Europe is such a wonderful ideal.

Loss of insurance

In a previous blog I already apologized for being over-insured like any other Dutchman. When doing my taxes here in Germany I noticed that I paid a monthly amount to a Dutch insurer for some miniscule insurances, like liability, accidents etc. So, I tried to login to the online insurance portal and see what this was all about. The mandatory postal code verification of course caused my login to come to a screeching halt. I had to call the Servicedesk, and fortunately enough, their opening hours coincided with my efforts. (No, I will not complain here about the IVR-jungle I encountered.)

There, the lady informed me that I was not allowed to have an insurance in The Netherlands since I have lived in Germany over a year. That by itself is nothing to be concerned about, but then she proceeded by informing me that I would not be eligible for any benefits, if claimed. Our discussion soon focused on how to cancel these insurances ASAP. This instance was one of the first times in my life that this term was on my mind, she fortunately was professional enough to indicate a date: end of this month.

But now the interesting thing: I would totally understand it if insurance companies would insist on not insuring objects outside of the legal and chance environment they and their econometrists are familiar with. However, I was informed that there is a legal prohibition of insuring objects outside of your ‘own’ country, even in the EU. There goes the European spirit!

Visa

Only barely recovered from this attack on my European ideals I prepare myself for my vacation in Turkey. The Dutch Foreign Affairs office refers to the Turkish Embassy in The Hague, which has a website, fortunately also in English. A search for ‘visum’ only renders a couple of questions that apparently have been asked to the embassy, but not the answers. But, aha, I can click to Çonsular Services Menu’. Unfortunately for cultural degenerates like myself these pages are provided solely in Turkish.

A quick visa check with the Dutch automobile association ANWB – an authority on the subject – tells me that I indeed do need a visa http://www.anwb.nl/vakantie/nieuws/2014/januari/visum-turkije-alleen-nog-online. Fortunately, one website higher offers a possibility to obtain this visa online, which is repeated on the website of the ANWB itself, so that must be legitimate.

Temporary Self censorship…

Sharing my visa experience with a German friend who has travelled to Turkey regularly generates only surprise: ‘I never needed a visa for Turkey, only my husband – Turk by birth – was hassled at the border for (payment for) stamps.’ My prejudice(?) kicks in again. A check at the German Foreign Affairs office http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/DE/Laenderinformationen/00-SiHi/TuerkeiSicherheit.html tells me that Germans can travel to Turkey up to 90 days without a visum.

Where is Europe when you need it?