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greazeball
Feb 4, 2003



Berlin is a lot cheaper than Amsterdam, I believe. Especially rent as there's so much more space.

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Carbon dioxide
Oct 9, 2012

Edmond Dantes posted:

No, nothing as dumb as going in illegally. My passport allows me to visit most countries in Europe for 3 months without needing a visa; of course this doesn't allow me to work there but I checked with both Germany and Netherlands' embassies here and going in with a tourist "visa" (just my passport) and looking for a job willing to sponsor me for a work visa is 100% legal, so that's pretty much my plan. I'm a developer, I reckon I should be able to get a job before the 3 months are done but, again, worst case scenario I could just hop to another country and get another 3 months to look for something.

That "another country" probably can't be another EU country. The standard rules for non-EU citizens to visit the EU is something like 3 months in an x-month period for the whole of the EU.

On the other hand yes, being a developer does make things easier. Note that in NL, companies need to register themselves with the national immigration service before they are allowed to sponsor people for work visas. This is a lengthy bureaucratic process so you're best off applying to companies that are already registered.

I did a quick search and as it turns out the list of registered companies is public information: https://ind.nl/Documents/Openbaar_register_Arbeid_Regulier_Kennismigranten.pdf

I have no idea what the rules for this are in other EU countries.

If you choose NL I strongly suggest living in one of the smaller cities. Housing prices are much much cheaper there, it's a quick train trip to Amsterdam no matter where you live, and software companies are scattered around the country anyway.

Carbon dioxide fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Mar 4, 2020

Edmond Dantes
Sep 12, 2007

Reactor: Online
Sensors: Online
Weapons: Online

ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL

Carbon dioxide posted:

That "another country" probably can't be another EU country. The standard rules for non-EU citizens to visit the EU is something like 3 months in an x-month period for the whole of the EU.
Yeah, that makes sense. I reckon that if I can't get a dev job in 3 months I got bigger problems than country hopping anyhow unfortunately. :v:

Oh, that's a fantastic nugget of information, thank you. I was aware of the NIS registry thing but didn't know about the list.

I'm most likely going to land in Germany (already registered to take German lessons) and I probably won't do this until at least next year, but I want to start narrowing down potential places and have a general outlook on things other than "I want out".

Thanks everyone, will most likely annoy y'all with more "living in Europe" questions in the upcoming months (if this is the right thread, do give a shout if I'm shitposting in the wrong place :v: ).

Siegkrow
Oct 11, 2013

Arguing about Lore for 5 years and counting



I'm gonna move to Spain tho I have the help of my old man living there for well for over 2 decades now.

webmeister
Jan 31, 2007
Probation
Can't post for 5 hours!

Carbon dioxide posted:

That "another country" probably can't be another EU country. The standard rules for non-EU citizens to visit the EU is something like 3 months in an x-month period for the whole of the EU.

Just to clarify this, the Schengen rule is 90 days in any 180 day period, so essentially 3 out of 6 months within the Schengen zone. It's a rolling window as well, not a "from the date of first entry" window, so you can't leave and come back the following day to reset the clock. Most long-term travellers in Europe will alternate between three months within Schengen and then three months outside it. Typical destinations for outside Schengen are: UK/Ireland, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria.

Also if you're self-employed and can work online, Estonia offers a 365-day digital nomad visa which allows you to live and work in Estonia for a year. Tallinn is a beautiful city and fairly cheap away from the touristy parts, though it does come with the disadvantage of a 9-month winter.

Entropist
Dec 1, 2007
I'm very stupid.
Amsterdam is expensive AF these days, especially for rent, it's only behind places like London and Zurich and Oslo. The further out you go from Amsterdam the better it gets, but probably Berlin is still cheaper than anywhere in the Netherlands. The south of Germany (around Munich) is pretty expensive as well.

Pretty great to live in Amsterdam though if you can find a way.

My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

Still working out the details for Scotland, but thanks everyone!

Thinking about just booking a day trip to Skye from Inverness with a company. Or am I gonna want a few days there?

Drone
Aug 22, 2003

Incredible machine
:smug:


Edmond Dantes posted:

How long could I live in Germany (Berlin) and/or Netherlands (Amsterdam, maybe Hague/Rotterdam) with 10k US$? That's the amount I can legally carry physically with me since my country won't let me send money overseas. Yes you read that right.

I'm planning on emigrating to Europe and due to Circumstances, it may come down to hopping on a plane and looking for a job once I'm there. This is basically The Last Resort, but if it comes to that I'd like to have an idea so I can plan around it.

Aight, so I did basically exactly this eight years ago (though I had a bit less, about $8k, and in hindsight I would have done several things differently budget-wise). I've documented what happened when I did it in several huge posts over in the Ask me about Germany thread, and here's the most recent: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3205129&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=111#post494350193

Really, just browse through all of my posts in that thread, because the topic has come up several times over the years. Specifically one of my earlier posts talks about finding IT work as a freelancer in Berlin (since you mentioned you're a computertoucher too) that might be helpful, in addition to the one above about budgeting/things to consider cost-wise.

The tl;dr of my experience was "I ran out of money after about 5 months, ultimately was severely underemployed for a year and a half, before finally getting a real job thanks to a friend." And I was only really able to do this because I wasn't doing it alone and was supported by my German boyfriend-now-husband.

Drone fucked around with this message at 11:55 on Mar 5, 2020

Edmond Dantes
Sep 12, 2007

Reactor: Online
Sensors: Online
Weapons: Online

ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL
Well, poo poo. That put a hell of a damper on my expectations (especially the "harder for people from South America" part out your post). Which is good I guess; even if I wasn't really expecting to find a job as soon as I landed I've always been of a "plan for the worst" mindset... And now I have a good idea of what that looks like.

I have a friend of mine living there at the moment and she got a developer job within a month of landing. Again, not really expecting this but she did tell me there's quite a bit of dev work going around, so I'm hoping it won't come to having to "reset" my Schengen tourist time.

Finally, there's new legislation regarding "in demand" professions starting on March 1 which makes it way easier for companies to hire a foreigner to fill those, and IT/ development is included in the list.

I'll take this to the Germany thread now that I've pretty much settled on starting this thing there (and that I know there's a Germany thread).

Thanks a lot to everyone who chimed in, I'll hopefully be back at some point asking what are good places to visit while based in Germany. :D

Drone
Aug 22, 2003

Incredible machine
:smug:


Edmond Dantes posted:

Well, poo poo. That put a hell of a damper on my expectations (especially the "harder for people from South America" part out your post).

For what it's worth, that part is very much anecdotal based on two hours of bullshitting with the Brazilian guy sitting next to me one day in the waiting room at the foreigner's registration office, 8 years ago.

Elysium
Aug 21, 2003
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

SurgicalOntologist posted:

Castelldefels is zone 1, so the same advice applies. 10 trip is the standard one to get. They did change the system in January so that you can't share 10 passes anymore (they have another one that allows sharing that is more expensive) but if you know you'll use them it's usually the best option. I don't know the value of the tourist options but here's a handy site: https://www.mapametrobarcelona.com/en-calcula-billete-mensual.php

I just meant that, for sure every trip into the city is going to be at least 1 out and 1 back from Casteldefels, plus any other transport we take once we are there, so that might use up more trips than a person who is staying inside the city somewhere, possibly making the unlimited passes a better option. I guess I just have to try to calculate how many trips we are actually going to take on transport.

Grape
Nov 16, 2017

Happily shilling for China!
So me and the wife are tentatively planning a early-mid July trip to Ireland, with the idea that we'd spend 10 days there.
We've already thought of some spots we'd want to hit up, and have factored in NI as part of the trip.

-How is renting a car? Is this recommendable? We have the basic idea of traveling around the whole island more or less. Especially the Southwest and Northeast.
-Does anyone know what the current status of the Republic/NI border crossing is? I know Brexit has been messing with aspects of that.
-What cool ways could we actually interact with people in the cities outside the obvious. We don't want to just do castle/nature touring type stuff, I want to soak in actual living Ireland as well.
-Anything we should avoid as being tourist trappy? We have no problem with cheesy tourism stuff, but what's actually fun cheesy and what is stupid waste of money cheesy?
-Lodging tips? I'm thinking hostels for the most part, but I dunno.

SurgicalOntologist
Jun 17, 2004

Elysium posted:

I just meant that, for sure every trip into the city is going to be at least 1 out and 1 back from Casteldefels, plus any other transport we take once we are there, so that might use up more trips than a person who is staying inside the city somewhere, possibly making the unlimited passes a better option. I guess I just have to try to calculate how many trips we are actually going to take on transport.

Yeah I suppose you'll use 2 more trips per day than if you were staying in the center.

Anyways it's good general knowledge that almost everyone here uses the T-10 (or whatever they renamed it to, T-Casual or something) if they don't qualify for a discounted pass. AFAIK you have to take a ton of trips for the unlimited options to be cheaper. A tourist option might be better considering they come with tickets to some of the attractions but I don't think it will be cheaper straight up.

dennyk
Jan 2, 2005

Cheese-Buyer's Remorse

Grape posted:

So me and the wife are tentatively planning a early-mid July trip to Ireland, with the idea that we'd spend 10 days there.
We've already thought of some spots we'd want to hit up, and have factored in NI as part of the trip.

-How is renting a car? Is this recommendable? We have the basic idea of traveling around the whole island more or less. Especially the Southwest and Northeast.
-Does anyone know what the current status of the Republic/NI border crossing is? I know Brexit has been messing with aspects of that.
-What cool ways could we actually interact with people in the cities outside the obvious. We don't want to just do castle/nature touring type stuff, I want to soak in actual living Ireland as well.
-Anything we should avoid as being tourist trappy? We have no problem with cheesy tourism stuff, but what's actually fun cheesy and what is stupid waste of money cheesy?
-Lodging tips? I'm thinking hostels for the most part, but I dunno.

- Yes, renting a car is definitely the best way to see the country; public transit outside of cities is poor to nonexistent and all the good stuff is definitely well outside the cities.

- There's no actual effect on the border from Brexit. Everything's business as usual until the end of this year at the very least, and even then the chances of a hard border on the island are extremely low. There's also no "border crossing"; the border is uncontrolled and the only way you'll know you've passed it in many cases is when the speed limit signs change units.

- You'll see plenty of locals in the cities. You could visit some non-touristy pubs (stay the gently caress away from the Temple Bar area), but in Dublin you might want to be careful about straying into some parts; you might not have such a good time at Noctor's. You could try some local sports as well; I think GAA football and hurling should still be going then, but it'll be championship time and so tickets might be more dear than usual. Outside the cities, do some searching and see if there are any local festivals on during the time you'll be here; while there are a few big or niche ones that might draw some tourists from abroad, many of the smaller festivals will be almost all folks from the area.

- Most of the famous sights here are famous for good reason, and there's nothing terribly touristy. Blarney Castle is a bit of a rip-off, though, I'd say; there are more interesting castles and better gardens around the country and the admission price is ridiculous. And Temple Bar in Dublin is just a bunch of lovely pubs with hilariously overpriced pints all crammed with wasted tourists. Other than that, if you've heard about something here, chances are it's worth visiting (and most sights honestly live up to the hype).

- B&Bs offer the best lodging value for money, usually. Don't know why you'd want a hostel unless you're one of them young solo traveler whippersnappers who's entire net worth consists of one iPhone, one Osprey Farpoint 40, $30 in cash, and two pairs of underwear. You'll definitely want to book well ahead, though, as July is the peak of high season and places will fill up quickly (unless COVID-19 has killed everyone by then, of course, in which case you'll be spoiled for abandoned one-off bungalows to crash in as you make your way across the post-apocalyptic wasteland...).

That said, with ten days, I wouldn't try to see literally the entire country; pick a few spots to base out of and explore the surrounding regions. Don't try to do one of those trips everyone seems to do where they're just driving for hours a day from A to B and staying in a different place every single night; you'll just end up exhausted and won't be able to slow down and enjoy anything. It's a small enough island, but it still takes time to get from place to place (and often a lot more than you'd think, especially when you aren't used to driving the roads here). If by ten days you really mean ten nights, you could do:

- 1 night in Dublin to recover from jet lag and see a bit of the city
- 3 nights around Killarney; explore County Kerry, the Ring of Kerry, Killarney National Park, the Dingle Peninsula, maybe Beara.
- 3 nights in Galway; explore west Clare (including the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren), drive around Connemara and southern Mayo, maybe take a day trip out to one of the Aran Islands.
- 3 nights in Belfast, explore the city and see the sights of the northeastern coast.

Some other potential places to stay:

- Westport, to explore north Mayo (a lovely and rather underrated part of the country) and Achill Island.

- Kinsale, to explore southern County Cork.

- Donegal, to explore County Donegal

The island *is* small enough that getting from anywhere to anywhere else is usually doable with an easy day's drive, it's just not something you want to be doing every single day, so give yourself some time to just explore in between longer trips.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010
Take care about the rental car: many agencies don’t allow their cars to be driven from ROI to NI, and those that do usually charge extra. Not a big deal but check the fine print, as they’ll all have GPS trackers. Absolutely do rent a car though.

Agree that Blarney Castle blows. Other than that I don’t think we hit anything that was overly touristy. Rock of Cashel was too crowded for me but it’s still pretty unique. Everywhere else was awesome. I posted about it a few pages back, I’ll try and find it later when I’m not phone posting.

kiimo
Jul 24, 2003

There's one review of Noctors apparently because I was curious:

quote:

This a TRUE Irish Dive bar! When you come in here, you're coming to drink and forget your sorrows. No romance, no date nights, no American frat boy tourists - just the drunkest Irish locals you've ever seen, drinking Guinness and looking sad.

I did have a nice conversation with the owner, and when I told her I was from Texas, she immediately introduced me to the drunkest man I've ever seen in my life sitting at the end of the bar and said "He spends summers in Florida." The man called me over and he slurred his way through a story about driving in Florida. He also asked me where I was from 12 times in our 5 minute conversation.

It was truly amazing and if I ever come back to Dublin, I'm definitely having a pint at my new favorite pub, Noctor's!



edit: also this sounds kind of awesome but can someone tell me if it is good touristy or cheesy touristy before I go in May?

quote:

The Afternoon Dublin Mountain Pub Tour gives everyone the opportunity to experience true Irish Pub culture at 3 of Dublin’s finest rural pubs, whilst taking in the beautiful scenery in The Dublin Mountains.

We make the short journey (30mins) out of the City & up the Dublin Mountains to our first stop, you can set yourself up for the day & enjoy some of the best pub food served in Ireland.

After a meal to remember we make the short scenic journey across the hills to our second pub Johnnie Fox's Pub. Here you will enjoy some of the best Traditional Irish music.

At our last stop you will be amazed by the spectacular views from the pub of Dublin Bay & there will be more live music to enjoy or maybe get to know some of the friendly locals.

Enjoy the amazing views whilst sitting in the beer garden or through the window while relaxing beside the cosy turf fire.

An afternoon full of fun & Laughs

Duration: 5 hours

kiimo fucked around with this message at 17:23 on Mar 6, 2020

greazeball
Feb 4, 2003



I'd say it could be nice, but not if you go with a bus full of tourists

Ed: isn't Johnnie Fox's Bono's or the Edge's local?

mojo1701a
Oct 9, 2008

Oh, yeah. Loud and clear. Emphasis on LOUD!
~ David Lee Roth

dennyk posted:

- Yes, renting a car is definitely the best way to see the country; public transit outside of cities is poor to nonexistent and all the good stuff is definitely well outside the cities.

- There's no actual effect on the border from Brexit. Everything's business as usual until the end of this year at the very least, and even then the chances of a hard border on the island are extremely low. There's also no "border crossing"; the border is uncontrolled and the only way you'll know you've passed it in many cases is when the speed limit signs change units.

- You'll see plenty of locals in the cities. You could visit some non-touristy pubs (stay the gently caress away from the Temple Bar area), but in Dublin you might want to be careful about straying into some parts; you might not have such a good time at Noctor's. You could try some local sports as well; I think GAA football and hurling should still be going then, but it'll be championship time and so tickets might be more dear than usual. Outside the cities, do some searching and see if there are any local festivals on during the time you'll be here; while there are a few big or niche ones that might draw some tourists from abroad, many of the smaller festivals will be almost all folks from the area.

- Most of the famous sights here are famous for good reason, and there's nothing terribly touristy. Blarney Castle is a bit of a rip-off, though, I'd say; there are more interesting castles and better gardens around the country and the admission price is ridiculous. And Temple Bar in Dublin is just a bunch of lovely pubs with hilariously overpriced pints all crammed with wasted tourists. Other than that, if you've heard about something here, chances are it's worth visiting (and most sights honestly live up to the hype).

- B&Bs offer the best lodging value for money, usually. Don't know why you'd want a hostel unless you're one of them young solo traveler whippersnappers who's entire net worth consists of one iPhone, one Osprey Farpoint 40, $30 in cash, and two pairs of underwear. You'll definitely want to book well ahead, though, as July is the peak of high season and places will fill up quickly (unless COVID-19 has killed everyone by then, of course, in which case you'll be spoiled for abandoned one-off bungalows to crash in as you make your way across the post-apocalyptic wasteland...).

That said, with ten days, I wouldn't try to see literally the entire country; pick a few spots to base out of and explore the surrounding regions. Don't try to do one of those trips everyone seems to do where they're just driving for hours a day from A to B and staying in a different place every single night; you'll just end up exhausted and won't be able to slow down and enjoy anything. It's a small enough island, but it still takes time to get from place to place (and often a lot more than you'd think, especially when you aren't used to driving the roads here). If by ten days you really mean ten nights, you could do:

- 1 night in Dublin to recover from jet lag and see a bit of the city
- 3 nights around Killarney; explore County Kerry, the Ring of Kerry, Killarney National Park, the Dingle Peninsula, maybe Beara.
- 3 nights in Galway; explore west Clare (including the Cliffs of Moher and the Burren), drive around Connemara and southern Mayo, maybe take a day trip out to one of the Aran Islands.
- 3 nights in Belfast, explore the city and see the sights of the northeastern coast.

Some other potential places to stay:

- Westport, to explore north Mayo (a lovely and rather underrated part of the country) and Achill Island.

- Kinsale, to explore southern County Cork.

- Donegal, to explore County Donegal

The island *is* small enough that getting from anywhere to anywhere else is usually doable with an easy day's drive, it's just not something you want to be doing every single day, so give yourself some time to just explore in between longer trips.

I would agree with just about everything here, except that I was still unaware of the border situation.

The only real difference I noticed crossing the border was that the signs were written only in English, all speeds and distance signs were in mph and miles instead of km (which messed me up a little since my rental car only listed in km/h on the speedometre), and that the gardai were now the police.

Two weeks for me was great, but it absolutely wasn't enough time. I mean, it's doable, but it really made me wish I got more vacation time because I would've absolutely tried to stick with one half of the island per 2 week trip.

I don't like waking up early when on vacation, so a 3-4 hour drive takes away most of my sunlight. By the time I get to where I'm going, it's like 5-6pm, so just enough time for dinner and drinks, and a stroll around the general area where I'm staying.

Also, you'll interact with locals just about anywhere you go. I was told about it in Dublin, but was introduced to and actually got to try some poitin in Galway. Really can't recommend Galway enough.

Carbon dioxide
Oct 9, 2012

I've been tasked to find accomodations for a business trip to Berlin a couple months from now.

We're on a somewhat tight budget so I'm looking for something cheap. We don't really care whether it's an airbnb-like apartment or hotel rooms, as long as there's a separate bed for each of the four of us (e.g. 2 rooms with 2 single beds each). The thing is, searching on airbnb itself is a bit misleading because they count sofa beds as beds and those don't sound very comfortable.

For the business stuff we need to be near Alexanderplatz. A place close to there would be nice but it's also fine if we can easily reach it by public transport.

I would appreciate any suggestions for specific hotels / regular B&Bs / airBnbs / whatever, and also suggestions for how and where to search online for this in general, if there's Berlin-specific stuff I should know about or something.

Carbon dioxide fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Mar 6, 2020

Entropist
Dec 1, 2007
I'm very stupid.
One time when I had to make that kind of arrangement, I went for a hostel that had rooms with 4 beds. Really cheap and because we filled all 4 places in the room we had it to ourselves. We were like 25-30 years old though, it might be weird if you're a group of olds.

Still, you could try the hostel search sites (i.e. hostelworld) even if you don't book through them - they let you filter for this kind of stuff and their search index includes b&b's and cheap hotels as well as hostels.

theOctagon
Apr 22, 2005

I bet you are wondering what I call my penis... it's the
I stayed at the Goldmarie the last few times I’ve been in Berlin, it’s probably closer to a hostel than a hotel but the rooms are clean, friendly staff and I think I paid about $35 USD. Grocery store across the street for snacks and such. Just down the street is the metro or the street car.

Hotel Goldmarie
Warschauer Str. 58, 10243 Berlin, Germany
+49 1578 2117117
https://goo.gl/maps/WJkhPMMhaAfeSwLb7

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

pointsofdata posted:

Trento itself is nice enough, nothing that special but it has some good food and a chill atmosphere and some moderately interesting museums. I was there for a month last summer and loved it, the area is incredibly beautiful. I'm not sure what there is to do in winter other than winter sports (try snowshoeing if you don't ski), eating, and chilling in a heated pool at the hotel though.

Yeah, everything indeed was pretty shut down in all of Trento and Sudtirol provinces in the smaller towns (i.e. shops and restaurants closed for the season), due to winter season not coronavirus, while the relatively-major cities like Trento and Merano were largely open except for a few of the outlying castles. Nominally most of the stuff opens up in mid to late March, although this year I guess nothing will open before 3 April at the earliest. We ended up going skiing in Merano since the conditions were pretty much the best possible (-6 at the top, sunny, fresh snow, few people).

I'm surprised they shut down so hard for winter, since I guess they normally get lots of skiiers? But it must not nearly as many tourists as they get in summer. Seems like Sudtirol would be a boring place to go for a long ski trip if the weather or snow sucked. Seems like it'd be awesome in summer though, especially for anyone who cares about visiting castles and fortresses. There must have been like, easily 30+ between Lake Garda and the Austrian border.

Too bad Italy is all shut down, but based on case numbers elsewhere I can't imagine it will have much impact on the spread of coronavirus, but I'm not an epidemiologist. We thought about packing up in the middle of last night and going before the quarantine came into effect, but figured since we were in provinces with < 10 cases in the last two weeks they probably wouldn't stealth-add them. Not sure what I'm going to do about any travel coming up in the next two months, at some point it seems like health officials are going to have to admit that the cat is 100% out of the bag.

kru
Oct 5, 2003

theOctagon posted:

I stayed at the Goldmarie the last few times I’ve been in Berlin, it’s probably closer to a hostel than a hotel but the rooms are clean, friendly staff and I think I paid about $35 USD. Grocery store across the street for snacks and such. Just down the street is the metro or the street car.

Hotel Goldmarie
Warschauer Str. 58, 10243 Berlin, Germany
+49 1578 2117117
https://goo.gl/maps/WJkhPMMhaAfeSwLb7

This is 1 minute walk from my house!

Also, a fine place to stay for alexplatz, as you can walk up to Frankfurter Tor and tube it in like 20 mins

Elysium
Aug 21, 2003
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
I know it's hard to say, but what are the chances my trip to Spain at the end of next month is hosed due to Coronavirus?

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Elysium posted:

I know it's hard to say, but what are the chances my trip to Spain at the end of next month is hosed due to Coronavirus?

Depends where you're flying from and into. Also the other question is whether "hosed" means "absolutely cancelled, no flights" or "flight not cancelled, but the restaurants and museums are closed and the only shops you can go to are food-related." Like, you can still get to Milan right now if you really wanted to.

Elysium
Aug 21, 2003
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.

Saladman posted:

Depends where you're flying from and into. Also the other question is whether "hosed" means "absolutely cancelled, no flights" or "flight not cancelled, but the restaurants and museums are closed and the only shops you can go to are food-related." Like, you can still get to Milan right now if you really wanted to.

Newark to Barcelona. By hosed I mean “we go and can’t really do anything fun because all events, gatherings and museums are shut down”

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Elysium posted:

Newark to Barcelona. By hosed I mean “we go and can’t really do anything fun because all events, gatherings and museums are shut down”

Probably high enough that I would cancel everything that was 100% refundable as soon as I hit the maximum deadline. Like I am maybe going to NYC in 12 days, but I cancelled my hotel two days ago, since 14 days in advance was the last 100%-refund day. Incidentally, that same hotel room is now 25% cheaper if I rebook it now for the same dates that I had previously paid for, so although that wasn't my intent at all, I also just saved myself a night's stay if I end up being able to go after all.


The other risk is that you can go and it's fine, but when you come back you're subject to a 14 day self quarantine, which depending on your situation, may or may not be a problem. Probably a much lower chance of that happening, as I imagine NYC will have had a huge outbreak well before then, but it's one possibility.

Elysium
Aug 21, 2003
It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.
Yeah I don’t think I have anything hard booked except the flights, which I gather can’t really be refunded unless travel is actually restricted.

At least they were only $300.

My Lovely Horse
Aug 21, 2010

I'm kind of wondering the same for going from Germany to Scotland in 3 weeks although it's probably more that the Scots wouldn't let me in because Germany's become the Plagueland in the meantime.

SurgicalOntologist
Jun 17, 2004

I live in Barcelona and it seems no one is taking things seriously yet but it could be any day now that more things start getting canceled. So far they are canceling big events but normal activities/places of business are still open. As far as touristy things FC Barcelona is playing matches without fans but museums, etc are still open. But yeah, could change soon.

My office is in the building of a major multinational and they are still operating although fewer people were in the cafeteria today at lunch time.

My wife and I just had a baby and we had planned a steady stream of visitors for the next several months. So far no one has canceled their visit but some are on the fence. My parents are here now and if things get bad maybe they just stay awhile. At the moment everything is uncertain.

I would say don't book anything further but don't explicitly cancel unless you can get a refund. The end of next month is still a while away. Feel free to PM or come back here for updates.

Fitzy Fitz
May 14, 2005




Yeah my flights are early May, and if anything I expect more restrictions by then given the pace that this is spreading. Can't cancel my tickets though, so if we get there and everything's shut down, we'll just explore the countryside.

kru
Oct 5, 2003

My Lovely Horse posted:

I'm kind of wondering the same for going from Germany to Scotland in 3 weeks although it's probably more that the Scots wouldn't let me in because Germany's become the Plagueland in the meantime.

I actually have this exact same dilemma , Berlin to Edinburgh in 3.5 weeks. Madness!

kiimo
Jul 24, 2003

Fitzy Fitz posted:

Yeah my flights are early May, and if anything I expect more restrictions by then given the pace that this is spreading. Can't cancel my tickets though, so if we get there and everything's shut down, we'll just explore the countryside.

We haven't booked our flights from LA to Dublin in early May yet. The prices have not fallen, btw. Gonna wait this out and then also absolutely book refundable tickets.

Cheesemaster200
Feb 11, 2004

Guard of the Citadel

Elysium posted:

I know it's hard to say, but what are the chances my trip to Spain at the end of next month is hosed due to Coronavirus?

You can hang out with me if you want. Leaving from JFK the end of next week to Andalucia, though doing a couple nights in London first. Unfortunately our $5k of flights and hotels is all non-refundable at this point. Its all covered under travel insurance, but the insurance does not cover "Your disinclination to travel due to an epidemic or pandemic" quite specifically.

The coverage also states:
"Quarantine of You or Your Traveling Companion imposed by a Physician or by a competent governmental authority having jurisdiction, due to health reasons" as justification for a claim, but in calling them they say you have to actually have the virus for this to take effect. Therefore, if I get quarantined in Spain because they decide to lock down the country, then that won't count. Personally I think that is the insurance company covering themselves and a class action lawsuit waiting to happen.

Regardless, I am forging ahead with the trip unless someone tells me otherwise. I probably have a better chance of avoiding this poo poo in the warm dry air of Seville than commuting on the NYC subway.

Cheesemaster200 fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Mar 11, 2020

dennyk
Jan 2, 2005

Cheese-Buyer's Remorse
Seriously, people, cancel your holidays. I know it sucks to be out the money, but it's going to suck even worse when you catch this shite from some infected person in the airport or hotel or restaurant or bar or whatever tourist attractions you're hanging out at and then bring it back and infect your family, friends, and neighbours, some of whom may die from it. Or when you get quarantined and trapped in some foreign country indefinitely with all the shops and businesses closed (and your insurance won't cover the extra expenses because it's a pandemic). Now is not the time to be traveling internationally (or domestically, really). Stay home, only go out for the essentials, and go whittle down your Netflix backlog or something.

webmeister
Jan 31, 2007
Probation
Can't post for 5 hours!
All flights between Europe and the USA grounded for the next 30 days

Welp

Cheesemaster200
Feb 11, 2004

Guard of the Citadel
I believe it is only european passports. US Citizens are exempt, though I doubt there will be many flights to the EU after tomorrow.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Cheesemaster200 posted:

I believe it is only european passports. US Citizens are exempt, though I doubt there will be many flights to the EU after tomorrow.

Swiss just announced their new lineup. They keep daily flights between Zurich and both Chicago and Newark for the next 30 days, while all other flights are cancelled. I am VERY surprised the Geneva-Newark flight was cancelled, as that's like... the primary link between the two main branches of the UN.

Now to find out what the actual restrictions are. Is it a 14 day quarantine? Or do they just like check your temperature? Jesus, what a mess.

Cheesemaster200
Feb 11, 2004

Guard of the Citadel
I am flying into London on Delta, EasyJet over to Seville, and then Delta from Madrid to JFK. I am expecting the Madrid flight to get cancelled but I think Delta is going to be scummy and not do so until the last minute. EasyJet is already taking the scumbag approach to it with their Coronavirus FAQ stating you should still go on your holiday and here are our change fees otherwise.

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Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Cheesemaster200 posted:

I am flying into London on Delta, EasyJet over to Seville, and then Delta from Madrid to JFK. I am expecting the Madrid flight to get cancelled but I think Delta is going to be scummy and not do so until the last minute. EasyJet is already taking the scumbag approach to it with their Coronavirus FAQ stating you should still go on your holiday and here are our change fees otherwise.

When is your trip? Madrid might very well be one of the "13 European airports" that can keep flying to the US from Europe that Pence me Pence mentioned but did not list, and your flight might just get changed to Newark instead of JFK, like the Zurich flights did.

Although depending on why and when you’re going it might be worth cancelling everything refundable, things will only get worse for the next 2-6 weeks in all likelihood, if not longer. I cancelled all my NYC stuff yesterday, full refunds, and the wedding I was going to got cancelled today.

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