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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.

Thanks for the heads up and information there @Marok21, glad to hear that the shops are taking steps to minimize the spread and to protect customers and employees from the virus as best they can, like you said it is hard to protect against an invisible enemy. Sounds like a few more shops need to take a little more action and step up their game. At least there are less people traveling on public transport so you can keep your distance and space from other people . I can see most of Europe shutting their doors for a couple of weeks at least, i am not sure where this will end up

Im due to fly out tomorrow evening, not sure it's worth it TBH, feels like the govnt will follow France & Belgium and close the bars and restaurants if not this afternoon then Mon or Tues.

petesmythe wrote: ↑Sun 15th Mar 2020 03:07 pm Im due to fly out tomorrow evening, not sure it's worth it TBH, feels like the govnt will follow France & Belgium and close the bars and restaurants if not this afternoon then Mon or Tues.

Not easy to say. I think there will be some coffeeshops still be open but like you said that can change very fast or they can be forced to close... for sure it´s a different experience than before... so maybe all smoke rooms are closed then... but on the other hand it´s usually no problem to smoke outside in Amsterdam. If it is possible to postpone the trip, i would do that becuase everything change so fast... Dampkring and Tweede Kamer seems to be closed from tomorrow on...

@petesmythe As most sure already know coffeeshops are closed from today on 18:30 till 6th april or maybe longer... carzy how fast the news come in so if possible postpone the trip

Thanks for sharing Marok!! Glad to see you're still a regular in Tilburg! Living in Spain I can't afford to go to Amsterdam, but maybe I fly to Eindhoven sometime when Corona passes and make the trip back to Tilburg and Toermalijn

RoMoney wrote: ↑Tue 17th Mar 2020 11:07 am Thanks for sharing Marok!! Glad to see you're still a regular in Tilburg! Living in Spain I can't afford to go to Amsterdam, but maybe I fly to Eindhoven sometime when Corona passes and make the trip back to Tilburg and Toermalijn

you living there permanently now ?

kalima wrote: ↑Sat 21st Mar 2020 09:37 am

RoMoney wrote: ↑Tue 17th Mar 2020 11:07 am Thanks for sharing Marok!! Glad to see you're still a regular in Tilburg! Living in Spain I can't afford to go to Amsterdam, but maybe I fly to Eindhoven sometime when Corona passes and make the trip back to Tilburg and Toermalijn

you living there permanently now ?

Yes, although mainly living on my terraza with the lockdown

RoMoney wrote: ↑Tue 17th Mar 2020 11:07 am Thanks for sharing Marok!! Glad to see you're still a regular in Tilburg! Living in Spain I can't afford to go to Amsterdam, but maybe I fly to Eindhoven sometime when Corona passes and make the trip back to Tilburg and Toermalijn

I would love to live in spain even if it´s crazy at the moment everywhere with that corona shit but like you said I can´t wait to 2021, too better times will come I am still planing to visit spain because I never been there before but have to wait now till hopefully everything is ok again *fingers crossed*.

When you are able to come over to NL sometime let me know... would be great to meet you maybe at Toermalijns garden

Marok21 wrote: ↑Mon 23rd Mar 2020 02:33 pm

RoMoney wrote: ↑Tue 17th Mar 2020 11:07 am Thanks for sharing Marok!! Glad to see you're still a regular in Tilburg! Living in Spain I can't afford to go to Amsterdam, but maybe I fly to Eindhoven sometime when Corona passes and make the trip back to Tilburg and Toermalijn

I would love to live in spain even if it´s crazy at the moment everywhere with that corona shit but like you said I can´t wait to 2021, too better times will come I am still planing to visit spain because I never been there before but have to wait now till hopefully everything is ok again *fingers crossed*.

When you are able to come over to NL sometime let me know... would be great to meet you maybe at Toermalijns garden

Hopefully travel opens up again in a few months!

Marok21 wrote: ↑Sun 15th Mar 2020 07:04 pm @petesmythe As most sure already know coffeeshops are closed from today on 18:30 till 6th april or maybe longer... carzy how fast the news come in so if possible postpone the trip

Thanks mate, managed to postpone the trip until mid July, who knows whether we'll be able to travel then and what we'll find if we do but we had to pick a date. Hope those that need it are still getting some over there, I hear some shops are offering deliveries!
Good luck everyone.