So I finally get on my plane to Berlin, and oh my gosh.
Coolest. Plane. Ever.
I have seen planes in movies where there are stairs, visible stairs on the inside and this plane had it. This plane was huge. I’ve never been on anything like it, even when we went to Italy.
I was dying. It’s so different from flying in America. Free pillow, free blanket (finally!! For those who know of my shenanigans with stealing airplane blankets). So many movie, TV, and game options on this touch screen TV. And get this, the food!
This was my on flight meal. For free. I had the choice of veggie pasta or chicken and potatoes.
And I flew economy!!
Can you believe that? And I was gonna eat the 10 extra chicken nuggets McDonalds accidentally gave me (cold) and banana chips. Ha! Veggies, chicken, potatoes, side salad, bread, cheese and most importantly- dessert!
I haven’t quite figured out what the dessert was that I ate. I thought it was ice cream at first and was super excited.. Then when I went to take a scoop the texture was all wrong. I think it was some mix of like custard meets frosting? I have no idea. It was pretty good though. Then after everyone had had their meal there were all sorts of flight attendants walking up and down the aisle. One asking if you want coffee, one asking if you want tea, one asking if you want wine (red or white), and one asking if you want more water! All. For. Free. Unbelievable. I’m so mind blown and stuffed with yummy European food I can’t even believe it!
Alright, anyways, I’ll move on from my plane and food wonders and tell you about this German man who is sharing my row with me. When I found my seat on the plane, I threw my stuff down then went to throw my back pack up. As I was doing so, he walked up and said “something something something” and I kind of looked at him like “what?” Then he said “something something something something English?” Because I am SO fluent in German I responded with “yes, English.” It worked cause next thing I know we’re chatting and the “something something’s” turned into. “Where are you going?” And lovely conversation.
Side note real quick, people keep talking to me in German in the airport and on this flight. I don’t know if the blonde hair green eyes thing makes me look German or they all just do that to everyone, but several people have come up to me just starting in German. But I’ve also seen the flight attendants speak English out the gate to other people. I don’t get how they know. It’s all weird. Anyways, back on track.
I’m talking to my new German business man friend. He works in Germany and his boss sent him to the U.S. for training in Milwaukee and then to meet with a client in SF. He’s an older guy, but this was his first time in the U.S. and he says 4 weeks was plenty, he misses home too much.
In our on and off conversation between the announcements, movies, and me sleeping, I have told him countries I’m going to and he has told me about his experiences there and what he likes or doesn’t like. He told me never to get French food on airplanes because all they say to you is “salty or sweet?” I’m not really sure why that’s a bad thing or what it all means but I rolled with it and his advice has been duly noted.
We got on the subject of Ireland. He said he loves Ireland. He told me a story about when was going to go to Dublin and he needed a book to read so he was asking around. He wanted something funny so someone told him to read a book called A Man With A Refrigerator.
Apparently it’s a true story about and Irishman and and Englishman. The Irishman makes a bet that he can travel around the entire island of Ireland hitch hiking with a refrigerator. So, he does.
I start cracking up and so does the German man who is telling me this. He goes, “I swear, when I read the book, I thought “Impossible! There’s no way.” but then I went to Ireland and I knew it was true.” After being there he believed every word of the story.
Well sir, sold! I HAVE to read this book now before I go. He says it’s the perfect explanation of the Irish people and how they think. He says it’s very entertaining and written in a very positive view of the Irish. I’m gonna try and buy it off of amazon when I get wifi! I’m excited. It’s made me think maybe it’s a good idea to ask the people I meet along the way about books they recommend.
After sleeping for pretty much the entire flight (thank goodness) I woke to be served a breakfast of a blueberry muffin, fruit bowl and shortbread cookies. I’m really thankful for this German next to me, he makes it really easy for me to get how things work. They have been offering coffee and I didn’t know if it was free or not (because you know nothing good is ever free in America…that’s ironic) or how it works with getting coffee. So I would just watch him and copy what he did, haha! I wanted a refill, he got one too, but you had to put it on the tray of the flight attendant for them to fill it then give it back. At least I didn’t look too dumb, I can pretend I know what I’m doing, haha!
We started talking about different places and beer. He said Czech beer is the best beer, even better than German. He says if I want strange beer, drink Belgium beer, if I want good beer drink Czech or German. But he said never to drink French beer. I don’t think he likes France. There seems to be some issues there, haha.
He said Irish beer is great too, very unique but that Irish whiskey is better. I told him I don’t like whiskey and he told me just to try it, it taste way different than anything he’s had before. He also began talking about food and says that UK food is weird. That even an Englishman won’t tell you to eat at an English restaurant.
I asked him his favorite places in Germany and he listed some cities and explained them. I gotta catch up on my German geography cause I didn’t know every city he was talking about. But they sound awesome and definitely places to keep in mind for the end of my trip!
The Wandering Sandals 