Berlin Weekend - What to Do

D9Male

So as a surprise for the wife, I booked us a flight to Berlin and a hotel for the weekend.

Being an idiot, I didn't book flexible flights nor was my hotel booking flexible.

I just found out yesterday, that my sister-in-law and wife have been invited to a family wedding. The sister-in-law had kindly offered to mind my two kids.

I just checked ryanair.com and hotels.com and they will charge me €220 and €250 (full price) respectively to change the bookings to a week in August. I would really like to allow my sister-in-law the chance to attend the wedding. But I would prefer to avoid having to pony up another 500 quid to allow her to do so.

I know that I am entitled to nothing, as I was too stingy to pay extra to pay for the flexiblilty as I had booked the babysitter, the half day in work and checked the weekend worked. But any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

athtrasna

Can't really give your any advice other than try to find an alternative babysitter. Most people don't book flexible hotels or flights so you're not alone there but you have no legitimate reason to claim on travel insurance if you change plans, that's if you even have travel insurance in the first place

D9Male

I am insured, but wouldn't be able to claim on these grounds. We have nobody else with whom we would entrust our children.

slimjimmc

Bring the kids along.

D9Male

We haven't ever left our kids for more than a night, so this would be a big deal if we work it out. I think she would see a family trip to Berlin mid-summer as an ordeal. I flew with kids once. Not sure why anyone would do it willingly.

athtrasna

There simply are no other options for you OP. Have someone mind the kids, bring them worth you or cancel /reschedule at large expense

D9Male

Yeah, fair enough. Looks like I am going to take the last option. Ah well.

Faith+1

That's mad OP. I'm heading to Berlin in 3 weeks for a weekend too. Please let me know how you get on, If of course you can get sorted.

D9Male

So anyway, I got a solution to half of my problem. Here it is for future reference in case you encounter a similar problem.

On the advice of my brother-in-law, I called the hotel and asked that if they allowed me to change my reservation to a flexible one (and thereby give them €34 more cash) would they refund the difference on the previously booked date.

They were very helpful, saying they couldn't do it themselves, as my contract was with hotels.com

The lady in the hotel recommended that I ask hotels.com to call her. Which they did, and I got away with the date change to August for 34 quid. Very happy with that result.

I have ponied up the €230 to Ryanair, as there is no way around that.

Of course the easy thing to do is to book flexible tickets/rooms if you think you may need to change. But I am far too stupid for that.

athtrasna

D9Male wrote: »

Of course the easy thing to do is to book flexible tickets/rooms if you think you may need to change. But I am far too stupid for that.

Thing is, flexible flights are expensive, with Ryanair you have to take the business option which is € 60 extra per person per flight, which would have worked out at €240 so you actually saved money

Very Bored

I'll go with you! I love Berlin! I'm sure I'm not as good looking as your wife but I can sink Berliner beer like a trooper.

Go to the DDR Museum. Literally one of the best museums I have ever been to. Everything is interactive so if you're travelling with the kids (I'm not sure whether you are or not) then they'll love it. Also, the Gestapo Museum, depending on their age, is well worth doing as it is very moving (harrowing though). There is also parts of where the Berlin Wall used to be where you can listen to machines with recordings of the stories of that part of the wall.

Really super city.

D9Male

Thanks, guys. Kids are staying at home with their aunt. Happy days. Looking forward to building an itinerary now.

AgileMyth

D9Male wrote: »

Of course the easy thing to do is to book flexible tickets/rooms if you think you may need to change. But I am far too stupid for that.

You didn't think you'd need to change though. I've paid for flights I've ended up not using on more than one occasion. Still a whole lot cheaper than if I'd paid extra on all the ones I didn't need to change.

Who invites people to a wedding at such short notice anyway?

Very Bored

Berlin on your own? And you think you've messed up your planning? Lucky so and so...

Go to the DDR Museum, its fabulous, and as I said, the Gestapo one is interesting. Checkpoint Charlie is more than a little clichéd but you have to do it though visit the more interesting parts of the wall too.

I've been to a few good restaurants and bars if you're interested in that sort of thing too. Let me know if you want to know and I'll have a search for them. There's a Turkish part of the city too where you can eat well and cheaply (not only Turkish food), its where the IBIS (where I stayed - Neukolin I think is but I forget exactly where that is. I'd have to look that up too.)

dudara

Posters - this is not the Travel forum. If the OP wants tips for Berlin, then I can move this thread there. Otherwise, stick to the Consumer Issue.

dudara