Zossen

Even though my flight wasn’t until the afternoon, I still woke early for some reason and packed up my few final things before heading out for breakfast with Heddi and her family. Since our experience with that awful restaurant a few days back, we have been using Google reviews to check every venue from now on. Heddi found a wonderful cafe just outside their apartment called Next Level Specialty Coffee so we thought we’d give it a try.

We were very glad we did - the service, food and coffee were all great. It made me wonder if it had some sort of Australian connection since they served a flat white (first one I’ve seen in Europe) as well as avocado on toast.

Heddi walked me back to my apartment for a final farewell before I relaxed in my apartment until 11am, the checkout time. The wheels on my suitcase have been giving me grief so I wasn’t looking forward to the 12 minute walk back to the train station in the Málaga heat. I considered paying extra for an Uber and now, in hindsight, I’m wondering if I should have done that!

Everything was going okay, despite the fact that my bag was so difficult to drag, but when I finally arrived at my “destination”, it was not the place I wanted! Despite Google Maps saying it was the train station, it was another part of the city altogether. I tried the directions again, finally arriving at the station as a hot and sweaty mess. And just as annoying, the elevator at the station didn’t work so I had to lug the suitcase all the way down the stairs too.

Fortunately I didn’t have to wait long for a train, although there was a mad rush of people embarking and disembarking. After travelling a few stops, I noticed that there were actually two different trains, and only one of them went to the airport! After waiting to see what station would come next, I was relieved to see I was on the correct train!

As the check-in counters hadn’t opened yet, I parked myself in a Starbucks cafe directly across from them so I could relax with a water and croissant, type up this blog, and easily see when they would open. After checking my bag through to Berlin, I went through the slow security area before looking for my gate. I bought two sandwiches and a bottle of water too, just in case there would be no food option on my flight.

Our flight to Lisbon was on an Embraer, complete with a screaming baby. After seeing our arrival time, I thought it was only going to be a 20 minute flight, before realising that Portugal is in a different time zone, so it was actually 1:20! The flight was mostly uneventful, and upon our arrival in Lisbon we were bussed to the terminal from the aeroplane.

Lisbon airport wasn’t all that interesting, particularly since I couldn’t get any signal in the terminal. I bought myself a coffee and Portuguese tart before sitting down at a charging station which was located right below a departure screen. Once I knew where my Berlin flight was departing from, I collected my things and headed straight for the departure gate.

Once again we needed to catch a bus to the aeroplane, and I was surprised to see a woman with a Qantas bag. We talked briefly before boarding and learned she was a staff traveller. I was very happy with my seat - it was the emergency exit row which had a huge amount of legroom and comfort. I befriended one of the flight attendants who was seated next to us, and I also managed to get another crewfie before the flight landed.

Upon arrival into Berlin, there was quite a long wait for our bags, as the baggage belt was being used for two other flights as well. As it was already past 11pm, I needed to get an Uber to my accommodation, which was easily done as there is an Uber pickup area at Berlin airport. The only difficult part was the wait - it took a while for a driver to take the job, and even then, I had to wait about 20 minutes before he arrived.

The accommodation I’m in is literally in the middle of nowhere! It’s in an area called Mittenwald which was still a distance from the airport. Fortunately the hotel gave me easy instructions to get in - similar to the last accommodation, I needed to retrieve my room key from a lockbox, before opening and re-locking the front door, tiptoeing down a hallway, and going into my room.

To call the room quaint is appropriate - it’s very traditional German style. After the long day today though, I was just so happy to see a shower and a comfortable bed. Tomorrow I will be seeing my German cousins - the first time since 1997!Read more