In 2026 the UK handed travelers two invoices. One was an entry permit (ETA), the other a tourist tax. And paradoxically, that friction made the journey the slowest and clearest it had ever been.
Three days before departure, the first sight was a phone screen
From 25 February 2026, the UK has required an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) from visa-exempt travelers, South Korea included Fact. You register your passport and a facial photo through the UK ETA app and pay a fee; most approvals come within minutes, but it can take up to 3 working days, so applying 3 days before departure is recommended Fact. The fee was raised to £20 as of 8 April 2026, confirmed on the official GOV.UK site Fact. Once approved, it is valid for 2 years Fact.
It is a small procedure, but that procedure changed the texture of travel. A country where you used to just book a plane ticket became a country whose permission you must clear once before you arrive. One more point of friction had been added.
Why I chose the night train over the plane
At London Euston I boarded the Caledonian Sleeper. It is a 150-year-old night train where you fall asleep in London and wake up in Scotland. In 2026 the line added a Birmingham stop for the first time in 30 years, connecting to more than 35 Scottish destinations Fact. A distance a plane would have closed in an hour and a half, run through all night: pure inefficiency. And yet that inefficiency is being sold again across Europe under the name slow travel Fact. People worn out by fast-consumed travel want to reclaim the movement itself as an experience Estimate.
The summer menu features dishes inspired by Outlander and actor Sam Heughan whisky, The Sassenach Fact. A glass in the swaying dining car was a signal that the journey had begun before I had even arrived.
Edinburgh — what I thought about while paying a 5% tax
From 24 July 2026, Edinburgh introduces the UK first statutory tourist tax (Visitor Levy). It charges 5% of the accommodation cost for the first 5 nights, applied to the pre-VAT amount Fact. The city authority has said it will reinvest up to around £50 million a year into culture, heritage, and tourism management Fact. London, Manchester, and Birmingham are each pursuing tourist taxes by their own routes Fact.
Looking at the 5% on the receipt, I wondered whether to read it as a rip-off or as a city defending itself. The crux is overtourism: the phenomenon of visitors straining a city infrastructure and housing and lowering residents quality of life Estimate. This city, which had begun to treat me not as an endlessly welcome guest but as a guest who comes with a cost, felt, if anything, more honest.
Does friction ruin travel, or filter it?
An ETA before entry, a tourist tax during the stay. On the surface, both make travel more cumbersome and more expensive. They are the opposite of the zero friction the travel industry has chased. And yet, passing slowly through the Highlands, the hypothesis that came to me was this. Friction may not be the enemy of travel but its filter. A procedure that forces you to apply three days ahead turns impulsive travel back into planned travel, and a 5% tax makes you take part, however briefly, in a city upkeep instead of using it as a disposable backdrop.
The stubborn fact is this: good travel is not travel without friction, but travel worth the price of its friction.
UK 2026 practical information
· ETA: apply via the UK ETA app at least 3 days before departure, valid for 2 years, fee £20 (raised from £16 on 2026.4.8 — see gov.uk/eta)
· Edinburgh tourist tax: from 2026.7.24, 5% of accommodation cost, capped at the first 5 nights, charged on accommodation only
· Caledonian Sleeper: departing London and Birmingham; private cabins sell out early in peak season