Since this was a completely new experience for us, I thought that I would write down our adventures as we went along and now share them with you through posts for each day. Hopefully this saga might encourage you to try travelling too and even entertain you just a smidgen...
Our flight from Liverpool to Berlin was on the 8th of July and as we boarded the plane, Em and I were hit by the sudden realisation that we were totally unprepared. All we had with us were vague directions to our pre-booked hostel in Berlin and our booking for a Venice hostel on the 19th of July (plus essentials like knickers, ID and Berocca). The response from EVERY single person, including my hairdresser, who we told about our trip to "stay safe" and not "go off with strangers" still ringing in our ears, we buckled our seatbelts and wondered how we were going to survive the next fortnight by ourselves.
The man sitting next to us on the flight only exacerbated our fears by telling us how "brave" we were to be travelling alone so we silenced him with the gift of some Bitsa Wispa and tried to calm our pulsing hearts. What were we letting ourselves in for?
We arrived in Germany at around 9:30pm and headed for our first train journey. Not wanting to use up one of our 10 days of unlimited train travel, we pressed random buttons on the ticket machine until we came up with the cheapest ticket and bought that, hoping for the best. If the ticket turned out to be invalid, we agreed it would be best to pull the old "me English sorry no comprendey" gaff until we were left alone. Luckily, no such trouble passed and we made it to the hostel 3 trains later at around 11:30pm.
Neither of us had stayed in a hostel before so we didn't know what to expect as we entered our 8 bed mixed dormitory. Two girls greeted us whilst we claimed our bunks and it turned out that they lived 40 minutes from where we come from - definitely a pleasant surprise with which to ease into hostel life. They inquired after our ages and immediately groaned, claiming that they were "the oldest people in Europe" at 24 and 25 years old.
More pleasant greetings soon followed as two Israeli 19 year old guys entered with pizza and shared it with us. The two girls from England got ready to go out as Em and I chatted to the two Israeli guys in the common room. After disclosing that we were from Liverpool, we were met with a thickly Hebrew-accented but touching rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone and the chatting continued in the same bizarre but friendly manner.
When an argument started on the subject of which guy's sister was hotter, Em and I made are excuses and went to bed, slightly more pacified than we had been a few hours earlier.
Our interrailing trip had begun...
