Packable Duffel Bag for Travel Expansion

Several times I’ve protested the onerous baggage policies of budget airlines by taking everything in an underseat bag and on my body, like I did when I went to Costa Rica and Guatemala on Volaris (video with the duffel featured here). My secret was taking along a tiny pouch that expanded into a duffel bag on the other end. This also works well when you know you’ll be coming back with more than you flew there with. I like my water-resistant and rugged Sea to Summit one, but it seems to be discontinued so check out these alternatives from Eagle Creek and Bago.

Beyond Airbnb for Monthly Rentals

If you know a lot of nomads who have used Airbnb, you surely know a few disgruntled renters who ran into problems and had trouble getting support help. Some more service-oriented platforms have sprung up for remote workers who have a heftier budget and need a guaranteed workspace. One that has long gotten me drooling is HousingAnywhere (in 150 cities) and Nomadico partner Mark Frauenfelder sent this newer RentRemote one that looks enticing too. Some of the prices seem inflated even for highly paid software developers, but rents are more reasonable in Mexico City than they are in Paris. Expect to see more of these agencies popping up since Airbnb is such an easy and visible target as a housing problem scapegoat.

“Sketchplanations” of Key Concepts

I love finding an offbeat niche site that does one thing well and sticks with it. Sketchplanations.com is dedicated to explaining concepts with a sketch or cartoon instead of just text, which makes learning something more fun. Some examples include Chihuahua Syndrome (alternate spellings can render data useless), Survivorship Bias (the dead/failed/gone are forgotten), and The B.S. Asymmetry Problem (why simple b.s. beats out more complicated facts).

Easiest Second Passports

I know two people who have had a baby in a country they don’t intend to live in so they would have a path to a second passport for the family. If you don’t want to go to that extreme, here’s a list of countries where you can get a second passport by other means. The three main categories are by ancestry, by naturalization, or by investment. The article from International Living is geared to U.S. citizens, but in many cases the same programs are open to other nationalities as well.

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.

03/6/25