Hi! I'M Maddi
This is our second time tour in Germany; the first when my husband was on active duty, and now he is here as a Federal employee. The first time here, it took a while to acclimate to the culture, language, and the military overseas life. I worked as a Marketing Consultant so I had less time, and as a military family our budget limited our ability to travel as much as we would have liked. Most of our travel outside of Germany was courtesy of USO tours, affordable excursion buses from local travel companies, or pleasure days we tacked on to business travel trips. Therefore, we did far more exploring inside Germany than outside, which is not a bad thing since Germany has so much to offer and is so gorgeous, but we barely scratched the surface of what it means to be in EUROPE!
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We arrived in late 2019, and 2020-2021 didn't turn out to be the ideal years for traveling outside of Germany (i.e. Covid), so my plans to share all kinds of other destinations throughout Europe were put on hold until 2022! Now that we are able to travel again, I hope others benefit from our experiences. As for 2020-2021 when the blog was primarily about Germany, I hope it serves as a way for others to share their own experiences in the comments section, helps their friends and family in the states to really appreciate the opportunity they have been given, educates people who just want to know more about Germany and its heritage/culture, or helps newcomers adjust to living in Deutschland.
Now, about how this site got its' unusual name!
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I am a website developer and graphic designer. In 2010, when we lived in the Kaiserslautern Military Community (in Germany), I wanted to design something to remind my husband and I of all the great things we experienced. We knew we couldn't stay forever and I wanted something we would be proud to frame and display in our home as a constant reminder of our time here. It was originally intended just for personal use, and I was only planning on incorporating the basics. However, every few weeks I would think of something else to include to make it even better. By the time I finished designing this poster, I had spent at least nine months making improvements. By this time friends who had watched my progress indicated a desire to have one for themselves, at which time I decided it was perfect for a commemorative poster, a Welcome to Germany gift, or a Farewell gift for those heading back to the states.
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Once finished, and ready to copyright, I needed to come up with a name. The name that came to mind would not have been acceptable (and might have limited my ability to sell it), so I replaced the controversial part of the name with a word that screams Germany! FASCHING!! The poster was registered with the U.S. Copyright office in 2011 as A Fasching Great Tour!
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You can see the poster here; The American flag in the background at the bottom and the dog tags hanging on the lamp post represented how and why we landed this incredible opportunity....afforded to us by way of the U.S. Military!
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Since I already had the web address associated with the posters from 2011, it made sense to just use that for my blog. Hence AFaschingGreatTour.com! Thanks for visiting. Please subscribe to be notified about new posts.