It’s hard to put out a travel newsletter this week without addressing the travel elephant in the room: the bombing of Iran and the counter-attacks that followed. Our hearts go out to all the citizens caught in the crossfire. If you’re stuck in the region trying to get home or your connecting flight through Doha or Dubai got cancelled, it’s time to dive into the fine print on your travel insurance policy to find solutions. Our sometime ad partner SafetyWing is providing a general framework for getting reimbursed for your escape: 1) Your policy had to be in place before any warnings went out. 2) There was no travel warning in place when you arrived in the area. 3) You have evacuated within 10 days of the travel warning being issued. Many policies will compensate you for cancelled flights and/or new expenditures, but it depends on what you purchased.

Wraparound Silk Eye Mask

I was leading a group of travelers in Slovakia last week and guest Yvonne from Colorado raved about this wraparound silk eye mask for both air travel and too-bright lodging. She likes how it stays in place in different positions, is comfortable for hours, and completely blocks out the light. It comes in four colors from $23 to $26 and has solid reviews on Amazon.

Travel Points Downgrades and Upgrades

It always pays to bank airline or hotel points for a specific purpose and cash them in rather than letting them sit around for years. They’re more like a new car than a house or index fund: over time, the value of those points will depreciate. Hyatt showed that clearly last week, massively raising the redemption rate on many of their hotels and generally making most tiers more expensive in terms of points, starting in May. In better news, you can now transfer Chase Rewards points to Wyndham at 1:1. Most points bloggers are saying “Don’t do it” simply based on the math, but Wyndham has a refreshingly simple loyalty program with just three tiers at 7,500, 15,000, and 30,000 points. (You can get 3-4 nights at a Wyndham all-inclusive for the price of what one night with no meals often costs at a nearby Hilton or Marriott.)

The Remote Worker Lodging Gap

I try to keep things brief here, but I enjoy the thought-provoking, in-depth articles on the Nomag newsletter that dive into issues not widely covered elsewhere. The latest is on the muddy middle of housing that many remote workers find lacking, rentals for one to four months at a price that works for everyone. “The housing system in a surprising number of places still functions as a rigid binary. You are either a tourist staying a few days, or you are a long-term tenant signing contracts measured in years.” There’s an obvious business opportunity in a whole lot of cities for whoever is willing to grab it. See “The Housing Market’s Blind Spot” here.

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.