Special Announcement: This Friday, any paid subscriber of Nomadico can join me and the legendary Kevin Kelly on a video call at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, 11 a.m. Pacific. If you’re not a paid supporter now, sign up before noon tomorrow and you’ll get an e-mail with the Zoom link.
Free Ski Passes From Alaska Airlines
Sometimes I see a news item and am shocked that it has never crossed my radar before. The latest is that if you fly on Alaska Airlines, some ski resorts will give you a free lift ticket. You have to click one by one on the listings on the airline’s page to figure out who’s in, plus it’s only good the day you arrive. Still, here are some enticing examples: Alyeska near Anchorage, Bogus Basin and Schweitzer in Idaho, and Steamboat Springs, CO (night skiing session). At a minimum, you’ll get rental equipment upgrades at the others listed and the airline says the list will expand as the weather gets colder and more places open.
A Shirt That Fixes Your Posture?
I get all kinds of wacky product pitches I ignore but when someone from Forme got in touch saying their golf shirt would improve my posture—received while I was hunched over my laptop reading 100 e-mails—I was intrigued. I’ve worn it around a bunch now, including on two travel trips, and it really does work. This polo shirt is constructed in a way that it pulls back on your shoulders, kind of like those strap devices you can buy but it’s fabric and built in. They also make sports bras and T-shirts. See more (and they’ve got a 20% sale going on this week) at Forme.science.
Free Domestic Flights in Japan (From Europe)
This offer has more than a few strings attached, but if you can get to the finish line, there’s a way to get free domestic flights within Japan this winter if you fly there from Europe on All Nippon Airways (ANA). The flight must originate in Europe and must be in economy, headed to Tokyo first, where you can stay for 24 hours max before taking off to a smaller city. These can be open-jaw tickets, meaning you could fly to one city, take a train, then return to Tokyo via another. If you manage to make this happen, let me know how you navigated it on their website!
Epic and Ikon Head to Europe
Sorry non-skiers, but another one about snow this week because it’s big news. The annual multi-resort Epic Pass and Ikon Pass are both cashing in on Americans waking up to the fact that it’s a much better value to ski in Europe than the USA and have added a bunch of resorts in the Alps. So if you have one of those passes, you’re not restricted to North America anymore. The Epic Pass now includes 34 resorts in Europe, with 6 new ones this year. The Ikon Pass has 23 in the Alps. They also have 11 and 9 in Asia, respectively, as well—mostly in Japan. If you’re ready to buy a pass to become an international flashpacker ski bum, see the details here. (And a quick reminder on the subject: this is the last week to join my trip to the mountains of Slovakia in late February.)
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.
