Anyone who has priced travel since the majority of pandemic travel restrictions has been lifted will have noticed travel costs have risen significantly as have canceled flights and travel delays. Hardly a weekend goes by, especially a holiday weekend, where we don’t hear horror stories of canceled and delayed flights as well as tempers that have risen as precipitously as the worldwide temperatures.

Luckily, there are few optical trade events during the summer. A combination of travel layoffs, the great resignation, increased fuel prices, inflation, and the sudden resurgence in travel demands have stretched the resources of every bit of the travel industry. Prices are probably not going anywhere else but up for the foreseeable future and that includes a trip to Europe.

North and South Americans love to visit Europe. While most of our families came west to leave Europe, for a variety of reasons good and bad, we will travel back at the drop of a hat, or price promotion to visit the old countries in the modern age. I don’t know of a single person who doesn’t look forward to going for the first time or the 21st time to enjoy the sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and ambiance of their storied European destinations.

Travel to Europe will take one extra step and cost a little extra money starting in November of 2023, pushed back from their original date of May of 2023. Europe will no longer be fee-free to travel to. The European Union (EU) has announced it will launch a new travel permit system called European Travel and Authorization System (ETIAS). ETIAS is not really a visa but rather a visa waiver.