Traveling to the Alps - an experiment

Traveling isn't really fun in present times, even not a short excursion. At least, not for us. We checked it out last week.

Thanks to a coupon from our health insurance company for regular check-ups/dentist's visits/cancer checks we drove to the Alps, to Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GAP) - closeby Zugspitze. From a hotel list, we had chosen a 4-star Sporthotel in GAP for two nights, easy to reach by car, not quite two hours from where we are living.

Well, besides the flaws of the hotel itself (built in the 1980ies and correspondingly old-fashioned and outdated in some regard), there were a lot of Corona-related rules and restrictions, not all of them making sense (as everywhere). Wondering, whether our politicians and other officials ever check out what they are enforcing?

At check-in we received a list of "instructions" and got to know where to wear a mask and where not, how the spa/pool area can be used (time slots on reservation, 1 hour only) and how the restaurant is operating (reservations necessary for dinner and time slots for breakfast). Though, there were two restaurants and a bar mentioned on the website, there was just one restaurant with a beergarden available. Since the weather wasn't perfect, the beergarden was closed and the restaurant only opened at 6 pm. No coffee & cake or ice cream in the afternoon, no drink after dinner.

The menu was very restricted, too, no single soup, no desert menu, but, nevertheless, exorbitantly high prices for the quality. It was also encouraged to order meals "To go" and to pick them up at the reception. When you had successfully carried the styrofoam boxes a couple of "miles" to your room (the hotel complex is huge, different buildings connected by a tunnel system, 150+ rooms/apts), the meal was luke-warm. And then, we noticed, that they didn't pack any salt and pepper. In the restaurant, tables (of course, table clothes or cloth napkins were eliminated) were set up in the required distance, but waiters were constantly bumping their heads because of the hanging lamps - originally, one over each table.

What we didn't read before was that rooms are only cleaned on request (you have to ask the day before, before 3 pm. Check-in time is 4 pm!), and that you have to give a 4-hour time frame for cleaning. Also, there are no extra blankets/pillows, no notepads, no brochures, no cushions for balcony chairs in the rooms anymore, no cushions for the chairs in the pool/public areas. Only plastic cups in the room, which leads over to the crazy amount of waste (pic was not taken at the hotel, but is sort of representative!). Most breakfast items are packaged, sanitizer wipes were piling up in the fitness room waste baskets, new rubber gloves are used for each towel a guest is picking up. Can't even imagine the number of empty bottles of hand sanitizer every day!

To wear a mask in the dressing room of the (mostly empty) pool area is sort of crazy - how the heck can I undress with a mask on? No mask while working out, but mandatory in the bathroom, which is only accessible by one person,,, Chaotic arrows for entry/exit in the reception building and a guarantee that you aren't properly understood thanks to your mask and their plexiglass.

Well, until rules and regulations won't be relaxed in Germany (meaning the virus is "gone" and a vaccine/medicine is found), we won't travel overnight anymore, or, at least, we will not stay in a hotel.