Flight of the Condor

Germany

Here I sit at the Hotel Chateau Kurfurstendamm in Berlin, winding down after a whirlwind of a travel day. Condor Air flight DE2403 took off on April 6 at 7:55 PM and landed Frankfurt Germany around 930 AM on April 7th, German time. Just a nerdy note, Germany is 6 hours ahead of Toronto. Condor Air is Lufthansa's discount airline and it was anything but. They get a Don Cherry Thumbs up from me. Next up was a boring 5 hour layover in Frankfurt with very little sleep, but then an easy 50 minute flight to Berlin. There were sleeping pods called NapCabs  that could be rented for 17 Euro an hour, two hour minimum. Normally I am all over airport sleeping pods, but I passed this time and decided to have a breakfast beer instead, well two breakfast beers but it is Germany so don't judge.

This is my first stop on a well needed and much delayed trek back out into the world. I am not going to share my plans because they may change/usually change along the way but I will share that this is going to be an old guy GAP year trip. 

GO Train Niagara

 I am going to repeat myself from my previous post in December when I went to Mexico. Instead of dealing with driving, long term parking or some type of overpriced airport shuttle, and if you have a bit of patience and are ready to putting your earbuds in and watch the world go by, then by all means you save some cash going to Pearson Airport, especially on the weekends. Get yourself a ride to the Go Transit station in Niagara, or your station of choice because the $10 GO Transit weekend pass allows for unlimited travel on any GO train or bus throughout the day on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Shit, even if you want to catch a Jays game, it is there and back on the same $10 ticket...so get off your ass. Anyways, once you get to Union, walk the 10 minutes to the Union Pearson Express Train to the airport, just follow the large brown UP signs while embracing the madness that can be Toronto Union Station. The ticket to Pearson is $12.35 and the ride takes about 20 minutes. So it is 2.5 hours on the GO train, 10 minute walk and 20 minutes to pearson for $22.35. That is a good deal in my books anytime.

Who said the Germans are not funny

I did watch a few Youtube Videos on how to get from Berlin Brandenburg Airport to Berlin Station, and it was helpful. That being said and this being Germany it was easy enough, but again thank you YouTube.  Google Maps gave me detailed numbers that I would take to my station. Buying the ticket is straight forward from the machine, just remember to validated it in the time stamp machine. There are very few train police checking tickets but when they do, and if they find you are skipping paying the fare I guess the price is steep. My ticket was 2.40 Euros, about $375 and it took about a hour. Again I cannot stress this enough Google Maps kicks ass with transit directions. You do not need to download the Berlin transit app just because you are told to.

Charlie wishing me a great trip

I went for a walk around the neighbourhood and found a vietnamese restaurant and dug in. Next up was a SIM card. I found a TeleKom shop about 15 minutes away and was up and running 10 minutes after that, just bring your passport. I got a 30 day 25MG plan for 25 Euro (38$ Canadian) and it is good for all of Europe which is fantastic and smart. I am leaving Europe on May 13th so there may be a gap of about a week but I am sure Europe has a plan for that.

...4 hours later. So Jet lag has decided to slap me in the face, It is 3AM and I am wide awake, sleep is not an option. Strange as it sound I go not get much Jet Lag if I fly West, but when I fly East I get destroyed. So be it, it is a first world problem.