Wanderlust.

Prologue.

My life had never been very exciting. I was born and raised in a small German town. My dad had chosen it because it was quiet and peaceful and not too far away from the next military base. You see, my dad had joined the military right after high school. He had been to many different places - including Korea, Poland and Spain - but when they had sent him to Vilseck, he had decided on staying. He had met my mom at a burger shop off base and from that moment on, he had never wanted to leave. Sure, he had been sent to Iraq but that hadn't weakened my parents' bond; if anything, it had made them love each other even more. My mom had worked at that burger shop - she had served his table - and she had always said, she would never ever marry an American; at least, that's what my grandparents had told me. I was born on base and had spent pretty much half of my life there until my dad had gotten a big promotion. It had given him the ability to move off base and that's exactly what he had done. The small town he had picked, had no more than 600 residents but given that he had lived on a base that had approximately 6000 residents, he liked how small it was. I grew up speaking both English and German, so getting used to my new home had been no problem at all. 

Going to school on the other hand, was a completely different story. Since I had attended elementary and high school on base, I had to get used to how different German schools handled their education. I had felt incredibly stupid during my first year but my classmates had welcomed me with open arms and they had helped me a lot - I will forever be grateful for that. Of course, I missed my friends from base but they had quickly gotten used to coming to visit me and they liked that they could see more of the country outside of base. My two older brothers both followed my dad's footsteps. Simon had always been interested in explosions and bombs, so he joined the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit and Timothy joined the airborne unit. My dad had expected me to also join the military but I had never been interested in anything just remotely related to it. Although he had been disappointed, he had supported my decision to work in the tourism branch of the town. There were three hotels in the town because one of the biggest hiking trails of Bavaria led right through it. I had attended a vocational school after graduating and had been working in the very same hotel that I had finished my professional training in ever since.

It was rather unusual that anything but German and Russian last names would pop up in our booking system but every now and then some musicians or actors stopped by. I'm not talking about big Hollywood stars, more national celebrities. My town had a very big beer culture - there was a small brewery and pretty much every house on the main road had the right to brew. This had something to do with the town's history and it's castle - every house or family that existed since the middle ages pretty much could brew and so we had at least six or seven taverns that served the house's very own brewed beer and homemade food. This was one of the reasons why people from all over Germany went hiking there. One of the taverns had made itself a name - there had even been reports about it on national TV - by being not only the biggest one but also the only tavern with a stage. The concerts and theatre shows there were popular and where did the musicians and artists book their rooms? Exactly in my hotel. We weren't big, only had three stars but my boss was friends with the owner of the tavern and so it was only natural that she would offer rooms. Every now and then I would spot an English name on the list of guests to check-in, sometimes even Spanish or Italian ones but I would've never thought that checking in a certain Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio would completely flip my life over.