Busiest Airports/US$ Countries/Airline Meal Photos

Nomadico issue #167

World’s Busiest Airports

OAG released the final results from 2024’s airport counts and ATL Atlanta is still the busiest airport in the world. Dubai is coming on strong though, serving more than 60 million passengers, just 2.5 million behind. Next were Tokyo, London Heathrow, and Dallas. Denver came in at #6 but capacity grew by 24% when compared to pre-pandemic 2019, the biggest increase in the top 10. Seoul/Incheon saw the biggest year-over-year increase among the international ones. See the details here.

Countries Where Dollars Rule

With the U.S. dollar suffering from multiple self-inflicted wounds this year, the great exchange rate many of us enjoyed for months on end in Europe in the Biden years is gone. There are some countries where we now-poorer Americans are insulated though. Some countries use the dollar as their currency (like Panama and Ecuador) and others have a tight dollar peg that never wavers (like Belize, Bahamas, UAE, and Jordan). See more here.

Thailand’s Digital Nomad Visa is a Hit

Many of the digital nomad visas launched by governments are poorly designed, too restrictive, or don’t really meet the needs of all those remote workers who are working for themselves. The Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) though, launched last summer, is a different story. More than 35,000 remote workers have applied and most are now approved, getting 180-day stays at a time and a period that can extend to 5 years. This is helping inject capital into a struggling tourism economy and smoothing out the seasonal highs and lows in some areas. (Discovered in Borderless.)

Database of Airline Meals

I had a surprisingly good meal on a business class flight between Tampa and Dallas recently on American Airlines, so I should probably post it on AirlineMeals.net. Yes, many airlines still serve meals, especially on long-haul international flights, so if you want to see what you’ll be eating, head there to scroll through some photos. They currently have around 24,000 photos from economy class and 21,000 from business class, plus some sad shots of what was purchased on “no frills” airlines.

A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

What’s in my NOW? — Marston Quinn

issue #221

Marston Quinn is a recovering corporate drone turned aspiring writer, based in Brooklyn, NY. You can find him on X or his Substack, Pound Foolish.

PHYSICAL

• MUJI Pens: There’s always something to write on; the trick is having something to write with. These pens are perfect. They’re comfortable in your hand, write smoothly, and at 0.5 mm the ink doesn’t bleed through delicate paper, which is especially helpful if you’re writing on a cocktail napkin that you begged off the bartender. I buy the multi-packs in bulk and stash them in every bag and jacket I own so a few are always near at hand. Black for notes, red for edits, and blue for annotations—but hey, that’s just what works for me.
• Moccamaster Coffee Maker: I finally splurged on this coffee maker a few years ago as part of my ongoing effort to delight in the everyday objects I own. It has not disappointed me. In an era when coffee making has been taken to new heights of pretension and complexity, there is an elegance to a machine that you fill with water, turn on, and get fantastic coffee out of mere moments later. New York City sells coffee on every corner, but when it’s time for serious work, you need a pot all of your own on hand to fuel you through the hours.
• Tenugui: Men stopped carrying handkerchiefs in the mid-20th century due to the rise of “Big Kleenex,” but there’s a lot more to having a piece of fabric in your pocket than blowing your nose. I delight in these colorful Japanese alternatives, which fold down to handkerchief size, but can be used just as readily to wrap half a sandwich or staunch a head wound as they can be to manage your seasonal allergies. Buy a few, wash them when they’re dirty, and Mother Earth will thank you for your sustainability.

DIGITAL

• Reader App: Many people are already familiar with their popular Readwise service which puts Kindle highlights in your inbox every morning, but Reader has created the single-best read-it-later app I’ve ever used—and I’ve tried all of them. There are plenty of customization options, it can save down just about any media format, and you can highlight everything you love to go back into your Readwise digest. Plus, the team is always launching new features or responding to bug reports, so it feels like the app is constantly improving in front of your eyes.
• Brandon Sanderson’s Writing Lectures: Borrowing from John Mulaney, Brandon Sanderson means a large amount to a small group of people. If you’re not one of them, then you should know he’s arguably the most popular American science fiction and fantasy author publishing regularly today. After already conquering traditional publishing, he went to Kickstarter where he raised $40 million directly from his fans for a four-book project. He’s also a dedicated teacher and this year he released an updated series of his BYU lectures on writing in science fiction and fantasy. Even if you’re not a genre nerd, his insights into story construction, character building, and the media business as a whole are revelatory.

INVISIBLE

The Mission of My Life, John Henry Newman

“God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments. Therefore, I will trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.”

I’m religious, but I don’t think you have to be in order to appreciate this passage from the Catholic saint and English theologian. People are more fulfilled when they see their lives as personal quests, but it can often be hard to know what that quest is. When I feel down, I try to remember that every moment, every experience, every joy, and every hurt is another opportunity to live my life and hopefully do something for the betterment of others. It may not be clear how in the moment, but that shouldn’t stop me from trying.

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Psychobook / Dharma Delight

Issue No. 80

PSYCHOBOOK – LOOKS AT ALL KINDS OF RIDICULOUS PSYCH TESTS USED THROUGHOUT THE CENTURIES

Psychobook: Games, Tests, Questionnaires, Histories
by Julian Rothenstein (editor)
Princeton Architectural Press
2016, 192 pages, 8.9 x 12.1 x 0.9 inches (hardcover)

Buy on Amazon

I am not afraid of toads. I do not like to see men in their pajamas. Someone has been trying to get into my car. I think I would like the work of a librarian. I do not always tell the truth.

The above statements are examples of what could appear on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, a “psychometric test” in which psychology patients must answer with only a “yes,” “no,” “true,” “false,” or “cannot say.” There is no place on the test to expand or explain your answers. The results of the exam help determine whether a test-taker is “normal” or “deviant.” This test has been helping to sort out the “crazies” from the “normals” since 1943, and yes, according to Psychobook, it’s still being used by some doctors today!

Psychobook, just released today, is a fun, fascinating, image-heavy book that looks at all kinds of ridiculous psych tests used throughout the centuries (some cancelled long ago, others still quacking along). Read about mental test kits such as: Lowenfeld Mosaic tests (make a design with colorful geometric toy pieces to see how carefree, thoughtful or anxious you are); the Szondi Test (see how your mind works by looking at portraits of men and guessing whether they’re homosexual, a psychopath, a maniac, or some other such type); Pictorial Completion Test (find out if your kid has delinquent tendencies by having them fill in a drawing with objects that are missing from the scene), and dozens more.

Psychobook even offers lots of tests you can take right from the book. Nervously, I took the Rorschach inkblot test (staring at a blob on a page that’s been folded in half so that it becomes symmetrical, and imagining what the image might be). I passed with flying colors, as my reading said I was “highly capable, to put it mildly…you master everything you turn your hand to…” I guess some of these psychotic tests really do work! – Carla Sinclair

DHARMA DELIGHT: A VISIONARY POST POP GUIDE TO BUDDHISM AND ZEN

Dharma Delight: A Visionary Post Pop Guide to Buddhism and Zen
by Rodney Alan Greenblat
Tuttle Publishing
2016, 128 pages, 7.5 x 10 x 0.5 inches (softcover)

Buy on Amazon

Peace of mind can be a hard-won trophy in the best of times. Other times, well, simply being may be the best we can do. Dharma Delight is a visual diary of one man’s journey into Buddhism. Author Greenblat takes the reader through the basic aspects of Buddhism, including its founding, its core tenets, a few of the more prominent teachers (er, Buddhas, not instructors), and a few basic zen practices all accompanied by his own bright, bold paintings and drawings.

The book is somewhat slight, more of a primer than an in-depth examination of any one part of either Buddhism or Greenblat’s relationship to it, but I found this to be the most engaging facet of the book. What I mean is, the book often lays out a single concept or story or koan on one or two pages, letting the reader focus on the idea being presented rather than stuffing loads of concepts and history into a confined space.

By allowing the content so much room to breathe, each painting or set of paintings comes into clear relief. Greenblat squeezes lots of detail and tiny, almost hidden prose messages into each vibrant piece of art; his style is a distinct form of pop art, somewhere between the neon, day-glo of the 1980s and the comic book reproductions of Lichtenstein. Yet, for all the bright color and heady concepts, this book has found a permanent home on my bedside bookshelf. Its light touch and beatific illustrations help me find just enough peace of mind to get to sleep. Which is a small delight for which I am grateful. – Joel Neff

Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair. Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.

Raising Animals

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 151

How to butcher

Basic Butchering of Livestock and Game

You can probably learn to butcher an animal better from watching a YouTube video than you can from reading text, but this classic book will help you evaluate what you see on YouTube. It gives you the context, reasoning, and background of the moves you see in the videos. It also gives you the instructions in clear text. I find it helps me sort out the cacophony of the different methods seen in amateur videos. Beef, pork, lamb, venison, rabbit and poultry are covered. And of course, if the Internet goes down, this clearly illustrated book is always there. — KK

• The animal must be killed quickly, with little or no pain, but more important is that death comes without fear. To allow an animal to become frightened at slaughter is not only cruel, but unwise, for it causes the release of adrenaline, which some believe can affect the quality of the meat. Also, fear may cause the animal to struggle, doing damage to its meat or injuring the person slaughtering. Select the method of killing that will upset the animal’s routine least, thus avoiding fear, and select a method that is sudden, thus avoiding pain.

Rabbit bible

Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits

For nearly 40 years this guide has introduced boy scouts, 4H-ers, homesteaders, survivalists, and pet keepers to the practicalities of raising rabbits. Now in a new 4th edition, it’s still the best manual for getting started with rabbits for food or show. — KK

• Watch carefully at feeding timeA good raiser watches stock closely at feeding time. While they are eating, run your hand over each rabbit. A rabbit that’s a bit bony should get more feed. If a rabbit hasn’t cleaned up its pellets something is wrong.To determine the cause of appetite loss, first check the water supply. Is the crock or jug empty? Is the valve plugged? Rabbits don’t eat when they are thirsty. They must have plenty of water. Most of the time a rabbit that isn’t eating isn’t drinking.

• The doe needs peace and quiet a few days before the litter is born and a few days after. Dogs and children can be particularly disturbing at this time. Upsetting the rabbitry routine can cause the doe to kill her young or abandoned them, so it it is vital that you keep things calm and quiet.You will, of course, be very curious to see the litter. If you have placed the nest box in the back of the hutch but in full view from the front, you will be able to see into it, and by the 31st day you should see a pile of fluffy fur toward the rear of it, moving slightly up and down.

Guide to goats

Natural Goat Care

On my little homestead near downtown Oakland, CA, I’ve dabbled in chickens, bees, turkeys, rabbits, and pigs (i.e. eggs, honey, meat, fur pelts, and wonderful manure for the garden). Recently the dabbling got a little more serious: two Nigerian Dwarf goats named Bilbo and Bebe (the one thing missing was milk; And I love milk. And goat cheese). Trouble was, I didn’t know anything about goats, what they eat, how they behave. Luckily, a goat herder told me about this guide published in Australia. It put my fears to rest.

With all of the other farm animals (including the pigs!), it’s mostly a matter of throwing down some food, making sure everyone has water and enough space, and we’re all good. Goats turned out to be way more complicated than any other animal on the farm. They have psychological needs. They have a rumen for digesting food. They can get sexually transmitted diseases. They have hooves that need to be trimmed. They are a long-term relationship, which — from day one — kept me up late at night worrying. With this guide, I’m far less worried. And now that Bebe is pregnant, in a few weeks we’ll have milk!

Bonus tip: I order all manner of goat-related items from Hoegger’s. — Novella Carpenter

• Homeopathic methods…Cider vinegar maintains correct pH in the body, which is probably one of the reasons it is so useful. Because of its potassium content, it is invaluable for all animals coming up to breeding.Mistletoe. This parasitic plant is a great tonic for goats, ell or ill. I pull it down from trees and feed it directly to my animals. Be warned, it turns the urine bright red for the next 24 hours–the goats have not developed bleeding kidneys.
• Kidding…The legs appear first and the kid’s nose will be level with its knees. If the head is turned back, it is a good idea to scrub up (short nails, clean hands and plastic gloves if the farmer’s hands are cut or scratched) and pull the head forward. The kid can be born with the head turned back, but it is not easy. Ease the kid out as the doe contracts and give it to her to wash and suckle or use whatever system of rearing has been planned. Each kid must have its ration of colostrum, the first thick milk that contains the antibodies for that kid.
• Psychological needs…All goats, particularly the older ones, should have names–ones that do not sound too similar. Goats soon learn to recognize their names hen called or reprimanded.

Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

WikiTok/Phone endoscope/Historical Tech Tree

Recomendo - issue #475

Wikipedia, TikTok style

I’m not here to shame anyone for scrolling through TikTok. I suggest you give WikiTok a try one night instead. It presents random Wikipedia articles in that familiar endless-scroll format we’re addicted to, but replaces dance trends with images of extinct megafauna, weird inventions, and artists I’d never heard of. A recent favorite: Indonesia once issued a postage stamp featuring a fragment of a fossilized Homo erectus skull — the kind of random delight that makes this site worth visiting. — MF

Phone endoscope

Sometimes a single use tool is the only tool that will work. An endoscope is a long coil of stiff, but not too stiff, wire with a tineeweenie camera and LED light at the end. You snake the wire/camera into crevices, down pipes, behind cabinets, inside engines to find out stuff. There’s usually no other way to see deep inside. Not too long ago endoscopes were extremely expensive, but I bought mine for $21. The business end is about 8mm or a 1/4” thick and the other end of the 5 meter (16ft) wire connects to my phone, which serves as the screen, camera and power source. It comes with a clip-on hook or magnet for retrieving tiny objects. I downloaded its app and this Ennovor Endoscope worked instantly. (Lots of generic versions available.) I used mine to troubleshoot a blocked dishwasher-garbage disposal line. For $21 it was worth stashing it in a drawer for another just-in-case use. — KK

Historical tech tree

This historical tech tree is now my favorite way to explore history—a searchable timeline of discoveries, inventions, and tools spanning the ages. You can search by field, year, person, or by the name of the “tech”—which, by this website’s definition, is “a piece of knowledge (an idea) that is created intentionally by humans for a practical purpose (not for its own sake) and is implemented in some kind of physical substrate.” Each tech links to a Wiki page, or branches to other techs that it either built upon or led to. You never know where you’ll end up—I just learned all about water clocks. I love this navigable visualization of human innovation, and it’s inspiring to imagine what lies ahead of us. — CD

Coffee counter mat

I make espressos at least three times a day. The machine, grinder, and knock box are on a wood kitchen counter, and it’s getting stained from drips and spills. This Amoami 12″x19″ rubber mat keeps my coffee corner clean and tidy. The absorbent material quickly soaks up any spills without letting moisture seep through to the counter. It’s low-maintenance — a quick wipe cleans it up. — MF

Cooking oil sprayer

We switched from a pouring spout for our cooking oil to this dark glass bottle dispenser, which provides more accurate portions and helps preserve the oil’s freshness. The dispenser delivers a precise 1/4 teaspoon, or you can switch to spray mode to lightly coat your pans. I like to use the sprayer when cooking tortillas, because the fine mist of oil makes them crispy. — CD

Trader Joe’s desserts

If you are lucky enough to live near a Trader Joe’s grocery store, my three favorite desserts from there are their Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, their Almond Ring Danish, and their French Apple Tart (seasonal). All three are addictively delicious, and I would rank them better than their equivalents anywhere in the world at any price. — KK

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Nomad Visa Updates/Long-life Electric Toothbrush/Temperate Climate Cities

Nomadico issue #166

Digital Nomad Visa Updates for Bulgaria and Croatia

More details are emerging on the new digital nomad visa for Bulgaria, a country that is one of the best values in the world, and for Croatia, which is not a bargain but is beautiful and on the sea. You’ll find a great rundown on the Bulgaria nomad visa here at SofiaExpats.com and sign up for her great Sofia newsletter if you’ll spend any time there. Here’s an article on changes in the Croatia one, including a longer timeline of 18 months if you’ve can show high enough income or savings.

Electric Travel Toothbrush, Take 2

Back in July of 2024 I highlighted the slim Philips One by Sonicare electric travel toothbrush that I’d bought. I made a mistake and got the battery powered one instead of the rechargeable one but amazingly, the battery hasn’t been replaced since. I’ve been carrying a charged-up rechargeable AAA spare through two months in Europe, six weeks in the USA and Canada, and multiple other trips but still haven’t needed it!

Southwest Airlines Changes in January

If you were a fan of the previously unique Southwest Airlines, you’d better fly them before January 27. Free bag checks are already gone and in January they’ll become just like the other hated airlines, with complicated tiers of paid seat assignments and a dramatically slower cabin load time thanks to eight boarding groups. You get a break if you have their Chase credit card though, with a checked bag included and standard seat assignments for you and your travel companions so you can sit together. ($99 annual fee, but 100K points sign-up bonus after spending $4K.)

Temperate Climate Cities

This list of cities that are around 75F degrees/24C has some nice places to target if you prefer “eternal spring” climates that never get super hot or super cold, like the one I live in. You could create a whole list like this just with the central Mexico highlands and it is missing a few popular spots (like Boquete and El Valle de Anton in Panama). Plus Viña del Mar in Chile rarely tops 70F. But it highlights a few temperate places I hadn’t thought of before. Eat outside all year in Addis Ababa, Windhoek, Da Lat, or Arequipa.

A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

What’s in my NOW? — Marston Quinn