Traveling to the Netherlands...Tips You Need to know before you arrive!

it's almost beer 30 all right you heard it here first folks oh gosh you were recording oh yikes okay are we we're going ick how vanel love you I love you I love you too this is exactly what it's like when we start to tape we try to get it together but what are we talking about today before beer 30 I don't know I'm talking about a new contract with you I don't know we're talking about uh survival tips for moving and living in the Netherlands there you go these are kind of tips that we wish we had known before we mooved to the Netherlands for the first time some of them we knew but some of them we definitely didn't so we want to impart it on you and you want to know what those are stay tuned next on soul to soul travels yes I love you I love you too [Music] good all right so welcome back and before we get uh started before we get too carried away we we have a few notifications we do and the first one is uh YouTube notifications uh some people have said that they are not getting notified when uh we or their favorite content creators are dropping new videos uh so if you uh could go ahead and double check your number one that you're subscribe what's that face for it's live and raw folks uh if you can make sure that you're subscribed uh if not please consider subscribing and make sure that your notifications are set to be notified cuz you wouldn't want to miss another video from us or your favorite content creators she's so beautiful stop it okay so next next we want to thank Jacqueline for coming over and saying hi to us while we were enjoying be 30 as my wife puts it she was so nice thank you so much Jacqueline you're going to be doing great here at your job we know that and I think she said she was from Tor Toronto Toronto Canada we're not holding that against you uh so anyway jacn thank you so much it was so nice talking with you uh also I'd like to thank um Dennis who stopped me outside the supermarket the other day you weren't with me uh but just took the opportunity to say hello and to say that he watches and uh thank you so much Dennis we really appreciate you watching us and it was a pleasure to meet you is this why you said you want to renegotiate a contract with me no okay no and actually he saw us bike riding earlier that day too I don't know if I told you that or not but yeah so thank you so much Den than you Dennis and last but not least we had the opportunity to meet with this guy right here Sam from exploring the foreign I'm sure you all know about him and his channel is so awesome if you watch his channel he's very very nice on his channel but but but but I'm going to call him out here a little bit so if you watch his channel he's very very nice but if you actually talk with him in person he's pretty much nicer he's awesome he's an awesome dude he is so charismatic and just just a pleasure to be around and talk to you just thank you so much Sam yeah he had his mother on one of his uh one of his videos I can honestly say this she has raised an incredibly uh nice young man just yeah very very nice aw we put his Link in the description below so if you are not already subscribed which I don't know why you wouldn't be uh go ahead and subscribe well say yes okay well yes as Tammy says keeping it raw keeping it raw keeping it raw man subscribe to ours too if you haven't subscribed there you go yeah which we'll take this opportunity right now if this is your first time stopping here this is Tammy I'm Eric and if you we just invite you to go ahead and subscribe yeah we are yeah do that hit that button we're from Southern California yeah absolutely Timmy's like he's going totally Off Script he's going rogue he's going rogue the madness anyways our first tip yeah our first tip is apps ooh apps these are the apps that you really should be downloading before you even head over here really yeah and I have on my list right here I have two of them really two or three is uh Google or Apple Maps uh I like Google better so do I but some people really like the Apple Maps uh and the other is WhatsApp or messenger yes uh definit you're on Facebook Facebook Messenger um if not WhatsApp uh they're free it's free to sign up expensive to call regular from here over to the states right this is free this is a way to chat through or talk through uh Wi-Fi yep absolutely literally talk not just texting literally talk and video too and video chat as well chat with most of our family absolutely so definitely and before you do make sure before you come that the people on the other end have as well exactly exactly experiment with it a little bit so anyway those are the that I so uh 9292 is she by 9292 is an app that's connected with NS and the the travel around here um It's cool cuz you can just put in your destination where you're going from where you're going to uh gives you different routes that you can take different times it also gives you the price that you will pay which is another nice thing to do have on there so you kind of know what to expect exactly but anyways 9292 giv yeah download it get it now we also have the uh the ideal or ideal we would call it ideal uh it helps with like online payments it you it's going to help you out a great deal I mean it really really is it's just a way of paying uh through your bank how you pay for things here and how you pay for things in the United States are two different ways and without going into it and we won't but you'll discover that real quick and the the ideal app uh is going to help you out uh tremendously tremendous right right right um I also have an app that I use called folders. NL uh gives you all the weekly ads for all the grocery stores not even grocery like not exclusive grocery store but a lot of different stores you can plug in what you're looking for and it'll give you um the price of everywhere that has it so so you can compare prices which is a good thing it is a good thing you really kind of want it it can be a little costly to live over here right I also have the H node node uh the potty app giv you you pay to use restrooms around here not only that but uh there are a few and far between so this is an uh an app that will let you know uh where your closest bathroom is and how much it is I think people have even rated them so you can see how many stars they have whatever so get these apps it's going to just set you on the right path for when you hit over here that's for sure yeah so uh the next thing the next tip that we're going to have for you is uh get yourself set up with uh an NS card an OB chip card an OB chip card I'm going to go ahead and throw the picture up here right now to show you once you land it and I'm just assuming you're landing at skipple airport you can go up to the information desk you can ask for one they'll give you one uh but you got to load money and you got to pay for it yeah and you which is nice I mean if if you're visiting it's it's a nice svir to have when you go back if you're living here you just keep using it just load it up with money that's for sure you know a lot of the uh Transportation modes now will accept uh debit card as payment yes uh so that's another nice feature uh that is being integrated here yep and you'll find out real quick it kind of comes along with a payment thing is uh you got to tap in and you have to tap out sure so uh it just we did a video on that Eric doesn't always tap out I don't always tap out and it cost me it cost me so so anyway so that's the the next tip that we have so the next tip let's go ahead and talk about let's talk about uh the SIM card that's one of the things that we did when we got here yeah we had we basically had to uh because we were trying to set up the bank and um couldn't do that without a a Dutch phone number um so we went to vone vone and you could go to uh kpn a copy in cop in uh and get that you get yourself a temporary SIM card for your card it will automatically give you a European phone number uh and when you're all set up and you want to go ahead and join up with vone or copy in uh you can keep the number it it's not just a temporary number it can be if you want it to be but you can actually keep that number and you can give it out to family friends whatever you want to go ahead and sure yeah so uh the SIM card definitely get hooked up with that and there's different levels as well yeah right right what's next what's next I'm looking I'm oh oh could not live cannot live without this this would have been tough this here is an adapter for your us uh electrical cords uh take this one to Heart stock up on them cuz you will need them absolutely if you're bringing your own personal items uh over here without a doubt yeah I think we came over with like about 10 and we we still use them now we have a lot of appliances that are now um European yeah plugs but we use these it still amazes me to this day when I buy something over here and I unwrap it and just the other day you were like is oh jez in Europe okay that's right so we're gradually fading away from this because the more like Tammy was just saying the more stuff you buy here it has a European plug this Fades out sure sure you're going to need these you're going to need them that's for sure right so just like I need her a yeah everybody needs somebody yeah uh okay next oh next yeah this this one right here oh my favorite I'm assuming you're talking about bikes the biking yeah absolutely so here's the thing is a lot of people when they come over the first thing they want to do is they want to buy a bike they want to you know yeah and it's not the same sorry it is not the same I used to be a whiz kid growing up with bikes No Hands no it's different over here it is much different take heed of that warning the biking is set up here it it's great it is awesome I mean it's just the way they have lights just specifically for bikes etc etc but what you want to do is go ahead and rent a bike uh for a month or two it's no big deal everybody does it uh we did for about a year at least rented bikes and it's going to get you acclimated to hey I really love biking over here now you can go ahead and you can buy your bike if you want if you want to keep on renting but at the very least renting a bike is going to get you acclimated to what's going on around here right and it gives you the opportunity to find out what kind of bike you like or what have you know do some research and what if the bike gets damaged if you sure we went through I I don't know if you mentioned it we we went through swap Feats and they they repaired the bike for free uh they if you yeah somebody ran over my front tire with their car back it it was twisted a little bit came right out they give me either I AE I got a new bike yeah they gave me a new bike and they took that one away it was just it's headache free that's for sure sure so now that we're bike riding we just recently got ebikes it's it's awesome the best thing that we've done absolutely again not going to harp on the biking thing but it biking is different here it's awesome but you got to get acclimate it you have to do that that's for sure yeah all right what's our next tip that we got going on here and oh let's let's just talk about this right here okay we know that uh coming over from the United States we're really big on um now hey I've been sitting for a couple of minutes come on going into a restaurant for example exactly if you go into a restaurant or Cafe here if there's not a sign that says please wait to be seated seat yourself right uh it's and somebody will come over to you oh yeah absolutely once they're done with their thing they they see you um so yeah just minutes it could take five minutes be patient they know you're there uh things slow down really quick here uh in the Netherlands that's for sure and they do see you they will come over that's for sure right uh you know and again paying uh let's let's let's go ahead and talk about paying with things right now our next tip is going to be talking about paying whether you're at the cafe the grocery store anywhere absolutely we just take our phones and pay we have well we have we are fortunate we have Apple pay but I know that the Android phones have their own type of pay right there oh you can I mean you can show it to them but yeah I mean it's just we pull it up and we just Ding and it does hold it near the reader yeah and we're good absolutely um yeah we don't carry cash cannot remember the last time I carried cash uh you know when we used to do go to the laundry mat the waset that's a whole another subject we W talk about that but yeah yeah used Tammy carried all the cash put it in anyways nevertheless uh something I another tip that I want to go ahead and talk about and this is not on our list but Tammy's going to uh jump on this bandwagon because we kind of have a little bit of a difference uh is tipping oh yeah um I tip um and I tip okay I don't want to say I'm a generous Tipper you are you are generous I I tip I think more generous uh than what needs to be anyways tipping is uh different here than it is uh in the United States if you have uh a couple of beers and it comes to $12 or uh if if you got good service go ahead and tip a Euro yeah uh absolutely it's not a percentage thing here in the United States now it's 20 to 25% tipping crazy uh it it is crazy uh we had a bill the other day and I tipped $5 5 thank you very much see how easy it this is slit back in yeah exactly um and they were just like uh are you sure this is thank you so much uh so tipping is different here in Europe and it is not frowned upon if you just round it up or if you just tip that extra Euro or two two is a lot uh it's not frowned upon in the United States that's a whole different you probably would be booted you'd be banned you'd be banned from that place exactly people chasing you down the street where's my tip it's happened it's happened uh so yeah absolutely all right do we have anything else let's take a quick look here uh oh the uh centimeters versus inches or feet to meters there's three things miles kilometer kilometers yeah centimeters inches uh Fahrenheit versus Celsius yeah and uh the clocks here everybody runs on a 24-hour clock not so much an amm that type of thing the amm thing has been hard for me to get used to just mentally in my head I got it now uh Fahrenheit versus Celsius uh I have my thing set to Celsius she's gotten really good at it I has she's gotten really good yeah and I have my phone still set to Fahrenheit uh and here everything is really kind of done in centimeters or uh met meters K kilometers exactly so uh we bought a kind of tripped me out a little bit we bought a tape measure the other day opened it up and like what is this so when you buy tape measure in the United States there's both Inches and comes in qu in half inch well not only that but they also has a metric on there as well so when you come here I mean understandably so because the United States is one of the only countries that uses the EXA what is it called the the uh anyways do we decimal no no do decimal that's adding or that's a this is about where I would cut it and say hey we got to get this straight here can't even think about it now all we know is metric system over here now right right but you know it takes some getting used to does take some getting used to but you kind of get used to it as you go along and they're just going to be they're just going to be certain things yeah that you're not even buying clothes is a different experience with the sizing so absolutely yeah absolutely anyways all right so I think we we did this we did this uh we did that and oh how beautiful is my wife no ER stop it stop it uh can you think of anything else uh that helped us when we came on over uh being patient just just learning to slow down um yeah learning to slow down if you're learning to slow down in life this is where you want to be if you have a hard time gearing down and slowing down this is going to be a tough transition for you it really really is right um the other thing is and I just thought about it another tip for you is there is uh you know in talking to jacine the other day she said she hasn't seen it yet but there is very much a Dutch directness here um and it can easily be be mistaken for rudess uh and it's not I mean it really isn't they're just oh well sometimes it is here's one for you here's one for you right here oh boy yeah yeah they'd love to swear over here oh yes swear right the f word which is yeah no big deal to them right I mean it just isn't but you know what you cannot be shocked by it because it kind of comes into the directness as well uh but yeah they do love to swear over here that's for sure uh can you think of anything else uh not right off the top of my head I think we we've given people you've had enough of us um get the apps downloaded uh that's just going to get your your journey started off right off the bat uh real quick and we hope we covered some really good stuff for you it's it's pretty basic stuff but it's going to help you on your journey over here that's for sure yeah so yeah with that being said if you haven't had the opportunity please go ahead and uh subscribe we would love to have you subscribe we' got some more videos coming out uh it's always fun to hear the comments that come through and the suggestions that people uh suggest to us uh so yeah go ahead and make the comments and suggestions and Tammy reads them all yeah yeah she she replies to well we both read them all but she replies to a lot I I think what helps uh the most is taking the time to hit that like button U that way it gets the videos out to whomever you're watching us and you know exploring the foreign any other content creator that you follow or subscribe to hitting the like button always helps to get it out to other people that that might get some use out of uh whatever video it is that you are enjoying absolutely absolutely so so with that being said from soul to soul travels till next time we'll see you there she's like what am I supposed to say we'll see we'll see you there to sings oh my goodness

Channel: Soul to Soul Travels

Views: 9,879

Keywords: travel advice, amsterdam travel guide, the netherlands, travel vlogger, amsterdam travel, the netherlands travel, travel tips europe, moving to netherlands, moving to holland from us, traveling in the netherlands, netherlands train travel, netherlands train pass, living in europe as an american, living in europe vs us, living in europe vlog, expat living in netherlands, expat, expat american, soul to soul travels youtube, swapfiets, renting a bike in the Netherlands, holland

Id: vTJTYtnpRVk

Length: 20min 55sec (1255 seconds)

Published: Fri May 17 2024