Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport and how to get to the city on the train

Now this is gonna be completely off topic; just got back from Amsterdam, have some "how to" info to share. 

1. How to get from Amsterdam Airport(Schiphol) to the city on the train:

• Where in the Schiphol to go to get on a train?
• Where and how to buy train tickets from Schilphol to Amsterdam?
• How long does it take to get from Schilphol to Amsterdam on a train?

2. Where are the baggage lockers in the Schiphol and how they work?

Alright, pretty good job on seo up there, eh? No, not really. 

So, here we have a map of the Schilphol airport:

1. You're on the arrival floor, so you wanna go downstairs, following the signs to "Train", mate. 

There are three ways to pay for the ticket to Amsterdam's Centraal Station: a) you can go to a clerk and pay extra 50 euro cents; b) use a ticketing machine with coin slot; c) use a ticketing machine with a credit card slot.

The ticketing box has English setting, thus is pretty easy to use. You actually have an option to buy a ticket with an open date or a round trip if you fancy.

Now, FYRA is an express that makes no stops between Schiphol airport and Amsterdam, so you'll get to Centraal Station in 15 minutes. You can opt for a regular train, which makes 2 stops before arriving to the city, it's 5 more minutes, but you save 70 euro cents. If you pick FYRA, you'll get a ticket for a regular train and and extra ticket, that let's you ride FYRA. The ride costs 4.5 euros as of May 2012.

At the train station at the Schiphol you'll see multiple electronic boards listing trains, destinations, time and platform. If you can't figure out which platform to take, inquire at "TRAIN INFORMATION"booth, they're used to deal with confused people.

Trains have 2 levels, there is also marking for 1st and 2nd class. May I add, no one checked my tickets both times I traveled... if you're thinking about getting off scott free. You should totally not do it.

2. There are plenty of baggage lockers at Schiphol. I used one by the Holland Boulevard(Departures) and later the one downstairs(Arrivals). Again, the machines are english-friendly, you shouldn't have any problems. The price varies with the size(S, M, L) and duration. The lockers downstairs do not have small boxes, but you can leave your luggage with a person - the price is the same. As seen below, to get your stuff back, scan the barcode or enter the code.

An American International Airport. American customs and passport control.

              Most international flights land in New York or Los Angeles. What to expect after you get off the plane and walk into the airport? To get the idea,  watch this video about Boston Logan Airport. Note, they have it available in English, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese. 

               As your plane lands, follow the passengers to the U.S. Customs and Boarder Protection. I recollect, you'll see 3 lines there: one for the US citizens, one for green-card holders and one for Visitors.  I assume you need the one for the Visitors. Wait for your turn by the yellow line on the floor until boarder control officer yells "Next!" to you. If you are visiting the United States with your spouse and kids, you want to stay together and to go see the passport control employee as a family. Walk up to the officer, show him your passport(s) with visa, a custom declaration(s) and a i-94 or i-94w form(s). 

Sample questions asked at passport control are:

• What is a purpoce of your visit?
• What is your final destination? 
• Whom are you visiting?
• How long are you staying?
• When are you planning to leave? 
• Are you going to work in US? 
•  Are you going to stay in US after you visa has expired? 
•  How much money are you taking with you?(you need to declare amount exceeding $10.000).

          If you don't understand the question, say so. My mom got taken to the back offices  because she answered question she didn't comprehend(which was "How much money are you bringing to the country?") with "No" instead of "I don't speak english". 

        After the officer makes sure you're a law-abiding fellow who is not going to try and stay in US illegally, you will be photographed and have you fingerprints taken.

             Follow the signs to baggage claim. The baggage claim is a big room with several luggage conveyor belts. The monitor by the belt displays the number of the flight, I guarantee you'll find yours easily.

            US Customs is next. If you have nothing to declare, go straight to the "Green Lane". Your suitcase will get scanned; you might get asked to open your bag. 

             Sample questions asked:

• Do you have anything to declare?
• How much money are you bringing to the US?
• What's  in your bag?
• Do you have any food in your bag?

      Well, I hope you trip to the US goes fine, i'm going to write about travel-related paperwork next.

screenshots via http://massport.airportwayfinder.com/

On the plane of an american airline.

            My mom has recently visited me in Seattle. It was her first trip overseas, consequently she had had lots of questions: what is it like to fly american airline? what kind of announcements do flight attendants make? how do you ask for a drink or snack or blanket? Yes, it is damn scary and frustrating, when the plane is shaking and a person in authority loudly proclaims  something in language you hardly understand. 

I put together links and bits of info that I hope would be useful for any non-native english speaker traveling within US on a plane for the first time. Again, use http://translate.google.com

•  Here you can find airline announcements you can read and listen to.
•  Video of turbulence announcement.

                Most American airlines(unlike european ones) do not offer complimentary meals on national flights - i'm talking about economy class here. 

Alaskan/Horizon offers free drinks and complimentary snaks(pretzels/peanuts). meals are for purchase starting from $6. 

Delta gives away free non-alcoholic drinks and complimentary snaks. meals starting $4.5.

United will get you complementary non-alcoholic drinks, meals starting at $5.79.

Southwest distributes complimentary snacks and non-alcoholic drinks.

Jetblue hands out complimentary snaks and non-alcoholic drinks, meals for $6.

American airlines offers complimentary non-acloholic drinks, meals starting $6.

                    Now a few handy phrases to use on board:

Could you please help me with my luggage?

I'm afraid this is my seat.

I'm sorry about that

Would you mind trading places with me?

Could I please have some more water/juice/coke, please?

Could I please have a blanket and a pillow?

I need help. Does anyone on the plane speak russian/finnish/french/thai/chinese?

And the most important: I DO NOT SPEAK ENLISH -  go ahead and use it to against a  passenger trying to claim his seat or a chatty seat neighbor on a plane.

By the way, my mom had no problems on the plane, but LAX and SEATAC airports were like greek labyrinths to her, therefore, i'm gonna try to cover airports on sunday or monday.

American Library

What is American public library like? How to utilize the great resources of American public library?

• Free services offered by U.S. public library.

• How to find a library close-by.

• Seattle Public Library on the outside and on the inside: Seattle Central Library and Ballard Branch.

• How to get a library card.

• How to order books, magazines and dvds from home.

me holding my library card

               American public library is all that and a bag of chips. You may get in the library, take any book off any bookshelf, sit down in the comfortable arm-chair and read until closing time. Or you may come to the library, claim a big desk, plug in your laptop and use free wi-fi until you're done. if you're still in school, check out the library after classes - you'll find volunteers who can help you with homework. If you're a not a native english speaker, try taking free ESL (English as Second Language) course held in the public library. If you feel like going somewhere, go to the library, look through one of the local magazines that post article about coming city events (such as seattle magazine or seattle metropolitan to name a few), waste your time there reading free tabloids. If you would like to be trendy but can't afford subscription to numerous periodicals that cover fashion and beauty, try public library; here in Seattle they carry Vogue, Elle, Cosmo, Instyle and many others.

              Central Public LIbraries of the big cities are truly multifunctional. For instance, Seattle Central Library offer complimentary citizenship test preparation on weekends, costless ESL classes on weekdays (including accent reduction course), free computer classes are also available. SCL is a multi-language speaking establishment, so you have a good chance to find spanish, russian, chinese or korean - speaking librarian here.

Finding a public library close-by is fairly easy:

1) Go to http://maps.google.com - the website supports several languages. i've used the google maps in russian and  can certify it works fine.

2) Print your current location in line A(you can probably use your native language). 

3) Print "public library" or the equivalent of this expression in whatever language you speak in line B.

4) You will see few public libraries in the area. Pick the one closest to you.

5) You will be offered three ways to get there by car, by bus, by bike or on foot  Pick the easiest route. Go.

that's what it look like in russian

Seattle Public Library on the outside and on the inside

Seattle Central Library on the inside

Seattle Central Library
via faculty.washington.edu

                 Let's take a look at environment-frendly project of Ballard Branch of the SPL. Instead of  wasting rain water, they use it to feed 18.000 low-water-use plants on the "green roof"; there are seventeen solar panels on the roof to produce electricity; the furniture is cut from a single sheet of laminated wood to reduce waste.

Ballard branch on the outside

Solar batteries on the roof of
the Ballard branch via spl.org

Once you come in inside you will find a reference desk, circulation desk (where you want to go to get a library card or to pay off your balance), quiet rooms, children's section, computer room, holds pick-up, reading area. There are bookshelves with volumes in english and foreign languages; there are numerous magazine racks; there are music and dvd stands which are always crowded.

General Reading Area at Ballard Library

Children's Section at Ballard Library

           

ballard library map via spl.org

       

How to get a library card?

                    You don't need to own a library card to read stuff at the library or use their wi-fi. However, if you want to take library material home, order things, reserve rooms for private study(you can get a quiet room no one but your party may visit for 2 or 3 hours), you need a library card. You can see what library card looks like on the very first photo of this post. 

                     

                     Fill out an application on-line (if you live in seattle go there) or on site, then bring passport or state id to your local branch. One usually qualifies for a free library card if he or she lives in the area. In case you do, bring a utility bill/bank statement/whatever to prove the residency (given that the address on your id is different from the one you claim). Imagine, you are an out of state visitor or a non-resident, just pay a small fee(in seattle it's $25 and $85 respectively) and the card is yours for eternity.

How to place hold on books, disks, magazines from home?

Again, as I live in Seattle, I'm going to use spl.org to illustrate how things are done. 

1) Go to library website - it's  spl.org in my case, chose "Log in to Your Account".

2) Log in using your borrower number and PIN number which you can find on your library card.

3) Pick "Search" and print the name of whatever item you want. I use this russian title to show that if you're looking for something in foreign language you have to type it in latin letters.

4) Press on the title, then press "Place Hold", then press "request".

5) When an item you requested is ready you'll get notified by email. Also, you can always find current status of your holds on "My Account" page.

                Imagine your order is ready. You need to pick it up from Holds Pick Up section of your library. Orders there are organized by first three letters of your last name. When it says on line that your dvd is ready, but it's not on shelf, it's either has just arrived or the dvd is too valuable, so librarians keep it by themselves and you need to show your card to get it.

                Alright, you got the dvd. Now put it down on scanner by check-out area. scan you library card or type your borrower's number manually on touch screen, type your PIN number. Follow instructions on monitor, when you're done you'll get a receipt with dates when your items are due.

              You can return borrowed items by dropping them off in the slots inside or outside the building.

All pictures are expandable. All pictures are mine, unless otherwise noted.