Monday, July 15, 2013

Blessings of the Internet

Well, I have to learn new skills, especially how to browse the internet in the Netherlands.
How to get from A to B by public transportation? I spent lots of time figuring out how to travel to Doorn, to my brother Peter, and got so stuck on web sites that were far too complicated to compare, until my sister told me to just go to: ov9292.nl. Now it was a piece of cake: you just type in your home address and the address you want to go to and useful information pops up, including cost of your ticket. Now you can plan your trip.
Then I had to find out how to find job postings, how to find housing for rent, how to compare bicycles or health insurance, where to find a doctor, a dentist etc. and I realized how much time I lost when I was looking for information and did not know what word to use to get my search started.
You have a name and city but no address? Just go to telefoongids.nl (yellow pages), type in the information you have and if you are lucky the address pops up. No zip code? Go to zipcode.nl, enter the information and the zip code pops up. 
For people in the Netherlands it is probably not a big deal but coming from abroad I had no idea how much information is easily accessible once I knew where to look. 
In the mean time I am getting quite familiar with public transportation. I noticed how many changes were implemented since I left the country. I love the fact that one card (with enough balance of course) allows me travel all through the country: just scan your card when you hop on or off the train, tram or bus. I also love the fact that you can read all the information on screens in train, bus, tram or metro: where it is headed, when you will arrive. I know people criticize public transportation a lot (never on time, too expensive, no information when there are delays)  but so far, so good, nothing negative to tell.


With Harry and Yvonne in the train to Harderwijk and myself in light rail

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