5 Countries, 2 Weeks - Part 1 Preparation & Berlin
- Alicia
- Jul 22, 2018
- 5 min read
Oh hey guys,
So this post is massive so I have had to split it into 2 possibly 3, ain't you lucky.
Its been a while because as you will all know from my constant instagramming I have been on my holidays. Me and my boyfriend decided we were getting to old to have not seen a lot of Europe so this year we decided to go interrailing like the youths we are. For those of you that don't know what it is, its basically a train ticket that can get you to most places within Europe over a certain time frame. As we both work full time we decided to cram 5 countries into 2 week period. We only took what we could carry in our 2 rucksacks but unlike the young ones, we decided to stay in hotels rather than hostels. Don't get me wrong theres nothing wrong with hostels but we wanted our own privacy and this was our main holiday so didn't mind paying that bit extra - we did stay in a hostel for one night if that counts.
As we were taking minimal with us, I packed some charity shop faves but mostly just a lot of light shorts and white vests. There's a few things I want to cover in this post, so I will put up a few outfits but I will also show you some of the cool shit we learnt about and places we visited. When we were stuck for where to start in a new City, people on instagram & our friends were so helpful and gave us such good suggestions I want to redistribute that information because I don't know about you but I can find new places daunting and get a bit weird if I don't have a plan. Also, I am a vegetarian and a lot of people told me how I was going struggle but I actually didn't have any problems and probably got fatter while away so will pop in some vegan and vegetarian places we found - not as a protest to meat eaters but a helpful guide for those who don't participate in the butchery of innocent animals (issa joke but also kinda true) FYI I am not a fan when people advertise there dietary preferences everywhere, this isn't a 'thing'. It's just to help anyone if they find them selves stuck for food.
Before we get fully stuck in just want to run you through some of the stuff I packed. We have electric tooth brushes at home so we had to go out and buy toiletries. I did try hard reduce the amount of plastic we brought while still watching our baggage weight and minimising the amount of potentially leaky products. I brought us a pack of 4 bamboo toothbrushes on Amazon for £8.95 so they were quite expensive but I didn't want to buy a plastic brush that I would just bin or lose. I then popped into Lush and picked up the Godiva Shampoo/conditioner bar, the outback mate soap and the miles of smiles toothpaste. So here's my 'review';
Shampoo: started out wonderful, I looked like a sexy fucking mermaid. By the time we got to Budapest I had to buy some detangler because I think I need a bit more of a conditioner. The bar also needs to be dried out properly before putting back in its tin, if not it goes a bit mushy. Would I buy again? Yea, but along with a separate conditioner at home where it can dry out properly.
Soap: cleaned my pits and bits, thats all ya need.
Toothpaste: its weird and takes a while to get used to, Id use a couple of tabs but its good for festivals and holidays.
ANNOUNCEMENT: FELLOW CHUB RUB GIRLS, BUY SILKY UNDERWEAR POWDER FROM LUSH. I used this everyday all over, it smells great and helps those sweaty bits.
Like I said earlier I only took a few charity shop clothes with me as I didn't have much space in the rucksack and to be honest I wanted to enjoy my holiday and not turn it into a fashion photo shoot. My goal was to be comfy and sweaty by day and a sun kissed queen by night, I achieved part of this and it wasn't the latter. Here they are, strategically placed on the floor - I seemed to have misplaced a couple of bits but will show you them as we go on.
Bags packed we headed for Berlin. Our hotel was in the Friedrichshain district, if your unsure of where to stay that area is amazing. The Berlin wall East side gallery is there and there is loads of insane street art and quirky places to visit with great places to eat and drink. The train station is really accessible so you can get around the city.
Our first night we strolled along the Berlin wall and headed right over the Oberbaum Bridge towards these giant skeletons spray painted down what looked like office building. It was down here we found Buddha's Kitchen, a really reasonable priced Vietnamese restaurant -Two starters, two mains & 4 beers for 25 euros. They had a really good veggie menu as well, I had satay tofu and it was amazing and the portions are good.
I wore this amazing Oxfam playsuit so many times on the trip but this was its first outing. I love it so much, I really do recommend there website - will link below.
During our time there we did all the standard tourist bits like the Reichstag building, Cathedral and Holoucaust memorial. The memorial is a must see, the others you will just come across on your travels. We walked everywhere which I recommend because it means you stumble across interesting places. We found a flea market just behind the Berlin Ostbanhof train station which had some really amazing stuff, I picked up a ring for 10 euros so not the cheapest but I love rummaging the flea markets.
Our last evening we went to the Urban spree, oh my fucking god this place is amazing. Its this weird and wonderful graffiti covered area with bars, restaurants, a gallery and a tattoo shop right in the middle (tattoo's start from 70n euros). We went to a vegan restaurant in this area -I can't find the name but it is really easy to find. From the Urban spree gallery turn right out the main gates and its literally there by a photo booth. THIS FOOD WAS THE BEST FOOD IF THE ENTIRE TRIP, I had the veggie burger and Chris has the 'pulled pork' tacos.
For this adventure I just threw on my oversized Barnardo's t shirt and some 2 year old black culottes from primary and my salvation army tote bag, I guessed we were going to stuff our faces and wanted to feel comfy.
We only had 2 nights in Berlin but we crammed so much in. I haven't gone into loads of details on the main tourist attractions because they can be easily researched. If you don't have long there just get up early and plan what kind of transport you need to get because we spent like 45 minutes arguing about how to get a train ticket in German. Answer is, change the language to English - much easier. I 100% would recommend, we will definitely be going back and staying in the Friedrichshain district.
I will try and get the next posts up as soon as possible.
Thank you for reading x
http://www.urbanspree.com/useful/
https://www.interrail.eu/en
http://www.buddhaskitchenberlin.com
https://www.oxfam.org.uk
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