I'm an American traveling to Germany (Berlin) soon and would like some travel tips.
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I'm an American traveling to Germany (Berlin) soon and would like some travel tips. I haven't been to Europe in almost 20 years and then it was Ireland. I assume I'll need some plug converters for chargers, but what about recommendations for dual-SIM, public transport, airport/hotel quirks, etc, I might should know about?
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@vwbusguy Travel has become easier for me with SIMless Google Fi. If you're in Berlin proper, then the public transport system is a dream: https://www.berlin.de/en/public-transportation/
S-Bahn is the "express" local transport - fewer lines, further between stops, and goes further from the citu center. U-Bahn is the "regular" underground, serving mostly the city center.
There are also streetcars (trams) - and inside Berlin proper you rarely have to walk far to find one of these.
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@vwbusguy You need to validate tickets yourself - it's done on an honour system, and having a ticket that could be validated will not save you from a fine. It's a fare zone system with zones A, B, and C, divided into 3 fare classes - AB (city centre), BC ('burbs), ABC (whole shebang).
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Dan Sugalskireplied to Scott Williams 🐧 last edited by
@vwbusguy If your phone will do eSIMs I'll strongly recommend esim.holafly.com for them. Reasonably priced and reasonably functional. You probably won't get one with actual SMS or voice but you probably won't need that either.
Also install and set up WhatsApp. It's extraordinarily common. (And also data-only so works nicely with data-only esim plans)
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@vwbusguy There used to be multiple Berlin airports, but they consolidated some of them recently so now you only have 1, accessible by public transport: Willy Brandt airport (BER). Low cost airlines used to fly into Tegel (TXL) until recently.
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Scott Williams 🐧replied to Dan Sugalski last edited by
@wordshaper My phone can do esim and two physical sims. What I did in Canada last year was video calls over Google Chat instead of regular phone calls. I have Google Voice, so as long as I have data, I still have some way to use my regular number as well.
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@dneary I'm flying in and out of BER (Brandenburg).
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john r red-horsereplied to Scott Williams 🐧 last edited by
Airalo is another good eSim option you might consider.
With Google Voice, you still need your phone's main SIM connected to your main service in the USA. Trust me on that one. And you have to configure your home SIM to be the one to receive Calls, and possibly, Texts (to you home number). Configure eSim to handle your data requirements.
When anyone calls you on your home number, don't answer, it'll cost a fortune; immediately call them back on GV using data.
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Scott Williams 🐧replied to john r red-horse last edited by [email protected]
@jrredho @wordshaper Yeah, I'm planning to just use GV for SMS and use Google Chat if I can help it. (Or Nextcloud Talk from my own server, etc)
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john r red-horsereplied to Scott Williams 🐧 last edited by
When you are able to use Credit Cards, use the ones that don't charge you a foreign transaction fee. Costco Citi Visa is one of those that don't, e.g.
Finally, when you're using it, be sure to let the US bank be the one to determine the exchange rate, to the cc processor.
Have fun!
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Scott Williams 🐧replied to john r red-horse last edited by
@jrredho Yeah, I have a federal credit union in the US, which is good news on that front. My credit union even refunds ATM fees charged by other banks if I go outside of the CU network.