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.

Electric Planes Are Getting Closer to Reality

A while back I mentioned some big airline orders for electric airplanes, but now it’s getting real. Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) is accepting seat reservations for its first commercial electric flight in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark in 2028. Each of the three inaugural flights will offer 30 seats available for reservation. They’re a bargain too, at 1946 kr ($179), in tribute to the year SAS began flights.

The Return of Blimps?

Some 90 years after the Hindenburg disaster, we could see dirigibles take to the air again. They will probably start with transporting heavy cargo into remote areas with no infrastructure, rather than transporting passengers, but fingers crossed that people could glide across mountains again in a balloon if it goes well. The new versions are far more energy-efficient than planes or helicopters and can move a lot more cargo, no train tracks or roads required. See the story with artist renderings in CNN.

Travel Wisdom From Kevin Kelly

Did you know that Nomadico co-founder Kevin Kelly has a new book out? It’s very different than the technology prediction ones he’s known for, instead looking back on what he has learned—Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I Wish I’d Known Earlier . A quote for the travelers: “On vacation go to the most remote place on your itinerary first, bypassing the cities, and then return to the big city at the end. You’ll maximize the shock of otherness in the remote, and then later you’ll welcome the familiar conveniences of a busy city on the way back.” (My addition: this strategy helps with gift buying too on the way home.)

Return to Office Orders Are Not Going Well

What happens when people stop coming to an office for months or years and then most of them don’t want to go back? The bosses at Amazon, Farmer’s Group, Google, and Salesforce are getting hostile reactions leading to (real or virtual) walkouts and we all saw in real time how this directive helped amplify the other self-inflicted wounds at Twitter. With unemployment at record lows in the USA, this is going to be a fight that’s tough to win for corporations since remote workers typically work more hours, get more done, and are happier with their work/life balance. Plus in tech, there’s the irony that Morning Brew pointed out: “Google’s chief people officer told staff via email, ‘There’s just no substitute for coming together in person,’ despite the company famously developing an entire suite of products to, in fact, not come together in person.”

06/22/23