Navigating Our Way on the Public Transit System in Berlin, Germany

Recently, together with four other team mates from Toronto, Canada, we visited Berlin Germany. We were in Germany not as toursits as we were invited to lead a few workshops in a couple of church congregations in and around Berlin. On this trip, we spent about ten days visiting both the capital and a couple of nearby samll towns.

It was fun travelling with a small group. In Berlin, we were warmly welcome by one of the local churches. Our team would stay together in an apartment near a subway station. The local church pastor came and met us at the airport where we took the public bus to our B&B. How convenient was that? Thumbs up for an easy access to and from the airport in Berlin! In Toronto, we could take the public transit too but it would take us from two to three hours including waiting time from our house in midtown Toronto to the airport. Since we would be travelling via public transit on this trip, we look forward to experiencing the ease and comfort of train travel in Germany. We arrived at our B&A after less than an hour of bus ride. We met our host who had prepared a delicious lunch for us. What a difference from travelling alone knowing no one in the country to where we travelled. She gave us a brief introduction to the apartment and the neighbourhood. She was also kind enough to take us to a nearby supermarket where we bought some groceries for the next few days. Though English is spoken by many Germans, it was a challenge on our first day trying to purchase our subway tickets from a machine at an unstaffed subway station. We felt very uncomfortable as it took us time to figure out what to do with the ticket machine in a foreigh luggage while a lineup of people starting to build up waiting for their turns to purchase their train tickets. Most people were polite but one was not and he pushed us aside to get his ticket. That was not a good feeling at all.

Well, given time, we have leanred how to navigate the transit system in Germany and were able to travel to where we needed to be without much difficulties. Looking forward to the next ten more days in Germany! RT Berlin, Germany 052024