I went to Dublin, Munich, Berlin, and London in 8 days, it was Awesome!

If you listen to "Mornings w/Mark and Sam" you know I (Mark) was on vacation last week in Dublin, Munich, Berlin, and London, here is what I did...

I left Chicago Saturday Sept. 30th to fly over night to Dublin, why start in Dublin? Well simple my older sister Julia lives there! I got to spend Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday with her in Dublin learning all about Irish Whiskey, Guinness, and Pub life. Some of my favorite parts of my 3 days in Dublin were drinking pints of Guinness listening to live music in the Temple Bar area of Dublin, at an amazing bar called The Quays. And of course all of the Irish Whiskey tours I did, especially the Jameson tour! Overall I absolutely see why my sister loves Dublin and living there, it is a passionate, vibrant city, with a fantastic night life.

We then took a flight on Wednesday October 2nd (the day after my 29th birthday) to Munich Germany for Oktoberfest. My sister and I went there with her best friend Maria, and met up with two of her other great friends from England. The two days at Oktoberfest in Munich were such a blast! The Oktoberfest celebration was massive and unlike anything I have ever experienced before, I will never forget standing on top of the tables with thousands of other people from across the world drinking beer and singing "Take Me Home, Country Roads" 

On Friday Oct. 4th my sister, her friend Maria, and I rented a car and drove to Berlin from Munich. I got to drive a Mercedes AMG G35 on the Autobahn for 6 hours across the whole of Germany. It was an incredible experience that I will never forget, driving as fast as you please for miles at a time, it's an incredible feeling. We spent Friday night and all day Saturday in Berlin taking tours, eating, and exploring all the incredible history Berlin has to offer before leaving Sunday morning for London. If you go to Berlin definitely make a stop at the "Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe" it is such a powerful  memorial. Also I saw this Dachshund street art...

Finally I arrived in London with my sister, and Maria, on Sunday morning. I didn't get much of a chance to explore London because I had a ticket to see the Bears take on the Raiders at Tottenham Stadium on Sunday night. It was amazing. As a life long Bears fan to get to be one of the 60,000 people in that stadium filled with people from all over the world was such a fantastic experience. If only the Bears had won it would have made a perfect trip even more amazing! I left London Monday afternoon back to Chicago, as my sister headed back to Dublin. 

Overall it was a fantastic trip of a lifetime filled with amazing memories and stories. I am so thankful I got to spend the trip with my sister and her friends, experiencing cultures and parts of the world I have never been to before. I wish I could have had a week in London at the end to keep exploring it but alas all good things come to an end. As I said to Sam this morning on our show, "It's not hard coming back from a vacation when you love what you do" I certainly love my job and getting to share my life with you the listeners! If you want to know more about my trip or have more questions don't hesitate to ask! Just hit me up on Twitter @MarkHespen or on Instagram @MarkHespen.