Archive for the ‘Travel Tips’ Category

Childcare in Germany is a big deal. I’m usually not involved, because I don’t have kiddies of my own at the moment, but now that school is out I am hearing quite a bit about this from my friends.

In Germany, a good daycare spot, known as Kitaplatz, is a prized item. The government subsidizes the cost of daycare for children over three, but this is coordinated through our child services and visitors won’t have the Gutschein. This is the document that tells how much childcare subsidy you have and how much from your own pocket must be paid (it’s a sliding scale based on income).

However, even with the right papers, most formal places have different holiday hours, and they don’t always accommodate older children or teens. This means to find someone to mind the children for a few days, or even a few hours, can be a stressful project. This is true if you are resident of Germany, but it is doubly true if you are just visiting. Who can you turn to for a bit of babysitting?

Locals often have a Tagesmutter, or child minder. These are loosely licensed caregivers who may have completed a course or two in First Aid or child care. A good Tagesmutter is fiercely prized, but if you have local friends they might share with you while you are on holiday.

You can also ask around for babysitters, which is the same word in English and German. If you don’t have a local friend’s recommendation, most towns have Babysitter-Agenturen in the phonebook. Your hotel may also have a recommended provider if you ask at the front desk, who will come to the hotel to watch your children or grandchildren.

However you find them, babysitting and Tagesmutter services are not always so cheap! Plan to pay at least 10 euros an hour, with more due in big cities, for infants, for multiple children, for last minute jobs, and for overnight work.

My friends point out that tipping is not required, but if you want to use the babysitter or Tagesmutter again it is a good idea to slip them a few extra euros to ensure they are not “busy” when you call. This way, when you come out to meet me while you are in Germany, you will be sure to have someone to watch your kids! ;-)

—Marcus

My friend, beware of airport currency exchange rates!

You’ll get the best exchange rates on your travels when paying with your plastic card(s). However, if you’ve got some cash to exchange I always recommend doing this at the airport as I found the most reasonable exchange rates there (rather than at a local bank).

However, do check out the various exchange desks available at the airport and do NOT stop your journey at the very first!

Short ‘n sweet, here’s my experience from last weekend, on which we exchanged R$ 370 (three-hundred seventy Brazilian Reais) into euros:

Currency Exchange Counter #1 (I don’t recall their name): € 97
Course: 3.81

Currency Exchange Counter #2 — Reise-Bank: € 117
Course: 3.16

Currency Exchange Counter #3 — Euro Change: € 130
Course: 2.85

See? Noticeable differences! The third desk gave us 33 euros more than the first one.

So make sure you ask at least three. They’re usually pretty close to each other, by the way. ;-)

—Marcus

Germany is a world leader in recycling. Although the country produces more than 30 millions tons of garbage every year, we have an advanced recycling collection system to avoid waste piles. Some waste is even burned at special facilities that provide steam energy to create electric power for our cities.

Understanding how to recycle in Germany is something locals have learned over time. We separate our trash instinctively and enthusiastically.

There are even reports of German soldiers in Afghanistan habitually separating their waste, despite the lack of a formal system.

It’s simply the German way. ;-)

How The German Recycling System Works

For newcomers, recycling in Germany takes a bit of getting used to!

To begin, unlike many other developed nations, Germany doesn’t have one single recycling bin. Typically, there are at least four bins. Each color manages a different kind of waste, and the bins are supplemented by other collection programs for glass, batteries, and miscellaneous goods.

Brown Bins

Brown bins are for biological waste. This includes kitchen scraps and garden clippings. Other items that go in the brown bin are coffee filters, tea bags (without the paper tag), feathers, sawdust, and hair.

Blue Bins

Blue bins are for paper and cardboard. In some ways, this is the easiest one! All of your papers, boxes, tea tags, and magazines go here, although you should remember to flatten boxes first and to throw in dry paper only.

Yellow Bins

Yellow bins are for plastics and metals — often also represented by the Der grüne Punkt sign (a round circle with two arrows pointing to each other). Plastic wrap, food cans, yogurt cups, shopping bags, and soap bottles go here.

They do ask that you rinse items before putting them into this bin (remember my “enthusiastically” note in the first paragraph? ;-).

Gray Bins

Gray bins are for household waste a.k.a. Restmüll. Light bulbs (the old models), diapers, tissues, cigarette butts, and photographs are some of the things that go here. Also these items are burned when collected.

Glass and Batteries

Glass bottles and batteries are recycled publicly. You will see large bins for glass recycling in most public places. It is separated by color, always.

Batteries are collected at supermarkets and shopping malls.

Sperrmüll

In Germany, we also have Sperrmüll, which refers to miscellaneous items. Typically, Sperrmüll days will be announced as a time when municipal trucks will come around for all of the other things you want to have thrown away, like broken furniture, old lamps, or sofas. You place it on the curb outside of your house.

Sounds like it is heading for the landfill, right? Wrong! Second-hand goods dealers, junk collectors, and enterprising locals often collect the Sperrmüll long before anyone from the city arrives to get it. No sense letting something that can be used again be thrown away by your neighbors! ;-)

—Marcus