When booking a hotel in Europe, Amsterdam in particular, from America using a date, does one consider the date, the American date (in our time zone), or do hotel owners think of the date of reservation, the actual date in their country? So, Saturday, July 25, in our country, or time zone, is really the day before, or Friday in Europe? Should I be planning on arriving to the hotel the day before which would be their 25th?

Sounds confusing, but does anyone see what I mean?

Thanks.

You make the reservation for the day that you land in Europe..For example if your plane arrive in AMS Sat.the 25th , that is the date that you want, not the day before..

Unless you live in Asia, I dont think that you would arrive in Europe the day before..

I don't know Kis, I think it would be pretty cool if I could leave on a Saturday and arrive on the Friday before. That way vacation days would last longer. Hmmm, I wonder how we could work this out? Sherman, where is that darned "way back machine"?



dave

I would love that, daveesl..

I have no idea what you mean. If it is Fri morning in the US it is already Fri afternoon or evening in Europe.

If it helps, pretend that you are a European making a European hotel reservation. If you are going to be in Amsterdam on July 25, then you need a place to stay on the night of July 25. Where you started from has no bearing on that.

If your plane will depart the US on July 25, you will arrive on July 26. So start your hotel stay as of July 26.

Most US flights to Europe are overnight, arriving the next morning. It is rare to fly from the US and arrive in Europe on the same day, as you'd have to leave early in the morning for the overseas portion.

In case you don't know, the date configuration used in Europe is different than what we (US) use.
July 26, 2009
in the US: 07/26/09
in Europe: 26/07/09
so if the reservation website offers a calendar icon, use that instead of typing a date.

To make life simpler when dealing with hotels in europe use the NAME of the month - not the number. (Also be aware that many things in europe - including planes and trains operate on the 24 hour clock - versus 2 12's - as in am and pm).

You can't arrive in europe before you leave the US. Unless taking a morning flight to London (when you arrive late that same night) you arrive the morning after the night you leave.

When in europe you operate on their date and time - the date and time of wherever you came from is completely immaterial.

(How could a hotel guess where all the guests are coming from and keep track of the dates and times n all these other places? Do hotels in the US keep track of dates and times for travelers from europe or Asia? It would be madness!)

We were just making a joke about the dates and times, however due to things like the International Dateline, my daughter left Tokyo last year and arrived in Detroit 20 minutes before she left. In reality, she spent hours on the plane, it is just a weird quirk on how we do clocks and dates.

Yes, most of the world does their date formats in a logical manner (day-month-year) and I personally find 24 hour time much more intelligent than 12 hour schedules. "Let's meet at 8:15" Ok, for breakfast or supper?

And for those that are not old cartoon fanatics, the "Way Back Machine" was what Mr. Peabody the genius dog, used with his partner Sherman to travel through time. It was on the always intelligent Bullwinkle show, probably the best show ever produced. A show to which I owe my entire education.

"Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat..."

"What again, that trick never works..."



dave

It happened the same thing to me when I traveled from Taipei to the US..However, going there was a different matter..
A very long trip..