CombatCritic's TravelValue™: Europe

Showing posts with label Europe. Show all posts

Monday, August 7, 2023

ETIAS Explained - EU Will Soon Require Visas For Non-EU Citizens Entering Europe

HOT-HOT-HOT: If you are planning travel to the EU (Europe) in 2024 or beyond, YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO APPLY FOR A VISA well before you make your travel plans!

The new and poorly implemented EU ETIAS Program will require a visa for citizens of all non-EU countries entering the EU starting SOMETIME in 2024 (date has not been announced - 2024 is rapidly approaching).

You may stay for a MAXIMUM of 90 days in any 180 day period, same as Americans and many others can do now without a visa.

If you want more information, click on this link for a long, complicated explanation of the ETIAS Program:

ETIAS.eu

Saturday, December 10, 2022

Why Should You Read My Reviews And Subscribe To TravelValue?

I served my country in the United States Air Force for over 20 years and have visited 44 countries over the last 35 years, all without spending over $75 per night for a nice hotel room and dining in excellent restaurants for well under $25 per person. How do I do it? Through diligent research, exploration, trial and error, and tapping local knowledge.

Would you like to stay in a central, 3-star hotel in a major city for under $20 per night? How about a room with a balcony and view of the Himalayas while attending teachings with the Dalai Lama for just $5 per night? Or a beachfront hotel for $13 per night? Maybe a meal prepared by a 5-star chef for less than $20? Well, you have come to the right place ...

CombatCritic's "TravelValue"

Having several popular travel blogs CombatCritic.com and received numerous accolades from several of the top travel and restaurant websites/apps (Yelp, TripAvisor, Zomato, Tabelog, Booking.com), you can trust my opinions.

Unlike many reviewers who are either afraid to tell the truth or have personal relationship with businesses and biased views, I reserve 5-stars (10 Bombs on my blog) for only the most flawless restaurants, accommodations, businesses, attractions and destinations, those where you absolutely and without a doubt get the most “bang-for-the-buck”.

CombatCritic.com

I try to remain as objective as possible in all of my reviews, providing the pros and cons as I see them and a rating based on the overall “value” as compared to similar entities in similar locations. I accept no "freebies" and only identify myself as a critic after having been a customer and paid the bill, so you can trust my reviews.

Here is a breakdown of my ratings both on my blogs (where I use a ten point scale) and on travel and dining websites (that all use 5 point Likert-type scales) ...

If I hate a place, they get 1-2 Bombs (1-star)

If so-so with numerous”issues", they get 3-4 Bombs (2-stars)

If average (the vast majority of businesses fall into this category if you look at the distribution of my ratings), they get 5-6 Bombs (3-stars)

If above average, they get 7-8 Bombs (4-stars)

If they are one of the very rare “best of the best” values in my experience, they get 9-10 Bombs (5-stars – I always round up from bombs to stars because I use a 10 point Likert-type scale in order to be more discernible).

Now that you understand my philosophy and ratings, on to my reviews …

CombatCritic

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Title: Why Should You Read My Reviews And Subscribe To My Blog?

Key Words: combatcritic, travelvalue, travel, value, combat, critic, review, reviews, objective, restaurant, hotel, attraction, destination, Italy, USA, India, Asia, Europe

Sunday, March 10, 2019

HOT-HOT-HOT: For The First Time In Over 35 Years, You Will Need A Visa To Travel To Europe On Or After January 21st, 2021

Take note fellow American travelers, for the first time in almost 34 years you are going to need a visa to travel to Europe effective January 1st, 2021. The European Commission will be implementing a new system called ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) which will be very similar to the USA's own ESTA (U.S Electronic System for Travel Authorization).

Citizens of sixty countries, including the USA, will need to pay €7 ($7.85) to apply online for the visa that will be good for three years. Presently, Americans can travel into the Schengen Zone (Europe) for business or travel purposes for up to 90 days and not more than 90 days in a 180 day period simply by presenting their US passport to immigration authorities upon arrival at any of the 26 Schengen countries. No visa is currently required to visit those countries as has been the case since June 14th, 1985. Those 26 countries are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The process looks fairly straightforward and the application should take only 10 minutes to complete online. If approved, you will get your visa in as little as few minutes to as long as 4-14 days. If you are not approved, you will be able to appeal the decision. You can read all about the details of the new ETIAS system here:

https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/etias/

We have a little less than 22 months before implementation, so be prepared because Last Minute Travel to Europe will not be an option starting in 2021.

With increased terrorist threats and large numbers of immigrants flooding into Europe, it makes perfect sense that those countries want to know who is crossing their borders. It will be a bit of a pain, but security, like safety, should always be a top priority, both here and abroad.

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Title: HOT-HOT-HOT: For The First Time In Over 35 Years, You Will Need A Visa To Travel To Europe On Or After January 21st, 2021

Key Words: visa, travel, Europe, Schengen, zone, agreement, 2021, ETIAS, ESTA, commission, CombatCritic, TravelValue, travel, value, destination, review, Yelp, Zomato, TripAdvisor, Google, Facebook

Tuesday, December 25, 2018

TravelTech: 2019 - Best International SIM Card And No-Contract Plan For Travel Within The EU

Traveling to Europe and want to pay just $25 for all of the talk, text and data you need with no roaming charges in all 48 European countries and 77 countries worldwide (including the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, France and Spain)? Well, you are in luck!

You can get a Vodafone UK SIM card in the United Kingdom from any Vodafone store and most telephone shops for just £1 and a £20 pay-as-you-go big value bundle that includes 1,000 minutes of talk and unlimited texts (local - in the European country that you are in and to UK numbers) and 8GB of 4G/LTE data good for 30 days. Unlike some countries, such as Italy for example, you do not need to show a passport or any other ID when purchasing the SIM card or bundle. Being a pay-as-you-go option, bundles can renew every 30 days (if you so choose), so you can use the SIM card for 4 days, 4 weeks, 4 months or 4 years.

You will need an unlocked GSM phone (AT&T and T-Mobile use the GSM network - Sprint, Verizon and other US carriers do not) to take advantage of this offer. You can buy an unlocked GSM phone on Amazon relatively inexpensively before you leave or you can rent or buy one when you arrive in the UK. Just pop the SIM card in your phone - they come in all three sizes: standard, micro, and nano - and off you go!

When you arrive in another free-roaming country you will get a text welcoming you and your smart phone will connect to a local network automatically. I bought my SIM card in London and traveled to France, Italy and Portugal over a period of two plus months, seamlessly traveling with 100% connectivity everywhere I went. You can top-up your SIM online, over the phone, by text, or, do as I did, by adding an additional two months worth of credit (£40) before I left London.

Unused minutes and data rollover automatically and you can create a mobile hotspot (which Vodafone - Italy will not allow you to do) if you like. I was also able to stream video everywhere we went. I received an offer to add an additional 20GB of data for just £3 after the first month, giving me a total of 34GB of data ... HOOAH!

Translation for Civilians:

HOOAH!: "Phonetic spelling of the acronym HUA, which stands for 'Heard Understood Acknowledged.' Originally used by the British in the late 1800's in Afghanistan. More recently adopted by the United States Army to indicate an affirmative or a pleased response." - Urban Dictionary

"The Department of Military Science and Leadership, University of Tennessee claim HOOAH 'refers to or means anything except no' ... Regardless of its meaning ... the term is an expression of high morale, confidence, motivation and spirit." - WarChronicle.com

"The U.S. Air Force stole 'HOOAH' from the Army because we were part of the Army until 1947 and rather than waste a bunch of time coming up with something new and unique like "ROO-YAH" or "HAL-A-LOO-YAH", we said 'screw it, let's go with HOOAH' ... thanks Army ... HOOAH!" - CombatCritic

Sunday, July 26, 2015

The "Value" Leader In Travel ... Follow Me To TravelValue!

C.T. Sorrentino, aka CombatCritic, is a world traveler, having visited 41 countries and counting. An amateur chef, he studied for 3 years in Pozzuoli, Italy and is a published author of reviews, editorials, articles, a popular blog, and is the producer of a successful YouTube channel.

On the Front Lines in the Battle Against Mediocre, Overpriced Travel, Food and Accommodation ... Follow Me To TravelValue

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CombatCritic is Yelp ELITE '14 and '15, TripAdvisor "TOP CONTRIBUTOR", Booking.com "GENIUS" and Foursquare "INSIDER"

Title: The "Value" Leader In Travel ... Follow Me To TravelValue!

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