Thanks for joining me again, this week I wanted to talk a little about the first part of my journey to live in Australia and my experiences in the wonderful city of Berlin! If you haven’t read the prologue to this ‘story’ then please click here and enjoy!
I’d always fancied going to Germany because it’s so close to the UK and the flight is super short so I thought why not make this the first part of my trip? It’s funny really, Europe was always so close but save for a school trip to France and one trip to Disneyland Paris I had never really ventured to what was essentially on my doorstep.
I’d always had an interest in World War II History and studied it in Sixth form and University so I thought this might scratch a bit of an itch for me as well as help me to see what Europe outside of the UK and France could be like. The beginning of my travels was only a 5-day trip and I thought about how I’d make my ‘base camp’. I’d wanted to save money but also live a little bit like a stereotypical traveller.
I decided it’d be a good idea to get a Hostel in central Berlin as a means of pushing myself to be more social with my roommates and other people staying there. This wouldn’t be my first time in a Hostel as I had stayed in them a lot in Japan (and let me tell you they are fantastic out there in my experience) but this was with friends for the most part, so I thought if I’m traveling alone I’d better make a bit more of an effort to meet new people.
I remember I landed on a Sunday and had no idea mostly everything was shut, Unlike the UK where shops were just on reduced hours, WHAT’S THAT ABOUT!?. I left the airport and luckily the airport bus was running quite close to where I was staying albeit on reduced hours so I went to hop on but was told I’d need to buy a ticket from the kiosk rather than pay on the bus.
Already I was getting a bit anxious because I felt like I’d made an idiot of myself… ‘typical tourist’. However the bus driver was a really relaxed guy and offered to show me how to get a ticket as the bus was pretty empty and ahead of schedule. I thought to myself I shouldn’t feel so negative right away, this turned into a positive experience so don’t worry so much.
Finally I arrived quite close to my Hostel and began to walk, this was the first time I’d be walking for more than a few minutes with my large stereotypical traveller backpack and a small carryon suitcase and I truly felt like my journey had begun, I’m in a totally new country and I’m alone so I better start deciding what I want to do and get to it! I headed to my Hostel, checked in and noticed my room mates were not there so headed out for a while.
I thought I’d just walk a bit aimlessly through the city to get my bearings and decided to get myself a Metro ticket for the trains and trams throughout my trip. Me being a dumb tourist had no idea I had to ‘validate’ the ticket by stamping it after purchase at the same machine to say when I bought it. A day later I had an inspector at another station demand I pay a fine for not validating and saying they would take me to a cash point to do so.
When I pleaded that I was a tourist and didn’t know the system (and also that it wasn’t exactly clear at the station I used) he luckily decided to let me go if I validated it then and there. This was a pretty lucky escape from what I’ve read online with many tourists getting fined an extortionate amount for something that seems not to be super clear. SO PLEASE VALIDATE THE TICKET WHEN YOU BUY IT GUYS.
After some continued aimless walking and freezing my ass off because I didn’t seem to understand that January in Europe = cold pretty much everywhere, I decided to head back to the Hostel and see if I could do some research on how to reach some of the places I wanted to visit like Checkpoint Charlie. My room mates were back so I decided to talk to them. There is always this awkward silence in a hostel room when someone you don’t know walks in, you wonder ‘are they gonna be okay or annoying?’ I knew what they were thinking so introduced myself.
They were really welcoming from the start and were super chill. They were both from Canberra, Australia and making their way to the UK to live and I was doing the opposite so we started to swap tips and tricks on what to expect in each other’s country. I specifically remember them telling me ‘Just don’t go to Canberra my guy, Melbourne is way better.’
These guys were great, super friendly and were happy to go to a bunch of places with me or invite me to go with them, every night we’d end up getting blasted in the Hostel bar but it really helped me open up to complete strangers. It’s a shame I didn’t keep in touch with them but it helped solidify my ‘mantra’ for the rest of the trip which was, just talk to people and get to know them.
This has helped me so much in my life since then, just talk to people you don’t know. Be friendly to the cashier, talk to the person running the market stall, say hello to the lovely old couple walking in the same park as you. You never know what will come from it, you could make a friend for life or you could just make your day.
As happy as I was to start coming out of the shell I made for myself and embrace this new future, there was a big part of me that felt like reaching out to my Ex-Girlfriend while I was in Berlin. Almost as if to say ‘Hey look at me I am happy I got over it’ but I am SO glad I didn’t get in contact with them in any way.
At times this trip was like a form of evidence that proved I can remove myself from the pain I was feeling mentally as far as possible and if I messaged them, what would I actually say…. ‘Hey I’m traveling, I quit my job and totally removed myself from our hometown in order to do everything possible to move on’, I can’t see that going down well. Reading it back I see how totally cringey that all is but it’s how I felt at the time.
Ultimately not holding on to my past was the making of me. Most of my time in Berlin was just me having headphones on and seeing the sights but that’s exactly what I needed at the time. I was still a little out of my comfort zone so when my roommates were not around, I’d end up going to the same place every night and ordering a huge schnitzel and using their free Wifi in order to see what all my friends thought of me traveling.
Really outside of the few liking a post here and there, nothing changed. I’m so glad that’s the way it went because who really, truly cared what you’re doing outside of your close friends and family? I think this helped me realise you don’t need to impress anyone; you’re traveling for your own reasons and you need to just take in every moment as it comes. Is getting a certain amount of likes and comments really worth it, not really!
To be honest I didn’t really plan this part of the trip out too well, I’m usually super thorough with planning my trips but I kind of went with the flow, saw some sights and went to some off the beaten track type places, one being a Video Game Museum which was quite a bit of fun but also out of the way to get to from where I was staying.
I got to go to Checkpoint Charlie and learn a little about the history of the place and the area, as well as venture to a number of known tourist hotspots but I wish I could go back sometimes and take it all in while being in a better frame of mind.
A bizarre stand out memory for me is making my way to the Berlin TV Tower (because why not it’s a funky landmark?) and while walking down Alexanderplatz literally every lamp post had an advert for ‘Dildo King’ just out in the open with no shame. I felt like Berlin was pretty open to be honest compared to other European cities but I didn’t expect Dildo advertisements all over the place and it still makes me laugh today!
I’d quite like to go back to Berlin and Germany in general someday, I think it was a really great place to stop but I was still not totally out of my comfort zone at the time, I could’ve seen and done a lot more for sure! At the time of writing this, I’ve begun to venture more into my neighbouring countries with my wife and love it so I am sure we will stop by in the future.
With this part of the trip winding down It was time to head to the airport and get on a flight to South Korea, I remember I almost planned to go to the wrong airport as Berlin has two and thank god, I always triple check everything. I ate my last currywurst and decided to head off with a renewed sense of adventure, next stop Seoul!
Interviews With You! By Lewis Jane 