Picking up Barney

Since coming to Berlin we have been worried about our dog Barney. He has been 'on the road' for the past four days and we really hoped he had been travelling ok.

Today was the day we could pick him up from the airport - Tegel, the same one we arrived at on Tuesday.

We got the S-Bahn to the Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Main Station).  On the way a guy in plain clothes stepped on the train, and once the doors closed he showed his badge and announced he was a ticket inspector. We had heard this happens, but this is the first time we have seen any ticket inspections in Germany. Thankfully we had decided to play it safe today and had legitimate tickets on us so didn't get in trouble. A group of three asian tourists weren't so lucky and were kicked off at the Hauptbahnhof and then had three Deutsche Bahn inspectors interrogating them. Good to know for us, we'll play it legit from now on....probably.

At the Hauptbahnhof we transited onto a bus (the TXL) and this took us to Tegel. It didn't quite take us to where we wanted to go, so at the airport we jumped on another bus (the 128) for the short trip to the Luftfracht stop (Air Cargo).

There is a moderate walk until the freight area and then just buildings with no indication of where to go or what to do. We went to a checkpoint like building and spoke to a person that spoke no English...so I said 'Unser Hund' and she pointed to another building.

We loitered around here until asking for some help. This guy told us to go into the building (which doesn't look like should go in at all, with forklifts buzzing about and trucks everywhere), go right, left, 25 metres, and then into the swissport office.

This was all a bit strange for us, but once we got to the Swissport office this was the place to be. They said we were too early (it was 1pm) and could we come back at 2pm. We joked there was no sightseeing around this place and they said we could sit in the office.

We tried to waste time by going outside, but it was too cold to 'chill' out there. We got a coffee (50 cents) and hot chocolate from the vending machine and then went back to the office.

We were getting periodic updates while we sat there. At one point I head them talk about us and say the word 'tot' (dead) which had me worried that Barney had died and they were working out how to break the news to us.

As we sat for an hour, then an hour and a half, we were then told that there was a problem. The dog has arrived, but there are no papers. These papers are required in order to clear customers, and he can't leave without customs clearance. We were really worried but these guys seemed to be onto it.

We felt uncomfortable as the people in the office were talking about us (in German) and not always telling us what was going on. They were blaming London Heathrow for the mix up (it was their fault) and calling England 'Scheisseland'.  :)

We had some copies of documents, and one of the guys called London to sort out the issue. London had the  vet clearance and associated documents and emailed them through to our guys. This is not usually acceptable. 'Max' our new friend came with us to the customers office to see if he could help smooth this situation over.

At customs the guy was unbelievably cliche German. he opened a 'slide' window to peep his head through to talk to us. Think Hogans Heroes Shulz and you would be spot on. Max explained to Shulz what the problem was and gave him the emailed copies of the required documents. Shulz shouted 'One moment please' in the exact voice you are thinking right now and then promptly slammed the slidey door shut. Upon opening the slidey door, Nordine tried a bit of charm (which she think sealed the deal) and Shulz stamped the forms.

With this form stamped, we could go back to Max, pay our 20 Euros processing fee and then finally pick up Barney after this two and a half hour office wait of uncertainty.

We got Barney handed over to us and he was in the cage that he had been put in when he was picked up in Perth. We briefly took him out of the crate and he was a bit tentative but excited to see us. We quickly put him back so we could get him out of there and outside where we could give him some proper attention.

Outside he got out of his cage and he was very happy to see us. It was freezing outside so we put a jumper on him and then briskly walked to the bus to take us home.

It is such a strange feeling to take a dog on public transport after being conditioned that this is not allowed. No one on the bus cares and you only get smiles. I just kept waiting for someone to tell us off but this never happened.

We got off the bus at a u-Bahn stop and we all walked down to the platform. Barney handled the situation really well, obviously nervous but also curious and forging ahead. We waited on the platform until the train arrived and then we all got on. The train was very busy but Barney was fine in my arms and no one else cared.

We had to switch trains so an S-Bahn, again very busy and again no one cared. Strange but cool. This how they do it in Europe!.

We needed to get something to eat for dinner, so we stopped in at our local supermarket 'Kaiser's' on the way home. We strolled in with Barney walking.on the supermarket floor, marvelling at how we can all shop together. That was until a shop lady came up to us in a huff and told us off that no dogs in here and to get out. Ok..so that's the line, no dogs in Kaisers!

Back at home Barney rushed inside and immediately jumped on the bed, rubbing his face on his sleeping rug that we had brought with us from Perth.

He seemed really happy, and after some play time and dinner both he and Nordine passed out on the floor.