November 13, 2013

I'm back.....in Berlin!

So...after 7 months, I'm back in Berlin! As in my previous entry, who would have thought that I'd be in Europe twice this year?

Anyway, my travel did not start well at all. My 9.45pm flight from PG to KL was delayed to 10pm. Then it got delayed to 10.30pm. During the wait, I made a friend from Shanghai, Grace who was on her way back after a 3 day work trip. I somehow must have looked like I know everything coz a well dressed lady who was on her way to Dubai came and asked me why the delay! After waiting for 45 minutes while worrying about my connecting flight, MAS decided to combine 2 delayed flights and we were all flown to KLIA on an AirBus plane!

As the plane was taking off, I was almost certain that I was going to miss my connecting flight. Upon landing, there were a few people from the delay crew waiting for some of us, me included. We were all bundled up into a buggy and were F1-ed to the immigration. After passing the immigration, I was escorted, running to my departure gate. I boarded my 11.45pm flight at 11.40pm. Of course, I was the last one to board.

Luckily, on my row, there were only 2 of us - me occupying the window seat and a guy in the aisle seat. Right after take off though, he decided to move seats and for the whole 12 hours, I had 3 seats to myself! I stretched myself and slept for almost 9 hours. My aim of watching at least one movie did not work out. Maybe on the way back.

This time when I landed in Amsterdam, I could take my time as I had a two hour transit. I decided to track my luggage as I was told back in KL that my luggage may not reach on time as they did not have the time to search for my bag and put it on the plane. A check with the KLM ground staff told me that my bag was not in the system. I braced myself for the inevitable and decided that I'll just have to accept it and get new clothes, toiletries etc. I was still hoping for a miracle though.

Upon reaching Berlin, I decided to wait at the luggage carousel and see if the miracle happened. Guess what? It did!! After about 5 luggages let through, I saw a bag that's familiar and my heart jumped. I looked properly and WOOHOO...it was my bag!!! I grabbed it and headed out of the airport with renewed energy.

I took a taxi to the hotel. The driver was an African migrant who has been in Germany for more than 30 years. He thought I was 25!! Haha! Passing through all the familiar landmarks, it was such a nice feeling knowing that I've seen that or been there. We even passed a placed where there were people preparing for the Xmas market. Unfortunately, it will only open in two weeks' time.

Once I reached the hotel, I rested while watching TV, then had a bath and then headed to the office to say hello. Not many people were there so I left and went to get a hot chocolate (back to that again!) and some food.

I don't think I'll go anywhere else today as my body feels sluggish. But tomorrow onwards, it'll be busy and I know then that my time will FLY!!

It's going to be hard to say goodbye to Berlin again! 

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