot from our YouTube channel about German
culture from the comments and it's been an amazing experience to have a YouTube channel
to help us integrate more. Yes. We've learned so much more because of the YouTube channel
and the YouTube community than if we had not never had a YouTube channel. And how how did
you even end up here? What happened? Right? That's a funny story. So Kevin and I we're
very international just like Kirsten and Jörg are so like I I had studied abroad in Asia,
he used to live in Sweden, Japan um, France. When we got married the two of us lived in
France for two years and we just felt we knew we loved Europe. We love the European lifestyle
where you're not car dependent. You can walk and bike most in most towns, in most places.
Um, such good quality food and good wine and good beer and the lifestyle is more, you know,
they work hard but they also take play seriously and relax relaxation seriously so we liked
a lot about European culture. After we lived in France we decided we really want to have
kids and we decided it would be better to move back to the US to be in your family so
that was a good decision, really glad we did that, no regrets. We moved back to the US.
My parents and Kevin's parents were able to help us raise the kids. It was a precious
and very good time. And but then that itch starts and you're like that Wanderlust. That's
a word in German - yes - that we use in English. Yes. Wanderlust. Yes, yes. It is. And so that
Wanderlust starts setting in and our children were older. They weren't babies and toddlers
anymore. And we're like, we really want to start travelling again. We want to show the
kids the world. But as an American, I know you have many American followers, it's very
expensive for us to travel outside of the US. Most people can't do. Yeah. It costs a
lot of money. And because we're so far from everything you know so we're like how are
we going to do this? We may never have enough money to travel. We said well, let's maybe
we can move there. So one day we were in our kitchen and Kevin got a notification from
LinkedIn. There were that there were all these jobs in his field in Munich. Right. And he
was like: Sarah there's like jobs in Munich. Should I maybe apply and just see what happens?
Sounds so familiar. And I was like: Yes, do it. Reply. You have nothing to lose. So he
did. Yes. But then he had to apply to 250 more jobs
before he got this job. Oh, gosh. It was not an easy path. It was six months and 250 applications
- wow - before he got the job. Wow. And um, there are a lot of tech jobs in Munich. Also
in Berlin. So if you're an American wanting to move to Germany you can move here without
knowing German if you're in the tech industry. They want English speakers actually. That's
good to know. Yes, yeah. Yeah. So that's how we were able to get in without really being
able to speak German. And I must say you're a perfect addition to Germany. You are wonderful
people. Thank you. And please guys do subscribe to her channel 'My Merry Messy Life'. Thank
you. They are a wonderful family. I just like coming here, I just see how absolutely wonderful,
I love them to bits. I know. I mean because sometimes you meet someone online, I do and
then and then when you're gonna meet in person for the first time you're like - you never
know - oh God, what if it's not gonna work out? What if we're not gonna like each other?
Kirsten and I've been talking non-stop since she got here. Yes. We've hardly had a moment
where we weren't talking. We hardly were able to film because we talked so much. Yes. Yeah,
do check out her channel, I'm sure you will love it, you will absolutely love so - thank
you - thank you for having me. Welcome to Salzburg. Welcome to Salzburg. Hello from Salzburg! Hallo! Hello! We made
it to Salzburg. Sara said we just have to go because well, for various reasons. For
one it's absolutely stunning. Yes. And it's famous for the film 'The Sound of Music'.
Yes. Every American knows 'The Sound of Music'. We love it. Yes. And guess what? Because also
Mozart - yes - is just famous. Yeah. And I think it's now 30 years ago or about 30 years
ago that I last visited so I can't believe it. I know that most Europeans know Salzburg
for Mozart while Americans and Japanese know Salzburg for 'The Sound of Music'. And that's
so strange because I still have to watch the film but Sarah makes me do it. I'm gonna make
her do it. Yes. I mean as an American I grew up watching the film with my grandmother,
my aunts, my mom and so it's very special. It's such a classic, isn't it? It's a classic.
The Trapp, Trapp family. Yeah, Trapp family. Yeah. The von Trapp. Yes, exactly. It's really nice to be close to Salzburg.
Yeah. And my husband and I come here for dates. And and we haven't been here for a concert
yet but we must come for a concert. Yes, yes. Ad as you can see, it's just the two of us
so it's a girls' day out. You know what? This takes me back to the UK because the garden
is absolutely stunning. Yes, it looks like so many of your videos here. Yeah. Don't you
guys love Kirsten's videos with the gardens, the beautiful English gardens? I watch, I
watch them and just go oh. So one thing that I love as an American living
in Europe that we don't have in the US are church bells. And they go off everywhere all
over Germany, Austria, Europe and most places in Europe you know every hour. You get to
hear this beautiful song and still after living here a year and a half I still love it. I
still love it and I'm German. Do you? Yes. I really love it. Oh. Okay, we went to Café Sacher and Sara's having
an original Sachertorte of course with whipped cream. And this is something gluten free and
I already forgot the name again. Sorry about that but it looks really good. And we're having coffee and tea. And we're
so excited to be here. It's so beautiful. It is. It's absolutely gorgeous. Yes. Before Sara is having her Sachertorte, she's
enjoying a Gulaschsuppe which looks absolutely gorgeous. And Gulaschsuppe is so common in
Germany. Yes, yes. We do it all the time at home. Yeah. I see it all over Germany. So
I can't wait for you to try it. Enjoy. Thank you. There's little pieces of beef and potatoes.
It looks so good. It's very tasty. Very hearty. Yes. I may not be this hungry. Now Sara is
having Sachertorte in Austria where it comes from. So cool. I've had this in Germany but
not in Austria. No, this is the real deal. And it does look different. In Germany the - yes - it's getting messy. They don't often
have this nice thick layer of chocolate on top. Okay, yeah, I see. Good? Very good. And not very sweet like in
America cakes are very sweet but this is very rich but not very sweet. I love it. Great. Now, this is gluten free and it's so good.
I can't believe it. Very often gluten free cakes, you can just taste it. But this is
absolutely wonderful. So this is the Hotel Sacher and we're in the
public toilets and as always I spotted this amazing wallpaper and fell in love. I can't help it. This is absolutely stunning
and just perfect for this hotel. This hotel is beautiful, isn't it? I'd love
to stay. Yes. Maybe we come back and you and Jörg get a room and uh, me and Kevin get
a room. No, this is not English weather. We are in
Austria. The weather can be bad often down here. I know. It's still beautiful though. I wish we could film this pharmacy inside
because it's one of the most beautiful pharmacies I've ever seen. And it's not a museum. It's
for real but filming isn't allowed. You can see the sign. Sadly. We just had a look, the
pharmacy is from 1591. Honestly, I can't believe it. And it looks absolutely incredible. Like
a film set. Yeah, it really does look like it's from a film. I wish we could show you. Isn't it so beautiful? We have the worst weather.
Yes, it's so bad. So bad. We're trying to film it for you but it's pretty hard. But
I must say it's still so much fun I mean. Yes. I mean it's not cold and we're enjoying,
we're really enjoying - being together. Yes, exactly. That's so nice. It is. Okay, so we are in the actual church where
Maria and Captain von Trapp got married in real life. The one is 'The Sound of Music'
is in a town outside of Salzburg. And that's not where they got married. It was here in
this church. And what do you think of it Kirsten? I'm blown away, I'm honestly, I'm blown away.
It's incredibly beautiful. Makes you feel tiny because it's art, it's art. Yeah. It's
like a museum. It's absolutely, yeah - yeah, it's really detailed. It makes you tear up
because it's so beautiful. It's gonna be a good place to get married for sure. Yes. Listen to the church bells. This is, I find
it so magical. So behind me you guys you see the nunnery
where Maria in 'The Sound of Music' was a nun. And today it is an actual monastery.
It was never I don't think a nunnery but this is where all the nunnery scenes from the abbey
were filmed in the movie. Okay guys, we've had the most eventful train
ride from Salzburg back to where I live. Oh my Gosh. I left my Aufenthaltsgenehmigung
- don't worry, it's a complicated word. Aufenthaltsgenehmigung. Yes - which is my residence card, my residence
permit at home which is not smart. You don't travel around to other countries without your
passport or your residence permit. Guess what? They happen to be doing a spot check or maybe
they do every train from Salzburg into Germany. The Polizei. I saw them walk past the train
and I turned and I like, I looked at Kirsten and I said oh crap. There's border control.
There's border control. I was like you are joking, you are joking, you're taking the
piss. No because I couldn't believe it. And this
morning when we left the house, I didn't have my, like I grabbed my passport in the last
second. You're so glad you did. She was fine. And the guy you know he's got all his guns
and everything and I was like I'm so sorry. I actually started it in German first - yeah
- because you know - yes - it makes the police a little happier when they speak in their
language, right? So I started in German and then I couldn't remember 'Aufenthaltsgenehmigung'.
I said 'Aufenthalts-' and then he just said '-genehmigung' you know. Yeah. And then he
switched to English. And anyway the point is we told him, I told him I left it at home
and he looked at my driver's license from the US and he said okay we'll let you pass
but next time we'll charge you a fee. And he let me go. We missed our stop. And we don't
know how. We don't know how. We looked at every single stop. I know. And none of them
said the city that we needed. And now we're two stops past the stop we needed to be at.
The next train doesn't leave for another hour so thankfully Kevin is just gonna come pick
me up. Kevin is my husband. This was very adventurous or it still. Yeah. We haven't
made it home. We haven't made it home yet. And I must say I'm totally shocked, I'm shocked
by the border control. And there's a green border which is a thousand kilometers long.
And we could have just walked across - exactly - in somebody's farm. Yes. It feels so nice to be Bavaria, here in Oberbayern.
And Jörg and I lived in Oberbayern, near Rosenheim which is about a 30 minute drive
from here. We lived there in the 90s so it's quite a while back but it's our favourite
place in Germany. We we love it so much. We left the UK. Of course we do. But this place
is also very special and I try to film some of the houses because I really enjoy them.
Let's have some breakfast because it's it's pouring outside you guys. It's terrible. And
look at this cosy fire. Look at Sara's gorgeous gorgeous Bavarian china set. This is from
the 1950s. 1950s, it's vintage. Yeah. From the antique shop. It's wonderful. Thank you.
These are the cups and the sugar pot. And look at this gorgeous teapot. This is a different,
different how would you say brand or company but it goes so well together. And it's Bavarian
as well. I love it. And then you have the tea - yes
the strainer - the tea strainer that I also got from an antique shop. It's real silver
- yes from the Netherlands. Yeah. And that's why there's an adorable little windmill at
the top. Yeah, it's really pretty. I love it. Isn't it pretty? Tschüss. Tschüss. It was so nice to meet
you. Yes. Thank you so much for everything. Bye. Bye. Bye. Take care.
