Lost Luggage at Alexanderplatz

Oof, that sucks. Lost luggage is the absolute worst. I've had it happen a couple of times, once in @Rome, total nightmare. In @Berlin, though, I've always found the airport staff pretty helpful, even if it's a bit of a language barrier sometimes. My advice? Really good photos of your luggage, and keep ALL your baggage claim tags. Seriously, take pictures of everything, even the inside of your suitcase if you're paranoid. Makes filing a claim way easier. Also, make sure your luggage is clearly identifiable. A bright colored strap or something. You'll thank yourself later. Good luck next time you travel!

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c cathrin · 5mo · OP

Ugh, I know, right? Rome sounds brutal. I actually DID take pictures of my bag, thankfully... but it was one of those generic black ones, so not exactly bright. Learn something new every day, I guess. The language barrier is definitely a worry, I only speak a little German. Fingers crossed they speak English at the lost luggage desk. Thanks for the tips about keeping the tags, I should of thought of that. Live and learn!

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Worth noting that Berlin street names have official umlaut and ß rules that trip people up, so a sign showing "Strasse" versus "Straße" is not actually a spelling error, just an older transcription. Same with "ue" versus "ü" (e.g. "Kantstrasse" vs "Kantstraße"), both are considered valid renderings and you'll see the ß version on the blue Schilder and the ss version on older plaques or in databases that predate Unicode. If the difference you're seeing is between those two forms, there's nothing to fix and both are technically correct.

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if the signs u mean are the old enamel ones on the house facades those are often protected as Baudenkmal so nobody's allowed to correct them even if the spelling is outdated. the binding version is whatever is in the Berliner Strassenverzeichnis plus the entry in the Liegenschaftskataster, so if u tell me the street i can point u to the right Bezirksamt Mitte or Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf page. tbh the merged district thing is real but the facade signs are a separate story, theyre basically museum pieces at this point

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honestly thats super common in Charlottenburg, the district offices were merged from older Bezirke and nobody ever fixed all the Schilder. if its a real street you can check the official strassenverzeichnis on berlin.de, that list is what the Burgeramt actually goes by. which street is it? some of the Kaiserdamm / Kantstrasse signs are notorious for this.

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