The Tourism Media team is loosely divided into two camps.

The first camp are our photographers that head out into the world and bring back the breathtaking images and powerful stories for which our company is well known.

The second camp are those that work in Head Office, getting the footage ready for publication: the writers; the video editors; and the development team.

Matt Sawyer, our ever-popular Digital Expert recently jumped camps and traded his keyboard for a camera and headed out into the world himself with a visit to Berlin.

It seems that the change suited him and before he’d even returned to the office, he’d begun planning his next trip.

Here’s some of the the photos Matt took and one of the emails he sent back to HQ while he was away.

We flew into Berlin late Friday afternoon. The flight had been a little delayed so we were running late for the World Cup semi-final.  I would normally have been distressed to be missing the match but the beautiful sprawl of Germany’s countryside made me (almost) forget about it.

Berlin is a spectacular city but doesn’t show much rugby, so we zoomed in a cab over to Alexanderplatz and joined in the festivities with a few Germans in a busy German pub.

The beers flow freely in Germany and the nightlife is incredible, full of friendly locals (Aussies won the semi-final by the way).

Autumn is the perfect time to capture stunning colors throughout the city. I made it my mission to attempt to explore a few of the hidden destinations around Berlin. One such place I discovered was the autumn-colored St. Elisabeth’s Cemetery just around the corner from the Berlin Wall Memorial.

Shortly after we left, Berlin’s skies opened up to a beautiful day and we explored Unter den Linden  and captured a few cool shots while Berlin was at its finest.

As night fell, we discovered another fantastic hidden spot, the local beer hall/restaurant Zur kleinen Markthalle, where I had some of the best traditional German food on this planet. Also some very fine coffee. 

At night Berlin transforms from a cultural powerhouse back into a city that never sleeps where you can drink and dance until the sun comes up.

Definitely one of my favourite places in Europe by far.

Matt is the creative talent behind many of our more popular Expedia Vacation Destination Guides including Kyoto and Vienna.