ilikeanswers

Give it a few years Europe will price match😉.

Last I heard $AU20 and yes I am aware Australia invented the visa waiver charge so we only have only ourselves to blame😂. Considering the ESTIA is a new charge I think we can give people a break for having a grumble. It is the natural part of the adjustment process. Not everyone is going to turn into a Karen just because they expose their disgruntlement. A good whine (with or without the h😜) can be quite cathartic.

While it might not make or break some one's European trip, it doesn't mean people aren't going to be annoyed at having another expense on top of all the other expenses. There are a lot of other things I would rather be spending €7 on than a fee😂.

Not everyone has the luxury to visit a place at the "right time" plus trying coordinate every visit to the least crowded time isn't easy or necessarily realistic especially for travellers with time constraints unless someone can figure out how we can be in two places at once😂. And while I do enjoy a good after hours tour they are pricey, doing one for every famous place I visit would eat up a chunk of my budget so at some point I have to prioritise and just join a crowd. Besides some places can be more authentic with crowds. I remember in the Palace of Versailles they said during Louis XIV reign up to 10,000 people were living in and around the grounds. So having wall to wall tourists is really in keeping with the crowded authenticity of its history😜.

To be clear it is not a visa waiver to Europe just the Schengen Area. Nothing changes with the non Schengen countries entry requirements.

I would agree with this. I think I have written before that I never travelled pre mass tourism so for me crowds are part and parcel of the experience of a famous destination. When there is no crowds I consider that an added bonus like my visit to Kyoto's Fushimi Inari shrine. It is was great not to have a crowd and probably did elevate the experience but I would not have been disappointed had it been wall to wall humans as that was what I had been expecting.

😿💔🫂

My rule has always been tip according to the local custom of the destination not the cruise ship or your home country's culture. The reality is every country views tipping differently so tipping in the local rates will be culturally and economically appropriate. The way I see it as tourists it is not really our place to change a destination's culture after all we go home so we are not the ones who have to live with the consequences of these changes.

Footballeroos doesn't quite roll off the tongue😝

Been there about five years ago and their pies were very good. We got a chicken pie and two types of beef pie along with a really delicious cherry pie.

Actually I think it is more famous for being so derided😂 which personally I have never understood why🤷‍♀️ they don't seem that bad to me and kind of reminds me of Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit.

The common main ingredients are tomato, cucumber and bread but it is less about the ingredients and more the region of origin that makes it a cold dish as Andalusia has mainly warm weather so the people there eat gazpacho as a cool refreshing dish to beat the summer heat. When we travelled around Spain we had various gazpacho and when done well they are pretty delicious.

One of those 18 paintings sold for $US658000 so they seem to be popular than people give them credit for.

Isn't it usually the opposite, the experts claim it is the best and the price magically goes up😜.

Based some of Leonardo's "anatomical research" drawings I would be very surprised if it was the last option😜. I really hope it is Lisa del Giocondo. The idea of the most famous female portrait being a nameless unknown woman to me would be sad☹️.

I think sometimes places won't always agree with you despite what activities you partake in. It is something I experienced after my New York City trip. I did great things that I really enjoyed but overall it doesn't rate as my favourite place I have visited. IMO there is something intangible an overall vibe or atmosphere that can make you love, like or hate a place despite how much you research or do the things you enjoy.

I think when people say the Mona Lisa became famous after its theft they mean to the public conciousness not the art world. Prior to the theft outside of the industry few people had ever heard of the Mona Lisa, it wasn't the go to painting when visiting the Lourve or reproduced enough that people instantly knew what it looked like. In that respect the theft did make Mona Lisa famous in the way Star Wars is famous rather than critically acclaimed in the industry but never on anyones playlist famous 😂. Paris and Kim are famous but I don't think many people know who Lisa del Giocondo is😂.

How about jack fruit😂? One my local pizza shops does peppered jack fruit pizza. Not personally to my taste, I prefer my jack fruit for dessert😋.

Watching Masterchef and they had an ep featuring the pie makers of Country Cobb bakery. They made two pies, one a scallop curry pie another was BBQ beef with quail eggs. They both looked delicious😋. Here's the video if any one is curious the pie section starts at 12:45 Masterclass 2

I can't say the Sagrada Familia was appealing to me either, though oddly I did find the crypt quite nice.

I guess I must be lucky too😂. Mind you I have only booked three experiences with Viator. It is not my go to aggregate site though so far no bad experiences on any sites🤞. While I do like to try and book direct sometimes I do find aggregation sites more convenient in certain circumstances like road tripping where I find it easier having all the accommodations on one website and in Japan we had a unique experience where places didn't have English language websites and I found the aggregation site translations much better than Google Translate so I preferred to book via them. There is one particular tour guide site where you find guides you would not be able to access otherwise. They don't have their own websites or direct booking facilities. I once asked one of these guides why they don't have their own websites and she said the costs associated with having a website along with payment platform fees, advertising and search engine fees were more expensive than the cut the aggregate site took.

Hope you get well soon. Rest is good apparently helps to minimise long Covid. Similar thing happened to me. First my dad started to get a scratchy throat, did a RAT test and it was covid positive. Then my throat started getting scratchy also did a test Covid positive and then my mum who we thought had a stomach bug also came Covid positive. Been soothing myself with a warmed up mix of apple cider vinegar and honey. Interesting to see how different our symptoms are, my dad just got a sore throat, I got the sore throat with congestion and while my mum got an upset stomach she avoided the sore throat and any congestion issues.

I recently watched a doco about the painting of the Mona Lisa where a professional artist tried to replicate the painting the way Da Vinci would have painted it. I never realised before how technically difficult the painting was. I have new found appreciation for the painting but would I hang it on my wall? Nope😂. I remember an art dealer once saying you should buy paintings that speak to you otherwise it is just a pretty picture that you'll never appreciate. I think that is a good way to look at art and personally contemporary art speaks to me a lot more than the so called great masters and I usually find art by women a lot more relatable. Also I love crafts like embroidery, metal work or weaving. A lot of people don't consider those things real art but to me there is just as much skill and artistry as any grand painting while telling more intimate stories about people, families and culture. As for the value of art watching the show Fake or Fortune makes me think the whole valuation of art is very whimsical and flimsy😂.

I haven't had a bucket list destination disappoint me, but my bucket list is pretty selective 😜. Since I didn't travel pre crowds I don't have that nostalgia. Cowds at tourists sites are the only normal I know😂. In saying that I have had three famous places disappoint me. One was Bled in Slovenia, overly touristified as if locals didn't even live there on top of that prices were 10x higher than in the rest of Slovenia and it didn't feel like 10x the value. The other was Poas crater in Costa Rica. It was one of those moments where you find yourself thinking, is this it? The other destination was New York City. I had friends who talked it up so I probably went in with too high an expectation and it just wasn't for me in the end. Most destinations I'm probably more "meh". I'm not disappointed but I'm not blown away. I go in with a lot of curiosity so for me seeing sights in real life is part of the joy travelling even if those sights aren't particularly amazing or maybe disappointing I'm still happy to have that experience.

You can add Morocco and Nigeria to that list😂. Maybe we should get some Australian princes who need help recovering their inheritance😜.