Experience: German Fetish Ball 2017 and 2018

I had dreamed of seeing a big fetish event in Europe for a long time. I had a hunch that big events could be places where I would enjoy my time. I had made a picture in my mind of events where the main idea would be to meet like-minded people and have a kind of grown-ups dress up parties. I'm not after play parties or sessions (although I don't judge them of course) so these kind of fetish events would be ideal for me. The place where you can dress up in special and pretentious outfits and meet other people who also dress up fantastically and admires your uniqueness and something that is so important to you. Finally I had a chance to get my first experience abroad. I want to share my experiences here so maybe someone can get some hints and get a better picture what we are talking about.

Me and Tigrita prepared for GFB 2018. Our latex cyber goth raver outfits in UV-lighting. Looking fantastic!

This experience introduces German Fetish Ball (GFB) from two years. Let's have a look =)

2017:

In this year I was a first-timer taking part on GFB. I had never had an opportunity to travel there before because I didn't wish to travel abroad all alone. I wish to share experiences with someone and after all it is always nice to know even someone around. Luckily I had two friends who were willing to keep company to me so finally I had a chance to see one of the biggest fetish events!

Travel

After our flight to Berlin my friends instructed me to buy a seven day ticket for all public transport in Berlin. It was available already from airports travel info desk so we could move to hotel from airport with a bus. The ticket is essential during the stay as you can travel with it with buses, trains and undergrounds in a large area.

Hotel and breakfast

Hotel Park Inn Aleksanderplatz by Radisson.

I stayed my trip at hotel Park Inn Aleksanderplatz by Radisson. The hotel is big and tall with approximately 40 floors. The hotel was located in the very heart of the city.

Some rooms had a moisture problem in 2017. I advice to check the room floor carefully every time in every hotel if there isn't doorstep between shower and floor.

The start of my vacation wasn't good. After just 15 minutes I noticed there was water squishing out under the laminated floor in my room. This was a small area around the shower. Soon I noticed tingling on my nose as I have quite sensitive nostrils and sinuses. I decided to complain this to reception. I got an understanding service and an assistant came to check the problem. I was moved to other similar room but actually it had the same moisture problem under its laminating. After my desperate situation I got lucky because hotel gave me an option to stay in a room that had a bathtub. There was no problem with floor anymore and my nose wasn't tingling. Why I got lucky was that the room was also bigger and I could stay my vacation there with no extra charge. I want to thank the hotel personnel for understanding and giving a little benefit after my troubles.

The room with a bathtub was very cozy and in good condition.

I had a breakfast included on my hotel stay. The breakfast selection was wide and I was really satisfied. Only problem was that when you party four nights in a row you probably won't get up early enough to get every breakfast   X)    I missed at least one prepaid breakfast.

There was many visitors staying in the hotel and there were plenty of rooms. Sometimes it took a few minutes to wait the elevators to arrive.

After all I'd say that the hotel was ok but if the location in the very heart of Aleksanderplatz isn't necessary there could be even fancier options available.

Events

Kinky cocktails and Savage Wear fetish night @ Badehaus Berlin

First of all: When you arrive near the place you have to move to pedestrian street that is like kind of big inner court of many buildings. Use Google Maps or similar for your help finding the address. When you walk that grimm looking yard towards the strange landscape you just have to rely that the place really is there after you patiently walk forward  =)  And of course you can always ask around for directions or look around if there are likely dressed people also searching something.

Kinky cocktails evening was kind of welcoming event to guests. Nothing big, fancy or special but good time hanging around with like-minded people. Drinks, conversations and maybe some dancing. A good place to meet possible new friends as it was easy to talk with people because there wasn't too much noise.

The place was quite crowded so prepare yourself. It got later a bit hot too.

The dress style was kind of "casual" with kinky style of course. Most of the people had dressed in to latex shirts, tops, pants or skirts. Some of the people were dressed even fancier and it's not a wrong thing to do. I think that it's always better to overdress than be too lame  ;)

Fetish fair @ Köpenickerstrasse 16

Fetish Fair was held during daytime on two days with similar content so you could visit it on the day you like. There were lots of different manufacturers and tailors advertising and marketing their products. You could find many clothes made of different fabrics, many toys including whips, harnesses and gags etc. There was plenty to see so it took about 30-60min to have a good look of different products.

One of the best opportunities on the fair is to see tailors and manufacturers face to face. Maybe you can make contacts there and discuss business later too.

Most of the people went to fair in ordinary casual clothes but of course some people went there in something more special. It's your choice!

Fetish Guerilla Revolution @ KitKat Club

KitKat Club is kind of its own chapter. It is a unique club with many rooms and possibilities. There are different sides for people who want to party, hang in a lounge style or have a little playing around. So the club could give something to everyone.

I liked the confusing layout of the club. It was like a maze. There was many rooms on the main floor with narrow corridors. There was also a basement floor with many rooms. The negative side was that the narrow rooms and corridors were crowded with people so there was quite hard time moving around. Still I liked the idea. Maybe if you just fit in and be a nice guy you can squeeze yourself to sit among the others and to dance floor  =)

The atmosphere in the club was good. I didn't have any chats with the strangers but I guess it was also up to me if I'd wanted to have conversations with possible new friends. I was a first-timer so maybe I was just so confused with everything so I couldn't chat with people  X)

One of the really negative sides of the club is that the smoking is allowed in the club. Well, not everyone shares my opinion but the non-smokers can have a hard time in the club. Even if you can manage it in the club the smell of smoke will saty on your clothes. So prepare yourself to do laundry on the next day if you wish to use your clothing again.

If I remember it right it is not allowed to take your cell phone with you after hallway. You have to leave your cell phone on the coat rack. The coat rack is controlled all the time so I guess it's secure to leave your phone there.

My experience of KitKat Club is good despite the smoking. I'd recommend to see the party if the smoking isn't overwhelmingly disturbing.

The dress style varied. Some of the people had gothic style, some had different latex garments, some people had full outfits. It's your choice what you want to wear =)

German Fetish Ball main party @ Köpenickerstrasse 16 (Spindler & Klatt)

The GFB main party was a huge event taking place on the riverside slightly south from the heart of the city. The event is quite easy to find with the address but you have to search the entrance behind the huge building. The entrance is located on the back, down to riverside. If you visit the Fetish Fair you might notice that the place is same except the party is located in the back.

The place was large but crowded. There was a big hall that had a stage for shows and large dance floor. There was also smaller side on the place playing alternative music and giving more room. Also there was a terrace that helped and gave even more room outside. There were few fashion shows held on the main hall but otherwise it was free for dancing and moving around.

There was a beGloss polishing station where the latex wearing people could get their clothing polished. It was really nice option and thanks to it the latex people didn't have to stress about the possible fading of the shine.

Mostly people were really nice and polite. There was only one person who was touching my outfit without my permission and still despite my rejection. Fortunately I got rid of this problem quickly. And to notify this was the only excpetion I saw. Mostly people behave really good in the events. Much better than in the ordinary bars, pubs or gigs.

My choice to main party was something that would get the deserved attention.

The dress style was ambitious. This is the event where you put your best ones on if you like!

The GFB main party was an experience I had wished to take part for many years. It really was that kind of event I wanted for. It was more oriented for dressing up and showing off than for playing or practicing BDSM. I heard there was some room for playing too but I didn't notice it since I don't search action. To not get this wrong the party was not only for fetishists but for all kinky people of course. But yes, event was way more just a fetish dress-up party than play party. It was kind of grown-up people dressing in latex and having good time among each other. Loved the party and want to go again!

Sonic Boom @ Club Matrix

This year there was an afterparty on sunday because monday was a common holiday. I really liked this option. The party had same kind of nice atmosphere like the main party but of course in a smaller frame. People were nice, most of them still dressed in very beautiful way. Good party music, relaxing atmosphere, dancing, drinks and hanging around. If I remember right there was also small shows included on the program. There was also photographers around. I met a nice photographer Marcus T who took some pictures of me and my friends too. We had a nice chat and I got a picture of a nice and talented guy.

This party wasn't play-oriented so it was my cup of tea. In my opinion if someone travels a long way to GFB it is a good idea to take part to these smaller GFB parties too if the budget allows it. The GFB main party is a big event and only that one night. These smaller parties give more opportunities to meet new friends and have more good time around.

Sightseeing

East Side Gallery

On the eastern side of the town and the northern side of the river Spree you can find a long line of Berlin wall decorated with art. There are many different pictures painted by different artists. It might be one idea to have a good long walk on a beautiful day and see these artworks. On the same walk you can see few nice views located by the river.

Olympics Stadium

This took some time to reach as I traveled there with my friend for some time. My friend was keen to see the place so I asked if I could join to see some sights. We arrived to stadium with S-train. We went to the stadium and there were tickets sold to the area. After buying the tickets we could wander around stadium area freely except some restricted corridors on the stadium. The stadium was huge and it was kind of a sight itself because there aren't similar arenas in Finland. We also checked out the surrounding area where were some details to discover. We found for example a large bell located on the yard that was now a piece of memorial. It had a picture of an eagle on it and we easily noticed a strange square on the bell that had been reworked. We all know what kind of logo it has carried. The stadium history goes way back to those days.

Nowadays the stadium is the home arena of Hertha Berlin football team. Still an impressive look this might be worth of going and seeing it by yourself.

Brandenburger Tor

Very famous port that stands in the very heart of Berlin. It is really easy to get there so I'd say that if you have any interest seeing it in real life you go there. After seeing the sight and taking your selfies with it you can take a walk of Str. des 17. Juni. It makes you feel small in this world when you walk along that road!

Berlin TV Tower

Yes, there it is. Like from the 60-70's scifi-movie the Berlin TV tower really is a dominating look. I only went to see it from straight under but didn't go inside to see the sights. It could be a nice idea but this time I was only admiring the tower from different angles. After all you see it from everywhere and can't miss it  X)

Miscellaneous

Hautnah

Hautnah is a fetish boutique located in north-west part of Berlin. The shop has a wide selection of clothing and fetish gear. You can find for example latex, PVC, leather, datex, corsets, hoods, whips, toys, gags and boots. The shop was cozy and the staff members were nice and polite. I'd recommend to see the shop if you haven't visited big fetish shops before.

Blackstyle

One of the legendary latex sellers has its shop in Berlin. We found the shop with help of my friends. The shop address must be checked beforehand as it's not so easy to find by just walking around. When you reach the address there is a gangway inside to inner court of the buildings. There are also shop signs on the walls so after reaching the address it's easier to find.

Inside the store there was many racks filled with latex garments. Browsing the selection was easy and the store was bright and nice. There was even a person to take your accurate measures if you wished to order made-to-measure clothing. Very good option if you ask me!

Blackstyle shop was a good experience and I found myself few items to bring back home =)

Darkstore

My friends knew once again something beforehand and took me to Darkstore. The store is specialized in gothic clothing and accessories. The selection was wide and there were many beautiful or rocking designs that turned my head. A must see for people who like gothic clothes and / or lifestyle.

2018:

This year I went to GFB for my second time and had my partner Tigrita with me. This time she was the first-timer but our navigating was easier as I already knew some places around.

Travel

After our flight to Berlin we went straight ahead to buy seven day tickets for public transports again. They were again available from airport travel info desk. After our purchase we had to ask some instructions because we didn't know the straight route to our hotel. We got a print of a map from the desk and with it we made it to hotel. Later I found an application for smart phone that guides you through different transports in Berlin. The one I was using was BVG Fahrinfo. I welcomed myself to the smart phone era once again and now I will use the app always if I ever visit Berlin  X)

Hotel and breakfast options

A room in hotel nHow Berlin. I found it vibrant, modern and really fantastic. Hotel room and hallways were in really good condition.

We stayed our trip at hotel nHow Berlin. The hotel is really vibrant and modern and very much oriented to entertain musicians or music fans. I must say that I really liked nHow starting from the first look of their website. The hotel didn't disappoint us because it was exactly what it promised on their website. There was many interesting rooms and details and the hotel room itself was really colorful and cool. I could easily recommend the hotel to most people and I look forward to visit it again if traveling to Berlin.

Lobby of hotel nHow Berlin.

Restaurant Carambar served us an outstanding breakfast. I warmly recommend them as an option.

Only minor minus to hotel was its expensive breakfast. The breakfast cost about 30€ a day so we decided to hunt our own breakfast from the streets of Berlin. We found two options. First one took some time to travel with S-bahn but it was an excellent place. The place is called restaurant Carambar. It's located near Berlin TV Tower. We found a breakfast for two from its menu that cost around 20€ total wihtout drinks. So with about 30€ you got a breakfast for two with drinks and coffee. The breakfast was huge! And there were many miscellaneous foods served. Service was friendly. The breakfast was available to 15:00 o' clock so even the late party people could get breakfast with no hurry ;)   Based on my expereinces I warmly recommend Carambar to others.

Breakfast options in East Side Bakery.

Second option was closer to hotel nHow. It's called East Side Bakery. They had about four options for breakfast. Breakfast options weren't as enormous comparing to our first option but they were really good too. We decided to buy ourselves different courses so we could swap few ingredients with each other. We were really satisfied with East Side Bakery breakfasts too and I can recommend them also.

Events

Kinky cocktails and Savage Wear fetish night @ Badehaus Berlin

This years kinky cocktails evening was very much similar to last year. It was again kind of welcoming event to guests. Nothing big, fancy or special but good time hanging around with like-minded people. Drinks, conversations and maybe some dancing. A good place to meet possible new friends as it was easy to talk with people because there wasn't too much noise.

Sonic Boom @ Club Matrix

This year Sonic Boom wasn't an afterparty anymore. It was moved to be a pre-party. Otherwise the party was very much similar as last year. Good atmosphere, drinks, chats, dancing etc. Again a good place to meet people and have new friends.

Fetish fair @ Köpenickerstrasse 16

Nothing too special to add to last year experience. Still it was nice to visit the fair and browse different products. There's always something interesting catching your eye. This time I saw a sweet pony made of latex  X)   I really have to get one of my own from YummyGummy Latex some day.

YummyGummy Latex had crafted a cute latex pony from UV-latex. So cool!

Fetish Guerilla Revolution @ KitKat Club

This year I didn't experience this party due to few setbacks. First of all me and Tigrita had to wait our friends few hours as they prepared to go to the party. Of course you wait your friends, no question about it. But I had a bad feeling that maybe we try to get in too late. Well call me a forecaster. We tried to go to KitKat Club approximately two or three hours after it had opened and we saw a line of people going around few blocks from the door! No way we wanted to go there anymore. It could have taken ages to get in we thought. So we decided to turn around and have a drink at the hotel bar. Imagine eight people dressed in colorful latex and being grumpy in a stylish hotel lobby  X)   Now afterwards I can smile. Then I was really pissed.

There was a huge line waiting Access to KitKat Club during GFB 2018. This was an unpleasant surprise.

Later on next day we heard that the line actually moved after some time and the club could handle the situation so the people got inside. Maybe we should have been really patient. Next time it would be an option.

Sweet Surrender @ Club Matrix

Now that we were depressed with the lost hope to get in KitKat Club we decided to do something at all. We headed to this party that was held parallel on friday. This party was more play-oriented instead party or fetish fashion. It was quite late when we got there and there weren't much people in the club anymore. Still we decided to have even a little bit of good time around. We had few drinks and we had the whole dance floor for ourselves only =D   It might be up to YOU to make that party. So we did.

We met Rene at the club. He is the man behind the whole GFB. He listened us as we told about our negative experience with the enormous line at the KitKat Club. He was really polite and apologized this misfortune. He offered us drinks too and continued discussion about GFB. Rene saved our night with his politeness and understanding.

After all I can't say much about Sweet Surrender -party itself as we didn't see the party happening. We just were there too late. The Club Matrix itself is always cozy and nice place.

German Fetish Ball main party @ Köpenickerstrasse 16 (Spindler & Klatt)

GFB main party was once again huge fetish party with lots of visitors and special outfits. The place was really crowded and moving around was hard most of the time. Fortunately there was some more room outside on the terrace and the weather was good. It was getting colder later on the night though so it was a must to be inside once in a while.

I didn't go to see all the shows as the hall was way too crowded. I had a great time just hanging around and discussing with people.

Ready to rave Berlin!

I met a german guy and had a great chat with him. When I was stressing about possibility to get a picture of our outfits it happened to be he knew a photographer who was preparing to shoot the fashion show. He introduced us to each others and we had an opportunity to be the first ones on the pictures! We got few really good pictures of ourselves as a memory. Thanks to ArtVeo for those pictures <3  Hope to see again in the future!

I met some british people I had met during past days. They were really nice people and we had lots of conversations during the days. At the same time I found out that one of them was a fetish model. She was dressed in a very cool cat costume. She shook my world a little bit. Not because of the costume but that she was really kind and nice and willing to discuss with just an ordinary not-a-model-person. My experiences have mostly been that models are kind of "better people", way up ahead us ordinary maggots, not willing to even look at us. She made an exception so my prejudices were shot down. It felt good to be wrong and it was really nice to see a human being behind a popular model. Thank you L3xy and my other british friends. Hope to see you again some day!

No experience of beGloss products yet but looking forward to test them.

There was again the beGloss polishing station where you could get your latex clothes polished. We also went to visit the station and got our garments a good shine. Gloss products are really fancy looking and well marketed. I haven't experienced Gloss products yet but I have few bottles waiting to be tested later.

One little minus for the night was that our outfits didn't get so much attention  =(   We had planned those costumes very long and they were unique designs. There was also very much of uv-latex on them but the party didn't have any uv-lights so this didn't get any attention. I guess the GFB party demands more traditional kinky dress-up than our latex cyber goth outfits were. Most of the attention went to people with tight and sexy latex outfits. Well, after all tight and sexy are those classic things that always gets noticed. And they also make money for models and photographers... Despite the attention or photographing I say to all to just do your own thing. After all it's just about having fun and being yourself in what you think is best and comfortable for you.

Tigrita poses during GFB main party.

The party was again a stellar experience. Similar events are rare so this is something that has to be experienced if you have any crave to meet a lot of like-minded fetish dress-up people.

Farewell breakfast @ Cayetano

The farewell breakfast wasn't very popular. Or maybe we just arrived there too late =)   We could identify just few other people who looked like they had taken part to GFB during past days. It could have been nice if there had been more people and some kind of symbol or other that could have gathered GFB visitors to same tables. After all you get to know people way better during meal than just walking by in the crowded party.

Breakfast took quite much time to arrive in Cayetano but the selection and quality was excellent.

The service took some time and there were few issues with the billing too. Despite the minuses the breakfast was good and quite large. We were satisfied with the food and I think the farewell breakfast is a good idea.

Sightseeing

Nothing special this time. We just enjoyed walking long distances randomly in every direction. This can be also rewarding as the city map was drawn better in our minds and we found more options for shopping and dining.

Miscellaneous

One day we went for a walk in the big park. Under two minutes we had two offers to buy drugs from some strangers. We felt a little bit threatened although there wasn't any threatening at all. Still we decided to turn around and avoid the park. I suggest you be aware of this and avoid drug dealers. Just be polite, say no and keep walking away.

Regarding the GFB itself I had an honor to meet Rene face to face few times during the occasion. Rene is the man behind the whole German Fetish Ball from what I've understood. I got a picture of kind and polite gentleman who is very social and wishes the people to have a good time around. It was really nice to meet Rene. I hope we'll meet again in the future!

Summary

After these two experiences during 2017 and 2018 I have had a really good feeling. I felt myself very welcome to event and I had an opportunity to meet many like-minded people who were mostly kind and polite. Most important was that you had an opportunity to be yourself and no-one judged you. After all you didn't anything illegal or bad. You just dressed up in the clothing that made you feel good and headed to the events. Actually there were many random and positive comments from ordinary passer-bys too. Points to your people, Berlin!

I want to thank German Fetish Ball for great times. I wish I can visit your events many times in the future!

- Senshi -