Well, as your uncle seems to be technologically savvy, I suppose he'll think of the 230 volts adaptor he will need for electronic devices. I always hate mentioning that point, but many Americans forget to buy one BEFORE they travel, and have great difficulties to find one here, because most adaptors you can buy here in stores, are, logically, the other way round: From 230 down to 120.
The weather in May, well, that's another thing that is quite unpredictable. Hamburg is at the coast, so it may be snowy, rainy, and windy. Amsterdam and Brussels (I've been to both of them, but not at that time of year) usually are a bit better as to temperatures. May in central Europe is always good for a surprise. You can have daytime sunshine at temperatures of around 20°C, and nighttime temperatures still around zero. The "inofficial" start of summer is mid-May, where you can be something like sure that temperatures won't drop below freezing point any more at night.
You may experience drizzling rain for days at that time of the year which makes your clothes soaking wet, but it's not too cold, so a waterproof coat and maybe a hat is something recommendable and stylish. -- Maybe some kind of pocket umbrella is worth considering, just in case. But I hate umbrellas; you never know where to put them when they're wet, and they tend to stick in other people's eyes when walking on the pavement. Thank god I wear glasses.
A business suit and a light coat should do during daytime. For the evening, it depends: If he wants to go out without his business friends, I'd recommend the same informal clothing he wears at home. Especially Belgish people are quite friendly. I've never been to a pub in Brussels where they'd reject me as a foreigner (I'm German), but they all started talking English and/or German and/or French and Flemish with me, and we had fun. Maybe the delicious Belgian beer did his part.
In Amsterdam, I found the locals to be more reserved, but when I was there on a business trip, I had long hair and a beard, and maybe they had made some bad experiences with hippies in suits. Looked like Steve Wozniak from Apple in his younger days. But what the heck, it's a good place to stay. But I wouldn't recommend Dutch food. (Sorry to the Dutch, but I didn't like it.) I'd rather pick up something Indonesian there. They have the best Indonesian restaurants in Europe.
Hamburg, well. In the cold north of Germany. I'm from the south, and I don't want to insult the northerners, really, but their reserved behavior and their talking "behind the scenes" is too strange for me to understand. So please understand that I won't write anything about Hamburg except that, maybe, when it comes to business, you should treat it with caution.
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04-08-2008, 01:23 AM
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