{"id":4811,"date":"2019-02-05T16:17:26","date_gmt":"2019-02-05T16:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.euroespa.com\/congress\/2019-rotterdam\/general-information\/"},"modified":"2019-07-11T12:18:00","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T12:18:00","slug":"general-information","status":"publish","type":"congress","link":"https:\/\/www.euroespa.com\/congress\/2019-rotterdam\/general-information\/","title":{"rendered":"General information"},"content":{"rendered":"

How to travel to Rotterdam<\/strong><\/p>\n

Best way to travel to Rotterdam is via Schiphol Airport and thereafter take the high speed train to Rotterdam (intercity direct) in 25 min which runs every 15 min. The taxi will be 1 hour (or longer) and cost 200 euro whereas the train is 25 min and costs 13 euro.
For more information please see video on youtube: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=stQQpaX650w<\/a><\/p>\n

Languages<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dutch. Many Dutch people speak English as well.<\/p>\n

Currency<\/strong><\/p>\n

Euro (\u20ac)<\/p>\n

Money<\/strong><\/div>\n
You can exchange cash at Banks, post offices and GWK\u00a0exchange offices. Also, many hotels have an option that visitors can change cash there. There are many ATM machines throughout Rotterdam. Credit cards including Visa and MasterCard are widely accepted in Rotterdam but American Express card is less accepted than these two. By credit card you can pay restaurant bills, hotel bills and in department stores. In smaller shops, paying by credit card is less common.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tipping<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tipping is not expected in Netherlands. Many services include the service charge added to the bill. In restaurants, bars and caf\u00e9s, leaving extra charge is common. If the service in restaurant was good or exeptional, around 5-10% tipping is expected. The best option is to give the tip directly to the service person. In caf\u00e9 or bar, it is suitable to leave small change or round-up the bill. In hotels, \u00a0there is often a 15% service charge already added to the hotel bill. If you want to tip your porter you should tip 1 or 2 Euros per bag.<\/p>\n

Time Zone<\/strong><\/p>\n

Netherlands is in the Central European Time Zone.\u00a0Central European Standard Time\u00a0<\/a>(CET) is 1 hours ahead of\u00a0Greenwich Mean Time\u00a0<\/a>(GMT+1). Like most states in Europe, Summer (Daylight-Saving) Time is observed in Netherlands, where the time is shifted forward by 1 hour;\u00a0 2 hours ahead of\u00a0Greenwich Mean Time\u00a0<\/a>(GMT+2). In the year 2019 the Daylight Saving Time starts on 31st March and ends on 27th October.<\/p>\n

For the current time info please click HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n

Climate<\/strong><\/p>\n

The weather is very changeable. North Sea has a strong influence on Nethreland\u00b4s climate. It is handy and practical to keep an umbrella and coat every season of the year. Summers are both hot and cold because it is changing every day. One day may be hot and the other cold and rainy. Winters are cold and snowstorms and strong nothern winds can occur. Other times, it is sunny.<\/p>\n

Telephone Codes<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you want to call out from the Netherlands, you need to use IDD code (International Direct Dialing) or ISD code (International Subscriber Dialing) which is 00 for Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Country code is needed when you need to dial in to the country. Unique dialing code for Netherlands is 31.<\/p>\n

If you want to call to Rotterdam, it has it\u00b4s own area code 10. So the dialing code for Rotterdam is +31 \u2013 10.<\/p>\n

To provide an example, from outside Netherlands, a caller would dial their international call prefix (typically 00 in Europe and 011 in North America), followed by 31 (the country code for Netherlands), then the area code, which is 10 for Rotterdam.<\/p>\n

Shopping<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rotterdam is the best shopping area in Netherlands. There are many major department shops, fashion stores as well as specialized shops. Most shops are located in down town Rotterdam. Except this, there are two huge shopping malls oustide the city centre- Zuidplein mall and Alexandrium mall). Shops in Rotterdam are opened 7 days a week.<\/p>\n

Well-known shopping streets in Rotterdam are \u00a0Lijnbaan<\/a>,\u00a0Koopgoot<\/a>,\u00a0Hoogstraat<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Meent<\/a>\u00a0as well as the exclusive shopping street\u00a0Van Oldenbarneveltstraat<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For more info and recommendations, please click\u00a0HERE<\/a> and HERE<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

VAX (Tax)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Value added tax of 21% is added on to the price of all consumer goods and services.<\/p>\n

If you live outside the European Union and make a purchase in Netherlands, in many cases you are entitled to a VAT refund. The conditions include that the item purchased is for personal use, not used and in cabin baggage, transported to your own country within three months from the purchase. The minimum amount specified on the invoice is \u20ac50 in Netherlands.<\/p>\n

For more detailed information please click\u00a0HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Safety<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rotterdam is like any other big city and basic common sense rules apply. To avoid theft it is good to not carry money or bis sums of money, bank\/credit cards and your passport in the same bag or pocket. Making a photocopy of your passport and itinerary is also a good practice.<\/p>\n

Emergency Services<\/strong><\/p>\n

In case of emergency, there is general emergency number 112 for fire, police and ambulance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In case of an emergency you can contact Fire service and Medical service by dialling 100 and Police service by 101. The number 112 can be dialled to reach all emergency services \u2013 medical, fire and police \u2013 from anywhere in Europe.<\/div>\n

Electricity & Conversions<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Netherlands the power plugs and sockets are of type C,F. The standard voltage is 230\u00a0V and the standard frequency is 50\u00a0Hz.<\/p>\n

If the standard voltage in your country is in the range of 100 V \u2013 127 V (as is in the US, Canada and most South American countries), you need a voltage converter in Nedtherlands.<\/p>\n

LOW INCOME COUNTRY FUND:<\/strong>\u00a0<\/i><\/strong>
<\/i><\/b>We need your help!\u00a0 Each year, we use the money in this fund to help one or two doctors from lower income\u00a0countries attend this Congress.\u00a0 In the past years, we have not had enough in this account to actually make this happen. If each of you gave just 10 EUROS, we would have enough to send three doctors to Brussels this year \u2013 please help us make this happen this month.<\/i><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/i>Click here to donate and go to the online\u00a0<\/a>Registration Form (will be available during February 2019)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How to travel to Rotterdam Best way to travel to Rotterdam is via Schiphol Airport and thereafter take the high…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":215,"featured_media":0,"parent":4689,"template":"","class_list":["post-4811","congress","type-congress","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euroespa.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/congress\/4811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euroespa.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/congress"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euroespa.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/congress"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euroespa.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/215"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.euroespa.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/congress\/4811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5273,"href":"https:\/\/www.euroespa.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/congress\/4811\/revisions\/5273"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.euroespa.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/congress\/4689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.euroespa.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}