Berlin; Thursday, 16 February, 2006

Today was always going to be a long day, I had not realised it was going to be so long! After a seamless journey to and through the airport, I was sat on the plane in a good seat 10 minutes before it was due to depart with what looked like all passengers boarded. Then came the announcement that we were going to have to wait for a few minutes, as there was a technical fault on the plane. The fault turned out to be a complete lack of radar following a near miss with a lightning bolt on the planes journey into Gatwick.

After 40 minutes sat on the plane the pilot announced that the fault was not going to be repairable on the spot and that a replacement plane was about to set off from Stansted to take us. So, at a point where we should have been some 30,000 feet over Holland the whole plane were traipsing back into the departures lounge at Gatwick with no idea when, or if, we were going to get away.

At 10am they called for passengers to contact the ground agents desk, to be handed a food voucher and the news that the new departure time was about 11. At 11, this became 12. At just before 12 they flashed up a gate number and instantly put it to final call. Needless to say there was a small stampede of Berlin bound easyJet customers heading towards the gate. So, at 12:15, 3 hours and 50 minutes after we were due to depart (and conveniently for easyJet 10 minutes before they would have had to pay every single one of us £150 for the delay) the doors were closed and the pre-flight announcements started.

Just over 90 minutes later and 3 hours 30 minutes later than originally planed, the plane landed in Berlin with my plans for the day in pieces (I had planned to go to Potsdam for the afternoon, but once again Berlin, Potsdam and airlines mixed in a bad way - see 2004!) Instead I caught the bus and U-Bahn to the hotel and checked in, then headed into the centre of Berlin to have a wander around for a couple of hours, taking in the main sights - the Brandenburg gate, Reichstag and memorial church before grabbing a bite to eat and heading back to the hotel for some very needed sleep!