Traveling To Frankfurt - The Financial Capital of Europe

So last week I happen to visit Frankfurt. I had to go to Pakistani Embassy in Frankfurt.

This was my first trip to Frankfurt (people here call it the "Financial Capital of Europe") so I was looking forward to the trip. This was going to be exciting tour and definitely very different than any of my previous trips.

Why different?  

Solo Trip

Firstly, this was going to be my first ever "solo trip" since I moved to Germany. All my previous tours across Europe, I have had friends with me but this time, I was going to be without any company. That also meant, I was going to take a LOT of selfies and other photos! (Check the 30 Best Photos of Frankfurt that I took during my stay or you can check 30 Best Photos of Prague, a beautiful city!).

Bus Trip

Secondly, it was for the first time that I was taking a bus trip. Again, all my previous tours have been train trips or plane rides. I wanted to experience bus trip so I booked a return seat from Munich to Frankfurt via Flix Bus. I have to say, it is a good experience. It took me almost 5 hours and 30 minutes each side but I was able to see two bonus cities; Stuttgart and Nuremberg (though it was just a 30 minutes stop). Flix Bus is very much similar to Daewoo Bus Service that we have in Pakistan. In fact, the high way (autobahn) that connects Munich with Frankfurt (and other cities) is almost exactly like Motor Way (M2) that connects Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan, with only exception that German autobahn is 10x more vehicles compared to its Pakistani counterpart.

Hostel Not Hotel

Third reason why this was going to be a different trip: I was going to stay in a hostel NOT a hotel. I had reserved a "bed" in a hostel, just 5 minutes walk from Hauptbahnof (Central Station). I stayed at United Hostel Frankfurt. Hostel was really neat, clean, trendy and definitely a hip place but this hostel-stay thing is not my cup of tea. Though I wanted to experience "hosteling across Europe" but I am not going to do it again because people sharing the room can be really irritating. In my case, I wanted to sleep early so I went to bed at around 9:00 PM but I had to abandon my sleep and go out for a walk, only to return late (around 2:00 AM) just because my "random roommates" just wouldn't stop jumping and hustling around! This whole notion of sharing a room with random people may be a good option when one is traveling in a group but not a great idea when traveling all alone. But in the end, it drills down to personal choice.

Pakistani Embassy - Frankfurt

Pakistani Embassy in Frankfurt is located in a nice peaceful neighborhood, just about 20 minutes walk from the Central Station (HERE). 

I was expecting it to be crowded with not so friendly staff but I was completely wrong. The office was not crowded and I found the staff really helping. In fact, it took me just about 30 minutes to get my passport renewed (compare that with Islamabad's passport office which takes around 3-5 hours!).

  

Overall Experience:

Frankfurt has many tall buildings, something that I didn't get to see in other cities in Germany. I think the percentage of "foreigners" (mostly from Turkey, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka) in this city is more than Munich, which meant lot of India food store and Donner shops.

Weather was really good (but German weather is so unpredictable!)

Lot of places to explore in the city!

Spending time by the river was nice!