A trip to Berlin and Christmas shopping with World Duty Free

Please tell me I’m not the only one who hasn’t even thought about Christmas shopping yet, let alone even bought anything.

Christmas is in 9 days away and every year my circle of family and friends seems to double (you guys really need to stop getting married and having children!) I’m away for the next four days (Berlin, whoop!) and then have four days of parties and merriment to enjoy. I’m pretty sure I’m too late for internet shopping so I really had no idea when I’d get all these gifts in.

Thankfully, I’ve been asked to complete a Travel Blogger Challenge with World Duty Free that I’m pretty sure is going to solve my problem. The challenge is to buy all my close friends and family’s Christmas presents from World Duty Free before a flight.

This is the best challenge I’ve ever been set. I need to go shopping, get it all done and dusted pretty quickly AND get to take a flight somewhere new and exciting.

The aim of the challenge is to show how easy it is for frequent travellers to buy all their Christmas presents in World Duty Free.

I really love Christmas but I don’t love the stress of high street shopping and the pressure to get a million gifts in one day. I’m terrible for traipsing around the shops at Christmas, umming and arrring over which present to buy for which person, spending far too much money and also taking days to get it all done.

Now World Duty Free have come along and simplified the whole process. I’ll have about two hours before my flight in one shop to get it all done. I’m pretty sure that everyone will get exactly what they want too. There’s going to be lots of perfume, aftershave, alcohol, cosmetics, chocolates and toys. My family are going to love me this year and it will definitely beat the year when everyone got a mix CD!

I’ll also be using World Duty Free’s shop and collect service so I won’t need to lug my shopping around with me. I’ll select it all on my way out and pick it all up on my return journey.

Berlin

I chose to fly to Berlin as part of my Travel Blogger Challenge. Berlin is one of those cities I’ve wanted to visit for years and I think it will be amazing at this time of year. Germany is known for magical Christmas markets and it sounds like such a cool city too.

I’ll have two and a half days in Berlin so if you have any recommendations, please let me know!

Massive thanks to World Duty Free for organising this challenge and providing my flights to Berlin.

My travel blogger challenge: Christmas shopping in World Duty Free | The Travel Hack

Friday 20th of June 2014

[…] I feel bad even calling this a challenge because we all know it was the best ‘challenge’ ever. World Duty Free set me the task to buy all my Christmas presents from their store in Terminal 5 (read more about my travel blogger shopping challenge here). […]

Alex @ ifs ands & butts

Friday 20th of December 2013

I always save my perfume shopping for Duty Free and if they have Green Spot, an Irish whisky, I also can't resist picking up a bottle.

TheTravelHack

Monday 23rd of December 2013

I think I'm going to be doing this from now on. When I get to the airport on my way home I usually have a purse full of small change so I like to count it up and buy myself a little treat which is usually a small bottle of perfume or a lipstick.

Eleanor

Wednesday 18th of December 2013

Hey Monica! Can't wait to read your thoughts about Berlin, it was fun to meet you on the tour today.

Hey Eleanor. It was great meeting you too! I've been searching for your blog so really glad you commented. Say hello to the other girls too and I hope you have an amazing time on the rest of your trip!

Paul

Tuesday 17th of December 2013

Hey Monica,

Be sure to check out Kulturbrauerei in Prenzlauer Berg. It's a little less packed with tourists and there's some great food.

If you want to meet up for the best gluhwein in town let me know, I live right next to the market!

Best,

bernhard

Monday 16th of December 2013

The christmas markets are good places for shoping indeed. You will get more Berlin-specific things than in shopping malls. One I've been to myself couple of days ago was the market at Gendarmenmarkt. Make sure to be there early, in the evening its really crowded. Quite some tourists here because of the location. Subway: Französische Straße, opens 11 am. Almost famous is the Weihnachtsmarkt (christmas market) in front of the Charlottenburg Palace. Opens 2 am. Lot of Berlin- produced things. Rumours say, the duck in the Orangerie is the best food one can get in Berlin in December. And the classic and probably the most spectacular one, in terms of size as well as range of things to buy and eat is the Weihnachtsmarkt Spandau. Known mainly to the locals. Its a little remote: go to subway-station Altstadt Spandau. It covers a lot of space and is hard to miss, opens 11 am. Have fun.

Thanks for the tips Bernhard, I'll definitely check out those markets and I might have to dry that duck in Orangerie too - all in the name of research of course.