Sub-$25 Gifts/Travel Trends/Bad “Where to Go” Advice
Nomadico issue #83
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.
Gifts for Travelers Under $25
This is that time of the year when everyone with an online, print, or video mouthpiece publishes a gift guide, often with lots of dubious choices clearly stuck in by editors who don’t get out much. I just update my two existing articles from past years, with tried and true items that work. Nomadic types tend to have a minimalist, light packing streak anyway, so here are some sub-$25 items that are easy to pack and will probably be appreciated.
What’s Trending in the Travel World?
A subscriber who works for a company called Glimpse offered to send me some useful search trend findings for our readers and turned up some interesting gems. Apparently “RV life” queries are up 66% year over year, “digital nomad visa” searches are up 79%, and more people are searching for sustainable travel and info on an AI-powered deals browser extension. See the report here.
It’s 2019 All Over Again
The stats say it’s official: travel is back to where it was before the pandemic. According to this report with pretty graphs using data from the IMF’s World Economic Report, tourism numbers across the world are back to 2019 levels when averaged out. In 2023, Europe has been up bigtime, Latin America has been up slightly, the USA about even with pre-pandemic levels. Asia is coming out slightly behind, mostly due to China’s botched Covid strategy dampening travel from there.
Monkeys, Darts, and Where to Travel in 2024
I can’t even look at most of the big media “Where to go in 2024” lists without either crying, laughing, or shouting at the screen like an old man watching football. So it made me smile to find this article in The Independent where I only need to list the title, no further explanation needed: “The secret decision-making behind ‘best-of’ travel lists—and why they always seem to get it wrong.”
12/21/23
