First of all, a note on how I usually do hotel bookings when travelling; and the usual disclaimer, I have no interests, financial or otherwise, in the company through which I do these.
I use an Internet booking site http://www.hotel.de/ for my bookings. This is a German organization, but they seem to be smart enough to look at the IP address that you are connecting from, and figure out that you want the English website. If that doesn't happen, there is a language button at the top right (with a flag representing the current language of the page your looking at - for English it is a weird combination of a Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes!), and you can use that to change the page to English. You can use this site to book a hotel just about anywhere in the world, and, you can set yourself up as a user, with your contact information stored, and even your preferrred payment option (all over a SSL-Secure Sockets Layer link), so that you can simply book without having to enter this information each time.
You can search for hotels using various parameters; within a particular city, within x km/miles of a particular city, within x km/miles of an attraction or event, etc. You can set up other parameters, such as more than x stars on their rating system, and below y $/Euro/whatever currency per night. Besides a star rating system based on what the hotel provides about their facilities, you also get a user score on a 0 - 10 scale for each hotel, based on user evaluations. If you book a hotel through hotel.de, you will get an e-mail on the day you check out, asking you to evaluate the hotel, with a link to the evaluation page. The user score is derived from these evaluations, and you can also read any written comments submitted as part of the evaluation process - although these are in the language of the user, and since this is an international site, may not be understandable by you.
On about 10 bookings both in Germany and in Canada, I have found this site very reliable - in one case they got me a room in a hotel (in Canada) at a lower rate when the hotel itself had told me that only their premium (about $100 more) rooms were available. And, they guarantee that you will get the lowest Internet rate, that is, the hotel cannot sell their rooms for less than this site offers, on-line. (If they do, and you bring a print-out of the web page on which they do, the hotel has to give you the lower rate.)
Rcommended! .... but
As I noted in the post about having to cancel our German trip, there was one hotel that I had booked whose cancellation policy required cancelling at least 14 days prior to arrival, else they would charge anything-unspecified- between 0 and 100% of the total cost of the booking. We were well within that period, and thus the hotel.de website, which allowed me to cancel all my other reservations on-line, would not cancel this one. I contacted the hotel - twice. The first time I talked with a very charming young (I think) woman, late evening German time, who didn't seem to know what to do, but assured me that the hotel would call me back, after they had figured out what to do.
That didn't happen at a time that made sense, given the time difference between Ontario and Germany (they are 6 hours ahead of us), and so at about 4:30 p.m. their time I phoned again. This time I got someone (a man as it happens) who, after some explanations about what I called about, informed me that they had no booking for us (today was Wednesday, this was for Saturday next) and thus as far as they were concerned, if we didn't arrive that was no problem for them; on the other hand, they didn't care to be charged for a booking that they never received by/from hotel.de. But he also agreed that we should not be charged, certainly not the 450 Euro that our full booking was for. After an exchange of contact information - he already had my phone number from call display, but e-mail would be cheaper - we left it that I would contact hotel.de, point out their failure, ask questions, and insist that no one be charged anything for failure to cancel a reservation that never was made. I am still waiting for a reply from them. (Questions asked; how would it have worked out if we had shown up at this hotel, after an overnight flight from Toronto to Frankfurt, then a 5+ hour drive, and they had no reservation, and no room?) To be fair, digging around on the hotel.de site, looking for a hotel and looking at user comments, very occasionally (maybe 1 in 100 to 200 comments) someone complains that they arrived at a hotel that had no idea they were coming, and always the hotel either had room, or went to great lengths to place them elsewhere, at the same level of quality, and the same or lower price(which may be a hidden policy for hotels that sign up with hotel.de).
So, the booking system failed, but it may have saved us something between 0 and 450 Euro!
In other good news, the Salzburger Landestheater, where we had tickets for an operetta, got back to my e-mail telling them we couldn't make it with the news that they would put our tickets back into the "for sale" pool, and if they were sold, credit us with the value against a future visit, when we try this trip again next Spring. I am still waiting to hear back from the Hamburgische Staatsoper, where we had tickets next Tuesday.
All together, this is not working out too badly!
Showing posts with label Germany 2008. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Germany 2008. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Life is what happens ....
.... while you make other plans. (John Lennon)
It's been an eventful few days; late last week June began to notice some odd symptoms; dizzyness when changing position rapidly, mostly mornings, and a real lack of energy. Got out the blood-pressure device (I know it has a name, but I can't remember it, nor spell it when I do); blood pressure is low, 100/60 range, bouncing around, and pulse when resting in the 90s. Make dr. appointment for Monday morning; hoping for definite answer, and begin to think about perhaps not travelling. Symptoms continue over weekend (despite eating badly at a parish barbeque - hamburgers and hot dogs - lots of salt, should sent blood-pressure (BP) through the roof! Went to the installation of Bishop Ralph Spence as Chancellor of Renison University College (yes, the new Act was finally passed in the Legislature), with subsequent reception featuring more salty and spicy snacks -no luck in raising BP.
The visit to the dr. was helpful, but not enlightening. Measured BP every which way and in every position, agreed it was low (but not seriously so, except for a few of the extremes we measured), but also not positional, ie. the dizzyness was something else. June had a bout of this for years while flying, dr. suggested that this never goes away, just goes dormant, and can recur, mildly or seriously. Plus, inner ear fluids are adversely affected by high sodium. So, some sort of inner ear problem, that has recurred; BP may be due to a recent meds change, not initiated by him, which he reversed. All of this will probably go away, in a week, a month, or whenever, and we'll never really know just what caused it all. (This is why we like this dr.; he doesn't pretent to have answers he doesn't, but sometimes we wish he were more of a guru!) Bottom line; June is ok to travel, but probably won't enjoy it much!
We had an event (more about that later - or earlier,if you are reading top down) in Toronto in the early evening, preceded for me by a Senate meeting at Trinity College, so we had lots of time to talk about it on the way into the city. No conclusions so far, but consideration of the bottom line - my recollection (I should have looked at the documentation at home a little more) was that all our bookings - air, car, hotels, were definitely cancellable without penalty, the only thing we would have to swallow (perhaps) were opera tickets in Hamburg and Salzburg - and, who knows? (As it turns out, there was one hotel that had a two week in advance cancellation policy, after which they charge non-recoverable costs, unfortunately one at which we had booked 5 nights. But still, even had we known this at the time, it probably would not have changed the decision.)
Ahh, the decision - in the face of the uncertainty about how June was going to be feeling by this weekend and next week, and beyond, we decided we'd rather be at home, and her feeling perfectly normal, wishing that we had gone to Germany, than to be in Germany, in a hotel (probably the one that won't let us cancel withour penalty), June not feeling so hot, and both of us wishing we had stayed home!
So, I spent today (well, not all of it, some of it was delightfully spent with our younger granddaughters who we were able to have for the day, rather than finishing up packing and all that) undoing all the bookings, and writing e-mails to all concerned, plus some phoning to see just what we would end up paying for a hotel we will not see - or will see another time, depending on how reasonable they are.
We have agreed that we will not let all the trip planning I did on this go to waste; we will simply move it into another time frame - Spring 2009, late April into May, probably. That was the time that Scott and I were in Germany this year, and the weather was wonderful, all was green and blooming, and the days were getting longer. Yes, we will miss the wine harvest this Fall, and we defintely will not miss Oktoberfest in Munich (we avoid the Kitchener-Waterloo Octoberfest; why go for the real thing?), but the compensation for that will be the fresh, white asparagus available everywhere (at seemingly ridiculous prices; eg. about $1 per spear in a restaurant, until you work out just what is involved in getting that one spear to you).
We also agreed that, all going well, we would find a warm and relaxing place to visit late this year, or early next year.
So, keep on checking in here, not just for that, and for next Spring, but I will continue to post reflections on travel, life, and whatever is happening.
Among other things, see the posting above this one, about last night's event in Toronto.
(And then, above that - I still have problems with blogs working bottom-up instead of top-down [latest dates above, earliest dates below] I am planning on satisfying some requests for e-mails that I sent to a select group of people - not so select apparently that they saved them - in the Fall of 2006, from MS Zuiderdam, as we cruised down the West coast from Vancouver, through the Panama Canal, to Miami, over 21 days. [Some people have suggested I should try travel writing; this is as far as it gets!)
Now, I just have to find those e-mails!
It's been an eventful few days; late last week June began to notice some odd symptoms; dizzyness when changing position rapidly, mostly mornings, and a real lack of energy. Got out the blood-pressure device (I know it has a name, but I can't remember it, nor spell it when I do); blood pressure is low, 100/60 range, bouncing around, and pulse when resting in the 90s. Make dr. appointment for Monday morning; hoping for definite answer, and begin to think about perhaps not travelling. Symptoms continue over weekend (despite eating badly at a parish barbeque - hamburgers and hot dogs - lots of salt, should sent blood-pressure (BP) through the roof! Went to the installation of Bishop Ralph Spence as Chancellor of Renison University College (yes, the new Act was finally passed in the Legislature), with subsequent reception featuring more salty and spicy snacks -no luck in raising BP.
The visit to the dr. was helpful, but not enlightening. Measured BP every which way and in every position, agreed it was low (but not seriously so, except for a few of the extremes we measured), but also not positional, ie. the dizzyness was something else. June had a bout of this for years while flying, dr. suggested that this never goes away, just goes dormant, and can recur, mildly or seriously. Plus, inner ear fluids are adversely affected by high sodium. So, some sort of inner ear problem, that has recurred; BP may be due to a recent meds change, not initiated by him, which he reversed. All of this will probably go away, in a week, a month, or whenever, and we'll never really know just what caused it all. (This is why we like this dr.; he doesn't pretent to have answers he doesn't, but sometimes we wish he were more of a guru!) Bottom line; June is ok to travel, but probably won't enjoy it much!
We had an event (more about that later - or earlier,if you are reading top down) in Toronto in the early evening, preceded for me by a Senate meeting at Trinity College, so we had lots of time to talk about it on the way into the city. No conclusions so far, but consideration of the bottom line - my recollection (I should have looked at the documentation at home a little more) was that all our bookings - air, car, hotels, were definitely cancellable without penalty, the only thing we would have to swallow (perhaps) were opera tickets in Hamburg and Salzburg - and, who knows? (As it turns out, there was one hotel that had a two week in advance cancellation policy, after which they charge non-recoverable costs, unfortunately one at which we had booked 5 nights. But still, even had we known this at the time, it probably would not have changed the decision.)
Ahh, the decision - in the face of the uncertainty about how June was going to be feeling by this weekend and next week, and beyond, we decided we'd rather be at home, and her feeling perfectly normal, wishing that we had gone to Germany, than to be in Germany, in a hotel (probably the one that won't let us cancel withour penalty), June not feeling so hot, and both of us wishing we had stayed home!
So, I spent today (well, not all of it, some of it was delightfully spent with our younger granddaughters who we were able to have for the day, rather than finishing up packing and all that) undoing all the bookings, and writing e-mails to all concerned, plus some phoning to see just what we would end up paying for a hotel we will not see - or will see another time, depending on how reasonable they are.
We have agreed that we will not let all the trip planning I did on this go to waste; we will simply move it into another time frame - Spring 2009, late April into May, probably. That was the time that Scott and I were in Germany this year, and the weather was wonderful, all was green and blooming, and the days were getting longer. Yes, we will miss the wine harvest this Fall, and we defintely will not miss Oktoberfest in Munich (we avoid the Kitchener-Waterloo Octoberfest; why go for the real thing?), but the compensation for that will be the fresh, white asparagus available everywhere (at seemingly ridiculous prices; eg. about $1 per spear in a restaurant, until you work out just what is involved in getting that one spear to you).
We also agreed that, all going well, we would find a warm and relaxing place to visit late this year, or early next year.
So, keep on checking in here, not just for that, and for next Spring, but I will continue to post reflections on travel, life, and whatever is happening.
Among other things, see the posting above this one, about last night's event in Toronto.
(And then, above that - I still have problems with blogs working bottom-up instead of top-down [latest dates above, earliest dates below] I am planning on satisfying some requests for e-mails that I sent to a select group of people - not so select apparently that they saved them - in the Fall of 2006, from MS Zuiderdam, as we cruised down the West coast from Vancouver, through the Panama Canal, to Miami, over 21 days. [Some people have suggested I should try travel writing; this is as far as it gets!)
Now, I just have to find those e-mails!
(And, I did find them. To read them, expand the "2006" listings in the tree to the left, by clicking on the triangle.)
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Beginnings
We are off again, on a longish (18, 19 or 20 days, depending on how you count) trip to Germany. It will be my (Gerry's) 2nd trip to Germany this year; the trip this Spring with my son Scott was so much fun that I talked June into going this Fall.
Briefly, we leave on Friday, September 19, 2008, and will return on Wednesday, October 8, 2008. While in Germany we will spend time in the greater Hamburg area, a few days around Nuernberg (my birth city), and then lots of time in the Bavarian Alps, both in the Berchtesgaden area, and the Garmisch-Partenkirchen area. Then, back to the Frankfurt area, for a day with my step-brother Karlheinz and his daughter Sylvia. Aside from the usual sightseeing, I've managed to reserve opera tickets both for the Hamburgische Staatsoper (Verdi's Simon Boccanegra) and the Salzburgisches Landestheater (Kalman's Graefin Maritza).
The last time I tried to keep a whole lot of people in touch with our travels was two years ago, from our Panama Canal cruise on "Zuiderdam." Then, I did it (or tried) by e-mail, which turned out to be a major amount of work, particularly as we got further south, and the ship internet connection was increasingly unable to connect to my mail servers.
[I have inserted these e-mails into this blog, back-dated to their original date and time (roughly); to see these click on the "triangle" next to 2006 at the left (where you see the blog "tree") to expand the postings in that year.]
This time, I am going to try using a blog; theoretically, all I will have to do is write what I want, once, no e-mail, no fuss. Of course, whether or not you see it will be up to you; you will have to connect to this blog and see if anything new has appeared. (There is also a subscription possiblility; click on the "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" link at the very bottom of this page, or here, and follow the instructions.)
Two years ago I also tried to post pictures on our fototime web album, which turned out to be a major mistake (for technical reasons too long to explain here), but meant I had a major clean-up job to do on both my mobile computer, and my desk-top, after returning. I won't be doing that again, although I might post the odd picture in this blog, just for illustration. However, I will be posting an album on return.
Don't let that discourage you from viewing our other pictures, at http://longworth_mueller.fototime.com/ .
And note, that "blank" space between longworth and mueller has an "underline" under it.
And check this blog regularly
Briefly, we leave on Friday, September 19, 2008, and will return on Wednesday, October 8, 2008. While in Germany we will spend time in the greater Hamburg area, a few days around Nuernberg (my birth city), and then lots of time in the Bavarian Alps, both in the Berchtesgaden area, and the Garmisch-Partenkirchen area. Then, back to the Frankfurt area, for a day with my step-brother Karlheinz and his daughter Sylvia. Aside from the usual sightseeing, I've managed to reserve opera tickets both for the Hamburgische Staatsoper (Verdi's Simon Boccanegra) and the Salzburgisches Landestheater (Kalman's Graefin Maritza).
The last time I tried to keep a whole lot of people in touch with our travels was two years ago, from our Panama Canal cruise on "Zuiderdam." Then, I did it (or tried) by e-mail, which turned out to be a major amount of work, particularly as we got further south, and the ship internet connection was increasingly unable to connect to my mail servers.
[I have inserted these e-mails into this blog, back-dated to their original date and time (roughly); to see these click on the "triangle" next to 2006 at the left (where you see the blog "tree") to expand the postings in that year.]
This time, I am going to try using a blog; theoretically, all I will have to do is write what I want, once, no e-mail, no fuss. Of course, whether or not you see it will be up to you; you will have to connect to this blog and see if anything new has appeared. (There is also a subscription possiblility; click on the "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)" link at the very bottom of this page, or here, and follow the instructions.)
Two years ago I also tried to post pictures on our fototime web album, which turned out to be a major mistake (for technical reasons too long to explain here), but meant I had a major clean-up job to do on both my mobile computer, and my desk-top, after returning. I won't be doing that again, although I might post the odd picture in this blog, just for illustration. However, I will be posting an album on return.
Don't let that discourage you from viewing our other pictures, at http://longworth_mueller.fototime.com/ .
And note, that "blank" space between longworth and mueller has an "underline" under it.
And check this blog regularly
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