Germany: The European Country That Never Let Me Go

Germany was not just another country on my travel list. It was my first great European obsession, long before I ever owned a passport full of stamps. Even today, after visiting Germany seven or eight times, I leave with the same feeling every single time: there is still more waiting for me there.

Some countries impress you with landmarks. Germany stays with you in quieter ways.

As a teenager, I spent countless hours reading about World War II history, the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall, East and West Germany, and the astonishing rebuilding of a nation that had seen unimaginable destruction. Germany, in my imagination, was never just geography. It represented discipline, engineering excellence, football passion, and precision.

For Julius, Germany carries a similar fascination. The incredible Germany museums dedicated to WWII history bring stories alive in ways textbooks never can. Some countries entertain you. Germany educates you while quietly leaving an emotional mark.

How an Unexpected Move to Dubai Changed My Travel Life Forever

Sometimes life takes you somewhere for reasons that make sense only years later.

In 2012, I moved from Qatar to Dubai. At the time, Qatar’s employment rules made career movement complicated, so life nudged me elsewhere. What felt like a career decision slowly became something far bigger. Dubai stopped being just another city. It became home.

And then came the moment that unknowingly changed everything.

My boss, Arif Bhai, who over time became more like an elder brother than a manager, casually told me one day:

“Shiju, I want you to go to Germany for training.”

The destination? Düsseldorf.

Naturally, my mind immediately started travelling faster than the actual itinerary. I asked if I could combine Belgium travel into the trip for a vendor meeting. He agreed.

Looking back now, after travelling across 90+ countries, I often laugh at the thought that one casual office conversation may have directly triggered my lifelong travel addiction.

My First Schengen Visa from Dubai: A Nervous Beginning to Europe

Every traveller remembers their first Schengen visa story. This was mine.

It was February 2012. I had arrived in Dubai barely five weeks earlier, had just received my Emirates ID, and suddenly found myself preparing for my first Schengen visa application from Dubai.

Until then, Schengen was just one of those mysterious travel words people casually mentioned. I had no idea how the process worked. No understanding of timelines. No clue what the visa would even look like.

This was going to be my first Europe travel experience, and honestly, I was nervous.

Back then, there was no easy VFS convenience. Applicants had to physically visit the German Embassy in Dubai, which somehow made the whole process feel even more intimidating.

While waiting there, I met a gentleman who proudly informed me he had already travelled to Germany five times. His confidence filled the room long before his words did.

Seeing my nervousness, he smiled and said:

“Just speak confidently. You’re going for business.” Simple advice.

A few days later, my passport arrived.

Visa approved.

Not just approved, but a six-month Schengen visa, issued in just five days. That same visa later opened doors to Germany, Italy, and the Vatican.

Then came the irony.

I called that same confident gentleman to celebrate.

His visa had been rejected. He had no idea why. That moment taught me something I have remembered ever since: Sometimes honesty and nervousness work better than overconfidence.

Since that first Schengen visa, Europe stopped feeling distant. That is the real beauty of a Schengen visa; one visa does not open just one country, but unlocks much of Europe. What began with Germany became a pattern.

Almost every trip, I combined 4–5 European countries through trains, road trips, and spontaneous detours. One border crossing at a time, Europe became familiar territory. Today, after multiple Europe trips, only San Marino remains unchecked on my map.

Düsseldorf: The Business Trip That Quietly Sparked a Travel Addiction

This trip to Germany was never supposed to be a holiday.

At that time, I was managing the security systems business for the Middle East, and this visit was primarily for work with a leading industrial PAGA (Public Address and General Alarm) company.

The first few days looked exactly how business travel usually does: factory visits, technical discussions, presentations, product conversations, endless meetings.

But every evening, something inside me refused to stay in the hotel room.

This was my first trip to Europe, after all.

Germany had lived in my imagination for years. I had grown up reading about German engineering, World War II, football icons, Boris Becker, Steffi Graf, Michael Schumacher, and everything else that made Germany feel larger than life.

The irony?

My first German destination was not Berlin or Munich. It was Mülheim, near Düsseldorf, a quiet industrial town.

And yet, even something as ordinary as a tram ride felt magical. That is the beauty of first-time travel. When the world is still unfamiliar, even the simplest moments feel cinematic.

The Stranger in Germany Who Changed How I See Travel Forever

One evening, while exploring the city on a tram, a young woman noticed the excitement written all over my face.

She smiled and asked: “First time in Germany?”

I nodded. Then came the obvious follow-up.

“First time in Europe?”

Again, yes.

She laughed, genuinely amused by my obvious tourist energy, and asked what I was doing there. I explained that I was travelling for work but trying to explore whatever little I could after office hours.

Then she said something so casually that I almost ignored it.

“You should go to Berlin… and Paris.”

I smiled politely and gave the predictable answer.

“Maybe next time.”

She looked at me and replied instantly: “Who knows if there will be a next time?”

At that moment, it felt like just another passing conversation with a stranger.

Years later, I realized it was one of the most important travel lessons I would ever receive.

Life rarely waits for perfect timing.

Health changes. Responsibilities grow. Energy fades. Priorities shift.

And suddenly, those one day plans remain exactly where they began; inside your head.

Even today, Sunitha says something similar all the time.

Travel while you can.

Because the uncomfortable truth is simple:

Tomorrow is never guaranteed in the exact form we imagine.

That random tram conversation in Germany quietly became part of the philosophy that still shapes how I travel today.

Belgium, Friendship, and a Night That Took Me Back to Kota

I already had a short business meeting scheduled in Brussels, Belgium, but what made this leg of the journey special had absolutely nothing to do with work. A close college friend of mine, Alok Kumar from Rajasthan, was working as a professor in Leuven, one of Belgium’s most charming university towns, so after Germany, I boarded a train from Düsseldorf to Brussels, and onward to Leuven.

For someone raised on Indian train journeys between Mumbai, Kerala, and Rajasthan, this felt like entering an entirely different world. I still remember boarding the Thalys high-speed train, watching spotless stations, near-silent platforms, and a level of speed and efficiency that felt almost futuristic at the time. It was my first true European train journey, and I loved every minute of that smooth, almost surreal experience.

When Alok received me at the station, Europe instantly became personal. That is the strange magic of travel; a place can feel foreign until someone familiar is standing there waiting for you. Leuven was beautiful in that unmistakable European way, with its cobbled streets, youthful university energy, cosy cafés, and centuries-old buildings that seemed to carry stories in silence.

But the most memorable part of Belgium happened later that night.

At Alok’s home, over a simple meal of khichdi and wine, we somehow travelled much farther than Europe. We went back to Kota in the late 1990s, to dusty hostel rooms, shared accommodation, disappearing pocket money, strategic borrowing from equally broke friends, endless cricket matches, shared cigarettes, and those legendary Old Monk evenings where wisdom was low but confidence was remarkably high.

Like most students, we mastered the art of doing everything except studying, only to attempt learning an entire semester in the final week before exams. And now here we were, sitting nearly 10,000 kilometres away in Europe, laughing at memories that once felt completely ordinary.

The Lost Mumbaikar says:

“Travel is not always about discovering new places. Sometimes, it is about rediscovering forgotten versions of yourself”.

The Paris Decision That Defined My Travel Personality

The next day, after a short exploration of Brussels, including the magnificent Grand Place, charming cafés, historic streets, and dangerously tempting Belgian chocolate shops, I found myself strangely restless. I bought chocolates for Julius and Jordan, picked up a T-shirt and shoes, smiled through the tourist checklist, but mentally I was somewhere else.

That girl’s words from the German tram had stayed with me.

Who knows if there will be a next time?

After my business meeting ended around 4 PM, I casually told Alok, “I’m going to Paris.” He laughed immediately, convinced I was joking. I was not.

Roughly 1 hour and 25 minutes later, I was stepping out at Gare du Nord, and just like that, in less than a week, I had reached my third European country. Today that may sound normal, but for someone on his first Europe trip in 2012, it felt almost surreal.

The funniest part? I did not even own a proper camera. I was taking photographs on my BlackBerry Storm, which, for those who remember, once represented peak executive sophistication.

That evening, I stood in front of the Eiffel Tower, overwhelmed by the absurdity of actually being there, managed exactly one photo, and then my phone died. That was it.

And strangely, despite returning to Paris many times later with better cameras, bigger budgets, smarter itineraries, and much more travel experience, nothing has ever matched that first blurry Eiffel Tower photograph.

The Lost Mumbaikar says:

“Because first moments are never about perfection. They are about emotion”.

That photograph mattered not because it was visually impressive, but because it captured a younger version of me who simply said yes. Yes to spontaneity to plan Paris.

As I returned to Düsseldorf close to midnight and called Alok around 1 AM saying, “I did the Eiffel Tower,” he could hardly believe it. A man who had lived in Europe himself had said there was no way I could decide on a spontaneous Paris trip at 4 PM, see the Eiffel Tower, and still make it back to my hotel in time for the next day’s business meeting. Half amused and half impressed, he sarcastically remarked that with this kind of instinct, I might actually become a globe trotter one day.

Looking back, he may have been accidentally right. That night, I discovered a version of myself that loved spontaneous travel, trusted instinct over excessive planning, and believed that some of the best Europe travel experiences begin when logic says no.

Maybe it was youthful overconfidence. Maybe it was ignorance. But sometimes ignorance is not weakness.

If we fully understood every obstacle before beginning, many of us would never start anything meaningful. No first trip, no business venture, no bold decision, no dream pursued. Experience teaches caution, which is useful, but sometimes innocence gives you the courage that experience would quietly kill.

Looking back now, after travelling to 90+ countries, I realise that night in Paris was never really about seeing the Eiffel Tower.

It was about meeting a younger version of myself who acted before doubt had time to arrive.

Germany: A Promise I Was Always Going to Keep

That first trip ended quickly, but Germany stayed with me. It felt historic, organised, intelligent, efficient, and quietly beautiful in a way that made me immediately want more.

There was still so much left unseen: Berlin, the Berlin Wall, the Black Forest, Stuttgart, the Porsche Museum, and a proper German Autobahn road trip. I promised myself I would return, and over the years, I did exactly that, sometimes alone and sometimes with family.

My fascination with Berlin and World War II history only deepened with time, and Germany gradually became less of a travel destination and more of a recurring chapter in my personal story.

I have always loved German cars, so life offering me a full-circle moment felt especially satisfying. By God’s grace, I eventually owned two; my first car in Dubai was a BMW, and later came the dream upgrade, a Porsche.

So no, Germany was never just another country I visited.

It quietly became part of who I am.

The Lost Mumbaikar says:

“Some of the best decisions in life are made when curiosity becomes louder than fear.”

 

Your Turn

What was your first international trip, and did it quietly change the way you saw the world?

Have you ever made a completely spontaneous travel decision that sounded impractical at the time, but later became one of your most unforgettable memories?

And if someone looked at you today and said, “Who knows if there will be a next time?” and which destination would you book without overthinking?