I have been to Europe 5 times now, the first time was Germany in 1984 before the EU came into being. I have found the prices for anything and everything to have got more and more ridicuously expensive; hotels, food, entertainment, tourist spots etc. Wine in France was dirt cheap. The subway system in London, Paris and Milan was relatively inexpensive and you can get almost anywhere you need to go. Easy to use too and the staff in each country were very helpful with tourists.
Belgium highways and local roads in cities are rife with photo radar. Every few kms on highways. People there like to use GPS to help them get around and the softwear that the GPS uses also has the locations of photo radar loaded so it gives out an annoying chime to alert you about 500m or so before the camera so you can slow down. There wasn?t as many highway units or city units in France and Italy.
You are right too about the buildings. The historic sites are interesting to see but some buildings in the cities were old and decrepit and should be torn down. I guess the Europeans like living in the past, alot! Very small elevators that are add ons or no elevators. Not much fun hauling luggage up numerous flight of stairs. Also, Europeans don?t necessarily believe in a/c; thats a North American thing one European told me. My response was ?yes it is but it sure comes in handy when the continent is having a heat wave like they did this summer.? One place I stayed at had no a/c and no fans. They said they would try and find a fan which they never did. Next place I bought a fan, a 12? 3 speed which in Canada at Walmart maybe $15, there it was ?38 or $57! It was made in Germany though....big whoop!
Regarding the VAT don?t bother to go with ?the easy to return it on your credit card? option. One worked when scanned by the Customs official at the CdeG airport and I got a return a couple weeks later but the other one hasn?t gone through. I had to send the paperwork to their VAT refund office in Europe and I am still waiting. The other one, UK, I had to get stamped and sent back to the retailer for them to file the refundas I flew out of France, my entry point was London Sent both by registered mail so I know they have been received.
Go with the cash return option as that was quite easy, though had to fill out paperwork, and got my cash, USD, right away. That return desk was beside the Customs area. If I wanted Euros I would have had to go upstairs to a different return desk as the one near Customs only did USD.
To sum up about Europe:
Over priced, over taxed (VAT 8-27% depending on the country), over bureaucratic, over crowded and over rated.
Will spend my money on SE Asia, specifically Thailand from now on. Haven?t seen too much of SE Asia so will go there instead.
Fn eurotrash!
Belgium highways and local roads in cities are rife with photo radar. Every few kms on highways. People there like to use GPS to help them get around and the softwear that the GPS uses also has the locations of photo radar loaded so it gives out an annoying chime to alert you about 500m or so before the camera so you can slow down. There wasn?t as many highway units or city units in France and Italy.
You are right too about the buildings. The historic sites are interesting to see but some buildings in the cities were old and decrepit and should be torn down. I guess the Europeans like living in the past, alot! Very small elevators that are add ons or no elevators. Not much fun hauling luggage up numerous flight of stairs. Also, Europeans don?t necessarily believe in a/c; thats a North American thing one European told me. My response was ?yes it is but it sure comes in handy when the continent is having a heat wave like they did this summer.? One place I stayed at had no a/c and no fans. They said they would try and find a fan which they never did. Next place I bought a fan, a 12? 3 speed which in Canada at Walmart maybe $15, there it was ?38 or $57! It was made in Germany though....big whoop!
Regarding the VAT don?t bother to go with ?the easy to return it on your credit card? option. One worked when scanned by the Customs official at the CdeG airport and I got a return a couple weeks later but the other one hasn?t gone through. I had to send the paperwork to their VAT refund office in Europe and I am still waiting. The other one, UK, I had to get stamped and sent back to the retailer for them to file the refundas I flew out of France, my entry point was London Sent both by registered mail so I know they have been received.
Go with the cash return option as that was quite easy, though had to fill out paperwork, and got my cash, USD, right away. That return desk was beside the Customs area. If I wanted Euros I would have had to go upstairs to a different return desk as the one near Customs only did USD.
To sum up about Europe:
Over priced, over taxed (VAT 8-27% depending on the country), over bureaucratic, over crowded and over rated.
Will spend my money on SE Asia, specifically Thailand from now on. Haven?t seen too much of SE Asia so will go there instead.
Fn eurotrash!
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