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Old 30 Oct 18, 01:43 PM  
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Goldia
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Beer, Bears and Bratwurst in Berlin - pre travel day Monday 22nd October 2018

Welcome to the Beer, Bears and Bratwurst in Berlin trip report!

We had 6 days and 5 nights in Berlin. During our stay we drank some beer.



We saw lots of bears.



And we ate some Bratwurst.



Plus we did a lot of walking.

First, some introductions and a very small pre trip.

I’m Abby, my DH is Dave and we have 2 children Max (14) and Kate (11). Here we are at WDW this summer.



We love a city break in October half term and this year we were trying out Germany as we’d never been before, specifically Berlin. We like walking and each day we had a tour designed by me so that we could take in the sights of the city.

I ended up booking the flights and hotel as a package through Expedia for £1300. This included Easyjet flights from Gatwick and 5 nights at the Novotel Suites Hotel at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin.

It was a late booking made just 16 days before we traveled. I’d been looking at various options for a holiday and in the end I went for Berlin.

It was an early flight out of LGW with take off at 6.45am but that was good as it meant we would have the whole day in the city. We always like to stay over at the airport the night before travel anyway. I looked up various parking and hotel options and APH was coming out cheapest at £80 for the parking and an overnight stay at the Airport Inn. We haven’t used these before as we normally go for Premier Inn sleep, park, fly.

Then I read as much information as I could find on the Dibb. The rather excellent report by CrispyA on her families trip to Berlin over Easter was exceptionally useful as this mentioned the possibility of booking up the Reichstag (parliament building). It is free to go up to the top of the Reichstag and see the views of the city but you have to book a time slot in advance. So, thanks to seeing it in her report I booked it up. However, in the email confirmation of our time slot was the information that the dome itself would be closed for cleaning for the whole week so while we could go up to the top of the building we wouldn’t be allowed access to the dome.

I also contacted lovely Caroline (Cazzius on here) for advice on Berlin. She gave me some wonderful tips about what we could do and tours that would be interesting and also gave some fabulous restaurant recommendations. When I looked at the location of some her restaurant suggestions I realised many were within 15 minutes walking distance from our hotel and so these were quickly added to the plan.

Back to pre travel day

I woke up at 3.51am and couldn’t go back to sleep so in the end I got up, pootled around on the Dibb and drank lots of tea before the others finally got up.

I went over to my friends for a coffee around 10am and left strict instructions for Dave and the kids to get their packing started. Of course, when I say packing I mean laying out the clothes they want to take on their bed for my inspection and approval.

Dave was a bit worried about being left in charge, but I said all I expected was for the kids to be showered and dressed by the time I got back.

I was not disappointed when I returned home as the kids were dressed and they had even washed as well!

Dave had prepared his offering of clothes he wanted to pack for my inspection.



And so had Max.



Kate of course had already packed the day before!



We left home at 3.12pm. During packing we realised we’d lost the European plug adapters as they weren’t in their usual place plus there were a couple of other bits and bobs we wanted to buy so we stopped off at Tesco first. Unfortunately Tesco let us down as they had no plug adapters. I guess it is the wrong time of year as in summer they have a large selection of travel items. We did get some snacks for the journey, milkshakes for the kids, frappes for me and Dave. We also bought a couple of bits for breakfast in the morning.

We arrived at the APH parking at just gone 5pm. This was a break from tradition for us as we had to drop off the car at the car park first then get on the bus to the airport and then transfer to the hotel from there. The parking was miles away from LGW, well about 15 minutes on the bus, and then we had to pay £9 for the hotel bus.

I was already thinking this was going to be annoying on the return journey and that maybe APH was not going to be a favourite ... then we arrived at the hotel.

It was very tatty. We don’t mind basic or small, but the room itself didn’t look like it had been decorated in my lifetime.





The only saving grace was that there were bunkbeds and so the kids got their own bed and there was no fighting over who should have the little mini bed they pop into the PI family rooms.





I took a few room photos.



The kids said the rungs on the ladder up to the top bunk were really painful on their feet.





Dave had some of his wine while I had a can of G&T.







Here are some photos of the bathroom - it was actually a good size and it was at least clean.







We went down for some dinner just after 7pm and sat at table number 40 in the bar. There was a very large TV screen and they were showing Titanic, it was on Film4, the sound was muted but they had subtitles.



Titanic was the movie of our first WDW holiday…it always seemed to be on the TV when we returned to the room at night and we caught the same 15 minutes for what felt like every evening while we were getting ready for bed. I don’t think that Kate remembered it really.



Max ordered a coke zero and The Works burger. This had bacon, cheese, salad and then onion rings on the top of the burger. It came with a side of fries.



Dave had an IPA beer and The Works burger.

Kate had a coke zero and a bacon cheeseburger, which was identical to the boys burgers but without the onion rings.



I had a gin and tonic and a brie, bacon and cranberry sandwich with fries. This had way too much cranberry sauce on, but was otherwise tasty enough.



The burgers were all a bit dry and just ok. The best thing about the meal was that it was served very fast, within 15 minutes of ordering. The bill was around £70 so fairly pricey really for 3 burgers a sandwich and a round of drinks! This turned out to be the most expensive meal of our trip! Berlin is cheaper than a shoddy airport hotel dinner.

The only other plus was the kids enjoyed reading out the subtitles from the movie. So they ended up doing a bizarre karaoke version of Titanic.

We raced through dinner and were back in the room by 7.49pm! The kids found the film4 channel on the TV and settled in to watch the end of the movie.

We all got ready for bed (the kids took shifts in the bathroom during the adverts). The movie finished at 9pm and we settled down to sleep. Dave read a little but it wasn’t long before he settled down to sleep.

Steps today: 11,802 - just getting started for our walking tour.

Join us tomorrow as we fly to Berlin and then visit Alexanderplatz, Unter den Linden and see some little green men...just in case you don't believe me.

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New pre trip report - Summer 2024

Link to all my completed trip reports
2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
2018: Orlando. Berlin.
2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC.
2020: DLP.
2021: Jamaica. Rome.
2022: Orlando.
2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto.
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Old 30 Oct 18, 02:43 PM  
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Campinggirl
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Great start to the report. Loving the bunkbeds, our kids always argue over the Premier Inn little bed but they would also argue over who sleeps on the top bunk if we had bunkbeds!

Looking forward to reading more.
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Old 30 Oct 18, 07:15 PM  
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Goldia
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Originally Posted by Campinggirl View Post
Great start to the report. Loving the bunkbeds, our kids always argue over the Premier Inn little bed but they would also argue over who sleeps on the top bunk if we had bunkbeds!

Looking forward to reading more.
Honestly my two can argue over anything! They will argue if it's a double bed as they don't want to share. They argue over who gets the camp bed at PI and now it seems they will argue over bunk beds too. I'm glad they are not the onyl ones, it's very reassuring.

I'm hoping to get day 1 up tomorrow.
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Abby
New pre trip report - Summer 2024

Link to all my completed trip reports
2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
2018: Orlando. Berlin.
2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC.
2020: DLP.
2021: Jamaica. Rome.
2022: Orlando.
2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto.
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Old 30 Oct 18, 07:44 PM  
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Melbatb
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I love Berlin! My DH and DS went in September and said how reasonable it was (they didn’t sightsee much as they were there for a festival )
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2016 Quebec - Kuala Lumpar - New York City 2017 Dubai - Eurocamps France - Ontario and Quebec - So-Cal 2018 Montreal - Bangkok - New England 2019 Argentina - Quebec City - Hong Kong - 2020 Switzerland 2022 Arizona - Costa Med Cruise - Oslo 2023 Hong Kong - Gothenburg
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Old 30 Oct 18, 09:07 PM  
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Goldia
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Originally Posted by Melbatb View Post
I love Berlin! My DH and DS went in September and said how reasonable it was (they didn’t sightsee much as they were there for a festival )
Hey There! Long time no speak/see/read?

Anyway...we'd never been to Germany at all apart from the German pavilion in world showcase at Epcot, but Kate told me before the trip that this didn't count! We had a brilliant time and I hope you enjoy reading along.
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Abby
New pre trip report - Summer 2024

Link to all my completed trip reports
2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
2018: Orlando. Berlin.
2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC.
2020: DLP.
2021: Jamaica. Rome.
2022: Orlando.
2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto.
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Old 30 Oct 18, 09:47 PM  
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Melbatb
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Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
Hey There! Long time no speak/see/read?

Anyway...we'd never been to Germany at all apart from the German pavilion in world showcase at Epcot, but Kate told me before the trip that this didn't count! We had a brilliant time and I hope you enjoy reading along.
We lived in Munich for 4 years and O is German born so it is a place very close to my heart!

I do lurk on your Florida reports but I am not a big Florida poster!
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Index of my trip reports
2016 Quebec - Kuala Lumpar - New York City 2017 Dubai - Eurocamps France - Ontario and Quebec - So-Cal 2018 Montreal - Bangkok - New England 2019 Argentina - Quebec City - Hong Kong - 2020 Switzerland 2022 Arizona - Costa Med Cruise - Oslo 2023 Hong Kong - Gothenburg
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Old 31 Oct 18, 08:43 AM  
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Goldia
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Originally Posted by Melbatb View Post
We lived in Munich for 4 years and O is German born so it is a place very close to my heart!

I do lurk on your Florida reports but I am not a big Florida poster!
I hope we do Berlin justice. There were so many parks, monuments and statues that we just stumbled upon from walking and not using public transport. I've got lots of photos to share.
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Abby
New pre trip report - Summer 2024

Link to all my completed trip reports
2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
2018: Orlando. Berlin.
2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC.
2020: DLP.
2021: Jamaica. Rome.
2022: Orlando.
2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto.
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Old 2 Nov 18, 07:31 PM  
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This is a nice surprise, I didn't know you were planning a trippie for Berlin
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Old 2 Nov 18, 08:40 PM  
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Goldia
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Originally Posted by collybird View Post
This is a nice surprise, I didn't know you were planning a trippie for Berlin
I can't resist doing them now. I love to write them up to look back on. This was pretty quick to do though. I have already written up my notes (voice memos again...that was fun to do!) and so it's just a case of posting the photos in the right places.

I'm planning to complete it over the weekend as there's only 2 days left to post.
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Abby
New pre trip report - Summer 2024

Link to all my completed trip reports
2017: NYC and Orlando. Salzburg. Boston.
2018: Orlando. Berlin.
2019: DLP. Orlando. Washington DC.
2020: DLP.
2021: Jamaica. Rome.
2022: Orlando.
2023: Orlando. Niagara and Toronto.
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Old 10 Nov 18, 08:36 PM  
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smithlane
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How have I not stumbled across this before! Apologies for being a latecomer Abby but perfect timing to read before we go ourselves in a couple of weeks. Looking forward to reading and taking notes
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