I had thought about going to Checkpoint Charlie this morning, but it seemed a bit of a wasted trip out just to see one small thing, take a photo and go back. Maybe next time, when I hopefully come back for a bit longer.
Having packed, I followed Google's advice on how to get to the airport. European public transit means that 3 different buses/trains should only take 40 minutes. Having got an U-Bahn and an S-Bahn to the transfer point, where one of the airport buses stops, I was astonished at the number of people waiting. There must have been more than 100 people, at least.
The buses are 15 metres long, so there's plenty of room, and they're supposed to be every 7 minutes. We waited 15 minutes for the first one, which somehow fitted another 30 people on. By this stage more people were arriving and attempting to push their way in front to get the next bus, while others were sharing a taxi.
I waited another 15 minutes for the next bus and attempted to cram myself in. I lost my marbles at a couple of people trying to get past me to get on first, who had only just showed up. "Oy! Just wait!" "Oh I don't want to go past you." "And yet that's exactly what you're doing..." Or something to that effect.
Finally squeezing on to the bus, it was another 15 minutes to the airport. By the time I arrived at the airport I was down to 65 minutes before takeoff, which is 20 minutes before check-in closes. After a long walk to the check-in terminal (having already checked in online), the bag drop was rather painless. I also found time to grab a bagel from one of the shops at the airport:
Today's lunch from Marché
Security screening is different in Berlin as well. ALL electronic devices have to come out of your bag, sunglasses and watches have to come off. It's not quite like the States (or so I'm told), but it was still a little different.
I was flying Airberlin today, and when boarding rolled around, I was a bit confused on the tarmac - everyone was going towards an aircraft which was clearly a Niki aircraft - I found out later that the two airlines interchange all their staff, planes etc.:
Our Airberlin ride to Vienna? Huh?
The flight itself was a lightning-quick 55 minute hop from gate to gate. I managed to have a quick snooze in the 20 minutes between tables down and tables up. After we landed, we taxiied at Formula-1-like speed towards the gate.
The rest of the trip was relatively pain-free. My bag was one of the first out. Once it came out I headed to the S-Bahn terminal and caught a train into the city, connecting to my accommodation. I'm staying somewhere different for my second and third nights in Vienna, so I'll catch up on my second night. Until then!
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