From Europe to Africa in America - A Sisters' Expedition

[nodnol]

Oh no! It's a great picture! It gives "feeling" and depth to the situation. It made me wonder if the weather was a typical UK chill, or if you were startled by the photographer, or??? Anyhow, I love the more candid shots!

I guess, I just didn't want to pose for a picture but to carry on and get to our destination for a nice cup of tea

 

[If U Had Wings]

Yay! You started. I can't wait to hear all about your trip!

 

[Disneymom3304]

Thought I would say HI and I am on board for another great TR. I read your last trip report when you went with a friend then I saw on Brooke's report that you had started a PTR...so here I am again only this time I decided to come out of Lurkdom and say HI!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Yay! You started. I can't wait to hear all about your trip!

Hi Chrissy, great to have you onboard!

Thought I would say HI and I am on board for another great TR. I read your last trip report when you went with a friend then I saw on Brooke's report that you had started a PTR...so here I am again only this time I decided to come out of Lurkdom and say HI!!

Wow, you just made my day! Getting lurkers to come out of lurkdom is a wonderful experience! So, thanks for saying hi and welcome! And don't be a stranger, writing this is much more fun if there is some conversation going on!

 

[klacey1]

Hi! I'm here-- came over from your PTR! I'm so excited that you guys started! I also am VERY excited for the dining report!!

 

[mebbradley]

Oh! Can't wait to hear more!

I'm looking forward to going to Berlin this summer!

 

[TyRy]

Yay!! The adventures have started!

 

[All7OfUs]

I think we were having fun posing with the orange flowers behind us. They are crocosmia which in German are called Montbretien. We took that name and because it kind of sounds similar started calling them "mountain pretzels"

I'll have to go back and look for the flowers.. I only noticed the two people flowers.

I guess, I just didn't want to pose for a picture but to carry on and get to our destination for a nice cup of tea

makes perfect sense to me!!

 

[All7OfUs]

I went back to look at the pix again, and couldn't help but notice the gargantuan stir stick (?) in that cocktail!!

What IS that??!!

 

[Flossbolna]

Hi! I'm here-- came over from your PTR! I'm so excited that you guys started! I also am VERY excited for the dining report!!

Hi and welcome, it's great that you made your way over here!

Oh! Can't wait to hear more!

I'm looking forward to going to Berlin this summer!

Berlin is a fun city, especially in the summer! Are you visiting during a day trip from one of the Northern European Disney cruises this summer? If you have any questions on Berlin, just ask, we will be happy to help!!

Yay!! The adventures have started!

Well, it hasn't really started yet. I am still writing about our flight. I tend to be a bit longwinded, I am afraid... ´Great to have you here!

 

[Flossbolna]

I'll have to go back and look for the flowers.. I only noticed the two people flowers.

Love that: people flowers!

I went back to look at the pix again, and couldn't help but notice the gargantuan stir stick (?) in that cocktail!!

What IS that??!!

It's a backscratcher - the stir stick as well as the cocktail. It's a speciality drink they serve at Ohana. It was a very nice fruity drink. It's called backscratcher and it is served with a backscratcher

 

[All7OfUs]

AHhh, now that makes total sense. I should have known that. Right?

 

[mebbradley]

I'm actually going to Berlin for a conference, it's for a week. We are staying at the Estrel? I think that's how it's spelled, I could be wrong.

It's a global youth conference I can't wait to tour Berlin with the conference

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Joining in.

 

[pooh'smate]

I am joining in.

 

[LuccaDrake]

subbing...let's get this TR started!

~Beka~

 

[All7OfUs]

Joining in.

Hey Senor Duck,

You've been a busy poster since I first welcomed you on Jordan's report! You must be really enjoying the boards!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

I'm actually going to Berlin for a conference, it's for a week. We are staying at the Estrel? I think that's how it's spelled, I could be wrong.

It's a global youth conference I can't wait to tour Berlin with the conference

That sounds like it is going to be a lot fun!

Joining in.

I am joining in.

subbing...let's get this TR started!

~Beka~

Hi Beka, I seem to be a bit slow in getting it started... But

Hey Senor Duck,

You've been a busy poster since I first welcomed you on Jordan's report! You must be really enjoying the boards!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

I had been meaning to write our first traveling day just in one chapter, but it turns out that there is a lot to tell, so I will splitting the chapter into parts. And here is finally the first part of our trip, it doesn't take us that far yet...

Chapter 3: The Fun of Travelling Part 1

January 27, 2010

Since the preliminaries are out of the way, we really should start getting finally on that plane to MCO.

I am really bad about being nervous about travelling. In German we even have a term for it: Reisefieber – traveling fever. So the evening before was spent checking and rechecking things on the DIS, packing for ages, counting and recounting the number of t-shirts I wanted to bring and generally just doing useless stuff in order to avoid going to bed. So when my alarm got off at 5:45 am I was not very well rested – and I knew that it would be about 20 hours until we would arrive at AKL! But I managed to get going well enough and onto the underground train that would take me to the airport:

You see, I was still a bit tired... And I had to wrap up warmly. The night was extremely cold and when I left the house, the temperature outside was -17°C, that's 1°F.

Berlin is a strange city airport-wise. Due to the fact that it was a divided city during the cold war West-Berlin was an “island” inside East-Germany. One saying was that West-Berlin was the only city in the world where all directions were “East”. This also meant that West-Berlin was not going to be a major hub for any airline despite it still being the largest city of West-Germany. And East-Germany just did not have the money to develop a thriving airport. So in 1990 Berlin suddenly had three different airports, two from the former West, and one from the East (actually, there were four, one for each of the former occupying powers, but the British one was only military, so I guess that’s why Magdalene doesn’t count it). The smallest one, Tempelhof (international code was THF), which was built for the 1936 Olympics was finally retired in 2008.

It was a quaint little airport which felt like a mid-size train station. At the moment Berlin uses two airports: Tegel (TXL) in the former West and Schönefeld (SFX) in the former East. Both are the size of provincial airports, TXL is larger than SFX though. This is an aerial view of TXL:

TXL was built during the Berlin Airlift in 1948/49, with all the material transported into Berlin via THF – unbelievable logistics! (If anyone is intersted to find out more on this, Wikipedia has a good article on the Berlin Blockade) Very close to SFX they are building an absolutely new airport at the moment, which will be called Berlin Brandenburg International – short BBI, but this one will finally get the airport code BER! It will open on October 30, 2011.

One of the results of all this difficult airport situation is: the proposed rail link to TXL was never built, so I had to transfer on to a bus from my underground train. Fortunately I did not have to wait too long and arrived at TXL at around 7:20 am. I called Katharina that I got there, but she was still on her bus (together with Remy, her DH).

But before long I saw their bus arriving at the airport as well:

I have to admit, at first I didn’t remember anything about the night before we left, Magdalene had to remind me... The days before our vacation were really very busy at work so I left most of the packing for the last night. I had my packing list with me and updated it frequently and our apartment is quite tiny (or so full of things) that I didn’t have space to assemble things before anyway.
And I was able to leave work early on the last day! DH would be home late, he went for dinner and some beer with colleagues. First I was a little disappointed that he wouldn’t be at home for my last evening, but then I realized it would be much more relaxed to be alone at home for the packing and the expected frequent telephone calls from Magdalene. And anyway – I was the one leaving for Florida and leaving him alone for ten days in freezing Germany!!! So packing went well, I hope I managed to calm Magdalene down at least a little bit (during the many phone calls that certainly did happen) and when I was ready to go to bed, DH arrived. He had a great night out and not only had had beer but also some tequila. I was happy for him, but there is one thing with him and alcohol – he instantly falls asleep and starts to snore. Usually my earplugs help, but I guess because I was a little bit nervous about the trip and had to keep the windows shut because of the cold (no distracting noise from outside) I couldn’t get to sleep. After some time I took my pillow and the sleeping bag and moved to the camping matress in the living room – the last time I had to do that (because of snoring) was three or four years ago...
Well, you can imagine, I wasn’t the best rested person in the morning! But everything went smoothly and DH took a little detour to work and accompanied me to the airport. I had hoped, he would stay for check in and some coffee before getting the bus to work, but he was quite anxious to get to work (or not prolong the farewell?), so after taking our picture, he took off.

There we are at the airport, all ready to check in:

Next: Chapter 3: The Fun of Travelling Part 2

 

[tiggrbaby]

Fabulous start, I love the way you are both writing it together!