It's been a long time coming - 13 months of 'meticulous' planning, countless hours pouring over topography, google maps and 'the 10 best things to see and do in xx websites'!!
The day has arrived. One of my oldest friends and I are heading off to the airport to board our plane and commence our travel adventure in Berlin (Germany). Our trip commences on a high as I'm chauffeured to the airport in a new Skoda recently purchased by Sue's youngest daughter. I'm treated to the front seat in her lovely new car. Here's the 2 of us, enjoying the view of the sky through her (very) large skylight:
Very comfortable and occasionally interesting ride to the airport as we tackle Melbourne road works. Here we are attempting to keep a lid on our excitement levels at the drop off point.
We head off to join the check-in queue. Once we find QATAR (it's moved since my last trip) we join what I thought was the Bus Class queue - which looked large, but given my excitement I didn't think anything of it. As we chatted about what an incredible trip we were about to embark on and moved along in the queue, I noticed it was only getting bigger, which seemed strange.
Again I ignored my brain and kept chatting. I then noticed a couple of people standing to our left all by themselves were called forward by the lady who also checking in our queue. After another couple of minutes Sue says 'I think we are in the wrong queue. That's our queue to the left'.
Of course she was right, but given we only had 4 people left in front of us, I felt bad about moving queues, so we patiently waited our turn!! So much for a quick start to our trip - Sue couldn't care less!! What a knuckle head I am.
Here's Sue enjoying a Sav Blanc & butter chicken in the lounge pre flight and me with our trip mascot that will randomly appear throughout our travels as our cuddly companion.
After a relaxing drink or two, it's time to board. Here's our plane that Sue's Mum kindly informed us was "a very long, big plane, with 6 wheels on both landing struts!!" Not bad for a lady in her mid 80's!!
Here's the 777 plane that took us on our 1st leg to Doha & Sue enjoying her upgrade!!
Finally, here's me and the scoundrel awaiting take-off:
Our plane was one of the newer versions, so they turned into your own private room once the door was closed & if we decided to pull up the partition between us!! We were facing backwards, which was fine until the plane took off. Instead of being thrown back in your seat, you are thrown forward - which was sorta weird. The closing of your door post gorging on fantabulous food made you feel very cosy and as if you were the only people on the plane. Sue's door worked a treat, but mine get opening a little bit, then I'd shut it and it'd open even further and so on and so on. As I dozed and woke up, I kept closing the door. It was hilarious as sometimes it stayed closed for ages. My door has a mind of its own!!
What topped it all off was the landing. Again, because we were sitting backwards, your responses are the opposite of what you are used to. So what did my door do upon landing, it slammed shut tighter than a fishes backside!! Winner of the door V Rhonda saga.
Upon arrival at Doha we are treated to some spectacular airport greenery and a well received shower. We also met a lovely lady on the layover awaiting her flight home to Kuwait. Every 2 years she heads off to Dallas, Texas to stay with her kids and grandkids for 6 months!! She is very grateful her hubby 'allows' her to go and doesn't cause a fuss 😏.
After a 2hr 30min layover we headed off to gate 32C for our final leg to Berlin. The plane was parked 'somewhere' on the terminal that required us to take a 10min bus trip. I've never see a bus like it. Check out the comfort level of the seats and it only had 16 of them - bit to opulent for my tastes, but I sat in one anyway!!
Final leg was painless and quick - only 5 1/2 hrs. Customs was a breeze cos at 7.30am on Tue morning we were the only plane that had landed. After a short wait for our baggage we caught the airport train to Berlin Central Station (3 stops and 30 mins) and walked about 200m to our intercity hotel. Paid 12.50 euros for a Berlin tax and 25 euros to access our room early at 9.30am.
After waking ourselves up with a shower, we went for 90 min walk to grab some lunch and enjoy the unseasonally good 25 degree day. Berlin reminds me a bit of Melb. It's quite eclectic with some dirty spots, few homeless (but harmless) people and bustling as people go about their daily lives. Berlin Hbf is huge and very modern. Here's some shots: plane view of us landing, Berlin Central Station, cool architecture and the Spree River.
Will grab dinner tonight before popping in to bed quite early to catch-up on sleep. Tomorrow we have a sleep in before completing a 3hr 30 min tour of Berlin and meeting a sister of one of Sue's friends for dinner (she lives in Berlin).
Keep smiling and fighting the good fight.
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