You can use ÖBB's site also for stations outside of Austria to see departures and arrivals.

Just enter the station you are interested in and click on Display Information , then on Departures (or Arrivals ) and under Settings you can change the date (and some other things, such as type of train).

As always there is the caveat that HAFAS might not know about some regional trains (the same problem as if you use bahn.de to plan journeys) but this should be better than nothing.

You can look at the departures or arrivals for any station on the UK rail network on the National Rail website .

For example Glasgow Central Departures and Glasgow Central Arrivals .

You can choose to add a second station to the search if you want to see only arrivals at a given station from a certain station.

If you want a more manual option there are also links on the same website to the Electronic National Rail Timetable (hosted on the Network Rail website).

This gives you the long term schedual for every station, similar to what you would find printed out on the platform.

Similar timetables are provided by the operators of the stations or networks that server the stations.

Continuing the example, Glasgow Central is on timetable 225 and 226.

While not an official source the Wikipedia page for most train stations in the UK has a section labeled services, which give an overview of the trains from a station.

Example for Kyle of Lochalsh:

( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_of_Lochalsh_railway_station )

Always be sure to check against an official source before traveling.

If your having trouble finding the nearest station you could consider using one of these maps of the network: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/maps.aspx https://www.openrailwaymap.org/

Also, if you know the date you'll be traveling real time trains is capable of showing all departures from a station on a given day, example for Kyle of Lochalsh: http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/KYL/2018/02/13/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=pax-calls&order=wtt

You could also consider posting a more specific question with the island you are actually trying to reach.

If you're happy to search for trains for a single day at a time, you can use http://www.brtimes.com/ .

Enter the departure station, leave "only trains calling at" blank, and select a date, and it will show you all trains timetabled to depart from that station.

The site says: Information is updated nightly from data feeds provided by Network Rail, except for details of station connection times, train schedules for Ireland (North & South) and some bus and ferry schedules, which are updated weekly from data feeds provided by ATOC.

so it should be reliable.

On my travels across Europe I always use the Rail Planner app .

It is mainly for use with Interrail tickets, but two features are really useful for "normal" train travels as well:

Find train stations near your current position.

Look up departure and arrival information for every station.

The best part of the app is that it's almost entirely offline (data needed for Google Maps integration), and with regular updates for any changes.

National rail will list routes from A to B for all trains in the UK

For the specific example you quote in a comment (Thurso) since this is basically a single line service the downloadable timetable for the line available from the rail operator's site https://www.scotrail.co.uk/sites/default/files/assets/download_ct/sr1712_north_highlands_12205_web.pdf is useful.

Obviously this does not work well for stations which serve many destinations like Birmingham New Street.

For that the Austrian site mention by @martin in his answer is much better.

Google maps typically shows a "departure board" for each rail station.

I suggest Rome2Rio which'll list trains and connections, but also give you options for flights, ferries, buses and taxis depending what is appropriate for the route you are travelling.

I can't guarantee the cost accuracy, but it is a good first tool to look at.

Example Dingwall to Inverness https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Dingwall/Inverness Example Thurso to Fair Isle https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Thurso/Fair-Isle Clicking on the train option for example will give you schedule information and links to scotrail, while the bus option links to the different schedule websites.

Once you find which bus and train companies serve the town, you can then use those links to see all routes out from a given town.

So for Dingwall for example, you can click on the scotrail link for trains and Stagecoach, D&E Coaches and Westerbus links for buses

so you can see all their routes.

To get more trains to or from a station, click on "Explore" in the top right corner.

There you will get additional connections from your "to" and "from" locations.

For example for Thurso there are the local Scottish towns, but also ones such as Thurso to Penzance (Cornwall) and even Gdansk!

Question: I would like to visit Scotland and the Orkney Islands. I know trainline and scotsrail website, but couldn't really find a single list of trains to and from a station in Scotland / UK. Is there any, can someone provide me a link/address?

Is there a list of trains to and from a UK station?

Departures or arrivals for any station on the UK rail network are available on the National Rail website or the Electronic National Rail Timetable  (hosted on the Network Rail website). Wikipedia has an (unofficial) list of trains from most UK stations under the section labelled Services, or you can try sites like Realtime trains, the departure board on Google Maps, Rome2Rio or the Rail Planner app.

There are a number of ways to research your train stations for your journey, the most official being the National Rail website. You can aslo plan your journey using less official means such as Rome2Rio, Google Maps, Wikipedia etc. Links to some platforms have been provided.

The National Rail website is the official site to research train journeys in the UK  and should list all the necessary options available to you.

There are a number of less offciail sites and apps that can be used to book and research journey across not just the UK but also the whole of Europe. The include Rome2Rio, Google maps, Rail Planner Wikipedia etc.

There are addition links to these less oficial journey planners provided.


The Geographers' A-Z Map Company (who do the famous London A-Z street atlas) also do similar roadmaps for every UK county and city, including Dorset (county) and Bristol (the city of your two stated destinations).

You can buy all their products online , and at large stationery shops, for example WH Smith, you will find the relevant local maps.

The South West England and South Wales

A-Z Road Map covers Bridport and Bristol on one map, although you might prefer to use road signs to get into the coverage of the larger-scale 50 miles around Bristol map.

That said I would heartily recommend that one of you downloads the Waze app on their smartphone and uses that for navigation.

Waze has the google map data and also, crucially for UK driving, has access to crowdsourced live traffic data.

You really don't want to find yourself on the M5 on one of its bad days...

The Ordnance Survey do road maps, and the one you'd need is sheet 7 - South West England .

Saying that, for actual navigation I'd always recommend a traditional road atlas (combined with, as AakashM says, a traffic-watching GPS to avoid the snarl-ups on the M5).

You should be able to get one in any decent bookshop, or in most petrol stations or motorway services.

I'd got for one of the "concise" ones that are a smaller size, as the big A3 size ones can be rather unwieldy.

Something like this one from the AA, for example.

If you're sure you want paper maps, it's probably best to just get a UK road atlas.

The UK isn't a very big country so they're not very expensive.

Paper road atlases designed for exactly this are usually pretty widely and cheaply available in the UK from stationers such as WH Smith or Waterstone's, or any of a number of independent local retailers.

You could probably buy one in advance from your favourite online retailer to be delivered to your UK destination, ready for you.

A nationwide atlas is likely to be perfectly workable and not that expensive (under GBP 10); I've usually only bothered with county-specific atlases (note, as another poster said, that the sites you're looking for are in Bristol, not Dorset) where I need fine detail of residential areas.

All that said,

I wouldn't buy one and haven't in years.

Waze is an excellent free GPS navigation application with crowdsourced traffic data and more up-to-date maps which will make your journey much smoother.

If you're concerned about data charges, Google Maps is also excellent for satnav and can be used completely offline if you download maps in advance - it doesn't take much device space for a really quite large area, and I traveled round northern Scotland that way last year with almost no signal but excellent navigation.

Most bookshops sell paper maps - Waterstones is the big national chain, but local bookshops will sell them too.

You can also pick up 2-3 year old road atlases in many bargain bookshops (e.g. The Works ) for about £2.

It's probably cheaper than buying them online, given you'd have to pay postage too.

If you head to the local tourist information centre, they often have free maps within leaflets for either specific attractions, or a group of local places.

Depending on what you're after, they may be sufficient in some cases.

They certainly would be as a supplement to a national road atlas.

Just buy one of these, https://www.amazon.co.uk/2018-Collins-Road-Atlas-Britain/dp/0008214557

I think those are still widely available in the UK.

bookshops at the airport (when you arrive)?

at petrol stations

en route?

certainly at large bookstores in cities.

I much prefer "real, old-fashioned" paper folding maps, https://www.amazon.co.uk/Explorer-Purbeck-Dorchester-Weymouth-Swanage/dp/0319242544

but they're harder to find.

(Well, trivially available online - if you have time just buy one from amazon .co.uk

and they'll post it to you in Oz.)

There's actually a famous map shop in London, if you're in London you should go ..

stanfords.co.uk

An option no one else has mentioned is to pop into a local Halfords , which is your one stop car/bike/cycle parts and motoring-related-tat superstore chain - the nearest one to Bridport is in Dorchester.

As an ex-Brit I'd vote for buying a cheap road atlas from a service station (or Halfords) when you land.

But, another option

if you're in the Perth Metro W.A. and desperate to plan ahead is to try here:-

It's a great shop to just browse in and should have what you're looking for.

Question: I'm coming from Australia to visit my Dad in Bridport (UK) in Dorset.   We want to drive to Bristol to see the  Brunel Museum  and we want to direct ourselves to see the  Clifton Suspension Bridge  on the way.   To plan out our driving journey, we'd like to get a paper map.   My question is:  How to get driving (paper) maps in Dorset?

How to get driving (paper) maps in the county of Dorset?

Your best option is probably to buy a roadmap for Dorset or the UK, which should be available at any decent bookshop, petrol station or motorway services, as well as Halfords and online. 2-3 year old road atlases are often available very cheaply at bargain bookshops. You could combine this with GPS to avoid traffic on the M5.

The A-Z UK atlas seems to be a very popular choice amongst many drivers who have to navigate the UK. They are avaible in an abundance of places such as, WH-Smith, Halfords, Garage sales and even online. Aside from that you can also find more traditional paper maps such as "sheet  7 - South West England" in bookstores such as Water Stones or your local book store.

The A-Z UK atlas series seems to be a veru popular book for navigating the UK using paper maps. They are avaialbe in multiple stores such as WH-Smith, Halfords, Standard bookshops and even bargain sales. They are also available online.

A more traditional form of paper map can be found in most bookshops and the specific one you would look for is sheet  7 - South West England paper map. You may find maps like this a Waterstones as well as smaller local bookshops.


There are no remedies.

Greyhound's terms and conditions explicitly disclaim liability for delays: In no event

shall carrier be liable for consequential or incidental damages for loss, damage or delay, including weather delays.

And as far as I know, there are no laws in the US that would require them to give you any kind of compensation beyond what the contract specifies (i.e. none).

Maybe you can find travel insurance that would help cover your losses in case of such a delay.

(Read the policy carefully to make sure it would cover such an event.)

But Greyhound won't.

By default, this risk is assumed by you and nobody else.

Transport does not work that way

If you book separate segments from separate companies, they don't owe you anything for a missed connection.

They got you to the agreed location, their job is done.

If you book a multi segment ticket "thru" from a single airline, then that airline is responsible for your missed connections.

So for instance if Delta sold you Glenwood Springs to Dubai, with GS to Denver and JFK-Dubai being codeshares with Amtrak and Emirates, and the Amtrak train is super late...

It's all on Delta to get you to Dubai.

If you booked the Amtrak segment on your own (to save money), then tough beans.

So that thing you are looking for, happens with thru ticketing.

Buy tickets that way.

If you can't, buy missed connection insurance.

travel.stackexchange.com/users/55372/Harper - Reinstate Monica

You cannot coerce any company into taking that liability.

It lies with you.

Regardless of the form of transit, when you book separate tickets from point A to point B and point B to point C, the liability of a missed connection at B lies solely with you.

If you want someone else to be liable for getting you from point A to point C, you need to purchase that on a single ticket or else purchase missed connection insurance , wherein you pay an insurance company to assume that liability.

One possible course of action in this situation is to make alternate arrangements once it becomes clear that you're not going to make your flight, and then present a sympathetic story to the company's representatives.

A few months ago, my wife and I planned a trip to France.

Our outbound itinerary involved taking Amtrak to Boston and then a flight out from Logan.

When it became evident that the train was severely delayed, I talked to the station agent; she was sympathetic to our plight, and cancelled our Amtrak tickets for a full refund.

We drove two hours to the airport instead (spending a couple hundred dollars on airport parking, which was what we were trying to avoid by taking the train.)

But there are a lot of caveats to this advice, and it might not be applicable to all situations:

We actually had an alternate method of transportation to get us there.

The station agent suggested Uber instead, which also might have worked.

(In the event, we had never used it before and weren't about to try it out for the first time in a high-stress situation.)

We didn't actually use Amtrak's services at all; if we had taken the delayed train and then tried to claim compensation, we almost certainly would have been out of luck.

The station agent didn't have to give us a refund; the Amtrak tickets we had purchased were non-refundable, so the best we could have expected was a voucher for future travel.

I suspect that if our destination wasn't quite so romantic or exotic, the agent might not have been as willing to bend the rules for us.

We didn't try to claim any compensation from Amtrak for the incidental expense of the long-term parking at the airport, or for that matter the gas used to get us to the airport.

I'm sure that they would have politely told us to go pound sand if we tried.

Many Travel Insurance policies cover the cost of flights missed because of documentable delays in transfers to the airport, but usually only if they are on a "public conveyance" (as I recall the wording from one policy) and (obviously) if the scheduled time would have permitted catching the flight properly (which probably means the full however-many hours the airline recommends).

So a bus would count, and probably a taxi, but not your in-laws promising to drive you and never showing up.

I think that the availability of travel insurance is pretty much your only hope in this situation.

Otherwise, the risk is yours to take.

The only way I've ever seen

Travel Company A take responsibility for Travel Company B is if A booked B for you (i.e. was part of a package deal).

Cruise lines, for instance, will book shore excursions for you or you can book your own, but with the understanding that, if you book it yourself, you're on the hook if you miss the boat (slightly oversimplified for the sake of example).

As Gerrit also mentioned, sometimes public transits in Europe will also have agreements for liability, but only in limited circumstances (i.e. they have a partnership with said company).

Such agreements are uncommon.

So, no, you cannot compel a bus company to take responsibility for you missing a flight.

The only exception here might be something catastrophic (i.e. the bus flips over, catches fire, etc).

In that case, you can sue for damages after the fact, and throw the missed flight into that number.

Question: I'm buying a bus ticket to get to Boston 23 hours before my flight to ensure I reach my departure airport on time.  If I  didn't  arrange bus transport well in advance, what legal remedies would I have if a delayed bus caused me to miss my flight?

Remedies when bus company makes me miss a flight

Greyhound specifically disclaims liability for delays, and the only way that you could claim for a missed connection is when it is part of a multi-segment ticket booked with a travel agent or covered by travel insurance. However, this would require that you left enough time to arrive at the airport the full recommended time in advance.

If you are to miss a connection they you can be refunded provided that your situation meets certain criteria i.e you have travel insurance or the company that made you miss your connection booked both your journeys and are responsible for you missing the connection that they booked. If this is not the case then they owe you nothing and liability falls on you.

shall carrier be liable for consequential or incidental damages for loss, damage or delay, including weather delays.

greyhounds terms and conditions disclaim liability in the event that you miss your flight. If you book separate segments thenyou are completely responsible for arriving on time.

Missed connection nsurance can be purchased in order to cover you if you miss any of your connections.

The only time a company is responsible for you arriving on time is if they booked all of your connections i.e one company booked your transition from bus to plane.


I live in Brazil and used this kind of shower for a good amount of my life.

On the summer we actually remove the gas shower and install this eletric shower, cause it is cheaper.

So, with that said, I'm pretty confident that it depends more on the capability of who made the instalation than the shower itself.

I've been showering this way for twenty years and never had a problem.

I can undestand why foreigners would be scared to the point of naming it a 'suicide shower', but in my opinion, there's no need for such fear.

These are common in rural areas of Ecuador and Peru.

I have used them for years and only got some mild shocks a few times.

More than 95% of the time, it runs fine and without risk.

Get it depends on the installation and maintenance of these as the ones that shocked me were in very remote areas.

Those in hotels that use them, were pretty much always safe.

I was shocked by one of these one time, in Costa Rica.

It was just a quick jolt, nothing too painful and nothing lasting.

Different brands and models are certainly different though, so always worth it to be careful.

I wouldn't stress out about it

and I certainly wouldn't avoid staying in a place or visiting a country that is known to use them.

You will find something very similar, not in the shower head, but on the wall of your shower, in many bathrooms in Germany.

Usually 10-20 kilo watt, an electronic fuse that shuts down the power within a microsecond if any electrical current is misdirected, and it produces water at the exact temperature that you want immediately .

I'd love one of those in my home, but a UK electrician would probably get a heart attack if you ask them to install it.

They are supposed to be very energy efficient, and if you use solar energy to create warm water, they can easily just add that little bit extra temperature that you want.

I've used good ones and not-so-good ones.

The electric element is in the water, but of course you can avoid getting shocked if you avoid putting yourself in a place where you close the circuit.

i.e, don't touch metal plumbing.

The best is if the shower floor + wall is plastic and you only touch plastic while the heater is on.

The one you pictured would be a lot safer if they moved the on/off switch a few inches over

so you could more easily avoid touching the metal pipe until it's off.

Question: Some people refer to the showers commonly found in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia which have an electric heating element built into the head as "suicide showers" due to the apparent risk of electric shock. How high is this risk really? Even if one was to get shocked how likely would it be at a dangerous or even fatal level?

How suicidal are electric "suicide showers?"

This is usually fine if properly installed and maintained, and any shocks will be mild. However, you are more likely to be shocked in remote areas.

The level of safety really seems to depend on how well the device is maintained and instaled though in most cases the overall safety level seems to be generally high with the lowest level of safety beeing you get the occassional mild shock.

In most cases the shower seems to be safe.

Sometimes you get shocked, however the shocks seem to be quite mild

The level of safety really depends on how it is installed and maintained


It's less of a technical constraint and more of a practical one.

The servers maintained by airlines could certainly hold another year's worth of flights.

The issue is that it doesn't make much sense from a scheduling standpoint.

As it is, airlines are always adjusting capacities on routes.

They add and drop frequencies, open and close routes, and change their fleet.

Planning all of that out one year in advance takes a tremendous amount of work.

Planning out two years is even more work, but for what?

Presumably you're asking because you want to buy airline tickets earlier, but most people don't buy very early at all.

Most airline customers buy their tickets within 100 days of the flight.

Many buy within 30 days, and a huge percentage of business travelers buy within a week or two.

Hence, the airline would put lots of energy into planning a schedule and setting prices an extra year early for very little return.

That's simply not the best way to run a business, so they don't do it.

Source: Personal Experience.

I work in revenue management for an airline.

Speaking from experience, it has a lot to do with scheduling.

I'll pick on Delta for a second.

Delta doesn't know what air routes it's going to be traveling more than a year out (they literally won't let you book beyond that).

Maybe an analysis showed a route wasn't profitable and they nixed it.

Maybe they had to add some new ones and reshuffled the schedule.

The problem is you've got a lot of moving parts.

Here's a short list of some of the considerations that go into airline schedules: airplanes pilots runway capacity (you're competing with other airlines too) gates local ground crews passenger demand for a route

In reality, schedules shift as demand does.

I've booked Delta tickets 5-6 months in advance and, in a lot of cases, I'll get an email closer to my travel that tells me my schedule has changed, sometimes by hours.

Most low cost carriers don't let you book more than 6 months in advance.

It just comes with the territory.

Incidentally, the cruise industry generally doesn't let you book more than 2 years in advance, and mostly for the same reasons.

Aside from scheduling and related topics, calculating the cost two years in advance is hard.

Flight costs are driven heavily by fuel costs.

Predicting these in advance is hard.

As is it hard to predict personnel costs, taxes, airport charges (i.e. it's not even clear whether the city of Berlin will have a new airport in two years or not).

The margin per ticket is quite small.

British Airways earned €6 per passenger in profits in 2011.

With ticket prices in the three digits this is less than 10% margin in a highly competitive market.

A small unexpected increase in cost can make this a loss easily.

Also for a passenger it is questionable whether it is an good investment to pay money that early.

You lose flexibility in your life planning, can't invest the money elsewhere and are under the risk that the airline goes bankrupt.

Most of the GDS's built by airlines to handle their inventory and loads just do not have a year field in the date, that's why you can only book a ticket +330 days or so into the future.

I'd say this is the number one reason, with these distribution systems changing this may do to.

As well as the difficulty scheduling in advance when you don't know what demand will be like, I imagine another concern would be fluctuation in the price of fuel over a longer period.

Airlines try to hedge their fuel costs to allow for this, but obviously the longer the period the more risk - if you're offering prices now for flights in 18 months' time, and fuel costs increase significantly in the meantime, you're facing a major financial hit.

From a technical point of view, one could certainly design a computer system that would let customers book indefinitely far into the future.

You could say, flight 1207 flies Monday, Thursday, and Friday of every week, every year, forever.

But is the airline prepared to say that it will fly these same routes on these particular dates and times forever?

If the airline lets you buy a ticket for 20 years from now, they would be committing that they will still be offering that flight in 20 years.

What if market demands change and they want to reduce the number of flights?

Or just reshuffle them some, like make a flight leave a little earlier or later.

The airline can't commit to never, ever dropping or changing a flight.

So they have to put some realistic limit on how long they will commit to this schedule.

Someone else on here mentioned that "most" customers book within 100 days of the flight.

I haven't seen statistics, but the number of people who know they want to make a certain trip more than a year in advance has got to be very small.

Question: Why it is not possible to book  airline tickets  more than 12 months in advance? Why there is always 1 year and not 2 years or more? Is there any technical aspect behind this policy?

Why can't airline tickets be booked far into the future?

It doesn't make a lot of sense for a passenger to book that far in advance, and setting this limit allows the airline to reschedule or drop a flight as well as changing the price.

Issues with scheduling so far in advanced is one of the main issues with allowing flights to be booked so far in advance. Aside from that, from a business stand point it is just not a smart idea to allow customers to book so far in advanced as airlines could not calculate the actual cost of each flight, would not be able to commit to each flight etc.

One issue is that it does not make sense from a scheduling stand point.Planning out a whole years worth of flights takes a tremendous amount of work and airlines do not know what routes they will be flying passed a years time.

From a business stand point it is not the smartest move as there are a number of variables that cannot be accounted for if flights are made available more than a year in advanced such as; Cost of flights, whether or not they can commit to the flight and whether or not it would be a smart investment from the perspective of the client to book over a year in advance.


I have lived in five countries including the UK and never seen such a sign in real life.

I only know them from American movies, where I've always semi-felt they were some sort of Wild West joke or something, like when they reduce the number by one after a lynching.

I can't conceive of why the population would be posted outside a town, rather than its GDP, area in hectares, name of its mayor, or some other random datum.

Most villages/towns/cities have signs saying "Welcome to {name of village/town/city} ", but they (almost exclusively) don't have populations on them in the UK.

When you drive along motorways, like the M4, you don't go into any villages/towns/ cities, so you don't see the "Welcome to {name of village/town/city} " signs.

You do see "Welcome to {name of county} " though.

London, UK, possibly doesn't have these signs anyway -

London's too big.

I expected to find signs to the boroughs and/or the towns and villages that have been absorbed into Greater London, but I didn't find anything for "Welcome to Westminster sign" on google images, or for Hackney or Brixton either.

Possibly only smaller towns and villages bother with the signs.

I did find this for Tolworth, an area of the Kingston-upon-Thames borough.

At least one existed: one was erected in Trowbridge in 1999, and then replaced later.

But they are exceedingly rare, and I'm not entirely sure that these count as 'road signs'.

Source:

Geograph

According to a brief google search (and from personally visiting several countries on different continents), the population number on the welcome sign seems to be a North American custom.

I've never seen this anywhere else.

So, to answer your question, there most likely are no such signs, you didn't miss them.

You didn't miss them - they don't exist here, or indeed almost anywhere outside of the USA as far as I've seen.

Also, our councils can hardly manage to fill potholes, posting optional factoids on signs is just extravagance.

As others have said, town signs in the UK don't have the population on.

What they do quite often have, however, is "twinned with", showing the other towns and cities they are partnered with for cultural exchange reasons - as shown on the bottom of the Trowbridge sign in @Dragon's post

In the UK, we have no local registration of one's residence.

You can move somewhere and the only thing the council knows about a change in residence, is one name on the council tax bill, a new kid in a school, new benefit claim, etc.

There is no need to register other family members or lodgers.

The only reasonably reliable count of population is every 10 years when the census is taken.

The rest of the time, it would be a costly hassle for councils to maintain such a sign.

Question: I had a trip from Heathrow Airport to Swindon and later turned back to the airport via the M4. During the trip I haven't noticed any signs that show populations of towns.   When I searched for London on the internet, the results were mostly for a city in Canada.   Did I miss the road signs or aren't there any signs?

Aren't there road signs that show populations of towns in the UK?

While welcome signs are common in the UK, signs showing the population are almost unknown outside of the US.

In the UK they do not put th total population of a town or city on road signs. One of the reasons for this is that there is no way for these towns/cities to know what the total population is due to the fact that there is no local registration of one's residence.

The UK does not post the total population of a town on road signs so you will not find them.

In the UK, we have no local registration of one's residence so there is no way to tell what the total population of a town is.


It depends.

Assuming that you don't exceed any size limits, airlines are still often cautious when it comes to any kind of straps, even loose straps on a plain rucksack, or any other dangling parts from checked luggage.

The airline may require you to wrap your rucksack in plastic foil to contain any loose ends.

Both in Gatwick and in Bergen, there are actually bag wrap services, where you can have that done for you.

The reason is simply that any loose ends or parts of checked luggage tend to tangle or get stuck on the conveyor belt system.

It saves the airport luggage handlers a lot of hassle if the passengers are required to contain their luggage as one manageable piece with a predictable shape.

No airline requires you to check "a bag".

As long as you are within the size, weight, and content restrictions, you can check pretty much check anything you want.

What you (and them) want to avoid are dangling parts (straps, etc.)

possible part separation (after all, there is a single tag for the whole thing).

Both points are easily solved by putting your stuff inside a (strong) plastic bag.

Most airlines I know do provide big transparent bags for this; they are mostly used for child seats and strollers, but they are certainly appropriate for a backpack with stuff attached to it.

For more peace of mind, you may want to bring your own bag and not depend on the check-in agent.

Consider using an airport bag for your backpack.

It would not only solve the tent problem, but it also makes sure that straps and buckles do not get caught and damaged in transit.

They only weigh some hundred grams and are easy to stow.

Depending on how you pack, they might double as a bag for dirty clothes or similar on your hike.

I have this one , but that's just an example.

Yes, it should be allowed.

I've checked a folding bicycle unbagged on multiple airlines with a strap holding it together.

Just make sure there aren't any loose parts hanging out, like make sure the strap itself is tied and not dangling and that the pull string for the tent is packed away where it can't get caught on anything.

Ideally you want to put backpacks in a duffel bag, but if you're traveling light and want to skip than you should be fine if you take certain precautions against getting snagged in the conveyor belt.

One solution to the outer bag proposed in some answers to keep the straps under control is a rucksack raincover.

Some are designed to zip round the entire bag in transit, like this one (not necessarily a recommendation, just an example) .

You'd need a lightly oversized one if you're carrying a lot of outside load on your pack, but it would be useful on the trail as well.

I've always been OK with strapping the straps tight to the pack and tying off any loose ends, but you might not get away with that everywhere

They can ask you to reorganize your luggage if straps could get in the conveyor system OR if items (like the tent) could get loose due to not being fixed correctly.

Happened to me two times.

But that's no problem at all: you can either take a tape with you to fix your setup on site or use an additional cover which has the advantage to secure your straps (would be bad if they are damaged before the trip).

Apart from that you don`t need to worry.

Question: I am going on a hiking trip to Norway and need to put my tent somewhere. Can I put a bag with a tent strapped to it in hold?  A bit like this, or at the bottom:   The issue is that my bag does not have native straps like that, so I may have to improvise...  I am flying with Norwegian Airlines from Gatwick to Bergen.

Am I allowed to strap a tent to my airport checked luggage?

As long as you are within the size, weight and content restrictions, it should be allowed. However, you may be required to secure loose and dangling straps and may be asked to wrap your bag in plastic foil.

So long as your luggage does not exceed the maximum amount of weight and size then you should be allowed to check it in. In the event that you have some loose ends you may have to wrap your bag in foil.

Provided that you do not exceed the maximum size and weight limits then your baggage should be accepted.

In the event of having loose ends you may be required to wrap your bag in plastic foil


There is a fantastic website (albeit in German) called PatList that lists every paternoster elevator in existence, as well as whether or not its publicly accessible.

Currently there's about 300 such elevators left in operation (of which at least 50 are freely accessible to the public), so they're far from rare.

Google Translate works well with the site, so it should be easy to find places to visit.

Overall your best bet would be to travel to Germany and Czech Republic, as they have the bulk of the worlds remaining paternosters in operation.

In fact I rode one this morning here in Prague :)

The paternoster at the Arts Tower in the University of Sheffield, UK ( Universities web-page , BBC video ) certainly used to be open to the public.

These forum posts from 2012 and a number of more recent Tripadviser reviews suggest that this is still the case.

The university also publishes a self guided tour (pdf) which includes the tower and its blurb does talk about the paternoster but also states that there is "Limited access to inside building".

Alternatively you could book yourself onto a public event inside the building.

Monday to Fridays 15th to the 29th of June an architectural exhibition is taking place in the arts tower.

Or you can view their full list of events .

The university has also traditionally opened one building up to members of the public to tour in September each year as part of the heritage open days scheme , the arts tower opened in 2012 and the university didn't take part last year (2017).

Weather or not they will take part in 2018 and which building will likely be known around mid July (Source) .

Obviously there is no guarantee that the paternoster will be running on any given day/time.

But i'd image its most likely to be the case from around 9-5 during term time.

The building does feature other normal lifts which may be in use instead - something which I would imagine is more likely going to be done for a late evening event or on a weekend/event out of term time.

You could send an email and try and ask the exact opening times.

Finally, you could also visit on an open day with potential students, there are a handful of dates over the summer or the students union offer more regular tours to non-students.

They note that "Although the campus tour will take you past most of the academic buildings, if you wish to visit a specific department and speak to a member of staff then you will need to contact them directly, at least two weeks prior to your visit to the University.

" you could ask if there tour includes the Arts Tower, or ask if they would be willing to while you are there.

While these tours are open to the public, they will of course be designed for prospective students of the university.

Bochum in Germany has one in city hall that's a local city favorite.

It was closed in 2013 for legal reasons but re-opened in 2015 by the mayor herself.

She hits the button at around 1:50 .

Similar to Hilmar's answer , the city hall of Stuttgart, Germany also has a Paternoster that is publicly accessible and frequently mentioned on TripAdvisor .

It was opened in 1956 and was temporarily shut down in 2015 due to legal issues.

You can watch it being re-opened on YouTube .

You can visit the Paternoster during the opening hours of city hall, usually from 8am to 6pm on weekdays.

Image by

РБМК-1500 from Wikipedia , CC BY-SA 3.0 DE

Vienna city hall,active and publicly available Paternoster,open from 06:30 a.m. thru 4 p.m. local time on working days.

North entrance #6 (Felderstrasse) https://club.wien.at/magazin/lifestyle/paternoster-im-rathaus/

They celebrate its 100th birthday this year.

There are a few Paternosters still operating in Prague - the most accessible one is located in New City Hall, and there are others (I am not sure if they operate) in the buildings of CTU Campus.

The government building in Copenhagen, Denmark has one; although I'm not aware of how many hoops you'd have to go through to obtain access.

Somebody posted this video from the Christiansborg elevators -- I would not have filmed it in 90* rotation!

You can visit three of them in Brno.

They are at these locations:1)

Post office next to main train station (there is big sign POŠTA

, you can't miss it)2) Faculty of Mechanical Engineering which is part of University of technology (address: Technická 2616 00

Brno city hall

(address:

Malinovského náměstí 3 (Malinovsky square 3))

Not sure if the one in the GrossMarkt Halle (in Ostend, Frankfurt am Main), now the ECB is still working and accessible.

When I worked in the building (had an office there)

I used to ride it everyday.

Question: Paternosters  look fun, but (as far as I know, at least in Western Europe) they have almost all been replaced by regular elevators for safety reasons. Are there any publicly-accessible paternosters left I can ride in? Wikipedia mentions a few, but they seem to be in private buildings.    If you can give a site where I can find them that would be appreciated.  (Animation from Wikipedia by RokerHRO; CC license)

Where can I find publicly accessible paternoster elevators?

PatList is a website in German listing every paternoster elevator in existence, as well as whether or not it is publicly accessible. Most that are still in operation are in Germany and the Czech Republic, including the city halls in Bochum and Stuttgart, but there is also one at the Arts Tower in the University of Sheffield, UK that certainly used to be open to the public.

Paternosters can be found all over Europe especially in most cities city halls. An abundance of them can be found in Germany and there is even a website that is dedicated Paternosters, there location and whether or not they are publicly accessible.

There is a dedicated German website that specifies the location and public availibility of Paternosters.

Germany and Czech seem to be a hotspot for Paternoster's. Germany alone has some in Bochum city hall and Stuttgart city hall.

The Arts Tower in the University of Sheffield has a Paternoster.

Paternosters seem to be present in a lot of official buildings around Europe including the government building in copenhagan, Viena city hall and Prague new city hall

Brno is a hot spot location for 3 Paternosters including one at Brno city hall


You can demand that explanation.

In this explanation the shopkeeper/company will try to explain what they do with the data, how long they keep it, and why they think it is legal.

If it is legally required to collect this data, you are out of luck.

If it is not legally required but legal to collect the data, they should give you an option to opt out of data collection without limiting your access to unrelated transactions (i.e. cash for physical goods).

Certainly, in the UK you can refuse.

This has become common practice since the public found out the stores were pocketing the 20% sales tax savings with out sharing.

Here is a link to the British newspaper which claimed to have exposed the scam.

Even before GDPR my experience is that when I say, "It's not necessary, my destination is also within the EU," then the checkout assistant doesn't push the issue.

I've even had one reply,

"It's ok

, you don't have to show it if you don't want to"; I think that was in a Boots in either LGW or STN.

So the answer to "Can I refuse to show my boarding pass" is that you can, and you don't need to rely on GDPR when refusing.

Even if you did want a legal argument based on privacy, the old Data Protection Directive has you covered with the principles of legitimate purpose and proportionality: if you're travelling within the EU then it serves no purpose for them to process your data, and it would be disproportionate to insist on it.

You can only refuse if the boarding pass is being read electronically.

If the cashier just needs to visually see it, then GDPR does not apply.

You can still refuse to show it, but then teller also can refuse to sell you the item.

If the system doesn't save your name (which is the only personal information on a boarding card - note, the frequent flier number is anonymized and doesn't come under GDPR)

then I believe you also are not under GDPR rules.

Not sure if this is really worth the wrath of everyone else behind the line at the counter trying to get at the gate.

What is the goal here?

Privacy?

If you pay using your card, they already have more information about you than on the boarding pass.

Or can I at least demand an explanation of how my personal data is stored from the shop keeper?

They will probably refer you to their term and conditions, a website or some other printed brochure.

I doubt the cashier or the manager is authorized to speak on corporate policy and procedure.

Even if they are, they will probably pull you aside to speak to you.

So again, not sure if this is just a hypothetical question or something practical.

I mean, really - isn't the point to overspend on something, get to the gate, and then regret it the entire flight? :-)

In the UK at least, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) requires airport duty free shops (or "export shops") to be satisfied that the customer is a passenger or crew by demanding a "transport document" from the customer.

This must show the current date of travel, flight number, final country of destination and the time of departure or boarding time.

Simply put those duty free shops are not allowed to sell you duty free goods unless you show them a boarding card or airline ticket that has the required information.

I imagine this is a "legitimate interest" for the purposes of GDPR.

The law is The Excise Goods (Export Shops) Regulations 2000: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/cy/uksi/2000/645/made/data.xht?wrap=true More information here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/excise-notice-197a-excise-goods-holding-and-movement/excise-notice-197a-excise-goods-holding-and-movement The airport shops that are not duty free shops ask for your boarding card or ticket because they can claim back VAT if you are travelling outside the EU, although not all shops pass this saving to the customer.

You can refuse to show them the boarding card and they can refuse to give you the discount.

Martin Lewis did a good piece on the requirements and differences between the shops: https://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2017/05/need-show-boarding-pass-airport-shops-video-guide/

Airport Duty free stores are mostly airside after security and in customs controlled zones where the country's customs officials require the retailer to prove where the products sold are being exported to.

It's both for Eurostat reporting as well as the VAT and Excise reclaim.

Hence the requirement for the boarding pass whether EU or Non EU.

Question: Every time you shop at airports the shop personnel ask to see your boarding pass even if there's no discount on the merchandise due to the lack of VAT. Given that the GDPR is now in force starting from 25.05.2018, can I refuse to show my boarding pass at EU airports, citing privacy concerns? Or can I at least demand an explanation from the shop keeper of how my personal data is stored?

Does the GDPR entitle me to refuse to show my boarding pass at EU airport shops?

You can ask for an explanation and may be able to refuse if the card is being read electronically, but HMRC requires airport  duty free shops (or "export shops") to be satisfied that the customer is a passenger or crew by demanding a "transport document" from the customer. If they ask to check it without recording the information, GDPR does not apply and they can refuse to sell you the item.

In the UK it seems to be necessary to provide your boarding pass, however in most cases the GDPR rule can be applied in certain circumstances i.e when the pass has to be scanned or if the infrmation is not required legally. That being said, you can always refuse to show your boarding pass though it does not mean that you will always be allowed to purchase your item.

In the UK it seems that you require a boarding pass regardless of GDPR

In most cases the application of the GDPR rule can only come into play through certain circumstances. If the person at the cashier needs to scan your boarding pass or does not require its information you can refuse. If that is not the case then you are out of luck. You can always ask for an explanation as to why you need to provide your pass, however you it turns out you need to provide your details and you refuse then the seller can rufuse to sell you the item.

You can always refuse to show your boarding pass details to the cashier


Or can I just dial +92...

as usual?

Yes.

Although it is the + prefix that's the "magic" here.

It is short hand for the outbound international dialling code for whatever country you are dialling from .

This is what allows you to use the same (international format) phone number anywhere in the world.

If you are calling from the US then the phone network substitutes + with 011 (the international dial-out code for the US), or if calling from the UK, 00 .

Etc.

So, the alternative, if dialing from the US would be to dial 01192... - but this will only work in the US (or any country that uses the same dial-out code). Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_international_call_prefixes

You can just dial as usual, just like you would to call him at home, and the call will go through.

But you'll be charged for an international call, however your cell phone plan handles international roaming.

You may find it makes more sense to plan in advance to use Skype, WhatsApp, WeChat, etc..., which will use only your data connection (or wifi) and not billable minutes from calls.

You'd want to check with your carrier to determine your rates for roaming in the US and/or consider obtaining a SIM card from a US carrier, depending on the costs and your expected usage.

Yes, you should dial +92, as usual.

If we're talking cellphones here, just get into the habit of always storing the proper international prefix with the number.

It will not cost you extra to dial such a number as a local call, and if you happen to be elsewhere the number will still work as is.

For instance - I'm danish and all my local danish numbers are prefixed with +45.

They work perfectly both within Denmark and when I'm elsewhere.

One has to keep two subjects separately here: Dialling properly to make sure the call goes through.

How much the call will cost you.

While the subject of call cost would possibly be an interesting one (though these days less than 2-3 years ago) somethink different is important to make sure you will be dialling the correct number.

In case the person you are calling has provided their number properly in international format, i.e. +yyyxxxxx, you won't face a problem.

But in case you see a phone number written in national format (i.e. without a country code) and you found out the country code and want to build the international format youself, be careful.

Many countries (my experience is from Europa mostly) use geographic area codes for landlines and kind of "virtual" area codes for mobiles and you can dial from landline to landline within the same area code without having to dial the area code.

The interesting difference between some countries comes with the leading zero in front of the area code.

In some countries, you have to omit it, in others not.

Example from Germany: Landline in Berlin: 030 1234546International format would be +49 30 123456

(you drop the 0) Example from Italy: Landline in Bolzano: 0471

123456International format would be +39 0471 123456

(you keep the 0)

The rule of thumb is: More often than not, you drop the 0.

Just in case you find out it doesn't work, just insert it.

Question: Here's the situtation: there's a team meeting coming, situated in the US. I'm from Brazil and wish to call a coworker from Pakistan arriving there.  My number is +55... and his is +92... Is there any difference when calling his number on my cellphone if we're both in the US? Or can I just dial +92... as usual?

How to call a number from another country while I'm in another country myself?

You should dial +92 as usual, and the call will go through.


You can keep it in the cabin if it is smaller than 40x30x18 cm.

Otherwise you can't.

As we have limited space onboard, we cannot guarantee that all passengers’ hand luggage will be travelling with them in the cabin area of the aircraft.

Only passengers with Wizz Priority will be able to bring their hand luggage on board subject to boarding procedures at each airport.

The hand luggage of all passengers who have not purchased Wizz Priority will be placed into the cargo hold compartment of the aircraft and can be collected at the baggage belt in the arrival airport.

If your hand luggage is smaller than 40x30x18 cm, you may take it into the cabin but it must be placed under the seat in front of you.

Please note that only 1 such bag per passenger is permitted.

Source:

WizzAir Baggage Policy Life is strange, to protect expensive stuff you have to sometimes spend even more.

I would buy the priority service if my carry-on was really valuable to me.

From Hanky Panky's WizzAir Baggage Policy link: MY HAND LUGGAGE WENT TO THE HOLD AND

MY MEDICINE/JEWELLERY/LAPTOP WAS STOLEN/DAMAGED.

CAN I RECEIVE ANY COMPENSATION?

DO THE 'EXCLUDED FROM HOLD BAGGAGE LIMITATIONS' APPLY TO MY CASE?

If your hand luggage went to the hold and it was stolen or damaged, you can report your damaged/lost items upon your arrival at the Lost Luggage/Baggage Claim desk.

We cannot compensate you for the loss of valuable items (items excluded from the hold) such as jewellery and laptops.

We recommend you remove these items from your bag before giving it to the hold.

WHAT

SHALL I DO IF MY BAG GOES TO HOLD

AND I HAVE MY FOOD IN IT?

We sell snacks and drinks on board, however, if you would like to take your own food, we recommend you remove it from your bag before giving it to hold.

CAN

I BRING MY VALUABLES ONBOARD?

Yes, you may take them out and bring them onboard, but you cannot bring a second bag.

It looks like they suggest themselves to take valuables out before giving the bag for hold.

With the new policy all passengers without priority have been told they need to put their baggage in the hold, no exceptions, on my four flights since the new policy.

I could however always take out my laptop bag, so as long as it fits in the other bag from the beginning its not a problem to take it out.

OK, personal experience: I traveled about a week ago.

I had a backpack that can be pushed to hand luggage size, and a small messenger bag with phone and documents, similar small items.

They did measure my larger bag to "personal item" size, and as it did not fit, I was told I need to get priority, or give up bag.

Never mind that it contained camera, several lenses and laptop, buy priority or give up (I did mention the contents).

I decided to buy priority, and was told that simply stand in check-in line

(I was not aware about these requirements before, so did not buy priority in advance - I do not travel often with wizzair), and buy priority during check-in.

When I got to the check-in guy, I asked for priority, he looked at me, at my bag, said: "is this because of bag?".

When I said yes, he said "go, there is no time at the moment".

So basically I was saved by lack of time.

But note, that they ignore the contents and might force you to give up or pay.

If it's your only carry-on, then I'd highly recommend just bluffing it out .

From their own WizzAir Baggage Policy As we have limited space onboard, we cannot guarantee that all passengers’ hand luggage will be travelling with them in the cabin area of the aircraft.

Only passengers with Wizz Priority will be able to bring their hand luggage on board subject to boarding procedures at each airport.

These two rules are contradictory.

One says it's hit & miss, the other says you have to have paid the extra.

In reality, they always ask for volunteers first if the plane is full.

Just don't volunteer, & if asked specifically tell them it's your camera bag, worth a fortune.

They will just ask someone else instead.

Data source, such as it is: I never give up my camera bag.

I fly with it half a dozen times a year.

No-one has ever asked twice after I tell them what's in it - worst case scenario

, I took out one of the big lenses, said "three grand" & their expression & demeanour changed immediately.

The bag goes up in the luggage rack with the rest of the carry-on, never in the kick-space.

Just to be clear, it is my only carry-on [unless I'm bringing duty free through on a return trip].

Additionally, it is larger that their 40x30x18 cm rule, but is inside the usual carry-on size of 55x40x23cm.

If you wanted to carry it on as an extra bag, then no doubt you'd have to pay for Priority.

WIZZ Priority

If you purchase the WIZZ Priority service (or you are entitled to WIZZ Priority with WIZZ Privilege Pass, WIZZ GO or WIZZ

Plus bundles)

your hand luggage will be guaranteed to travel with you in the cabin area, and you will be allowed to carry one additional small bag (a handbag, a laptop bag or a camera bag) that is not larger than 40 x 30 x 18 cm, and must be placed under the seat in front of you.

If you board at a Major airport such as London Luton and are able to guarantee you are one of the first on

then they will most likely let you keep it with you.

On the opposite end, if you are boarding at a minor airport such as Poprad-Tatry, they won't usually make you put your bag in the hold.

Therefore unless you can keep impeccable timing, I would recommend either shelling out for Priority or switching bag and keeping your valuables on your person in a large coat or jacket, rather than in a bag.

Question: The WizzAir website says that hand luggage is not guaranteed onboard unless one pays for Wizz Priority. What happens if my carry-on is valuable and I am worried that it will be damaged (for example, an expensive camera)?  If the expensive part fits under the seat, could I put it there and give everything else away?If my entire carry-on fits under the seat, could they force me to give it into cargo hold anyway?

Can WizzAir force me to give my expensive carry-on into cargo hold?

You can keep one bag in the cabin under the seat in front of youif it is smaller than  40x30x18 cm, but if you want to separate your carry on luggage you would have to pay for priority.

If you do not have wizzpriority and your carry on is larger than 40x30x18 cm then you will be forced to put it in the hold.

On Wizz air you may take on 1 piece of hand luggage if it is smaller than 40x30x18 cm.

New Policy states that all passenger without Wizzpriority must store their luggage in the hold.


Costco offers Chinese-visa-compliant photos.

There are several Costcos throughout the state, particularly in the Kansas City and St. Louis metropolitan areas.

If you are going through a visa agency, ask them for advice.

Often they specifically WANT US-sized photos so they can edit and cut them to the correct size themselves.

I have had success with online visa photo websites.

(The one I used was epassportphoto.com

but there are others.)

You just take a selfie with your smartphone camera and upload it to the website, tell them what country's specs you want, and then they crop it to the right size and make sure the lighting is OK and then send it to a CVS for printing where you can pick it up.

(You do have to cut it out yourself using scissors, but they provide the lines to cut along.)

It costs on the order of $10-20, similar to what a photo shop would charge.

I applied for a Chinese visa with the resulting photographs and the consulate accepted them without complaint or comment.

Note: I have no affiliation with any of these websites.

The standard US Passport photo works for a Chinese Visa.

I did this last year and had the pictures taken at CVS and attached to my Chinese Tourist Visa application

and it was accepted with no issues.

I’d take a high-res picture myself, scale it down in a graphics editor to get the head size right, then crop it in the same program.

Add a frame of a contrasting color to make it 4x6, print that for less than a buck at Walmart, then cut the frame off with scissors.

I used an app called Passport Photo on my smartphone.

Had somebody take a picture of me against a light-colored background, emailed the pictures to the travel agency handling my visa application.

Worked fine last November.

I did my chinese visa last September.

It was confusing for me because some said a standard 2x2 is fine but the consular office article particularly wanted 33x48 mm photo and a completely white background.

So I took one at CVS and used a background removal visa photo service.

I submitted both of them just in case.

I don't know which one they accepted.

The one that I took at CVS was not completely white.

Do both if you want to go safe.

I used idphoto4you website.

You can choose single photo or other printing format (e.g., 4x6) after editing.

try aipassportphoto.com , they generate china visa photo in seconds and create 4*6 printable version for you.

Question: I'm applying for a Chinese visa. Requirements Photo size: 48mmx33mm, width of head: 15mm to 22mm, height of head: 28mm to 33mm.  I live in Missouri. It sucks. I tried CVS, Walgreens, Walmart. Nobody can do it. All these shops offer standard US passport 2" by 2" photos.  What should I do?

Where can I take Chinese visa photos in the USA?

The standard US passport photo is big enough for a Chinese visa, but you can also ask your visa agency for advice or try Costco, which offers Chinese-visa-compliant photos. Apps like Passport Photo and websites like aipassportphoto.com generate visa-compliant photos in seconds and also create printable versions for you.

There are a numbr of options you can choose from. You can stick with the US standard photo size, got to Costco, make use of a number of apps/websites and ask your visa agency for help if you are using one.

You can go to Costco to get your photo taken

if you’re going through a visa agency you can ask them for advise.

Use of online apps and websites such as; aipassportphoto.com and the Passport Photo app can be helpful in getting your picture done.

The standard US passport photo size is accepted for the chinese visa


Many countries allow you to use a valid visa in an expired passport, as long as you present a valid passport along with it and all the other details (usually including your name)

have not changed:

For example, for the United States : My old passport has already expired.

My visa to travel to the United States is still valid but in my expired passport.

Do I need to apply for a new visa with my new passport?

No.

If your visa is still valid you can travel to the United States with your two passports, as long as the visa is valid, not damaged, and is the appropriate type of visa required for your principal purpose of travel.

(Example: tourist visa, when your principal purpose of travel is tourism).

Both passports (the valid and the expired one with the visa) should be from the same country and type

(Example: both Uruguayan regular passports, both official passports, etc.).

When you arrive at the U.S. port-of-entry (POE, generally an airport or land border) the Customs and Border Protection Immigration Officer will check your visa in the old passport and if s/

he decides to admit you into the United States they will stamp your new passport with an admission stamp along with the annotation "VIOPP" (visa in other passport).

Do not try to remove the visa from your old passport and stick it into the new valid passport.

If you do so, your visa will no longer be valid.

Or the UK

(but see the link a bunch of details where this does and doesn't apply):

You can use the valid visa in your expired passport when you’re travelling to and from the UK.

You’ll need to travel with your expired and your new passport.

This is true of most countries, but you'll need to check for official advice from a particular country to ensure their rules work the same way and whether there are any conditions.

If this is allowed by the country you're traveling to, you will also need to ensure your own country allows you to keep your old passport and that it is returned to you after renewal (some countries require that you request this specifically or it will be destroyed).

See Can I keep my old passport when I have it renewed and a new one issued?

As mentioned above, it'll depend on the country, and possibly the type of visa.

Many countries (most?) ask that the passport's validity covers at least the length of the visa.

In all the countries I have applied a visa for (mostly Asia), both for visits and residence, I had to document the validity of my passport, and it had to be equal or longer to the length of stay.

For tourists visas I was often asked to provide a passport that had a validity exceeding the length of stay by 3 to six months, which makes sense, as these were countries where you can extend your tourist visa in-country.

A notable exception I can think of is visas that by default exceed most passports' validity, like the 10-year visas given by some countries.

But these aren't the most common kind of visa.

For resident visas, it could be argued that as a resident you can easily extend/renew your passport at the consulate, but the countries I have dealt with prefer to play it safe.

Many countries accept visas in old passport for entry of both new and old passports are presented.

We don’t know which country’s visa you have

but it’s highly probable that it will be fine.

This happened to me with my 10-year India visa, and their policies at the time (not sure if they're still the same) required submitting both the old passport with visa, and new passport, for the visa to be "moved" (cancelled on the old passport, and a new one affixed to the new passport with the original expiration date).

Of course it also carried a nice fee for the service.

This definitely varies by country, and you should check the policies of the country that issued the visa.

travel.stackexchange.com/users/306/R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE

Normally the Thai will not give you a visa longer than your passport.

But if your passport gets fully stamped during the validity of the visa and you have to get a new passport, you can just go to a Thai embassy and they will transfer your visa to the new passport.

This has happened to me a number of times when my visa extend beyond the validly of my passport.

Especially inUSA i never ever had a problem.

I presented my expired passport with the valid visa alongwith

my new passport

abd

they gave me entry without any hassle.

Sajjad Mahdi

Question: I'm about to get a visa that will outlast my passport by roughly three or four months. The time difference is not a lot and probably won't have any big effect on anything but it got me wondering. Does the expiration of a passport have any effect on still valid visas? Is this visa still usable even though the passport isn't? Or does this vary from country to country?

What happens to visas that last longer than a passport?

Most countries, including the US, will accept a valid visa if presented along with a valid passport. Do not try to transfer your visa to your new passport, but rather present both passports together.

Many countries allow you to travel with your old passport with the visa and new passport in order to enter the country. You should not tear your visa out of your old passport and stick it in your new one. This will make the visa invalid.


For the last several years I flew RyanAir, I have never had my boarding pass stamped

(I have non-EU/EEA passport).

I have never been refused boarding, and never seen anyone being refused boarding.

The typical RyanAir procedure depends on airport, and is one of the following:

They scan everyone's non-EU passport regardless of whether one did check or not.

This is typical at BER airport.

They call non-EU passport holders who didn't get visa check to the gate agent before boarding, and scan your passport there.

They walk along the line ready for boarding, and ask who has non-EU passports and didn't do check, sending us to the gate agent for the check.

Note that this check takes some time (10-30 seconds), and they do close the gate 30 minutes before departure; if you do so, try to arrive earlier than 30 minutes before the gate closure time.

This is anecdotal, but here's a forum post about someone who was denied boarding at Edinburgh in March 2018 for not obtaining a visa check stamp.

However, another poster says that at Edinburgh in February, the gate agent gave non-EU passengers an opportunity to have their boarding passes stamped at the gate, so experiences vary.

It's clear that this requirement is not enforced consistently at all, but does appear to be enforced at least occasionally.

As a Non EEA/EU from London to Madrid it was not required, but from Madrid to London it was and we were denied boarding.

We had to go through the whole inmigration and security check again.

Lesson learned, if you have to print your BP and it says “visa check”, you have to get the stamp.

Don’t play with it; we almost lost our flight because they were not allowing us to board.

My family (2 adults and 2 kids under 6) was just denied boarding at the gate because of this Visa thing with Ryanair.

The airport is Eindhoven.

We hold American passports and are residents of the Netherlands.

They didn't care.

The gate person said this was just policy.

They happily went through the effort to remove our 5 bags from the flight and offered to rebook us for free 4 days later.

It seems like approving a Visa at the gate would have been less effort.

We are obviously not happy about it.

We will not book Ryanair again.

At Basel, for flights to London-Stansted, it's done at the gate, with a Checkport

(Swissport subsidary) agent verifying documents (which, however, isn't always done carefully - I've seen South Africans and Macedonians not being checked for a visa or exemption), before stamping the boarding pass (often even for EU/Schengen citizens), which is then shown at the final boarding check a few metres ahead.

I suspect it varies from airport to airport and maybe even from flight to flight.

My Ryanair boarding passes always say this must be done at the check-in desk before passing security.

In Edinburgh in March 2018 I forgot to do it

and nobody said anything about it.

In Warsaw I tried to do it at the Ryanair check-in desk and they told me to do it at the gate.

I got "Ryan aired" at Eundhoven today along with 5 other people, -we were denied boarding - inclyding two who had their luggage checked on to the plane.

I guess you have to point it out as staff at Eindhoven don't seem to know this fact when checking your passport even though the Ryanair flight was in the next room.

I arrived two hours early and got through security and passport control no problem and waited 30 minutes while the staff talked to each other.

This is an hour before the flight.

Someone even checked my boarding pass but did not tell me I needed a speciali stamp until the plane arrived and

they started boarding us.

They set us aside and told us to wait

and they would check our documents

I'df there was time.

New Zealanders do not need a Visa to the UK and easyjet knows this

si fly with them.

They then said there was no time.

I was rebooted 4 flights later at 9.25 PM the next day

and I suspect they use this as a means of "bumping" people off overbooked flights.

I live in Spain.

For national flights not necessary.

For international flights (i.e. from Spain to the rest of Europe)

it is necessary.

You need it stamped at the counter even for domestic flights.

I am South African and travelling from Scotland to England.

This applies for all non-EU citizens.

You have to pay an extra £3 to check in and print your boarding pass so that it can be signed (this only applies if you need to checking in 48hr before your flight)

Question: Ryanair is notorious for requiring that all non-EU passengers go through a visa check at a landside check-in desk before their flight. However, do they actually  deny boarding  to passengers who ignore the visa check and proceed straight to the gate?   I'm not interested in what Ryanair's website, terms and conditions, or support agents have to say about this. The question is strictly about what's going to happen  in practice .

As of 2018, does Ryanair deny boarding to non-EU passengers who skip the landside visa check?

This rule is not enforced consistently, but it is sometimes enforced and you may be prevented from boarding or asked to do the visa check at the gate.

There are a lot of issues with this rules consistancy with some people never being checked and others being denied their flight. In some cases you are asked to get checked at the gate instead of at check-in. If you are caught you may be denied entry to your flight and your baggage removed from the plane.

Some people get away with never being stopped

In other cases you will be sent to the gate to get it done and people will walk up and down the line asking who needs a visa check

In a lot of cases the visa check requirement is inconsistant

In cases where you do not do it and get caught you will be denied entry and they will remova your luggage from the aeroplane.


Ireland is an island and there are no tunnels or bridges (or any other means) that would be suitable for cars, buses or trains.

Sorry, the only practical way to get to Ireland is a ferry or airplane ride.

Both are relatively short: the plane ride is about an hour and

the fastest ferry from Holyhead to Dublin takes about two hours.

You will have to choose between visiting this beautiful island and some travel inconvenience.

Keep in mind; it's only a relatively short trip (from England) and many thousands of people do travel to Ireland every single day without any problems.

If she won't fly (I assume a chartered helicopter is as out of the question as fixed-wing aircraft; they're more dangerous), and she won't ride in a boat, there is only one way left, and I intend this answer with all seriousness, not as a joke: swimming.

The water is too deep to permit wading, and there are no bridges between Great Britain and the island of Ireland.

(One can get to the island of Great Britain by train from the mainland of Europe, but this has only been possible since the 1990s.)

She simply won't be able to go unless and until a bridge is built, and while this is a technical possibility, it is not on any government's radar at the moment and these projects tend to take many years to fund, design and build.

It seems unlikely that a trip to Ireland by land transport will be possible until at least the 2030s.

These people have swum the North Channel between Ireland and Great Britain, but they seem all to have been swimming specialists in extraordinary physical condition, so it is not a journey for the faint of heart - and assuming she doesn't intend to live out her days in Ireland, it would require a return journey via the same method.

If parachuting is allowed, there are two options: a human cannonball

(although the world record distance is only about 200 feet or about 60 metres; or by catapult, when an altitude of 300 feet or 90 metres has been achieved.

But more seriously, the most feasible means of transport are by airship or hot air balloon.

There are several companies offering chartered helicopter trips,

e.g. https://www.atlashelicopters.co.uk

An initial quote from them for flying London -

> Dublin is about 7000 GBP, for two passengers.

The price is heavily dependent on the time, and this particular stretch would be roughly ~2 hours.

You can cut down on costs by finding a helicopter company closer to Ireland.

There are also many Hovercraft companies both in Ireland and England that could possibly allow chartering a trip between the islands, however for traveling over the open seas a large high capacity hovercraft would be required, and as there are no active routes catering to many persons, this would be very expensive.

There used to be a hovercraft route to Isle of Man however, but this has been replaced by catamarans.

The only active hovercraft route in the vicinity is by Hovertravel and goes between Portsmouth and Isle of Wight https://www.hovertravel.co.uk/ For getting to England, you can go by tunnel from mainland Europe (train, car, bus...).

In principle, you could also charter a submarine or other submersible craft.

But it would probably be even more expensive than chartering a hovercraft.

Rent, buy or hire a hovercraft ferry.

There are some services in the UK that offer hovercraft vehicles.

One such company is (linked just as an illustration, no endorsement implied): http://www.griffonhoverwork.com/usedhovercraft

Obviously, it is possible to swim .

You could travel to the Republic of Ireland by crossing the land border with the United Kingdom.

Unfortunately, this would require either already being in, or travelling by boat or aircraft to, Northern Ireland.

1) Learn to SCUBA dive.

(You want to be deep enough you remain underwater even when the trough of a wave passes over.)

2) Make the crossing by use of dive torpedoes.

You'll need a support ship because you'll need several to make the trip, not to mention air tanks.

Water ski

The question doesn't explain why boats cause fright.

If it's about being in control of the circumstances, then water skiing may offer a feeling that being on a boat doesn't.

Crossings between the UK mainland and Ireland are 12 to 50 miles long .

Such a crossing would be feasible given the right equipment and a moderate amount of experience.

[Thanks to PLL for the suggestion.]

Perhaps if you get lucky, you could board a passing by iceberg that may be floating by caused by global warming (if you believe such things).

Icebergs can be many miles in diameter and would not likely cause sea sickness.

You will have to construct some sort of apparatus to drive it over to Ireland though.

Or if you two are patient, you could wait a few hundred million years and hope the tectonic plates will eventually connect you to Ireland.

Maybe there will be a bridge before then though if you can't manage to live that long.

Question: I wonder if there is any way to travel to an island (in my case: Ireland) without taking a plane or a boat.  My sister claims to be frightened of both, so is there a way for her to get there?

How to get to Ireland without using a plane or a ship?

The only practical ways to reach Ireland would be a plane or ferry, but theoretically you could travel by airship, hot air balloon, hovercraft or swim. More realistically, several companies offer chartered helicopter trips.

The only practical way to get from England to island is either to traverse water or through the sky. Though there are other options other than a plane or boat. One could take an airship, hot air balloon, helicopters, use a hovercraft ferry and swim if they are capable.

There is no other practical way to get from england to ireland

There are other rentable alternatives that fly that aren't planes


Summary: Judging by historical data, the risk of encountering a hurricane in Houston is small in October, minimal in November, and practically non-existent in February & March.

The NOAA has some useful trend maps by month based on historical data on their website.

They note that These figures only depict average conditions.

Hurricanes can originate in different locations and travel much different paths from the average.

Nonetheless, having a sense of the general pattern can give you a better picture of the average hurricane season for your area.

(The bolding is in the original.)

Based on these maps, the worst choices would be August, September, or June; surprisingly, July is marginally better than either June or August.

November is substantially safer than October, though tropical storms in October are less likely than they are in August or September.

You can also explore the historical hurricane data using the NOAA's Historical Hurricane Tracks tool.

Of the 59 storms in the database that have come within 65 nautical miles (≈ 75 miles ≈ 120 km) of Houston, only four did so in October (Jerry in 1989, plus unnamed storms in 1895, 1938, & 1949.)

The numbers of storms recorded in the NOAA database that have come within this range of Houston, by month, are as follows: Month

# of storms ----- -----------

Jun 11 Jul 11 Aug 15 Sep 18 Oct 4

Nov 0 Note that the NOAA's data set goes back to 1840, though the earlier data is probably incomplete (especially for storms that did not make landfall.)

As a rough approximation, you can divide each of these numbers by 150 or so to get an estimate of the chance that a hurricane will strike Houston within a given month in any particular year.

Note that no tropical storm has ever come within 65 nm of Houston in the month of November; however, tropical storms & hurricanes have been known to arise during November, and it's conceivable that one could affect Texas during this month at some point in the future.

Hurricane Jeanne, in November 1980, did not make landfall, but did cause coastal flooding in Galveston (not far from Houston.)

Meanwhile, February & March are well outside of the typical "hurricane season" in the North Atlantic basin, and no tropical storms have affected Houston (or pretty much anywhere else) during those months.

However, heavy rains can occur any time of year; in 2017, Houston experienced severe flash-flooding in January.

There's no such thing as a sure thing when it comes to the weather, alas; if this is a major concern for you,

purchasing travel insurance would give you some peace of mind.

According to Wikipedia , In the Northern Atlantic Ocean, a distinct hurricane season occurs from June 1 to November 30, sharply peaking from late August through September; the season's climatological peak of activity occurs around September 10 each season.

In this context, the Northern Atlantic Ocean includes the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

Note that hurricanes are possible at any time of the year, though they're much rarer outside the season.

From what I can see on the internet, the hurricane season is from June to November.

It only represents a higher probability that there will be a hurricane during those months.

From this , you can see that historically, most hurricanes tend to devolve into tropical storms or even just heavy rain when they hit the Texas coasts.

If you are averse to risk, you could wait until next February/March.

Or, if you can wait at the last minute to plan your visit after looking at the weather.

The Official South Texas Hurricane Guide 2018 point out that: The hurricane season starts June 1 and ends November 30.

The peak threat for the Texas coast exists from August through September.

However, hurricanes can and have struck the Texas coast during every month of the hurricane season.

As of today, August 23, they're in the midst of hurricane season right now.

Although it usually ends sometime in November, I believe, hurricanes tend to be more prevalent and strongest in end of August through October, often peaking in September as the northerly cooler air downdrafts and collides with the hot and humid air from south.

Keep in mind that the frequency and a strength of hurricanes vary from year to year, as well as taking into account whether it's an El Niño or La Niña year.

But don't fret too much as even though there might be many hurricanes reported far out at sea, most won't reach land at said category before downgrading to a tropical storm or just a thunderstorm or nothing at all.

The main thing is to pay attention to the water currents (rip tides, tows, etc.)

if you plan on swimming or something.

What is your specific concern about hurricane season?

If it’s flooding unfortunately here in houston it floods every time there is a big tropical storm, thunderstorm or hurricane no matter the season.

It’s flooded every year typically in March April

May August September or October since 2015 depending on where you live.

Flash flooding is a real danger due to infrastructure and elevation.

Hurricane Harvey was particularly bad shutting down 90% of highways.

I took these photos below :-(

Question: We are thinking of a visit to Houston on family business in or around October. Is this still hurricane season? Would we be less likely to encounter hurricanes if we delay until November, or even February/March?

When is Houston’s Hurricane Season?

The NOAA has some useful trend maps by month  based on historical data on their website, but the hurricane season in the Northern Atlantic occurs from June 1 to November 30, peaking from the end of August to October, and is much lower by November and almost non-existent by February/March.

Hurrican season starts some time in June and end some time in November. The NOAA website hasinformation on the history of hurrican seasons.

Hurrican season seems to start in June and end at the end of November

The NOAA website has useful information on hurrican history


Airlines certainly keep a passenger manifest ( it looks something like this ) that lists everyone on board and where they are supposed to be seated.

These are either paper printouts or viewed on handheld devices carried by the cabin crew.

They will not be fooled by your claim that you threw out your boarding pass.

And they know you have ID with you, so they can always find out where you're supposed to be based on your name.

On some airlines, such as American , the crew is instructed to verify that passengers haven't upgraded themselves to premium economy by checking the manifest.

They'd see that you're sitting in a seat that's supposed to be unoccupied.

Some airlines may even allow you to purchase the seat on-board.

It may be possible on some airlines if enforcement isn't strict, but if the seat comes with more than just extra legroom (food, drinks, etc...), it's even more likely that you'll be caught.

You could also find that the seat isn't really empty, as others may still board after you even if you're at the end of the boarding line, including standby passengers.

You'll be asked for your boarding pass if someone else shows up to claim their seat.

With industry-wide load factors at high levels, there's a good chance that seat may belong to someone else, and you won't know until the aircraft door is closed.

I've been contracting for a major Australian airline.

I've seen the app the crew uses.

It has a manifest of every passenger in every class, names and notes.

They most certainly know which seats are supposed to be empty, sorry ;) (also it might cause a note to go against your name once they spot you)

It may be possible if your are lucky, but don't count on it.

As already answered by Zach, airlines very well do know who should sit where.

The question is if they always check, and in which detail.

Case in point: A budget airline I travelled with recently has different "classes" even within economy.

Specifically, bringing checked baggage and getting a snack are extra.

We booked late and got seats in different rows.

After boarding was complete, I noticed the seat next to my wife was empty, so apparently the person who had booked it didn't show up.

I changed to there in order to sit next to my partner.

20 minutes later, stewardesses go through the cabin with a paper and hand out snacks to selected passengers.

We booked without (weekend trip, hand luggage was enough), but I received a snack, most likely because I was sitting in a seat that had booked the higher package.

They didn't check boarding passes or anything, just seat numbers.

So if you manage to sneak into a seat that was book but ends up empty

, you may have a reasonable chance of not being noticed.

The crew will see the seat is booked, see that someone is sitting there, and if the gender matches, will probably not question you.

They don't keep a name-list or seat-list Premium Economy

right?

Wrong.

It's worth watching what the cabin staff does and talks about during the boarding and take-off preparation.

One of the things that you can't overlook when you sit in front of a (smaller) plane is passing the passenger manifest by the ground staff to the on-board crew.

This is pre-requisite to complete boarding.

It might be handled through apps in some airlines these days but it has to be passed and confirmed for the plane to close its doors.

Then the crew discuss what kind of "special" passengers do they have and how many of them .

Usually premium is handled by a different part of a crew, so they'll be fully aware which seats should be empty.

I remember overhearing a discussion like "we have two infants, 5 premium and 3 business on-board today" when I was sitting in the back of a plane.

Finally, the premium economy usually has some kind of complimentary meals even on a short-haul flights.

On long-haul the meal offered is of a better kind than that served in Economy.

Those are also carefully counted so it will be obvious that something is wrong.

I have also personally witnessed once a person to be pushed from a premium to economy seat

(she was evidently trying to "upgrade" her flight the way you describe)

and once a person being requested to get back to theirs seat within Economy.

So apparently crews are cautious about such things.

All the flights I'm referring here happened within Europe, on-board of different airlines though.

Several years ago on United, I asked a flight attendant if I could move from my full row to the empty middle row behind me.

Apologetically, she said the crew tries to keep that row for themselves, but I could move forward to a less-full row (she specified which one).

It was only after I was seated in that new row that I realized it was a minor upgrade.

A different flight attendant "caught" me in the row, made me move out of it, and was rather nasty to me for the rest of the flight.

travel.stackexchange.com/users/43991/G. Ann - SonarSource Team

Question: People ask whether they can sneak into business or first, it's virtually impossible.  But what about sneaking into Premium Economy Class?  What if I stand at the end of the boarding line, and just sit in an empty Premium seat (that I know is empty because everyone else boarded)? If they ask for boarding pass, I'll just say I threw it out after passing gate.  They don't keep a name-list or seat-list Premium Economy right?

Can you sneak into Premium Economy Class?

Airlines keep a passenger manifest that will show where you should be seated as well as any seats that should be empty. Usually premium will be handled by a different crew member, who will know that you have ID on you and will not be fooled by your claim that you threw out your boarding pass.

Flight attendants will not be fooled by your attempt to sit where you shouldn't as they have a manifest or app that allows them to check peoples names and seats. It also tells them, which seats are unoccupied so you will not be able to take an empty seat. They do not require your boarding pass to find out where you should be seated they just need ID.

Flight attendants have a manifest or an app that show's them which seats are occupied and by who. They are also splits into teams that will handle different parts of the passengers

Tearing up your boarding pass will not work as they just need your name and they know you have ID


As at most international airports in Europe, all of the passport control officers will speak English.

I was there a month ago, speak no German, and had no problem communicating with them.

As soon as you give your passport to the officer, he/she will know whether you are a German citizen or not.

If you are a non-EU/EFTA citizen and on the right queue, the officer doesn't need your passport either to start talking in English.

The questions generally include the following topics: Purpose of your visit Duration of your stay

Your return ticket

Your travels to other places (during your stay in the Schengen Area)

I had about 10 visits to Germany, two of them were to Frankfurt, I have never got a question in German from the officers.

Maybe I said "danke" at the end of the conversation, that's all.

Being a German citizen, I can't really speak for travellers coming to Frankfurt from outside the EU.

However, most people you will get in touch with at a German airport will be able to communicate in English, at least at a basic level.

As others pointed out already, communication with officials may be minimal.

There is an article that describes the experience of arriving at Frankfurt Airport - How to Navigate Customs and Passport Control .

I've been to Germany many times as an exchange student and to visit friends, my experience of Hamburg and Cologne international airports was that they spoke English just fine

, I doubt Frankfurt Intl is much different.

Mainland Europe has a substantially better education in foreign languages than England does, as a rule most people you encounter there will speak at least two languages.

I believe it's actually a major factor in being hired at international airports that you speak as many common or uncommon languages as possible, English being a pretty high priority.

If, by some terrible run of bad luck you encounter the one member of passport control who doesn't speak English, their first reaction will be to fetch someone who does.

In short, Don't worry about it.

You'll be fine.

What you should definitely be thinking about is your over-land travel arrangements to get from Frankfurt to Würzburg, I recommend compiling some common and emergency phrases on paper.

You'll probably still be fine, but the further east you go in europe the less likely the people you meet are to speak fluent english.

Particularly bus-drivers and shop-keepers.

As already answered by others most if not all international airports have an English-speaking staff and especially posts like pass control/customs/immigration/check-in and other directly exposed to various travelers will speak English without any problem.

I haven't been in Frankfurt but in Munich that works and that would be very surprising to be any different in other major German airports.

I recommend greeting the person in English when you approach them.

This way you clearly signal this is your preferred communication language.

I always do that and never have been responded other than in English.

This stands not only in the EU but also other major international airports (in my case these were Moscow Sheremetyevo and Kiev Borispol).

I travel a lot (maybe 15 times in last 3 years) to Kiev (Ukraine), Sofia (Bulgaria), and sometimes go through Frankfurt and other times Amsterdam.

I have never had an issue with English not being spoken even in the two destination airports.

Europe is more and more becoming an English-speaking area.

As a non-EU resident of Germany, I conversed in English with all the immigration officers I met in different airports of Germany in the last 3 years.

They include Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin.

As pointed out by others, this is also the case with many other big cities of Europe.

I have had officers who spoke in English in the airports of the following cities: Milan, Naples, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Porto, Sofia, Bucharest and Saint Petersburg.

In Saint Petersburg though, a lady officer struggled to speak certain words and just got a dictionary from somewhere and told me whatever she wanted to convey.

So, no worries, they will always figure a way out to make sure the needful is done.

Safe trip!

I just came back from Europe.

The only place the officers didn't talk in English as soon as I got to them was in Spain, though they'd probably speak in English if i asked them to.

So i think you'll be ok.

At Frankfurt airport, every officer, security and shop i've been, they all spoke very good English.

Question: I will travel soon to Germany to attend a workshop at a university in Würzburg. The workshop is taught entirely in English. This is my first visit to Germany and I speak very little German.  I was wondering if the officer at the passport control would ask questions only in German? If this was the case, could anyone please tell me what I should do then?

Language used at passport control in Frankfurt international airport

As with most international airports in Europe, most staff and all of the passport control officers will speak English. Even if you found an officer who does not speak English, they would quickly fetch someone who does.

In German airports they seem to be very comprehensive with english and on the off chance you find someone who cannot speak english they will more than likely be able to find someone who can.

Upon visiting a German airport you will find that most of the staff speak english and should not have a problem

By chance you find someone who does not speak english they will definitely be able to find someone for you who can speak english in Germany.