The Netherlands to ban cigarette sales in supermarkets from 2024, vending machines from 2022

Rowan Cocoan ..

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Got a fag you can spare mate?

or,

[Link]
".. in racial-supremacists' Israel the principles of democracy or the rule of law only apply to Israeli Jews .."

Tiu Whoa! I've never smoked--tobacco, that is--but I think the Netherlands is knocked out. They have great food, excellent beer and fantastic music concerts, for example at the Milkweg in Amsterdam. They have good, cheap public transit, and if you want to walk on the wild side, they have their red light districts. Or you can pick up some heavy-duty green leafy material almost everywhere, just about every strain and source you can think of--Lebanon, Mexico, Albania, Panama, et al. And if you get "bored" with it all, they have euthanasia clinics scattered about here and there, like in Soylent Green. Another great thing is that 80 per cent of them speak English. I've never gone wrong there.

Chester Goode Wow, the euthanasia clinics as a draw-card - never thought of that one! Their red-light district (at least the one in Amsterdam) is just a seething mass of tourists looking at the girls in the windows who range from good looking to ugly - you get better porn at an average biker event. The food is average, especially compared to France or Belgium, and it's cheaper to buy weed in the UK - admittedly you don't always get the selection available at Dutch cafes. If you don't use their public transport (e.g. you want to go to somewhere off the beaten track, like looking at their dolmens) and rent a car, you will get fined for going 2km over the speed limit. It's a totalitarian, controlled country with a thin veneer of liberalism. People speaking English are very common going north and east from the French border all the way up to and including Scandinavia... most of them speak better English than many people in England!

Tiu To each his own, I guess. Last time I was in UK weed was illegal. Might not be a problem for someone who lives there, but as a traveler, not the easiest thing to run across anywhere it is illegal, and yes, as in the US, your friendly neighborhood "Mr. X" will likely have only one selection. No problem with that either, but the great variety in Netherlands is interesting. I never had a problem with their "brootjies" either, I think that is the way you spell it, those big sandwiches they have and I have even flipped out a time or two and eaten French fries with mayonnaise like they do. I agree with you totally, however, that no country on earth has food as delicious as that available in France, but gustatory delights have long been among France's claims to fame, no? I never rented a car there, too easy to take their trains and trams and cheaper than a car rental, and no parking problems, but we have cops where I live--real revenue collectors--who will take you down in an instant if you slip a notch or two above the limit, many of them arrogant martinets, too.

I never found the use of English very widespread in Scandinavia. Those folks are friendly enough and yes, a few of them do speak English, but not like in Netherlands. Many of them speak some French, however, and I found I could use my bits of school French to communicate with them, ask directions, order drinks, etc. sometimes.

Not all the gals in the red light district are so bad looking the way I remember it. I stumbled across what I figured was a small red light area in Vienna too, but it isn't necessary to seek out that sort of thing. All over places like Paris and Berlin, there are great-looking women "working" the streets, particularly, I found, in Berlin, but the way I remember it, the best-looking ladies were in Paris, around St. Denis--not that I ever fooled around with them to be sure, my fear of diseases and/or crime keeping me out of that sort of trouble. But it is still fun to look. I guess I am an "unusual" traveler. We have no euthanasia clinics where I live, so coming across one struck me as most interesting. I would sit in a nearby bar or cafe and just watch the folks passing in and out of one of them and think about what brought them to that point in their (soon to end) lives. Maybe I am a little morbid. I don't know how it works now, but when I was there, the "customers" would go in for an interview and lay out their case as to why they wanted the services of the clinic. Then they had ten days to think things over. If they came back after the ten days, it was curtains. I just find that remarkable.

Chester Goode Interesting. Morbid euthanasia humor omitted. RC

Joyly They know; they do what they can get away with. RC

Rowan Cocoan Testing the waters to see how much the peeps will take? So the sooner people start demonstrating the better.

Joyly Isn’t Amsterdam like the drug capital of the world. I was on a round the world ticket once and to take a side trip I had to fly from Athens to Amsterdam for one night, then back to Heathrow the next morning.

All I remember is: When you do an overnight in Amsterdam you get asked a lot of questions.