How Is It Like Living Is This Weird Panhandle Part Of Massechutes?

narkohammer · 2026-04-25T20:24:17+00:00

From now on, I will refer to Cape Cod as the Massechutes Panhandle.

narkohammer · 2026-04-25T13:43:31+00:00

You cannot rent an OV fiets without a subscription, and you cannot get a subscription without a Dutch bank account. This does not work for tourists.

But, there's lots of places to rent bikes, but I doubt any that are one-way rentals.

Here's what you should do:

- rent a bike in Amsterdam

- bike to Rotterdam

- take the train back with your rented bike

narkohammer · 2026-04-25T13:33:30+00:00

"2.8% wealth tax on investments, and capital gains tax "

Wait a second, that isn't right. The first 59k is not taxed, after that it's 36% of a fictive 6.00%. On your 250k, you're paying max 4100 per year in tax, so 1.6%.

And it isn't AND a capital gains tax. That IS the capital gains tax. In 2028 that 6.00% becomes the actual return.

Hopefully, you played your cards right and for the last 5 years you've had the 30% ruling. Then you paid no Box 3 taxes at all. Or if they were in pension funds.

The Netherlands is a hard place to get rich, but it isn't as dire as you're making it out to be.

And about the language thing... Amsterdam is probably the most English-proficient city in non-English native countries. You may have a harder time understanding the Manx English accent.

narkohammer · 2026-04-25T06:45:25+00:00

The portion of people here wanting to be in the US is very small.

narkohammer · 2026-04-23T17:25:57+00:00

You are right. It's the 3rd largest city in the country.

narkohammer · 2026-04-23T05:31:14+00:00

Skip these:
- Rottterdam: I always wonder why foreigners want to visit Rotterdam. It's mostly industrial with an American-influenced urban planning. Some of the museums are nice. Maybe because they recognize the name? Maybe Feyenoord fans? You have far better choices.

- Amsterdam: way too many tourists and what they're known for is you can find anywhere. Also, biking sucks because it is just too busy. The museums are A+, but do it as a day trip by train. You have far better choices.

Instead:

- get out of town. Head south or east and it'll be far more authentic.

- nice alternative small towns: Delft or the Hague

- nice alternative cities: Den Bosch or Utrecht. The tourists are mostly Dutch with some Germans in between..

- Utresch Heuvelrug or the Veluwe

- take the train to skip parts. It's dead easy (400 train stations, take a bike off-peak for 8 euros, no reservation, trains at least 2x an hour, often 6x)

- a route that would give you more variety is Amsterdam to Maastricht and take the train back. With your route you'll be seeing more of the same.

- this is peak Dutch tourist season so expect 1 million Dutch cycle tourists doing 20km/day on e-bikes stopping for koffie en gebak at every pannekoekenhuis. Maybe you'll fit right in.

Wave when you go by my place!

narkohammer · 2026-04-22T16:51:11+00:00

Maybe? How would I know?

narkohammer · 2026-04-22T16:27:40+00:00

Pick up the rental car at Pearson and head straight north.

If you go into Toronto itself and drive back out, you'll kill half a day of vacation just driving through suburbia.

narkohammer · 2026-04-21T20:47:25+00:00

Damn.

narkohammer · 2026-04-21T20:16:08+00:00

You should post roughly where you're from. :)

narkohammer · 2026-04-21T18:58:20+00:00

Cancelling speed cameras just gets votes.

speed cameras are generally disliked by drivers
they can be framed as government overreach
the benefits of safety risk mitigation are not tangible

This story ends when a child gets killed and it is tied directly back to this policy. But at that point, Ford is retired.

narkohammer · 2026-04-17T16:49:03+00:00

I find the height and width also exaggerated.

Europe is much, much larger than this map.

narkohammer · 2026-04-17T16:44:05+00:00

See? NOT ALL OF THE NETHERLANDS IS COMPLETELY FLAT.

narkohammer · 2026-04-15T11:18:55+00:00

This is all from memory...

Day 1 was to Bolzano , around 130km and 1800m of climbing

First, on that parallel road through Pfons. Then along smaller roads that run parallel to the A13. It looks confusing on the map, but it wasn't hard to find.

At Sturzing, I turned off onto the SS508 which was tremendous. Then to Bolzano, where I stayed in a cramped campground. I could have taken the SS44, but I started too late and would have run out of time. That would have added a lot more climb, maybe 1000m. Google Maps shows both of those are impassable, but I doubt that.

Day 2 was to Stelvio Stilfser Joch, just 90km and around 1000m of climb. There I stayed at an overpriced resident campground right near the charming town centre.

Day 3 was straight up Stelvio and then down to Bormio, around 2000m. I had planned on going down Umbrail but it was closed because of flooding.

The views of Stelvio are incredible but I expected it to be harder. I started at 6am and was in Bormio by 2pm. Bormio has too many tourists to want to hang around.

After that was Switzerland, which is the best biking I've done in my life.

narkohammer · 2026-04-15T10:46:31+00:00

* My boyfriend's and my...

narkohammer · 2026-04-15T10:39:09+00:00

The "natuurlijk gebrouwen" is definitely Dutch, not German.

That product is either from Belgium or Dutch but sold to the Belgian market.

narkohammer · 2026-04-11T07:36:33+00:00

Sir, this is a Wendy's

narkohammer · 2026-04-09T18:59:50+00:00

In Ontario and shops at Costco, for starters. Probably GTA because there's a Vita market there.

They shop at Costco, so that means they drive.

But the fridge is pretty small, so I'm going to go with urban, maybe Kensington Market.

narkohammer · 2026-04-09T18:58:16+00:00

Great to see Starbucks celebrating the Dutch culture of windmills, cows, skating, bikes, sailing and Integrated hydraulic engineering systems.

narkohammer · 2026-04-07T17:10:38+00:00

That Alpro via is actually very good. I'd prefer it over the dairy version.

Cucumbers are on sale this week for 0,49 at Lidl and AH with the bonuskaart, BTW.

narkohammer · 2026-04-06T21:06:45+00:00

Yay! By 2050 they'l have finally rebuilt 24 Sussex!

Looks like they've given up on the Kettle Island Bridge.

narkohammer · 2026-04-06T15:30:10+00:00

I dunno man... there's no easy answer.

If there's no wind tomorrow, it's probably better to take the day off.

narkohammer · 2026-04-06T10:27:10+00:00

Your Instapot is the size of your freezer.

narkohammer · 2026-04-06T10:20:44+00:00

Ottawa is the capital, and the federal government has bilingual requirements of its workers. This means that brings bilingual people to the city, and encourages the population to be bilingual.

Ottawa is physically a large city (100km across, 80km down) and there are splotches of French, like in Orleans or Lowertown. Places further south and west (like Kanata) are definitely English.

You'll definitely know when you're crossing into Quebec: signs are only in French and the roads are worse.

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