75
votes
Accepted
How to tell if a travel location is "affordable"?
The US Department of State publishes recommended per diem ("per day") reimbursement rates for every major city. These are intended to enable fair reimbursement for travel expenses incurred by US ...
69
votes
Accepted
What are the legal consequences for a tourist who runs out of gas on the Autobahn?
It is illegal to run out of gas on the Autobahn according to the German StVO (Straßenverkehrsordnung) which is the road traffic regulations in Germany. The fine can be from €30 up to €70 depending on ...
51
votes
What's the use of trains that spend 6+ hours of daytime en route?
You are not the only one of the train.
While you go the six hour distance, most long distance trains have people getting on and off at all stations it stops.
With day time trains that is well possible,...
50
votes
What are the legal consequences for a tourist who runs out of gas on the Autobahn?
As Klettseb already wrote in his answer, you can actually get fined for running out of fuel in Germany, but his explanation of the legal basis and the list of expected fines are incorrect.
To avoid ...
47
votes
Preparing in case ATM/debit cards might go missing during a long trip
This is a fairly simple approach, but I have a couple of different cards (including ATM/debit and credit) from different banks (which also helps with ATM compatibility issues). When I travel, I take ...
42
votes
Accepted
What dangers should I be aware of when doing a long-distance bike trip through Europe?
I have experience with long distance cycling in many of the same countries you will be going through (among others Romania, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, France) and it surprised me as well, but I have ...
39
votes
Accepted
How to figure if it is safe to travel to the area I am interested in?
Many "Western" countries provide travel advice to their citizens. To give some English-language examples, the US state department provides ongoing events alerts here as well as more general, less ...
37
votes
How to pay for things in Greece?
Pay as you normally do at home.
Have some cash with you when you land in Greece for small immediate purchases (tourist things, taxi...), I'd say, 200, 300 euros per person.
Pay with credit card for ...
35
votes
Accepted
Flight Search from anywhere to a specific destination
Of all the search engines known to me, it can be done with Kiwi.
Say I want to fly to Madrid from anywhere in Central + Eastern Europe, I can choose Madrid as my destination and a circle ...
33
votes
How to tell if a travel location is "affordable"?
The Economist Magazine invented the so-called "Big Mac Index" as an attempt to measure the relative purchasing power between various currencies.
THE Big Mac index was invented by The Economist in ...
33
votes
Accepted
How to pay for things in Greece?
It's unfortunate you have pre-ordered Euros. USA banks offer terrible rates of exchange. What you need to do is investigate the foreign currency fees of your various credit and debit cards, almost all ...
33
votes
How can I find out where to buy uncommon (for the location) items while traveling?
As you've mentioned in your question, online searches work best when you know the name of the store you're looking for, or what kind of store is likely to carry your item. I recommend instead you talk ...
31
votes
How to plan a UK train route avoiding the tube?
The split-ticketing booking engine TrainSplit appears to be able to do this. In the advanced options, untick all of the modes of transport you don't wish to use (untick everything besides "Train"). In ...
25
votes
What's the use of trains that spend 6+ hours of daytime en route?
Tourism? I LOVE travelling by train, and do so when I have time available - you get to see so much during the day!
Also, we can't run all trains at night, some schedules connect with others, or you ...
23
votes
How can I do a "broad" search for flights?
Since this thread has become the universal flight search engine thread I want to give a breakdown of all the options mentioned in the other answers:
http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ (answer) is the ...
23
votes
What's the use of trains that spend 6+ hours of daytime en route?
I have traveled to over 100 European cities and I find traveling in overday time, always refreshing. These are my advantages when traveling about 5-6 hours in daytime.
Hotel check-in at 2 PM
Most ...
23
votes
What dangers should I be aware of when doing a long-distance bike trip through Europe?
You have pointed out that most common dangers you're going to meet in the eastern part of your journey, with one significant exception: it's not wild animals you should be afraid of; the most ...
21
votes
Have you previously applied to enter or remain in Canada?
Yes, you have applied to enter Canada before.
20
votes
Identification on German trains
This question (and the current answers) are out of date. As of 1 October 2016 Deutsche Bahn no longer requires an identification card but only an official identity document (or their Bahncard).
Per ...
19
votes
Last fuel stop before airport
In Google Maps, while using the App to get directed for example to rental car return, you can search for locations 'on the way'. If you click 'Gas Stations', it shows gas stations along the way, with ...
19
votes
Can I live in Berlin comfortably for one month with 1,000 euros if housing is free?
In general, I would say, this is doable, however in the end it depends also a bit on your definition of "comfortable". So here are just a few points to consider:
There are different tickets for ...
19
votes
Preparing in case ATM/debit cards might go missing during a long trip
Consider opening a second account at the same bank. Get an ATM/debit card for the second account. Carry both cards: i.e., duplicate your current setup. The cost to you is whatever the bank charges to ...
18
votes
How to tell if a travel location is "affordable"?
The problem with many of the online comparison tools is that they don't necessarily reflect the kind of travel lifestyle you're going after. Here's what I normally do to get a good estimate:
Go to ...
18
votes
Accepted
How to understand quality of Google Maps transport info in advance?
Try different apps
It is never good to rely on one single source of information. To verify the quality of GMaps transport info, try the same route with one or two different apps.
I usually prefer an ...
17
votes
Accepted
Which websites allow "search by country" for a flight?
Skyscanner allows what you're looking for. Just type the country of origin and destination. It even allows you to set the destination as all the world instead of country.
In Skyscanner you will also ...
17
votes
Accepted
How to find dates of big events in any city? (e.g. to avoid price surge during trade fair)
Wikitravel/Wikivoyage is the only website I know of that comes close. E.g. for Frankfurt it says the following:
If you intend to stay overnight, you may wish to avoid times when trade fairs are ...
17
votes
Preparing in case ATM/debit cards might go missing during a long trip
If you have a friend with a mailbox in Europe, you can open an account with Revolut. You can also wait for the official launch in Australia, which is scheduled for March 2019. Revolut solves your ...
17
votes
What dangers should I be aware of when doing a long-distance bike trip through Europe?
one thing I did not see mentionned yet: watch out for landmines.
There are still a ton of them lying around in Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. So stay on the roads and do not walk around ...
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