Berlin Does Graphic Design Better

Berlin was high on my list of places I wanted to travel, but I definitely should have done more research before visiting there. I don’t think that I was able to make the most out of the trip, but the more I reflect on it, the more I am attached to Berlin. I want to go back some day in a better mindset, knowing more of what to expect.

Let me start off by saying, Berlin does graphic design better than any other city that I have visited, and I was in awe of the grunge yet minimal graphics that decorated the urban environment.

Getting to Berlin was relatively easy, and we quickly figured out public transportation to our airbnb. When we arrived to our airbnb, our host had lost her phone, so we spent about 45 minutes helping her find it, and finding it was one of my greatest accomplishments in life somehow. It was such a beautiful place and a great location. Berlin encompasses a large area, so everything took about 30-40 minutes of traveling to get from place to place.

After a nap, we got ready to explore the city. We started at a cafe directly below our airbnb, and we had to quickly go get some Euros in cash because a lot of places in Berlin only took cash. We then traveled to the heart of the city and took some photos. We tried some Milchkaffee, which was really good. We ran into a very nice lady named Sophia, and we got really expensive dinner. (We learned that it’s important to make reservations for dinner at Berlin restaurants.) We ended up almost getting locked out of our Airbnb, and we were just very ready to rest after a long week of traveling.

Day two in Berlin was a lot more manageable (and hot and sunny). We started with a great breakfast at Silo coffee, which had menus in English, which was very nice. We did some thrifting, and lots of walking / shopping. We tried to see some landmarks and take some photos. Then, we got some great gelato and walked back to our dinner reservations where we had a great South Germany Pasta Dish. After a wonderful dinner, we got mini wine bottles and walked to the East Side Gallery and watched the sunset. We went to sleep a little early so that we could wake back up at 3:30am to catch our flight back for our last leg of the trip in London.

(SHOUTOUT TO THE LADY THAT SPOKE IN GERMAN ON FULL VOLUME FOR 2 HOURS STRAIGHT DURING OUR 6AM FLIGHT)

Cambridge Has So Many Bikes

Oh Cambridge.

The journey to Cambridge was quite interesting. We woke up in South London and then had to make our way over to the end of the Piccadilly line at Southgate to drop off our luggage at the home we were going to be staying at after a quick trip to Cambridge and Berlin.

After a couple of fights with my Oyster card, we made our way to King’s Cross to board a train to Cambridge, which was about an hour ride. We read our books along the way and noticed people along the way at the various stops.

Once we arrived in Cambridge, we had some hours to kill before our host came to pick us up and take us to the quaint village she lived in, about an hour outside of Cambridge. We decided it was a great idea to rent bikes and ride them into the city for lunch. Well, when the streets are the opposite that you’re used to, and you don’t know the area well, biking can be a struggle. It was a highly stressful experience, but that wasn’t the worst of it. We got pooped on by a giant bird, and it was one of the nastiest experiences of my life. I don’t want to even think about it. I ended up trying to clean off in a pub bathroom with no paper towels.

By the evening, we were in the English countryside outside of a village called Clare with our hosts, and their wonderful dogs, Biggles and Jackson. We went for an evening walk, and then we got dinner at a great pub called The Bell. We settled in for a cozy night in a beautiful home before a super early start the next day.

The next morning was filled with Chelsea buns and getting temporary library cards and trying to print our boarding passes for our flight to Berlin the next morning. We walked all around, got some great pho, paid $6 to take a nap in a park, and went to a Eucharist service. Later, we got dinner and watched sunset from a rooftop restaurant in Cambridge. We made our way to the airport, and we had an awful all nighter. We learned a lot about Ryanair.

More photos to come from Berlin soon.

Lond(one)

Lond(one)

For quite some time, I have been hoping to be able to travel outside of the United States and visit Europe, a place with older history. I made it one of my 2019 goals to travel to Europe, and I am so thankful to say that I made that goal happen. What makes things even better was I got to go alongside one of my best friends, Gabi (and one of the greatest designers. Check her out here). We had a great and exhausting time walking all over Europe and napping in random parks.

For now, I wanted to talk about our first day in Europe and share some of the photos from London.

Because of a mishap and rude encounter with United Airlines, Gabi and I had to be put on separate flights, so we arrived in London at very different times. I ended up arriving about 8 hours ahead of Gabi, and I had to navigate my way around Europe without WiFi or internet access. I ended up finding my airbnb alright and settled in for the night. The next morning I woke up and met Gabi at the Pimlico Station and we started our first day in London together. What I remember the most was people busily hurrying off on their commutes to work. I saw little kids on these 3-wheeled scooters in their uniforms on the way to school, and I saw businessmen and women stopping in and out of cafes. The lighting was absolutely beautiful, and I just kept feeling like we were living in a dream.

As with any good day, we started the day off at a cafe called Cafe De Borek, and the cappuccino was so good. We navigated our way around the Tube and found ourselves at Green Park and Buckingham Palace. We walked around and stopped at St. James Park to take some photos. We kept walking until we got to Big Ben, which was unfortunately under construction. After that, we stopped for lunch at Poppy’s and got some great fish and chips. Then, we went to Hyde Park and took a nap because we were exhausted.

We learned the hard way that public restrooms in London require money to be used, and we had no British money. So that’s a travel tip for anyone visiting Europe to have loose change and cash.

We got more coffee and watched the swans, which are actually gigantic in London, and honestly, I’m still scared of them. We then got dinner at Franco Manca, and settled in for the night for some good rest. We sat up in our little beds editing our images from the day and talking about how surreal everything was.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to post more from the other days as well as soon as I get around to editing them all.