{"id":46607,"date":"2026-07-30T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=46607"},"modified":"2026-07-24T08:52:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T15:52:27","slug":"japan-fee-hikes-tourists-locals-argentinas-new-train","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/japan-fee-hikes-tourists-locals-argentinas-new-train\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan Fee Hikes\/Tourists > Locals\/Argentina’s New Train"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Huge Tourist Tax Increase in Japan<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A visit to Japan is going to hit you harder when you arrive and harder when you leave. The price of a single-entry visa jumped from around US$19 to $93 this month and a multi-entry one went from $37 to $185. Then you get hit up again with a \u201cSayonara Tax\u201d when you depart and that one just went from $6 to $19<\/a>. The additional millions they collect will supposedly go toward travel infrastructure and trying to spread travelers beyond the overcrowded selfie spots. The exit tax should be included in your flight ticket, along with hundreds of dollars of fuel surcharges added recently due to price hikes from the Iran war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Places With More Tourists Than Locals<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re trying to get away from tourists and mix it up with the people who actually live there, you\u2019d better avoid Monaco and Malta. According to this chart<\/a>, the first has 9 tourists for every local, while the second has 6.3 to 1. Naturally there are a lot of islands and tiny nations on the list, but some that I found rather surprising were low-population countries in Europe like Albania (4.8 to 1), Croatia (4 to 1), Austria (2.9 to 1), and Portugal (2.7 to 1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pros and Cons of Living in Medellin<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the most popular cities for remote workers and digital nomads in South America is Medellin, Colombia and the people I\u2019ve interviewed over the years that lived there have tended to stick around longer than they had initially planned. The temperature barely budges throughout the year, the infrastructure is good, and Colombia has a functioning digital nomad visa that self-employed people can acquire. On the downside, it does rain a good bit, the U.S. dollar has tanked badly against the peso this year, and street crime can be an issue. See my Medellin rundown here<\/a> and chime in with a comment if you\u2019ve got recent experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Solar-powered Tourist Train in Argentina<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes I\u2019ll be scrolling through travel headlines and be surprised by something I didn\u2019t know existed, like this solar train through historic villages<\/a> in the northern desert area of Argentina. \u201cThey have trains in Argentina?\u201d you might be wondering and the answer is, \u201cNot many for passengers.\u201d This solar-powered one is not exactly an epic journey: only 26 miles (42 kilometers), but you can choose a round-trip option with stops that turns it into a 10-hour affair. It is in the province of Jujuy and the closest city is Salta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of\u00a0A Better Life for Half the Price<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0The World\u2019s Cheapest Destinations<\/em>. See\u00a0past editions here,<\/a>\u00a0where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nomadico issue #217<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47588,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2385],"tags":[2386],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46607"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46608,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46607\/revisions\/46608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}