Public Transportation Abroad...

All things about public transportation while abroad...

Don't be nervous to use public transport because it is so useful.

APPLE MAPS is your friend!! Thats where you can see the metro/train times and get around the easiest!!

In Madrid, Spain

Public Transportation Guide:

Metro, bus, taxis, high speed train (light rail).

I stayed in Madrid, Spain for six weeks. If you are going to stay a while in Spain I recommend getting a "tarjeta transporte publico" transport card. You do have to make an appointment and need an address to give them in Spain but can save you so much money. It was $4 to get and $11 a month to go anywhere on the metro. Getting separate tickets added up and went to be pretty expensive.

You can also get around using the bus but I never used it because the metro was so convenient. I used uber also to get to places if I didn't want to use the metro or if I was going out and the metro was closed. Which it does stop running at certain times so make sure to check your maps!

Ireland

Public Transportation Guide:

Luas, DART, and bus.

I stayed in Dublin, Ireland for six weeks. Here I used a leap card which will be very useful when traveling around Ireland. You can go to any connivence store to get one or can look up "Leap card locations" and it should pop up. If not, asking someone in any store where to get one, the people are very kind here. They have an electric railway system called the DART where is a faster and bigger train to get to different cities around Ireland. For example, if you are going from Dublin to Howth which is what I did. There also is the Luas there which is their tram. This is a great way to get all around the city and is what I used during my time in Dublin. I also used the bus here and was a great resource.

About the Leap Card....

How to use a Leap card:

When buying your Leap card it will be around $5 and you have to load money onto it to get around. After you have your Leap card, you can use it on any transportation system including the Luas, DART, and bus. If you are using it on the Luas, you will have to tap your card on the machines next to the tram tracks. After you get off, you have to TAP OFF. If you don't it will charge you more money since it doesn't know where you tapped off. If you are only going one stop, tap on and then tap off and it will load money back on your card since you didn't go too far.

To load money on your Leap card....

You can either go into a store and continue to load money, or get the Leap app where you can do it from your phone.

Advice: you can try and hop on for free but the Luas Security consistently check to see if you paid. I recommend just paying. Also for the bus you have to pay because the bus driver checks right away.

Airport...

Getting to and from the airport you will have to take a bus. It's about $10 and will pick up up from the locations they offer. They will drop you off at terminal 1 or 2. I didn't find a better way to get to and from the airport, the only other option is to uber which is very pricey.

Germany

Public Transportation Guide:

U-Bahn, S-bahn, bus, and trams.

I stayed in Berlin, Germany for six weeks. Here I really didn't have to take much public transportation. When I did I used the train and the bus. You can get a Deutschland pass which is $50 a month and its on your phone so you don't have to worry about losing a card. I decided to just buy individual tickets since I wasn't using public transportation regularly. If you get individual tickets you have to stamp your ticket before going on the train. If you don't and security comes around, you will get fined.

There are three sections in Berlin, A, B, and C. So make sure you buy the right ticket. I honestly recommend the 24 hour pass so you don't have to worry about what ticket you need.

Airport...

Personally I had to use the bus and train to and from the airport. When you land in Berlin they have a bus that will take you to the u-ban (train). Using google maps or apple maps is super helpful too but there are a ton of signs directing you to public transportation too.

Different types of Ubers, taxis, etc.

If you ever need to take a quick Uber heres your guide to all the different types of transportation countries have. Every country is different so make sure to research which specific ones are in your area.

Apps:

• Uber

• Freenow

• Cabify

Omio app

This was a very useful app that I got for the highspeed trains while abroad. You can type any country you want to go to and from and it will show up with times and prices. I used this all the time and is something you should have! Same with Eurostar and it is basically the same thing.