Being an expat is hard. We decide to leave all that is familiar and comfortable to move somewhere that is almost totally different from what we know.
To ease this break, modern technology comes to our rescue, thank god. Here are some of my websites to get around being away from my favorite things. Now if someone could just tell me where to buy liquid vanilla, I would be a happy person.
www.drugstore.com
All your beauty needs can be shipped to Austria
www.overstocked.com
This grand website now ships to Austria
www.surfthechannel.com
Figure out on your own the benefit
http://www.wabi.hu/html/eng_kozmetika.html#komplett
An amazing spa an hour drive away from Vienna with prices so low you’ll fall over
http://da.stinkts.net/
Restaurants in Vienna that are smoke-free
http://www.taschenhalter.at/
A very cute product that every woman needs for her purse
www.skype.com
If you don’t know the benefit of this, then you really do need my help
If you have other websites/tips, please let us all know!
What is your experience with customs fees? I will be moving back in a few months and was wondering if ordering will cost me a fortune. My mom had ordered books from amazon.com before and they always charged her a fee (at pick up).
Wow, I had no idea that drugstore and overstocks shipped to Austria! And it’s not a huge shipping cost either! Now my daughter will get her mac’n cheese she craves so much. We used to go to Bobby’s http://www.bobbys.at, but they are so overpriced and so poorly stocked that we have given up. Custom fees are horrible, I would stay away from that. I recently ordered one piece of apparel from Abercrombie and ended up paying 150 EUR in custom fees only, aside from the international shipping rates. Live and learn! Amazon.de or Amazon.uk are both great for English books. As for liquid vanilla, have you tried the Naschmarkt? Also, for a good Asian store (especially Korean goodies) go to http://nakwon.at/ on the Zieglergasse, right off the Mariahilfer. They are decently priced and fresh compared to some I’ve seen along the Naschmarkt. They also make their own kimchee! Otherwise we order a bunch of stuff throughout the year and either pick it up if we go back or my dear sister sends a huge package a few times a year. For Thanksgiving I order the turkey at the Spar gourmet near us, it’s fresh and Austrian raised, you can tell them what size you want, but 16lbs is the most I can fit in my oven. Cranberries are now all over the supermarkets at that time, you used find them only at the Naschmarkt. There are no yams, only sweet potatoes, those are horrible. And yes, you’ll have to make your pies from scratch. Speaking of pie crust, I buy the chilled (not frozen) dough “Tante Fanny Mürbteig” from Spar http://www.tantefanny.at/at/produkte/overview.asp?IDCat=1. Works out great for apple pies, just spread out the dough, add filling, cover with the same dough and bake. That’s all I have for today
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Hi Dinka,
You have to pay. Sorry.
??? amazon sends books for free to austria. what did you pay for???
Videostic.com is great for TV shows too! Thanks for the list! I get people to send me vanilla whenever they are sending stuff. So necessary!
Hi Carolyn,
Vanilla is important. Just baked chocoloate chip cookies yesterday =)
We have found vainilla liquid concentrate in Merkur, with the rest of Dr. Ötker flavours.
That I will have to check out, thanks!