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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sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Toulouse is awesome! But it's not really got good connections to Barcelona. You want to go from Toulouse to Narbonne, then, depending on the time of the day, you can either get a straight train to Barcelona, or you might have to change again at Figueres Vilafant. The trip will be 4-5 hours and through beautiful scenery, so I would definitely recommend it.

Use bahn.de to plan any of your journeys no matter where you're going in Europe.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2013 14:22

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 05:23

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Brussels waffles are great - they're light, airy and crispy. Liege waffles, which may well be what you had in Brussels, are sweeter, heavier, and nowhere near as good, I think.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2014 10:48

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

APOLLO OHNO-UDIDNT posted:

I've received an offer to stay at a house in Schinnen, Netherlands for three weeks in July for FREE. My family lives in the seattle area so we are looking at $3000 for air tickets, and we're trying to decide if it's a worth making the offer into a vacation. Looks like Maastricht and Aachen are like 15 minutes away, plus we could take a train to bigger cities of course.

For context we are a couple in our thirties with a baby son. Interested in seeing sights and experiencing new culture, as our nightlife days are behind us.
I'm completely ignorant of this area (Limburg area of Netherlands), and if it would make a good base of operations for exploring some cool areas for three weeks in July. Is this a good or terrible idea?

I grew up in Maastricht and it's a lovely city, really. You'll find plenty of good restaurants, markets and independent shops, but I agree with the others that you probably won't want to spend more than two-three days there. But as a base to explore the rest of Europe it's pretty good, both by car and by train. Travelling for 4 hours or so can take you to Paris, London, all over the Netherlands and Belgium etc.

# ¿ Apr 7, 2014 14:42

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

.Z. posted:

Does anyone know the reason why I can't book trains from CDG to Lyon direct or vice versa out in April? RailEurope lets me book for trains from Paris proper to Lyon, but says CDG to Lyon is unavailable.

Works fine through http://www.sncf.com/, just tested it, and it is a direct train.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2015 15:30

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Slovenia's gorgeous and good value. I'd also really recommend Lake Bohinj, more so than Bled even. Ljubljana is a fun little city.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2015 14:15

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
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On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
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marmot25 posted:

This is my first time traveling through the newer T4 terminal in Madrid and I'm surprised how poorly (or maybe well?) thought out it is. It seems that most flights (in HJK at least) don't receive gate numbers until about 25 min before boarding, so you're stuck in the perfumed purgatory of the central duty free mall with no cafes or restaurants in sight until you get assigned a gate, which could be a 7 min walk in either direction. Once you know your gate you eventually walk past some cafes with sparse offerings of cold sandwiches. The architecture is nice though.

Many terminals work like this exactly because they want to keep you in the shopping area. Sometimes it's due to lack of space at the gates (or platforms, some train stations operate this way, too), sometimes to allow them flexibility when it's busy, but generally it's to get you to spend more money in the shops and restaurants. Be aware that with airports that use this system (all the London ones for example) there's generally barely anything once you do get to the gate.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2015 16:07

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Julio Cruz posted:

I just came back from Toulouse on the train and it took ~7 hours to get to London, plus I think it was more expensive too. Unless you really really hate flying then the plane is better in pretty much every single way.

It really depends on the travel time and connection, location of the airports etc. Trains can definitely be more convenient, and a much nicer experience, for journeys up to 5 hours at least.

# ¿ Aug 12, 2015 15:36

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
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On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Powerthirst posted:

I'm going to London over Christmas (22-30) and was wondering what I should expect as far as people and weather that week. This is my first trip outside of the US and have no clue what I'm doing but will be fun anyway.

I have four nights around Hyde park because I have free nights with Hyatt and Hilton (Weekend Nights) I have to use by the end of the month. The rest of the time I have no problem getting away from the center of town and enjoying what the city has to offer.

I plan to do the usual spots but wanted some advice on non-touristy places to visit to experience the real London.

I guess you're already here now but London over Christmas is interesting. It's such an international city and many people will leave it over Christmas. Just to make sure you're aware - the city shuts down completely on Christmas day. Pretty much every shop and all forms of public transport are closed. Your only options are some of the smaller ethnic shops, and taxis/Ubers to get around. Or cycle hire.

Cycling around London on Christmas day is actually one of my favourite things. Also if you care at all, a Boxing Day football match is a great British tradition. Or going for a long walk around somewhere like Hampstead Heath and then to a nice pub afterwards.

Shops will be busy around the Christmas period, obviously. Museums should be open again on the 27th. Try and visit some of the markets. There's a lot of excellent food around.
Non-touristy... what are you into? I'd still recommend some of the East London areas like Dalston and Homerton, although they definitely are becoming more popular with tourists.

# ¿ Dec 24, 2015 12:47

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

jyrka posted:

You won't get tickets to any of those.

Absolutely not. Have a look at Crystal Palace and Watford instead if you want Premier League. There's a small chance you'll get something there. But more realistically, look lower down the league. Fulham, QPR, Charlton, Milwall, Wimbledon, Barnet, Leyton Orient etc. etc.

There's a whole list here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_in_London#Clubs Football at the lower levels is what it's really about anyway.

Have a look at who's playing at home and buy the tickets directly from the club.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2016 13:27

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Hashtag Banterzone posted:

Fulham play Cardiff at home on the 9th. I've never been but Craven Cottage is considered one of the best grounds in London. It's also near a lot of touristy sites and is a Championship match so it's still high level football.

And, as a Fulham fan, I can say that our tickets are pretty good value and yes, the Cottage is a beautiful and proper old stadium. See if you can sit in the back of the Johnny Haynes stand. It's the oldest football stand in the world, and still has wooden seating at the back. Back of the Hammersmith would be the second best option. More atmosphere but the view is not as good.

To be honest the atmosphere at Fulham currently won't be that great, but it's definitely worth a visit.

# ¿ Jan 20, 2016 15:25

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

EB Nulshit posted:

If I'm going to spend a week in Dublin and a week in London, what's good and/or touristy?

Don't spend a week in Dublin. It's not all that interesting. Travel to Cork, county Kerry, other places.
In London, there's plenty to do for a week. All the free museums, markets, excellent restaurants, many different areas with completely different vibes... it just depends on what you're looking for.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2016 19:30

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Strange to see people talking about the Scandinavian countries and things being quite expensive. It's going to be very expensive compared to pretty much everywhere else in the world. While in Stockholm go out into the archipelago on a nice day. Sodermalm has tons of nice places to check out, and just avoid Normalm, the shopping district, entirely.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2016 21:54

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

PT6A posted:

Cool. I might just go for Business Plus and hope that avoids the worst of the nickel-and-diming.

Although now I'm considering knocking off Porto altogether, so there's that too. Indecision ahoy!

EDIT: Pulled the trigger. Madrid for 3 days, Jerez for 4 days, Madrid for 7 days again, A Coruna for 3 days, then home.

Make sure you know what Ryanair Business Plus is. The seats are exactly the same. The airline is fine in that the planes are safe and you will get there, but don't expect it to be comfortable.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/11057948/Ryanair-introduces-business-class.html

# ¿ Mar 11, 2016 13:17

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Pochoclo posted:

I'm moving to London next month, I have a close friend there who offered his sofa, no attachments, and a bunch of experience in my field (software development) that should land me an easy job, and enough savings to last me several years without a job. I'm an european citizen, nearing 30, native english speaker with some latino accent, but white as gently caress (doubt I'll run into the british KKK but you never know). How's the city? I already got the basics from my friend (Get a National Insurance appointment, rent a shoebox studio flat, get bank account, get perm job, eventually do contracting through agency and umbrella company).

What's it like moving there? Anyone done it before? Keep in mind I'm coming from the third world so the wages there will be incredibly high for me, so if the deal is "the weather is lovely and you will feel lonely but you will also make (relative) mad bucks" I'll take it. Also chances are I will grow a lot professionally.
What's the web dev scene? How easily can I get a perm/contractor job if I'm a real good nodejs/angular/react dev with 12 years of experience (obviously only 3-4 with full-js stacks), but all of it in South America (I do have some nice github OS projects cred)?

I don't really know if a travel thread is the best place for this kind of stuff, but it does sound like you have everything covered. Most people move here without anywhere near as many of the boxes already ticked, so congratulations. Getting a bank account is always a little tricky without any bills or rental contracts in your name, but Lloyds seem to be the most foreign-friendly which is why I started with them.

Web Dev scene is huge and you will be fine in this regard. Not my area but I know plenty of people out there in that area. Being latino is absolutely no issue, this is an incredibly multicultural city and I, while racism exists, it's definitely one of the most tolerant places I've ever been. With apartments it's important to set your expectations and to realise that even on a decent salary you may well end up living with housemates in a shared place, and rents are incredibly high. Depending on what you're into I can give you advice on particular areas where you might want to live. Best value for money is definitely going to be in the South-East or East.

# ¿ Mar 14, 2016 14:23

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

KLM Premium Economy is excellent, especially if you can book the first row of economy. Last time I flew transatlantic I happily paid for that upgrade.

# ¿ May 17, 2016 08:51

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Jeoh posted:

Depends on how much you want to spend, but there are loads of budget flights between Amsterdam and London.

Yes, there are about 75 flights a day between AMS and the 5 London Airports. You'll be able to find something relatively cheap last minute, it'll be fine.

# ¿ May 23, 2016 14:55

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Yep Belgian infrastructure is pretty terrible, and that very much includes the trains. There are some nice modern ones out there, but timetables are irregular, customer service pretty much non existant and the stations are awful, with one or two exceptions (the main Antwerp and Liege stations). The Dutch railways are pretty drat great and I miss them.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2016 14:57

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

EricBauman posted:

It must have been quite a while since any of you made a rush hour train journey in or out of Amsterdam

Spoiler alert: it's poo poo

I used to think so, until I started to use other systems on a regular basis.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2016 15:47

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

actionjackson posted: you don't necessarily have to book the train from AMS to Belgium in advance. It can be done on the day as well, but you've done that now and it's probably cheaper that way, so not to worry. I'll echo that Antwerp and Ghent are better than Brussels and Bruges And Lille itself really isn't particularly interesting. I'd rather spend some time in the Netherlands as well if you wanted to fit in more.

# ¿ Aug 3, 2016 13:14

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Ezekiel_980 posted:

I saw elsewhere in this thread something about international drivers licences through Triple A, would it be worth getting one if i am thinking about renting a car? (this would be for london, i know that driving in rome is a fools errand)

Just don't drive in or around any major European city.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2016 13:25

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

The Schwa posted:

cheese eats mouse, I was just in London for about five days and spent a bunch of time in Hackney Wick, it's real cool

Hah, good choice, but not sure if I'd recommend it to the average tourist quite yet.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2016 15:59

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

actionjackson posted:

A French speaker in Brussels insisted Dutch was only spoken in the Netherlands

The situation really is quite tense due to the stark economic differences, and because culturally the Flemish and Walloons don't really share anything with the each other. It's gotten worse during the recent years.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2016 17:22

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

CLAM DOWN posted:

Also I guess technically they speak Flemish, and they seemed real proud of that so might be annoyed if you call them Dutch, I'm not really sure. Same way some Quebecois get annoyed if you call them the French, etc.

Flemish is still a variant of Dutch. Insisting on calling it its own language is still a bit weird.

BeefSupreme posted:

Going to England in December for about 10 days (maybe 13). Going with a friend, we're both late 20's. Looking to spend on the mid-to-low end on sleeping, more on food, drinks, fun, etc.

Rough outline of our plan:

-Fly into/out of London. Spend a majority of our time there.
-Potential events: an EPL match, some West End theater, a Christmas concert at Royal Albert Hall.
-Spend a couple of nights in Lake District (Keswick? Ambleside? Somewhere similar?) for some nice wintertime countryside relaxing--walking around, sitting by the fire at a pub, etc.
-Maybe a couple of nights in Belgium, mostly for the beer.
-Also lots of pubs. We like good beer.
-Of course some of the touristy stuff: museums, Tower of London, Parliament, etc.

What are we missing? What specifically must we do? What are your favorite pubs/restaurants/activities/winter stuff/whatever? Give me suggestions.

Just some tips here:
Tickets for an 'EPL' (no one calls it that here, by the way) match are very hard to obtain. If you insist on going to a Premier League game, get on it now, and understand that your chances of getting in at any of the big clubs are slim. West Ham might be a good option now that they have a bigger stadium. Try Crystal Palace as well. I would say that you will have just as much fun, if not more, at clubs a little lower down. Have a look at London clubs in the Championship or even the leagues below that to get 'the real football experience', where it will be much easier to obtain tickets, and at a lower price.

Book your Eurostar ticket well in advance if you're planning on going to Belgium. I'd avoid Brussels and Bruges if I were you go and go to Ghent or Antwerop.

Pubs is an easy one, depending on what you're into. The craft beer scene in London is huge these days, but there are also plenty of old school ale pubs.

For restaurants, check out the London eating threat in Goons with Spoons.

sweek0 fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Sep 1, 2016

# ¿ Sep 1, 2016 17:38

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

CLAM DOWN posted:

I wasn't "insisting", I was offering a possible reason. I found a lot of parallels with Belgium and Canada, so it made sense to me. Sorry?

It sounded like the person you were talking to insisted, sorry for any confusion there. Compared to Canada I think the huge wealth divide in Belgium makes the situation much more heated.

skooma512 posted:

I've kind of accepted it'll be hard to get and will likely settle for a pub or seeing Tranmere Rovers instead

Both of these things are great ideas.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2016 23:00

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

hackbunny posted:

an electric [...] they're the most common kind of automatic you can find in Europe.

They're really not. Automatics are increasingly common in Europe and I'd say 1 in 4 cars or so is automatic these days. Electric cars might work if you're travelling short distances in a city but it won't be useful if they're going to be in the Loire valley. I agree with the advice of taking a train to your first out-of-Paris destination and renting the car there.

sweek0 fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Sep 12, 2016

# ¿ Sep 12, 2016 21:21

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Trimson Grondag 3 posted:

Thanks. The Eurostar website is giving me 100 pounds for two seats, but even trainline is 192 EURO. Might just try some more cards/browsers on the Eurostar site.

Try and book with them over the phone otherwise. They've got good customer service and I've never heard of an issue like yours.

# ¿ Oct 6, 2016 00:37

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Riptor posted:

Been to Gordon's and loved it. Will definitely check out Cheshire Cheese

Go to the Southampton Arms in Kentish Town which is just a brilliant old fashioned pub.

sweek0 fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Nov 19, 2016

# ¿ Nov 19, 2016 17:48

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Saladman posted:

Except for the smaller house thing which is pretty much universal, the entire rest of that depends on what country you live in--and where in said country--and what your profession is.

Also if he can't maintain an equivalent or more comfortable lifestyle in Europe, then moving doesn't really seem to make sense given how much of a PITA it is to move trans-Atlantic with a family (or even by yourself). No one immigrates because life and opportunities are worse in the target country.

I don't think she/he is saying life will be worse. It will more than likely be less comfortable financially. That doesn't mean that the change in culture and lifestyle don't make it worth it.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2016 21:48

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

bowmore posted:

Anyone got any tips on the best way to fly from Sydney to Portugal?

Sydney - Dubai, Dubai - Lisbon is pretty much your best bet here. Emirates is a great carrier and the flight will be comfortable.

Avoid the Chinese airlines if you can. If it turns out to be very expensive you can look at a train to Madrid and flying from there.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2017 15:32

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

arbybaconator posted:

I took everyone's advice and booked 4 days in Amsterdam. The more I read about the city the more excited I am to visit.

I have 5 more nights to book. My original plan was to go to fly to Krakow and maybe Warsaw, or maybe spend 2 days in Prague (I was there for 10 days last year, but I have a friend that's heading over there after the fest, so it could be fun).

Would Poland (Krakow/Warsaw) be a good way to end this portion of the trip? Or should I focus on hitting up all the other cities in Belgium or the Netherlands?

Green cells are already booked.

If you're in Tilburg anyway you can easily fly somewhere from Eindhoven airport, which is a Ryanair hub. If you want to stick to trains I'd recommend going from Tilburg to Cologne, and then take the ICE from Cologne back to Amsterdam.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2017 22:15

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Yes, credit or debit (doesn't really matter) cards without a chip and pin can cause you problems when you're using ticket machines. You should be fine in restaurants, supermarkets, and gas stations where they will let you swipe your card and sign for things. In very non touristy places you might need to point this out to them.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2017 15:39

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Your chip+pin debit should be fine whereever cards are accepted, which in Germany isn't everywhere.

It's interesting to see how different things are across Europe. Here in the UK I use my card or my phone to pay absolutely anywhere. I haven't dealt with any notes or change in a month or two.

# ¿ Dec 18, 2017 11:58

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Omne posted:

Flight is on a Sunday morning, so it sounds like the Picadilly line is the way to go. I imagine an Uber is going to be crazy expensive

Uber would be about �30-40 from central London but yes the tube runs an all night weekend service on the most important lines of the network, including the Picadilly line to Heathrow, so you can get there at any time for �3 or �4.

The night buses to Heathrow aren't too bad either if anyone ever does have to deal with this on a non weekend, and they'll get you there for �1.50.

# ¿ May 1, 2018 23:41

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

The graffiti thing is a very fair criticism of much of continental Europe. I'm not sure why you got the reactions you got here.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2018 13:06

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
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But I lie about my past

Carbon dioxide posted:

You think so? Interesting.

We (that is, the Dutch) always used to regard the UK as one of the "expensive holiday" countries, with the exchange rate of the GBP to EUR you always had to keep in mind that food and lots of other things are more expensive in the UK.
The exchange rate has been dropping steeply ever since the brexit vote so that at the very least it doesn't matter as much anymore, but maybe you're right and food is actually cheaper now in the UK.

I heard from a friend that every time they go to the UK they bring stuff like shampoo for the whole family because that's a lot cheaper in the UK these days.

I spend a lot of time in both the Netherlands and the UK.

I definitely agree that eating out is much more expensive in the Netherlands than in the UK.
Supermarkets are more expensive as well. Food is probably a little bit more, but household goods tend to be a LOT more expensive in the NL compared to the UK. My parents will ask me to bring those when I go back, or they go across the border to Germany for all of that is a lot cheaper as well.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2019 22:04

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

I would definitely pick Cologne over D�sseldorf. D�sseldorf is mostly a convenient city, and there's some Japanese influx which does mean you can find some great food, but I'm guessing you're not traveling to Europe to try Japanese food.

Cologne is a beautiful old city with a lot more character.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2022 12:55

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

Hedgehog Pie posted:

Every German I've ever met hates DB with a passion. Every Brit I've ever spoken to who's used the trains in Germany says the system is awesome and then has a big cry.

Maybe to add a bit of nuance. I find that German high-speed long distance trains tend to be pretty good, and the local/regional (S-bahn/U-bahn) rail systems around the larger cities are great. It seems to be everything in between those two systems, like random Regionalbahn trains, that are pretty poo poo.

It's similar to France in that way where the TGV system gets all the national investment, and local cities invest in their local networks.,. but if you're in a smaller mid-sized French town you might get just a handful of trains a day.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2023 18:39

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 05:23

sweek0: May 22, 2006; Let me fall out the window
With confetti in my hair
Deal out jacks or better
On a blanket by the stairs
I'll tell you all my secrets
But I lie about my past

WithoutTheFezOn posted:

I was in these two last month.

London - As far as I can tell, paper �X day� cards were stopped early this year. You can use any tap to pay card at the turnstiles. Apple Pay works. Tap in, tap out, it�ll charge your card up to a maximum of 8.10 pounds per day (after that, rides are no extra charge). You can also buy a visitor's Oyster card, which is just a top-up-able tap to pay card, but I think you have to have the card mailed to you before your trip.

Amsterdam � The easiest is to buy a GVB �X day� card from a GVB booth in either the airport or train station. Physical paper card that you use to tap in and tap off a vehicle. Doesn�t include outside-of-city transport. I�m pretty sure it doesn�t cover a train/tram/bus ride from the airport.

This is a relatively recent change but in Amsterdam and the rest of the Netherlands you can now simply use Apple Wallet / Google Pay everywhere. The only difference compared to London is that in the NL you tap in and out all forms of transportation too to calculate the fare for your trip, instead of Landon�s flat fare model for buses and trams.

# ¿ Jun 10, 2023 22:32

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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