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Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

birds posted:

We’re planning our honeymoon and are thinking about Turkey and Greece. Is late April/early May still going to be too chilly to go into the water? Our main objective is to relax at some nice resorts while avoiding peak season.

It depends on what you're used to, but I doubt it since you mention "relaxing", which I imagine means "splashing around style swimming" and not "athletic swimming". You can look for precise temperatures from previous years for exact dates. https://weather-stats.com/turkey/fethiye/sea_temperature/april. Average water temperature looks like it will be around 19° on the south coast on 1 May. So it's fine if you want to actively swim, but it is not pleasant if you just want to splash around and relax. When we went in early April a year and a half ago it was around 17° on the south coast, and not at all pleasant. We went in one time because we brought bathing suits, goddammit. 19° water on a nice sunny day is normally my limit even for athletic swimming.

Greece will be even colder, e.g. 17°C for Lesbos on 1 May ( https://weather-stats.com/greece/lesbos/sea_temperature/april ), around 18°C for Crete. There's a reason it's the off season. The water is tolerable by mid-May (~21) and nice by the end of May (~23).

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birds
Jun 28, 2008


Saladman posted:

It depends on what you're used to, but I doubt it since you mention "relaxing", which I imagine means "splashing around style swimming" and not "athletic swimming". You can look for precise temperatures from previous years for exact dates. https://weather-stats.com/turkey/fethiye/sea_temperature/april. Average water temperature looks like it will be around 19° on the south coast on 1 May. So it's fine if you want to actively swim, but it is not pleasant if you just want to splash around and relax. When we went in early April a year and a half ago it was around 17° on the south coast, and not at all pleasant. We went in one time because we brought bathing suits, goddammit. 19° water on a nice sunny day is normally my limit even for athletic swimming.

Greece will be even colder, e.g. 17°C for Lesbos on 1 May ( https://weather-stats.com/greece/lesbos/sea_temperature/april ), around 18°C for Crete. There's a reason it's the off season. The water is tolerable by mid-May (~21) and nice by the end of May (~23).

Seems like October might be the sweet spot then, thanks!

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

birds posted:

Seems like October might be the sweet spot then, thanks!

Yep, October is awesome for the Mediterranean water. I don’t have any hard numbers but anecdotally October seems to have fewer people around than late May, despite the water being warmer in October. There’s much less light compared to May is the only moderate downside, but I think I care about sunlight hours more than most people as I tend to get up at sunrise (well, until it starts hitting like 5am) and stop doing stuff after sunset and retreat home, like a reverse vampire.

WithoutTheFezOn
Aug 28, 2005
Oh no
“In Greece” can mean a lot of things, and I haven’t been there yet, but isn’t there a “season” for most of the inter-island ferries? As in, almost no ferries from (made up times) mid-October through mid-May?

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005
Yeah, we were in Greece in November and we had to take planes between the islands since there were no ferries anymore.

The water in Santorini was definitely a little bit colder than I would call comfortable, and I'm a Canadian.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

WithoutTheFezOn posted:

“In Greece” can mean a lot of things, and I haven’t been there yet, but isn’t there a “season” for most of the inter-island ferries? As in, almost no ferries from (made up times) mid-October through mid-May?

Real people live on the islands so all / nearly all the ferries do run year-round between the island and Athens, but at a hugely reduced schedule, like maybe as low as 1x-2x/week. For direct ferries between islands, like Santorini-Mykonos, those won't run, except maybe for islands that are directly on the same straight-line route from Athens. We took the ferry to Santorini in November from Athens, for instance.

smackfu
Jun 7, 2004

We were in Mykonos in late October a few years back and it was a ghost town. Actively shutting down around us. Santorini was nice, although the beaches were deserted. Ferries were still running.

mobby_6kl
Aug 9, 2009

by Fluffdaddy
Wizzair gave me a :10bux: voucher so I'm off to Milan for a weekend in February :) Anything particular of particular interest to check out in and around beyond the usual Tripadvisor stuff?

Paperhouse
Dec 31, 2008

I think
your hair
looks much
better
pushed
over to
one side

mobby_6kl posted:

Wizzair gave me a :10bux: voucher so I'm off to Milan for a weekend in February :) Anything particular of particular interest to check out in and around beyond the usual Tripadvisor stuff?

for an authentic experience try going to a Milan game wearing an Inter shirt and getting your head kicked in

webmeister
Jan 31, 2007

The answer is, mate, because I want to do you slowly. There has to be a bit of sport in this for all of us. In the psychological battle stakes, we are stripped down and ready to go. I want to see those ashen-faced performances; I want more of them. I want to be encouraged. I want to see you squirm.
See if you can get tickets to Santa Maria Delle Grazie, it’s where the Last Supper painting is located

CmdrSmirnoff
Oct 27, 2005
happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy

mobby_6kl posted:

Wizzair gave me a :10bux: voucher so I'm off to Milan for a weekend in February :) Anything particular of particular interest to check out in and around beyond the usual Tripadvisor stuff?

I went in the summer, so YMMV, but I liked the random parks scattered near the downtown core, especially the Giardini Indro Montanelli and Parco Sempione. They're both near lots of little streets filled with beautiful buildings and little restaurants Quick example: walk east from Corso Venezia to Via Giuseppe Baretti; there's a nondescript little square flanked by gorgeous old apartments labeled as Piazza Eleonora Duse on Google Maps. Really lovely.

---

So I'm trying to plan our summer getaway for this year. Early thoughts are direct flight to Paris -> flight to Nice -> rent a car and go east to Monte Carlo -> drive to Tropez (Ramatuelle, specifically) -> drive to Les-Baux -> drive north back to Paris (through Avignon, Lyon, etc), drop the car off, fly home. Looking at something like 10 days for all of it. Anything I should be concerned about? I've never driven in France but given our trajectory I would prefer that over taking trains; I'm willing to be talked out of it if it sucks. The somewhat random locations are because my wife's work gets us comped stays at luxury hotels, but max 2 nights, so we're constantly on the move.

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

CmdrSmirnoff posted:

So I'm trying to plan our summer getaway for this year. Early thoughts are direct flight to Paris -> flight to Nice -> rent a car and go east to Monte Carlo -> drive to Tropez (Ramatuelle, specifically) -> drive to Les-Baux -> drive north back to Paris (through Avignon, Lyon, etc), drop the car off, fly home. Looking at something like 10 days for all of it. Anything I should be concerned about? I've never driven in France but given our trajectory I would prefer that over taking trains; I'm willing to be talked out of it if it sucks. The somewhat random locations are because my wife's work gets us comped stays at luxury hotels, but max 2 nights, so we're constantly on the move.

Sounds OK for 10 days, although you may be planning too much. Monaco is fine for like, 2 hours. The nearby village of Eze is great.

Ideally I hope your summer is not August, when the whole area is swamped. It is possible to do in August, I did that a couple years ago, but even in COVID summer it was packed. If your summer is before mid-July it will be awesome. If your summer is mid-late July it will be OK. If your summer is August then... plan everything in advance, very far, as you will see cities literally book every single hotel room and accommodation.

Both driving and trains could work fine for your itinerary in principle. In favor of driving: summer is hot, and the countryside is neat. If driving I'd adjust your itinerary to hit more things in the countryside, like the Luberon area has a ton of super cute towns like Lacoste, Menerbes, Apt. I mean depends what you like, there's nothing in those towns except a bakery and a couple cafes, but they're Extremely Very French and the scenery is great. There are luxury hotels all over the countryside so I don't think that will be such a problem with any intinerary. I found the Verdon Gorge to be very underwhelming, and I went into it with very low expectations. If you are from a farm in Kansas and have never seen a canyon in your life, it is probably impressive. Otherwise, it's like... fine but it's extremely overhyped as the "Grand Canyon of Europe".

I really like Antibes, been there a couple times for vacation (once Aug, once Sept), loved it both times. So just because a place is famous doesn't mean it is bad. I thought Cannes and Monaco were meh. If Monaco wasn't its own "country" it would be a third rate stop on the French riviera. Never been to Saint Tropez. I really, really like the Calanques area, especially Cassis. Marseille is also a hugely underrated city, I massively prefer it in every way to Lyon, which I've been to several times and every time I found it boring and their "famous" Lyonnaise cuisine is like, a bog standard sausage. I'm sure there are amazing restaurants in Lyon, but they won't serve traditional Lyonnaise cuisine.

If you like mountains, the drive from Nice up to Briançon and up to Grenoble is absolutely amazing incredible, even from someone who has been in Switzerland for many years. It has the highest road in Europe too at Cime de la Bonette. I am a chill driver and almost got road rage from all the camper vans going at 20 kph the whole time and who don't ever pull to the side off even when safe to do so, so... that would be one concern for going that route in mid-July to late-Aug if you are not the most relaxed driver going along 50 kph under the safe speed limit.

Basically if you rent a car I would reconsider your destinations and routes substantially. If you have a car, don't go Nice -> Marseille -> Avignon -> Lyon -> Paris. Just take the train if you do that. If you do rent a car, do something like Nice -> Mercantour -> Briancon -> Dijon -> Paris OR something like Nice -> Calanques -> Luberon -> Avignon -> Dijon -> Paris. I might be biased against Lyon. Some people love it, but I never figured out why. It has a hill with a good view of the city and a kind of OK but wholly unremarkable city center, but ... that's it, as far as I have found.

I'm not a super expert in the area, have spent maybe 20 days total in the PACA region over 4 trips, and every time was by car, so I might be totally wrong about trains being OK. I like driving a lot though, even in busy inner cities.

CmdrSmirnoff
Oct 27, 2005
happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy happy
All of that is good info, thanks a ton. We're going in late June, and the hotels we're likely staying at are in the towns I mentioned. My intention was for them to be a home base for us while we explore the countryside with Extremely Very French music playing on the car radio.

Wonton
Jul 5, 2012

kiimo posted:

lol but thanks for backing me up.

Their table wine is ridiculously cheap but also delicious, unlike the undrinkable swill that is chianti at a midwestern Italian noodle bucket. That poo poo exists to pour out the chianti and use the bottle as a candle holder. Nothing else.

Any wine recommendations? I plan to take several bottles back home. Something that’s less mainstream I guess?

I live in an Asian mega city, lots of imports of big name french wines like Louis Latour, puilley fuisse, etc but I don’t know too much about Italian wines.

Thanks!!

kiimo
Jul 24, 2003

I’m from the Midwest US where wine comes in a box and people drink riuniti on ice. Others will have better recs

Wonton
Jul 5, 2012
Hey goons,

It’s a little late but I plan on going flying to Milan march 31- April 14. I have been to northern Italy and Europe quite a few times for work, but my partner has not been to Italy or Switzerland. I never took high speed rail in Italy, only drove a rental van and stuffed all my coworkers and their suit cases and their instant noodles and tea leaves. Driving up and down the mountains of bologna were a little scary with huge lumber trucks and cargo trucks going through the windy roads and dealing with fast fast aggressive drivers. Fun times.

Here is a preliminary schedule, we both love food, art, and history, especially about the borgias. However, we are a little worried about being “churched out”

3 nights Milan
2 nights padova? Gateway to Venice - I only did half day trips there and wanted to stay longer
2 nights to Florence - wanted to eat some good steak florentine, added a few locations listed in this thread
5 nights of Rome - should be enough of rest and we can go to Vatican City for a day (but Easter ugh)
2 nights Pompeii

I browsed through the last 20 pages thanks for all the insights.

Last question, is there a cheap luggage forwarding service in Europe or Italy? I’m kind of addicted to kuroneko Yamato transport in japan. I can send my 9kg suitcase for 11 euros from Tokyo to Osaka (4 hour high speed rail ride) hotel to hotel same day delivery (before 10am pickup). Fingers crossed for hands free travel, I think I’m done lugging my bags from point to point. Heck, SF express in japan is offering to send your bags from your hotel to your home for a minor fee. I hope there’s a similar service in Europe? Fingers crossed

And how easy is it to go to a small shops and buy their souvenirs/food and send to your next destination or hotel ? Do stores offer prepay courier service ?

I suppose none of us go to Europe for service, it’s good food and history. I can’t wait to pay Pennies for yogurt, cold cuts, cheese and wine. Heck I’ll settle for autogrill.

Wait there’s autogrill in India, Australia, Malaysia , and America? But no Spain?

Wonton
Jul 5, 2012
Oh yeah eater makes decent food guides across the world. It’s a little hipsterish, but most of their food guide I think is a solid 8/10

https://www.eater.com/maps/best-rome-restaurants

Yes there’s an Indian restaurant and Ethiopian! I think the Indian is a little bit of a dud or standard but I can’t eat easily injera in south east Asia so I might go.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

The UK is instituting some "visa but not a visa" with minimum 48 hour turn around time, AND a $8 fee? Even for US and EU citizens?

Well gently caress you then, there's nothing left I need to see there that's worth going through that hassle. I'll take my tourist dollars elsewhere. I'm not sure who in immigration is working overtime to gently caress up your economy so bad over there, but I have zero interest in visiting countries that can't handle basic tasks like visa on arrival.

Trimson Grondag 3
Jul 1, 2007

Clapping Larry

Wonton posted:

Any wine recommendations? I plan to take several bottles back home. Something that’s less mainstream I guess?

I live in an Asian mega city, lots of imports of big name french wines like Louis Latour, puilley fuisse, etc but I don’t know too much about Italian wines.

Thanks!!

Look for some AR.PE.PE. while you are in Milan, good red food wine if you don’t mind something a bit tannic.

distortion park
Apr 25, 2011


Saladman posted:

Sounds OK for 10 days, although you may be planning too much. Monaco is fine for like, 2 hours. The nearby village of Eze is great.
...
(Loads of great E France advice..

In addition to Saladman's recs consider: Nîmes, area around Orange, Forêt de Saou (never been but always thought it looks cool). If you're not going to stop anywhere north of Lyon/Dijon you could consider dropping the car there and taking a TGV - fun if you've never done it and avoids 4 hours on very boring motorways.

distortion park fucked around with this message at 08:57 on Jan 28, 2023

mmkay
Oct 21, 2010

Hadlock posted:

The UK is instituting some "visa but not a visa" with minimum 48 hour turn around time, AND a $8 fee? Even for US and EU citizens?

Well gently caress you then, there's nothing left I need to see there that's worth going through that hassle. I'll take my tourist dollars elsewhere. I'm not sure who in immigration is working overtime to gently caress up your economy so bad over there, but I have zero interest in visiting countries that can't handle basic tasks like visa on arrival.

This, uh, sure is a take coming from a country with a $160 fee for an interview for a visitor visa that you need to get to a consulate for.

Fruits of the sea
Dec 1, 2010

There should probably be a dedicated thread for ESTA, considering how many Western Europeans get refused entry to the US :v:

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Hadlock posted:

The UK is instituting some "visa but not a visa" with minimum 48 hour turn around time, AND a $8 fee? Even for US and EU citizens?

Well gently caress you then, there's nothing left I need to see there that's worth going through that hassle. I'll take my tourist dollars elsewhere. I'm not sure who in immigration is working overtime to gently caress up your economy so bad over there, but I have zero interest in visiting countries that can't handle basic tasks like visa on arrival.

You know that the USA already does this and the EU/Schengen is implementing this also in 2023… right? The EU one is called a ETIAS. Some other countries do this too, eg Turkey. Also while it can take "up to" 48 hours I imagine it will be instantaneous in practice like the ESTA for 99% of visa waiver people, unless you’ve been to a handful of countries that people don’t usually travel to, plus Iran and now since Biden loves implementing Trump policies, also Cuba.

It is super annoying and I hate it, and while the UK government is poo poo, they are just following the pattern set by their neighbors.

CmdrSmirnoff posted:

All of that is good info, thanks a ton. We're going in late June, and the hotels we're likely staying at are in the towns I mentioned. My intention was for them to be a home base for us while we explore the countryside with Extremely Very French music playing on the car radio.

Nice, that and early/mid September are the best time of the year to be in that part of France. Everything is open, the weather is amazing, and everyone is still at work or in school.

Even if you're "stuck" with deluxe hotels in the bigger cities already, there are still plenty of options and getting from Nice or Avignon to the countryside by car is easy too. IMHO pick up a DK guidebook or similar and see what interests you. The only thing that I mentioned that would definitely be out then is the Mercantour park and Cime de la Bonette -- unless you want to do it as a daytrip from France if you've never been to high Alpine mountains before. The Chateau des Papes in Avignon is neat, and I really liked their sound and light show at night, although it was the first one I'd ever seen so if I saw it again I might be less impressed since they're in like every major city in France now and a fair number of other countries, like Egypt. Pont du Gard I also thought was really impressive, but it is also quite a detour so you'd want to make sure if that's really your thing.

Carcassone is also awesome if you want to flip around and go a fairly different way from what you initially had in mind.


Wonton posted:

Here is a preliminary schedule, we both love food, art, and history, especially about the borgias. However, we are a little worried about being “churched out”

3 nights Milan
2 nights padova? Gateway to Venice - I only did half day trips there and wanted to stay longer
2 nights to Florence - wanted to eat some good steak florentine, added a few locations listed in this thread
5 nights of Rome - should be enough of rest and we can go to Vatican City for a day (but Easter ugh)
2 nights Pompeii

Churched out is a real risk!

There is no transportation of luggage between hotels in Europe, barring some very exceptional cases like if you're doing a hike in Switzerland between mountain huts on a very few specific routes. I don't think courier service is a thing in Europe unless you want to pay like two hundred euros for it. I might be wrong but I've never, ever heard of it. I think that is a uniquely Japanese thing, in terms of it being a service normal people use.

1 full day in Pompeii is way more than enough, but I guess you saw all the stuff about other nearby sites on the last pages (or in Wikitravel or in every guidebook).

Same for Padova, 1 full day is more than enough but it's fine as a base for a full daytrip to Venice too.

All of Easter Week / Holy Week is supposed to be packed, but we were there last year the week after Holy Week and it was fine, although it still took an hour to get in through the security queue and there were still tons of pilgrims -- more than usual in other times I've been there. It looks like the bad Easter week (the pilgrimage and megapacked week) is the one that starts on Palm Sunday, so if you're there from 2-9 April then uh, dang. Still, worth going to St Peters as it is absolutely mindblowing so I doubt you can be "churched out" of it; it's just absurdly more impressive than any other church in terms of grandeur, sorry Florence. I am churched out, but St Peters is still incredible. You've got 5 days, so... go on a weekday that's not a holiday and it should be less crowded. I went during the day on Christmas Eve about 10 years ago and it was about an hour queue then too, so you should be OK even if you're there on April 2-9, just avoid Easter Sunday (obviously?).

For museums in Rome: this was probably on the previous pages, but it's worth emphasizing again: buy tickets in advance. Like at least a week in advance. Especially for Villa Borghese and the Vatican Museum they can and will sell out several days in advance. For the Roman forum and coliseum, they won't sell out but buying online can save you a waiting in line time.

Saladman fucked around with this message at 13:31 on Jan 28, 2023

mobby_6kl
Aug 9, 2009

by Fluffdaddy

Paperhouse posted:

for an authentic experience try going to a Milan game wearing an Inter shirt and getting your head kicked in
Solid tip.

webmeister posted:

See if you can get tickets to Santa Maria Delle Grazie, it’s where the Last Supper painting is located
Booking stuff in advance is something I often neglect and end up being surprised that poo poo is sold out for weeks ahead.

CmdrSmirnoff posted:

I went in the summer, so YMMV, but I liked the random parks scattered near the downtown core, especially the Giardini Indro Montanelli and Parco Sempione. They're both near lots of little streets filled with beautiful buildings and little restaurants Quick example: walk east from Corso Venezia to Via Giuseppe Baretti; there's a nondescript little square flanked by gorgeous old apartments labeled as Piazza Eleonora Duse on Google Maps. Really lovely.
As long as it's not raining that sounds great!

MagicCube
May 25, 2004

Hadlock posted:

The UK is instituting some "visa but not a visa" with minimum 48 hour turn around time, AND a $8 fee? Even for US and EU citizens?

Well gently caress you then, there's nothing left I need to see there that's worth going through that hassle. I'll take my tourist dollars elsewhere. I'm not sure who in immigration is working overtime to gently caress up your economy so bad over there, but I have zero interest in visiting countries that can't handle basic tasks like visa on arrival.

As mentioned, tick another 27 countries off your list because Schengen is implementing the same thing starting November 2023.

But you've saved $8, so I guess it evens out.

Ferdinand Bardamu
Apr 30, 2013
The tourist Schengen visa won't be required of UK or US citizens. What a massive pain in the rear end for those affected.

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/tourist-schengen-visa/

quote:

What Documents are Required When Applying for a Tourist Schengen Visa?
When applying for a Tourist Schengen Visa, you must submit the following documents:

Visa application form. Fully completed with correct information, printed and signed at the end.

Two recent photos. Taken within the last three months, in compliance with the Schengen visa photo criteria.

Valid passport. No older than ten years and with a minimum validity of three months beyond your planned stay in Schengen. It must have at least two blank pages in order to be able to affix the visa sticker.

Roundtrip reservation or itinerary. A document that includes dates and flight numbers specifying entry and exit from the Schengen area. Find out how to get a flight reservation for a tourist visa application.

Travel Health Insurance. Evidence that you have purchased health insurance that covers medical emergencies with a minimum of €30,000, for your whole period of stay. The Insurance policy can easily be purchased online from Europ Assistance.

Proof of accommodation. Evidence that shows where you will be staying throughout your time in Schengen. This could be a:
Hotel/hostel booking. With name, complete address, phone and e-mail, for the entire time you will be in the Schengen area.
Rent agreement. If you have rented a place, in the country you will be staying.
Letter of tour organizer. If you will be travelling with a tour agency.

Proof of financial means. Evidence that shows you have enough money to support yourself throughout your stay in Schengen. This could be a:
Bank account statement.
Sponsorship Letter. When another person will be financially sponsoring your trip to the Schengen Zone. It is also often called an Affidavit of Support.
A combination of both.

Evidence of employment status.
If employed:
Employment contract,
Leave permission from the employer
Income Tax Return
If self-employed:
A copy of your business license,
Company’s bank statement of the latest 6 months
Income Tax Return (ITR)
If a student:
Proof of enrollment &
No Objection Letter from University

Travel Itinerary. A description of your trip to Europe, your purpose of travelling, which places are you going to visit in Europe, the time frame and all the personal data.

For Minors:
Either birth certificate/proof of adoption/custody decree if parents are divorced / death certificate of parent
Letter of consent from parents, including passport copies of both parents/ legal guardian

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005

WaryWarren posted:

The tourist Schengen visa won't be required of UK or US citizens. What a massive pain in the rear end for those affected.

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/tourist-schengen-visa/

The EISTA is not the tourist Schengen visa and yes, US and UK citizens need one.

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/etias/who-needs-etias/

HookShot
Dec 26, 2005

Saladman posted:

buying online can save you a waiting in line time.

The forum and Colosseum tickets are all online now, you literally cannot purchase them in person anymore.

Drone
Aug 22, 2003

Incredible machine
:smug:


HookShot posted:

The EISTA is not the tourist Schengen visa and yes, US and UK citizens need one.

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/etias/who-needs-etias/

Maybe not the right thread for it, but:

quote:

Foreign nationals who have a long-stay D visa for the Schengen area.

I'm a US citizen who has an EU Blue Card issued by Germany. I have never heard of a "long-stay D visa", am I gonna have to do this poo poo whenever I come home to Germany from visiting family in the States?

Edit: answered my own question.

quote:

Do I need an ETIAS visa if I already have a long-term visa from one of the Member States?
Since a long-term visa issued by one of the member states gives you the right to move throughout the whole Schengen, you will not need to obtain a travel authorization for as long as you have the visa.

Drone fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Jan 28, 2023

Alucard
Mar 11, 2002
Pillbug

Sounds like we might be overlapping in Florence! Maybe we should get a gelato and post about it in the thread...

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

Seems like a lovely legal loophole to revoke visa on arrival for most of the western world

Interesting that every page about this stuff has a FAQ and #1 is "so is this a visa?" and the response is a carefully worded, "this does not meet the legal standard of a visa" or similar

Saladman
Jan 12, 2010

Hadlock posted:

Seems like a lovely legal loophole to revoke visa on arrival for most of the western world

Interesting that every page about this stuff has a FAQ and #1 is "so is this a visa?" and the response is a carefully worded, "this does not meet the legal standard of a visa" or similar

Yeah, I don't really get it either. Any money they get from it will go into administration for dealing with it, so it's not like it's a money maker, I bet it costs more than those $8 will bring in, and I literally cannot even think of one single purpose that it serves. "Pre travel check" makes no sense.

The ETIAS will last three years. The ESTA lasts two. No idea how long the Turkish/Canadian/UK/whatever ones last, but it's a definite trend and the only purpose seems to be to mess with people who don't know how to deal with the administrative minutiae of travel... meaning basically everyone who is not a regular trans-Atlantic flyer.

Why these things don't last the lifetime of your passport? Who loving knows. Kind of like an International Driver's Permit, it just seems like purely an administrative scam.

MagicCube
May 25, 2004

Saladman posted:

Yeah, I don't really get it either. Any money they get from it will go into administration for dealing with it, so it's not like it's a money maker, I bet it costs more than those $8 will bring in, and I literally cannot even think of one single purpose that it serves. "Pre travel check" makes no sense.

The ETIAS will last three years. The ESTA lasts two. No idea how long the Turkish/Canadian/UK/whatever ones last, but it's a definite trend and the only purpose seems to be to mess with people who don't know how to deal with the administrative minutiae of travel... meaning basically everyone who is not a regular trans-Atlantic flyer.

Why these things don't last the lifetime of your passport? Who loving knows. Kind of like an International Driver's Permit, it just seems like purely an administrative scam.

It's not meant to be a money maker. It's purely retributive because the US and Canada have had the exact same thing in place since 2007 and 2016 respectively for all but an extremely tiny selection of countries.

And to be honest, it's 100% fair considering the circumstances and somewhat surprising it didn't happen earlier. If EU/Schengen countries are not given pure visa-free access then why should they give it to others?

MagicCube fucked around with this message at 00:46 on Jan 29, 2023

greazeball
Feb 4, 2003



Hadlock posted:

Seems like a lovely legal loophole to revoke visa on arrival for most of the western world

Interesting that every page about this stuff has a FAQ and #1 is "so is this a visa?" and the response is a carefully worded, "this does not meet the legal standard of a visa" or similar

Just imagine the time you'll save in the queue after the global south gets rejected at home for not submitting their forms properly!

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

MagicCube posted:

It's not meant to be a money maker. It's purely retributive because the US and Canada have had the exact same thing in place since 2007 and 2016 respectively for all but an extremely tiny selection of countries.

I don't fully disagree but at the same time limiting the number of tourists coming into your county both has the short term effect of reducing tourism dollars, and long term effect of reducing international business. I'm more likely to do business with a country that has no hassle visa on arrival than some country that has weird diplomatic retribution rules in place that harms the wrong group. My buddy lives in Colombia with his Colombian wife pumping an extra 50k (or more) a year directly into their economy because I went there on a visa on arrival tourism trip. I would have never suggested Colombia to him if it had been a pain in the rear end to get in there. In 2009 I almost struck Argentina off my list because they had weird visa rules but had just updated them to allow visa on arrival in BA.

Those are terrible examples but he's now hiring some Colombian contactors for his UK company, and I helped choose Colombia over Mexico to hire 9 contractors because I have a favorable opinion of the country. Small things but you start putting road blocks up and 5-10 years later it starts ruining opportunities for regular people

At another company, the founder did a study abroad in Bulgaria in 1997 (on a student visa, so tangential, but still,). When I left the company in 2017 they had a satellite office in Sofia (the capital) with 50 very well paid employees there

Digital passports should be making things easier not harder to build bridges

Waci
May 30, 2011

A boy and his dog.

greazeball posted:

Just imagine the time you'll save in the queue after the global south gets rejected at home for not submitting their forms properly!

The global south, famous for previously benefitting from effortless and free entry to Western countries. Americans having to put in almost one tenth of the money and effort required for travel documents will surely somehow affect them.

MagicCube
May 25, 2004

Hadlock posted:

Digital passports should be making things easier not harder to build bridges

I fully agree with this, but you need to look inward before blaming other countries.

If the USA had not implemented ESTA in 2007 this conversation wouldn't be happening. It's the US wanting to have their cake and eat it too. Americans got a free ride from the EU on this issue for 16 years and now when the playing field gets levelled, they feel aggrieved.

Hadlock
Nov 9, 2004

MagicCube posted:

If the USA had not implemented ESTA in 2007 this conversation wouldn't be happening. It's the US wanting to

Look I voted against the guy in office when that went in to place, along with the numerical majority of Americans. Both times.

Kneecapping euro tourism seems like an awful and ineffectual way to resolve the problem though

Wonton
Jul 5, 2012

Alucard posted:

Sounds like we might be overlapping in Florence! Maybe we should get a gelato and post about it in the thread...

LETS DO IT

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Wonton
Jul 5, 2012
Reposting, please help, thank you

Wonton posted:

Hey goons,

It’s a little late but I plan on going flying to Milan march 31- April 14. I have been to northern Italy and Europe quite a few times for work, but my partner has not been to Italy or Switzerland. I never took high speed rail in Italy, only drove a rental van and stuffed all my coworkers and their suit cases and their instant noodles and tea leaves. Driving up and down the mountains of bologna were a little scary with huge lumber trucks and cargo trucks going through the windy roads and dealing with fast fast aggressive drivers. Fun times.

Here is a preliminary schedule, we both love food, art, and history, especially about the borgias. However, we are a little worried about being “churched out”

3 nights Milan
2 nights padova? Gateway to Venice - I only did half day trips there and wanted to stay longer
2 nights to Florence - wanted to eat some good steak florentine, added a few locations listed in this thread
5 nights of Rome - should be enough of rest and we can go to Vatican City for a day (but Easter ugh)
2 nights Pompeii

I browsed through the last 20 pages thanks for all the insights.

Last question, is there a cheap luggage forwarding service in Europe or Italy? I’m kind of addicted to kuroneko Yamato transport in japan. I can send my 9kg suitcase for 11 euros from Tokyo to Osaka (4 hour high speed rail ride) hotel to hotel same day delivery (before 10am pickup). Fingers crossed for hands free travel, I think I’m done lugging my bags from point to point. Heck, SF express in japan is offering to send your bags from your hotel to your home for a minor fee. I hope there’s a similar service in Europe? Fingers crossed

And how easy is it to go to a small shops and buy their souvenirs/food and send to your next destination or hotel ? Do stores offer prepay courier service ?

I suppose none of us go to Europe for service, it’s good food and history. I can’t wait to pay Pennies for yogurt, cold cuts, cheese and wine. Heck I’ll settle for autogrill.

Wait there’s autogrill in India, Australia, Malaysia , and America? But no Spain?

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