|
Covid is also over in Switzerland except for masks in hospitals. I think Covid is over everywhere in Europe except for a decreasing number of places that require masks on public transport, and many places that require masks in medical settings. Austria was one of the stricter countries but it looks like they lifted all vaccine requirements in mid May and greatly reduced masking requirements, with only Vienna still using masks on public transport apparently. Dunno about Germany but Covid passes have been on their way out for a while. Maybe some of the southern countries, like Italy and Spain, which were far stricter in general throughout Covid, still use them.
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2022 07:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 10, 2024 18:56 |
|
|
Doctor Malaver posted:If you like EDM, EXIT festival in the Petrovaradin fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia. There's also Ultra Europe in Split, Croatia. Much less interesting venue, but OTOH you're in summer on the Adriatic coast. That would be extremely fun, but unfortunately I will not arrive until mid July, after the scheduled dates, as well as being occupied until I think early August. Summer on the Adriatic coast however sounds like a fantastic idea, and surely there would be house shows in Split if there is such a big following to have the festival. I'm mostly interested in any kind of music, wine (Hungarian wine regions were mentioned earlier), and yoga. But any other physical activity would be great... renting a boat perhaps, fishing. My German coworker told me yesterday to go to Florence at 6AM and there wouldn't be as many tourists. I think we talked about Romania a few pages back. I'll read this thread all I can in my spare time and take notes.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2022 12:33
|
|
|
Got my tickets booked for Italy/Barcelona. Anyone have recommendations for travel insurance? I'm not sure how that would work for my flights (which are booked on points), but we definitely want some kind of coverage if covid fucks our poo poo up while we are over there. United did offer their own, but the consensus was as far as I could tell that it was total scam that never pays out.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2022 19:52
|
|
|
Elysium posted:Got my tickets booked for Italy/Barcelona. Anyone have recommendations for travel insurance? I'm not sure how that would work for my flights (which are booked on points), but we definitely want some kind of coverage if covid fucks our poo poo up while we are over there. United did offer their own, but the consensus was as far as I could tell that it was total scam that never pays out. I used to use one of those specialized travel insurance agencies, but then I just got a policy with the same insurer I use for everything else (car, house, drone operator) and the coverage was a little better and like half the price, and I'm sure they'll pay out in case of an issue. Ask your home/car insurance agent(s) what they offer for travel and cross-reference that with a travel insurance company. TBH I also prefer having it as part of my normal policy because now I don't have to deal with updating and keeping track of yet another insurance.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2022 21:00
|
|
|
Same exact situation for me. It was way cheaper just to contact my insurance agency and get traveler's insurance for while I was gone and it was way less predatory. edit: please nobody use the word "bundle" there are just too many commercials
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2022 21:02
|
|
|
I use worldnomads for travel insurance and they paid out when I ended up in the hospital in Iceland with kidney stones.
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2022 06:06
|
|
|
Cheese Thief posted:I'm mostly interested in any kind of music, wine (Hungarian wine regions were mentioned earlier), and yoga.
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2022 20:51
|
|
|
If you like sweet dessert wines, Tokaj in eastern Hungary is a must. It’s the place where wines afflicted by botrytis (noble rot) were first cultivated, and there’s some excellent wineries there.
|
|
#
?
Jun 10, 2022 21:37
|
|
|
Carbon dioxide posted:The Netherlands has shut down all QR code checks since Covid is Over. Nobody in the Netherlands is allowed to ask to see your code anymore. Do I even need to prove my vaccination status before traveling to Europe? Once I land in Amsterdam I'm also thinking about heading to Germany, France, Spain, etc. do I need anything beyond my passport?
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2022 02:21
|
|
|
I'm going to take the 8pm ferry from Rome to Marsala, should arrive at 1000, and check in time is 1500 to the retreat and its 4 nights. I may explore Sicily for a bit longer but I'll need to fly into Cluj-Napoca for the Untold festival, not sure which airport. And when I depart Romania, go by train to Budapest, or whatever I decide in Hungary. I need to buy these tickets sooner than later.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2022 06:06
|
|
|
Crosby B. Alfred posted:Do I even need to prove my vaccination status before traveling to Europe? Once I land in Amsterdam I'm also thinking about heading to Germany, France, Spain, etc. do I need anything beyond my passport? I don't know. I think it's unlikely at this time you will be asked when entering places such as restaurants and museums. Best thing to do is check this website, their information tends to be up to date: https://reopen.europa.eu/en/
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2022 07:54
|
|
|
Crosby B. Alfred posted:Do I even need to prove my vaccination status before traveling to Europe? Once I land in Amsterdam I'm also thinking about heading to Germany, France, Spain, etc. do I need anything beyond my passport? You might still need it for the airline to board, and they might check it on arrival. A CDC card or whatever flimsy sheet of paper you might have is fine. Tests are not needed to enter, assuming you're vaccinated. France no longer has any COVID restrictions that you will encounter. Germany is (still) a mess of different rules that randomly occur at random places. I don't think they still require showing vaccine cards anywhere though, it's just the masking rules that are always a mystery (do I need a mask? does it need to be a FFP2? Can I wear a cloth mask? Who knows!). Spain had among the longest and most restrictive COVID rules the entire pandemic, at least within Europe, but it looks like they dropped masking at the end of April in most places. There are no COVID testing requirements or vaccine requirements for travelling within Europe, so I don't think you'll ever have to show your vaccine card once you're in the Schengen zone. Cheese Thief posted:I'm going to take the 8pm ferry from Rome to Marsala, should arrive at 1000, and check in time is 1500 to the retreat and its 4 nights. I may explore Sicily for a bit longer but I'll need to fly into Cluj-Napoca for the Untold festival, not sure which airport. And when I depart Romania, go by train to Budapest, or whatever I decide in Hungary. I need to buy these tickets sooner than later. I can't figure out if there's a question here. Which Sicilian airport to take to get to Cluj-Napoca? Whichever one is closest to your final destination, I guess. Check Google Flights. You're going to have to change planes regardless of which of the 3 Sicilian airports you use.
|
|
#
?
Jun 12, 2022 10:48
|
|
|
Do I literally just a need a copy of my vaccination card? If so, that's fine but wow I'm surprised that is all that is necessary.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2022 00:09
|
|
|
What do people do about their phone/data while in europe? I see ATT has a $10 a day plan, but at almost 3 weeks that’s $200. Obviously try to get on wifi wherever but I’m envisioning using google maps or whatever like everywhere trying to find out where to go and find restaurants and stuff.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2022 04:48
|
|
|
Elysium posted:What do people do about their phone/data while in europe? I see ATT has a $10 a day plan, but at almost 3 weeks that’s $200. Obviously try to get on wifi wherever but I’m envisioning using google maps or whatever like everywhere trying to find out where to go and find restaurants and stuff. I buy prepaid SIM cards off of Amazon before travelling. You can also buy them in the country you're travelling to from local shops, but I like the convenience of having the card ready to go and just popping it in when I land. Like yourself I pretty much only used it for Google Maps and other small data stuff and a 6GB card was more than enough for a 2-3 week trip. This is the one I get when I travel to Europe and have had no problems with to date: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01FI1JW72/
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2022 05:06
|
|
|
Since I am from Europe and I have free roaming everywhere this only applies to me when I leave Europe. What I do in that case is get a prepaid sim if it's a long trip. If it's a shorter trip I make max use of wifi by simply not checking my messages while away from wifi and using google maps' "offline maps" function. Note that without wifi or data navigation doesn't work, but if you can read a map manually the old way, it's a perfectly fine alternative.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2022 06:57
|
|
|
Crosby B. Alfred posted:Do I literally just a need a copy of my vaccination card? Yes, that's it. lt you show it at boarding/check-in, and then maybe at immigration, and then never again. You can show whatever format of vaccine certification from whatever country, all they want to see is some piece of paper that says "COVID vaccine" and "your name" somewhere on it. It is not an actual check, it's basically honor system. Elysium posted:What do people do about their phone/data while in europe? I see ATT has a $10 a day plan, but at almost 3 weeks that’s $200. Obviously try to get on wifi wherever but I’m envisioning using google maps or whatever like everywhere trying to find out where to go and find restaurants and stuff. All of EU-Europe is now the same country as far as cell phones go, so you could also buy a prepaid SIM when you land. E: Google Maps's secret offline maps is great too. Type in on the phone Google maps "ok maps" and it will download a selected region. I don't know wtf they don't make this feature better, or better advertised. TBH though I can't remember the last time I didn't buy a SIM on landing somewhere, even in Cuba I bought a SIM during that brief period of time where it was possible. It's like €20 max and it saves so many headaches. Saladman fucked around with this message at 07:10 on Jun 14, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2022 07:15
|
|
|
Elysium posted:What do people do about their phone/data while in europe? I see ATT has a $10 a day plan, but at almost 3 weeks that’s $200. Obviously try to get on wifi wherever but I’m envisioning using google maps or whatever like everywhere trying to find out where to go and find restaurants and stuff. I also buy prepaid sims. I used to do it after I landed, but I've started just buying them off of ebay in advance so I'm not stuck trying to figure out how to get to a carrier's store from the airport and/or getting gouged at the airport kiosk.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2022 23:18
|
|
|
Information is about a month old, but as far as covid goes everything for me was handled via uploading an image of the vaccine record for airliner check-in. If you're using Lufthansa or United Airlines or whatever, their phone app is... usable for this. Just needed that and images of the passport, and the same paperwork at immigration.
|
|
#
?
Jun 13, 2022 23:39
|
|
|
I'm stunned ATT charges so much. T-Mobile with some of their plans has free international 4G Data. It's not fast but it does work.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2022 04:02
|
|
|
I don’t mind for a normal one or two week vacation, given it requires literally no effort and your phone just works normally.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2022 12:49
|
|
|
Crosby B. Alfred posted:I'm stunned ATT charges so much. T-Mobile with some of their plans has free international 4G Data. It's not fast but it does work. Yeah $20 a day is a lot but I'd often pay at that convenience. I just checked my operator because they just made a huge change to my subscription (not sure that's legal but w/e), where I now get unlimited data in W.Europe @ 4G speeds (up from 40 GB/mo @ max speed then 2G unlimited), and now 10 GB/mo in "travel countries" which includes random places like Croatia, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Japan, USA, Colombia. For countries that are in the "World" category, e.g. Albania, Montenegro, Tunisia, Vietnam, Ukraine, I can pay $20 for 100 MB, or $149 for 1 GB (valid one year!) For countries that are in the even worse "Far" category, e.g. Cuba, Panama, South Sudan, Morocco, I pay $60 for 100 MB, or $399 (rofl) for 1 GB. The list of countries where I do and don't get included roaming also changes constantly, like I see Israel moved from free to $149/GB sometime in the past couple months, but now I get Bangladesh, Brazil, China, and the UAE included for free, whereas before I would have had to pay for them. No clue why tourist hotspots like "Bangladesh" are in their "Travel Countries" package, yet Panama and Morocco are in the "bend you over" payment category. So AT&T looks great compared to what I have for travelling. That said I do get a lot of countries for free, and I use ~20 GB/mo on average so something like Google Fi would be way more expensive for me.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2022 17:14
|
|
|
Getting a local sim card at the airport is far cheaper than any international roaming plan even if the airport shop totally scams you and you pay 2x more than in the city. You'd probably pay no more than $40 for what you need for 2 weeks or a month. So that's what I always go for.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2022 20:28
|
|
|
Would a SIM card from Rome work the same in Romania and Tokaj?
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2022 21:37
|
|
|
Cheese Thief posted:Would a SIM card from Rome work the same in Romania and Tokaj? Yep! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_roaming_regulations
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2022 21:50
|
|
|
Entropist posted:Getting a local sim card at the airport is far cheaper than any international roaming plan even if the airport shop totally scams you and you pay 2x more than in the city. You'd probably pay no more than $40 for what you need for 2 weeks or a month. So that's what I always go for. Yeah this 100%. I just arrived in Peru and a local sim was 5 soles (approx USD 1.25), valid for 5 days and preloaded with 650mb, unmetered social media and WhatsApp, plus a gig for YouTube and TikTok. It expired yesterday and the top up was another 10 soles for 10 days, with 3gb of data included and the same perks like unmetered social media etc. That’s plenty of data for translating, maps, email, posting etc, you just need to hold off data intensive stuff like backing up photos, updating apps etc. Yeah it was kind of annoying to spend an hour at the Movistar store fumbling through the process in gringo Spanish, but even an eSim from something like AirAlo is USD $15/month for 3gb, with none of the other inclusions.
|
|
#
?
Jun 15, 2022 13:08
|
|
|
I’ll be visiting Germany in early September and spending about two weeks there. I’m going to start by staying around 3 days in Mainz for a conference, but after that I’m completely open and frankly I don’t know what to do. I’m into old libraries and 19th century natural history, so I’d love to go to Germany’s equivalent of the Muséum d’histoire naturelle in Paris. Apart from that, I’m game for anything. Any suggestions?
|
|
#
?
Jun 20, 2022 04:33
|
|
|
Elysium posted:What do people do about their phone/data while in europe? I see ATT has a $10 a day plan, but at almost 3 weeks that’s $200. Obviously try to get on wifi wherever but I’m envisioning using google maps or whatever like everywhere trying to find out where to go and find restaurants and stuff. I used an Airalo eSIM as a second SIM on my iPhone and it worked out really well. Was able to configure it to use the Airalo SIM for all data, but still keep my main one active so I could get SMS for 2FA and stuff. Can buy in blocks commensurate with what you plan to use, which are valid for 30 days from activation (per block, so you can have a few bought ahead of time and they'll activate as you consume them if you're going through more data than you expected, but if any go unused you just keep them for later). Starts at like $5 for 1GB and goes up to $22.50 for 10GB, with discounting as the size of the block increases. super nailgun fucked around with this message at 05:29 on Jun 20, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jun 20, 2022 05:24
|
|
|
Fwiw I used AirAlo for a week in Panama and I wasn’t super impressed. There was several times when i had full 4G signal but it just wouldn’t connect or download anything. It was mostly okay, but I wouldn’t particularly call it reliable, especially given the price premium over a local sim.
|
|
#
?
Jun 20, 2022 14:29
|
|
|
Oktoberfest is back after a two year break and starts September 17 if you're still there.
|
|
#
?
Jun 20, 2022 17:07
|
|
|
Bloody Mayhem posted:I’ll be visiting Germany in early September and spending about two weeks there. I’m going to start by staying around 3 days in Mainz for a conference, but after that I’m completely open and frankly I don’t know what to do. Mainz has the Gutenberg museum, which might be a good start. The tricky thing with libraries is that they are often in less than exciting places. Wolfenbüttel has a famous library (Herzog August Bibliothek), but the town is boring and the immediate surroundings aren’t great. Maria Laach might be a bit tricky to get to, though it’s very scenic. There isn’t much else around, however. Weimar (Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek) has a bit more to offer, but would probably make most sense while traveling towards Berlin or so, if you are into that. Berlin has a nice Museum für Naturkunde, and lots of other stuff, so that might be worth it depending on your overall itinerary. Frankfurt has the Senckenberg Museum, which would lend itself to a stop if you were to go that way. Depending from where you leave again, you could do a round trip by train, e.g. Mainz to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Braunschweig, Braunschweig to Berlin, Berlin to Weimar, and then back towards Frankfurt or so. It depends a bit on what else you would like to see or do, really! Hollow Talk fucked around with this message at 17:56 on Jun 20, 2022 |
|
#
?
Jun 20, 2022 17:53
|
|
|
Hello thread! I'll be starting a month-long (potentially up to three months) stay in Seville, Spain starting next week. My Spanish is okay so I don't foresee any issues getting around, and I've got the Lonely Planet Andalusia guide to direct me to the main points of interest. Besides that, anything else I should be sure to see/do/experience while there? Suggestions in and around the city would be greatly appreciated as I'm not going to be able to afford renting a car - more than willing to travel a couple hours by bus or train for something special, though.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2022 00:16
|
|
|
Any suggestions for day trips from Turin? I've spent two afternoons in the city so that's cool. I'm thinking Genoa, maybe some vine town like Alba and ??? No real preferences, but maybe something Apline for a different flavor.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2022 14:04
|
|
|
Genoa is great, get lost in the tangle of streets in the old town.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2022 16:24
|
|
|
WaryWarren posted:Genoa is great, get lost in the tangle of streets in the old town.  Tomorrow is the second day of the festival so I thought that would be the time to go to Genoa and...  There's only a bit of rain foretasted for Turin so I really didn't expect for everywhere else to be raining. If I can't find something else where it won't be lovely all day, the backup for tomorrow is car and Egyptian museums.
|
|
#
?
Jun 23, 2022 23:13
|
|
|
mobby_6kl posted:Looking forward to that! Turns out today is a big solstice and/or? St Giuseppe festival here. Of course I did gently caress all research so I only discovered this when I saw a giant pile of firewood set up for a bonfire in the middle of a previously empty square I don't know what Italians do in this weather but Europeans further north would certainly be like "gently caress that, I'm going to the festival anyway and I'll just bring an umbrella". If you force yourself to stay inside whenever there's a drop of rain you'd never get anything done.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 06:38
|
|
|
Carbon dioxide posted:I don't know what Italians do in this weather but Europeans further north would certainly be like "gently caress that, I'm going to the festival anyway and I'll just bring an umbrella". If you force yourself to stay inside whenever there's a drop of rain you'd never get anything done. Yeah, I don't see a scale for that rain, but since those wind speeds aren't super high, it looks just like drizzle? I'd go anyway. I would not go hiking in the Alps in that weather though, unless the weather is below the mountain line, but in summer, the rain clouds are usually quite high and hard to get above. Also Genoa to Torino seems super far for a day trip? For Alba, also keep in mind that Ferro Rocher doesn't do visits of their factory, there's absolutely nothing public there. Maybe there's some other reason to go there, but I remember looking at the region around there a few times (as I've driven through quite a few times) and it's kind of like... the least interesting part of Italy imo. Alessandria has a huge star fort, but it's all very fallen down and decayed and the city is fine but unremarkable. The hills around Asti are also nice, but not as nice as Tuscany and you'd need a car, plus why go there when there are the Alps next door. Basically it's the part of Italy where you'd have to be a 100% completionist to really want to spend a lot of time, or at least that was my impression. The Ligurian coast is amazing and the Alps are amazing, so it might just be that in contrast to what is nearby, that region is a dud, even if it would be amazing if it were in like, central Germany.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 09:47
|
|
|
mobby_6kl posted:Any suggestions for day trips from Turin? I've spent two afternoons in the city so that's cool. I'm thinking Genoa, maybe some vine town like Alba and ??? No real preferences, but maybe something Apline for a different flavor. Not from Turin, but in Turin: the movie museum in the old synagogue (which was never actually used as a synagogue) is cool. I'm not sure you can still just sit in a lounge chair and watch the entirety of Cabiria, but that was just what I needed at that point in my trip. They probably change movies every once in a while
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 10:11
|
|
|
EricBauman posted:Not from Turin, but in Turin: the movie museum in the old synagogue (which was never actually used as a synagogue) is cool. I'm not sure you can still just sit in a lounge chair and watch the entirety of Cabiria, but that was just what I needed at that point in my trip. They probably change movies every once in a while Those lounge chairs are comfortable as hell. The view from the tower is neat too.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 10:45
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 10, 2024 18:56 |
|
|
Cheers to whoever recommended Sir William's Pub! Bloody Mayhem posted:I’ll be visiting Germany in early September and spending about two weeks there. Head to Berlin, for sure. The Berliner Dom is genuinely cool, get the audio tour. The DDR Museum is really interesting and taught me a bunch of stuff I didn't know, it's very kid-friendly but that doesn't detract for adult visitors I don't think. I also really enjoyed seeing the original Bodyworlds (Körperwelten) exhibition. Lots of good places for food and drinks too.
|
|
#
?
Jun 24, 2022 17:49
|
|
