The chaos of Contiki didn't end with an expected massive retreat into a dark room for sleep deprivation and liver destruction recovery. In fact, we did quite the opposite and declared full on war against our bodies with a hop, skip and jump from Athens to Munich, Germany. If you haven't put two and two together yet, us mlungus arrived in Germany to partake in their biggest annual festival, Oktoberfest…and we were trained and primed for anything they could throw at us.

We started our preparation with a small taste of what we could expect from Oktoberfest when we stopped over in Munich for a night on Contiki. We popped into Hofbrauhaus - touristy but local at the same time - where we were introduced to drinking steins of beer by the litre, wearing lederhosen and singing along to the oompah band's Bavarian drinking songs. Let's call this surveillance.

Still on Contiki, and after a big, big, night out in the rocking multi club and bar area of Kultfabrik, we headed to the streets of Munich on an excellent bike tour with Mike's Bike Tours where our experienced sergeant on the tour gave us some valuable inside information on the fest itself and tactics of approach for ensuring we last as long as possible. This spy-like info we pass on to you and hope it will help you get the most out of your experience at the fest too. First, get in early to ensure you get a seat at your chosen hall, anytime before 9am (or 8am on weekends). Don't go to the tourist filled Hofbrauhaus, rather go to the preferred local halls of Augustina, Schottenhamel and Hacker. Next, try get a pair of lederhosen and learn some Bavarian words to help you blend in during the infiltration. And lastly, so as not to become a victim of war, go one beer, one chicken, one beer, one pretzel (lose the salt cause it'll only make you thirsty), one beer, one chicken,… and so on and for as long as you can. Just don't forget that the beer at the fest is specially brewed for the festival and is stronger than usual - but lacks any preservatives so that if you stick your guns you shouldn't get a hangover, at least not a bad one.

That chicken. Wow! We could devote a whole paragraph to the chicken alone cause it was that good. Each hall brings in their own top chefs from around the country to work their kitchens and this results in some of the best food that Germany has to offer. But to explain it how we learnt it, in the words of our sergeant on the bike tour, "I'm a black guy from America and I've never tasted better chicken." We knew we were in for something special. (Looks like we did just devote a whole paragraph to the chicken…)

So, with our experience and tactics in check, plus about 4 months of drinking training, we were ready for Oktoberfest. But we didn't make it easy for ourselves. Given our date changes and additions on Contiki we only gave ourselves two nights in Munich and one day at the festival. We needed to maximize that day. Things got worse. A delayed flight out of Athens, meant we only arrived in Munich after midnight and still did some washing to ensure we could wear our best to the fest. Entering our room, we were psychologically challenged by one of our roommates running to the toilet, almost as we walked in, to relieve his body of his day's overdose of toxins. Next, we overslept a bit which led to us getting to the festival later than our planned 9am. This rippled into us struggling to find a table to sit at in any of our sought beer halls - our lack of local communication skills, lack of lederhosen and full covering with SA flags probably didn't work in our favour. Eventually we had to settle to the fact that if we wanted a stein we were gonna be sitting outside. There are still plenty of people sitting outside the tents and drinking but you do miss out on the singing and expected jolly of the festival.

But, while drowning our sorrows in two litres of beer, incredible chicken (which surpassed all expectation) and a saltless pretzel these persevering mlungus were rewarded with the spoils of war. Two local lasses dressed in full dirndl battle dress joined us at our table. After a few shared prosts and another litre each of beer, we were convinced by our new friends to leave the beer hall and explore the rest of the wonders of the festival - the theme park, which we didn't even know existed at the festival. We spent the rest of the afternoon and night in a James Bondesque type of approach to war that involved high speed rides, shooting moving targets and a shift away from beer to cocktails and jaeger shots. Needless to say, in the end we were victorious African warriors.

We survived Oktoberfest in one piece. Our tactics and training had paid off. And, as we feel, we got the full festival experience by taking part in both the beer side and fun side of the festival. Then, as we finally ended the night with a summation session over a whopper meal at Burger King, we were already plotting our next mission…how were we going to wake up the next morning to catch our 7am train out of Munich!

Oktoberfest marked our big bow out of mainland Europe. It was followed by a chilled weekend back in Budapest and a great week of freakishly hot weather in London during which we were able to recollect ourselves and re-energise in preparation for the next big move of this worldwide trek. Next stop Asia.

Trek on…Brett and Darren