The Alien-CSI Hackathon will take place in March 2022. This hackathon is a five-day coding event and is held to experiment and learn about invasive species and citizen science data.
There are many ways of getting to Constanța, but as a wise man once said, the first thing is to „get on a plane and fly to Romania”. The easiest is to fly to Bucharest, Henri Coandă National Airport – Aeroport Henri Coandă (https://www.bucharestairports.ro/en). From there you can get to Constanța by train or by shuttle bus (or hire a car, as you prefer).
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Option by train – from Arrivals (same floor as luggage belts 1, 2 and 3), just go out the doors and straight ahead, when exiting the building there should be a corridor marked in green taking you to the only train picking up passengers to/from the airport. This is part one of the journey; you should get to București Nord train station and get off the airport train there (beware you need to change trains!). Second part of the journey is to board the train from București Nord to Constanța. Once you get to my city, you’re only a bus/uber ride away from the venue of the workshop.
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Option by shuttle bus - requires prior arrangements! (e.g. see https://kirvad.ro/en/ for more details). From Arrivals (same floor as luggage belts 4 and 5), just go out the doors and straight ahead across the parking lot. You will see several shuttle buses parked there; choose the one you made reservations for, it will take you straight to Constanța. Should you choose the door-to-door option, when arriving in Constanța you will be transferred to the hotel, otherwise you would have to reach the hotel by yourself from the drop off point (either by bus/uber). The journey takes about 3.5 hours and costs about 110 RON (roughly 22 euro).
Currency in Romania is RON, not Euro (1 euro = 4.94 RON) (fun fact Romanian money is made of plastic and they are called „lei”, same word we use for „lions”).
Train tickets can be bought at the counter or using ticket machines in the train station, you do not need to validate them before boarding; someone will come during the journey and ask you to show them your ticket. You can also check online purchasing, but beware this is only available up to 6 hours before the departure, after that, the ticket counters/machines are the only option. Train ride from the Aeroport Henri Coandă to București Nord takes about 30 min (price of one ticket is 5 RON – 1 euro), then from București Nord to Constanța is about 2 – 2.5 hours and the price of one ticket is about 60 RON (roughly 12 euro). Train schedule from Bucuresti Nord to Constanța is quite good, there are trains every hour or so (if you are using the machines, check the rapid sale option or frequent destinations – Constanța should be there). You can use your credit card as well, Revolut is also accepted in most places.
Link for train tickets:
Once you get to Constanța, the stop for the bus taking you to the hotel is just in front when exiting the train station, you have to go across the road junction, pass the big boat on the right hand side (yes, this is not a typo) and stop next to the park. Bus line is 5-40 (every 7 min or so), direction Campus, you start at Parc Ferdinand bus stop and get off the bus at the 5th stop called Centru. Now you are 300 m away from the workshop venue (fun fact, Black Sea should be right in front of you :D).
Bus tickets cost 3 RON and include 2 rides, they are available for sale at newsstands (the Romanian word for ticket is „bilet”). You can also send an sms to 7475 with the text „L5-40” which should grant you access to this bus line for an hour (but I am not sure if it works with phone numbers outside of Romania) or you can use the blue machines in the buses for purchase using a bank card. If you opt for the physical bus ticket option, you should validate it upon boarding using the blue machines in the bus (you get a stamp with date/hour).
Another option is to use uber/bolt from the train station to the hotel, the services work quite well in Constanța (same in Bucharest). I would strongly advise against taxi services (the yellow cars), particularly at the train station in Constanța.
P.S. Most young Romanians should be able to offer some guidance in English but if you get stuck at any point, feel free to contact me and we’ll figure something out :D.
- Vespa velutina impacts
- Species interactions from iNaturalist images
Time zone: CEST
For the conditions for travelling to Romania see this link (in Romanian, unfortunately) https://fiipregatit.ro/sectiune_ghid/conditii-intrare-in-romania/ and this one in English https://reopen.europa.eu/en/map/ROU/7011.
In English https://romaniatourism.com/travel-advisory.html
To my understanding, the new conditions for travelling (starting today, 1st of February) are as follows: when coming to Romania (from any country) you DO NOT have to quarantine if you are vaccinated, or you've had COVID in the last 6 months or you have a negative RT-PCR test (72 h before) > you have a mandatory green certificate (or compatible official documents);
You do need to fill in a passenger locator form (https://plf.gov.ro/login) and to download the digital COVID certificate (for the QR code) https://certificat-covid.gov.ro/login.
It is mentioned on the first website that individuals from countries whose authorities do not issue EU COVID-19 digital certificates or documents compatible with such certificates shall provide proof of vaccination, testing or cure by means of a document, either in paper or electronic format, issued by their respective country, in the language of that country and in English.
Recognition of COVID certificates from third countries (outside the EU) So far, 33 countries (and territories) outside the EU have joined the EU digital certificate scheme on COVID. Certificates issued in these 33 countries (and territories) are accepted in the EU under the same conditions as the EU COVID digital certificate. Similarly, the EU COVID digital certificate is accepted by these 33 countries: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Cape Verde, El Salvador, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Israel, Iceland, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Panama, San Marino, Serbia, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Togo, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Uruguay, Vatican.
This is just a translation of what is presented on our national emergency situation platform (https://fiipregatit.ro/sectiune_ghid/conditii-intrare-in-romania/ ). Be careful about the cancellation policy when booking flights, accommodation etc.. I have no idea how long these measures will be in place, so we have to keep an eye out.
P.S. Apparently quarantine is mandatory for people that are not vaccinated, have not had COVID in the last 6 months, do not have a RT-PCR negative test (72 h prior), have been in direct contact with a COVID positive person, or are COVID positive themselves.