1
- 7 weeks ago
Berlin is brilliant in summer, but living here also comes with plenty to hate, and this brutally honest commentary breaks down the biggest downsides. From dirt, broken glass and dog mess in the streets to the nightmare apartment market, impossible town hall appointments, grumpy service, constant sirens and long club queues, the video captures the everyday frustrations of life in Berlin.
It also touches on the smell in the city, the all-black fashion vibe, disappointing bread, bleak weather, and the chaos of dating in Berlin. The tone is funny, direct, and very Berlin: part rant, part city guide, part first-person lifestyle commentary from someone who clearly knows the capital inside out.
If you’re thinking about moving to Berlin, already live there, or just enjoy honest expat and city-living stories, this is a sharp look at the reality behind the hype. It’s especially useful for anyone searching for Berlin living tips, Berlin pros and cons, Germany lifestyle commentary, or a funny rant about city life in Europe.
It also touches on the smell in the city, the all-black fashion vibe, disappointing bread, bleak weather, and the chaos of dating in Berlin. The tone is funny, direct, and very Berlin: part rant, part city guide, part first-person lifestyle commentary from someone who clearly knows the capital inside out.
If you’re thinking about moving to Berlin, already live there, or just enjoy honest expat and city-living stories, this is a sharp look at the reality behind the hype. It’s especially useful for anyone searching for Berlin living tips, Berlin pros and cons, Germany lifestyle commentary, or a funny rant about city life in Europe.
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TravelTranscript
00:02I hate Berlin is what you will say after you've moved here and experience your
00:08first winter of course when you first come here you will be like oh this is
00:13so cool here Berlin is the best city in the world but then when the honeymoon
00:17phase is over you will just feel like the rest of us I hate this place it
00:22stinks it's dirty and there's junkies everywhere I think all Berliners have a
00:31love-hate relationship with Berlin and I have been way too nice to the city on
00:35YouTube apparently some of you guys even moved here just because of my videos so
00:41it's about time to talk about the downsides of our beloved Berlin okay let's
00:47go the dirt Berlin is one of the dirtiest cities in all of Europe and it seems
00:53that neither the people nor the local government give a damn and I'm not
00:58talking about the graffiti that looks awesome it's the garbage everywhere just
01:03look at how dirty everything is here do you think they ever cleaned up here in
01:07the last 10 years I don't think so and wherever you go there will be broken
01:13glass in the street it's everywhere Berliners love drinking in public and
01:19it's great that you can drink alcohol in the streets but this this is not fun and
01:24if I was a parent I would never want my child to run around the streets and then
01:29it falls in their grate and it seems that people don't really care about any of
01:34this because they don't leave only their garbage outside but also their
01:38furniture which you don't need anymore in any district you will find
01:41abandoned sofas mattresses tables you name it I'm right now at Varshaustrasse
01:48one of the most touristy places in all of Berlin and just look down this bridge
01:54there's garbage everywhere nobody's gonna clean that up and it's not just dirt
01:59humans leave behind it's also their pets when you're trying to walk down a
02:04normal street you can never look straight you always have to look on the
02:08floor because oh there's gonna be a lot of shit on the floor I mean when will
02:13the people ever learn that if you have a dog in the city just clean up their turds
02:19or don't get a dog yeah it's not that hard okay next it's time to talk about the
02:25apartment situation of course the never-ending topic it's so hard to find a
02:31good flat an affordable flat in Berlin in the last five years alone prices for rents
02:36have doubled yeah they really have doubled it's ridiculous and it's not
02:40getting better every year it's just getting worse and worse and worse every
02:45time now a landlord decides to put a normal price for the rent out there's
02:50gonna be crowds of people for the viewing and the news will report on it just
02:55like this example from a few weeks ago a landlord in Charlottenburg put out a flat
03:00for 1070 euro per month it had like 75 square meters and guess what so many
03:06people wants to go to the apartment viewing that there was a line of 150
03:10meters people couldn't even get in anymore and that is not a very cheap
03:15contract 1100 euro for 75 square meters I think that's even above the legal limit
03:21and if you are one of the few lucky ones and you have a contract that is five
03:26years old 10 years old 50 years old don't give up your contract you're gonna
03:31regret it like I did because five years ago I had a free room flat I was paying
03:37like 700 euros per month if you want to get a contract like this today it is
03:41impossible impossible and the situation is getting worse and worse every year
03:47because most landlords ask for illegally high rents and many people think they
03:52have to accept that but that's not true if the landlord asks for too much rent
03:57you can sue him but most people are afraid of the costs that would come
04:02along with that for the lawyers the court etc but there is an easy solution for
04:07exactly that problem and this is where today's sponsor comes in Connie if you
04:13have never heard of Connie it is an awesome service that takes care of exactly
04:17this issue Connie is Germany's leading online platform for legal services in
04:23tenancy law if your rent is too high above the legal limit they will sue your
04:27landlord for you and try to get it down to a normal level and you know what it
04:33won't cost you a single penny yeah it's true I've actually used their service in
04:39my previous flat in Neukölln they were able to reduce my rent from 1000 euro per
04:44month to 750 euro per month saving me 3000 euro in rent cost per year and we
04:50even got overpaid rent from the past back so I'll explain quickly how this whole
04:55thing works first you go on the website you put in your details where you live
05:01how big is your flat how much you pay and then it will already tell you how
05:05many euros too much you pay in this case they could potentially save us 450 euro per
05:10month that's per year more than 5,000 euro if you pay too much rent just fill
05:15out the rest of the form and send them a request but you said it won't cost me a
05:20penny how is that possible well how their business model works is they will sue
05:25your landlord for you they will negotiate with them maybe even take them to court
05:30and if they succeed and only if they succeed they will take a cut of the money
05:35you will save to be exact they will take six months worth of your rent savings so
05:41let's just take the example we put if they manage to save you 450 euro per month
05:46they will take a six month cut of the savings that's 2700 euro but then you
05:52will save for the rest of the time you spend in the flat 5600 euro per year so if
05:58you are planning to stay in your flat for more than six months which I think most
06:02people want it's already worth doing it because it won't cost you a thing just
06:07send them your rent contract and then they will take care of the rest don't
06:11let the landlords get away with their illegally high rents it's not okay just
06:15go on their website and check it out the link is in the description you'll find
06:19plenty of more information on there and I should mention that you can use
06:23conis service not only in Berlin but in all Germany and now back to the streets
06:29the next thing on the list will only annoy you every once in a while like
06:34every time you have to move or you need a new document I'm talking about the
06:40town hall the Bürgermt and you need to make an appointment there if you need
06:45something from the city like for example when you need to register that you have
06:49moved to a new flat you know to register your address every time you do that you
06:54need an appointment for the Bürgermt and to get that is very very hard
07:00usually this should be an easy process but in Berlin you need to plan ahead you
07:05can book those appointments three months ahead every day there will open up a
07:10new day but all the appointments are booked out within minutes so what people
07:14do they go online at 7 o'clock in the morning when the new appointments go
07:18online and then they click appointment appointment appointment so even if you
07:22don't have a flat yet you should get an appointment at the Bürgermt just to have
07:27it ready because if you don't register within a month after moving that is
07:32illegal and they can fine you a lot of money and then you go to the
07:36Bürgermt with your nice appointment three months later and the woman sitting in
07:40front of you is like why are you two months late this is illegal I'm going to
07:45fine you two and a half thousand euro for not registering in time but it has not
07:50been possible to get an appointment earlier look at your website I don't
07:54give a damn here's your fine goodbye so the city of Berlin is officially making
08:00you a criminal but there's nothing you can do you can just pray to the techno
08:06God to spare you okay if you have ever been to Berlin you of course know how
08:12friendly we Berliners are of course I'm kidding they are the grumpiest people on
08:17the planet and you really see that in the service the service here is horrible
08:24every time you go to a restaurant to the butcher or to any event and you want
08:29something from the service person they're just like what do you want I know
08:35Berlin is the capital of grumpiness and some people love it they like that the
08:40people are more direct and not put a fake smile but I don't want to know that
08:44your life is miserable and that you hate your work it's your fucking job just put
08:49on a smile and give me a drink it's not that hard what really is driving me nuts
08:56is that every time I'm trying to relax outside somewhere there's I swear you
09:04can't spend five minutes outside anywhere in Berlin without hearing them every time
09:09I'm trying to film a video outside half the time I spent just waiting for the
09:14sirens to go away seriously just a second need to pause the video next we got a talk
09:24about the clothing the clothing people here are dressing all the same black black
09:33wherever you look it's black and I mean yeah black is a cool color to wear but it's not the
09:40only color and no I'm not cool right now I'm wearing white well maybe I'm 5% cool you know
09:46but
09:46it seems like 90% of the population here has clothing only with the color black and I know that
09:53it's
09:53difficult to choose another color than black to wear because the city in winter is so depressing and
09:58you really want to extend to the outside how you feel from the inside that is just black so yeah
10:04maybe just keep going back whatever
10:08wow look such a beautiful bridge must be really nice to walk on it right
10:16oh what's that smell smells like 1,000 people peed here in the last hour alone oh wait they did
10:24the
10:25smell the smell is horrible in the whole city it doesn't matter where you are on a beautiful
10:32bridge like this in the park in the subway it smells like pee like vomit everywhere and a big
10:39reason for that is because there's almost no public toilets in the city or in Germany at all it's not
10:46a
10:46thing in some places there are paid public toilets but even they are really rare but especially in
10:53Berlin there's so many people who party in the evening there are so many homeless people which
10:57is a whole different issue but they are there and they have no place to go to put their pee
11:04yeah so
11:04they do it wherever even the Berliners if they go to the park on the weekend and they drink 10
11:10beers
11:11whatever there is no place they can go and relieve themselves that doesn't make the whole place smell
11:18like I think our government has some kind of weird pee fetish because they're not trying to fix it if
11:25the local government would really care about this they would just put public toilets for free on the
11:31hotspots you know Mauerpark here there's a lot of people hanging out just put some public toilets
11:37there it's not that hard other countries are doing this forever successfully and they can enjoy a stink
11:43free life you know I hate politics but one day I'm gonna run for mayor just to fix this problem
11:50because the local government isn't doing it you all know that I love a good night out in Berlin but
11:57you know what I don't love about it waiting in line the queues in Berlin are driving me mad you
12:05can't
12:05just spontaneously decide ah it's 2am oh let's go to the club I feel like dancing no because if you
12:12go
12:12there at two o'clock in the morning then you have to wait in line for like four hours five
12:17hours if
12:18you want to go to a good club if you want to go to a bad club no problem but
12:21who wants to go in a bad
12:22club right Berlin does have the greatest nightlife scene on the whole planet but the queue situation
12:27is ruining the whole thing just look at Berghain Berghain may be the most famous club in all Germany
12:34but there often is a queue that is eight hours long eight hours that's mental so the bad thing about
12:41the
12:42clubbing culture here is not that bouncers are too strict but that the queues are too long they
12:48could just send the people away quicker let them in quicker but they don't because they wouldn't be
12:53cool there needs to be a queue you know people need to waste your time in line so they feel
12:59they have
13:00accomplished something just by getting in and that is horrible I hate it with a burning passion
13:06the only way to not take part of this is if you know someone in the club who puts you
13:11in the guest
13:11list but that can only happen if you are already established in the city and it is almost impossible
13:17to do when you just moved here or you need to plan the whole weekend ahead so that you decide
13:22okay I
13:23will go to the club when it opens or you make a plan that you only go at like six
13:27o'clock in the morning
13:28because then there's no queue anymore or at least a short one only so yeah berlin club queues are
13:36horrible it's not fun it just ruins the whole experience at least for me and maybe you feel
13:42different but I hate it okay next the bread situation berlin has horrible bread for german standards
13:51unfortunately most bakeries here they don't bake their own bread anymore they just buy this prefabricated
13:57brötchen they put it in the oven and then they sell it and it tastes okay but it is not
14:03great
14:04and I don't want to eat this every day because I'm getting sick of it if you go to any
14:08smaller town in
14:09germany any village they have amazing bakeries the bread is so good because they bake it themselves
14:17and I don't know maybe they're real burners they don't give a damn about bread and they're happy with
14:23their shrimp they're nice little shrimp I hate them yeah they taste like paper why would you eat that
14:29and that doesn't mean you can't find good bread in berlin but it's very very hard and you really have
14:35to look for it and maybe you have to drive for an hour to a good bakery to find something
14:39if you
14:40happen to find a good bakery for some reason somewhere they charge ridiculously high amounts for a loaf of
14:46bread sometimes they charge 8 euro 10 euro that's ridiculous don't do that it's really one of the
14:54things I hate most about living in berlin that you can't find good bread here berlin isn't lacking the
15:02things to complain about but the worst thing of all is the weather look at me it's almost may it's
15:0910
15:09degrees outside it's gray it's depressing berlin may be the most awesome city in summer but in winter
15:17it will suck the joy of life out of you so if you decide to move here just be prepared
15:23that you won't
15:24see the sun for two or three months straight in winter okay the dream would actually be to live
15:29here in the summer only from may to october and then leave in november once it starts getting cold and
15:35gray and depressing you go to a warm place and you come back in may and you can do it
15:41all over
15:41and in case you're wondering how clean it is here where i'm standing this is it so clean you can
15:48almost
15:48eat from the floor
15:54dating should i say more berliners will crush your feelings if you want to date in berlin
16:02seriously just just move away don't come here if you look for a life partner never set foot into berlin
16:11it's almost impossible to find someone who wants to have a normal relationship yeah it's always
16:18complicated you either have to be poly it's an open relationship there's gangbangs every weekend
16:24you name it but having a normal like relationship not gonna happen yeah forget it but if you want to
16:31come here to just have some fun with the other gender or the same gender yeah welcome to berlin
16:36just make sure not to catch too many stds okay but if you're looking for a life partner in this
16:43city
16:43stay as far away as you can it's gonna break you all right despite me shitting on berlin so much
16:51it is still an awesome city to live in it is one of the most amazing places in all of
16:56europe
16:56at least in summer don't come here in winter it's horrible and of course all that i just have said
17:03is pretty relative if you compare berlin to other major european cities like london bucharest paris
17:09berlin is still the best one you know because the other places are so and more expensive
17:15except bucharest is cheap and with that said see you guys in the next video i hope i didn't offend
17:21anyone
17:21and if i did i don't care goodbye