We made it to Berlin!

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Before I begin I should tell you that I LOVE flying! I love the feeling of the plane speeding up and lifting off. I am so weird I actually enjoy some turbulence while flying - just to remind me that it is an amazing feat of engineering that we are thousands of feet in the air! I was the only person in our section of the plan taking pictures out the window of the plane--- I did get a few odd looks in my direction. Oh well! This is a once in a lifetime experience and I want to document it all!

Despite all the excitement I have to say- the flight was brutal! We flew straight from LAX to Munich without a stop. While Lufthansa is a great airline and the hospitality was spectacular, the length of the flight made the trip horrific. There was no air on the flight so it was very hot and stuffy, the seats were uncomfortable and we were packed in like sardines. If I had to do this again I would definitely book a flight with at least one stop so that I could get off and stretch a little, use a regular restroom and have a cup of coffee.

Despite a difficult flight it was a very good experience. I met some wonderful people who were more than happy to help me practice my German. All the people were hospitable and excited to welcome us to visit their country.

From Munich we flew to Berlin on a much smaller plane. Thankfully we had a brief delay at the airport and we were able to walk around a bit. I took the opportunity to buy a little souvenir from the gift shop and received my first Euros as change! On the plane we were seated next to this really friendly and knowledgeable German fellow who tutored us in German language and gave us a bit of history lesson about Berlin. This flight was much shorter and the airplane was not as hot and stuffy- thankfully. We landed in Berlin without incidence and thankfully retrieved out luggage easily.

One thing we neglected to do was plan our travel from the airport to our hostel. Let me tell you- after a long flight this was a big mistake! We had to obtain Euros from the ATM, figure out the bus system and buy a ticket all the while unsure of where in the heck we were headed.

Once we figured out which bus we needed we went to purchase a ticket from the machine only to realize that we had no idea which ticket we needed based on the route we needed to take. The ticket assistant helped us out and when we went to pay with a 20 Euro bill (seemed reasonable given that twenty dollar bills are commonplace in the US) we were told we needed smaller bills. The machines prefer coins and really they do not want to take bills larger than 5. We were told that for a one way ticket, 2.60 Euro, that we could not pay with a 10 Euro bill. Whew!! After much back and forth to the ATM and the bank we were able to successfully purchase our ticket. We then proceeded to the bus where we tried to ask the bus driver if we were on the right bus or not and he may be the only German in all of Germany unwilling to help a traveler 😊. Several Germans on the bus helped us out. We made it to the U-Bahn but took the U8 instead of the U2 and ended up walking a long way with a >50lb backpack and another side sack. Boy were we happy when we arrived at our Hostel.



What I learned: 1) KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING! 2) the ticket system likes no bills larger than 5 euros 3) The bus driver may be the only person in Germany not interested in helping you get where you need to go and 4) KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING!!!

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