Germany Trip 2022 Day 1 (4th June) Berlin

Finally, our first post- Covid trip! 

For the past two years, I've been booking and canceling/postponing many many trips due to the onset of COVID19 and finally things are more or less getting back to normal, and we got on the plane again after 28 long months. 

Ever since our Italy trip in Dec 2019, we've been wanting to go back and visit more of Europe. The grand plan for 2020 was to visit US in June and then Europe in Dec, but of course none of that happened.

Last year, VTL was announced somewhere in September and on the very same day, I booked tickets to Japan even though Japan is not part of the VTL countries. I did not travel in November/ December 2021 as traveling out of the country was still considered risky and there were many tests and procedures to follow.  Till end of November, Japan was still not part of VTL and dates of my travel were pushed back by SQ. I started scanning through countries under the VTL scheme and chanced upon Copenhagen which still have biz saver tickets for me to redeem and I quickly snatched those. Of course, by March or April this year, VTL is already a history and we do not have to get on board specific flights to avoid quarantine anymore. However, till today, Japan has not opened its doors so I canceled my tickets to Japan a few weeks before this. 

Germany is neighbour to Copenhagen Denmark where there are lots of interesting place for tourists, its also the first country which started the VTL scheme with Singapore so I reckoned its pretty safe to travel here, it has not closed its doors to tourists for many months. After our previous trip to Italy on Etihad, I promised myself that we will travel to Europe on business class so that the long flight hours will be more enjoyable. I started scanning through Google for the cheapest one way biz class tickets to Germany and Turkish Airlines had been on my rader for its cheap tickets since last year. I booked my tickets to Berlin in March this year and started counting down to the trip. 

TK biz class check in counter

The number of days to the trip finally became single digits... 1 and then 0. Our flight was at 11.30pm last night and we planned to get out of our place by 7.30pm but procrastination set in and I only started packing everything around 6pm yesterday. We finally got out of the house at 8.30pm and arrived at the airport and checked in at 9.30pm. There was a long queue for economy class and only a few people before us at the biz class counter. Despite the short queue, it took them time to issue tickets as they had to check on our vax cert, our departing tix (as we booked one way), our passports and that was about it. 

The tickets and lounge passes were issued

The marhaba business lounge for TK biz

We wanted to get to the airport early for the lounge experience but our timing was actually just right in the end. One hour at the lounge was more than enough as the lounge was just average, I think it was quite similar to the Etihad lounge at Abu Dhabi which I used my priority passes to get us into during the Italy trip. Anyway I did not bother to take any photos since it was just average but very crowded. The crowd at Changi airport was quite similar to pre-covid days, we got to the gate and waited at the fully packed waiting lounge for quite awhile before boarding began. As we were taking J class, we had priority boarding and felt really good about it.

Finally on board! 

Welcome drinks for us

The amenity kit was actually pretty neat

P was quite excited about the trip and taking biz class to Europe, but he is visibly disappointed after seeing our assigned seats. This is the second time he's taking biz class and the previous one on JAL was really WOW for him. TK biz for our flight lack the hardware as the seats are pretty exposed and do not have the private cubicles unlike JAL and SQ. People who saw our photos would probably have no idea these are biz class seats. Luckily I had already went through videos prior to the flight and managed his expectations before we board. Comfort and amenities wise, I thought TK 55 was actually really good, even better than SQ flights, just a pity the configuration of the biz class seats looked lok kok and no wow factor. Anyway, we'll be flying back by SQ two weeks later so we can look forward to that, while feeling sad that our trip has ended.

 

Width of the seat not too bad honestly

Screen is far so we can lie flat

My previous two times taking biz class was on SQ and JAL, service by the crew were much better for those flights. As like other flights we took to Europe and US, the cabin crew appeared rather aloof. However, they took time to place some seat cover and pillow cover for us and 'make our bed' before the first meal service. The flight only finally took off near midnight so we were actually wanting very much to go to sleep but when I was pressing the button to turn my chair into a bed, the crew serving us reminded me that supper is coming up in 10 min. Unlike JAL which quickly serve up the food so that passengers can quickly fall into deep slumber, they took their time serving the appetizer, main course and dessert. 

Appetizer of soup, cold dishes, cheese and bread. 

Loved the candlelight, olive oil, salt and pepper

Seafood main course was just average

Strawberry cheesecake was not too bad

After the dishes were finally cleared away, we could make our bed flat and lie down. At this point, I felt that being able to sleep well for the 10+ hours flight is really worth it, as TK is the cheapest biz class flight to Europe when we bought the tickets at $1700+ sgd per pax for one way. My throat became really dry and uncomfortable after sleeping for around four hours so I woke up, wore my mask and got back to sleep again. The lip balm and the mist in the amenities kit helped too as I was too lazy to get my bag and dig through my stuff. P on the other hand, slept for 8h and he was very satisfied at the end of it, asking me to book TK again for our year end Europe trip. 

P slept really well and skipped his breakfast on flight

The breakfast appetizer

Breakfast main was not too bad

I did not watch any movie during this long 10h flight as I wanted to get as much rest as I can, since we still have a full day ahead of us. I woke up with 2 hours left in the flight as the cabin crew was waking us up for breakfast, many around us just slept through breakfast like P. It was around 8am SG time but local time to Istanbul was about 3am so it was very confusing. I was not hungry at all but ate breakfast anyway. 

Quite a grand entrance to the TK lounge

This is just one of the few areas with the vast drinks selection

My favourite was the warm and crunchy bread with cheese

After reaching Istanbul, we got off the plane quite fast as we were in Row 2. There was a long walk to clear immigration with lots of people taking Turkish airways to different parts of the world. Luckily, for biz class passengers, we were diverted to different queues away from the long economy lines. No more nightmares like what we experienced in Abu Dhabi. After clearing the immigration fairly quickly, we looked for the TK lounge for biz class passengers. On another note, the Istanbul airport is really nice, with the shops new and modern like Changi Airport. There were lots of people all over the place as TK is having a very competitive pricing and bringing people from all over the world to transit at Istanbul, giving the ME3 airlines a run for their money. The hardware on board TK55 777-300ER is not as nice for the J class but I've heard really good things about the lounge in Istanbul.

Huge seating area overlooking the shops

Turkish sweets which I did not try

The lounge did not fail us as it was way better than the Marhaba lounge in terms of space, grandeur, food etc. It took up a huge space on the second floor of the terminal, looking over all the shops and boarding gates in the surroundings. I was not hungry but had to try some of the food offered while getting a good break during the 2 hour stopover. I looked for a shower room as it would be nice to freshen up, there was a huge toilet but I did not see any shower facilities. No biggie though. 

The huge toilet though no showers available

Posh rows of lockers for people to put their belongings

Rows of desserts, yogurt and stuff

Nice lounge area overlooking the shops

Our next flight was at 7.45am so we reached the lounge early at 5am local time and it was quite crowded at sunrise. The crowd slowly reduced and eventually our boarding gate opened around 6.45am and we decided to make our way to the gate since we will be boarding fast. I'm quite glad that boarding time was punctual as the seating area around the boarding gate was full when we arrived, so we just immediately stood in line as we saw some biz class passengers already forming up. The guy at the boarding gate checked on our vax cert as well and I'm glad I've gotten them printed and easily accessible in my bag. 

Welcome drinks

My favourite Spiderman! 

The biz class area is relatively full again and its quite similar to the long haul we have taken earlier, even though there were not slippers, blankets, pillows and amenity kits etc. Anyway, I've brought the slippers along from the previous flight and put them on as soon as I got settled down. There was some ottoman thingy in front to put shoes and bags and throughout the flights all the tall Europeans were able to lie flat on their seats so I guess the space and width is definitely good enough.

Third round of breakfast, only appetizers!

Just 3.80 Euro for the train ticket to Berlin Central Station

The flight time was around 2 hour + and we finally got to Berlin new international airport after a long long flight(s) away from home. Despite having priority tags, our luggages took quite awhile to appear. Other than that and a very short queue at immigration (due to priority boarding and deplaning), there were no other checks. But we're not quite done yet as we had to find our way to Berlin Central Station, where I've booked a hotel really near to it. We found the platforms to get tickets for the trains and I also asked the staff stationed there for guidance to the Berlin Central Station (hbf), the trains she mentioned were the same ones as the directions on my Google map.

There were several flights which just arrived so there were very long queues at the station and only two ticketing machines before getting down to the platforms. After getting to the platforms, I realised there were more machines everywhere but as we just arrived, we did not know that and just stood in line with everyone else. As like the tickets in Italy, we realised that we had to validate the tickets as the tickets were for general one way trips and there wasnt any gantries like our country and most places. I'm familiar with ticket validation but we were a bit lost on where to validate the tickets as it was so crowded on the platform that we missed the small red/yellow machines just next to the ticket machines. It was a relatively cheap ticket getting to the city with no specific seating and when it arrived, thongs of people just went for the doors. We soon realised we had no way to get up that particular train we were waiting for and decided to just wait for the next one which is a blessing too since it was not so crowded. 

The next train was at another platform in 20min and I took the chance to get a bottle of water from the stand as I was really thirsty (no bottled water for short regional flights on TK). The bottled water cost 3 euro (almost same as the train tix) and that was considered the tourist price and quite expensive. We found the ticket validation machine, got on the next train and interestingly saw lots of bicycles parked at the luggage area (realised its pretty common for people to bring their bikes on trains if they have the permits) and not quite enough space for our luggages so we just left it off the rack. Fortunately, it was just a short ride and honestly we dont feel as overwhelmed in Berlin train stations compared to the one in Rome, so we thought it was quite safe to take the train despite the crowd and everything. 

Outside the Berlin hbf

Cosy beds for three nights

Nice long desk for work and a small table for chilling

The toilet and shower area

We can see the station and the streets below

Our hotel (Steigenberger Hotel Am Kanzleramt) is a common chain hotel in Germany and I'll really recommend this to anyone coming to Berlin. Its really really near to the train station and I always make it a point to stay near the central station as we wouldnt want to tow our luggages around town looking for the hotels. Despite just minutes away from the station, we went to the wrong exit when we first arrived and walked one big round before arriving at the hotel. I already had a hunch this would happen but had no time to figure the right way to go before we left the station. 

The weather was fine when we finally got here around noon, and after 18 long hours of traveling, we finally reached the destination! Other than the close proximity to the station, the hotel was new and modern with comfortable rooms. I'm really glad that the room was ready when we checked-in as check-in time was supposed to be 3pm and we were all mentally prepared to drop our luggages and walk around a little first. 

The Reichstag with the glass dome behind

Brandenburg Gate

We were really glad that the room was ready so early, we did not felt very tired as we slept well on the plane, but it was still good to freshen up. We rest for awhile in the room and went out to explore again around 3pm. Honestly speaking, arriving at Berlin has less of the 'WOW' factor as compared to the times we just arrived at Manchester, UK and Rome, Italy. Or that was what I thought. (I'm penning this post after days of exploring Germany and Berlin, it does has a lot more to offer but Berlin has less of the European and rustic feel as we only ventured closer to the station on the first day.)

From our hotel room, we can already see the Spree River and the Riechstag building with its interesting dome. Many tourists were heading towards that direction so we just followed. We saw many people just lazing around the river as it was the weekend, the sun was strong and shiny as it is summer but not humid like Singapore. I was again thirsty and bought another bottled water for 3 euro again, it's considered expensive and I would never spend more that 2 euro on 500ml water after that. 

As compared to Rome Forum, the Brandenburg Gate is not as grand but there were many people milling around and also wandering to the Tiergarten park opposite. We got to the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe, its a very poignant structure but not many signs and posts around so really up to our own interpretation. From the Youtube videos, I thought it's disrespectful to sit on those solemn looking structures but many people are doing that or sort of amuse themselves but playing a little hide and seek walking through the structure. I must say at this point we got a bit tired and hungry from the long flight to fully appreciate what we saw. 

Very nice seating area at Vapiano

Cheap and delicious Italian food

After walking to Potsdamer platz, I was really hungry and ready to have our first meal in Germany. Its ironic to have italian fare for our first meal in Germany, but that was what we did. We saw this Vapiano restaurant with many people seated outside and the food looked great. There was a self service kiosk which we had to figure out how to operate in a foreign language and we managed to do so, we only waited for a short while and the food was served soon enough. 

Potsdamer plaza

Train station near Checkpoint Charlie

Honestly we felt much better after having a good late lunch/ early dinner, but our fuse was also running short as it had been a long time since we last had a good sleep on the bed. On top of that, Germany can be quite hot with strong sunlight in the summer so after we walked around a bit more, we reached Checkpoint Charlie and decided that we wanted to head back to hotel for a rest. I was looking out for the Berlin Wall but did not see any of those, I think I had the misconception the walls are still around when in fact it was just two lines of bricks on the ground so I missed it. Checkpoint Charlie was also quite touristy, a lot of people milling around to take pictures of the historical point but to me, there was nothing much to see at all.

Validating our tickets

We stopped by at the nearby Mcdonald's to chill off a bit, P got himself a milkshake to satisfy his craving but he claimed that it was disappointing as there were a lot of ice cubes inside. We were then 2km away from the hotel and I did not want to walk back at all as I felt very tired. P claimed that it's just a short walk but I pulled him to take the U bahn anyway. Noting that the ticket cost another 7 euros for both of us, I made up my mind to get us the 9 euros tickets right after this. 

We went back to the hotel, washed up and I knocked out around 8pm. A really early night for me as we decided to take a day trip out to Dresden the next day.