Travel With Betsy

Indecision is a terrible thing…and, sometimes really inconvenient. But, there are also some pleasant surprises when changes are made. Here’s my story.

When we were doing our initial planning for the trip, Mike and I decided that we would arrive in Berlin on October 1. We purchased our airline tickets (with frequent flyer miles) and made hotel arrangements to reflect this time frame.

Then, the opportunity came for Mike to leave a little early to spend some time with his friend in Italy, so, he changed his ticket. Then, I decided that I would go business class, which meant that I needed to change my ticket and come earlier than planned, as well. This meant that instead of arriving in Berlin on October 1, as originally planned, we would be here on September 30. Now the dilemma…..what to do about the hotel for the first 2 nights. Seemed like an easy solution to me….just book another 2 nights at the same hotel. Easier said than done, I discovered….

When I plan a trip, I use a variety of search engines to look for the best hotels at the cheapest rate. (You may remember from earlier blogs that we are all about the deal!) So, I do the due diligence in order to get the best rate. The deal that I got on the hotel for Berlin was one of my best efforts! Very proud! If there were an academy award for getting the best deal, I would surely have gotten it on this one! A 5 star hotel for the price of a 3 star! Can’t beat that!

When the itinerary changes came up, I figured that I could get the same rate (or at least a comparable rate) for the 2 nights that I had to front load. Should be a snap. Well, when I really got into the swing of the search, the best deal I could get was about $100 per night more than the nights of my great deal. HMMMM……as Mike says, “c’est tout fille”…”too much”. This is a long sojourn. Why spend all of our budget on the first leg of the trip?! So, I booked the Marriott Courtyard for the first 2 nights. Again, great deal….got the senior rate, one of the few benefits of aging! What that meant, however, is that we would have to pack up and move to another hotel in the same city after the second night. Not ideal, but definitely doable.

So, on Monday, we moved from the Marriott to our new hotel for the next 4 nights. Spent a good part of the day doing it, too. It was worth it, though. Definitely a move up!

Our reward is a truly great 5 star hotel with every perk you can think of…not for free, of course, but still available. There is fee WiFi, though! YIPPEE!! This is the best hotel we will have on the whole trip, I’m certain. Our location is quite different, as well. We are now in the west side of Berlin, as opposed to the central area, which was in earlier times, part of east Berlin. (Who’s on first?!)

As you know, the whole story of Berlin revolves around the fact that it was a divided city for a very long time. After WWII, it was divided into 4 sections and then into 2. The western allies controlled the west side of Berlin and the Russians controlled the east side. There was no movement from side to side allowed, which was not a problem for the West Berliners. No one wanted to go to the east side, anyway. But, people who were near the dividing line couldn’t speak to their neighbors across the street because they were on different sides. People were so desperate to escape this oppression, that they frequently tried to escape over the line, sometimes successfully. The economy on the east side began to suffer, so the Russians, literally overnight, built the Berlin wall as a physical divider. Silly, really, but quite effective. Now some people couldn’t even see their neighbors across the street. People still tried to escape, but it was much more difficult and most were killed as they did so. There are many monuments in the city that remember those who were killed trying to escape. Over time, as you might guess, the east side of Berlin lost ground economically. The west side was much more vital.

After the wall came down, an effort was made to revitalize east Berlin. These days, east Berlin is the area that is noted as the place to be and be seen. It’s really developing with new shops, restaurants, etc. and has a vibrant, “new” feel. Until recently, there has been less attention on West Berlin, making this area now feel a little dated and tired. In the last years, however, West Berlin has been coming back into its own. Our hotel and the surrounding area definitely reflect this.

We are right outside of the K’damm, which is a street somewhat like the Champs d’Elysee in Paris. All kinds of upscale shopping and eating opportunities. We have spent lots of time there window shopping. What a great section! There is even a BMW storefront that is showcasing the new electric BMW. In addition to his train fetish, Mike also has a strong interest in cars. So, we, of course, have already visited the BMW store. The friendly people there treated us to coffee and a cookie. It was free….all we had to do was fill out a survey. We can do this! Anything for a free treat!

Yesterday, Gene and Carrie, our travel buddies, arrived. We are very excited to have them join us! After we got them fed yesterday, we headed out to the U bahn station to get our train passes validated and to purchase some tickets for travel on the public transportation here in the city. Now, we are ready to do some serious exploration of the area! Fun times!

We have a busy itinerary for today, which includes a concert this evening in the Kulturforum, which is touted as one of the best venues, acoustically, in the world. The Berliner Philharmonic will be playing, also world renowned. Really looking forward to this!

I’ll give you a full report tomorrow. Moving right along….in West Berlin!

Cheers!

This entry was posted on October 3, 2013 at 6:26 am and is filed under Europe, Group Travel, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.