Finding your Hotel as a first time visitor

By Darren Cronian on Monday, February 25th, 2008

I hate arriving at a destination for the first time, especially in the evening, and wondering how the hell do I get to the hotel from the airport. Next week I’ll be attending ITB Berlin and the PhoCusWright conference so it will be my first visit to Berlin.

I’ve worked out the Berlin tube system from the airport to the nearest tube station and with Google Maps I am able to view a satellite map of the tube station and follow the route to the hotel. I’ve saved the map as an image and then uploaded this to my iPod, but it’s just as easy to print it out. No more wondering around the streets.

I’m staying at Herbst Hotel, which is a three star hotel, located in Spandau and looking at the S-Baun Berlin train map it’s only 5 stops from Messe Sud.

I hope that one day Google will launch the street view feature for European destinations because that would be great. I could then walk the route before I even get to my destination! It’ll take out a lot of the hassle associated with visiting new destinations.

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8 responses to “Finding your Hotel as a first time visitor”

Nathan | 25 February, 2008 at 1:01 pm

I tried relying on a google maps printout to find my hotel in Istanbul last summer. Our survey said… EH-EHHHHH. It was way off. As long as you’ve double-checked that the map is showing the right location it’ll be fine though.

Berlin is fantastic, by the way - hope you enjoy it.

Darren Cronian | 25 February, 2008 at 2:01 pm

Thanks for the tip Nathan. I can actually see the hotel on the satellite view, but it’s also worth adding that the satellite maps are not always up-to-date!

I’m looking forward to the trip, even though I am nervous about meeting all these famous bloggers and travel people!

Kim Kinrade | 25 February, 2008 at 6:01 pm

Has ITB started yet, Darren?

When I went I stayed in a pension in Charlottenburg and bused to the site.I sure like the S-ban too.

Have fun.

Darren Cronian | 25 February, 2008 at 7:29 pm

Not yet Kim. It starts next week, Wednesday.

I wondered what the hell a pension was (other than for retirement) when I saw one in the hotel search results.

Thanks Kim, I’ll try! I’ll be blogging from ITB, so keep popping by next week.

Philip Caines | 26 February, 2008 at 1:50 am

Hi Darren,

I will give you a lift if I see you wandering the streets

See you in Berlin.

Philip

Jaime Horwitz | 28 February, 2008 at 12:01 am

I’m with you Darren. I also hate arriving somewhere for the first time - especially if I am not fluent in the local tongue (and particularly if my arthritis acts up - yikes). I think my hotel is also not far from Messe (Econtel Berlin), but we’ll see. I started a map for anyone going to the PhoCusWright summit. Let me know if you want to collaborate. You can see the map at:
http://www.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=104671648381907639161.000444923d284ff9ed862&z=11

cheers,
Jaime

Darren Cronian | 28 February, 2008 at 1:38 pm

Love the map Jaime.

It’s times like this I wish had an iphone to view the map on my travels!!

Darren Cronian | 28 February, 2008 at 1:39 pm

Thanks Phil.

You’ll not miss me. I’ll be the short Englishguy wandering around looking very lost and confused!!