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You are bothered by noise from neighbors or a nearby restaurant

France
In France, you can go to the police nationale and complain about a restaurant if it is making noise after midnight. It is advised to come and make a complaint or write to them, not just call the police. The police nationale will be obliged to deal with the organization. You can also agree with your neighbors and write a collective complaint for better effect.

Portugal
The Portuguese authorities have introduced new penalties for noise - music, loudspeakers and parties on beaches can be fined. For example, in Lisbon, the City Council has opened a telephone line where residents can file complaints related to excessive noise: “Linha Ruído” (808 910 555).

Spain
To complain about noise from neighbors/bars or cafes at night, you can call 092 (call the police). You can also contact the municipality or city administration. They will have to send a specialist to check the complaint. The Ombudsman (Defensor del Pueblo), who is available in every region (in the case of a collective complaint), can also act on the side of the residents.

Turkey
If your neighbor does not respect the rules of your apartment building, you can file a complaint with the police (polis). You can also complain to the Ministry of Environment and Urban Economy.

*Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan also has fines for noise. If you are disturbed by noisy neighbors or nearby cafes at night, you can contact the police by calling 102 or 112 on your cell phone.

If you have unwanted visitors such as snakes

\Indonesia, Bali
If you find a snake in your home, call Bali Reptile Rescue. They can be called at any time of the day or night and will come and pick up the snake. The contact number is +62 821-4638-0270, and the organization also has social media pages.

Thailand
In Thailand you can also contact snake trapping services - 076246301, 076246599. In Pattaya, snake catchers can be called at “1337” (general emergency services tel.).

Other situations
- In Turkey, you can complain about cabs through the Beyaz masa service and the hotline number - 153.
- In Portugal, you can file a consumer complaint through the Livro de Reclamações.
- In Kazakhstan it is possible to file a complaint against a bank if it changes the current terms of a deposit or loan, charges penalties for delinquency more than the law allows, etc. through the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan for Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (online on the website, by phone or in person).

Source

In this article - a few important points about enrolling and studying in Norway, one of the most developed countries in Europe.

▫️ There are no restrictions on age, nationality and other parameters for studying in Norway; it is possible to study not only in Norwegian, but also in English.

▫️ The following documents are required for admission: passport, document of previous education with apostille, language certificate, motivation letter, references (optional).

▫️ The application is submitted online 6-12 months in advance depending on the university and program. In case of a positive answer, you are most often asked to send hard copies by mail.

▫️ The Norwegian education system involves 80% self-study and a lot of practical training. Practical training often involves internships and work in other EU countries.

▫️ Norwegian universities have several levels of scholarships and research grants. These are usually available on the university website and on the notice board. Any student who meets the criteria can apply.

Source

Volunteer programs are usually available for up to 1 year. Volunteering does not guarantee a permanent residence permit, but it allows you to live in a new country, make acquaintances, find a future job, and think about your next steps. Most programs provide accommodation and food, some programs provide flight expenses and pocket money.

Well-known programs

workaway.info
helpx.net
hippohelp.com
wwoof.net
mir-tesen.org

After completing a volunteer program, it is possible to legalize in the country on other grounds - e.g. Digital Nomad, education, work. Volunteer programs can apply for a long-term visa (for the duration of the program) or get a residence permit for volunteering.

Participants of internships or volunteer programs can get a temporary residence permit in Germany.

• One of the popular programs is Au Pair It has an age limit: 18-27 years old. Volunteers live with a host German family and help take care of the children and the house. All other conditions for participation are spelled out on the website of the program.

• Once you have been accepted as a volunteer in the program, you must obtain a D visa in your home country.

• Au Pairs usually receive a 90-day visa, which they must extend as a temporary residence permit while already in Germany. This will require registration with the local registration office (Einwohnermeldeamt) and the Aliens Office (Ausländerbehörde).

Source

Volunteer programs are usually available for up to 1 year. Volunteering does not guarantee a permanent residence permit, but it allows you to live in a new country, make acquaintances, find a future job, and think about your next steps. Most programs provide accommodation and food, some programs provide flight expenses and pocket money.

Well-known programs

workaway.info
helpx.net
hippohelp.com
wwoof.net
mir-tesen.org

After completing a volunteer program, it is possible to legalize in the country on other grounds - e.g. Digital Nomad, education, work. For volunteer programs it is possible to apply for a long-term visa (for the duration of the program) or get a residence permit for volunteering.

For example: Red Cross, various organizations helping animals (Help animals), EKOS (union of eco-organizations in Serbia) and others. It is possible to obtain a residence permit on the basis of volunteering.

Required documents:

• rental agreement
• account statement
• passport (with translation)
• Beli-carton (certificate of registration at the place of stay of the foreigner, made, for example, in the hotel)
• medical insurance
• volunteer work contract
• extract with the NPO’s legal entity data
• agreement/contract on volunteering
• proof of registration of the organization with which you have entered into the volunteer agreement.

Major volunteer organizations in Serbia:

UN Office in Serbia
Refugees Foundation - an organization for comprehensive assistance to refugees in Serbia, based in Belgrade.
Initiative for Development and Cooperation,IDC - the project aims to promote inclusiveness in Serbian society.

Important:

• You apply for a residence permit already in Serbia
• You can get a residence permit on this basis only for one year. After one year, it is necessary to change the status to an alternative status (study, work, sole proprietorship, real estate, marriage to a Serbian citizen, etc.).

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Let’s make it a rule to prepare two lists on paper before every trip, on which we will write down the phone numbers of our country’s consulate in the country we are traveling to. We will also need emergency numbers, phone number and address of the hotel. From experience - at the worst possible moment, all of our gadgets can run out of power. Level 80 prep: put these lists in a plastic baggie.

In each bag, backpack or suitcase we will put 50 dollars. The habit of paying with a card sometimes deprives us of the ability to simply buy our own water. In addition, bad people can steal our wallet, so we will be extremely careful.

We can find beautiful places for photos not only in TripAdvisor and Instagram, but also just by looking at Google maps - there are often waterfalls, bridges, valleys that are not popular with tourists.

Traveling light. A carry-on luggage saves a lot not only packing time, even if we know how to pack for a trip in 15 minutes, but also time waiting for luggage. While everyone else is waiting, we’re already traveling. In small suitcases, we can stuff chargers, socks, etc. into our shoes to save space.

If we have the option of not being tied to dates - we can buy tickets six months in advance. Let’s try to go against the tide, i.e. choose dates that are not the most touristy (holidays, Christmas, etc.). Two useful points - there are no crowds of tourists, and the “low dates help you save on tickets and hotels.

We always try to read reviews of the restaurant where we plan to have lunch or dinner. This way we can avoid the situation when the prices in the institution are too high or the food is too unpalatable. And so we can find out the pros and cons of the place.

Even if we don’t have internet, we use offline maps, such as maps.me.

Buy tickets to museums, attractions and excursions online - this will allow us to save at least 10% on tickets. If you have a student card from any country, take it with you, it will give us a discount in many museums. The same applies to various service IDs.

Be sure to find out about the days when visiting museums is free. Most often it is the first or last Sunday of the month.

Buy tickets for night trains and buses - this way you can save money on accommodation. the only point is that the next night you need to find normal accommodation so that you don’t get too tired.

From the airport you don’t have to take a cab at all, you can always take a bus or a special train, aeroexpress, and get to the city center inexpensively.

Download a dictionary or translator before the trip to be able to talk to the locals, if suddenly English is not enough.

If we choose a hotel on the sea - look out for 2-3 lines, sometimes the difference in distance is not very big, but the price is very different.

If we urgently need wi-fi - you can connect to it in any McDonald’s. Also, when we go to lunch or dinner at a restaurant or cafe, we just ask the waiter for the password if it is not spelled out on the front pages on the menu.

If we are very nervous during flights - it is better not to drink coffee before the flight. Coffee can increase heart rate and can increase anxiety.

Just in case, we upload scans of all important documents. If the originals get lost, we will always have copies with us. But we’ll be very careful with the documents. Recovery sometimes takes too long.

We take several plastic cards with us on the trip. If one of them gets lost, you can quickly block it, transfer funds and use the other one.

Before traveling to Europe and other places, we study websites with itineraries for one, two or three days. Most often they already include all the main sights that we should familiarize ourselves with.

Before the trip we look for some unusual places that are not included in the guidebooks, we can find real gems that will remain the fondest memories of the trip.

We’ll plan in advance when and where we’ll go, but we’ll also leave time for improvisation. Sometimes it’s so nice to just lie in a park or sit in a coffee shop for a couple hours.

We don’t want to have time to see everything at once, so that we can run around the whole city and fall down from fatigue by the evening. Let’s say to ourselves in advance: “I won’t be able to see absolutely everything”, and take it as a given. There is nothing terrible in it. The main thing is to observe the city and its inhabitants. Let’s try to become a part of it, even if only for a little while.

We wake up early - so we can look at the main attractions without the crowd of tourists, behind which it is difficult to see the building or monument itself.

If we rest in a hotel - refuse the excursions offered there. Most often street agencies offer the same excursions, only much cheaper. But even here we need to be careful and choose “decent” agencies, with clear conditions and guides pleasant to us.

The main thing is that we consider all options: hotels, apartments and hostels, they have options for 2 or 4 people. Hostels are especially favorable if we fly a large company of 6-8 people. In this case there is a chance to rent the whole room just for the company.

We open a site to search for accommodation, for example, Booking, choose the desired dates and put the lowest price. So, choosing by cost and looking at the location, we will find the most suitable options.

It is better to search for apartments on AirBnB on the same principle, by putting filters. We always use both services. You can never predict where there will be discounts on housing just in our time frame.

Let’s put aside our prejudice towards hostels, if we have any. Now especially in large cities, there is a large selection of such housing, where you can quite comfortably spend a few days. This is relevant for single travelers, because the price in hotels for one person is always greatly inflated.

If we want to find accommodation for free - CouchSurfing can help us. This is a service that shows who is ready to shelter travelers. Search early, preferably a month or more in advance, because many hosts can respond for several days.