[TerryMcManus24]

The ETIAS application fee is €7, however, travellers under the age of 18 or over the Age of 70 will Not Need to pay the fee…yes Freedom calls…. Hopefully will finally get an Irish passport…one day..although would prefer a Scottish One but lets see…FIO…great flight on Bangkok Airways this morning…BKK-CNX..and very nice breakfast served up..Flight on time and only took one hour..Aroi..

[nevereconomy]

After all my years away in countries where life was so simple I am astonished how difficult this country makes everything for itself – of course Brexit is the icing on that cake!
I really am so very tempted to give up and go back to the US – for all its faults a very easy place to live. There are jut enough good aspects to life here to keep me for the moment, but I am finding the inadequacies very trying. 7 Euros is really quite cheap to go somewhere not as silly with better weather.

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TerryMcManus24, Eric

[Chris in Makati]

[postquote quote=1347315]

As someone who has spent most of my life in SE Asia, I was surprised at how easy and efficient life is in the UK when I moved back here. I spent over 20 years in the Philippines, and as far as bureaucracy and general inefficiency is concerned the two countries are worlds apart. I suspect that would be true of most countries in the world.

For all the criticism the UK gets people don’t know how lucky they are compared to the way most people in the world have to live. I do agree they shot themselves in the foot with Brexit though.

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fatbear, Eric, TerryMcManus24

[cwoodward]

I disagree Chris.

Of course the UK seems efficient compared to the underdeveloped and financially poor Philippines and to compare the two seems to me a flawed and futile exercise. However if comparing the UK with most western European countries, Hong Kong or Singapore it is woefully slow and inefficient and getting worse by the day.
I speak as someone who is British, has a businesses in the UK and around Asia and has owned property in the UK for many years.

Tried getting a British passport renewed lately ?

[Chris in Makati]

[postquote quote=1347531]

Actually I have recently renewed my passport. I applied online on November 15th 2022 and the new passport was delivered to my home by TNT on November 24th 2022. I don’t think 9 days is bad at all, and probably compares well with most other countries.

There are a lot of things that do work well in the UK. Banking services is one example. I can send money from my account to any other bank account in the country free of charge and the transfer is almost instant. I don’t think you can do that in the US where the banking system is a bit antiquated. I can pay for almost everything with a contactless bank card or Apple Pay. I hardly every need to use cash. I withdraw £50 from an ATM in January and still have cash left in my wallet. Even in Germany credit card acceptance is not so widespread. It may be accepted in the big cities but out in rural areas a lot of places only take cash.

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stevescoots

[Midlands Traveller]

I suspect like quite a few of the posters on this forum I have two UK passports. Even with this added complication the renewal of one of them last year was straightforward. Never had an issue.

UK certainly causes itself problems by narrow thinking. Though overall not any better or worse than other countries. And we’re not that stuck in the past, would you believe one country still uses feet and inches!

On the main topic here – I think €7 for entry for three years is entirely reasonable and I am optimistic the process will be easy.

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stevescoots

[cwoodward]

Chris – recently the web site and on-line posts mentioned up to 12 weeks delay. Pleasing to see that it has finally improved and by so much so very quickly

It would be rather odd if nothing worked well in the UK however banking for many is not one. Major banks it seems have closed thousands of branches in smaller towns and larger villages across the UK leaving many communities without any banking services. This is a major difficulty for many and a horror story for older folk who now need to travel to the nearest large town for any service unless they are computer literate and can bank on-line. A further difficulty is that they cannot now get to the town as most local bus services no longer operate. Even if they could bank online the wifi coverage is so very poor in at least half the country that this is often not an option ether.
I am pleased that you being London based (?) have such good banking services- very many have not.

[Chris in Makati]

@cwoodward I can’t accept that at least half the country has poor internet. According to the Office for National Statistics “In January to February 2020, 96% of households in Great Britain had internet access”. I don’t know what the more recent figures are.

Of course there are always going to be a some areas of the country that lack access, as there are in most countries. Even in the USA there are many remote parts that have no internet.

By the way, my mother will be 92 years old next month and although she’s quite technically illiterate even she can log on to her internet banking to check her account. In my view, a lot of these people who claim they “can’t” do things just don’t want to be bothered to learn something new.

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stevescoots

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