Daytrip to Tilburg and Den Haag (while Corona Virus panic)
Posted: Sun 15th Mar 2020 11:43 am
I wasn´t really sure if I should make a journey to NL in this times... but finally I decide to make it because who knows if they close the borders in the next days or weeks... I took a small bottle of disinfectant with me, tried to don't touch anything in the train for example and stay away from ill looking persons. Whether that really protects me who knows... but it is better than doing nothing ... very hard to fight against a invisible enemy and sometimes it´s very hard to say if it´s only stupid panic or necessary precautionary measure...
First of all I already noticed in germany that in buses (public transport) the front door near the driver is closed and it´s not possible anymore to buy a ticket directly at the driver. I noticed that also on my travel in NL (South Limburg, Noord Brabant and Den Haag).
Some shops at NL trainstations are closed for around 2 weeks and the shops that are opened want that you only pay with card no cash money... also cheap train ticket offerings are not online anymore because they want to minimize the public transport in that time... today there was planned a action like if you take a book with you on travel (or buy a book not sure ) than you can drive for free but that was also cancelled.
The trains run on schedule like usual but there was no one who checked if you got a ticket. The whole jouney I wasn´t controlled only in germany . There are less people than usual in the train and on the stations but more than I thought before. The good thing is that the train was so empty that it was no problem to keep your distance to others.
I also decide to go to Den Haag instead of Amsterdam because it´s not so packed with people as Amsterdam. There were also less people on the street than usual but not like in a "ghost town" or something like that.
In Tilburg I was only at Toermalijn and it wasn´t allowed to stay there... bar and smoker room was closed also the outdoor area.
In Den Haag the association of coffeeshops decided to close all smoker rooms of the coffeeshops to curb the spread of the virus.
Coffeeshop Cremers - They did it pretty well here. They only let 3 customers at the same time in the small shop and the others have to wait outside till they come out. Furthermore it wasn´t allowed to smelling the products which is bad for the customer to check the quality but in the end it´s a good measure. They
showed the products to me but under a glass for safety. The budtenders wear gloves and there is a letter that they really keep an eye on cleaning the hands very often.
Coffeeshop Greenhouse and Dizzy Duck also closed the smokerrooms but it was still possible to smell the products and so on. The budtender didn´t wear gloves and overall the shops were full of customers which isn´t ideal. Cremers did a better job here for sure.
Coffeeshop Toermalijn in Tilburg has also built something that protects the employees when selling stuff. It is a kind of glass pane between seller and buyer with a hole for the transaction. They wear also gloves here.
Overall pretty sad that all smoker rooms are closed but maybe that´s the right decission. Also met some dutch guys behind the trainstation of Tilburg that wanted to smoke at Toermalijn. So now they moved behind the Trainstation and had a session there So a little foretaste of the possible ban on smoking in coffee shops
I am not sure what the future brings. If you ask me it look like they would probably close the borders in the the near future for a period of time. Also Amsterdam Coffeeshops will maybe get affected in the next time. Hard to belive that they stay open or at least the smoker rooms with all that people from around the world. I really hope that they don´t do it but to minimze the risk its better I think.
First of all I already noticed in germany that in buses (public transport) the front door near the driver is closed and it´s not possible anymore to buy a ticket directly at the driver. I noticed that also on my travel in NL (South Limburg, Noord Brabant and Den Haag).
Some shops at NL trainstations are closed for around 2 weeks and the shops that are opened want that you only pay with card no cash money... also cheap train ticket offerings are not online anymore because they want to minimize the public transport in that time... today there was planned a action like if you take a book with you on travel (or buy a book not sure ) than you can drive for free but that was also cancelled.
The trains run on schedule like usual but there was no one who checked if you got a ticket. The whole jouney I wasn´t controlled only in germany . There are less people than usual in the train and on the stations but more than I thought before. The good thing is that the train was so empty that it was no problem to keep your distance to others.
I also decide to go to Den Haag instead of Amsterdam because it´s not so packed with people as Amsterdam. There were also less people on the street than usual but not like in a "ghost town" or something like that.
In Tilburg I was only at Toermalijn and it wasn´t allowed to stay there... bar and smoker room was closed also the outdoor area.
In Den Haag the association of coffeeshops decided to close all smoker rooms of the coffeeshops to curb the spread of the virus.
Coffeeshop Cremers - They did it pretty well here. They only let 3 customers at the same time in the small shop and the others have to wait outside till they come out. Furthermore it wasn´t allowed to smelling the products which is bad for the customer to check the quality but in the end it´s a good measure. They
showed the products to me but under a glass for safety. The budtenders wear gloves and there is a letter that they really keep an eye on cleaning the hands very often.
Coffeeshop Greenhouse and Dizzy Duck also closed the smokerrooms but it was still possible to smell the products and so on. The budtender didn´t wear gloves and overall the shops were full of customers which isn´t ideal. Cremers did a better job here for sure.
Coffeeshop Toermalijn in Tilburg has also built something that protects the employees when selling stuff. It is a kind of glass pane between seller and buyer with a hole for the transaction. They wear also gloves here.
Overall pretty sad that all smoker rooms are closed but maybe that´s the right decission. Also met some dutch guys behind the trainstation of Tilburg that wanted to smoke at Toermalijn. So now they moved behind the Trainstation and had a session there So a little foretaste of the possible ban on smoking in coffee shops
I am not sure what the future brings. If you ask me it look like they would probably close the borders in the the near future for a period of time. Also Amsterdam Coffeeshops will maybe get affected in the next time. Hard to belive that they stay open or at least the smoker rooms with all that people from around the world. I really hope that they don´t do it but to minimze the risk its better I think.