Berlin, part I: Getting there

As stated in the 2018 Christmas post, daughter Julia and I planned to visit Berlin this year. Last month, I and Julia traveled separately to Boston, arriving on June 11, and then jointly the next day to Berlin on Aer Lingus, arriving on June 13.

It was the first time I had flown on Aer Lingus since 1972. Back then, the flight– Boston-Heathrow, England — was on a Boeing 747, I believe. This time — Boston-Dublin — it was an Airbus 330. Very nice. Seating was 2-4-2, so Julia and I had a pair of seats adjacent to a window.

The entertainment interface was more advanced than that on my usual airline, JetBlue.

The maps showing progress of the flight were particularly impressive. Here’s a collection of those:

 

More surprising, based on my U.S. flying experiences, we were offered meals. Options were “beef stew” and pasta. I mean, come on, we were on an Irish airline. Beef stew, please.

The flight took only five hours, give or take a few minutes. We left at 6 pm and were flying toward nightfall. By the time we landed in Dublin, five timezones ahead, it was morning again.

Waiting in Dublin for our connecting flight to Berlin, I was quite disappointed in the beer selection. Being early morning, I wasn’t planning to get one, but still . . . . 

Dublin was overcast and cool.

In Dublin, Julia approaches our connecting flight to Berlin.

Our plane to Berlin was an Airbus 320, with no entertainment options. There was another meal, though. By the time the flight attendants got to us, they had run out of “Irish breakfast,” so Julia’s second choice was a scone with jam and tea.

Here’s Julia’s time-lapse of our descent into Berlin’s Tegel Airport.

Part II: Meeting the Canaris family