Libby and Steven have successfully survived the first day of their adventure. After arriving at the Indianapolis Airport (compliments of their lovely chauffeur, Cindy Kady), they settled in for a long day of travel. The wait for the plane was, as might be expected, uneventful. Once on the plane, Libby immediately dug into her book, while Steven discovered the first disadvantage of using a Kindle for all his book needs. Namely, it is considered an electronic device, and as such must be turned off for the first 30 minutes of the flight. Fortunately, they had not yet planned where to go or what to do upon actually arriving in Germany, so he grabbed the Rick Steve’s Guide to Germany 2009 TM, his trusty Moleskine, and got down to work. Two hours later, the plane arrived in New York. And then sat on the Tarmac for 45 minutes. Libby and Steven had to run to the baggage claim, retrieve their backpacks, run to the bus station, discover that tickets for 2 to JFK airport cost $26, and then sit on the bus for an hour and a half through New York rush hour.
The upside of all this is that what was supposed to be a boring, 3.5 hour layover, turned into a tumultuous, stressful, but not at all boring scramble to arrive at the gate on time.
Waiting to board the plane, Libby and Steven began to wonder if perhaps they had arrived at the wrong gate after all. Confused, the two thought they might instead have been in line for a Clash reunion tour. They soon came to realize that the current German style runs towards tight and studded.
After a rough 8 hour flight, where little sleep was actually achieved, Steven and Libby finally arrived in Deutschland itself! They dashed off the plane, ran through customs and realized: They had absolutely no idea what to do next. Worse, they didn’t understand a single sign they saw. Remembering Nathan’s advice that nearly everyone in Germany speaks English, they decided to simply ask for help. The Airport Information guide did not speak English. The cab driver did not speak English. The waitresses at the restaurants they attempted to eat at did not speak English. They would need to forage through Deutschland utilizing Steven’s half remembered high school German, and Libby’s even more comical attempts to mangle the native tongue via Rick Steve’s phonetic Handy Phrases guide.
Deciding to use public transportation for a full immersion experience, Lib and Steven stood in the line for bus tickets. After a ten minute wait the clever attendant decided, in the ever popular passive aggressive style of customer service, to place a “Sorry, We’re Closed” sign at the desk and hide behind it. When the line did not dissipate as planned, he stealthily crept from the booth, pointed at the sign, and vanished in the direction of the food courts.
The weary travelers were in luck though; this foreign land did use the universal symbol for Taxi. Namely, a sign that says “Taxi”. They made their way to the Mercedes of the aforementioned non-English speaking driver, who did understand the language of “Point to place in guide book”.
Once in the cab, things went smoothly, and they were soon at the (locked) front door of their hotel. After a brisk debate over the location of the main entrance, Libby decided to press a curious button next to the door over and over. This no doubt irritated the staff to no end, but ultimately produced a disembodied “Hallo! Hi Hi Hi! Ah Hallo?”. Our young adventurers looked high and low, but could not locate the source of this voice. They rapidly dismissed it as irrelevant to their cause. Fortunately, the voice’s owner took pity on our weary travelers, and opened the door. And finally, finally, Libby and Steven met their first English speaking German.
The manager of the hotel (a very old, but beautiful small hotel in Western Berlin), showed Libby and Steven to their room. There, they noted the hardwood floors, the high ceilings, the typical European large windows which opened to a beautiful view, and a bathroom small enough that if one were to slip and fall from the shower, they would not only hit the toilet, but continue down several steps before ultimately landing unconscious next to a bed.
That was the least of their concerns by then. What was far more important was the fact that they were tired and hungry, and they had seen several delicious bakeries on the way to the hotel. They quickly ran outside, where Libby employed her legendary navigation skills. Confidently stepping forth, she got them lost, walked in a circle, and ultimately ended up back at the hotel where it was decided Steven should take over as navigator.
With new resolve, they set off to find food. Stopping at a bakery, they got their first nourishment: delicious Croissants. Libby attempted to use her only German phrase she knew. Fortunately, Steven had already informed her that contrary to what she had been taught, “Dumkopf” did not mean Thank you. They then wandered to a cafe for something more substantial, where they learned the most important thing yet. If you act dumb enough, eventually an English language menu will be thrown at your table, and you can point at what you want.
So now, nourished, partially refreshed, and still tired, Libby and Steven are off to explore Berlin for the rest of the day. Steven is coping without his internet, and Libby is coping without her naps. Neither are coping particularly well.
Spirits are high, however, and adventures are afoot.
Signing off,
Frauline Baltes und Herr Kady

A side note: It rains a lot here, and we’ve yet to even arrive in England. Its possible not buying a raincoat ahead of time was a poor choice. Of course, having recognized that, no shop selling raincoats is to be found.
A further side note: Its pleasantly cool. It didn’t get above 70F today.
A further further side note: for a country that relies so much on mobile phones, they don’t seem to have many stores carrying them. Thus far we have come across one T-mobile store, and it is closed on the weekends.
A further further fur- you get the idea. Finding Internet is even worse than mobile phones. It’s quite expensive when you do find it too.
Finally: Addendum to important lesson about acting dumb. It works for trains and buses too. If you spend enough time staring blankly at a public transit map, some kind soul will invariably stop and tell you where to go.

Question of the day: What is the appeal to making out at national monuments? (I am thinking that this is a cultural thing, I don’t remember any Americans making out at the Lincoln Memorial; Cedar Point yes, but American monuments no).