HELP! I'm going to Europe, what do I do? - EUROPE MEGATHREAD OWNZONE

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Tourism & Travel > HELP! I'm going to Europe, what do I do? - EUROPE MEGATHREAD OWNZONE

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caberham: Mar 18, 2009; by Smythe; Grimey Drawer

One sim for each country

# ? Jun 29, 2016 02:56

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# ? May 11, 2024 18:09

HookShot: Dec 26, 2005

You haven't hated life until the day you realize Google decided that you need to update your offline maps and can't use them until then and you just picked up a rental car in a city and country you've never been to after everything is closed and have no data plan.

Thankfully I half-heartedly scribbled down some directions as a backup and we managed to get to Ljubljana without incident. But yeah, after that I've been a lot less "ehhhh wifi'll be fine" about things when SIM cards are so cheap.

# ? Jun 29, 2016 04:02

CLAM DOWN: Feb 13, 2007

Yeah exactly.

Cool then, any recommendations for carriers in either country? Or should I just find the best deal.

# ? Jun 29, 2016 04:35

greazeball: Feb 4, 2003

I've found maps.me to be a good backup for Google Maps. They're entirely offline with some restaurants, landmarks, etc. and work with your GPS. Supposedly they do navigation too but I haven't tried it yet.

# ? Jun 29, 2016 08:13

EricBauman: Nov 30, 2005; DOLF IS RECHTVAARDIG

CLAM DOWN posted:

Yeah exactly.

Cool then, any recommendations for carriers in either country? Or should I just find the best deal.

There's only three real network in the Netherlands (KPN, Vodafone and T-Mobile). They each have their own provider, but then there's also the smaller providers that use those three networks as well. The networks are all about the same as long as you don't go out into the sticks on the eastern border, so yeah, just go with what's cheapest in the Netherlands

Omits-Bagels posted:

My wife and I are visiting Italy for the first time in October. We're going to be in Rome 7th-11th and 15th-18th.

So we are trying to decide what to do from the 11th-15th (4 nights). The only real stipulation is that we have to be able to use Airbnb for our accommodation. We were thinking Florence (and maybe taking a day trip on one of the days) but we're open to other ideas as well.

I think Florence is best suited for day trips, since the other cities in Tuscany are quite close by. Better than any of the other cities, unless you also consider Pompeii a day trip from Naples. There's more than enough apartments available on airbnb and it shouldn't be super hard to find one in October

EricBauman fucked around with this message at 10:23 on Jun 29, 2016

# ? Jun 29, 2016 10:20

Entropist: Dec 1, 2007; I'm very stupid.

HookShot posted:

You haven't hated life until the day you realize Google decided that you need to update your offline maps and can't use them until then and you just picked up a rental car in a city and country you've never been to after everything is closed and have no data plan.

Thankfully I half-heartedly scribbled down some directions as a backup and we managed to get to Ljubljana without incident. But yeah, after that I've been a lot less "ehhhh wifi'll be fine" about things when SIM cards are so cheap.

I didn't know they did that until it happened in the middle of my trip in Slovenia, too! Fortunately I was near wifi, and I had offline maps on my tablet too which was not affected. Seems like it's time to start using one of those other offline map apps.

# ? Jun 29, 2016 13:25

hbf: Jul 26, 2003; No Dice.

Omits-Bagels posted:

My wife and I are visiting Italy for the first time in October. We're going to be in Rome 7th-11th and 15th-18th.

So we are trying to decide what to do from the 11th-15th (4 nights). The only real stipulation is that we have to be able to use Airbnb for our accommodation. We were thinking Florence (and maybe taking a day trip on one of the days) but we're open to other ideas as well.

I would recommend Florence for sure. Lots of cool stuff to do/see in the city plus pretty amazing food. I would also recommend renting a car and driving through Tuscany and staying somewhere for at least a night, especially if you are into wine at all. Very easy drive, just go directly out of Florence and it's pretty much simple highways and then country roads, all well marked and well mapped on google. I just got back, stayed in Montepulciano, and drove all over the region to visit wineries. It was without a doubt the highlight of my trip. It will be pretty busy in October, right at the end of the harvest, but it's pretty much the most ideal time to go.

And one thing about using Airbnb in Italy. I would avoid using any run by a company rather than an individual. Most ads will be written in a way to hide this, but check the reviews/profile.

# ? Jun 29, 2016 17:52

put both hands in: Nov 28, 2007; FYFE

uli2000 posted:

I got a Three (3) sim last time I was there. At the time, it was 15 pounds for unlimited data. Looks like the price went up to 20 quid and unlimited data is now 12gb, but still a hell of a deal. I had a friend mail me the sim and vouchers, but you can get them at most any shop on the high street.

Regarding roaming, I've got one of these sims, you can use the data while roaming in certain countries, it lists them on their website. I'm using it in Spain at the moment

# ? Jun 29, 2016 18:43

Saladman: Jan 12, 2010

Doctor Cave posted:

Regarding roaming, I've got one of these sims, you can use the data while roaming in certain countries, it lists them on their website. I'm using it in Spain at the moment

The data roaming fees aren't that bad within Europe / EEA anyway. I'm on probably one of the worst / most expensive providers in the continent (Swisscom) and even for me it's "only" $15 for 200 MB, which is more than I usually use in a week while traveling for maps + random occasional google searches. YMMV of course.

There is a legal cap on the data roaming price companies can charge, which drops to zero next June (they moved it up two weeks apparently?) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulations#Common_limits .

# ? Jun 29, 2016 19:12

put both hands in: Nov 28, 2007; FYFE

Compared to what my Australian sim with Telstra charges for roaming ($3 a mb), 12gb for £20 seems pretty good

# ? Jun 29, 2016 19:30

CLAM DOWN: Feb 13, 2007

My Canadian roaming would be like $120 for 100MB so yeah local SIM it is haha

# ? Jun 29, 2016 19:37

hackbunny: Jul 22, 2007; I haven't been on SA for years but the person who gave me my previous av as a joke felt guilty for doing so and decided to get me a non-shitty av

hackbunny fucked around with this message at 03:55 on Jul 2, 2020

# ? Jun 29, 2016 21:48

jcschick: Oct 12, 2004; What's the buzz? Tell me what's happenin'?

First-time trip to Venice and Rome. I'm not sure what to ask even. I know some Italian from years ago in college but I remember it fairly well.
It's just me and my husband going.

Attractions/restaurants/tips welcome.

# ? Jun 30, 2016 02:47

HookShot: Dec 26, 2005

Ciampini gelato is the best gelato you will ever eat in your life.

Also FWIW I thought Florence was actually pretty overrated. Like, obviously there's some amazing art there, and the outside of the duomo is maybe the most impressive Cathedral I've ever seen, but it was just so completely packed to the brim with tourists from 8am-8pm, it just didn't really feel like travelling. You just felt like you were constantly in a city made up entirely of tourists and devoid of actual italians.

HookShot fucked around with this message at 14:42 on Jun 30, 2016

# ? Jun 30, 2016 14:40

Droo: Jun 25, 2003

I am going to Frankfurt, Belgium and Amsterdam next week. I'll be there for 16 days total.

Can anyone recommend a good SIM card to buy that basically provides data in all three countries? I am having a hard time deciphering the available options and the data roaming setup. I don't mind paying up a little bit for something good that works in all three countries.

It looks like the EU imposes data roaming charge limits of EUR 0.05 per megabyte, but I figure maybe there was one specific carrier I should try to find that would work well in all three countries with no extra fees.

# ? Jun 30, 2016 19:40

vanity slug: Jul 20, 2010

There is no single sim for multiple European countries yet without roaming charges. Buy one per country.

# ? Jun 30, 2016 19:44

Imaduck: Apr 16, 2007; the magnetorotational instability turns me on

HookShot posted:

Also FWIW I thought Florence was actually pretty overrated. Like, obviously there's some amazing art there, and the outside of the duomo is maybe the most impressive Cathedral I've ever seen, but it was just so completely packed to the brim with tourists from 8am-8pm, it just didn't really feel like travelling. You just felt like you were constantly in a city made up entirely of tourists and devoid of actual italians.

Are there parts of the city that aren't so crowded? I'm headed to Florence for a few days in August, and I know it's going to be crazy. I don't really want to see all the hot spots, and I hate sitting in lines and tourist crowds. Really, I just want to eat some good food, see some pretty sights, and get a feel for Italy. Any suggestions?

# ? Jun 30, 2016 19:49

CLAM DOWN: Feb 13, 2007

Droo posted:

I am going to Frankfurt, Belgium and Amsterdam next week. I'll be there for 16 days total.

Can anyone recommend a good SIM card to buy that basically provides data in all three countries? I am having a hard time deciphering the available options and the data roaming setup. I don't mind paying up a little bit for something good that works in all three countries.

It looks like the EU imposes data roaming charge limits of EUR 0.05 per megabyte, but I figure maybe there was one specific carrier I should try to find that would work well in all three countries with no extra fees.

Way to copy my trip :colbert:

# ? Jun 30, 2016 19:56

HookShot: Dec 26, 2005

Imaduck posted:

Are there parts of the city that aren't so crowded? I'm headed to Florence for a few days in August, and I know it's going to be crazy. I don't really want to see all the hot spots, and I hate sitting in lines and tourist crowds. Really, I just want to eat some good food, see some pretty sights, and get a feel for Italy. Any suggestions?

My suggestion in that case would honestly be don't go to Florence.

The city itself is quite small, so the whole city is super, super crowded. The oltrarno area is slightly less so, but honestly the only thing you can really do is stay way out in the non-tourist areas. Anything even remotely close to the tourist zone just doesn't feel like Italy at all and is crowded as hell. The problem is outside the main part of town there's nothing to do/see. It's not like Rome where you can get pretty far out of the way and still go to say, Ostia Antica or something.

To see some pretty sights you should definitely see the Tuscan countryside, it really is absolutely remarkable, and you'd be able to get some really good food and stuff there.

I don't know if you're 100% settled on Florence but if you can it sounds like you would actually get a lot more out of going to say, Siena or somewhere like that instead.

# ? Jun 30, 2016 22:30

hackbunny: Jul 22, 2007; I haven't been on SA for years but the person who gave me my previous av as a joke felt guilty for doing so and decided to get me a non-shitty av

hackbunny fucked around with this message at 03:55 on Jul 2, 2020

# ? Jun 30, 2016 23:09

Waci: May 30, 2011; A boy and his dog.

For future reference for anyone else: just because nobody notices and starts yelling at you DOES NOT mean you should ignore signs warning about landmines.

# ? Jun 30, 2016 23:33

Doctor Malaver: May 23, 2007; Ce qui s'est pass� t'a rendu plus fort

Waci posted:

For future reference for anyone else: just because nobody notices and starts yelling at you DOES NOT mean you should ignore signs warning about landmines.

Lost legat?

# ? Jun 30, 2016 23:41

hackbunny: Jul 22, 2007; I haven't been on SA for years but the person who gave me my previous av as a joke felt guilty for doing so and decided to get me a non-shitty av

hackbunny fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Jul 2, 2020

# ? Jun 30, 2016 23:42

spoof: Jul 8, 2004

Droo posted:

I am going to Frankfurt, Belgium and Amsterdam next week. I'll be there for 16 days total.

Can anyone recommend a good SIM card to buy that basically provides data in all three countries? I am having a hard time deciphering the available options and the data roaming setup. I don't mind paying up a little bit for something good that works in all three countries.

It looks like the EU imposes data roaming charge limits of EUR 0.05 per megabyte, but I figure maybe there was one specific carrier I should try to find that would work well in all three countries with no extra fees.

Ortel's Cross option gives you 750MB across all of the EU for €20.

Edit: Easiest to get if you're starting in Germany.

# ? Jul 1, 2016 20:11

uli2000: Feb 23, 2015

Doctor Cave posted:

Compared to what my Australian sim with Telstra charges for roaming ($3 a mb), 12gb for £20 seems pretty good

The Three sim is great because you can use it in 18+ countries without additional charges. I just topped my up for an upcoming trip. I still will have to figure out what to do in Germany though since it's not one of the countries included.

http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Phones/Feel_At_Home

# ? Jul 4, 2016 03:09

caberham: Mar 18, 2009; by Smythe; Grimey Drawer

I'm going to North America in 2 weeks. After doing some basic research I found this

http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Prepaid_SIM_with_data

Maybe just stick this on the OP

# ? Jul 4, 2016 08:42

Saladman: Jan 12, 2010

caberham posted:

I'm going to North America in 2 weeks. After doing some basic research I found this

http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Prepaid_SIM_with_data

Maybe just stick this on the OP

That's a great summary, although kind of too bad they don't break it de facto. Switzerland, for example, has followed nearly or exactly the rest of the EEA so far in price drops, although we'll see what happens next summer. My plan with Salt CH now gives 2.4 GB/yr within the EU which is decent as well as some 'free' calling, for the same price as my previous Swisscom contract that I just dropped. For instance I'd bet a lot that Monaco, San Marino, and Andorra follow exactly the EEA rules, since otherwise all their citizens would drop the local carrier like it's hot.

# ? Jul 4, 2016 10:14

caberham: Mar 18, 2009; by Smythe; Grimey Drawer

The moral of the story is:

North America sucks and their infrastructure is super poo poo. Canada is better with health care but USA is just medieval compared to Europe.

# ? Jul 4, 2016 10:41

The Schwa: Jul 1, 2008

how about Italian sim cards? I'll be there for a month in September/October. I'll already have a Three card by then, hopefully, if it would be better to just use that

also hello from Pardubice, Czech Republic

# ? Jul 4, 2016 11:53

Seven Hundred Bee: Nov 1, 2006

Posting from Nice! If anyone is developing an itinerary for France you should visit Cassis no matter what. Hiked the Calanques early in the morning and spent thirty minutes with nobody else around in paradise.

On another note, does anyone know what the story is with the ugly coal plant in the middle of the Nice port? Very unexpected and seemed out of place.

# ? Jul 4, 2016 20:17

Hollow Talk: Feb 2, 2014

Edit: sorry, I was needlessly being a dick

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv

Hollow Talk fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Jul 5, 2016

# ? Jul 4, 2016 21:26

Seven Hundred Bee: Nov 1, 2006

It's not a power plant and it was obviously built recently because it's surrounded by temporary fences and covers the sidewalk on one entire side of the port. There's random barriers blocking roads and haphazard paths around it. Clearly there's a story behind it.

# ? Jul 4, 2016 23:39

pylb: Sep 22, 2010; ^{"The superfluous, a very necessary thing"}

Seven Hundred Bee posted:

Posting from Nice! If anyone is developing an itinerary for France you should visit Cassis no matter what. Hiked the Calanques early in the morning and spent thirty minutes with nobody else around in paradise.

On another note, does anyone know what the story is with the ugly coal plant in the middle of the Nice port? Very unexpected and seemed out of place.

This?

They're building a tram line.

# ? Jul 4, 2016 23:54

Droo: Jun 25, 2003

spoof posted:

Ortel's Cross option gives you 750MB across all of the EU for €20.

Edit: Easiest to get if you're starting in Germany.

I picked up an Ortel sim in Germany and I have been trying to create an account online all day, but their stupid site has said "temporarily down for maintenance" for the last 12 hours.

Do you happen to know any other place online I can create my account and top it up, other than https://mein.ortelmobile.de/ScLogin.html I see they have a few different country sites but I'm not sure if there is another place I could just register and top up.

# ? Jul 5, 2016 18:36

Hollow Talk: Feb 2, 2014

Droo posted:

I picked up an Ortel sim in Germany and I have been trying to create an account online all day, but their stupid site has said "temporarily down for maintenance" for the last 12 hours.

Do you happen to know any other place online I can create my account and top it up, other than https://mein.ortelmobile.de/ScLogin.html I see they have a few different country sites but I'm not sure if there is another place I could just register and top up.

If you haven't already, this seems like it would allow you to activate your card: https://www.ortelmobile.de/en/sim-card/activation.html

If you would like to top up, have a look at the second option mentioned here, which apparently lets you use E-Plus top-up cards available in most supermarkets, usually somewhere near (or at) the check-out: https://www.ortelmobile.de/en/top-up.html

# ? Jul 5, 2016 19:41

hbf: Jul 26, 2003; No Dice.

Imaduck posted:

Are there parts of the city that aren't so crowded? I'm headed to Florence for a few days in August, and I know it's going to be crazy. I don't really want to see all the hot spots, and I hate sitting in lines and tourist crowds. Really, I just want to eat some good food, see some pretty sights, and get a feel for Italy. Any suggestions?

If you don't care to see any of the sites in Florence then just go to some of the smaller towns in Tuscany. Siena would be the largest/most popular of those, but there are a lot. Most people just hit them up for day trips, so they are pretty empty in the evening. Food throughout Tuscany is pretty amazing. I didn't have a bad meal. This would involve renting a car ideally, half the fun is the drive and all the little places in between.

# ? Jul 5, 2016 22:12

Ferdinand Bardamu: Apr 30, 2013

siena is cool and good, just don't be there on august 16th. or be there, and battle the crowds and heat to see the most bizarre horse race you will ever see.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 00:37