Berlin Starter Pack
Hey you! Welcome to Berlin/Germany :) You are about to start a great journey. In this blog I’m collecting the most common questions I get asked. I hope these tips and tricks save some of your time!!
Bank Account
Probably like so many of us, you are also used to having “physical” banks. The truth is that it definitely gives a bit of a safe feeling, but in terms of operations, it 100% sucks.
I’ll lie if I say I don’t have one of those “traditional” and “physical” bank accounts, but I use N26 for the majority of my daily transactions, expenses, and savings. N26 It’s a #berlin-based mobile bank which you can easily open an account in 8 minutes!
It comes with great features of having different spaces, automatic money allocation, and free instant transactions!
Note: If you are coming from Iran, I can give you good news: with your passport and visa in Germany, you can open a bank account easily. N26 is supporting it 🎉
Investment Account
Now that you moved to a new city/country, you may want to build some safety for yourself and put some money aside. I recommend using Trade Republic a commission-free mobile broker. They offer a good variety of ETFs and saving plans. Recently they also added some cryptocurrencies as well. What I love about them is that it’s compliant with the German Tax System and you can start investing from 10 euros!
Feel free to use this personal invitation link: https://ref.trade.re/m47cqkjr to sign up and receive a bonus and some free stocks 📈
Apartment/Flats
Berlin is experiencing high demand for rental apartments! This is even more challenging if you are looking for “average” rent between 700–900 euros/month. If you can look for +1100 euros/month you reduce the complication a lot. Areas like Pankow and Weissensee are not far from Prenzlauerberg and other cool places but increase your chances.
In case you are in rush and would like to get a place to be able to get your registration done, go with coming-home, which they offer furnished apartments.
If you are a student and struggle to find a flat, staytoo can be an option.
Deliveries
Quick commerce is growing so much, especially in Berlin. Some people are not a fan of it, but I love it 😁 as brings convenience.
Food
Among different platforms for food delivery, I love Wolt! Simply using their apps make you feel good and hungry 🤤
You can save 5 euros on your first three orders, by using this code XKFABQF to sign up!
Groceries
I was one of their earliest and first happy customers which now I’m a fan! They started to deliver groceries in 8 minutes! They are doing a great job 🚆
They even have fresh bread from Zeit für Brot 🥲🧡
Want to try Gorillas? Use the following code NG230688 to save 5 € on your first order! ❤️🦍
Drinks
it’s been a while I only drink sparkling water, yes … judge me that’s very a German thing. But it’s pretty refreshing and I love it ❤️. Also as you may have noticed, by recycling the water, cola, and beer bottles you get some cents back (Pfand). That’s why around the street during the weekend you see a bunch of beer bottles, to help the homeless people.
With that said, if you want to remove the burden of buying drinks, recycling, and carrying all the “trash” to the supermarkets use Flachenpost! It’s beautiful, when they bring your orders, you can give back the old bottles and Voila! 🧼
Use my code to get 5 € discounts on your first orders v20EZimr 💰
Driving License
As you may have heard, a German driving license is one of the hardest and most expensive ones in the world! 🥲
It’s usually a tradition to give ~2000 euros for the Driving License fund when the kids turn 18 in Germany, to be able to get their driving license. Since we are on our own, and probably passed the 18th birthday already, let’s get this done!
The good news is that if you were already driving in your home country, the processes will be ~1K cheaper 💰 and you don’t need to attend the theory and
- Go to any optic shop and ask for an eye test for a driver's license.
- Find a First Aid Course and attend it. Usually is a one-day workshop.. so be prepared to spend a day there. Here is one to register.
- Take your driving license and do an official translation of it.
- Take these documents with a new 3*4 biometric photo and your City registration (“Meldebescheingung”) to the “Bürgeramt” office. You can find the details of the required documents and a way to make an appointment here.
- Basically, your main job is done, you have to wait ~2-3 months to receive a letter which you can take it a driving school and register yourself. I went to City driving school as they offer English-speaking teachers.
- It’s mandatory to be registered to a driving school to be able to make the tests! Also, I highly recommend taking some voluntary practical classes. It’s a whole new world 🚀
- Your driving school gives you the license for the app(s) to train a bit of the theory questions.
- Register for the theory exam and take it! You can do it in English or maybe even is available in your mother tongue!
- After that one, when your driver coach gives the green light for taking the test, you are ready for the practical test, they register you.
- Hopefully, you can pass the test (45 minutes!!), and welcome to the drivers club!! Note that the test is in German and the officer talks to you all in German. So be prepared in advance.
Keep an eye on this post, more information to come! 🏃🏻♀️
