Heading to Germany

[protestandsurvive]

Been into the idea of traveling for a while now, spent the last couple months wild camping a lot in the UK for a few nights at a time. Although last night I booked a 1 way ticket for me n a mate to Hahn Germany, figured that'd get the adventure going a bit. (plus a tenner for 2 flights, fuckin bargain)

Idea is to spend a month just traveling Europe on the cheap (although it might end up being longer?).

Anyone ever been to Germany to travel? Tips/advice?

Looking to head out from Germany to North Italy after a bit, then maybe on to eastern Europe? Not overly sure yet, just gonna go with the flow.

Leaving at the start of June, if anyones out that way by then would be great to meet up / do some travelling etc!

 

[Anagor]

Hi!

I am from Germany, actually. But traveled most of the time in UK and a bit in Belgium. Switzerland and Netherlands.

If you have specific questions, feel free to ask.

When it comes to living this kind of live style, my experience is limited. Cause I never really did it in Germany.

I know more cities in UK then in the country I am from.

I can only say ... Western Germany is nice ... Cologne (Köln) for example. Open minded and quite a huge city. Berlin is nice as well, as I heard (was there the last time as a teenager). Bit rough, though.

Yeah, if you have any question feel free to ask.

 

[protestandsurvive]

Hi!

I am from Germany, actually. But traveled most of the time in UK and a bit in Belgium. Switzerland and Netherlands.

If you have specific questions, feel free to ask.

When it comes to living this kind of live style, my experience is limited. Cause I never really did it in Germany.

I know more cities in UK then in the country I am from.

I can only say ... Western Germany is nice ... Cologne (Köln) for example. Open minded and quite a huge city. Berlin is nice as well, as I heard (was there the last time as a teenager). Bit rough, though.

Yeah, if you have any question feel free to ask.

Awesome! I've never really looked into Germany that much, booked it on a whim really but looks like a nice country to go to.

One question I did have actually was how the price of food compares to the uk? Trying to work out a budget but think it's just going to be more a case of get together whatever I can and wing it lol.

What's the situation with public transport there? Stupidly over priced like the UK?

Safe travels

 

[dubh]

I have a question(s): I will be travellin' through the UK this summer. What are the police attitudes toward sleeping in public, sidewalks, etc. any active squatter scenes? Dumpster diving there? etc etc. I will be on a bike. Also busking, is it legal. I will be all over from Scotland down to London.

 

[protestandsurvive]

I have a question(s): I will be travellin' through the UK this summer. What are the police attitudes toward sleeping in public, sidewalks, etc. any active squatter scenes? Dumpster diving there? etc etc. I will be on a bike. Also busking, is it legal. I will be all over from Scotland down to London.

It's an interesting country to say the least lol. I've personally had no issues with sleeping in public ever (it is supposedly illegal to wild camp in England and Wales, but is tolerated by most people, if you're sleeping in city's this may be a different story? I always end up in a field or woodland area in some small town). In Scotland it's legal (I don't know the law exactly as i've never been but i'm pretty certain it's legal for a night at a time).

I believe there's a fair bit of squatting going on, I tried to find info on this last year as I was interested in trying it out but never really met anyone. Mate of mine said just go to the crust gigs in london, bristol, etc and you'll find someone who'll point you in the right direction.

As for dumpster diving it's just as good as I imagine it is in the states. I'd say like 20% or so of bins i've tried are locked but half the locked ones aren't ever locked. A good tip for free food would be to look into tesco/asda (huge superstore) car parks for receipts with like 10+ items or more on them I think it is. If they're under a couple weeks old you can usually do an online price guarentee thing where they compare what you paid to other leading supermarkets and give you an in store voucher for the difference.

I spent 40 minutes once picking up receipts and punching them in online and got 65 quids worth of free shopping haha.

Busking requires a license in most places, but providing you don't stand on top of anyone else when doing it you won't really have an issue. As for flying signs and stuff I have absolutely no idea, you may get the odd bit of police harrasment but UK police are nothing compared to american ones.

Hope that sheds a bit of light on stuff, anything else just ask haha

 

[dubh]

thanks, that gives me a good start. travel well!

 

[WieselFlink]

If you go south from germany I'd recommend to avoid Salzburg in Austria (and probably a lot of people in vienna) they are all infested with scabies at the moment and don't seem to be able to get rid of them. (It's been going in circles for months now)

 

[emilon]

Sure I traveled a lot in Germany as well.

- Public transport in the towns is not so bad, but trains between cities are crazy. For any travel around I would go with bus or hitchhike , even blablacar is a good choice.

- For food you might have a chance to get it for free, they have a big foodsharing network. Check foodsharing.de and you can see if they are offering this in the town where you go. Dumpstering is not so easy but possible in some places

 

[jolly roger]

If you go south from germany I'd recommend to avoid Salzburg in Austria (and probably a lot of people in vienna) they are all infested with scabies at the moment and don't seem to be able to get rid of them. (It's been going in circles for months now)

...normal souvenirs are boring anyway ::wacky::

 

[Anagor]

Hi!

Sorry for late answer, was quite busy ...

One question I did have actually was how the price of food compares to the uk?

As a rule of thumb ... everything is more expensive in UK.

Food is in general slightly cheaper here in Germany. Especially if you go to Aldi or Lidl.

Cigarettes and Alcohol are about half the price compared to what you are paying in UK. (Half littre cheap beer 0,29 €, 40g of tobacco 4.55 €, for example).

Also, no licensing issues (like shop is open but can't sell alcohol yet/anymore). If the shop is open, you can buy everything it offers. At night, just find a 24h gas station. They sell groceries, alc and ciggs, prices there are comparable to UK off licenses.

What's the situation with public transport there? Stupidly over priced like the UK?

Trains can be overpriced if you just buy a ticket on the counter. If you book online, you can safe a lot if you use special offers.

Alternative is going by coach, Flixbus (www.flixbus.com) for example. Prices are comparable to Megabus in UK.

If you have more questions, feel free to ask ...