Now is the time to start planning for your 2024 travel, especially if you might be going abroad. Do it now when you can take your time, make the best choices, and feel unhurried. Our brand new 2024 editions are all published and ready for your perusal -and now include the official weblink for the upcoming ETIAS admission and payment to enter the European Union. In addition, all of our City Extras pages of our travel book website have been updated with new ideas and tips!

Happy travels, Dean and Andie

Many of our readers have had questions regarding the new ETIAS application approval that will be needed to enter most European countries. It will now begin sometime in 2025 so most travelers can relax and take a much-needed breath.

We have just updated our books (January 2024) with a new, more direct link to the official ETIAS website. Its components will become live as the new system is put into place. Please make note of this new URL that is currently in all of our 2024 editions for our Europe (not UK) books:

https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias_en

Thank you sharing this email with loved ones and other travelers you may know. Happy travels, Dean and Andie

It’s autumn and things that might need a refresh are getting one. That’s exactly what has occurred with our Clued In travel guides and Bored In fun guides too. All editions are now up and running on amazon.com including a glorious brand-new Clued In Venice. Now in paperback or ebook, these are the best new travel guides around because we don’t waste your time with any blah blah blah. And remember, our new 2024 guides are still current and accurate for the rest of 2023 as well.

Happy travels, Dean and Andie

We just noticed a new five-star review on Amazon.com for our Clued In Florence book and feel excited, happy, and inspired after reading it. Here’s snippet we can share with our readers:

I am fortunate to have traveled to over 30 countries and have used all of the popular guidebooks, Rick Steves, Frommers and Lonely Planet… and this one is best of all. Soooo easy to read, lots of usable good info, and fun too!! I highly recommend this book. I just ordered a 2nd copy to be sent directly to my cousin in California, who I will be traveling with. I have rated over 50 products, and this rating is by far the best, and only 1 of 2 that I have ever written such a detailed review.

Thank you for those kind words. We hope our other Clued In travelers will share our weblink and book titles with their friends and neighbors so that we can continue to grow our brand.

Happy travels, Dean and Andie

This month’s (city by city) blog posts are now up and running and specify many fall events that you won’t want to miss… three in London alone. There are also major restoration projects in Paris and Venice to be aware of, so check out the page for the city you’re planning to visit in late September or October.

We are just back from our sixteenth trip to Venice and are here to tell you that La Serenissima was very hot and not serene at all! This is one city where the month you visit really matters, and even which days of the week. Wow. It was tourists galore during the last week of August (and up to the the U.S. Labor Day) in a way we’ve never seen before. Predictively, the nasty crowds were nowhere to be found in neighborhoods farther afield from Piazza San Marco and disappeared completely after sundown.

One of the great joys of Venice is staying overnight in the historic island city (not on the mainland.) You have the place to yourself along with just a few other wise visitors, which makes the musical quintets and thick hot chocolate on the piazza somehow more magical.

If you simply must visit Venice during summer then do yourself a favor and stay west of the Grand Canal in the lovely Dorsoduro neighborhood. We heartily recommend the hotel Villa Maravege or Ca’ Maria Adele, or even the Palazzo Barbarigo which technically is in the San Polo neighborhood. This way you can enjoy Venice the is it is supposed to be visited and stray into that gorgeous piazza at night only. An early morning visit to the Doge’s Palace is probably tolerable.

But if you want your Venice visit to be one you’ll remember forever, plan your trip for October or April. These are the months when it really shines! (Note that October traditional has some flooding.) Last tip… if you want to save on airfares and hotel rates then go ahead and visit Venice in November or March but make sure you include a weekend so that the piazza is alive and kickin’. Example: a Tuesday night in mid-March means no quintets will be playing in the evening and the piazza will be empty and dull. Such a bummer.

Hope this helps! Dean and Andie

Don’t miss the secret promo for our Bored in Paris ebook now through Tuesday, August 22 – just 95 cents!  Super fun for any traveler.

Bored in Paris: Awesome Experiences for the Repeat Visitor

(But great for first-timers too!

The Pantheon is now charging an entrance fee – UPDATE!

    As you may know, you must now pay to enter the Pantheon unless you are attending Holy Mass. There have been so many kinks in the logistics of this that one could go mad trying to figure it out and when you do they change it again. Here is everything we know as of August 9, 2023.  Their online ticket purchasing platform needs you to “register” your info before proceeding. (See our helpful tips below.) You can also just buy your tickets in person at the Pantheon but that means an extra queue. Note that when their sales hit 1200 they consider it sold out. This remains one of the best sights in Rome and you deserve to see it… we hope you get to. Goo-luck.

• € 5,00 Adults / € 3,00 for ages 18 to 25 / Free for visitors under 18
• Open everyday from 9am to 6:30pm / Ticket office open from 9am to 6pm
• The first Sunday of every month is free to enter 
• Holy Mass is celebrated on Saturdays at 5pm, and on Sundays and holidays at 10:30am)  -Entry is free but is only for devotees who are there to attend the actual mass.
• The Pantheon is closed during its Holy Masses (Saturday nights and Sunday mornings) as well as Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
• Visitors can purchase a maximum of 10 tickets

Tickets can be purchased ahead online at www.museiitaliani.it once you register your basic info… verify the email they send in order to complete the process (and be sure to check your spam folder if you don’t see it within a few minutes!) You are also welcome to purchase entry tickets in person at the Pantheon ticket office. Questions? Use email address:  info@museiitaliani.it

For complete information regarding free tickets and discounts, please visit  www.beniculturali.it/agevolazioni 

Summer fun is in full swing and for many of you that means enjoying the sunshine and special events going on now in some of the world’s greatest cities. From the breathtaking ballet performances by Antonio Casalinho with (Roberto Bolle & Friends) at Verona’s ancient arena, to Rome’s annual live opera concerts at the ruins of the Caracalla Baths, it’s been a thrilling season so far. And that’s not even counting the Edinburgh International Festival, the largest performance festival in the world, which has just started!

But August in some top cities might mean that restaurants you were looking forward trying are actually closed tight for their own annual month-long holiday. That’s why we’ve just added a special addition to most of our City-Extras pages (through the menu bar above) that’s titled, “Sometime you just want a great sandwich.” We disclose our favorite sandwich/ panini joints from Barcelona to Paris and everywhere in between. We know that’s not the same thing as a gorgeous sit-down meal in a fine restaurant but they are very tasty so check it out.

Happy travels, Dean and Andie

(Our August updates to Clued In Venice will reflect this new information)

• The proposed entry fee/access tax of €5 will begin in 2025 after being tested on certain holidays during the 2024 calendar. This fee is for day-trippers only, folks who have come for a day visit without reserved accommodations in the municipal Venice area.
• The fee will need to be paid ahead online for each person in your party and will result in a QR Code delivered to your smart device.
• Hotels and apartment rentals booked by tourists will supply an exemption QR Code for free (because a tourist tax is already in place for accommodations.)
• There will not be gates, turnstiles, or barriers to control arriving visitors. Instead, random checks on tourists will be carried out by officials. Your paid (or exempt) QR code will need to be immediately presented in the event of an inspection.  If you fail the inspection you will be fined.
• Children under age six are exempt from paying any access tax.
• Tour bus passengers who have paid the ZTL bus tax will also be exempt from the access tax.

This access tax is intended to relieve the local Venetian residents of some of the costs to maintain the city and its services. Right now, they alone pay for the upkeep.

Please share this important new information because almost all of the posts about it on Google are old and wildly incorrect. Happy travels, Dean and Andie

Whether you’ve been to Paris or not, our gorgeous 2023 current summer edition of Clued In Paris in worth having. You’ll learn things you won’t read anywhere else, all supported by original photography. Go ahead, treat yourself because this sale will not last.

Happy travels, Dean and Andie

TODAY: get the Clued In Paris paperback for only $11.95!