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I wonder if some of the more famous & over-touristed cities that are concerned about this, say Barcelona for example, if they wouldn't start charging exorbitant taxes on hotel & BnB stays or something else that simultaneously reduces demand & raises revenue?
That's exactly what Disney World does with its ticket prices. It charges more (because it can) until they reach the point that they are not having to turn people away at the door. Over tourism has ruined theme parks to the point that people started tracking the slow days online, so they'd know when to go during off-peak. And now, as a result, there is no such thing as "off peak" anymore.
It makes me not even want to visit these places. Crowds, lines, and waiting ruins any experience for me. I don't pay good money to be one of 50,000 people and stand in line for 2 hours for an attraction. I understand people standing in line that long for free stuff, but why would you pay to do that? How many rides can you visit when each one queues for that long?
In everyday life, Amazon (absent their issues with warehouse conditions), Wegmans partnering with InstaCart, working remotely, and traveling to B-cities (and not necessarily their anchor attractions) have resolved most of this for me. I absolutely love taking a long weekend and visiting places in the southeast. Mountains, beaches, cities for shopping/dining/seeing something new. Holidays are great in big cities because everyone leaves.
Hate planning. Anything planned becomes something required to do, an obligation, a committment, somethign to dread.
I agree with you re events or sites to see. But having your air tickets and hotels/apartments well in advance is peace of mind. I'd never want to wing that.
I book mine the minute they are available and am itching now 'cause I can't get my April tickets since the return leg is over a year from now. I've had the VRBO accommodations over a year in advance. The owners seem to appreciate that, actually.
I agree with you re events or sites to see. But having your air tickets and hotels/apartments well in advance is peace of mind. I'd never want to wing that.
I book mine the minute they are available and am itching now 'cause I can't get my April tickets since the return leg is over a year from now. I've had the VRBO accommodations over a year in advance. The owners seem to appreciate that, actually.
Unless you want to pay a fortune and get locked out of things, you have to book airfare and lodging way in advance.
We travel to Europe a lot on frequent flyer points. I book those flights pretty much the first day I'm allowed to book them and book AirBnB lodging at the same time. Next May's London-Paris trip was all booked in late-August. I'll be booking a late-September Galicia Spain trip over the next few weeks assuming the BOS-LHR British Airways day flight I want is available using American points.
We are going to Spain in March and I was just looking at flights. No problem at all getting either the Seattle-London leg or the London-Madrid. But we are using dollars not points.
We are going to Spain in March and I was just looking at flights. No problem at all getting either the Seattle-London leg or the London-Madrid. But we are using dollars not points.
For my May trip, I'm waiting until January to get serious about booking airfare. Everything I've read says that 3-5 months in advance is the best time to book for best prices. But I've also set up a Hipmunk alert for the itinerary I'm looking at so that if there's a surprise rate drop between now and then, I'll find out about it.
Nearly every seat on the flights I'm looking at is still open, so I'm not too worried.
Hate planning. Anything planned becomes something required to do, an obligation, a committment, somethign to dread.
Dread? Really? I'm so excited about the stuff I've booked so far that I can't stand it. Certainly at the far opposite end of the spectrum from dread. LOL
We went to Paris two weeks ago and didn't pre book a single thing.
I wanted to see the Louvre but not go inside. Ditto the Tour Eiffel.
We did the double decker tour bus to get an overview of the main tourist sites but otherwise stayed away from them.
We wandered Paris outside the single digit Arrs and picnicked every day.
It was one of the most relaxing vacations I've done in years. My favorite thing was Pere Lachaise Cemetery in the pouring rain.
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