French Price Gouging/European Ski Values/Packable Travel Lantern
Nomadico issue #82
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.
How Do You Say “Screw the Tourists” in French?
When Paris bid to host the Olympic Games, they said in their documentation that they would provide free public transportation to participants. Instead, they’re doubling the Metro price tickets for everyone in that period of summer 2024, plus hotel rates are going through the roof. See the report from Frommer’s here.
Cheaper Skiing in Europe
I hosted a Bulgarian ski tour for 18 people last year and what we each spent on everything together wouldn’t have even covered the lift tickets in Park City. I just updated this post on how it’s cheaper to ski in Europe than in North America and one stat says it all. A weekend walk-up lift ticket for the five largest resorts in North averages out to $239. For the five largest resorts in Europe, the average is $79. Follow that link for specific rates at a variety of ski resorts on both continents.
A Packable Travel Lantern
If you want to buy a budget traveler or camper a useful gift this holiday season, an inflatable solar-powered lantern will be something that will only set you back about 30 bucks. These pack down flat but inflate on site to cylinders or cubes that can light up a whole room or be dimmed for mood lighting. The two that have been around the longest are the Luci from MPowerd and the LuminAID. I can vouch for both.
Creatives Don’t Want to Go to an Office Either
The big pro-office argument a lot of upper managers espouse is that people need to get together in offices for better creativity and collaboration. But what do actual workers think? The company Figma asked 470 designers in Europe and Asia-Pacific about their work environment, job satisfaction, and overall happiness. It found that 95% are working remotely these days at least partially and 69% are happier with their environment than they were pre-pandemic. For individual contributors that was 82%. More than a third said they felt more disconnected with their colleagues though, so the socialization part of remote work is still a valid concern. Here’s a summary and the full report (registration required).
12/14/23
