Berlin - a city divided now reunited COMPLETE - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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There aren’t many times when DH not sleeping is a good thing, but when he’s managed to set the alarm clock for 4pm instead of 4am, then that’s a very good time for him to be awake! We were quickly up and out of the house less than 40 minutes later when the taxi arrived to pick us up.
So how did this trip come about? It’s been a traditional ever since we got married in 1999 that we would visit a different capital city of the world for every year of our married life. Fortunately, with so many European countries around us, that’s not as difficult as it sounds. I realised last year that our current plans for 2008 wouldn’t take in a capital city.
There was no way we could we could claim that Hong Kong was one and even though we were due to go to Paris in May with Sue and Steve, that wasn’t new, as we visited that one on our first anniversary. So it became clear that we needed to find a new capital city to visit. I started to look online and thought that I’d check prices for the Easter weekend, never really expecting to find a good deal, but luck was in and I found a one night break in Berlin in a five star hotel for £200 for the two of us, so I booked it.
Fast forward to early January. I got an e-mail advising me of changes to our flight time. Now usually you would think five or ten minutes or maybe a couple of hours. No. They had changed our return flight from Saturday night to Saturday morning. No way was I having that, so I contacted the travel agent and told them that I wasn’t happy with it. Because the change was so drastic, it was up to the airline to give me a flight time that suited us. I told them I would happily take a flight on the Sunday night and that was all changed for me free of charge.
Of course I had to change the hotel, so I cancelled with no penalty and rebooked and this time went for a four star hotel that was much more central for the same amount of money. Result! So that’s how we got here.
And an hour after we left home, we were at London Stansted airport. It’s London’s third biggest airport, after Heathrow and Gatwick and is home to a lot of low cost airlines, including Air Berlin, who we would be flying with for the first time. As a result, they don’t have the technology of the other airports and there’s no automatic bag check in, so you have to wait in line and wouldn’t you know it, ours was the longest line? Isn’t it always the way? Fortunately it kept moving and we were through in about 30 minutes, then it was straight through security and we didn’t wait too long there, although they decided to give my Eeyore case an extra special look, after it set off the alarms. I personally think it was those naughty little donkeys playing around…!
We grabbed breakfast at the Frankie and Benny’s deli and then it was off to our gate. We really didn’t have much time to wait, as we had waited so long to check in, which was no bad thing.
We took off a little behind schedule, but I guess airlines must build that in these days, because we arrived 10 minutes ahead of schedule. The flight was very pleasant for a low cost operator, because that’s really what Air Berlin are. They’re in competition with the likes of Ryanair or Easyjet in the UK or perhaps Southwest in America. I was pleasantly surprised by what you get for the price. For example, you get free drinks and free food. We had snagged emergency exit seats at the airport and of course, those were very nice and spacious, but to be honest, the other seats didn’t look a bad size either, not that it matters when your flight is only just over an hour.
Soon we were landing and it was through passport control and off to get our case. It took quite a while for it to arrive, but we got it back eventually and then it was outside to meet Sabine, who was waiting for us. It was so lovely to finally see her and the first thing we noticed was how American she sounded. We meant that as a compliment and I know she took it as that. It really was very easy to forget that she was German, her English, or should I say American, is that good.
We walked over to the main terminal and got in line to get a travel ticket. At first, I was annoyed with myself that we hadn’t got it at home, as we were in line for about 30 minutes, but the guy at the counter was great and told us not to get a Welcome Card (which gives free travel in Berlin and discounts at a range of tourist attractions), but to get a ticket with all our travel paid for, as it was a special deal and it was much better value. Cool. I guess the wait was worth the saving.
The bus was due to leave in a couple of minutes, so off we went to catch it. The journey in was fine, although it took a bit longer than I figured, as there were more stops than I expected. Finally we were at Alexanderplatz and went to check in at our hotel, the Park Inn. It looked to be in a great location and was very nice indeed.
I went up to reception and politely answered “Guten Tag” and then the receptionist reeled off a whole heap of German at me. When she saw my face, she tried English. Much better. She told us our room was ready and that we had a great room on the 27th floor with a view over the city. Perfect! We went straight up and she was right about the great view. It was beautiful.
Our room You’ll have to wait to see the view, as the weather wasn’t great and I got some much better photos later in the trip Fooling around in the lobby Our hotel from outside
We stood there for longer than we should’ve done, as by the time we left the room, it was 1.15, as Sabine had booked lunch for us at the Reichstag, the German Parliament, at 1.30. We figured out that it was a couple of stops away on the S bahn system, which is a fast train system with only limited stops over ground, as opposed to the U bahn, which is the subway. But first we had to find the S bahn station and we could only find the U bahn station. Eventually we got there after a conversation between Sabine and a tram driver and some eagle eye spotting from Mark, who discovered where the platforms actually were inside the station.
Inside the station
Just as the train rolled into the station, Sabine remembered that she hadn’t got a ticket and it was a mad dash to get one in time before it pulled away. She made it with just seconds to spare.
As soon as we got off at the other end, we could see we were in the right area with the Reichstag in view, with its distinctive dome towering over the city. It was only added a few years ago and has been combined with the existing historic building very well.
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So that’s how we got here. 
It really was very easy to forget that she was German, her English, or should I say American, is that good. 
Eventually we got there after a conversation between Sabine and a tram driver and some eagle eye spotting from Mark, who discovered where the platforms actually were inside the station. 
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