My first Workation...

Two weeks ago, I came back from my “workation” trip to Frankfurt. It was one of the crazy ideas of my friend Daniel and me that somehow in the end became reality.

Last semester, we have already talked about going on a “workation trip” together when we knew that we would have our “team-oriented project”, which is a full-time module at our university, in this semester. As we managed to get into the same team for the project, we then thought one week before Easter that we would have to do it now if we wanted to do it; otherwise, there won’t be a fitting timespan anymore. So, my friend Daniel asked, “Have you ever been to Frankfurt?” and I responded with “No.”, so that is how we set our destination! After a bit of research together, we spontaneously booked a hotel for the next week and searched for the fitting trains. In the following days, we also did some research on what we could do there in the vacation part of our “workation.” On Easter Monday, our adventure began, and after some first obstacles consisting of a cancelled train and a change in booking of our hotel room, we finally managed to arrive at Frankfurt’s central station. Before we went on this trip, our expectations on Frankfurt were pretty low; it was more or less a joke that we went there as it is not the city with the best reputation. However, as soon as we arrived, we immediately realized that this reputation was absolutely not justified! Despite all the things you hear about this city, we were welcomed by a clean and beautiful city, and the following days further consolidated this impression.

After we spent the first whole day in our hotel room as we had multiple meetings this day, we walked through the surrounding of our hotel which was just 3 minutes away from the “Deutsche Börse”. Next to the “Börse,” we spent half of the next day in a “Starbucks”. After we finished work on Wednesday, we walked a large round through the complete inner city. We have already seen some skyscrapers before but what we discovered in some different parts of the city was a beautiful and stunning old city. Between beautiful half-timbered houses, there also was the “Paulus Kirche” which plays a key role in German history. The fact that we had the chance to visit Frankfurt in 1841 in a VR-museum was very cool. Leaving the old part of the city, we went straight to the banking district where the headquarter of the ECB is located as well. The connection of this old and this new part of the city is almost seamless and works just perfectly together. Right next to the banking district, there is also the red-light milieu of Frankfurt. These 2 or 3 streets were the only parts of the city that were not that beautiful. However, as this is a problem for all German major cities, you really cannot blame Frankfurt for this. On Thursday, we spent our last full working day of our “workation” in a co-working space. It was a pleasant experience and a really nice place to work but, unfortunately, a bit too crowded in our opinions. After work, we then went on the “Main Tower” to have a last view of the city from above. On Friday, we went back home by train and managed to have some successful meetings in spite of the bad Wi-Fi.

Overall, I would go as far as to say that Frankfurt is a city that every German citizen should have seen once in his lifetime. It is the only German city with a skyline and nevertheless offers a gorgeous old town outstanding many old towns which some other cities are famous for. It plays a key role in German history not only because of the “Paulus Kirche” but also because of the fact that it was an important trade city. So maybe I have attracted your interest to this city, and you’ll have a stop there next time you’re close by. Until then, have a nice one and see you soon!