Travelling Fletchers

We’ve arrived at our apartment and discovered we’re on one of the most iconic streets in the capital – Schönhauser Allee. Once a medieval road out of Berlin, it’s now a lively stretch mixing history with city buzz. Named after the royal palace up in Pankow, it’s seen centuries of change – from horse-drawn carts to U-Bahn trains rumbling overhead since 1913. There’s a Jewish cemetery tucked just off the street, grand old façades side by side with cafés, and the tracks for trams (though they’ve been playing hide-and-seek with us so far)

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The apartment itself is a spacious studio with clean modern lines. The kitchen is small, and in my first attempt to find cheese in the fridge I somehow opened the cupboard housing the boiler. I’ll get my head round it eventually – or we’ll just move on to the next stop before I do.

All our bookings so far have been through booking.com and we’ve yet to be disappointed – which sounds very British. For those in the States or Oz, the apartment is awesome!

Our holiday isn’t all about rushing around to see everything – we need some downtime too. With space in my bag limited to anything smaller than the palm of my hand, most of my usual crafts were out of the question. So, I decided to try something new: watercolour painting. I found a tiny travel set that fits neatly in the palm of my hand – just enough to keep me happily occupied between adventures.

We travelled first class on Friday – all our Interrail is first class – which meant we could go Eurostar Plus. The perks were a meal onboard and extra space. For those of you who haven’t eaten onboard Eurostar before, it’s not like airline food and is far nicer. The glass is real to start with, not plastic. And nothing is covered in crazy foil.

The train was a smooth ride, though quite a bit in the dark which could only mean one thing – the Channel Tunnel.

After a quick stop in Lille – only half an hour from Brussels. We arrived in Brussels to find our sleeper train and took a quick photo.

This was the only time we will travel second class as we wanted all four of us to be together overnight. The carriage looked like something out of the Harry Potter films – just in blue.

Four of us fit rather cosily in the compartment and I’m glad we took the advice about not bringing suitcases – they would never have fit under the couches.

Making up the beds was interesting. The seats convert into beds but are a bit like Velcro – everything sticks where it lands and moving anything is a workout. Getting into the sleeping bags was its own comedy. They’re like cotton sheets sewn together. The only way I managed was to sit on the side of the bed, climb in, and wriggle up as much as possible. At that point, I’d become a mermaid – one tail instead of two legs. Then I found I’d wriggled too far down and couldn’t stretch my legs out fully. If I needed rocking to sleep, the train certainly provided it.

We arrived in Berlin at 6 am – far too early for the city to be awake. We’d already been to two cafés before 9 am. This gave us the perfect chance to visit Checkpoint Charlie and see some sections of the Berlin Wall before the crowds.

We went into the museum there – once in the space between East and West Germany. We read story after story of people escaping, or trying to escape, from the DDR side to the West. Some hid in false panels in cars after the engine had been moved to make space. Others studied aviation so they could build aircraft engines and attempt escapes by air. Two families even tried hot air balloons – the first attempts were shot down, but a second balloon succeeded. Some hid in old stereo units. Others dug tunnels. Tunnel 57 was dug from West to the East!

One account was from a man who escaped when he was just seven. To him, it was exciting – not only riding in a car but hiding next to the engine. His father was more nervous, worried his son might scream from excitement. He spent the whole journey with his hand over his son’s mouth. The most chilling part was realising, after a quick calculation, that this boy is only five years older than me. Sobering – and it brought the whole history closer to home.

Moving on we walked through the Brandenburg Gate after passing the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Not sure if it’s impressive or oppressive – but certainly something that should never be forgotten.

The Great Sock Search and Bag Crisis

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We’re all packed and (almost) ready to go! The final push before any holiday always has its quirks, but today felt like a proper warm-up for the chaos to come.

The hardest part? Socks. Not the actual packing – socks. Matching socks. Socks that actually belong to me. I unearthed no fewer than three pairs of flight socks, several tiny ones last worn by the kids a decade ago, and barely a single pair that was both mine and matching. Not a promising start.

Then came the bag maths. Four people, three bags – how hard can it be? Turns out, very. Despite all best efforts and the dream of a minimalist interrail setup, it just wasn’t happening. Off we went on a mission to buy a fourth bag.

Miraculously, once back home with new luggage in hand, we were repacked and ready in five minutes flat – thanks to the magic of packing cubes and liners. Highly recommend if you’re trying to cram multiple wardrobes into limited space with limited patience.

Let the adventure begin

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We’re Off – Interrailing Begins! 🚄

We’re off! Interrail app at the ready, trains loaded, and backpacks already more in number than we planned.

I’d read loads of posts saying you have to toggle on each journey in the app – but honestly, it’s one of those things you only really understand when you’re standing on the platform with one bar of signal and a train approaching. Got there in the end!

Boarding the Eurostar felt like hitting our 10,000 steps just in the queue – weaving through barriers with our backpacks on. No dragging bags here – just the constant awareness that if we turn too quickly, we might accidentally knock someone out. Sorry to all fellow travellers I may have bumped in to.

Eurostar to Brussels – next stop adventure.

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We’re off on a big adventure. Trains, fjords, cake, and probably a lot of card games on trains.

From 8th to 25th August, we’re Interrailing to and around Norway – something we’ve always talked about and finally decided to do properly.

This trip celebrates Cam’s 18th, our 25th wedding anniversary (me and David), and my 50th birthday – all in the same year. Charlie’s tagging along as our official trip photographer!

Why Norway?

When we asked Cam what he wanted to do for his 18th, he said:
“No party, no drinking – but please can I stand on a rock?”

Not just any rock. A beautiful one. In Norway.

So the whole trip has been planned around that. That one rock. And the journey to reach it – by train. With stopovers in Berlin, Oslo, Stavanger, Copenhagen, and back through Berlin again on the way home.

Packing mood: chaotic optimism

No one has packed… yet. But there’s still time.

We’re thinking about it – and loosely arguing over how many dresses is too many. I’m banking on layers – leggings under everything if it gets chilly.

The plan (ha) is to take just three rucksacks between the four of us. We’ll let you know how that goes.

David’s been online and ordered a Swiss Army–style universal charger – apparently compatible with everything from Berlin sleeper trains to Norwegian cabins. Fingers crossed.

The rough route

We’re starting in the UK and heading to Berlin, then taking the train to Oslo.
From there we travel across to Stavanger, then back to Oslo for a short stop before continuing on to Copenhagen.
Finally we head back through Berlin and home.

Lots of travel, lots of trains, and hopefully enough snacks to keep spirits up.

More to come as we go – we’ll post photos, updates, mishaps and memories as they happen.