Exploring Europe in a BMW 8 Series on our 25th wedding anniversary!

The guy at the car rental counter told me that the BMW Z4 M40 that I had booked was unavailable and I felt that the BMW 850i would be too big to drive on the narrow roads in Europe.

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Hi Friends,

I am back with a blog on my recent tour of 5 countries in Europe. Hope you will enjoy it.

This year in December, we are completing 25 years of our married life. Being a significant milestone, my wife and I wanted to make it a memorable one. Hence in the month of June itself, we started thinking of how we should celebrate it. Apart from having parties with friends and family, one thing that we quickly agreed upon was a vacation trip where we could spend quality time together.

When we started exploring various places, we soon realized that December would not be the right time to travel, for two reasons. One, it is winter-time and travel would be difficult as many places of our interest would be closed. Second, it is a vacation time (Christmas & year-end holidays) and places would be crowded and expensive. We are a couple to whom the vacation means, exploring new places, going to places where the usual crowd does not go and trying to be adventurous. I do not remember any of our vacation trips, where we stayed in one place for more than 2 days or relaxed in a resort room.

With that in the background, we decided to start our anniversary celebration trip much in advance, well before the winter kicks in. Looking at kids college exam & my office schedule, we decided to start our trip during the last week of September ‘24. Since my wife’s birthday is also in the last week of September, it was the right thing to do and celebrate it during our trip. My wife started exploring places of our interest and came up with a bucket list. Similarly, I prepared my own wish list and we started compiling them together. Though we differ a lot on many things, one thing where we concur closely is on our interest and choice of places for vacation.

The combined list of our choice of places was too long and would take months to cover. Hence we started knocking off the places which we think are not practical or do not provide a unique experience. As I mentioned before, our vacations do not involve relaxing places, which many people prefer to have. We wanted to have a good mix of fun, party, adventure, romance and a bit of relaxation. With that as a guiding principle, we finalized our itinerary that included a variety of places spanning across 5 countries in Europe, viz., Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Spain. Since traveling to all these places across 5 countries would be quite cumbersome and requires advance planning, I added my additional wish of “Driving across these countries”, which was straight away accepted by my better half. To make it more interesting, we decided to explore the option of renting a “Sports Car”, rather than a regular car. With the places short-listed, we started the route plan for our trip. We found that flying to Germany would be the best option w.r.t. flight and rental car options.

As we explored the Sports car rental options in the EU, I was hoping that we could rent and drive a Porsche/Lambo/Ferrari, etc., for the initial few days and rent a regular car for the rest of the days. However, regular rental agencies like Hertz, Europcar, Enterprise & Sixt do not offer such cars. There were some local companies, who offer these cars, but the cost was exorbitant and all of them offer a limited liability insurance, which puts a big risk on me in case of any accidents. They also offer limited miles package, which did not meet my requirements. I also explored Porsche Drive Rental (direct rental from Porsche company), but that also had an “excess of €2500-5000”.

Since I would be driving in Europe for the first time, I didn’t want to take chances with these “limited liability” insurance options. Hence I started exploring the best sporty or luxury cars available from the regular rental companies. I found that Sixt was offering some decent cars with “unlimited mileage” and “full insurance” with no deductibles. I narrowed down on the BMW Z4 M40 Roadster and booked it for the entire trip with the pick-up and drop at Munich airport. I got a confirmation from Sixt that it is a “Confirmed model” booking, which means they would give the same model and not any equivalent replacement. Now that the car is finalized we started carving out the rest of the itinerary.

After a lot of deliberation, we finalized the itinerary and the below summary would give you a glimpse of how it looked like.

Relaxation on the beaches of a Balearic island > Romantic evenings and birthday celebrations and DJ Parties in the “Party Capital” > Exploring a couple of fairytale towns in Austria and Switzerland > Driving through the epic passes on top of Austria, Italy and Switzerland Alps > Day-long trek in Dolomites in Italy > A life-time crazy adventure trek in Switzerland > ending with Oktoberfest (festival) in Munich, Germany.

Before making the flight and hotel bookings, I explored various credit card and Forex card options. Most of the cards have a markup charge of 2 to 3.5%. Interestingly I found the IDFC WOW card to be one of the best options. It is a credit card backed by a fixed deposit (i.e. your credit limit would be as much as the FD you keep, while you get a decent interest rate on FD) and has zero markup charges. I could use it for all online bookings and throughout my trip, including in cabs and small shops.

Having finalized the itinerary, I did all the flight and hotel bookings online. Lufthansa was the best option since my destination was Munich. The Bangalore to Munich flight was via Mumbai and I had a direct flight to Bangalore while returning. Next few weeks involved a lot of shopping, both offline and online. While I had a drone with me, I felt I should have a GoPro for this trip and hence purchased one online. My other shopping items involved Trekking shoes, clothes, GoPro accessories, extra batteries and Micro SD card for drone, etc. Of course, my wifey was much more busy with her shopping.

After doing the BMW Z4 M40 booking, I was up for a shocking surprise. While going through the review of Z4 on YouTube, I understood that the boot space is very small because it is a roadster and a convertible. I realized that we could fit only one medium size suitcase (our usual airline 23kg size suitcase) in the boot. This made my wife and me nervous, as all our stuff would not fit into this limited space. We did further research (including calls to local BMW dealers asking for the exact dimensions of the boot) and concluded that we could squeeze in a duffle bag in addition to the suitcase. We were very critical of the items we carry and could somehow fit in all the stuff within these 2 bags.

As this trip was a special one, I thought of having a custom-made T-shirt that we would wear at the start of the trip. I designed a logo for our 25th anniversary celebration, using my PowerPoint skills and got it printed on T-shirts in a nearby shop. That worked out pretty neat I guess!

Soon, the much-awaited day arrived and we started our journey, Bangalore > Mumbai > Munich, on 23/Sep.

DAY #1 : We’re going to Ibiza!

We reached Munich on 24/Sep morning and headed to Ibiza the same day afternoon via a short flight from Munich. We hired a small car (CITROEN C3, automatic) at the airport for our stay in Ibiza. That worked out quite cheap and convenient for us to commute within Ibiza. We stayed in a hotel called “Vibra Algarb”, a large hotel complex located right on the beach and 10 mins drive from the airport. There was an Indian restaurant “Rosa India” right opposite to the hotel, which was convenient to satisfy our desi taste buds. We took rest in the evening and were looking forward to the next day's activity.

DAY #2 : Soak in the turquoise waters of Formentera

25/Sep: In the morning we finished breakfast in the hotel and headed to Formentera, a Balearic island that lies just south of Ibiza. It’s less than an hour's journey by ferry and soon we arrived in Formentera. We could have taken our car on the ferry to Formentera, but it required some pre-approvals to do so. Formentera is just 20kms long and 2 kms wide and hence we decided to hire a 2-wheeler and explore the island. Also, the weather was perfect for a 2-wheeler ride. We visited a few beaches (Illetes and Migjorn to name a few), spent our day hanging around the beach and at the restaurants on the beach side.

I will let this video talk about the beauty of the beaches on this island.

We took a ferry back to Ibiza in the evening and witnessed a beautiful view of sunset from the ferry. There are ferries between Ibiza and Formentera every 15-20 minutes and one can buy open tickets (to and fro) which can be used any time within a year! There are quite a few hotels in Formentera if one decides to stay and spend more time there.

DAY #3 : It’s party time with world’s renowned DJ, “Martin Garrix”

26/Sep: Today the plan was to hire a boat “without a captain” and drive around the Ibiza coast during the daytime. Yes, we can rent a boat for half or full day (4hrs/8hrs) and drive it without having a captain on board. However, this is applicable only for small boats with less than 15 bhp power. Also, a license is not required for driving such boats. But today the lady luck was not on our side. All boat rentals were cancelled for the entire week due to the high tides.

Hence we decided to explore Ibiza island and beaches during the day time. In the evening, we booked tickets for a DJ party with DJ Martin Garrix at the Ushuaia hotel. Both my wife and I like DJ music and we were looking forward to this event, one of the highlight events in the party town of Ibiza.
During the day we visited a few beaches in the northern part of Ibiza (San Antonio). This video shows a glimpse of the turquoise waters of “Cala Salada”.

By late afternoon we returned back to the hotel and got ready for the most awaited DJ party. The DJ party venue “Ushuaia” was within walkable distance from our hotel and the timings were from 5pm to 11pm.

During the summer season, the world’s top DJs perform every week at various venues in Ibiza. At Ushuaia, each day of the week is blocked by one of the top DJs (the list includes David Guetta, Martin Garrix, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Calvin Harris, Black Coffee, ANTS, etc.).

Since summer is ending, ours was a week of “Closing Parties” and large crowds were expected this week. We reached the venue on time and by then the crowd had already started gathering. The first two hours of the event was an opening act hosted by a budding artist. The opening act was then followed by an amazing set by Martin Garrix. The other point worth mentioning is that we cannot carry any items (including water bottles) inside these party venues. The prices of the refreshments were quite exorbitant (starting at €17-20 for 300ml water) and once the party starts it is impossible to go to these vending counters and bring anything to your place due to the heavy crowd.

By 6pm, the venue was house-full, the party had caught up full momentum and the whole crowd was dancing to the rhythm. Martin made an entry at 9pm and the energy level of the crowd suddenly went multifold. Here is a video to explain the scene further.

It was our first participation in such a large event and we enjoyed the ambience, the music played and the quality of sound/lighting systems. By the time we reached the hotel, it was midnight and DJ beats were still ringing in our ears.

DAY #4 : Wife’s birthday celebration and an additional dose of DJ PARTY!

The agenda for the day was to explore Ibiza town, do some shopping and celebrate my wife’s birthday in the evening. However, when we reached the hotel lobby after breakfast, our agenda was amended with another exciting item. While we were enquiring at the hotel travel desk about the places to visit in Ibiza, he told us that there are few tickets available for the “DJ David Guetta” party tonight. After the previous exciting night with Martin Garrix, we were up for more and nothing could have been better than DJ David Guetta. It was a perfect gift I could give to my wife on her birthday. Within seconds, we bought the tickets and were off to city tour with a big smile on our faces.

Spent the day exploring the old city, shopping at the hippie market and enjoyed authentic Spanish Sangria. In the evening we had planned to go to San Antonio and have dinner at the most popular beach-side restaurant called “Mumbo Café”, while watching the sunset. When we reached the restaurant, it was quite crowded and there was a long queue to enter the restaurant. Since we didn’t have a prior booking the wait was long. Fortunately, one of the managers came to us and said that there is a table available for 2, but at extra cost. I found this a good deal as I could celebrate my wife’s birthday in a restaurant of her wish.

The ambience at the restaurant was very good along with nice food, beverages and service. They also arranged a small cake (Cheesecake) for cutting. We enjoyed the evening while watching the sunset. Surely, that is one happening place in San Antoni!

By 8pm, we finished dinner and returned back to our hotel. We had an exciting DJ night awaiting us. The party timing was from 11pm till 5am and this time we decided to go late at around 1am, so that we could have some sleep at the hotel and be there at the venue just before DJ David Guetta entered the party.

The DJ party was at “Hi Ibiza”, which is right opposite to Ushuaia. We reached there by walking at 1am and as we entered the hall, it was completely packed with people swinging to the DJ tunes. The DJ’s platform at Ushuaia was elevated 30 feet so that everyone can have a good view. Hence we were able to enjoy Martin Garrix party from a distance. However, here the stage was at ground level and we could hardly see the DJ from even 30 feet distance. My wife wanted to have a close view of David Guetta and hence she pulled me in and started to squeeze through the crowd towards the stage, slowly and steadily.

Within 20 minutes, we managed to reach the front of the hall and there were just 10 rows of people ahead of us and we could get a good view of the stage. DJ Guetta entered at around 2am and suddenly the sound levels and the energy doubled in the hall. We could literally feel the beats from the massive woofers in our stomachs. After a few minutes, we saw that many people were going out to buy stuff and that created an opportunity for to squeeze further, as and when they left their space. In no time, we were able to reach the front row and it was an unbelievable experience to see David Guetta right in front of us, with just a DJ table separating us!

Next 3 hours were full of action and DJ Guetta entertained the crowd to the ultra-max level. I could not have asked for a better way to celebrate my wife’s birthday.

DAY #5 : The next phase of our trip begins, in style

In the morning, we returned our rental car at the Ibiza airport and had some more Spanish Sangria before boarding the flight back to Munich. I was excited and really looking forward to the BMW Z4 that awaited us in Munich. At the same time, I was a bit nervous, as I would be driving in Europe for the first time (Driving in Ibiza was cool as it is a small place with not much traffic and roads have low-speed limits).

When I reached the Sixt counter at Munich airport, I was up for a shock. The guy at the Sixt rental counter told me that the BMW Z4 M40 model is not available as it was damaged by the guy who rented it last and it needs repair. That was quite a bit of disappointment for me. He started offering me other models but were mainly sedans. Upon a lot of push and negotiation, he agreed to an upgrade and here is what I got.

He offered me the only BMW 850i that he had in their collection, almost a brand new car with less than 10K kms on it. Initially, I felt that would be too big to drive on the narrow roads of the EU, but since it is an 8-series convertible, I agreed to go with it. When I went to pick up the vehicle in the parking lot, I saw the damaged BMW Z4 parked next to the 850i. When I saw the boot of the Z4, I could make out that it would not have accommodated our entire luggage. In a way, 850i was a blessing in disguise as it had better boot space and also had a narrow 2nd-row seat where we can keep the luggage.

As I started driving this beast out of the narrow parking lot, I hardly could judge the edges of the car. Luckily, the 360-degree cameras on the car came to the rescue and soon I felt comfortable with the corners. While I missed the small sporty Z4 model, the 850i was quite a responsive beast with 550+ torque.
Our destination for the night stay was Hotel Hey Lou in Piding, which is a small town before the Austrian border. By the time the car pick drama ended at the airport, we were quite hungry and wanted to have some good desi food. We found “Rama Restaurant”, an Indian restaurant about 15 kms from the airport on our way to Piding. After finishing a good dinner there, we drove down on the autobahn towards Piding.

Since I was getting used to the traffic signs and the new vehicle, I did not speed much on the autobahn. Reached the hotel late at night and hit the bed.

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