Tag: ticket

Public Transport in Amsterdam (ver. 2023)

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

Although I walk a lot during a trip so that I can eat as much tasty food as I want, on this trip to Amsterdam I suddenly decided to buy an Amsterdam public transport ticket.

It’s not anything big but it might be helpful to read this article about public transport in Amsterdam.

Table of Contents

     1. Public transport in Amsterdam
     2. Amsterdam public transport tickets
     3. How to get on a tram in Amsterdam
     ★Summary

1. Public transport in Amsterdam

The whole Netherlands rather than Amsterdam are the country of bicycles! Therefore there are a number of bicycle riders, naturally there are bicycle lanes on the roads as well as you can see how huge the number of bicycles in the bicycle parking areas are.

However, I personally think that other normal (?) public transport is safer and easier for travellers to avoid accidents unless they are a huge fan of bicycles or they definitely want to explore Amsterdam by bicycle.

While I had been to Amsterdam twice before this trip in 2023, it was my first time to use Amsterdam public transport as otherwise I walked.

This is because Amsterdam is a walkable distanced city.

なぜなら歩ける距離だから。

However, after exploring Rotterdam for half a day, and participating in a walking tour in Rotterdam, I had no physical energy to walk 25 minutes to walk to the accommodation in Amsterdam.

Originally I planned to walk to the accommodation so I had no research on the public transport in Amsterdam, but it was not a big problem that I decided to buy an Amsterdam transport ticket.

Also, the public transport in Amsterdam is called GVB.

2. msterdam public transport tickets

Since I tiredly arrived at Amsterdam Central station from Rotterdam, I took a tram in Amsterdam. I didn’t have to buy a public transport ticket beforehand. They have a ticketing counter in the Amsterdam tram. However keep in mind that the payment option is only by card.

As far as I remember, a one hour ticket for Amsterdam public transport was something like 3.40 EUR or 3.90 EUR. I was surprised as it was more expensive than Dublin. Even in Dublin, you don’t need to pay more than 3 EUR for a sightseeing distance. (By the way, the prices in Dublin depend on the areas in Dublin and the price in Amsterdam is dependent on the time.)

Since I had a plan to use the ferry at least twice the next day, and I thought I would additionally use Amsterdam public transport the next day too, so I bought a 24-hour ticket. I remember that it’s a better option if you take Amsterdam public transport more than three times.

Amsterdam transport card (24 hours)

A 24-hour ticket cost 9 EUR, which I bought at the ticketing counter in the Amsterdam tram.

As GVB has a mobile app, you can buy this ticket in the app, too.

3. How to get on a tram in Amsterdam

Amsterdam trams are unique in my opinion. There are both entrance only and exit only doors. I didn’t know these, and once I tried to get on the tram from the exit door. 😂 As I was pressing the button to try to open the door, I found a sign saying “no entry”. 😂

You should remember this if you plan to use Amsterdam trams.

★Summary

Amsterdam is a compact city so you can basically walk around unless you have plans to move from the edge of the city to another edge of Amsterdam.

As for ferries, there should be ticket checking machines or something but I couldn’t find anything or anyone to check my ticket so I used the ferry twice without verifying the ticket. No one noticed me or said anything to me.

Aitäh! 🙂

Malicious Travel Agency – My trip

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

In March 2022, in order to go to Japan for the first time in two years, I booked flights. Since I wanted to bring two suitcases, I booked flights on Finnair, but they cancelled my flights owing to the Ukraine war and COVID. Due to the fact that they didn’t have any alternative flights, I decided to go to Japan by JAL.

However, after booking the flights, the flights by JAL were also cancelled. What was worse, there were troubles after that.

This time I am going to tell you a story about the troubles that I experienced.

Table of Contents

     1. Tickets bought on Mytrip
     2. JAL’s flight cancellation and booking alternative flights on Mytrip
     3. Mytrip’s “process”
     4. Help request to consumer information centres
          a. Consumer information centre in Sweden
          b. Consumer information centre in Estonia
     5. To get the refund
          a. 28 Sep
          b. 19 Oct
          c. 26 Oct
          d. 27 Oct
     ★Summary

1. Tickets bought on Mytrip

After Finnair cancelled my flights, and they refunded me, I booked JAL’s flights.

I always looked for reasonable flights on Skyscanner, and this time I found flights offered by Mytrip. I used Mytrip because I have used Mytrip when I went to Sweden in March 2022 too.

Without knowing that My trip is infamous.

2. JAL’s flight cancellation and booking alternative flights on Mytrip

Although I booked JAL’s flights for my September trip on Mytrip, they cancelled the flights in June.

Since I booked them via Mytrip, I proceeded for alternative flights via My trip as well. I bought the flight tickets specifically on Mytrip Sweden, and they offered only phone support for English speakers. I rang them, and explained. Then the male support agent proceeded rebooking the alternative flights . He told me to wait a few days as I would not get a confirmation email immediately.

3. Mytrip’s “process”

However, I still got nothing after waiting a couple of days. My spam box didn’t have anything either. I called Mytrip again, and this time a female support agent answered me. She told me it was still in its process, and to wait a few more days.

I waited another few days, and yet there was nothing. I called My trip again, and a different male support agent answered me, saying

“There is no flight ma’am.”






Excuse me?




I asked him

“What do you mean there is no flight?”

He said

“There is no available flight now, ma’am.”

His wording was making me furious.

“I’m not talking about now. I asked to rebook the alternative flights last Sunday, and I’m asking why it’s still not processed!”

“There are no available flights now, ma’am.”

Can I speak to a different support.”

“Unfortunately, there is no available flight now, ma’am.”

I wanted to say “Can you not understand English,”

I thought this would be endless, so I hung up the phone, and called them again. Then another male support agent answered me. I explained everything, and he said

“Just a moment, ma’am.”

On his telling me that, the phone was hung up.

Sometimes I’m too stupid to understand the situation, so I thought “Is there calling line unstable?” 😂 Then I rang them again, and this time a female support agent answered me. I explained the same, and she said

“Let me check, ma’am.”

And she hung up the phone.

This is obviously deliberate.

I tried once more, but another female support agent did the same.

Whereas I tried making it clear, nothing was successful, so I called them again, and then a different support agent answered me. This time I requested a refund.

After experiencing being hung up, I googled Mytrip, and found that it was an infamous travel agency. Because of that, I asked him how long it would take to get refunded when I requested the refund.

He said around five days.

Of course I got nothing even after five days.

4.Help request to consumer information centres

While I was googling reviews about Mytrip, I found one review in which a guy planned to take a lawful sanction, so I googled such a thing further in Japanese. Then one article was in the first page of the Google search result that in such a case we could ask a consumer information centre in Japan.

I checked the proper wording for a consumer information centre in English.

Since I booked flights on Mytrip Sweden, I looked for a consumer information centre in Sweden, and found it. What is better, I found a fact that they handle consumers’ complaints in the EU. (The consumer information centres in the EU corporate one another.)

a. Consumer information centre in Sweden

I contacted the consumer information centre Sweden on this webpage.

I explained the same things as written above, and attached screenshots of Mytrip Sweden’s phone number (and small translation as it was shown in Japanese) as well as copies of emails of purchase confirmation of tickets on Mytrip and of flight cancellation notice from Mytrip in PDF as proofs.

I did this one weekend, and unexpectedly they replied to me so fast.

However, since I lived in Estonia, they told me to contact the consumer information centre in Estonia. They gave me Estonia’s contact information, so I messaged the consumer information centre in Estonia in the form.

b. Consumer information centre in Estonia

The consumer information centre in Estonia responded to me fast too.

As an additional proof, the person-in-charge of my case asked me to send them a bank statement of the purchase of the flight tickets.

She gave me a few of Mytrip’s email addresses, and asked me to contact Mytrip and JAL as well.

I had already contacted JAL when I requested a refund to Mytrip immediately, but perhaps because of the summer time (when people travel a lot), JAL responded me quite late. However, they replied to me when I was about to contact them again.

As for My trip, one of the email addresses that the Estonian person-in-charge gave me didn’t work. The other one worked finely.

In the EU, the refund process has to be done within two weeks in principle, therefore she told me to contact her again if there was no answer in two weeks after emailing Mytrip.

As you can imagine, I didn’t get anything from Mytrip after two weeks.

On the 15th of August, 2022, the person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia notified me that my case was registered on their end, it would take time because the consumer information centre in Sweden is relevant, and she promised to contact me if there is anything from My trip.

Three days after that notice, Mytrip replied to me by using one of the email addresses that the person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia gave me. My trip also said it would take time.

5. To get the refund

Here is a timeline of messaging with the consumer information centre in Estonia.

a. 28 Sep

The person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia told me that Mytrip would send me an email about the refund. On the 29th of September, I received an email from Mytrip that their refund would be done with no fees as my rebooking request was not processed in fact.

The email also mentioned that it would take time, but no exact amount of time was not described.

b. 19 Oct

The person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia asked me about the situation, but there was nothing. Then she contacted the consumer information centre in Sweden, and told me to wait one more month.

The person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia also told me to let her know after one month or receiving the refund.

c. 26 Oct

Mytrip notified me that I would get the refund within five business days.

d. 27 Oct

This morning, I confirmed the refund from My trip, so I contacted The person-in-charge in the consumer information centre in Estonia to notify her.

Finally everything was completed.

Although it took four months, it was better than waiting more months or even years, and what was better, it was solved thanks to the consumer information centre in Estonia.

★Summary

When I looked back on my travel history, I also bought the flight tickets to Japan in 2019 on My trip.

On one hand, I think I could use My trip again as I could get the refund by asking in the consumer information centre, and tickets are cheap. On the other hand, the refund process took a long, so I won’t probably use Mytrip or even a travel agency in general again.

If you buy flight tickets on an airline’s website, I think it’s better overall, so I think I will buy flight tickets directly from the airline’s website in the future. Maybe I will uninstall the Skyscanner app too…. What is more, in fact, I use Google flights.

I would recommend you not use My trip.

Aitäh! 🙂

Sweden’s Aircoach: Flygbussarna

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

When it comes to travelling to the city centre or somewhere from an airport, in my opinion an aircoach is very useful at many airports. On the other hand you don’t need to take an aircoach when using an airport such as Tallinn airport or Dublin airport because those are not too far from the city centre. (As for Kansai International airport, depending on the origin, I sometimes use an aircoach, sometimes a train.) At airports in Sweden (at least at Arlanda airport in Stockholm as well as Landvetter airport in Gothenburg), an aircoach is more useful. In Sweden they have an aircoach called Flygbussarna. In this article I’ll talk about Flygbussarna.

Table of Contents
1. Flygbussarna’s website and mobile app
2. How to buy Flygbussarna’s tickets
3. Flygbussarna’s mobile app is convenient when travelling
4. Can you buy Flygbussarna’s tickets on site?
★Summary

1. Flygbussarna’s website and mobile app

Flygbussarna has both a website and a mobile app. The way to use either platform is almost the same as one another, so in the next chapter, I will talk about the procedure on only the mobile app (although I personally prefer using Flygbussarna’s website when purchasing a ticket 😅).

Unlike booking an accommodation on Booking.com or Hostelworld, Flygbussarna does not discount just because you use the mobile app. The ticket prices are the same on both the website and the mobile app.

2. How to buy Flygbussarna’s tickets

Here is a procedure of purchasing a ticket on Flygbussarna’s mobile app.

1) Once you open Flygbussarna’s mobile app, select an airport and Flygbussarna’s bus stop that you will or want to use. Here I selected Ladvetter airport and Flygbussarna’s bus stop in the city of Gothenburg called Korsvägen that I used when travelling there.

2) As you select the airport and the Flygbussarna bus stop, tap “BUY TICKET”.

3) Then the app shows you only the one-way ticket price first. On Flygbussarna, Youth is for those who are from 8 to 17 years old. Unless you know the return flight or a flight to a next destination, you can buy only one-way tickets of course, but if you know you will use the same airport, then it’s better to buy a round-trip ticket as the price is 20% cheaper. (This description can be seen only on the Flygbussarna website, and yet the price is still the same even if you use the Flygbussarna mobile app.)

4) Here’s a payment page. A traveller would use a card or PayPal payment. Here I choose a card payment.

5) Once you purchase tickets, your tickets will be shown in the “Tickets” section accessible at the bottom of the Flygbussarna mobile app. Moreover, you will receive an email with the tickets in PDF from Flygbussarna after purchasing, so you don’t need to worry if you cannot download and/or access the Flygbussarna mobile app.

Also, since the Flygbussarna tickets are valid for three months after purchasing, as long as the valid period covers your travel period, you can purchase Flygbussarna tickets earlier.

3. Flygbussarna’s mobile app is convenient when travelling

On iOS whilst you can save a PDF file in the “Apple Books” app, I personally prefer having the Flygbussarna app because it is faster for me to show the ticket (QR code) in the Flygbussarna app as described above, and I just need to scan it with the scanner in the Flygbussarna bus next to the driver. This way I don’t have to open the Apple Books app and look for the PDF file (as I sometimes have other documents that I need for my trip).

Of course, I don’t have the Flygbussarna app on my phone all the time. When I want to use apps specifically for the country or city that I travel to, then I download them temporarily, and use them only while travelling.

4. Can you buy Flygbussarna’s tickets on site?

Of course you can purchase tickets with the ticketing machine at each Flygbussarna stop. In the case of use of Landvetter airport, if you purchase an Adult one-way ticket at the machine, it costs 139 SEK, and tickets for a round trip costs 249 SEK, which are a bit more expensive than purchasing online beforehand. (This logic is not applied for only the use of Landvtter but in general when using Flygbussarna.) Also, the prices can be different depending on which direction you go.

You can check the Flygbussarna ticket prices on this page.

On the top of the screen, under the header, there is “Show prices for”, where you can select the airport.

★Summary

It’s easy to purchase a ticket on the Flygbussarna platform, isn’t it? You may use a train or a taxi if a Flybussarna bus does not arrive at the airport by the time you should be, or it’s too early to leave for the airport. If not, I would recommend you to try Flybussarna. (In the Flygbussarna bus, you can get Wifi and a USB charging port too!)

Aitäh! 🙂

Västtrafik – a Convenient App for Public Transports in Gothenburg

ZooksLeave a comment

Tere!

When it comes to apps for public transports, some are very convenient, others are user-unfriendly and for which Google maps works better. In Japan, I liked Yahoo Japan’s public transport app, but because almost all of Yahoo-related services have been inaccessible in EEA and the UK since April, 2022, I have not been able to use that app or even its web service from Estonia. From 2022, when I want to visit Japan, it seems Google maps is the only option for me… (Maybe I can access the webpage if I am in Japan, but it’s still inconvenient anyways. Besides, I have changed my iOS app store from Japan to Estonia, so I can’t have the app either or it’s not even in the search results.)

In Tallinn, there is also a similar service and app called pilet.ee, and yet I don’t like it. Occasionally Google maps shows detours, and on such an occasion, I use this app (pilet.ee) to look for faster and easier options. Additionally, maybe this is not only about Tallinn’s transport app – pilet.ee, but I personally want a function to add the travel plan from such an app to the Google calendar app.

Anyway, in Sweden there are also similar services. This time I’m going to talk about only the service in Gothenburg. In Gothenburg, there is a public transport app called Västtrafik in sky blue.

In my opinion, Västtrafik is relatively more user-friendly.

You can buy tickets on the Västtrafik app, and of course on site too. (In trams you can purchase tickets unless the machine is broken. In terms of buses in Gothenburg, unfortunately I cannot say anything specific or make any comments as I didn’t use it.) However, in real life, I experienced both in-app purchase and on-site purchase (in a tram).

Table of Contents
★In-app purchase
★On-site purchase (Trams)

★In-app purchase

I personally recommend you to purchase a ticket in the Västtrafik app as it’s faster and easier. When you open the Västtrafik app, there is a page named “Travel Planning”. Tap there and enter an origin and a destination. In the Västtrafik app, of course you can check stops in the map. Air coaches like Flygbussarna stop in the city centre of Gothenburg, it might be better to check the nearest Västtrafik stop to Flygbussarna’s stop in Gothenburg beforehand.

Once you decide the origin and the destination, the Västtrafik app shows routes. You can also filter the departure or the arrival time, etc in the app. You may see multiple different routes in the screen, but the zone should be more or less the same, so tap one of them, and then you will see the ticket type at the bottom of the screen.

In Västtrafik, “Adult” means those who are 20 years and over, and “Youth” is for those who are 7 to 19 years old. This sort of age difference (like “Adult” or “Youth”) may differ depending on a country or a facility or service, so especially people in their 20’s should check every time. Sometimes, “Adult” is for those who are 26 years old and over, and “Youth” is for under 26, or something like that.

I recommend bearing in mind to use this Travel Planning page while travelling Gothenburg. This is because when I went tog Gothenburg in May, 2023, there were partial construction, and using Google map, I was so late to meet my friend. What was worse, I went somewhere unknown. Using the Västtrafik app, you can arrive at your destination without any problems as Västtrafik shows the real-time information even if the public transports get affected by traffic accidents or constructions.

Once you check the ticket type and set the number of tickets, go next. The Västtrafik app will show the payment method. You can purchase it with an app called Swish there, and yet Swish seems to need to be connected with a bank in Sweden, so most likely travellers cannot use this option.

Paying for the tickets, the purchased tickets become valid immediately. Hence, I would and did purchase one just before the transport came.

However, if you wish to do this, you should register your card in the app, and have a secret note of or remember your card’s security code (CVV, CVC, etc) in advance. In general, it’s quite dangerous to take out your card, and enter private information in public such as at a bus stop, I would say.

After purchasing the tickets, you will see a QR code in the Västtrafik app, but honestly, I don’t still know how to use that QR code. I assume it’s for inspection (only)? I tried scanning it at the machine in the tram, but it didn’t seem to be working. Therefore, I didn’t actually use the QR code.

★On-site purchase (Trams)

For sure you can purchase tickets in a transport unless the ticket machine is broken. (I saw it once in Gothenburg.)

I wanted to obtain a paper ticket, so I bought one in the tram, and found out that it costs 4 SEK (0.40 EUR) more expensive than buying the same ticket in the Västtrafik app. If you care about your travel budget, I would recommend in-app purchase.

In my case, I bought a ticket in the tram at 5 am, so there were few people and it felt relatively safe, but I think it’s a bit dangerous to purchase a ticket in the transport when it’s packed.

Moreover, the machine didn’t have a function to pay by touching a card, but was an old type where you needed to insert your card. After purchasing there, I was like






Jesus, my card doesn’t come out!!




This is the same pattern as ATMs in foreign countries that “absorb” travellers’ cards!!!

But I was wrong. 😂

I just needed to take the card out by hand by myself. 😂 (Thanks to this, I feel my life time got shortened.)

By the way, truth to be told, in Gothenburg, I tried a free ride. 😂 In the tram from Gothenburg Central station to the hostel, I thought “I don’t think anyone notices even if I don’t buy a ticket, don’t they?”, so I did. And it worked 😂

However, particularly in a foreign country, you never know when you will encounter a ticket inspection.

I would recommend not to try. 😉

Aitäh! 🙂