AmsterDAMN and Berlin

Hi everyone!

What can we say? We’ve had a very eventful trip to Amsterdam and Berlin. I suppose we should start from the beginning.

We arrived in Amsterdam on Wednesday, and after checking in at our hostel we had a wander around town and found it to be an absolutely beautiful city. Being Christmas time there were fairy lights and decorations everywhere as well as the odd ice rink. The lovely old buildings and many canals created a magical atmosphere. We had to keep our wits about us when walking the streets though because there were three potentially devastating hazards in great abundance: bicycles, trams and dog-poo!

The next day we headed straight for the Van Gogh museum which was pricey but well worth the visit. We then embarked on a three hour walking tour of the city which was really fantastic. The guide was very informative but kept it lively and interesting and we were not bored for a second. The tour covered many of the sights in central Amsterdam including several of the famous buildings, Anne Frank’s house, the red light district, the widest bridge and the teeniest house. We met another Aussie on the tour called Rhys who was from Perth, and we ended up hanging out with him for the evening.

The next morning we awoke and began to leisurely pack our bags when suddenly we discovered that my (Ang’s) shoulder-bag which contained our passports, mobile phone, wallet with all cards, etc., was nowhere to be seen and definitely not where I distinctly remember leaving it when we went to bed (basically right next to our heads). We tried to stay rational and calm but it soon became apparent that it had most certainly been stolen. Another guy staying in the hostel also had his bag nicked. This started a flurry of action, scouring the whole hostel, ringing banks to cancel credit cards etc, making an appointment to see the Dutch Police to file a report, and talking to the Australian Embassy to try to ascertain whether we would be able to travel to Berlin by bus that night (as scheduled) and then fly to London on Christmas Eve (today). We were told that if we obtained copies of our documents and a police report there was a possibility we would be allowed to travel to Berlin but that there was absolutely no chance we would be accepted onto our flight to London and that we’d have to wait for the embassy to re-open on the 28th and then wait a further 2 days for them to issue an emergency passport [and then possibly have to wait several more days until a flight to London had any availabilities at this busy time of year]. This all meant that we could potentially miss our train from London to France to go on our ski trip!!! Arrrggg!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we decided to chance it and got on our bus to Berlin. At the German border two stern-looking German immigration officials boarded the bus and started checking everyone’s passports. We were sooooooo nervous, but thankfully they accepted our explanation and the copied documentation we had. We arrived in Berlin and had a slow morning recovering from the long bus trip. Expecting to be stranded there for a number of days we felt we could take it easy and have a catch up day. In the evening we headed out for a nice walk and happened upon a lovely Christmas market where we indulged in some warm Gluwein (a warm red spiced wine), bratwursts and other tasty German goodies. We talked and decided that we didn’t have too much to lose by giving it a shot and making the journey to the airport the next morning so at least we would know we tried everything to get home.

So, we woke early and got to the airport and lined up at the check-in queue. We were very nervous and were mentally preparing ourselves to get a flat “No” response. Instead, the lady told us to go downstairs to the Ryan Air office and speak with her manager. As expected, the manager said straight out, “No, you cannot travel without original passports, Ryan Air just does not allow it”. We persisted with pleas that we initially thought futile, but she eventually decided that she would call London immigration and see if anything could be done. By some miracle and a bit of Christmas spirit, they decided to allow us to fly, but warned that if when we got to London the officials thought we didn’t have enough documentation they would deport us back to Berlin. We have never been so pleased to get on a plane! Again, we were nervous lining up at the London airport, but managed to get through without too much hassle. We were so so relieved!

So we got home around 2pm this afternoon and even had time to get to the shops to stock up on Christmas food before they all closed. All in all it was quite an adventure and somehow things turned out much better than they could have. All we have to do now is get emergency passports in time to leave for our ski trip. (And we have vowed and declared to be much more protective of our passports in the future!!).

Thanks to Jen and Dad for all your help scanning and sending documents over and thanks for all the other lovely emails. We wish we could see you all for Chrissy, but hopefully we might get to talk to some of you tomorrow. Make sure you eat lots of Christmas pudding and have a great day!

Lots and lots of love and Christmas cheer,
Ang and Col, xoxoxox.