Berlin: Hipster heaven & a sunny afternoon in the Tiergarten

I had a great coffee from this piece of hipster heaven in my street, Weserstraße. Frequented by alternative types, the same people who frequent the Sydney suburb of Newtown. The bikes out the front were a good sign that there would be good coffee. Also the sign stating, ‘No Borders, no country’, a movement that promotes refugee rights in Europe, was obvious. I was just there for the coffee. In Berlin, you can’t escape politics it seems.

The migrant issue is the number one political issue at the moment in Europe. The situation is that without migrants, Europe’s population, and hence economic growth will plummet, when many European economies are already struggling. Although it’s ironic that the political left in Germany, like most of the people who no doubt frequent this cafe, support increased immigrant, which would help boost consumer demand in Europe, and thus overwhelmingly help capitalism. Immigration is an easy way for countries to boost demand without doing the hard work of improving productivity or competitiveness. Europe’s industry struggles to compete in the Digital Revolution (there is just one European digital company in the world top 40), and these are the businesses of the future. I think after all the political debate (Europeans politicians are masters at this) they will accept vastly increased immigration as the easiest economic option out of their serious economic situation. My prediction is that the immigration policy will eventually look very much like Australia's - a skilled migration point system, detention centres, boat turn backs in the Mediterranean, and the prosecution of people smugglers. Increased migration in an orderly way in other words to save capitalism.

Anyway, I’m off to the Tiergarten as it’s a sunny day. I will try and continue to blog as I go along rather than try and write it all up at the end of the day.

The Tiergarten is a massive park that begins at the end of the Brandenburg gate, and extends for miles. It used to be a hunting ground for Prussian aristocracy.

It provides an escape from city life for the residents, and its easy to find a part for some peace and quiet. As the park is so large you need to work out, which train station to get off at. For example if you want to go to the Berlin Zoo, you will need to get off at Zoologischer Garten, which is at the South West corner of the park.

German customer service? 

Now, I don't think it is a surprise that German's are notorious for their bad customer service at least according to Anglo-sphere standards, and especially America. Followers from my six weeks in the US I experienced brilliant customer service, and I often buy American products online from America, and they have never made a mistake. Customer service at Apple Australia is outstanding. In my opinion, Germany is letting it self down as they make world class products, but they let themselves down and lose sales due to their substandard customer service. For example Volkswagen Australia has a bad reputation for After Sales service, so lose sales to Toyota and Honda who are excellent at it, despite Volkswagens making arguably the best cars in each class. Furthermore can you name a German tech company?

If you need to see German customer service in action go to the big McDonalds located at this train station. As regular readers know I like to go to McDonalds in every country to see the local differences, and see the prices, my version of the Economist Big Mac index. Anyway the lines were too long, the sales staff obviously battling, and the self serve kiosk was only in German!! Drop the mic.

Anyway, I gave up and bought a kebab, which is incidentally, the most popular fast food in Germany. This was introduced to Germany by Turkish immigrants who dominate the trade.

At the centre of the Tiergarten is the Siegessaule (Victory Column), a monument that has an observation at the top to provide views over Berlin. This was built to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War, and built in 1873. However, Prussia by this time had also beaten Austria, and France in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). As you can see Berlin, as the capital of Prussia, has huge political significance, because after all, Prussia in a sense created Germany out of the various states that spoke German through, what Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor, called, 'blood and iron.'

Prussia of course no longer exists. The last Kaiser (the Prussian King in WW1) abdicated in November, 1918. Prussia, as a State no longer exists, much of which, is now part of Poland. The vast feudal estates of the Prussian aristocracy, the old Wehrmacht senior officer class, are divided up. One of the aims to end German militarism at the end of WW2, in the allies opinion, was to destroy the Prussian military officer class, which really was the key to the creation of Germany, and their success in warfare. The allies didn't mind stopping at the Elbe river, and giving Russia, East Germany as they knew they would destroy Prussia. The best of course was the brilliant Prussian general, Erich Von Manstein, who designed the operational plan for the Battle of France (what we know as Blitzkrieg that defeated France in six weeks), Operation Sea Lion, (the planned invasion of Britain), and some brilliant counter attacks in Russia that are still studied to this day. I did a major essay at university on his book, Lost Victories, which provides an interesting view of WW2. Manstein, spent some time in gaol as a war criminal like many senior officers, moved to Bavaria, where his son worked for a major German car manufacturer.

In conclusion, I don't think we have to worry about a German military resurgence in the future, the key to their success in the past was due to their excellent staff work and leadership from the Prussian aristocracy, men like Manstein, Bismarck, & Frederick the Great that we have already discussed. Prussia is gone, the military officer caste is gone, and the fun loving Bavarians have the richest economy, and the political power.

They prefer to make money than make war.

Sydney to Doha to Berlin

We are so lucky to live in Australia, but the downside is that it takes so long to get anywhere. So, yesterdays flight from Sydney to Doha (pictured above) to Berlin was about 24 hours. It was my first time flying Qatar Airways, and I thought it was quite good, very similar to Emirates. As readers know I prefer the A380 for a long haul, as it is quieter, the seat is larger, and adequately padded. With some Bose noise cancellation earphones its makes the long haul from so much better.

I've never been to Qatar, but I do know that's hot as hell - we arrived about 4.30am local time and it was already 32 degrees Celsius!! It hit 43 later in the day. Fortunately, I didn't have to experience that heat, which from visiting Dubai down the coast it is like the blast of heat from opening the oven door, and strolled around to transfers. One tip, if your not in a lounge, is to find one of those bench seat tables, because they usually have power points.

You know those annoying airports that don't have trains? Yep, that's Berlin Tegel airport on the Western outskirts of the city. You can get an expensive taxi or the bus. Now, you can buy tickets from the little yellow machines at the bus stop. I think a four day ticket was nine Euros for four days if my school boy German is reliable.....I'm sure there are some English language versions somewhere.

I didn't know what bus stop to wait at, but I saw a bus that was going to Berlin Hauptbahnhof, which I also knew from my schoolboy German (Wo ist der Bahnhof? Where is the train station?) and my history studies that a Hauptmann is a captain in the German army, so I deducted it was the central station. See why education is so important!!!

The bus ride was actually quite fun, because Germans have a reputation of pointing things out to people who are in the wrong. Unfortunately, the lady doing it was sitting next to me who would yell out to people who were standing so the bus doors wouldn't close and complaining why the bus ride was so long. At least that it was I think she said. Nothing seems to upset Germans more than people not obeying the rules.

I'm staying at an Airbnb (love Airbnb) in Neukolln, which is in South East Berlin, about an hour from Tegel airport. I would call it a cross between Lakemba and Newtown in Sydney - it is culturally enriched! A Hipster suburb combined with Middle Eastern culture, so the coffee and food is going to be great. Another good sign are people riding bikes with beards and man buns a certain sign the coffee will be good and there will be WiFi.

I think I might be in the old East Berlin for some reason.

I've read that former citizens of West Germans stereotype East Germans ('Ossis' - Easties)  - as lazy, poor, racist and largely influenced by Russian culture. It does appear to be significantly less affluent than other areas of Western Europe I have visited. I went to a Turkish restaurant in the neighbourhood and was the only Caucasian, but that happens in the South Western suburbs of Sydney too. The food was great, and I felt welcome. As for Russian culture, well, Karl Marx was German, after all. Although I do know from history and my former occupation, that culture is very hard to change, and the East Germans did spend two generations under Communism.

There is a nice cafe/bar in my street, and I people watched as a I enjoyed this German beer, Bayreuther, which was pretty good. Hipsters cruised past on bicycles, and hijab wearing women strolled along the footpath, on a summers evening it was all quite pleasant.

And there was WiFi.

White Night Magic - so excited about going to Finland

Great video from Finland Tourism titled 'White Night Magic'. I'm so excited about going to Finland in July. Genetically I'm part Finnish, and was born on Finland's Independence Day!

Keep following the blog, and let me know where I should go in the comments below.

Next trip: Germany, Scandinavia & Finland

I can't wait to get back on the road for the next adventure. The next big trip will be to Germany, Scandinavia & Finland for the month of July.

The plan is to fly to Berlin, Germany and stay there for a few days before catching the train to Copenhagen, Denmark. Then it will be onto Stockholm, Sweden by train.

From Stockholm to Turku, Finland by ferry. I'll probably spend about a week in Finland.

If you have any ideas on where I should go, please add them in the comments below.

I'm on Instagram (steveeastontravel) and I love it!

I'm on Instagram now at (steveeastontravel), and I'm loving it. I've been using the App for a few months now, and I really don't know why it took me so long. Normally, as you know, I've an early adopter wih technology like with AirBnB that has been our default accommodation App for some years now, which has since exploded in popularity - it should because it's really good!

What I like is that Instagram users can see some of my best travel photographs, and I can see their often amazing photographs. It's actually a lot of fun (much more fun than other social media websites). Furthermore, you can get good ideas for your next trip from looking at photographs of other people's trips. There are some really excellent photographers on it, which you can learn from to improve your own pics. 

So, don't be a slow coach like me - well, you are probably already on it - and get on Instagram.  I want to see your travel pics, and so does the rest of the world. 

Isn't information technology great - it's making travel so much easier and most importantly more FUN! 

Brexit: what does it mean for travel to the UK?

What does the Brexit mean for travel to the United Kingdom? Well, although the final agreement is still months or years away, the uncertainty surrounding the issue has resulted in the English Pound falling by ten percent against the US Dollar. It's probably fair to suggest that the Brexit would result in less foreign investment in the UK, and therefore a lower Pound. How far the currency will continue to fall is an open question.

I must admit, I was shocked, like the rest of the world, that the Brexit referendum was successful. Certainly, the comedian John Oliver had a strong opinion against the Brexit (see below)

Humour aside, we should recognise that the United Kingdom is a sovereign state and the will of the people should be respected. Having said that I'm not confident that a 'Full Brexit' will actually ever occur due to the economic consequences. It's the uncertainty over the final agreement, and business hate uncertainty that is driving the current financial volatility. 

In conclusion, my prediction (for what it's worth) is that the English Pound should remain lower (between 10-20%) against the US Dollar until the final situation regarding the Brexit is worked out. A full Brexit would entail the UK negotiating it's cheap airline carriers access to the EU for instance, and other travel related issues like visas etc. 

Until the final details are negotiated it should be relatively cheaper to travel to the United Kingdom. 

Further reading: 

What the Brexit would mean for travellers article - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/comment/what-would-brexit-mean-for-travellers/

After the vote, chaos, the Economist article - http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21701264-britain-has-voted-leave-eu-what-follows-will-be-new-prime-minister-volatile-financial

How to save money on travel

Like many things in life, the more you travel, the better you get at it, and the more money you can save. I must admit for my first big trip overseas we used a travel agent, stayed at expensive hotels, and the bill of course was enormous.

Today thanks to the 'Digital Revolution' we can book everything online and use the various websites and APP's to save money from everything from accomodation, flights, and transport. Honestly, it really isn't hard, and you can save a lot of money.

Forget the travel agent 

On the second big trip to the United States we worked out that we could save three to four thousand by making the bookings ourselves online, and leaving the travel agent entirely out of it.

Generally, what I find easier is to use a spreadsheet document like EXCEL or Numbers for planning the trip, and getting the whole thing costed. It's good to have some type of plan to begin with, even if you completely throw it away like on our last two overseas trips. That's the benefit of the Digital Revolution - you can usually book things at the last minute, and make it up as you go along.

Forget the big expensive hotels, stay at 'Bed and Breakfasts' 

Returning back to the UK and Ireland we saved even more money by staying at 'Bed and Breakfasts' (BnB's).

I'm a big fan of Airbnb (www.airbnb.com), and we used it to book nearly all the accommodation for the Spain and Czech Republic trips.

Consider renting a car, especially in the United States 

Regular readers know that we rented a car for the UK trip and took the car over to Ireland on the ferry from Wales. Sometimes it's cheaper and easier to just drive, even in Europe. By the end of the six week trip to the United States we were driving everywhere - it's really not that hard to drive on the other side of the road. The fuel price in America is much lower than Australia or Europe, so I think it's cheaper to drive, especially if you are there on a long trip.

 I do reccomend a GPS unit to make navigation easier, particularly regarding which lane to get into on the big freeways (motorways).

Food and drink: eat where the locals eat 

The number one rule is never eat at a restaurant that has those plastic menus with pictures of the food on them that are abundant in tourist hot spots. You want to find a restaurant or cafe, where the locals go. Here, you will be at an advantage if you stay at an Airbnb place where usually your host will have a list of places where they like to eat.

I also like going to the supermarket or market stalls to buy food, because I'm fascinated how the locals actually live.

In conclusion the internet, portable computers and smart phones make travel so much easier: from booking accomodation, transport or researching things to do or just finding your way around with Google Maps or a SATNAV.

So, try doing everything yourself by ditching the travel agent, and save a lot of money in your travels. Check out some of the websites on the right hand side of the page that make travel easier.