Travel News & Advice – August 14, 2024

Travel News. Graphic by Melanie Votaw.

Dispute with a travel-related company? Whenever you have a problem with a travel-related company that you’re struggling to resolve, check out the contact information for executives in Christopher Elliott’s handy list. Don’t waste more time – go right to the top! https://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/

The building resentment in Europe about overtourism: Apparently, locals are most upset about short-term rentals and how they’re forcing out local people due to lack of housing and overpriced housing. Mostly, reports say they want their governments to change policies to prevent this from happening. It isn’t as much about tourists themselves. That said, read the next entry…

Hiding popular sights? Amsterdam is obscuring Dam Square with a large wall, and Copenhagen is hiding some popular spots with art and greenery to try to prevent so many tourists from converging on the same places. Will it work? We’ll see.

Crowd of people. Photo by Keith JJ.

CLEAR is raising its prices again: The service that gets you through TSA faster is raising its individual prices to $199 per year.

United Airlines news: Travelers in basic economy can now check in online. Before, they had to wait to check in at the airport to verify they weren’t bringing a carry-on bag.

The TSA liquid rule is here to stay: Other countries may do away with the liquids rule, but in the U.S., the TSA can’t spend the money to change the scanners. So they say it won’t change until at least the year 2040. (Eye roll.)

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Melanie Votaw is the Publisher and Executive Travel Writer of LuxuryWeb Magazine. She has visited more than 50 countries on 6 continents and written for such magazines as Executive Travel, Just Luxe, Business Insider, South China Morning Post, Travel Mindset, and more. She is a member of the International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association, New York Travel Writers Association, and International Travel Writers Alliance. Melanie's photography has won awards, and she has also written 43 nonfiction books as either the author or ghostwriter.

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