What I learned so far…
Now that I’m a semi-Hamburgian citizen (I mean, what else you would call me for my bi-weekly visits up north Germany ?
- Take extra cash with ya ! Even though my trusty Aygo can go 700+ km on it’s small 35 liter tank, it’s still over a 1000km roundtrip. You have to get fuel somewhere, and it’s usually across the border. Not all PIN devices will take my cheaply Maestro only Postbankcard. Upgrading my card with an EC logo adds more compatibility (I think), but for now, I’ll just have to remember packing more money. That’s because I just got burned yesterday (already filled up my tank, then find out my card wasn’t accepted), and luckily, after aimlessly walking around a small town called Reine, I stumbled upon an ATM that did accept my card.
- German women are beasts. Look at this mess at a Zara store downtown, close to closing time (22.00 at Saturday. Yes you’ve read it correctly, you can ship till TEN PM)
- Nice radio stations. Still a bit geared towards modern pop (I prefer alt/contemp rock), and I couldn’t care less about the DJ’s, but the music choice seems better suited to me than it is on Dutch radio station. Hence my FM3 preset has already been filled, with the strongest signals (covering almost my whole German side trip are NDR2, FFH and Antenne. A nice feature is mixing in live performances in their playlist, making it pretty special, be it Lionel Richie, Pink or the Dire Straits, you will keep hearing something surprising.
Heck, if it weren’t for the Germans, I probably never found out Rob Thomas wrote a song for the Meet the Robinsons soundtrack last year (The “Little Wonders” single was never released here of course, and I didn’t see the movie or catch the sound track). - (Almost) No traffic jams !!!!!