Departures: Travel & Lifestyle - ✈️ Venice Introduces Tourist Tax.
✈️ Venice Introduces Tourist Tax.In an effort to curb overtourism, the floating city is introducing for the first time an admission fee for tourists.👨✈️ The Briefing Room:Notes and open topics from the editor’s desk. Welcome Departures. The place to be for where to go and what to see. In this edition, we continue binging on Parisian rooftops with what is bar non the most tourist oriented spot in the city. We explore Venice, before its new controversial visitor booking system goes into effect and I give you some best practices on how to plan and make the most out of your visit to the canal city. So now without further ado, let’s take it away! Alvin 📰 This Week in Travel:A TLDR approach to some of the week’s most important headlines.
📸 Destination Deep Dive:Comprehensive multipart series on a single destination. France Part 11 Last week on Destination Deep Dive: France Part 10 we visited Khayma Rooftop Bar. A little hidden gem that offers a great rooftop views without breaking the bank. This week we switch gears and go up to the most touristy and overrated rooftop in the entire city. I’m talking about non other than the Champagne Bar on top of the Eiffel Tower. Anyone that knows me or has followed me for a while will probably be aware of my love/hate relationship with France’s most iconic monument. Although I am completely capable of gazing at it for hours from a distance (and do so quite frequently), the closer I get to it the more I hate it. Let me explain.
It’s not the monument itself that gets the hate, but the entire experience around getting to the monument that makes me lose my faith in humanity and I will stay as far away from whenever possible. Everything from the constant traffic congestion in the area, the hordes of pedestrians, aggressive street vendors, endless queues and security pat downs prove just a bit much for the quality and length of the actual experience once you finally get inside the attraction. I’ve had to put myself through this 6 or 7 times over the years and every new opportunity has been less enjoyable than the one before it. All that being said, I don’t want anyone who’s never gone through it get discouraged by my cumulative disdain. I still believe everyone should voluntarily put themselves through the misery at least once in their life. Specially if it’s the first time in Paris. It’s almost a tourist’s rite of passage. All my complaining aside, the truth of the matter is that even if just for a brief period of time you will be rewarded with amazing panoramic views of the city from the tower’s unique perspective. And what better way to celebrate the achievement than by indulging on a glass full of bubbles from the champagne bar on top of the tower. At 18€ a pop, on top of the 25€ entrance fee, it might not be the best deal in town, but trust me, if you got this far and reached the top, you have definitely earned it! Next week on Destination Deep Dive: France Part 12 we continue our tour of the best roof tops in Paris. Still tons to cover. About Destination Deep Dives Destination Deep Dives offer a more immersive look at one particular destination in a recurring format over a several editions of the newsletter. It is where I give myself room to explore a broader set of points of interests, for all travel styles and budgets. Think of them as small parts of a larger travel guide. Even though I will be publishing them all together as one guide at the end of the series, you may access them all as individual articles inside their corresponding Departures edition here: 🗺 Bucket List:Short highlight of a dream destination. Venice: The Floating City As a child, few places sparked my imagination and wanderlust more than Venice. As an adolescent, even before I fully grasped where it was physically located on the map, I remember looking at photographs of gondolas going under narrow pedestrian bridges and asking myself if I would ever get the opportunity to visit this magnificent man made nirvana of romance. All these years later, even though my Venice fever has worn off quite a bit, I still try to make it out that way whenever I am in Milan or anywhere else in the vicinity. But as the floating city has gained popularity, I have personally witnessed how the crowds have steadily increased year over year and made it very challenging to fully embrace the Venetian experience. For years now, Venice has suffered from one of the biggest overtourism problems in Europe. In 2019, by some estimates the city saw over 20,000,000 visitors, with most of them being day trippers. A problem that is really exacerbated by the city’s canals and narrow streets. It has gotten so bad that in 2019 UNESCO threatened to pull the city’s World Heritage status unless significant conservation efforts were made. Given all the changes affecting visitors as the city gets ready to open up its doors once again, I will leave specific recommendations on bars, restaurants and attractions for a future Destination Deep Dive. Instead, here are some big picture strategies I use, that will help you plan and get most out of your trip regardless when you decide to go:
🧳 Carry-on Only:Travel experience, tech and accessory reviews. Daylite Carry-On Wheeled Duffel 40 Traditional 4 wheel spinners are probably one of the most inconvenient types of luggage for traveling through uneven terrain, like that of the narrow cobblestoned streets found throughout most of Venice and the rest of Europe. Osprey, mostly known for its broad range of outdoors gear has come up with one of the most practical solutions for this problem I’ve seen in a while. The Daylite Wheeled Duffel combines a pair of wheels with telescoping handle along with stowable shoulder straps for backpack-style carry. Choose from black or teal color ways in carry-on friendly 40L or check in only 85L capacities. via osprey.com 🛠 Hack of the Week:Tips and tricks for better travel quality of life. Ever wish you could tap into the some of the professional grade search tools travel agents use to book reservations? Well you actually can. The Matrix Airfare Search is the website used worldwide by airlines and travel distributors the likes of Alaska Airlines, Alitalia, American Airlines, Bing, Continental Airlines, Hotwire, Kayak, Orbitz, Southwest Airlines, TripAdvisor, United Airlines, US Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways, and others. What is little known, is that access to the tool is completely free and open to the public. Take a peek by clicking on the link bellow: via itasoftware.com Make sure to bookmark it for posterity. 🛫 About Us:Departures is a free newsletter about photography, travel & lifestyle. To find out more about what this is, who I am and why should you be here, visit our dedicated about page here: Thank you for subscribing to Departures. This newsletter is made possible by the generosity of other like minded industry partners and humans just like you. If you wish to support the mission and enjoy additional premium benefits, special offers, exclusive content and 1 on 1 access to me and my team consider upgrading to a Million Miler subscription. |
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✈️ Greece Opens Up.
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
In this edition we visit a budget friendly Parisian rooftop, take a short tour of my favorite island in the Aegean and look at some handy makeup solution for those last minute touchups.
✈️ Castles and Fairytales.
Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Czech Republic lifts all Covid entry restrictions, we go for dinner to the highest restaurant in Paris and we explore a simple solution for the packing blues.
✈️ Beach Bound.
Tuesday, April 5, 2022
👨✈️ With spring in full swing, we continue our journey through the best rooftops in Paris and we start exploring some holiday options closer to the water.
✈️ India Resumes International Travel.
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
We start our tour of the best rooftops in Paris and a quick hack to beat the baggage queue.
✈️ World's Top 5 Destinations for Spring.
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
Thailand opens up for tourists and we go on a scenic walk around Paris.
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