Goodbyes and arriving in Berlin

After much fanfare and goodbyes, some emotional, some even more, I finally left South Africa to start my new life in Berlin. A bit of a hard reset considering all I’m leaving behind and how little I have taken with, but it needed to be done. Anyone having done something similar will be able to tell you that though you feel a lot of excitement and anticipation for the new adventure lying ahead, there is also a tinge of sadness. Or at least I’d hope there would be a tinge of sadness when leaving friends, family and a life behind.

Regardless, after a two legged flight connecting via Abu Dhabi consisting of two delightful little toddlers behind me being periodically less than happy concerning everything from the food, length of the flight, the moisture in the air and the lack of cloud whales being spotted in the darkness, I finally landed in Berlin on a bright sunny Saturday afternoon. This is where it is meant to go all smoothly with a future colleague fetching me from the airport and taking me directly to my new apartment so I can have a nice hot shower and change my clothes. Unfortunately, little did I know that there had been a bit of a misunderstanding which resulted in me landing and waiting at the airport… For a while. Other flights landed and people came and went, so I tried phoning. Straight to voice mail. That’s odd. Finally, I thought to myself that he could be waiting at the main building (The one with Terminal A and B… And maybe D as well, but not C where I was) and hurried there, the large luggage containing my new life in tow. After an unfortunate long flight of stairs and what should have been a short distance walk, having not slept it felt like a distance in excess of a kilometre or seven but was more likely a mere 500m, I arrived and… No one. This could be a bit of a problem

Luckily, before receiving word that a colleague was supposedly going to fetch me, I had downloaded Berlin on Google Maps on my phone (Nifty feature to allow offline access). I also saved the address of the apartment, making life a bit easier. Buying a day pass and taking one of those free maps of the public transport system I thought to myself, how hard can this be. Not too difficult at all actually, but I have some prior experience. En route to the apartment I got a very distressed call from my colleague apologising profusely and stating that he had the weekends slightly muddled up. So muddled up that he wasn’t even in town to help. However, his brother, who would also be a colleague come the Monday, would do his best to assist. During this conversation another issue dawned on us. Namely that I was not in possession of the keys to said apartment. This could prove to be an issue, but there is meant to be an office at the apartment building where the caretaker would hand me the keys, hopefully.

Offices of caretakers tend to be closed on Saturdays. After much communicating with the colleague now helping me and numerous phone calls by him we finally determined that it is hopeless and the agent is unreachable. Right. Feeling more and more desperate for a hot shower I started off hunting for a hotel, large luggage containing my new life getting ever heavier. With the help of my colleague we located a decent hotel just off Alexanderplatz. So nice when things work out easily for a change. Except… It didn’t. It would appear something is happening the weekend and they are fully booked out. Time to find another I suppose. Feeling I am in the perfect area my colleague decides that there are more than enough options and I should just wander around until I find one with a room. Wander I did, with large luggage containing my new life getting heavy enough that I’m starting to debate if it is really that essential to my life still in tow. After a bit of wandering, turning around a few times and most probably amusing/confusing the poor Asian gentlemen sitting at a table outside a random takeaway place who kept smiling at me every time I walked past, I finally found a hotel with an open room. Open room with a hot shower and a bed, what more do you want. Food… You generally want food after lugging around that so essential piece of luggage all day…

Sometimes you have to stop and appreciate the atmosphere

Thank you to my now colleagues. They proved very helpful considering the situation and knowing myself I’m not quite sure where I would have ended up that night had they not helped. Desperate emergency Airbnb requests anyone?