16th March 2013 and we are sitting together filled with excitement for what our journey would hold. Although me and the lovely Salma had hung out a few times it suddenly dawned on us that we had never spent more than 24 hours together and we were about to be away for 8 days. Things couldn't have gone better though. Not only did I get to explore a new place but I came home with an amazing friend for life. Salma is very witty, makes me laugh until I cry and is one of the most caring and thoughtful people I have ever met. She has the great idea that while we were away we should keep a little holiday diary. Next time you go away please try this it is such a fun way to keep track of all the great things you see and do. Personally we are like magnets for random encounters so ours is full of all the crazy people we met along the way.
We flew with Lufthansa and found they were great airline. Considering we booked the cheapest flight we could find short notice they were great we even got free food and drinks despite the flight being short. We had connecting flights from Frankfurt to Berlin.
If you find yourself with time to kill in Frankfurt airport stop by Hausmanns they have the lushest hot chocolate. Maybe not new to anyone else but it it more like a chocolate lolly you swish around in hot milk and it creates a dreamy creamy hot chocolate just what we needed on a snowy day. we didn't eat there but the food looked amazing if not huge. The portions looked big enough for two so well worth the airport pricing. Since we had two flights that day (was super cheap option last minute) we were already munching on chocolate and yogurt provided by our airline so we skipped the food.
Getting to Berlin airport one of the most valuable things of the whole trip I advise you do is buy a weeks travel pass. You can buy one that also gives you discounts to lots of tourist places as well but we just opted for the travel. It means you can travel all week on the buses, underground and overground. public transport in Berlin is awesome and you can buy these at any of the machines located by the stops. We were dead confused but a nice man helped us. We used this so much in our trip and meant you could get around all of Berlin quickly and cheap. Public transport runs till super late and unlike Britain was not phased by the snow.
Having only stayed in a hostel in the UK once before we wanted to try it elsewhere. Again awesome choice. I can not fault St Christophers the staff were amazingly lovely and we befriended them they made our stay both lovely and hilarious.
Staying in an 8 bed dorm was always fun we got to meet some really interesting people from all over the world an amazing nurse from New York who kept us laughing, a ballet dancer from Australia who inspired us with her travel stories and we had some many more people come and go in our week but all were really friendly, respectful and fun to talk to. It is a great way to meet new similar people, share stories and find out about more awesome places to go! You also get free breakfast in the morning and it is super cheap to stay there There were curtains on the beds for extra privacy and everything was really clean.
St Christophers is also above Belushis bar which is constantly partying really cheap drinks offers and packed with awesome entertainment and lovely staff. a great place to start or even end the night. . The staff told us lots of great places to go and things to try out in our stay.
Berlin is really easy to find your way around and even if you do get lost everyone is so friendly they are more than happy to help out.We had several people see us looking at maps and just come up to help us out of nowhere which is a refreshing change from British people desperately not trying to make eye contact with lost looking people.
Packed full of culture and history there is no way you can get bored. Even in 8 days we still didn't manage to do everything. I am going to write another post about some of my favourite places because there is just so much to say about this amazing inspiring place. A lot of the places are free or very cheap to go into so you can go to Berlin and see lots on a budget. Our hostel was central to everything and we were close to sights like the TV tower and Museum island. I have so many pictures of the beautiful art from around the city so look out for those posts.
In all I came home from Berlin wanting desperately to return. I have never felt so at home somewhere so quickly.Friendly people, lots of places to go and an amazing atmosphere. I feel learning German grabbing Salma and running away there for good. If you get the chance to go jump on it because I know I will be heading back there soon! I would love to thank staff at St christophers Gigi for your smiles, Sam for your Irish cheek, Vas for your charm and the lovely Daniel for the banter between them guys and Salma I had the best Birthday a woman could dream of and you know what? being 30 ain't so bad!
Looks amazing wifey!
ReplyDeleteIt was super awesome <3
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