A Winter Visit to Wiesbaden

Arrivals

As one of Seibert Corp’s (the US division of Seibert) original three employees, I’ve had the chance to visit our German headquarters in Wiesbaden twice previously. Our “newbies” as we call them, once past their six-month probationary period, get the opportunity to visit HQ and it’s typically timed to coincide with the annual New Year celebration party in late January. That was my original plan: to time my trip with the newbies.

Turns out, my Agile Hive team had scheduled our annual planning meeting for the Monday following that event, so I shifted my trip a few days later to be there in person. With a six-hour time delay between myself and Germany - and an eight-hour delay for my US colleague in Colorado - we all make some sacrifices to attend our virtual meetings.

For me, located in Northcentral Pennsylvania, it’s easiest and most convenient to fly out of Philadelphia with a direct flight to Frankfurt, and then a train ride into Wiesbaden. I’ve gotten accustomed to flying through the night, arriving early morning the next day, and then spending the first day adjusting to the time difference.

Flight was on time and had no issues. The train ride from Frankfurt to Wiesbaden, well - if you ride the regional trains in that part of Germany, you know there can and will often be delays. Sure enough there was, but relatively minor and I arrived at my hotel in downtown Wiesbaden around 10am. A quick catnap and bite to eat, I made the five minute walk to the office and met up with my Agile Hive marketing team. So good to see everyone after almost two years!

Around the Town

An early riser by nature, particularly when your colleagues are six time zones ahead of you, I decided the best way to kick off my first official day on Thursday was to hit some of the nearby trails in the Rabengrund Von Wiesbaden at the northern end of town. I’d been eyeing this area up since my last visit in 2023 and it did not disappoint. Leaving enough time for the walk to and from the park and the hike itself was the perfect way to get things rolling.

Getting back and cleaned up for the office, headed in for a full day of meetings and co-working with my colleagues. A visit wouldn’t be complete without experiencing an incredible meal at our onsite cafeteria (“Seabird”, a play on Seibert). The food is always incredible - delicious, nutritious, and I can always pick a vegan option. We count ourselves very lucky to have this available to us.

Office Space

The afternoon was again a full schedule of meetings and co-working, which once you get used to hearing a mix of German and English, feels just like working back in the States. Seibert has a number of office spaces in downtown Wiesbaden and the company is a great supporter of the local economy and the downtown infrastructure by offering such an incredible presence.?

The majority of our discussions centered around planning out the “Go to Market” calendar generally for the year, but more specifically for the first two quarters of 2025. Working in tandem with our Jira Cloud and Data Center (DC) development teams, sales, as well as partnering with other product teams here at Seibert always makes for an engaging mix of projects and tasks. Looking further out to the end of second quarter and start of the third, trade shows and conferences really begin to enter the mix of our planning activities.

The Weekend

For my two previous visits, I was never able to take advantage of the weekends for downtime. The first weekend of my trip, I was traveling overnight to Germany, the final weekend I was traveling back and getting adjusted to the time difference. Thankfully shifting my trip by a few days this time around did allow for an incredible opportunity to enjoy two very different aspects of Germany I’d wanted to experience; Football in Stuttgart (soccer for us heathans), and a tour of the vineyards in the Rhine valley (Rhinegau).

Stuttgart

My Agile Hive colleague Veline and her boyfriend Tobias were kind enough to offer to take me to see their favorite Football team…sorry, club…VfB Stuttgart in their home stadium. In addition to experiencing European Football, I’d wanted to visit Stuttgart. We made the 2 ? hour trip early Saturday morning, arriving early to grab a delicious lunch and visit the indoor/outdoor market. As a part-time farmer, a hop farmer no less, it was an honor to visit a brewhouse offering the same style of beer (Keller, or “Cellar”) as the one made back in the US with our hops. After lunch, we headed back to the stadium and ventured in.

A lifelong fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, I thought I knew what true, dedicated fans were. But then I saw firsthand what true fandom is when VfB took on SC Freiberg, crushing them 4-0. The core fan section never sat, never stopped waving their club flags, never stopped chanting and rooting on their team, it was incredible! As season ticket holders, Veline and Tobias had seats located among a wonderful, incredibly friendly and welcoming group of fellow diehard fans.

The Rheingau

My “newbie” trip back in 2022 included a day trip to one of the vineyards and wineries in the Rheingau region just West of Wiesbaden and it was incredible! Rows upon rows, fields upon fields of grapes, as far as the eye could see, masterfully trellised over the contoured and hilliest portions of the region.

My tour guides for this trip, once again Veline and Tobias, kicked it up quite a few notches. They only told me we’d be seeing a number of vineyards along the Rhein, they did not tell me, however, the significance of two of them in particular. When we left Wiesbaden Sunday morning, it was all a surprise. Our first stop was made famous, at least in the United States, back in the 1980s with the movie “The Name of the Rose”, a murder-mystery drama starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater. Based on the novel set in Italy in 1327, it was filmed at our first stop, Kloster Eberbach, a former monastery built in the 12th century, now hosting tours, wine tastings, events, and surrounded by - you guessed it - acres of vineyards.

From here, we continued our journey along the Rhein to a number of vineyards, one more picturesque than the last. The other I wanted to specifically call out was the Abbey of St. Hildegard. For other Gen Xers like myself, you may recall that period of time back in the not too distant past when monastic chants became part of pop culture music. One of those CDs from that era was based on the works of the mystic and poet, Hildegard of Bingen, the former Abess of the monastery. Having grown up in a small town in the US that also had a Benedictine monastery, founded by sisters originally from Bavaria, this was yet another treat.?

Our final stop that day was at Lorelei (Loreley) Rock. There are a number of variations to this story from German folklore, so I invite you to click the link to read more. The Clif Notes version involves a mermaid, a sailor, a romantic love cut short, and boats crashing into rocks. I joke somewhat but those are the essential elements of what really is a wonderful mythical story and a beautiful park constructed in its honor. My tour guides timed it just right as we had just enough time to catch the incredible views just as the sun was setting.

New Year Party, Team Day, and Departures

I neglected to mention, the Friday evening heading into the weekend, Seibert celebrated their annual New Year party. Every year has its own theme, and this year it was “Blast From the Past - Awaken Your Childhood Hero!”. Held offsite for this occasion at the Kulturzentrum Schlachthof (literally, “Cultural Center Slaughterhouse”) Wiesbaden, this one-of-a-kind event featured great food and drink, a unique gathering space, stellar music, and of course, one of the most incredible collections of costumes you’ve ever seen!

In a different fashion than New Year parties held in the States, Seibert always holds their party at the end of January. At first I considered it unusual, but when I thought that most of my colleagues in Germany and a good portion of the country itself, reserve the last two weeks of the year for friends and family, it made more sense to hold a company party after we had a few weeks of the new year under our belts already. It really gives you something to looks forward to after returning to “the grind”.

With a mix of Harry Potter, Dungeons and Dragons, and a few other classics one might expect among what essentially are an extended group of tech-geeks, I did see a few unexpected choices like the Blues Brothers. Certainly there were a number I was initially unfamiliar with as they were tied to Germany literary or pop-culture, but it was great learning about them. I took my cue from a childhood fabled hero of the expansion of the American West, Paul Bunyan. If stumping my colleagues with my choice of character was the goal, I was successful let’s just say that.

That following Monday, the Agile Hive team was not only back to work, but we also left time for some "team day" activities. Wrapping up work late afternoon, we headed out for a few hours of healthy competition bowling, and ending the day with an incredible dinner at a local gem of a restaurant, Havana.

And so, with a week that combined a variety of face-to-face meetings, planning sessions, and conversations with some work-related social events, personal travel, sporting events, and cultural activities, I would say my time in Germany was incredibly well spent on a variety of fronts.

In my travels to, and my stay in Germany, all went very much according to plan with a number of very pleasant surprises. My departure back to the U.S. was a slightly different experience. Taking the train from Wiesbaden back to the Frankfurt airport this time went without a hitch and all was according to schedule. No stops or delays this time around and I found myself with quite a bit of extra time before my flight. And then came the flight itself.

The plane boarded slightly late, but we were still ready for a 12:55pm departure. With everyone on board, buckled in and ready to depart to Philadelphia, the departure time came and went. Our pilot made an announcement no passenger is ever excited to hear that due to some mechanical issue, actually the onboard flight system, we’d be experiencing a slight delay he anticipated while they diagnosed the issue. Twenty minutes later he returned with the announcement that after a number of attempts they were essentially going to pull the IT-support classic, “we’re going to reboot the system”. I couldn’t believe my ears, but after seeing all the screens with the message below and hearing everything electrical shut down then brought back up again, that’s what they did!

I wish I could report that fixed the issue, but three hours later and after swapping out each of the three components they’d narrowed down the issue to, we were finally airborne. From there on in, it was smooth sailing back over the North Atlantic, with some beautiful views of iced-over Northeast Canada.

Additionally, no issues getting back through US Customs, nor the ride back home. All told, according to Eastern Standard Time, I was on the move from 1am leaving the hotel in Wiesbaden, pulling into the driveway at home in Williamsport, Pennsylvania around 10pm. Jetlaged certainly, but very thankful and appreciative of my time with my besties in Germany.

Auf Wiedersehen, until we meet again!