Täglich Wiederkehrendes Abenteuer

Since moving to Linz, Austria, we’ve learned a few things that we wish we’d known right off the bat. In the interest of having this information “out there” (even though it will probably never be seen by someone who would find it useful), I’ve decided to make a little list of things to know about moving to Austria (specifically Linz) and traveling in Europe in general.

Linz

1. Get an Aktivpass (English translation) immediately

This thing basically gives you tons of discounts everywhere! You can get an unlimited monthly pass for the public transportation system for 10 Euro. Any courses at the big city education center are half off. You can get a pass to all the museums in the city for 1 year for dirt cheap. Basically, it makes your cost of living drop considerably, especially if you use public transportation often.

2. If you’re going to be traveling out of the city, get a VORTEILScard.

This card saves you a ton of money. Travel inside Austria, booked online, gets a 50% discount on the ticket price. Book at the desk at the train station and you get a 45% discount. Travel outside Austria (like to Germany… where we seem to go a lot) gets a 25% discount. We can go to Salzburg (1:30 away) for 40 Euro for both of us, for a round trip. It’s pretty good. We’re going to Berlin in February. Tickets there and back for both of us are only 200 Euro… and it’s an 8 hour train ride.

3. If you plan on going to Vienna, be prepared to spend multiple days there. The palace alone will take two solid days.

Europe

1. Everything takes longer than expected.

Traveling is time consuming and tiring. Don’t expect to get through the Louvre in 3 hours. That’ll take a day. Don’t expect to see every scene from The Sound of Music in 20 minutes. That’ll take 8 hours. Plan more time than you think you need/want.

2. Carry change

Something that’s crazy in Europe is that a lot of public toilets are pay toilets. That’s right, even in a place like the Linz train station, you need to pay to potty. The price can range from 30 cents for a little out of the way bathroom to a full Euro for a big fancy, right there in the middle of everything bathroom. Munich’s train station has a big section with attendants, private bathrooms, and soft music. That’s a Euro toilet.

We’ll let you know if we think of anything else.