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Like what you see? Well, so does everyone else. The Spanish city of Seville plans to charge an entrance fee to its popular Plaza de España.
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This week’s travel news: A love story of vacations that started and ended in Paris and London, air disasters in Thailand and China, and a look at why prices are rising with more tourists.
More and more popular tourist spots are introducing caps or entrance fees to prevent overcrowding. And you know that adds a little bit to their coffers as well.
Entry to Japan’s famous (and crowded) Mount Fuji will now cost $13 following a 70% price increase for Japan’s tourist rail passes, but a weak yen means it’s a good time for international travellers to take the bucket list trip.
If you want to see the glitzy and hugely popular Plaza de España in Seville, Spain, expect free admission ponies soon. The Louvre Museum in Paris, which houses the Mona Lisa, has raised ticket prices by nearly a third ahead of this summer’s Paris Olympics.
It’s not just Europe and Asia: Walt Disney World Resort in Florida has already implemented park ticket price increases for next year, with some of the lowest one-day, single-park ticket prices increasing by $10 in 2025.
Love and loss in London and Paris
Back in 1984, an Italian teenager arranged a date with a man she met on a flight to London, but when she waited in Trafalgar Square the next day, he was a no-show. Then her eyes landed on an American boy sitting among bronze lions reading Romeo and Juliet. The stars aligned – he was her future husband.
It was a different story for the Londoner, who took her first trip to Paris with her boyfriend in 2011. Her heart was broken under the Eiffel Tower, but ten years later she has recovered from it. It’s time for her to write her own ending.
Parrots, tamarins and endangered red pandas were among the 87 animals found in luggage at Bangkok’s airport this week. The suspected smugglers and the captured animals were heading to Mumbai.
And in China, a plane was delayed for more than four hours after a passenger threw coins into the engine. Similar coin tossing incidents have occurred in China in recent years, apparently for the purpose of “bringing good luck.”
Finally, a horrifying incident occurred on a United Airlines flight when the plane’s engine caught fire in midair. Terrified passengers watched from windows as flames erupted and the plane turned back and landed in Houston.
An Australian woman moved to the Italian region of Lazio and bought a mansion for $130,000. She was looking for her new start – and so was her ex-husband. Here’s what happened next.
Another couple from Arizona, tired of the high cost of living in the United States, chose the southern Italian region of Basilicata for their new home and new life. CNN caught up with them to find out if the gamble was worth it.
If you’re dreaming of similar adventures abroad, brushing up on your foreign language skills is a good place to start. Here are the best language learning apps of 2024, tested by our partners at CNN Underscored, a CNN-owned product reviews and recommendation guide.
00:52 – Source: CNN
Tourists flock to see and smell this stinky flower blooming
Some say it smells like garlic or foot sweat. Others pick up notes of rotting flesh or portable toilets. Whatever the exact scent of the “corpse flower,” only a lucky few get to experience it, as it can take more than a decade to bloom and the flowers only last for 24-48 hours.
When a man loses his son to a drug overdose, only one country helps him move on.
A “sacred” trip helped him heal.
The Airbus A340 airplane was built to dominate long-haul travel.
Now it is disappearing from the sky.
A popular French cheese is facing extinction.
Not everyone is worried.
The city experiences rain 171 days per year.
A hotel’s “refund in case of rain” is a comfort.