We made it to Berlin

We made it.. finally after a 9 hour flight with our carrier of choice "AirBerlin", we arrived in Berlin, Germany. The airline was amazing, clean, friendly and a lot of entertainment options on board; the flight went by like a blink of an eye, yes.. I was very scared and nervous, but we had such an uneventful flight, not even one air hole, so it ended up a great experience for all of us. Hubby and the Princess had a great first flight and to my surprise she loved it..they spoiled her with toys and goodies; movies galore….

We arrived in Berlin at 7AM (Berlin time, so 1 AM US time).. and it was in the low 40’s… what a change from the 90’s we left behind in Florida…. but 40’s…really? I mean, it’s June after-all, I sure hope it will warm up a bit while we are here, I was freezing and no WARM stuff with me; I was joking that I will set out to find a snow suite and wear it…I was that cold….

We had no idea how we would get to our Hotel, I thought we could take the amazing public transportation system that Berlin has to offer; especially since the hotel was only like 3 miles away; that quickly changed when we couldn’t figure out how to even get to the Hotel, no one ever had heard of the street and my WiFi wasn’t working to Mapquest it… soo I kind of turned into Panic mode.. how in the world would we get out of the airport and to the hotel….??

Taxi sounded like the next best option, not really the cheapest, BUT at that point I could have cared less, I was tired on my feet for 24/h just get me to the hotel so we can drop off our luggage and start our Berlin tour…. Well.. that also would have been a perfect plan… if they had Taxis that would accommodated 5 people and 5 suitcases…. YUP.. guess we are a LARGE group….

So, back inside we went, next plan… I call the car rental place and see if I can pick up the car at the airport a day early, instead of the next day, which is when I reserved it for; there wasn’t really a use for a rental car that day so why waist $$ for it to sit in the parking lot, at least that was my thought 6 month ago…. anyways.. I tried to call the rental company with my US credit card and they told me over and over my card can’t be read… Great… We are STUCK in Berlin at the Airport… I was ready to scream, kick and cry… 24 plus hrs, I’m tired and how in the world would we get off this airport??

Well, since I speak the language, I flagged down a policemen and asked for help… He was very nice and understanding and pulled 4 people over to help us come up with a cheap solution… which at this point I probly would have paid $500 just to get to the Hotel…. they organized a BUS for my family which was a Taxi shuttle kind of type and told the driver to give us a break…. was soo nice of them to do…. made me feel a little better….but still in tears…

The next problem, the Taxi driver had never heard of the Hotel… special… what in the world did I book, thanks to Hotel.com and all the AWESOME reviews, yet the locals had never heard of it… just perfect…. a GPS did the trick and we started our mad driving tour through Berlin…. CLOSE your eyes.. really they have no driving skills.. I freaked and started to think of the next day when I would be driving my rental car…whaaaa

We finally arrived at the Hotel at 9AM, I knew check in was not till 3PM, and I walked to the front desk, with my Puppy face look and all I wanted was to leave our luggage and then tour Berlin, to my surprise our room was ready and waiting for us… I could have jumped and kissed the reception guy… I was sooo HAPPY.. a bed was in sight…really??

The minute we got into the room all 5 of us crashed on the bed… yup… terrible thing, we are in Berlin and we are going to sleep for hours and miss an opportunity to sightseeing…. Didn’t really care at that moment.. I needed my beauty sleep before I hit the streets of Berlin…..lol

After a few hours of sleep we set foot on the streets of Berlin; our Goal was to take a City Tour Bus that has like 20+ stops across the city and telling you all about the history, landmarks and all that good stuff without walking for days…. well, just to get there proofed to be a challenge. We had to master the S-Bahn (like underground Train system I guess you may call it, which this Florida transplant, never needed to use); we had our tickets and got onto the train our nice front desk clerk at the hotel told us to take; we are rocking this Berlin thing…. AWESOME… till we get off the Train.. now what.. where in the world will we find our tour bus?

I must have asked 5 people and all send us in different directions… well…. I almost gave up and just decided to wander around the Alexander Platz for the remainder of the day … till I saw a very nice Police women standing on the sidewalk… asked one more time for directions and after about 5 blocks and 15 minutes we arrived at our Tour Bus… ALL excited… we are ready to tour Berlin… we also had a boat Tour booked with the bus tour… awesome way to see the city and NOT walk all day… best decision and $$ I’ve made/spend.. wasn’t really all that expensive for all of us I think $50 for a 2 day all day Bus ticket with Boat tour… get on and off the bus anytime at any stop… they tell you about the history and cool city must sees, things you probly would not think about if you walk around like a crazy person trying to make this sightseeing work for you…so keep a bus tour in mind anytime you have a chance for a city sightseeing…worth the money…

We enjoyed a nice, but very expensive lunch, brunch or dinner, whatever time zone you looked at at that time…lol.. and we had AMERICAN sucker all written on our forehead.. BUT it was a nice family time and experience… but you live and learn….

So after 7 hours of touring Berlin and the kids falling asleep on and off on the tour bus, we decided to head back to the hotel and call it a night…… and that brings me to you guys guys.. it’s 12:37AM in Berlin, I will pick up the rental car tomorrow and drive home to my Mom & dad on a 4 hour Autobahn ride with all the crazy Germans and I’m bright awake… can’t sleep at all.. well.. it’s 5:30 EST US time, what am I thinking…. uuuggghh love time change….. send some prayers my way that we will get to our final destination okay, crazy drivers and all…..

Hope you enjoyed our first chaotic day in Berlin.. tomorrow… Mom & Dad, here we come… stay tuned for probly another Crazy Mom story….. I need a drink and some sleep now……

           Bis Bald…Gute Nacht

More about our Germany 2012 Trip, be sure to check it out HERE