Tracking Luggage/Cheap Money Transfers/Adventure Tours Snapshot
Nomadico issue #64
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.
Your Own Luggage Trackers
One of the worst anxiety-producing situations in travel is standing by the luggage carousel and not seeing your checked bag showing up. I recently found the American Air app tracker to be close to worthless and many travelers are looking to put the tracking into their own hands. AirTags for Apple devices are the best-known for this, but for Android users check into Tile Mate or the distant third choice Chipolo One. (You can also use these to find your lost keys!)
Get Wise for Cheaper $ Transfers
The company formerly known as Transferwise offers a much cheaper way to send or receive business payments than Paypal, Revolut, and other high-fee services. If both parties are fully registered, with banks connected, it can be less than a buck to do a wire transfer and I seldom pay more than $4. They support multiple currencies and offer the actual exchange rate instead of a marked down/up one like Paypal does. There have been some notable holes in the market where it wasn’t available, but this week they announced that they’re now available in Norway, Spain, and Bulgaria. Sign up here for free.
Buying Citizenship
We noted a while back that Ireland and Portugal had both scrapped their “Golden Visa” program whereby wealthy aspirants could gain citizenship just by parting with enough of their money. This detailed article dives into the practice and notes that 22 nations still offer some kind of scheme, however, with price tags ranging from $100K to a million bucks. If you’ve got that kind of cash sitting around, follow that link to read about St. Kitts, Jordan, Turkey, Austria, and more.
Adventure Tour Insights
The Adventure Travel Trade Association has released its annual survey snapshot for a state of the industry overview. Business is about back to pre-pandemic levels, 84% of participants are seeing an increase in international travel, and hiking/trekking/ walking trips are the most popular overall. How much do people spend? The average 8-day organized tour price is $3,000 and a healthy 76% of that is going to local suppliers. See the full report here.
08/10/23
