Everyone has a Weird Story from Berlin.

Berlin was always on our list of "must see" places. Ask anyone who has been to Berlin about it and I guarantee they will be able to recall at least one super weird situation they found themselves in while there. We aren't an exception but this weird situation comes from the place we stayed in Berlin.

We decided on a few days in the German capital for a music festival and I swear every other person on the planet did too because the entire city was booked out, even the couch surfing hosts had to announce that their sofas were booked out. It came down to us forking out a stupid amount for an Airbnb or trying to sell our festival tickets in the next 4 hours and possibly losing $400. Airbnb it was, and we found 1 "Instant book" listing which meant we didn't have to introduce ourselves to the host and explain very nicely why we would like to stay in their overpriced apartment in hope of them accepting us while we still had WiFi. We clicked, it was booked and we were showing up the next day.

It's 32 degrees the next day but with a 16kg backpack on it must feel about 42 degrees (i wouldn't know, Liam carries the bag) but we arrive at the Airbnb address anyway only to be greeted by a man crossed legged, smoking a joint in his living room. "Join me" he says politely waving us in, "my girlfriend is still at work and she will set your room up when she is home.We weren't expecting you but this is your room." he says pointing to their dining room with a pile of sheets and a pillow on the chair. We are exhausted and sweaty and after realizing that the dining room floor is our bed for the next 3 days, i'm ready to turn around and never come back. But we are in Berlin, it's crazy here, I need to just roll with it, they could be a really cool couple right? so we drop our things and sit with him. Not even 30 seconds into small talk and we are invited to his favourite swingers club tonight. After gently but quickly declining the swingers club offer we spent the rest of the day arguing about spending our next 3 nights on the floor of the swingers house or leave, but we literally have no where else to go and so a decision is made for us.

Night 1: We come home in the evening after checking in and find that no one is home, probably at the swingers club. So we decide to get changed, go out and experience Berlin nightlife. As i"m getting out of the shower, I hear a lady apologizing to Liam in the hallway. "So sorry about the mistake but you are meant to be in the neighbors house, he has the same last name as me." WHAT?!? (is this a joke?) I've just used a strangers shower and now I have to walk passed her into her dining room (our bedroom) with a towel on, this cannot be happening! In my panic, I make a run for it, straight past both of them to "our bedroom" shouting "sorry, sorry, sorry." I'm getting dressed while shoving our shit back in the backpack ready to leave like a madwoman when Liam walks calmly in and says "shes crazy, she thinks we are meant to be in her neighbours house but the airbnb profile shows photos of this apartment, has her photo on it, her name, address and her email. Apparently she has 2 accounts on airbnb and forgot to cancel one which she doesn't have the password to anymore. (which also happens to be the one we booked through.great) So yes she is expecting 2 guests, but not until tomorrow and er she has no spare bedroom and now no spare dining room to let them sleep in but assures us everything will be fine. Firstly, we were expecting a bedroom (like advertised) and for there to be no other guests staying with us. So just Imagine when these two people show up, greeted by the weird swinger dude, explained that they have other guests they didn't know about who are sleeping on the dining room floor and um there's no other beds so you have a choice of the kitchen floor or the bathtub? they would run for the hills. They did. While we were at Lollapalooza festival, the two other guests who were also meant to be attending the festival, showed up at the airbnb, took one look and turned around. Probably prefererd to sleep on the floor of Berghain.*

Night 2: We were offered some foreign meat for dinner at 3am. We passed.

Night 3: Swinger man stops us in the hallway as we were on our way out to tell us about himself (now he wants to make small talk?!) He tells us he is a trained blacksmith from Syria who became a famous writer for a huge magazine that you would all know. He accidentally became famous in Syria by writing funny posts on his Facebook which somehow attracted a lot of followers. Next minute he gets a call from this magazine asking if he could write columns for them in Berlin! With no writing background or qualifications he is now a famous columnist and travels as a key note speaker at conferences all around the world. Oh and he's just published a book that has been translated into 5 different languages. He just set up Airbnb for weed money. You can't make this shit up, I swear!

Finally, after a good hour talking to him in the hallway we leave and I think I feel angry? or maybe shocked? or just in disbelief of what Iv'e heard so naturally we get really drunk, laugh about it, get denied from Berghain, crawl home to bed, wake up the next morning and sneak out of the swingers house never to return again.

Berlin.

* Don't know what Berghan is? Click here

#berlin #airbnb #berghain #backpacker