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Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong>Read more<\/p>\n Welcome to an exclusive Ask Me Anything<\/a> session with me, Simon Calder<\/a>, travel correspondent at The Independent.<\/p>\n To see my questions and answers, scroll down . Make sure to press the \u2018load more\u2019 button to see the whole Q&A.<\/p>\n In 2026, travelling is set to get harder, pricier and more bureaucratic for British travellers.<\/p>\n The EU\u2019s Entry\/Exit System (EES) began its rollout across Europe last year and continues to expand, with significant delays already reported<\/a> in December 2025. <\/p>\n That means more fingerprints, facial scans and longer queues at airports across the Schengen area.<\/p>\n Across the Atlantic, visiting the US could become a social media affair<\/a>. Proposals would ask applicants for Esta<\/a> travel permits to hand over five years of Instagram, Facebook or X posts.<\/p>\n If that wasn\u2019t enough, a $100 (\u00a375) per person surcharge now apply for foreign visitors<\/a> to the 11 most popular US National Parks. This \u201cforeigner fee\u201d is charged on top of the normal admission fee of typically $35 per car.<\/p>\n Rising fees aren\u2019t just a US thing \u2013 in the summer, Edinburgh will introduce an overnight tax, and Norway will also bring in a tourist levy. In February, Rome\u2019s top sights will charge entry, including the Trevi Fountain<\/a>.<\/p>\n How to join the Q&A<\/p>\n Make sure you are logged in to a registered account on independent.co.uk. Register or log in here <\/a>\u2013 then return to this page to submit your question!<\/p>\n As The Independent\u2019s travel correspondent, I\u2019ve spent years covering these twists and turns \u2013 from rising costs to new rules that could trip up your holiday or business trip.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll be here to answer your questions on EES, Etias<\/a>, US travel red tape, and how to dodge the bureaucracy and rising costs in 2026.<\/p>\n If you have a question, submit it now and join me live for our Ask Me Anything Q&A on Friday, 9 January at 1pm GMT <\/strong>below.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re struggling to post your question, please make sure you are logged in to a registered account on independent.co.uk. <\/strong>Register or log in here <\/strong><\/a>\u2013 then return to this page to submit.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you want more travel tips and tricks from Simon sign up for our Travel newsletter here<\/a>. Packed with expert advice, destination inspiration, and the latest travel news and deals, Simon Calder<\/a>\u2019s Travel Week newsletter will help you travel smarter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187],"class_list":{"0":"post-680496","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}