In late 2005 or early 2006 I read about a round Europe train ticket that you could buy to cover all train travel for 30 days.
I can clearly remember sitting in my damp room with the slugs in Telephone Road whilst on placement in Portsmouth and sending a link to the ticket to my friend Mel. I got an almost instant reply "When are we going?"
And so it was in June 2006 that we set off on our interrailing trip, my first holiday abroad without my parents. We each had a huge backpack and for anyone who has seen the film "Wild" with Recce Witherspoon - that was us. We had grand ideas, we were starting in Brussels, going to Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, through Austria and Switzerland and to Geneva for the mid point of our trip. A few days in we realised we might have been over ambitious and cancelled our plan for Berlin and Prague, instead heading straight from Amsterdam to Salzburg - we decided we could go to Berlin and Prague on future trips.
It took a while but early in 2010 we both marked a weekend in our diaries when we could go to Berlin together. When it came to it, we hadn't been organised enough to book flights and instead had a lovely weekend in York. But it did prompt us into booking a weekend in Berlin for the end of the year. Christmas markets, a sprinkling of snow it would be perfect.
We met at Gatwick to check in and just as we handed over our passports... our flight was cancelled. Berlin airport had run out of de-icer. With no alternative flights we went back to Mel's house and were tourists in London for the weekend.
Failed by train, failed by plane. What's left? Bertha!
Having spent a couple of days on the outskirts of Berlin visiting the Sachenhausen concentration camp and museum and the old royal palaces in Potsdam, today I parked up by a U-bahn stop and headed into the centre of Berlin. That was as far as Bertha can go, she's counted as a dirty diesel in the low emission zone.
It was worth the wait, I loved my day walking round and deciding where I want to see and which museums to visit. I think I'll be spending a good few days here. There's just one thing missing - my Euro-city partner in crime.
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