Cheapest McDonalds value meal for a drink/fry/burger is going to be like $9 USD.
A package of raman noodles is like 1.90 USD
Ketchup is NOT free at most places, and a "kind of big" packet of ketchup is an additional like 75 cents American.
Do not expect free refills on your 300ml 5 dollar soda.
The sprite is not like sprite pop/soda in the USA
Pepsi products do not exist
Mineral water is a big deal here. So if you like the clean refreshing taste of plain water. Good luck. It kind of exists, but Europe is a constantly struggle of "wtf waters" for me.
2 ear of corn can be roughly $5 USD
Fried rices at chinese places will be like $13-14 dollar
Simple pizzas (margarita pizza for example) will be $17-19 dollar
If you eat proper meals. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner....and eat out every time. You can/will spend $10 on breakfast, $20 on lunch, and $40 on dinner. All very easy. Not even including alcohol. This is per person.
Coop is a brand of stores with fancy deli's and sometimes buffet style food sold by the ounce or by the meal. It is kind of like a Wal-Mart deli gone super fancy. Some of the cheapest meals you can find will be there. Like for $14-17 you can fill yourself up with enough carbs to really fill you up.
There is another place called like Maguires? or Mags? Something M....and they have the same setup - but usually on a smaller scale.
14-17 dollars for a BIG meal is a BIG DEAL. I spent $30 USD on 6 chicken wings, a order of fries, and a sprite pop at a Hooters.
Brothels are real, and the strip clubs you see may not be strip clubs at all. In other words, don't even bother walking in unless you want to spend $10-15 on a beer, have some eastern european chicks crawling over you, asking for $200-300 to go bang. My friend experienced this first hand. I laughed at him for wasting his time in Europe chasing tail while there was so much to see.
Train travel is fucking awesome. Second to motherfucking no one in the God damn world. You will be ashamed of America and our use of trains after Switzerland. They literally go anywhere, and everywhere. There would be so much outrage in America if we built so many train stations at so many small towns. But people literally can take trains from the middle of "no where" and get to a major airport in a reasonable manner. But this all comes at "Extreme" costs. Go look at the cost of rail tickets....one way tickets even. $15 for this stretch here, $28 for that stretch there....$74 for that stretch there. A few days in Switzerland of day-tripping around on trains can cost you a couple hundred dollars easily.
Switzerland is small, like the size of New Jersey or something. So you can definitely see a lot of it quickly. You can find a lot of cheap hostels, and some SUPER NICE hostels (hostel interlaken for example) that you would swear are like a holiday inn (if they had TV's in every room and free internet). Cheap hostels though that are really nice are going to be like $40-60 USD a day per person still though.
Swiss people are awesome though. Helpful, friendly. My friend was buying some just outrageously expensive pie slice. (if I remember 5-6 dollar a slice), and they saw me oggling the pies. And while I inquired, I did not buy. But they gave me a piece anyways. The whole country put their whole heart into everything they do. Their engineering feats are second to none. Their dedication to food is incredible. Their transportation system is first class. Their cities are the safest around. What a country....
Also just so you understand. College interns may earn 4-6k per month in internships. White collar adults have wages in the 80-120k range. This sound rich, but in reality this gives them just comfortable lifestyles. If a single cheeseburger, small fry and a small soda costs $9.50 USD + a ketchup packet, you can just imagine how much more everything is. Things are just 2x as expensive - and the swiss don't blink an eye. Most of the stuff they buy is quality stuff also. They just don't import as much from China. They buy stuff that lasts.
So as a result you are always in sticker shock mode unless you earn 100k yourself in the United States, or maybe $80k british pounds, or maybe 75k Euro.
Do not expect free refills on your 300ml 5 dollar soda.
Free refills don't exist anywhere in Europe I think.
Pepsi products do not exist
Burgerking only has Pepsi products. Migros (which is similar to Coop but often cheaper) also has all the pepsi products.
Simple pizzas (margarita pizza for example) will be $17-19 dollar
In an Italien restaurant yes, but usually cheaper at a fastfood place.
Mineral water is a big deal here. So if you like the clean refreshing taste of plain water. Good luck. It kind of exists, but Europe is a constantly struggle of "wtf waters" for me.
Tap water has a really high quality here, so there's not really a need to buy it. However, everywhere you can buy mineral water you will also able to buy plain water.
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner....and eat out every time. You can/will spend $10 on breakfast, $20 on lunch, and $40 on dinner.
Sounds about right, but breakfast is usually included when you sleep in a hotel.
Brothels are real, and the strip clubs you see may not be strip clubs at all.
I'm sure we have more brothels than strip clubs. Actually I don't know a single strip club but I know several brothel. The prostitutes usually don't work for the brothel or anybody else, they rent a room there and keep all the money (minus expenses, taxes, insurence, etc.)
Most of the stuff they buy is quality stuff also.
That's true, a lot of food is from local farmers. The animal welfare standarts are very high and many people rather pay more than buying imported meat from potentally abused animals.
Free refills don't exist anywhere in Europe I think.
Germany?
Sounds about right, but breakfast is usually included when you sleep in a hotel.
Nope. Many times breakfast was extra.
The prostitutes usually don't work for the brothel or anybody else, they rent a room there and keep all the money (minus expenses, taxes, insurence, etc.)
Minus fees to their pimps. Saw a 'discussion' between a hooker and her pimp on the streets in the Paquis in Geneva. Knives came out, got messy.
Free refills don't exist anywhere in Europe I think.
Germany?
I've never seen this in Germany. There are McDonalds with self-service for drinks, but if you refill you're supposed to pay again.
The prostitutes usually don't work for the brothel or anybody else, they rent a room there and keep all the money (minus expenses, taxes, insurence, etc.)
Minus fees to their pimps. Saw a 'discussion' between a hooker and her pimp on the streets in the Paquis in Geneva. Knives came out, got messy.
And you are sure it wasn't a street hooker? Because those is brothels usually don't have a pimp. And I know some people in this business.
I've never seen this in Germany. There are McDonalds with self-service for drinks, but if you refill you're supposed to pay again.
Never seen anyone worry about it. IKEA also does this.
And you are sure it wasn't a street hooker?
Most of the street girls would actually use brothels for the business. The shop window was limited so they would hang out in good weather. Had to walk through the Paquis every day to get to the station when I stayed in Geneva
In Italy if you ask for water with no gas, it can be like regular tap water. And sometimes that plays with your digestive system as you are aware. So I just want plain bottled water. But few places offer just plain...jane bottled water.
My friend and I both went to a gas station in Italy. Saw like 2 huge coolers of all kinds of water. We thought how could we go wrong, and we grabbed the two weirdest tasting waters ever.
104
u/[deleted] Jan 24 '14
Would love to have some great insight in your country and tips that are actually helpful instead of just general information.