When asking my friends about difficulties in the strange city it is often to hear the answer which contains a mention of telephony and other kinds of communication.
And that is why I decided to tell you something about street phones in Amsterdam.

There are several kinds of them. For example, you can easily pay coins in coin-box telephones, but the best way is to buy a phone-card at the post-office or in the most of tobacco shops. The head post-office - postkantoor - is located at the corner Singel near the Dam square and works even on Saturdays. You can buy a 5-, 10- and 20 Euro phone-cards. The instruction for phone using will be there in both English and Dutch. And one more note: be careful with your luggage when speaking, especially at the Central Station.

Here are the phone numbers that may come handy when you are in Amsterdam:

The head post office: 5563311
Telegraph (Raadhuisstraat): 48-50
Taxi order: 6777777
Urgent help (paramedics, police, fire-fighters): 112, 555-5555
Central police station (Elandsgracht 117): 5599111
Central medical service: 0900-5032042
Enquiry service: 118, inside the country - 8008
International enquiry service: 0418
Representative office of airport of Amsterdam: 627-05-61
Extraordinary situations: 06/112
Police: 112 or 622-2222
Road service: 0888
Rescue service: 112 or 0900-8844

Part 2:

- If the hotel advertises its rooms with the sea view, then clarify beforehand the cost of this pleasure, as it may be more expensive. In the case of the same cost of both categories of the apartments, you can send your wish in writing to stay in the room with windows looking on to the sea through the travel operator. They are always of great demand, such rooms. Remember that.
- If the hotel can not give you a room you want when asked beforehand, try to ask about the desired category upon your arrival.
- The situation with the sea view concerns every requirements and details such as two next-door rooms, availability of the balcony, smoking/non-smoking room and etc.

Hotel’s location.
- You should pay special attention to this matter during the discussion of the hotel ort looking through the information about. Internet make wonders, so, it is quite easy to know if the proposed hotel is situated in a mile from the nearest beach, or in the noisy and/or dubious district. And remember, the description of the hotel’s location sometimes does not match the reality in full.
- In addition, get familiar with the map and structure of the hotel’s blocks and lines thoroughly. Maps are posted in Internet for almost every self-respecting hotel and resort.
- One more point: if you are not going to spend time on the beach but want to communicate with and mix with people then determine the nearest hotel to the place of parties and etc.

However the choice is yours and… be careful!

Part 1
If you have planned your travel in advance, then you must have made all preparations. Have you thought of a hotel, the best place to stay at?
Remember the main idea: the hotel is a place that must be as comfortable as possible. It is a must because it can happen that you will have to spend much time there. So, numerous negative comments should make think it over well and probably think better of it.

There are some important features in the process of choosing a hotel.
Confidence:
- Do not take the promises of travel agencies and advertisements words on trust: they can, and often do, conceal certain details so that everything will look splendid;
- Do not believe the comments of “experienced” tourists at hotel’s web-site, as they can be simply written by hotel’s marketing people.
Hotel’s web-site:
- If the hotel has no web-site, then you should be cautious: either these guys economize on everything and don’t bother to make one, or their star-category is being changed or something alike is going on.
- Hotel web-site is one thing, and hotel’s being listed in one of the wide-known online reservation systems is another thing. Check the latter as well, as online reservation saves a lot of time if you travel extensively.
- Have a thorough look at the hotel’s photos. They will illustrate a character of the exterior and interior of the building. Of course, you will never see minute details, but you will definitely have a general idea.
- What the hotel’s web-site usually does not lie about are hotel’s contacts: address, phones and e mail. E-mail is especially useful to send a message to request details you are interested in. Anyway, by the time their staff replies to your massage you can judge what their idea of customer care is. If the reply isn’t prompt, their room-service is most probably not brisk.
- At last, it is a usual practice to list room categories at the hotel web-site. If you cannot find the category you want, then do not try to find out its availability.

Well, these tips are not all for this topic, and I will continue my advices in the next post

- GSM standard of cellular communication is spread widely and most modern headsets support all three bands – GSM 900/1800/1900. However, it’s always good to check if your headset supports the generally acceptable cellular standard in the country you are going to go;
- if your mobile operator does not provide roaming than you will need to purchase a contract from local provider;
- in most countries you can make international calls from almost any phone booth. However, ‘most’ and ‘almost’ are what sometimes count, so, consult your friends or hotel staff whether it is possible in any particular case;
- calls from public phones may be paid with both coins and phone cards.

What about Internet? I was very much surprised having found out that Internet is available in Europe even in the villages with a little number of inhabitants. In most countries you will also find:

- numerous Wi-Fi access points, some of them are even free of charge;
- Internet-cafes or Internet clubs in many cities;
- some hotels provide Internet for their guests. In most cases it is included into room cost, but make it sure with the reception before actually starting browsing.

Also a few words about opportunities that a mix “Internet + phone network” give an ordinary traveler:

- make sure your mobile phone supports GPRS, as calls over Internet are much cheaper than spendy international calls via ordinary phone lines;
- you can use various software on your phone (especially on communicator) for calling by means of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and Skype.

By “tips” I mean some advices for travelers, such as driving in the foreign countries, sleeping, or how to plan a trip.

I think such matters as language in the visited country and money concern everybody. A lot of people, often on business or vacation, will be interested in useful information, some brief posts about shopping, safety, packing, tours, eating, driving, tickets, mobile phones, markets and so on.

I understood the importance of knowing some details, having visited Italy for the first time. For example, everybody can wish to find out the toilet location in the city, or may be, you will seek the place, but have not got the map but need to find out the route. Or the info about reserving a room is always necessary too.

During my travel in India I found out several facts about local drivers:
- all Indian drivers have a strange habit to take you not only to the place you want, but also take you back. Nothing can make them change their mind. The driver would wait for you till the last “gun is fired” hoping to take you back and charge double-fee;
- they have one more strange habit. If you want to get to the certain place, then explain its exact address, guiding lines and etc, as a driver can pretend he understands you, but, chances are, you can finally find yourself in some other place;
- if you understand the route is wrong, it’s a big problem to stop the driver. But when you do it, he will take you back at once. You should have exact address and place’s name written preferably in both English and Hindi;
- don’t pay beforehand, you can be swindled

Well, I hope I could give you in short the idea of tips that are likely to be posted here.