At long last, Tom, Pete, and Mere are heading off to Berlin today to attend the ITB conference through Saturday. It should be quite an event, throwing together national and city tourist boards, travel writers, travel agencies, and other industry types for three hectic days.
The organizers of the event sent off a press release on Monday screaming that the event has sold out. We’ll see what the Berlin Messe looks like when it’s packed to its brutalist walls!
And then, as Pete noted on Friday, we’ll head to Brussels to see what the city looks like from a budget traveler’s perspective. As Pete and Meredith tackle the hotel scene there, I’ll head off to Bruges for the week to see what budget hotel options exist in that medieval playground.
Along the way, we’ll be blogging. We’ll cover the travel conference, the hotel hunt, and the state of bargain travel in Belgium. With the US dollar slipping daily against the euro (today it’s at $1.52), this will be a timely test to see how far we can stretch our euros. And I imagine that the three of us will get a bit competitive about who can stretch their budget the farthest… while still traveling with a bit of style, naturally.
During the next two weeks, we invite you to join us on the trip. And please send us your thoughts along the way about ways to save or things to do. We’ll be looking for your help!
Coming tomorrow: Hallo, Berlin!