From The Taj Mahal And Eiffel Tower To Trump’s America: A Journey Into Small-Mindedness

Will Señor TACO’s New Border Wall Be A Ticket Booth?

In 1969, I drove to— and then around— India, a journey that stretched across two transformative years on the Subcontinent. I wandered through India, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was still known then), and Nepal, propelled by little more than the home on wheels I bought at the VW factory in Germany, an open-ended itinerary, and an endless appetite for wonder. It was a glorious time— messy, unpredictable, ecstatic. Early on, somewhere between the Jemaa el-Fnaa in Marrakech, the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul and the shores of the Arabian Sea in Goa, I realized that for me, the real museum was the street. The crowded markets, the chai stalls, the roadside shrines, the chaos and color of daily life— all of it pulsed with a vitality no gallery or curated collection could match.

That said, as the miles and months and years added up, so did my appreciation for the world’s so-called “official” marvels. I began to see that the great monuments and museums held their own kind of power— testaments to what civilizations had dreamed and built. Before that, when we were leaving Delhi for Bombay (now Mumbai), I nearly skipped the Taj Mahal. Can you imagine! I’d seen it a hundred times on postcards and thought I knew what it looked like. Why waste the detour? My passengers thought otherwise and insisted we stop in Agra. Fortunately for me, I was overruled. That first glimpse of the Taj at dawn— floating like a mirage above the Yamuna— changed me. I’ve returned half a dozen times since, including just last year. It never disappoints, even if it’s horribly overcrowded and— for India— way too organized now.

Howie at La Mezquita

These days a good trip includes both as much street life as I can handle (which includes local restaurants of course) and the great tourist sites like Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Pompidou Centre in Paris; Rome’s Colosseum and Vatican City; the Prado in Madrid, the Sagrada Familia and other Gaudi sights in Barcelona, the Alhambra in Granada, La Mezquita in Córdoba and the Alcázar in Sevilla; the Pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt; the Grand Palace in Thailand; Dubai’s Burj Khalifa…

Some of these sights cost and some are free. Some charge the same for everyone and some charge more for foreigners (or non-residents or for some foreigners). On that first trip to the Taj Mahal I don’t remember anyone being around in an official capacity. I drove the van right up to it and we all walked in, walked wherever we wanted to, took photos and left. It was free. Today you can’t get a private vehicle within a mile and foreign tourists pay around $13, while Indian citizens pay next to nothing There are discounts for citizens of the other SAARC countries— Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan, the Maldives, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

That model is kind of typical. Take the Colosseum in Rome. A standard ticket— the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill— costs $21 for an adult. Guided tours or special access, underground areas, can cost $28 or more. EU citizens aged 18-25 get discounts; under 18s enter free. 

If you want to see the Pyramids, general entry to the Giza Plateau is about $14 for foreigners and entering the Great Pyramid’s interior costs an additional $20, although student discounts available and there are limitless “deals” available.

Want to visit the Grand Palace in Bangkok? It’s free for Thais, $14 for foreigners.

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul was free the first few times I went. Last year they started charging foreign visitors  around $27. It’s still free for Turkish citizens enter free for worship or visits.  Similarly it costs $60 for a foreigner to get into Topkapi Palace (all inclusive) and Turkish citizens pay less than $2. Foreigners pay $43 to see Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace, 10 times more than a Turkish citizen pays. Dual pricing is common everywhere in the country, with foreigners paying 5-30 times more than locals, justified by authorities to keep local access affordable.

The UK has a mix of free and paid attractions, with no explicit dual pricing for foreigners versus locals. However, residents may benefit from annual passes or memberships that effectively lower costs, including the Tower of London, Stonehenge and Edinburgh Castle. Generally in the UK there no overt dual pricing but UK residents can reduce costs through memberships. Some cities like Manchester or Bournemouth impose small tourist taxes via Business Improvement Districts, but these are not attraction-specific and apply equally. Scotland’s new tourist levy (2025) add minor costs to accommodation, not entrances.

In Greece, dual pricing exists at some sites, with non-EU citizens paying more than EU citizens, particularly for students or seniors. Example: in peak season (April through October) the Acropolis charges a bit over $10, but that’s primarily for American, Japanese and Chinese tourists. EU citizens pay nothing.

Last example I’ll give is Morocco, one of my favorite places to visit, where attractions usually charge modest fees, with foreigners paying more than locals to support site maintenance and keep local access affordable. Example, the Alhambra of the Maghreb (Jardin Majorelle) in Marrakech charges $20 for foreigners, $4 for locals

Last week, Filip Timotija reported that Señor TACO “ordered the Department of the Interior to look at raising revenue at national parks by increasing entry fees for foreign tourists. Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to develop a ‘strategy’ to boost revenue and improve recreational experiences at national parks around the country by hiking entrance fees and recreation pass fees for foreign tourists.”

He reported that, speaking their Orwellian language, “The White House said that by raising national parks will become more affordable for American families. The order does not specify how much the prices would go up or when they would be implemented. The administration argued additional revenue will ‘fuel investment in our national parks, reduce the maintenance backlog, construct critical infrastructure improvements and support conservation projects that improve our majestic national parks.’ The White House said increasing fees for foreigners visiting the parks will ‘ensure fairness. American citizens fund national parks and public lands with their tax dollars, yet they are currently charged the same rate as foreign visitors who do not pay taxes, meaning that American citizens pay more to see their own national treasures than foreign visitors do,’ the White House said in the fact sheet. The administration has also proposed a 30 percent cut to National Park Service staffing budgets and service operations, a possibility that has troubled some Republicans in Congress.”

With tourism in the U.S. falling drastically because of Trump and his policies this extra-charge on foreign tourists is probably badly-timed. Let’s take the Grand Canyon. Standard fees are $35 per vehicle or $20 per person (for non-vehicle entry), valid for 7 days. The “America the Beautiful” annual pass ($80) covers all NPS sites. As of July 3, 2025, Señor TACO has mandated higher fees for foreign visitors, though the exact surcharge amount is unspecified. Estimates suggest a potential $16-$40 surcharge per foreign visitor. Yellowstone, Zion National Park and Yosemite are priced identically.

In NYC, access to Liberty Island via Statue City Cruises costs $25.80 for adults and $16.80 for children (ages 4-12) for pedestal tickets. Crown access is an additional $3. The grounds are free, but ferry charges. There’s no explicit dual pricing; all visitors pay the same rate. Disney World is expensive— between $109 and $189 per person depending on date and demand. Foreigners don’t explicitly pay more, but all non-Florida residents (including foreigners) pay more than Florida residents— and they check.

It’s one thing when countries with far lower per-capita incomes than the U.S. charge foreigners more to visit their national treasures in order to preserve access for their own citizens. It’s quite another when a wealthy country like ours decides to squeeze foreign visitors not to improve services but to slap a flag decal on a cash register and call it patriotism.

Trump’s bullshit directive to hike national park fees for foreigners isn’t about conservation or equity. It’s about erecting another symbolic wall— another gesture to remind the world that America under Trump is not open-hearted, not welcoming, not curious. He doesn’t see tourism as a form of diplomacy, mutual appreciation, or even soft power. He sees it as a transactional nuisance, an invasion of people who didn’t “build this,” who don’t belong and who, he’s sure, might try to stay.

This is what makes Trumpism so fundamentally small— mean-spirited nationalism dressed up as populism. When other countries welcome visitors and still look after their citizens, Trump looks for ways to punish anyone he thinks doesn’t pay enough tribute. The man who bankrupted casinos, stiffed contractors and used charity funds to buy portraits of himself, now wants to teach the world a lesson about “fairness.” It’s the same trick he always pulls: shrink the spirit of something great— like our national parks— until it fits inside his own pettiness. In the end, it’s not really about park fees. It’s about worldview. I spent years driving through countries most Americans couldn’t locate on a map, soaking in their cultures, awed by their heritage, welcomed again and again. That kind of experience is the opposite of everything Trump stands for. He doesn’t want Americans to understand the world; he wants them to fear it. And that’s why it was such a horrible mistake for 77,302,580 American voters to trust him to lead it again.