You can fly into to any major German city, but Frankfurt is the easiest as the airport is directly connected to the highspeed rail station. Frankfurt is served by many carriers from the US with non stops readily available. If you are having PRRT treatment and can afford business class for your return travel you will be much more comfortable and happier.
Once you get to Frankfurt you will need to get to the train station which is conveniently located in the airport. The Intercity Express Trains (ICE) run every other hour while a slightly slower train runs on the hours the ICE is not available. You can purchase your tickets before you leave the US directly from the
Deutsche Bahn web site (in English), the outbound station is Frankfurt(M)Flughafen and the destination station is Weimar (Thür) Hauptbahnhof. Make sure when booking that you reserve a seat as well.
You should allow at least an hour between the time you land and the time the train is scheduled to depart. The trains are very comfortable but if you book far enough in advance you can purchase first class train tickets for about the price of regular second class and on the way home you will enjoy the space. Once you arrive at Weimar train station you can take a taxi from there to the clinic for about 25 Euros. If your are staying at the hotel mentioned below you can take a train to Bad Berka directly from the platform opposite the one you can in on from Frankfurt - the cost is less than 5 Euros (if you purchase the ticket on line at the time of the main booking it is less than 2 Euros.)
I have yet to have an issue getting a cab to and from the train station and the clinic and cabs seem to be plentiful when you get to the Weimar station. It is wise to carry a print out of the address and phone of the clinic with you as English is not the first language of the taxi cab drivers here.
Zentralklinik Bad Berka
GmbH, Robert-Koch-Allee 9, 99437 Bad Berka, +49 36458 53 200
The hospital may require a prepayment for your treatment or they may collect from you when you check out of the clinic. The clinic accepts either a wire transfer or credit card payment (Visa, Mastercard). International wire transfers are fairly straightforward to do with your local US bank and will cost you typically less than $50. Most credit cards will charge a foreign currency transaction fee of 2-3% which can amount to over US $300 per charge. You can get a
Capital One or a
Schwab credit card either of which have no transaction fees for foreign currency and well give you 1% of your charges back to you in cash. The clinic will accommodate you paying in multiple transactions prior to your arrival if you need to charge an amount and pay off the card and charge the balance.
You will need Euros for things like taxis and food in the airport and at the clinic. There are several ATMs at the Frankfurt airport and there is one at the clinic in Bad Berka. I would recommend at least 100 Euros as you will need 60 euros for the taxi to and from Weimar
There are clinic provides some inexpensive housing on site or there are a few hotels within a 10 Euro taxi ride.
Hotel Hubertushof is located across the Bad Berka train platform the rooms are functional and the food is very good - a night there will run 80 Euros - the hotel does not have internet. You do not need to check into the clinic until after 4pm on Sunday for PRRT, so if you are coming on Friday or Saturday you can stay in Frankfurt or do a day trip to Berlin and arrive Sunday afternoon. Hotel deals can be found on Expedia, Travelocity or Priceline for hotels in major German cities.
The clinic while in someways is similar to a stay in a US hospital is also very different. It will seem more "self catered" than a typical stay in a US hospital. You should plan on bringing clothing for your stay from PJs - to casual wear (think sweats) when going to the outpatient side of the clinic to get a scan. While there is a laundry facility on site - you might want to bring enough clothing not to require the extra trip. One note - at the end of your stay all the clothes that you wore will be scanned and any that are deemed too hot will need to be left behind (so far I have only seen underwear that need to be tossed)
The food can be challenging as well, there is a small convenience store and a good restaurant at the hotel, but if you have some favorite comfort foods (cereals, trail mix, chocolates) by all means bring it.
Your computer will work via wireless connectivity in your room (make sure you know how to set up Wi-Fi with security) and while the bandwidth is very good you will not be able to stream movies or audio from some US sites because your are in Germany (Hulu.com, Pandora, Netflix). Skype works very well and is highly recommended for calls to the US. Make sure you bring plug converters for European plugs and that your computer and other gear works with 220v (most do - DVD players do not.) If you are bringing a DVD player your will need a
voltage converter as well as all the DVDs you plan on viewing as DVDs bought in Europe in general will not play on a US DVD.
While your Tri or Quad band GSM phone will work in Germany - it will not work inside the clinic. Your room will have a phone that will need to be activated via a prepaid card that you will be able to get at one of the stores on the ground floor of the clinic. Rather than use the phone in the room -- you can use
Skype to place calls and receive calls over the internet. You can also purchase a Skype number and a Skype out or unlimited US plan, with a Skype US phone number people can call directly from any phone in the US to your computer for no charge and you can call back to the US for either 1.9c a minute or under $3 for unlimited calls in a month.
If you still feel you must have a cell phone you will need a GSM phone that runs on 900/1800 (all Tri and Quad Bands will work). You can roam with your ATT or Tmobile accounts (or Verizon if you have the world phone) but it is not cheap. If you have an unlocked GSM phone try
Blauworld SIM card - you can call home for about 10c a minute, get the card at either of the photo stores in the Frankfurt airport - All incoming calls to your phone are also free of charge.
While the medications that you need for the treatment are generally included in the fee for PRRT, medications you may need for your travel home are not. So if you use Octreotide (subq) bring it - your Doctor will tell you when you can restart the dose. I would also suggest bringing Zofran with you for after your stay and you may want to discuss which pain reviler you can use after you leave the clinic and have some on hand.
Should you buy it ?
Given that you are traveling to Germany for medical care and you might fell to ill to take your flight home I would suggest it. Although I have not throughly investigated the insurance that the airlines offer - you can investigate more comprehensive trip insurance at
insuremytrip.com. It is best to buy your insurance within the first week of buying your ticket as you can get pre-existing conditions covered.
