Please forgive my having to type this in English. I do not know any Dutch (yet). My name is Rich and I currently live near Baltimore, Maryland, USA. I have just found out that I've been selected to participate in an exchange program at work and will be moving to The Netherlands soon, for one year. I will be working in the city of Rijswijk but my wife and I have been talking about finding an apartment in either Den Haag or Rotterdam. We have a 1 year old son who will also be coming with us, of course. I am wondering if anyone could provide us any suggestions on where we should look for an apartment, what type of clothing is typically worn, etc. I know I can find most of this on websites such as Expatica but it is always nice to hear it from people who live there just to be sure the info is accurate. Any advice that can help us to fit in and assimilate and enjoy the culture instead of looking like the stereotypical American tourists will be very appreciated. Obviously being on this website I am very interested in cars and motorcycles so if there are any "must see" or "must do" events regarding those or other local festivals, we'd love to know. Thank you!
Hi Rich, I wish you and your family a very pleasant stay in our little country! I don't live near Rijswijk but I'm sure others do and hopefully they'll chime in. I do know that in Den Haag you should really visit the Louwman museum! It is one of the best collections in the world and the building itself is magnificent too. I'll be visiting this museum in a few weeks time myself, because they have an exposition of Martini Racing cars, see here: Louwman Museum As for clothes, I think the fashion here is heavily influenced by American culture. For leisure you can wear almost anything you like. I don't know which business you are in and at what level, but in my business the dress code is quite casual. It could be different in Den Haag though, maybe a little more international. Are you perhaps in the patent business? There's a big European patent office in Rijswijk. Best, Peter
Hello Rich, Congrats, that's a nice experience. Our country is small but a good place to stay. A lot of expats here in The Hague. I might be able to help you in your apartment quest if needed. I work in the real estate business here. Send me an pm if you need help. Louwman is a place you must go. Madurodam is fun to although not really car related. If you really want car related visits you sould take a few days to visit Maranello Good luck, Marc
Thank you, all. I appreciate it and will try to find time later today to respond in full, but for right now, we are very busy!
Ok. I'm reading through the guidebook provided (for the program) and am feeling totally overwhelmed with all that needs to be done before we leave. As for attire, I am sure that my contact there will inform me of the dress code. Our concern was more for everyday life. It appears that we already dress very much like most people in your country do so that makes it easy. We are going to order Rosetta Stone this week so we can at least know a basic amount of your language before we arrive. My hope is that through the immersion of being there and knowing a little to begin, we will learn much more as we go. My son is also at that age where he should begin developing a vocabulary so it will be quite interesting to see if he picks up more Dutch or English I am not sure what we will do for housing yet, but I believe we will be looking in Rotterdam given what I've seen for housing costs and what my allowance is. We very much want to live in a bigger city. That brings me to my next question. Yes, we intend to bring our bicycles, but should we even bother bringing a car along? We currently have a 2013 Subaru Legacy which I fear may be quite large for the area. In addition to paying for (and finding) a permanent parking space for it, anytime we use it we'd have to find and pay then too. We want to travel around Europe on weekends as much as possible but I believe we could do that mostly via rail or plane and utilize the local metro/public transport for convenience. Does anyone have a suggestion here? Also, I am hoping to bring a motorcycle of mine along simply (I know, again, I have to find and pay for parking) to use for commuting and hopefully to take to some race tracks such as Spa or the Nurburgring. What I cannot find is information on if I will be able to get a motorcycle license there which would allow me to pilot my bike (2003 Buell Lightning, 983cc, 70kW) on public roads? Can anyone point me to a good source to find an answer for this? Thank you all, again.
If you plan to live in the centre of Rotterdam, you'll have to pay a fair amount of money to park your car or get a parkingpermit. If you plan to live in the suburbs it could be free. Please do a very good research on where to live in Rotterdam, not every place is evenly convenient to live. Here you will find the areas where to pay: parkeersectoren centrum**-**Cityportal Rotterdam If you chose an appartment, it could have a (free) garage of course. US-cars need to be adapted to Dutch legislation, e.g. sidelights are forbidden in the Netherlands. I'm not sure if you are allowed to drive your car on US-plates in the Netherlands, but I doubt it....a Legacy is not that big though. You can trade in your US drivingpermit for a Dutch at the local municipality, your permit should be valid in the US when you trade it: How can I exchange a foreign driving licence
For more than a few months a car would need reregistering which means windows & lights with the E mark and kph speedo - if your car is not already equipped the costs will go up greatly Holland is a land of bicycles (& clogs.....) so unless you have a generous freight allowance get them locally If you want to simplify your life try to get an apartment within walking or cycling distance of work (bus at a push) Driving & riding licenses & insurance should be covered on any number of expat websites As for the langauge polite as it is to be able to ask in Dutch and understand signs do not be surprised if you invariably get a reply in English
Hmm... I knew we would have to get it registered there, but I doubt our car has the E marked windows or lights and it does have side marker lights as required in the US. It does have a KPH marked speedo though It sounds like Ruby-Sue (our Legacy) will not be making the trip as that could get quite expensive, quite fast. We are hoping to find an apartment in the city near shops and public transit and I do intend to either walk, bike, or use public transit to get to work. We do have a rather generous freight allowance and I'd rather bring my bike and have it stollen before I buy a new one simply because I already own it and know that it fits me well. roger_l, that was the most direct website I've seen on driving permit exchange. Thank you. Hopefully this means that my motorcycle might be able to make the trek with us. I know that many will reply in English (I hope it is not because I am butchering Dutch ) but I fear that it would be disrespectful of me to live in the country and not at least try.
I live in Rotterdam, not in the centre but I know Rotterdam very well. If you want some information about a particular place, please let me know. From the centre of Rotterdam to the centre of Rijswijk will take about 30 - 40 minutes by bus/train or car. The Hague, especially Scheveningen is also nice to live because it's close to the sea. It's a little bit expensive though.
Rich! Already a warm welcome in our country! We wear wooden shoes and have life jackets under our beds Sorry I am pulling your leg here Seriously, we have more or less the same life styles as in the US however Dutch can be sometimes very direct or blunt. For the rest I am almost sure you and your family will like it. Residents of the Netherlands cannot drive a foreign registered car Unless you are working and living on an US Embassy or US Military compound. Usually you only need to replace your headlights. My colleague came from the US 2 years ago and he took his VW Beetle with him. He didn't need to pay TAX as he owned it for over 6 months (not sure if it was because he is Dutch though). You can find all the info below. Official Tax office website You are moving to the Netherlands from a non-EU country Office to import vehicles: Information in English about importing a vehicle in English/Import Enjoy your stay and hope you settle in soon!
This made my wife and I laugh out loud! I immediate got the picture of a emergency card from an airplane... but instead of an on airplane, being at a hotel and saying "in case of flood, your mattress can be used as a floatation device".
It appears that I will be coming over sometime in July (do not have an official date yet) and I see on the F1 calander that I will likely miss the German Grand Prix but that the Belgian Grand Prix is in late August. Can anyone tell me if it is easy/difficult/possible to get to Spa-Francorchamps without driving yourself (train, etc.)?
Getting to Spa Francorchamps is indeed not easy by train/ bus ... Better rent a car for 1 or two days imo ...
As we get closer and closer to our move to the Netherlands, I am finding more and more that needs to be decided. After looking into the cost of taxes to bring my wife's car with us, we have decided to leave it in the USA with family instead. I am trying find out if I should do the same with my motorcycle. Can anyone tell me a few good websites that I could look at for possibly buying a used motorcycle in the Netherlands after I arrive? It seems like this might be easier than trying to import one (taxes, inspections, etc.).
These are two big sites: Uw motor, scooter of quad kopen en gratis verkopen Motor kopen en verkopen. Vind tweedehands motor of motoren op de grootste motorsite van Nederland - Auto Trader There's also a Dutch website comparable to Graig's List: ? Motoren - Marktplaats.nl
When moving to the Netherlands, you can apply for a 'verhuisvergunning' (which, essentially, means you don't pay any BPM when importing your car to the Netherlands, because you are moving here to live here). There are some restrictions, but it could save you a lot of money if you would choose to take your car with you. More on this: Verhuisboedelvrijstelling Essentially: -You'd have to be the owner of the car for at least six month prior to your move; -You lived abroud for at least 12 months before moving here; -You will be using the car for the same purpose (but I don't know how they would check, or enforce this).
Robert, thank you. We meet all of the criteria you have listed as well as what I can garner from the website (translated) to which you posted a link. I will have to speak to my wife about this but I believe we will not bring her car anyways. It could be quite useful for my motorcycle though, however, I'm not sure there is much BPM to pay on it as it is so old. Thank you again to all of you for you help. Moving is always very stressful to me and this will be the first time I've moved so far, let alone to another country. This helps me to not worry so much about some of the little stuff so I can concentrate on the important issues.
Indeed, for your aforementioned 2003 Buell I don't expect the BPM to go far over 100,- to be honest.
Can any of you offer advice on which of the many neighborhoods in den Haag are family friendly and which, if any, should be avoided?
Can anyone tell me what all I must have on my bicycle to be allowed to ride it to and from work? Bell, white headlight, red tail light, red rear reflector, white wheel relfectors, yellow reflectors on pedals... is there anything I am missing?
