Another day that I woke up super early. This time at 4:30AM. I'm probably getting like 6.5 hours of sleep, which isn't ideal. I end up having to come back and take naps. Which isn't a big deal, but definitely isn't ideal. Hopefully my circadian rhythm catches up soon.
No breakfast today. I stayed up until 8:30AM before deciding to try to nap now instead of later on the train. After my nap I planned out the day. I wanted to get to Berlin Central Station by 12:15PM since my train to Prague left at 12:59PM.
I wanted to see Checkpoint Charlie which was walking distance from my hostel. I ended up taking the train and saved a couple of minutes. I got out of the train station and Checkpoint Charlie was right there. I think that feeling is one of my favorite feelings in the world. The moment you stumble into a destination/monument/whatever and see it for the first time is fucking nuts.
As for Checkpoint Charlie, it's okay. It's kind of what you expect. It's the little booth, with some historical monument looking stuff. The street it's on feels very tourist trappy. I went and took pictures with the guys dressed up as soldiers for €3. Totally a tourist trap ripoff, but fuck it!
I had about two hours to eat and get to Berlin Central Station. There was a currywurst spot that I passed that looked promising, but it didn't have seating. I was hoping to find somewhere I could chill for a bit and maybe find some WiFi.
Thankfully a McDonald's was right there! I know, I know, what kind of loser would go to McDonald's overseas? Lol. But it was perfect for what I was looking for! I didn't have any other German food that I wanted to try (I'm going to Munich in a couple of days anyway), it had a comfortable seating area, and had WiFi. I ordered some chicken wings and scarfed that shit down while game planning the rest of the day.
I made my way to the train station. One thing I'll note is that it's wonderful giving yourself able amounts of time to get to your destination. I'm backpacking so sometimes I'll walk super duper slow, leisurely and at my own pace. It's rough when you're in a rush and you have to make quick decisions in a pinch. My mommy always told us that it's better to be super early than to be right on time.
My mom's advice helped today because even though I gave myself plenty of time to get to the train station, actually getting to my train was a fucking nightmare. I arrived to this Berlin Central Station (which is fucking HUGE) and had to find a self service terminal to print my ticket out. It wasn't the easiest thing to do. I had studied the instructions that were emailed to me but they weren't very clear. They were sort of general tips instead of terribly specific instructions. Thankfully I found the self service terminal (though it was like finding a needle in a haystack) and printed my ticket.
The only issue is the ticket didn't list the platform that I needed to go to. I had noticed this issue in the emailed instructions, and surely enough here I was, having to figure out where the fuck to go to meet my train. It didn't help that there were like 20 different platforms, including the platforms for the local trains.
I looked for the giant board that announces arrivals and departures. For some reason it only listed arrivals up through like 12:20PM. With my train arriving at 12:59, this did me no good. Thankfully it was 12:00PM and I had plenty of time to spare.
I walked my ass from platform to platform, checking which trains were arriving at which time. These platform schedules showed trains that were arriving after mine. Which was good news because eventually I'd run into the platform that my train would arrive at and my worries would be put to rest.
Imagine my horror when I got to the last platform and I didn't see "Prague" or "Praha" on any of the arrival schedules. I was pisssssed!
I went back to the big board of Arrivals and they still weren't showing any arrivals past 12:40. Now I'm starting to judge this German train station. What happened to German engineering and efficiency!? The Japanese would NEVER let anything like this happen! Lol.
In situations like these, it helps to take a breather, sit down, and go over the facts. You know that the platform upstairs aren't the ones you're looking for because those are reserved for local trains. These underground platforms are definitely the ones you're looking for because all of these other destinations are in other countries or far away German cities. I sat down, drank some water, and figured I'd go back to the big board and eventually they'd have my train listed. They'd have to!
Finally it gets to 12:30, less than 30 minutes before my train departs, and my train is listed there. Platform 1. My stress levels subside and I head down there. I realize there's already a bunch of people inside the train already. How the fuck did they get there so early if they had just announced which platform the train would arrive at?
I finally figured out that this train on platform 1 was a delayed train to Munich. It was supposed to depart at 12:30 and still hadn't moved. I waited and waited and this train just wouldn't budge. It's already 12:50 and they haven't moved. So strange. 12:53 and they still haven't moved. So weird. I hear on the overhead speaker that the train to Prague was arriving. I thought "motherfucker, now I gotta wait for this Munich train to depart before I can get on my Prague train."
But without any prior announcement (that I heard, at least), another train pulls up on my opposite side, to platform 2. I see the sign and sure enough it's my Prague train. Right on time. Thank GOD. I get on the train and go on my merry way to Prague.
I wasn't expecting much from this particular train experience because I got a cheap second class ticket. Normally I would have splurged and gotten a first class ticket cuz I'm a first class BITCH like that lol. But iirc, first class tickets were damn near twice the price of second class tickets. I don't need more leg room THAT badly. The €39 second class tickets would more than do.
And it worked out pretty well! I was in a small car with six seats. Thankfully there were only three others in the car, so we all had a bunch of room. I was worried too, because the way the car was set up was like that creepy train ride they took in eurotrip. People came and went as we made a few stops but overall it was well worth the money. I bought first class tickets for two of my upcoming train rides so we'll see if that was money well spent.
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