I went to Eastern Europe at the end of September, to meet with a long time net.friend (net.twin even!) of mine, who happened to be in the area. The weather was amazing, and it was a very relaxing break :) Photos are now up!
Got up with plenty of time to spare, and managed to sort out all the laundry from the previous night.
I expertly sorted the packing (I can pack in 10 mins flat even for a 3 week holiday ;) ), and then once I was sure I had everything, headed out .. plan:
Get tube to Partick, get 747 bus to Airport, check in 0955h, fly out 1155h.
I head to tube, only to discover it is shut ... it's SUNDAY! There is no tube service this earlt on a sunday! DOh!
I opt for get taxi, despite knowing it will bite .. after all, I set aside a bunch of money for this holiday so I didn't care :) Fixed price £20 ouch ... if only the private hire companies had answered their phones!
I get to airport, and realise flight is 1.55pm not 1155h (When will people realise that 24h format is so much less confusing?)
I had a big scottish breakfast (lots of very high fat high calory high cholesterol unhealthy stuff, but very tasty!), and then read the eBook I had on my Blackberry browser.
Made it to check in, and, free of my bags, headed to security (easy to get through when you only carry a jacket ... I thoroughly recommend it!), and then read more of the eBook.
Got on plane last, having decided that it didn't serve me any good to stand in a queue for 25 mins while everyone else got on ... as a result I got seat near rear exit, with minimum fuss.
Thanks to that, I got off plane in Schönefeld 15th, which was very handy for the passport check :)
Since this was my second time heading to Dresden, and I actually had my train ticket with me (long story, I might try and add a journal for it later), I was able to lounge on grass outside till the train time.
The train journey from Schönefeld to Berlin Hauptbahnhof passed quickly, and since I knew my way around, it was easy to get to the platform for Dresden.
I got on the train at 1841h local time. I had no reservation for Berlin - Dresden leg which made it easy to just hop on, and I found a cabin easily enough.
A few stations along, and a lady arrived who had reserved the seat I was in, so I had to help both her and a fellow cabin passenger put their luggage on the rack.
During the journey, I accidentally hit backspace in my browser so lost the book I was reading, doh! Hope wilma has wifi so I can reload it (I refuse to pay £3/MB to read a free book!)
At 2007h I had to lift 1 bag down for the stop at Elsterwerda, the train was 10 minutes late at this point, and my connection at Dresden Hauptbahnhof was only 8 minutes. Fortunately the train made the time up en route.
At 2056h it was a quick hop to Neustadt, arriving at 2106h, where I met Wilma at Neustadt, and was presented with BEER!
We headed to a bar in Neustadt called "Bottoms Up", where I also met Wilma's cousin and another friend of theirs.
I am definitely glad to be back in Dresden :)