Natasha Blanthorn had always wanted to visit Berlin, but did not want to spend a fortune on a weekend away – so she decided to go for the day
A woman flew to Berlin and spent a day sightseeing for £100 – and she was back in bed for 10pm. Natasha Blanthorn, 26, always fancied a trip to Berlin to experience the rich culture and history.
She trawled the internet to bag some budget flights and flew out on November 8 on on a 6.20am flight, determined to stick to a budget of £100. Natasha, a college marketing manager from Macclesfield, Cheshire, spent the day sightseeing – joining a walking tour and visiting a history museum.
And 25,000 steps later she headed back to the airport to fly home – in time for 10pm bedtime. In total she spent just £102.07 for the budget day out – and said while its “not for the faint-hearted”, she loved every second.
Natasha said: “I had to get up at 3.30am for the flights – I only got about four hours’ sleep. But the second I got there, all the tiredness left my body.
“Because I joined a tour, I got to see a lot of the iconic sites. I didn’t have to use a single day of annual leave – and the whole thing cost just £100.”
Natasha had completed two ‘extreme day trips’ prior to booking her Berlin trip – and said she regularly trawled Skyscanner for reduced flights. When return flights from Manchester to Berlin dropped from around £80 to £38, she snapped them up.
Six weeks later she was on a flight, having set off early to drive to Manchester from Macclesfield, and rented a parking space on someone’s driveway, costing just £11.60 for the day.
Natasha took just one small bit of hand luggage – containing a portable charger, her passport, some breakfast bars, her headphones and her purse. They departed at 6:20am, and landed just before 9am.
She bought an £8.30 return train ticket to take her to Alexanderplatz and spent the morning wandering around the Topography of Terror exhibit. The free exhibit showcased some of the history of the SS in the Third Reich.
From there, Natasha nipped off to grab some lunch – swinging by a McDonalds for convenience – otherwise just fuelling herself on snacks. She said: “Maybe that wasn’t very culturally enriching, but time was of the essence, and there were queues at all the street vendors. I knew I needed something to keep me going through the tour.”
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She had pre-booked a £14.17 walking tour starting at 1pm, which lasted three hours and included informational stops at Hitler’s Bunker (the Führerbunker), Checkpoint Charlie, and the Brandenburg Gate.
She got the same train back to the airport around 4pm, arriving at 5.50pm, and boarded her flight home at 8.20pm. Despite only spending a few hours in the iconic city, she felt she was able to cover a lot of the main historical landmarks.
She said: “The walking tour was best – Berlin is so rich in history. I would never in a million years have had time to research all the facts about the different sites on my own, but I got everything on the tour.”
Natasha said the price of the day was so reasonable that she’s already planning a return to visit the east side of the city to see the art at the East Side Gallery.
She said: “When I got back, I felt like I was high, just from the adrenaline of it all. It was a busy day, but you forget all the tiredness and just remember the memories.”
A train from London to Glasgow on Tuesday, November 25 at lunchtime costs £130.80p at the time of writing – £28.73p more than Natasha’s trip.
COSTS:
Flights – £38.00 return
Parking – £11.60 for the day near airport
Breakfast at Manchester airport: £8.00
Food in total in Berlin: £22.00
Walking tour: £14.17
Train to and from Berlin airport: £8.30
Total: £102.07