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Which City Now Has The Highest Tourist Tax In Europe?

It’s official! This widely visited European city has just increased their tourist tax for 2020. Furthermore, it has become the country with the highest tourist tax in Europe.

Amsterdam, the Netherlands’ capital has announced that they will be adding 3 additional euros per night for visiting tourists.

What is a Tourist Tax?

Major cities in the world have implemented a tourist tax. This extra fee is established for visiting tourists, which mainly targets accommodation. The government establishes this fee per night, and it changes depending on the country, city, and region. This tax for tourists ranges between 3-5 euros per night and per traveller. In addition to the price of the accommodation, tourists are forced to pay a little extra for every overnight stay.

Amsterdam To Have The Highest Tourist Tax in Europe

The Dutch council announced that starting 2020, Amsterdam will charge 3 extra euros to tourists staying in the capital. This means that you will have to pay the price of the accommodation, plus 7 per cent normal tourist tax, plus 3 additional euros for every night that you will be staying in.

Despite the rise of worldwide upsetting reactions regarding this new law, a spokesman of the Amsterdam Council denied that they want to discourage visitors. They claimed that ”this raise is to make visitors contribute in keeping the city safe and clean.”

How Will It Affect Tourism Rates?

People are already complaining about this increased tax. In fact, due to the fact that it will be the highest in Amsterdam, they are looking for alternative destinations in Europe. CNN reported that one night in a 2-stars hotel in Amsterdam, will have a higher tourist tax than a 5-stars hotel in the center of Paris.

Amsterdam has converted to an over-crowded city, as tourism reached its peak in the past years. The city has been plagued by overtourism, with 18 million annual visitors descending on its 867,000 residents. Although officials deny that this increased tax is to regulate the number of visitors, it seems that it might actually do exactly that.

Photos: Pixabay

Men Are Banned From This New Hotel in Spain

The island of Mallorca in Spain, has just opened the doors of Spain’s first women-only hotel. Som Dona Hotel welcomes women starting 14 years old and of all sexual orientations, while strictly bans men from entering the property. Mallorca is known as an ”island of love” that gets packed in summer. However, Som Dona has decided to exclude heterosexual couples from their lavish hotel.

Som Dona, a luxurious hotel of only 39 rooms

Situated in the Porto Cristo on the Manacor coast, This women-only hotel is the first of its kind in Spain. It claims that it’s a property for ” Women to escape stress and to disconnect”. The hotel is designed as ‘‘light, fairy and with a feminine touch’‘ as was described by the Sun Newspaper. Besides banning men, the hotel also doesn’t accept guests under 14 years of age.

This lavishing property only has 39 rooms for rent, each equipped with big comfortable beds, and nice spacious bathrooms. The rooftop holds bali beds to relax, as well as a beach-style pool. It also has a wellness center, gym, spa and a fancy bar/restaurant.

Females are apparently in love with Som Dona Hotel

Since the hotel opened this summer, offering quite reasonable prices for the quality of its services. Women have been gushing over the idea, the place and the service on TripAdvisor. The property’s president, Joan Enric Capellá, said surveys conducted by the group revealed that female customers liked the idea of a women-only hotel.  Apparently, the surveys showed that 50% of women planning to travel to Mallorca this summer, are interested in a-women-only hotel.

Although Som Dona does have male employees, women do have a higher chance of obtaining the job.

Photos: Pixabay, Somhotels.es

Keep Your Information Safe By Avoiding These Online Actions

In the digital age where anything and everything is done online, it can be difficult to keep your information and identity safe. Even people who think they are being hyper-aware of the information they share on social networking sites can find themselves the victim of a cybercrime. To keep your information safe, you should avoid at all costs doing these common online actions.

Online Personality Quizzes

woman's hands on a mobile phone on facebook, with many faces of people in the background.

Facebook lost a lot of its credibility (and was fined big time) after a quiz site called “Cambridge Analytica” created personality quizzes that stored the information of all of its participants (and the Facebook friends of those participants). What seems like an innocent quiz about “what type of dessert are you,” is actually taking personal information from under your nose. Questions like “what was your first car” might seem innocent, but it’s the answer to a lot of security questions online… That said, you should avoid these quizzes at all cost, especially if they are from an unknown source.

Public Wifi

a hand clicking on wifi on a phone and other sources of information around it.

When you’re on vacation and don’t have wifi or data, it can be tempting to check in to the public wifi whenever you can. However, often these “public” hosts are not reliable, and actually track all of your actions while surfing. Logging into your email, monitoring your bank account, and checking other sites with personal and private information might all be traced and saved by hackers. It is best to wait until you are at a private Wifi zone with a secure password.

Text Message Promotions

a girl clicking on a link on her phone for more information.

Cyberhacks can also occur via text message through what is called “smishing.” If you have ever received a text message for a store discount with a link that redirects to a site asking for personal information, delete immediately! These are unlikely to be originally sent from the company. If you are not sure if the promo is valid or just a scam, try searching the domain name online to see if it is truly connected.

Posting Boarding Passes

An apple watch showing a boarding pass with personal information.

You have every right to feel ecstatic about your upcoming trip and sharing it with the world. However, sharing a photo of your boarding pass (or passport, license, etc) makes it possible for hackers to steal your identity. While a boarding pass might seem innocent to share, it actually contains information that could be used to access a frequent flyer account and credit card information. Ensure your vacation has zero security breaches by traveling with caution and care!

Photos: Freepik, Pixabay, Unsplash

Daily Interactions That You Didn’t Know Are Disgusting

The majority of us try to maintain a clean lifestyle and avoid interactions that are, well, disgusting. No one likes to wake up Monday morning with a fever and flu because their neighbor on the metro was sneezing up a storm. However, there are several common daily interactions that we have that you would be shocked to know are bacteria cesspools.

man, grossed out, providing a tissue to a sneezing woman.

Your Rideshare Is Dirtier Than A Taxi

Many people prefer to use rideshare services like Uber and Lyft over Taxis due to the convenience, price, and comfort. When we enter, the car typically LOOKS clean, however a study estimated that the backseat of your rideshare has 219 times more bacteria than a taxi. This is due to the fact Taxis are required to regularly clean their car, whereas Uber rideshare cars only need to pass an initial inspection.

man touching a disgusting seatbelt in a rideshare.

The biggest hot spots for the bacteria are the window buttons and seatbelt. In order to stay safe and not break seatbelt laws, it is recommend to bring some antibacterial wipes to clean off any disgusting germs that were left behind by a previous passenger.

A Disgusting Beach Vacation Dilemma

When planning a beach vacation, most of us look forward to the refreshing feeling of a nice dip in the ocean. This study might make you think otherwise, which found that just ten minutes in the ocean can make bacteria stick to your skin for hours afterwards. As a result, your chances of infection increase, particularly respiratory and gastrointestinal issues. This is exacerbated by the fact that many beaches have poor water quality thanks to trash left behind by visitors.

two girls entering the ocean, full of disgusting bacteria.

Rather than sob as you write off the beach from all your future vacations, this simply means it is crucial you rinse off after swimming. It is also advisable to not enter the ocean if you have any open wounds, as these sites are more susceptible to infection.

Airport Security Bins Are Anything But Safe

Airport Security is designed to keep us safe, however the bacteria laden bins are a disgusting required interaction that could leave you very ill. One study found many bins contain the same bacteria that cause various respiratory infections. In fact, researchers detected more bacteria on airport security bins than on the toilets at the airports! This can be attributed to the fact that most airports do have measures to keep the bathrooms clean and sanitary, but the bins? Nothing.

Next time you pass through security, just remember to wash your hands ASAP afterwards.

Photos: Freepik, Pixabay

Auroville: the utopian city that has no currency or police

Auroville utopian city

Auroville is a city located in India. Though at first you may not think so, it’s completely different to other cities you might have seen. It’s considered a universal city where all men and women can live in peace and harmony, no matter what their beliefs, nationalities or ideologies are. “Human unity” is the objective of this magical place.

It has existed for 50 years

Auroville is an experimental city, and although this might make you think it’s a utopia and would never work, it has already been around for half a century! It was created in 1968, with the idea of creating a society free of police, with no money or religion.

Contributing with whatever you have to offer

In it, every citizen would contribute in their own way, with their own particular virtues and skills. There are 12 virtues that lead this city: equality, generosity, perseverance, humility, receptivity, honesty, gratitude, courage, peace, aspiration and progression.

Adapting is difficult

The original idea was building a city of 50,000 people. However, there are currently only around 6,000 citizens actually living there. Although the concept of the utopian city might seem like the ideal project, in reality it is not all rainbows and butterflies.

A lot of people leave right after moving in, because of how difficult adapting is. Plus, if you don’t fulfill the basic requirements, you are rejected by the population.

A society filled with peace and harmony

However, once you do adapt to this way of living, you’ll see how amazing life can be. Education adapts to the wants and needs of the children. Only organic food is sold, and no alcohol is provided. They don’t have any type of currency, and it’s the citizens who govern, through consensus. Auroville only accepts 120 citizens per year, but everyone is allowed to enter the city. No one is excluded, no matter where you come from.

Not everyone agrees with this utopian concept

The problem is that there is a huge contrast between this city and the ones around it. This leads to attacks from people who don’t believe in this type of society, as well frauds coming from organizations that use the city’s name to attract tourists.

Would you move there?

Also, you will likely face some difficulties once you decide to leave Auroville again. You’ll be so used to this way of living, you’ll probably find it hard to adapt to other places. And how will you buy a plane ticket with no money? There’s a lot to think about. It’s up to you to decide if it’s worth it.

Images: Instagram and Unsplash

Area 51 Facts To Fuel Your Extraterrestrial Fantasies

Recently Area 51 came to the spotlight once again as people on Facebook decided to create events to “storm” the Nevada-based flight testing facility (with over 2 million people accepting the event, too). This area has been linked to alien sightings and other-world conspiracy theories, yet there seems to be very little truthfully known about this location. Here to share some facts that will fuel your extraterrestrial fantasies.

Facebook event to Storm Area 51

No One Knows Why It’s Called Area 51

While there are plenty of theories about the name, there are no true origins to trace. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, it is not known how Area 51 got its name nor what it stands for! Some have theorized that the name comes from the fact the location is very close to nuclear testing sites, which typically each have their own number.

photo of the desert with an alien sign.

The Fake Moon Landing Conspiracies Were Believed To Be Filmed Here

One of the biggest cultural events during the Cold War and ingrained into US history is the 1969 moon landing. However, despite the video footage and moon rocks as evidence, many people don’t believe that the moon landing actually happened. This lunar conspiracy theory began by Bill Kaysing, who thinks that NASA officials faked the landing by filming it at Area 51, and took rocks from Antarctica as moon rocks.

American moon landing.

Area 51 Workers Commute By Flight

Although most aspects of working at Area 51 are kept top secret, there is news that employees commute to work via an unmarked government aircraft. The airline for these secret aircrafts is called “Janet,” which some believe stands for Just Another Non-Existent Terminal. However, no one truly knows where they land. Nor is it verified where these flights specifically take off from.

"self parking" sign for aliens at Area 51.

The Best UFO Spotting Is By A Mailbox

Although workers are sworn to secrecy, some former employees have opened up about their prior work at the location. One man named Bob Lazar became famous for claiming to work at Area 51 and spotting UFOs. He said the best place to see aliens there was by the Black Mailbox. In reality it is two mailboxes, one for owner Steve Medlin and the second one for aliens. Medlin added the second mailbox to prevent all visitors from tampering with his own mail. Whether it’s your dream (or nightmare) to get in contact with aliens, this spot 12 miles away from the extraterrestrial hub is where to go!

The Black Mailbox near Area 51 for alien sightings.

Photos: Facebook Event: Storm Area 51 , Pixabay