“Listings” Magazines and Tourist Publications

Listings magazines, written in English, are designed to alert tourists (and residents for that matter) to what’s happening during a given week or month in a particular city. Time Out in London is the granddaddy of these, and is about as complete a guide to a city as you’re likely to find (it also publishes a version in Amsterdam, and an English supplement in Paris). Other cities usually have some sort of tourist publication, varying from full-sized magazines to small pamphlets, often titled “What’s On …” (Munich, Copenhagen, etc).

They can be useful for spotting events and for getting an up-to-date list of nightspots, and are usually worth a look. Most of them are distributed to hotels and hostels or can be found at tourist information centers. In addition, most accommodations have the dreaded “tacky brochure rack,” full of amazing attractions ( See the World’s Largest Mayonnaise Factory! Free Samples for All ). Kidding aside, these displays are well worth a look to see if something strikes your fancy.

Newspapers and Magazines

Both USA Today and the International Herald Tribune are widely available in continental Europe, for those who need a daily news fix. At roughly USD 2 a copy, the cost can add up, though. Try the Herald Tribune, which has a certain snob appeal. It also has a decent cross-word puzzle, whose difficulty varies at random from idiot-proof to impossible. Also, The European, an English-language newspaper that focuses on the affairs of Europe, is widely available, as are European editions of various British papers.

While in Britain, definitely check out its wide selection of papers; to get both ends of the spectrum try the Times and the Daily Sport. Also in London, look out for the numerous magazines and newspapers aimed at expatriates. Southern Cross, South Africa UK News, and so on, serve the needs of their homesick ex-colonials, and are well worth a look for travelers from other countries. You can pick them up free from bins all over the city.

A blizzard of magazines in English can be found all over Europe, with Time and Newsweek on sale pretty much everywhere. Also, try the foreign versions of well-known magazines from home and note the differences. For example, British Cosmopolitan is so brainless and sex-obsessed that it makes the American version look like something written by Dickens.

Express mail and Courier Services

For that emergency package I mentioned before, you might want to use some sort of express mail service. UPS and Federal Express can ship things to Europe, at varying rates of speed for varying rates of pay: USD 125 for a twenty-pound box of stuff, Oakland to Munich, in two business days, is a rough baseline figure. An eight-ounce letter will cost roughly USD 30 for the same service. The best services are Federal Express (©1-800/247-4747) and UPS (®1-800/742-5877).

Mailing Things Home

Sending packages home is certainly possible, but can be expensive if you want them to get there within a week. Normal mail takes from one to three weeks and is relatively inexpensive. Sending things by boat can be remarkably inexpensive, but can take several months. When planning to do this, expect to spend some time in the post office, as customs formalities can take a while. However, typically, if you keep the weight of your package to under two kilograms you can avoid customs. (Thanks to Sandi Sakiyabu for this tip.) Remember, the box or envelope you send will be beaten and battered on its journey. Use the strongest box you can find and tape it up very thoroughly. Wait until you get to the post office to do this, as they may need to look inside.

For those postcards and letters you send home, make sure you have enough postage - postcards are more expensive abroad, and do not necessarily use the cheapest possible stamp. Ask at the post office for the correct amount to get your card home, and remember to use the cute little blue “Par Avion” stickers. These stickers, and stamps, can be purchased at tobacco shops in most countries.

Mail

One of the great pleasures of traveling in Europe is sending rude postcards back to the poor, pathetic souls who are stuck at home while you travel. If you do this properly, your friends may wish to respond with some photos of your wrecked car - and they can, even if you are moving around. Poste Restante, or General Delivery, is offered all over Europe. Address as below:

The number “1″ designates the central post ofEce and may not be necessary in some countries. Use it anyway. Also, check your guidebook for information on mailing to specific countries: France, for example, requires a postal code on everything mailed into the country. Mail may arrive without it, but will probably be delayed. Leave clear instructions for the folks back home. If you know the proper name of the town you’re sending mail to (Munchen, for example, rather than Munich; or Firenze rather than Florence), by all means use it. If not, don’t worry about it - it probably won’t matter a bit.
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Faxes

Fax machines are a very popular means of communication in Europe, perhaps due to the high cost of normal phone service, and they are available at many stores, hostels, and businesses. They can be quite useful for making reservations, getting information from embassies, touching base with home, and avoiding confusing phone systems (since someone will likely help you with the fax machine, they’ll help you with dialing too).

Email and the Internet

The Internet, and its accessibility via cybercafes scattered around Europe, has made communication unbelievably easy for travelers.With little effort, you can stay in touch with other travelers, check email, and reassure those at home that you haven’t been kidnapped and sold into slavery. For those who are unfamiliar with cybercafes, they are quite simply small bars or cafes offering Internet access in addition to the usual cafe fare of coffee, sandwiches, and salads. Most of the cybercafes I have visited have slightly outdated machines but they work just fine for receiving and sending email -which is likely what you’ll be using them for.

The process is simple enough: walk in, place your money on the counter (you usually pay per hour), log on to their browser, and surf away. The handiest part about these places is that there is always a local expert around who can help maneuver you through the sign-in procedures, just in case you can’t translate “enter the password” in Romanian (although a large number of the cafes I’ve visited have had Web browsers in English). Below are a couple of points about cybercafes:

- Like regular cafes, cybercafes seem to open and close every couple of weeks. I promise you that if ten cafes are listed in your guidebook, three have closed, two no longer have computers, and one has been converted into a fetish bar. The best way to locate a working cyber-cafe is to ask at your local tourist office, and then CALL FIRST, to see if and when they’re open. Had I done that a few months ago, it would have saved me a long cold trek through Copenhagen in the dead of winter to a cafe that was closed for the day.

Tokens

Some less modern payphones in less modern countries, especially in Eastern Europe, may still require tokens. The tokens can be bought at the same kiosks and tobacco shops as phone cards. If the phone you are using looks ancient and refuses to accept coins, you may need a token or two.

Phone Cards

Phone cards are very useful devices and are used all over Europe. They’re little, prepaid phone credit cards that you pop into a slot in the phone rather than fumbling with coins. One of the best things you can do upon arrival in a country is to buy a phone card, and use that to make your calls during your stay. Coin phones (instead of card phones) can be irritatingly hard to find in some major cities, and may swallow coins mercilessly (see my story about “The Tent” on p.63).

Phone cards are usually sold through tobacco stands and news kiosks. Some can be quite beautiful and artistic, and when they expire they make neat souvenirs. For some reason, calls made with cards are incredibly cheap in France, and absurdly expensive in Italy, with the rest of Europe somewhere in between. Don’t ask me why.

European Payphones

European coin phones are usually a bit more sophisticated than their North American counterparts. For example, they allow more than one call per coin, which allows you to make a series of calls using one large coin, rather than having to scrounge for a bunch of little ones. If you have finished a call and want to make another, and still have credit showing in the read-out, press the button marked FC (Follow-on Call), or follow the multilingual instructions found on payphones in most European countries.

If there is no such button, or instructions, just flick the lever down and release quickly. You should get a dial tone and keep your credit. Many payphones will return unused coins, but they will not give change.Once again, the cheapest way to call home is to use a coin or card phone, ring the person you want to talk to, and have them call you back, or use a cheap-rate phone card. This is much cheaper and simpler than calling collect.