The United Kingdom Sets a Start Date for Its New Entry Fee
Posted on 06/13/2023, 12:00 PM
Think of it as a cover charge to one of the most historic clubs in the world. The United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland) has set a date for the launch of its previously announced Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) entrance fee for international visitors.Visitors from Qatar will need the authorization starting November 15, 2023, with many Middle Eastern nationalities set ...
Australia's Fraser Island Sheds a Name Born from Lies—and Restores the Original One
Posted on 06/09/2023, 7:00 AM
You could call it a much-delayed rebuke of propaganda.Australia's Fraser Island, a popular nature destination just off the coast of Queensland, is reverting to what it was called before a mendacious Englishwoman gave the spot a bad name. When Europeans first showed up in this part of the world and got to know the 76-mile-long island, which juts into the sea 186 miles north of the city of Brisbane, ...
Boston’s Prudential Tower Observatory, View Boston, Ups Its Game
Posted on 05/30/2023, 7:30 PM
Recent visitors to Boston may have noticed a dearth of publicly accessible views of the city from atop its tallest buildings. The tallest of all, the John Hancock Tower (now officially named 200 Clarendon Street, but good luck finding a local who’d call it that), closed its observation deck after 9/11. And just before the Covid-19 pandemic, the Prudential Tower—the skyline’s second-place holder...
France Bans Short-Haul Flights—but Only a Few Routes Are Affected
Posted on 05/24/2023, 3:00 PM
This week France became the first country in the world to enact a ban on short-haul domestic flights. According to the new law, airlines may not operate flights between two French cities when there's a rail connection available that takes less than 2 hours and 30 minutes. The measure is an attempt to reduce carbon emissions caused by air travel, which the World Wildlife Fund describes as "curre...
Where to Stay on Santorini and Other Secrets from Our New Greece Guidebook
Posted on 05/23/2023, 7:45 AM
I’ve been visiting and writing about Greece for almost 30 years now. I can remember a time when getting out of Athens for the trip down to the Peloponnese involved driving around Omonoia Square in circles and shouting my destination out of the car window—“Korinthos! Korinthos!”—until someone pointed me onto the right road. Nowadays, easy-to-navigate highways make leaving Athens a lot less stressf...
Disney World to Make Big Changes—But Will They Make Visiting More Pleasant?
Posted on 05/09/2023, 3:45 PM
Bob Chapek, the unpopular former CEO of the Walt Disney Company, had the misfortune of presiding over the entertainment giant throughout the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Under his command and in the name of safety and survival, the company's American theme parks added a series of roundly despised regulations and policy changes that made planning a tough vacation even tougher.At Frommer's we cata...
Is the TSA's 3-1-1 Liquids Rule Ending Now That Technology Has Improved?
Posted on 05/02/2023, 1:15 PM
The days of bringing a full-sized bottle of water or shampoo in your carry-on bag for a flight are, by and large, a distant memory. In fact, some young travelers have never known such a world. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) clampdown on liquids and gels dates back to the late summer of 2006, when British authorities thwarted a liquid-based plot by terrorists to bomb commercial a...
Why Getting to JFK Airport in NYC Could Be a Nightmare for Years to Come
Posted on 04/26/2023, 7:00 AM
Getting to and from New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport by car, public transit, taxi, and ride-hailing services will soon get a lot more difficult—and the situation will remain that way for several years. Sorry, should we have given you the good news before the bad? JFK is getting a big, $19 billion makeover—or "transformation," as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey...
United Airlines Now Asks Customers to Donate Money to Sustainable Flying. Is This Legit?
Posted on 04/06/2023, 7:00 AM
If you’ve booked a flight on United Airlines in recent weeks, you may have noticed an option to tack a few dollars onto your final bill. “Want to make the future of flying more sustainable?” United asks, offering the customer a chance to contribute to its new “Sustainable Flight Fund.” It’s a nominal amount of money; checking a flight from Raleigh/Durham International Airport in North Carolina ...
Frommer’s New Yellowstone Guidebook Captures an Ever-Changing Natural Wonder
Posted on 04/05/2023, 7:30 AM
In my almost 15 years of regularly visiting Yellowstone National Park, I’ve learned that change is the only constant in this dynamic place. Volatility is literally baked into the landscape. The Yellowstone hot spot—a plume of magma from the planet’s core that sits closer to the crust here than in most other places on Earth—fuels the earthquakes, geysers, and hot springs that continually reshape t...