The Traveling Fool
Traveling off the tourist path. Talking about those places most tourists just don't know about because, well, nobody ever told them. Also travel tips and news about travel and tourism to make your trip a little easier, cheaper and more memorable.
The Traveling Fool
Big Changes Coming to The Way People Travel That You Need To Know
Ready to transform your travel experience? Discover how Europe and the UK are redefining border security and streamlining processes with groundbreaking measures. Get the inside scoop on Europe's Entry and Exit System (EES) launching this November, and prepare for the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) coming in 2025. Plus, learn about the UK's upcoming Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) that will affect non-European travelers by early 2025. While these innovations promise enhanced security and smoother journeys, anticipate some hiccups as these digital systems take flight.
But that's not all—our latest episode covers crucial shifts in travel policies that could impact your next adventure. From Germany's temporary border controls to the impending Real ID requirements for U.S. domestic flights, staying informed is key. We also explore the growing trend of tourist taxes in hotspots like Greece and Amsterdam, which could stretch your travel budget further than expected. As a bonus, find out how to renew your U.S. passport online and save on meals with the "Too Good To Go" app, your new ally in affordable dining. Whether you're planning a European getaway or a domestic escape, we've got the essential tips to keep you ahead of the curve.
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Hello and welcome to the Traveling Fool. I'm your host, bob Bales, and today we are talking about some big changes coming to the travel industry that affect the way you travel and could ruin your travel plans if you don't plan ahead. As always, stay tuned to the end, and I'm going to give you a tip on how to save money when dining out when you're traveling, and you can also use this one at home. So don't forget to follow. Hit that subscribe button and we'll be right back. Hello and welcome back to the Traveling Fool. I'm your host, bob Bales, and today we are talking about changes coming up in the travel industry that affects you, whether you're traveling abroad or just here domestically. First thing, if you are planning a trip to Europe anytime soon, whether you are heading there for business or leisure, there are two very important changes you need to know about. The first one is the Entry and Exit System, and the second is the European Travel Information and Authorization System. Now, both of these new programs are going to significantly impact how non-EU nationals enter and travel within Europe, so we're going to delve a little deeper into what they are, who's affected and how you can prepare the first one, the EES, the Entry and Exit System. Well, they're planning on launching this 10 November of this year, so in about a month it's going to go live. The EES is a digital system that will replace manual passport stamping nationals traveling to any of those 29 participating countries for short stays. That means you're going there for up to 90 days during any six-month period. This includes tourists, business travelers and those people that are just over there visiting friends and family. Now, once this new system is live, when you go through passport control on your arrival to or departure from your destination, as well as providing your passport, you will also need to have a photo of your face taken and your fingerprints scanned. Biometrics is coming to the EU For airline passengers arriving at EES destinations. It will vary depending on the size of the airport. At some of the larger airports, arrivals will be directed to little kiosks, kind of like the ones you see at the US airports, to answer a series of questions of multiple choice. Then you get your fingerprints captured to have a photo taken multiple choice. Then you get your fingerprints captured to have a photo taken. Then they will proceed to the border check as usual. Get everything done there and be on your way. Now, at the smaller airports. The pictures and fingerprints will be taken at the border control booth and questions will be asked by the official there. So be prepared for it to take some additional time to clear customs and immigration when this thing first starts rolling out, because there will be a backlog Now.
Speaker 1:The second one is the European Travel Information and Authorization System, or the ETIAS Boy. They come up with some long names for this stuff, don't they? The ETIAS is Europe's new visa waiver program, and it is designed to prescreen travelers from visa-exempt countries before they arrive in Europe, to ensure a higher level of security. They arrive in Europe to ensure a higher level of security. The ETIAS will apply to visa-exempt travelers from over 60 different countries who currently do not need a visa to enter Europe for short stays, which means every US passport holder. If you currently need a visa to travel to Europe, if you currently need a visa to travel to Europe, the ETIAS system will not change anything for you. This is only for people who previously did not need a visa in order to travel there for short stays. Now, to get this, you're going to have to complete an online application providing all your personal and travel details. A 7 euro fee will be charged for each application. Now, that fee is waived and is free for people under the age of 18 and over the age of 70. Now, once approved, the ETIAS authorization will be valid for three years or until your passport expires, whichever comes first, and the authorization allows multiple entries to any of the 30 participating European countries for short stays.
Speaker 1:Now, this program is scheduled to take effect in the spring of 2025. Be prepared. If you're a visa-exempt traveler, now ensure you apply for this ETIAS well in advance Whoa, what happened to my voice Well in advance of your trip starting in the spring of 2025. There's going to be a backlog when people start applying for this. So if you're planning on traveling to Europe anytime next year after, I would say, january or February, you need to start applying for this, probably now. Now, in theory, this program is going to enhance security. It'll enable authorities to identify potential security risks before they reach Europe's borders. Now they say it's going to streamline travel. If you have these approved ETIAS, man, they've got to come up with better names, authorizations. In theory, you can expect faster and more efficient border crossings, but we all know that that is not going to happen when they first roll this out. The good thing is that the authorization does allow multiple entries to numerous European countries during that three-year period. European countries during that three-year period.
Speaker 1:Now, remember the UK, great Britain, is not part of the EU, but they have their own requirements. They didn't want to be left out of this little game. So all non-Europeans traveling to the UK will need what they call an ETA for UK travel, and that begins January, the 8th of next year, 2025. The Electronic Travel Authorization, or ETA, is required for anyone planning to visit to the UK, except British and Irish citizens. Now, travelers are going to need to apply and be approved for this ETA prior to their trip, and the document is going to be linked to your passport and they say it will ensure more robust security checks. The ETA is going to cost you a little over $13, and they will permit multiple trips into the UK for stays of up to six months at a time over any two-year period or until your passport expires, whichever is sooner.
Speaker 1:The aim of the program is to digitize the UK border and immigration system. So why are they doing all this stuff? Well, they say it'll modernize border control procedures, enhance security and streamline the travel experience for the millions of visitors that come over there every year. But one of the biggest reasons, if you really look into this, is, like the US, they're having a terrible problem with illegal immigration and there's a lot of travelers arriving in the UK and all over the EU with fraudulent passports and fraudulent documents or going in there with no documents at all. So at one time several years ago, a lot of these European countries were inviting people. They were saying look, if you can make a tire country, we're not going to make you leave. We'll give you all these social services and welcome to the country and we hope you have a great life. Well, that's starting to backfire on them. They're finding out that they can't support millions and millions of people coming into their country and a lot of them not all of them, but a lot of them are criminals in their country and they're just moving criminal gangs into Europe. So a lot of these tolerant countries two or three years ago are now struggling to try and figure out a way to get rid of all these illegals and criminals that are swarming into Europe. In fact, switzerland is now offering to pay illegal immigrants to leave the country and go back home.
Speaker 1:The Schengen area, which covers 27 countries in Europe used to be. You could enter one of those countries and just freely pass through all of the other countries. But that is probably coming to an end. It's already showing signs of cracking. Just last month, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior notified the EU that they are temporarily mind you, temporarily reintroducing border controls at all of their land borders. Now that's between them and France, luxembourg, the Netherlands, belgium, denmark and a couple of others, and they are trying to do it to crack down on illegal immigration and crime. So now, if you are in the EU, you cannot just freely cross into Germany anymore. You're going to have to show your passport, and a lot of other countries are considering doing the same Now. Germany had already been carrying out these checks at its borders with Poland and the Czech Republic, austria and Switzerland since last year, and this initiative expands it to all of the border crossings in the country.
Speaker 1:They aren't the only country that's trying to stop criminal gangs and illegal migrants from entering the EU is considering building detention centers in countries such as Serbia or Albania that have applied for membership into the EU, as a place to put all their illegal migrants in one place to facilitate their return to their home and you say well, why do they have to do that? Well, they're trying to get them out of their country because they have no documents. They don't even know who they are in a lot of cases, and the problem is is when you try to deport them, you have to send them back to their home country. So if you don't know their real name and actually where they originally came from, it's a little difficult to get them back to their home country. So they're trying to move them into one area so they have control of them until they can deport them. One high-ranking official from the EU has said that it is vital for those with no right to stay in the EU that they are returned swiftly, and this includes transferring people who have been ordered to leave to return to these hub mechanisms while they await for final removal.
Speaker 1:So things are changing. When you go to Europe and the takeaway is anytime you are planning to travel from the US abroad, you really should start checking a few months ahead of your travels to see what the requirements are, because things are changing all of the time and just because your next door neighbor said well, all I had to do was fill out an arrival card when I got there. That doesn't mean that things haven't changed. Now. If you're traveling domestically in the United States and you are a US citizen, change is coming for you too.
Speaker 1:The Real ID is a state-issued driver's license or ID card and it has a little gold star in the upper right-hand corner. You will need this Real ID if you don't have a passport or one of the other acceptable IDs in order to get past TSA and all those acceptable other things are listed on the TSA website. So where you used to be able to walk up to the check-in counter at Delta in Dallas or wherever, or American in Dallas and use your driver's license as an identification American and Dallas and use your driver's license as an identification it now needs to be Real ID compliant with this star. This takes effect in May of 2025. So you still have a little time to get one, and all 50 states are now doing this, and even though they've been telling people this for the last couple of years that the Real ID is coming, well, I expect some people to show up with non-Real ID compliant driver's license and no other acceptable document, only to get turned away and cause a huge scene at the airport. It'd be one of those YouTube moments where they have an epic meltdown. You know it might be with buying some popcorn, grabbing a chair and just watching the TSA lines on the day that one's implemented. But other than changes in the way you travel, there's other changes coming, and most of them, or a lot of them, are already here.
Speaker 1:It is costing more to visit some countries and cities, and I'm not talking about just inflation. More, more and more cities and countries that have high tourism numbers are charging people just to visit. In most cases, these places spend a lot of money on tourism, trying to attract people to visit, and many businesses restaurants, shops, tour guides and more depend on tourism for their livelihood. Yet they charge you to visit, saying that they need the money to offset the impact of all the tourists. Now, I understand that having a lot of tourists in an area, it disrupts the everyday life of the regular guy that's just going about his business and going to work and in many cases it can negatively impact the area. But to me it seems kind of like a restaurant spending thousands of dollars on advertising to get customers and then have somebody stand outside and charge them an entrance fee to walk in the door, but the list appears to be growing, with more cities and countries adding fees every couple of months. I mean, here's just a partial list of places that are going to charge you just to visit, and rates run from as little as 60 cents a day if you're going to travel to Greece to as much as $180 a day if you're traveling to Bhutan. Other places include Venice, rome, paris, majorca, lisbon, prague, switzerland, bali, japan, new Zealand and Barcelona.
Speaker 1:Some places charge you a percentage of the room rate that you pay for lodging and others have a flat fee. So Vienna, for example, they charge you 3.2% of the cost that you're paying for the room you're staying at. You stay in a higher rent or a higher rate of a room, a nicer hotel? Well, you're going to pay more. Berlin charges you 5% of your room rate and Amsterdam charges you 12.5%. Now, these are tourist taxes. Basically, they're saying well, we want you to come here, we want you to look at all this stuff and look at our beautiful, luxurious hotel. It's $200 a night. Oh, by the way, there's a 12.5% tax just for you being here.
Speaker 1:Now some places are even considering adding fees to visit their little iconic tourist sites. Rome is getting ready to charge people to visit the Tevi Fountains. You know those famous fountains that's in every movie about Rome, every little selfie. Everybody that ever visits Rome has their picture taken in front of these fountains. Everybody that ever visits Rome has their picture taken in front of these fountains. Well, rome wants to charge tourists $2.50 just to go to the fountains and see them, which is a public fountain. Other places are considering doing it and some already have. So on one hand, they say come and visit us, look at all of our history and architecture and our beautiful country. Spend your money to book flights, hotels, don't forget to bring lots of cash to spend, but when you get here, we're going to charge you a fee just to see what you came here to see.
Speaker 1:Now proponents of this will say well, just look at all the damage some tourists have done to our sites and landmarks by graffiti and disrespectful behavior. Well, I'm not real sure that charging people a daily tax is going to stop some idiot from committing vandalism. Maybe just arrest those that are committing crimes and desecrating your iconic landmarks. You know, recently there was a guy that made a big scene on an aircraft. You know, I had one of these little YouTube meltdowns. Well, he was arrested. They had to divert the airplane, take it somewhere. They got on the ground, they arrested the guy and he had to wind up paying the cost of the fuel for the airline when they diverted the plane. Thousands of dollars in fuel costs is what they charged this guy. So maybe that's what some of these countries need to do.
Speaker 1:You damage a statue that's hundreds of years old in Rome. Well, sentence them to five years year old in Rome. Well, sentence him to five years. If it costs $150,000 to repair the damage, that's what his fine should be. Maybe that will deter the next idiot from defacing one of your landmarks. But I'm not sure that making me pay between $5 and $15 a day to visit your country is going to stop that guy from doing something stupid. But let me know what your thoughts are on this. Drop me an email at the editor, or editor at thetravelingfoolcom, and just tell me do you agree with all these fees that these cities and countries are charging or not? I'd like to hear your thoughts on this. So you ready for some good news? Here's some good news.
Speaker 1:This one is already in effect. You can now renew your US passport online. No more having to mail it off. But, like everything else, you have to meet certain criteria. Like everything else, you have to meet certain criteria. One of those is that your passport that you are renewing is currently or was valid for 10 years and you are over the age of 25. The passport that was issued must have been issued over 9 years ago, but less than 15 years ago from the date you plan on submitting your application. All of this is listed on travelstategov. One of the other requirements is that you're not changing your name, your date of birth, place of birth or your gender, which I'm not changing my gender, so it doesn't apply to me You're not traveling for at least six weeks from the date you will submit your application, and it only offers routine service, in other words, no expedited service.
Speaker 1:And there's a couple of other requirements. Like, you have to be applying for a regular passport, a tourist passport, not an official one or diplomatic one. Here's a big one, though you must live in the United States. You do not qualify for renewal online if you live in a foreign country. Now, this means all these service members who have APO addresses or fleet post office addresses, or you work at an embassy somewhere and you have a diplomatic post office address post office address you do not qualify for online renewal. You must live in the United States at the time you submit this application.
Speaker 1:You also have to have your passport with you when you submit it. It can't be damaged or mutilated, you can't have reported lost or stolen and you can pay for your passport renewal with a credit or debit card. You'll have to upload a digital passport photo and as soon as you hit that submit button, they are canceling your current passport. As soon as you hit that renew, you cannot use your current passport for any international travel. It's not going to be valid anymore Now. They say the turnaround time for this when you submit the application is between six to eight weeks, but I did a little research and there have been people reporting that they have been receiving them in as little as 10 days. That's got to be a fluke. Expect to wait six to eight weeks and since the procedure to renew online is fairly new, they can only accommodate so many people at one time, and some people have reported they've had difficulty getting on the application page. So just keep trying and it'll open up for you. Finally, and once it fully rolls out, I expect that'll change and you won't have any problems accessing the site and, like I said, it may change in the future, but as of now, expedited or urgent travel service is not supported in the online application. So those are just some of the changes that have come or are coming to travel in the very, very near future.
Speaker 1:Now, like I said when I first started, I'm going to give you a travel tip for when you're on the road. You can also use this when you're just at home. This is a good one. There is an app I know the last two or three episodes I told you about apps. This is another good app. By the way, I'm not getting paid off any of these apps, so these are just ones that I find really, really useful.
Speaker 1:This app is called Too Good To Go and it's a really cool app that will save you money when it comes to dining, and the premise of this app is that a lot of food from retail stores and restaurants get wasted at the end of the day, when they have to throw it out because it wasn't sold. So, instead of wasting it and to try and salvage some profit from their goods and to try and salvage some profit from their goods, they sell it to you at a huge discount. Now there are currently over 160,000 businesses around the United States, ranging from retail to restaurants, that are on this app. They have what they call surprise bags that are sold to customers for anywhere from 25% to 50% off retail prices and the app will tell you, when you open it up, how many bags are left in each location and when you have to pick it up. It shows you a little 10-mile area in the search function and you can move the map around to various areas and it'll search within that little 10-mile section and whatever location you put in there, you're going to see all these restaurants and other places that are using this service.
Speaker 1:So I did a little messing around with it when I first got it and in my area, just for example, there's donut shops, there's four to five restaurants, there's a place that sells specialty produce, there's a place that sells breakfast tacos and an artisan bakery. If you don't know what a breakfast taco is, it's a Southern thing, especially a Texas thing, probably out in California too. If you're ever in the South, or in Texas or California, southern California, try a breakfast taco. You'll be glad you did, trust me, you know, when I was looking around, I also found a gourmet cookie bakery. I tried to scroll past that one real fast. I mean, I've had their cookies. They're really, really good, but I can't eat them all the time.
Speaker 1:The offerings vary daily so you never really know what you might find, but it will show you. Okay, this restaurant has six bags available and I mean the prices I saw were like $5 and $6 for one of these bags at restaurants or a donut shop was like $4, and I think you were getting a dozen donuts. And it will tell you you have to pick it up between 11.30 and 1 pm or between 7 pm and 9 pm if it's a dinner thing. So you get how many bags are available, the times that you can pick them up and what the cost is. And it's available right now mainly in larger areas, but there are some in small towns.
Speaker 1:Like I said, I moved the little map around and I looked all over the US and I found places. I found one place in Arizona, a town that had one place that was offering the service. But if you're driving through that small town, hey, use it. So the nice thing about this is is if you're on a road trip. You can check out the app and maybe pick up a late breakfast or a lunch, instead of grabbing some kind of little rubbery breakfast sandwich that you found at the gas station last time you stopped for gas and you get it at a big discount. Or you're at your destination and, after a day of walking around and looking at all the sites, just grab a dinner from one of the restaurants on the app listed and have a relaxing meal in your hotel room and wind down. I mean, it's great for when you're on a trip. Of course, you don't have to be on a trip to use it. You can use the thing anytime, and I'll tell you how I found out about this thing.
Speaker 1:My daughter uses it and I was visiting her the other day and she said I've got to run out and get dinner for tonight. I asked what you're having. She goes I don't know, it's a surprise bag. And she told me all about this app. She's been using it for a while, she loves it, and so I started using it and they have some really, really good offerings. So check it out.
Speaker 1:It is called Too Good To Go. It is called Too Good to Go and it's available for Apple or Android. You can use it on either one of your phones. Just download it from Google Play Store, the Apple Store, whatever they call that one. I don't know. I'm an Android user, but I can just tell you they have it for both. I think you'll like it. It's a great little app. So that's it for this week. I hope you got something out of it. As always, if you have any questions, suggestions, something you'd just like to hear on a future podcast, drop me a line at editor. At the Traveling Fool. Don't forget to subscribe and hit that like button, and until next time, safe travels. Thank you.
