{"id":43925,"date":"2025-04-03T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-03T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=43925"},"modified":"2025-03-31T12:37:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T19:37:32","slug":"happiest-countries-free-checked-bag-cheap-electronic-basics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/happiest-countries-free-checked-bag-cheap-electronic-basics\/","title":{"rendered":"Happiest Countries\/Free Checked Bag\/Cheap Electronic Basics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2><strong>Who is Feeling Happiest These Days?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/travel\/worlds-happiest-countries-2025-wellness\/index.html\">worldwide survey on happiness<\/a>&nbsp;is out and if you thought the mood wasn\u2019t so hot in the USA or UK, you were right. The countries with high taxes, strong social services, and low inequality are still the places making people smile. \u201cWhen it comes to happiness, the Nordic countries are clearly doing a lot of things right. For the eighth year in a row, Finland is the world\u2019s happiest country, with its neighbors clustered close behind.\u201d The USA dropped again, to #24. Two countries Americans are flocking to\u2014Mexico and Costa Rica\u2014scored #6 and #10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><strong>Frontier Will Take Your Free Luggage Instead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In a canny marketing move from an airline that has been a lot more attuned to customer sentiment than most, Frontier is taking advantage of Southwest\u2019s backing off its long-running \u201cBags Fly Free\u201d tagline by offering a free checked bag promotion. It won\u2019t last, but they announced \u201ca free checked bag for flights departing May 28 through August 18 when travelers use promo code FREEBAG.\u201d See more about this&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/news.flyfrontier.com\/frontier-airlines-is-ready-to-be-your-new-love-low-fares-free-bags-and-more\/\">and their other opportunistic changes here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><strong>A Downgrade for United Credit Cards<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking of airlines, United just raised the annual fee of its most popular Chase credit card by more than half, from $99 to $150, and you\u2019ll have to jump through an almost comical number of hoops to make up the difference with the new perks they\u2019re touting. I still think it\u2019s worth keeping if you fly with them more than three times a year because you get a free checked bag on all flights (not just domestic ones) and two lounge passes each year when you renew. Plus if you don\u2019t have it already, $150 up front for 80,000 miles after meeting the spending requirement is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.referyourchasecard.com\/215f\/WKFHG12JDU\">a sweet intro offer<\/a>. Otherwise, you might want to put this on your \u201creplace list.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><strong>Discount Stores for Electronics Basics<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I spend most of my time in Mexico or abroad, so when I\u2019m back in the USA I\u2019m like a Soviet defector walking around gaping at the rampant consumerism all around me. The plus side of all that obsessive shopping is the staggering amount of choice and competition, which certainly keeps prices low for commodity items. I\u2019m reminded of that when I need anything basic and electronic, like a charger, an adapter plug, or a pair of earbuds for the plane ride when I\u2019ve lost one or both. If you lose something while traveling in the USA, just head to 5 Below or a dollar store and you\u2019ll be out the door just a few bucks lighter. This also applies to reading glasses, cheap sunglasses, water bottles, travel mugs, soft coolers, and other items cranked out by the millions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/geni.us\/cbjyU?utm_campaign=Nomadico&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=Revue%20newsletter\" target=\"_blank\"><em>A Better Life for Half the Price<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<em>The World\u2019s Cheapest Destinations<\/em>. See\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nomadico.substack.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">past editions here,<\/a>\u00a0where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nomadico issue #149<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2385],"tags":[2386],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43925"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43926,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43925\/revisions\/43926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}