my long long LONG trip

Before I plunge into how long and exciting(aka.unlucky) my travels were let me preface this by saying that this blog will not be in german despite the title.  Regardless of how much i could use the practice and more able i would be to communicate my experiences here in berlin, this blog is going to be read pretty much only by people who don't speak a lick of german. 

Here is how my day went, and be ready to get impressed by the amount of hours awake

--3:56 am, Thursday, 28 August 2008....california.

woke up before my 4 am alarm because of a bad stalker dream,

peeled myself out of bed and started my long travels.

after removing and replacing several items in my suitcases for questionably no reason, i already weighed all my baggage the night before, i realise now in my morning stupor I removed essentials such as eyebrow tweezers, sunblock, facial mousturizer and more for no reason. too late now! i'm already in berlin:)

--8:30am

finally board the plane, happily and on time.  You will realise soon that this was not a theme of my travels.  i initially sat next to this friendly orange haired lady who kept talkin about how much she loved germany.

-as the flight seems like it should be coming to an end we get an announcement about the air traffic at Newark airport and were forced to kill tim in the air.  this made several other passengers nervous, especially those trying to catch a flight to Milan.  After hearing them complain i became nervous myself.  this is when i realized the girl sitting next to me was also heading to berlin. after some major stressing, a long time spent taxiing and serious elbowing me and my new friend Aleksandra (polish) ran our boots off to the gate. 

--5:02pm Newark, NJ

our plane left without us.

worst part is it left the gate at exactly 5pm and didn't wait the extra 2 minutes for us to board.

oh wait, it gets worse, the plane spent 1 hour taxiing around the runway.

luckily we got a flight from newark to frankfurt and from frankfurt to berlin.it was expected that we would arrive in berlin only 2 hours later and that we would be provided plenty of time to make our connections.

--7:30pm  Newark, NJ

our plane closed its doors on time but did not depart similarly.  we again were taxiied around the runway for about 45 minutes and then there were cargo issues, and on top of that, paperwork issues.  one would assume the paperwould would need to be figured out before all the customers load the plane.

either way, this made me and aleksandra very stressed for time upon our arrival in Frankfurt.

--11:19am Frankfurt, Germany

after going through customs and two security lines we were finally headed for our last connection.  after being heavily scolded in both english and german about how we were too late and not going to be allowed on the plane, alexandra and i were both handed first class lufthansa tickets.  i guess the grumpy old chap was too distracted that he gave us wayyy better tickets than we paid for.  but thats not to say we didn't deserve them!

it was luxurious, i want to take first class all the time now.  warm toilettes, chocolate, friendly stewardesses, leg room.

--13:17 Berlin

both pieces of my luggage were lost.  apparently one was supposed to be on the way to my hotel and the other piece was just completely m.i.a.  She assured me that my one bag would be returned today, but low and behold no luggage :(

at least i packed some extra clothes, but i guess people in germany don't wear flip flops because i keep getting confused stares directed at my feet.  in addition, its been sprinkling off and on, and leggins and a thin, long tank top just isn't going to cut it.  

but my hotel is quite nice! the man working the front desk is so helpful and friendly.  I appreciate so much how he makes an effort to get to know his guests. 

but for one reason or antoher i have gotten very paranoid about someone stealing my stuff.  Perhaps because all my other stuff went missing.  but this has caused me to feel the need to hide my expensive things.  the fear of theft is rational but berlin seems quite safe so far.  

people are kind of in their own world, but i'm finding it refreshing to just be completely on my own.  looking for shampoo, bodywash and lotion (things the hotel lacks because i do not consider a bodywash/shampoo/lotion to be either of the three) i allowed myself to get lost and then found(with a map).  I got some coffee but didn't have much of an appetite so i got only rice bars, an apple and this healthy bread stuff.  I now regret that decision but sleep cures all and once the clock hits 7pm i am out.

i uploaded some pictures, i'm just wayyy too leepy to upload :)

and i'll keep posting

love,

becky