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.

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Get Paid to Commit to Rural Spain

We’ve discussed several schemes that destinations are running to get remote workers to move there, but a newly announced one in Extremadura, Spain is attractive if you’re ready to stay put for a while. If you’ll move to a village with less than 5,000 people, you get €10,000 the first year, another €5,000 if you stay for two. If you’re under 30 and move to a more populated place, you get a bit less. Rents are available for a few hundred euros a month and there’s plenty of good wine and Iberian ham at bargain prices in this region next to Portugal. See the details here.

Goodbye to European Passport Stamps

If you want to add a European stamp or two to your passport, you’ll need to touch down before November. After that it’s all electronics and facial recognition for entry to 29 EU countries and for figuring out how long you’ve been in the Schengen Zone. Get answers to your EES questions here.

Visiting the Museum of Death in Mexico

Hardly any foreign tourists seem to make it to Aguascalientes, Mexico, but the state produces some excellent wine and there are two notable museums in the capital city. One is devoted to the artist Jose Guadalupe Posadas, the cartoonist/lithographer who invented the whole Catrinas trend of skeletons in fancy clothing. The other is the excellent Museum of Death, which highlights Mexico’s unique relationship with the subject, told through its art. See my rundown on it here after my second visit recently.

Building Your Own Eurail Pass

Back in the dark ages when it was difficult to research train ticket prices, buying a Eurail Pass made a lot of sense. You purchased unlimited travel for a country or all of Europe in a specific period. Or you got a more flexible pass that was X days of travel over Y days/months. After recently purchasing five individual train tickets spanning six EU countries though, I’d say you’re probably better off buying individual tickets for what you need. My five fares, two of them around eight hours of travel, totaled €183. A Eurail pass that would have accomplished the same thing sells for nearly twice as much. Get started with Rome2Rio or Omio and then buy through their links or the individual train operator.

09/12/24