Summer '16 Trip: Day 1

Initially, I thought I’d just write a quick little thing about my flights to Berlin, and then spend most of my first blog post describing my first full day in Berlin. However, that was not to be.

Like I normally do when flying out of Houston, I booked my flights with United Airlines. The first flight was a morning flight to Newark, and the second was an overnight flight to Berlin. Apparently, the plane that was originally supposed to fly me to Newark was having maintenance issues, so they got us a new plane. Then they over-fueled that plane. Yes, OVER-fueled. (I discussed this with my sister, and she thinks this had something to do with the switching of the planes. Regardless, it should not have happened). After waiting a very long time for a fuel truck that was just not coming, and seeing my flight time get pushed back further and further, I realized I needed to take action. I got in line to speak with a gate agent to have my flights changed because there was no way I was making that connection in Newark.

My new flight plan had me taking a 4:30 pm overnight flight to Munich (it was about noon when I got this booking, by the way) and then a morning flight to Berlin. I was content with this route, as it would have me directly in Germany. The only annoying thing was that I had to walk all the way from Terminal C to Terminal E (if you know IAH, you know that isn’t exactly a short walk). Almost immediately, though, my new flight was delayed by almost three hours due to airplane maintenance. I had to speak with customer service about getting on a different flight from Munich to Berlin the next day, since I was now set to miss another connection. They were able to get me a seat on a 2:00 pm flight out of Munich.

Obviously, I had a lot of time to kill. I went to Pappadeaux for a catfish poboy at one point, but I mostly just chilled. Once again, though, my gate got changed…back to Terminal C! I walked allllll the way back to find a very crowded gate (although I was luckily able to get a seat). There was a flight to Lima leaving from that gate, and then my Munich flight would follow shortly after. After a while of just keeping to my thoughts, I decided to pull out the book I brought (Persuasion by Jane Austen) and start reading. The second I got to pg. 1, though, I got a text from my sister saying my flight was delayed again. I checked on my phone: now instead of a 7:10 pm departure, we were looking at an 8:45 pm departure. I wouldn’t make my connection AGAIN. I ran up to the desk and got yet another flight plan.

All the way back to Terminal E I went for my new flight to LONDON at 6:30 pm. Yes, LONDON. The credit card company and bank didn’t know I was going to be in the UK. I didn’t bring any pounds with me. And I don’t even own a UK adapter (I borrowed Umme’s when I went to London with her in November). Also, my flight to Berlin from London the next day was with British Airways, which is not affiliated with United. It was going to be interesting.

The flight itself was fine. I watched The Incredibles and 13 Going on 30 and didn’t really sleep, but that didn’t surprise me much. Heathrow, however, was quite the experience. I had always wanted to fly into Heathrow (really just because of the name), but I can almost guarantee I’ll never fly through there again. I think it might be bigger than the Frankfurt airport, if that’s even possible. I had to walk so far, and wait forever for a bus that took such a long time just to get to the correct terminal. (Funny story about the bus, though—I was on it for a good five minutes, kind of stressing about why we were driving on the wrong side of the road, until I remembered OH YEAH DUH THIS IS ENGLAND). Their security is extremely annoying; I had to throw away my nice, full tube of toothpaste!! That’s just cruel. And unnecessary. At least security went by very quickly, though.

Oh, almost forgot: when I landed at Heathrow that morning, I got a text from good ol’ United telling me that my bag didn’t make it to London with me. Eventually, thanks to my mom, I found out that the bag ended up going to Newark on that original flight (which left over three hours later than it was supposed to, by the way). So that was another issue for me to deal with once I finally got to Berlin.

My flight to Berlin had no issues, thank God. And once I landed there, got through passport control, and saw Kayla, I was much, much happier. There was still the issue of the bag, though. I had told United on the phone to send it on the next flight from Newark to Berlin, meaning it should arrive Sunday morning in Berlin. They said they would do it, but obviously I no longer have any faith in them, so I was a little wary. Kayla and I also went and filed a report with the baggage services center at Tegel. The guy said that once the bag arrived, they would call me and deliver it to our AirBNB. The weird thing, though, was that everything had to be filed through British Airways, since that’s who brought me to Berlin. I did not like that at all, so I already knew I’d have to take more action than they led on. But for the rest of that day, I chose to enjoy a new city.

Kayla has been in Berlin for a month now, so she knows her way around. She’s also a wonderful friend who knows how to help alleviate my problems. She bought me some toiletries I needed that were stranded in my suitcase in Newark, and also gave me a cute “Welcome to Deutschland” goodie bag, full of candy, Harry Potter socks, a Disney scarf, and more. After dropping all that and my carry-on bag off at our AirBNB (which was very cute by the way, see pics below), we made our way into the city.

Obviously, our first stop had to be the Brandenburg Gate. There was some sort of weird concert going on there, so I couldn’t get the best view, but it was still really cool.

Next, we walked to the Reichstag/Bundestag and sat on the grass out front with all the cool kids (which Berlin definitely has a lot of). The weather was marvelous.

We wanted to have dinner somewhere along or near the river, so we perused that area a bit before deciding on a cute, reasonably-priced Italian restaurant. (Judge if you will. I just want it to be known that the first thing I ate in Berlin WAS in fact a freshly-baked pretzel at one of the train stations we passed through on our way to the AirBNB).

When we got back to the AirBNB after dinner, we got ready for bed. Kayla let me borrow toiletries and pajamas, which I was very grateful for (even though she gave me a Texas A&M shirt). And FINALLY, I could actually sleep! 

Pics from the AirBNB!