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What should I take to Africa?

I'm from South Africa and travelling to Europe end of next year. What's different that I should take note of?

  • My friends and I will be travelling to Europe at the end of next year. What significant things should we take note of? For example...plugs. In South Africa, we use the 3 prong plug, which version is used in Europe, the 2 prong or 3 prong. Also, what should we bring along, take heed of, etc. It's our first time and we're planning on travelling through most of Western Europe. Also, how's the weather at the end of the year in Europe. And finally, we're gonna be in Europe for New Year's Eve, do you know where in Europe (ie which major city) has the coolest most fun New Year's Eve party in Europe. Oh! And by the way, it's our first time.

  • Answer:

    First of all, the temperature. You will meet cold weather. When you are dressed proper for the weather no problem at all, but if you wear your normal South African clothing, coming from your summer, you will be freezing. Mostly the temperatures will be above freezing, but often not by much, and there will be cold winds and rain on top of that. Dress in layers, T-shirt, shirt, sweater and maybe a fleece jacket under a warm coat, or instead of a warm coat a fleece jacket and a rain coat that is also good windproof. Under your jeans you can wear long johns or thin sport trousers or even pajama trousers, so you have 2 or more layers there too. For shoes, mountain boots are your best bet, good isolation, waterproof and great to walk in, also in snow. You do not need to take many of the bulky clothes, but make sure you have at least 2 warm sweaters each, and on top of that a fleece jacket, (which you can buy in Europe if you can not find warm ones where you live.) For plugs, we mostly use 2 prong (round prongs) plugs, but there are slightly different versions around, so you best buy an universal adapter plug. And we use 230 volt, so if you do not, buy a converter as well. (I do not remember what SA uses.) For New Year, I am Dutch, I have been in several different countries on NYE, I have always missed the Dutch fireworks. Everybody who wants can send fireworks into the sky at midnight, (even from 10 AM till 3 AM on New Years Day,) and many people do. For the evening, and after midnight, there are many parties going on, in a town like Amsterdam you are sure to find something to your liking. (But best ask around or on this site nearer the time, for where the parties are going to be.) By the way, best arrive after Christmas, (like 27 December) as most things will be closed 25th and 26th December. And take your time to travel. Better spend a several days each in fewer cities and remember them than rush around, having to leave each town after a few hours only and remember the trains best. The big capital cities like London and Paris take about a week each, (less than 5 days is not doing justice to them,) and the smaller capital cities and other mayor towns like Barcelona, Vienna, Antwerp, Amsterdam, 3 days each. All major sights will be open, if shorter hours, (except for Christmas and New Years day,) but many of the smaller towns will close their attractions. A good guide will give you the dates of what is open when. I like the Lonely Planet series. Petrol cost is high, so renting a car is not a cheap option, rail passes are not the good deals they used to be. If you travel a longer time, several months, you might be able to buy several long distance train tickets before you set out and add local transport to them, so you still have some freedom. Most cheap train come available 2 or 3 months before travel and sell out quickly, specially on days many people travel. So when booking, be a little flexible, traveling on a Monday can well cost only 10% of what traveling on Sunday would cost. The cheapest option is long distance bus travel, they also have a pass, but travels take long and are tiring, (no good sleeping on an overnight bus trip.) http://www.eurolines.com There is much more info on this site, lots can be found if you search the older questions. Just enter a few words like travel Europe or go for the towns or countries you want to know about, and see what comes up.

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South Africa uses the same voltage (230 V 50 H) as Europe. You just need adapters to fit to the European wall outlets which are different in some countries. If you have electrical devices which do not require grounding like note-books, game-boys, battery chargers, radios you may use the two prong European standard adapter (type C) which fits almost everywhere in continental Europe. You must get used to the different road side in continental Europe. When you want to cross a street, take your first look to the left and not to the right. I, being a German had always problems with that in UK, not as a driver, but as pedestrian. The Euro currency is used in Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, and Vatican City. So when you travel you don't have to worry about currency exchanging when crossing borders. Central European countries have pulled down their borders. So once you have been checked for passport and visa which you need to travel for up to 90 days as tourist through Europe at the airport you generally won't need to show it again until you leave the so called Schengen area. There might however be random checks by immigration, police or customs, so carry your passport with you at every time. Schengen countries which allow travel without borders are at present Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France (to include Monaco), Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy (to include San Marino and Vatican City), Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. The weather is exactly opposite to yours. We have winter time in Europe so you could compare it to June in SA. However there a regional differences depending on where you plan to go. While it may be below 0°F at night in the Northern part of Europe and the mountain area (alps) you can still have temperatures of more than 68°F at noon in southern Europe. New Years Eve means partytime everywhere in Europe's major cities. I won't name a certain country in order to get other Y!A folks not to be annoyed. If you already should be in Europe on Christmas Eve I can recommend any Spanish major city. Whereas in Germany or other Central European countries everybody spends this day with their families at home and public live ceases to exist in the early afternoon all restaurants and bars are open in Spain. I have spend Christmas Eve on the Ramblas in Barcelona and could wear a t-shirt, three days later the diesel engine of my car stopped working since I had filled up in Southern France and the type of fuel did not have the anti-freeze add-on and we had temperatures of -13°F in Germany. Source: http://users.telenet.be/worldstandards/electricity.htm#plugs_d

Gerd P

higher latitude, different language (varies) and currency (Euro). Electrical http://wikitravel.org/en/Electrical_systems Shop around you can buy a world wide adapter kit. There are two things you need to do, adapt the plug it self and alsow the voltage. Some adapter plugs do not change the voltage which is fine if the country has the same voltage as the device. Many power supplies and chargers can handle all voltages from 100-240v, so they don't need a transformer only a plug. Some times you will a plug adapter and transformers. You can buy an all in one plug transformer adapter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adapter

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