First Time help needed "for dummies"
 

Hi all. First time visitor to Europe. Heading to Kaiserslautern to stay for two months (yay!). Frankfurt is nearest airport AFIK. Have no idea where to start as far as travel to get there and once I arrive! Never been out of the US. I have been to local towns in MX but that's a whole different experience.

Trip is approximately Sept 23-Dec13 or so (dates flexible, but I have to be there no later than Sept 28th, return date is open). I have my passport in hand and working on my German! (I speak English and Spanish). And I have a ride from FRA to KS arranged and I have accommodations when I arrive.

Thoughts and asking for help:
"Fly straight to FRA, keep my head down and hope for the best?"(haha)

But, seriously, I am thinking of flying into another city and take a train or other public transport to KS.
Hopefully this is affordable and allows me to see some landscape on the way, meet people, etc.? Suggested cities for arrival? Or better just to fly to FRA?
Best or cheapest city to fly out of from US?
Should I plan on using only cash when I get to EUR? or is there a local prepaid debit that is available? I don't have or want a CC.
Better to buy my att international mobile plan or buy a local mobile when I arrive?

Thanks for any feedback!

Welcome to Flyertalk, xicanaloa

I'll try to answer some of your questions...

Flying to another city and taking the train? Hmmm... you'll be tired after your long overnight flight, and if you go on a train journey after your restless night it's likely you'll just fall asleep and not see anything. Probably best to leave the exploring for some other time (I presume they won't make you work seven days a week?). Also, FRA is the main international hub for Germany, some of the other ones don't even have even have flight to North America, so flying into FRA sort of makes sense.

Telephones - definitely go for a local prepaid, and use Skype/Skype Out for calls to the USA.

Money - you don't really want to carry large wads of cash across the Atlantic, so you will need to find some way of withdrawing money while you are in Germany. Do you have an ATM card? Germany is very much a "cash country", so using cash to pay for everything should not be a problem, except in that not having a credit or debit card makes it difficult to prebook things (such as cheap train tickets)

As for places to see... there are so many to choose from, so it's difficult to recommend somewhere. What are your interests, what sort of things would you like to see and do?

FRA is probably the cheapest airport in Germany to fly into, simply because of the number of flights and carriers that use FRA. You could look at arriving in Paris, but I wouldn't wish CDG on anyone. Zurich is also a possibility, but probably a bit more expensive.

I'd fly into Frankfurt and take the train down to K-town, get situated and rested, and then plan on getting out to see the sights. You will be about 1 1/2 hours from Rhein river wine and main scenic areas, 45 minutes or so from the French border, and maybe an hour or so from Heidelberg. You can get an all day ticket that is good for travel on the regional trains within Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland for 21 euro (disclaimer: on weekdays, you cannot use this before 9 AM).

I am sure that will be a great experience. :-)

If you have a ride from the airport to your destination in KS, that will be the best way to go. Going by trains would be possible, but I think it will be easier for the start, if you have someone to drive you.

I would not do that. First, I think you should do the exploring later, when you have reached you destination and have some spare time. Within the two months this should be possible, right?

Fly to FRA.

First, in Germany, Kredit Cards are not as widely accepted as in the US. It is better to have some cash. You will find ATM nearly everywhere so the best thing to do is getting some cash after arrival. I don't know if you can get a local debit card. Maybe you should ask your company.

I would suggest getting a prepaid plan after arrival. It is not expensive and easy to get.

For international calls I also would recommend skype (out).

HTH

Bus from FRA to K-town (commonly used reference by Americans for Kaiserslautern, not KS) can be found here:
www.delux-express.de

Train is fine too for around €30-€40 one-way, but will require a change in either Mannheim Hbf or Frankfurt Hbf. Not so fun with a lot of bags, but is 1:30-2:00 travel time.

While K-Town is nothing special, you are in a beautiful part of Germany.

Paris is maybe 3.5-4 hours away by car.
Sankt Wendel has a nice Christmas Market. (maybe 25 minutes away)
An hour or so up the A-1 is Trier, which has some of the best Roman Ruins in Germany.

Two months? Are you going on some sort of short term US Government contract? If so, and you plan to drive, you will be under the Status of Forces Agreement you may need a special drivers license.

If you plan to rent a car you will, in all likelihood require a credit card. There are plenty of rental agencies that deal almost exclusively with Americans. If you are not driving a US based debit card will serve your needs. I lived in the K-Town area for 6 years and my BoA debit card was fine, though I don't recall if there were any special transaction fees.

There are no ATM fees for using Bank of America debit cards at Deutsche Bank ATMs. There is a 1% foreign transaction fee.

There are also no ATM fees at other banks in the "Global ATM Alliance," as well as at Banco Santander (Spain) and the China Construction Bank (except in Hong Kong). The other banks in the Global ATM Alliance are Barclays in the UK, BNP Paribas in France, BNL d'Italia in Italy, Scotiabank in Canada and many Caribbean nations, and Westpac Bank in Australia and New Zealand.

B of A charges $5 for ATM withdrawals at all other ATMs outside the US.

>phew< and thanks!
 

Thanks so much! Definitive answers I can use!

Sounds like most here agree that FRA is my best bet and I'll go with that recommendation. I do have an ATM card and I think I will withdraw cash when I arrive. There is a fee from my bank and probably a local atm fee, but better than risking loss during travel! Local prepaid mobile also seems to be the way to go.

As far as interests: I am a museum technician & librarian by trade so I will definitely be visiting all the libraries I can catch during my time there, and artifact/historical museums. Also very much into film and looking forward to exploring any cinematic adventures I might fall into. As for outdoors: moderate hikes (nothing that requires an oxygen tank, weapons or heroic survival techniques). I enjoy walking when possible to see life at the street level. But, I will have access to a car while there. I'm pretty easy going and tend to get into conversations with random people so hoping this helps my experience.

etch5895 - thank you! I think I'll take the advice of you and others here. Get there, get settled, then explore. And thanks especially for this tip: travel on the regional trains within Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland for 21 euro.

Appreciate it!

Thank you! Great, straight forward, helpful advice. Skype, prepaid mobile and ATM are in my plans now.

Thanks to all - ehrfürchtige!
 

Thank you, seriously, to all who replied. This is a bit of new territory for me even at the halfway point in life! I can't wait to start this trip. Thanks to all here my plan now includes:

Straight to FRA, ride straight to K-Town (thanks for the tip on the colloquial Americanism of the town name). Upgrade my Skype account, pick up a prepaid mobile when I arrive, use ATM to withdraw cash for most exchanges. Explore travel options after travel recovery!


x.

Sounds like a fun trip! Don't forget to have a bier or two.

Considering that you might want to visit the "Deutsche Bücherei" in Leipzig, which is the largest library in Germany and the "Technisches Museum" in Dresden, both located in Saxony.

Great! Thanks for the tips! I will put them on my list. With two months to explore, I can't wait to get started.

Another couple options for day trips are the technical museums in Sinsheim and Speyer.

http://sinsheim.technik-museum.de/en

Sinsheim is about 1 1/2 to 2 hours from K-town, depending on the traffic and is easy to find off of the A6 near Heilbronn. Speyer is a great town right on the Rhine river with an enormous gothic cathedral that is a UNESCO site in addition to their own technical museum: http://speyer.technik-museum.de/en

Speyer is about 40km or so from Sinsheim if you wanted to do them both in one day. There are plenty of good restaurants and outdoor cafes near the cathedral in Speyer as well. If you are driving from K-town, be aware that they are doing bridge construction on the bridge crossing the Rhine river that you will most likely be using (A61) and there tend to be traffic jams there, although they do move slowly. Plan on either factoring that into your trip time or research and alternate route. My GPS did a good job of routing me around it last weekend, but it was a Sunday morning when traffic tends to be light anyway. If you do have the train ticket I mentioned upthread, you would not be able to use it to visit both sites, as Sinsheim is in the state of Baden-Wurrtemberg and would not be covered on the Rheinland-Pfalz ticket.