{"id":45903,"date":"2026-04-16T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=45903"},"modified":"2026-04-14T11:39:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T18:39:21","slug":"young-adult-destinations-bag-check-hikes-hotel-labor-shortage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/young-adult-destinations-bag-check-hikes-hotel-labor-shortage\/","title":{"rendered":"Young Adult Destinations\/Bag Check Hikes\/Hotel Labor Shortage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Living Abroad Destinations for Young Adults<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I got quoted in this <\/a>Travel + Leisure<\/a><\/em> article<\/a> about some of the best destinations in the world for young adults to consider for moving abroad. This is not meant to be a definitive list, but it\u2019s a good article if you want 8 options to consider instead of being overwhelmed with choices. You don\u2019t have to be young to enjoy these places, but they\u2019re strong on the vibrant qualities people look for when they\u2019re in their 20s and 30s, plus the cost of living is another favorable factor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More Airlines Raise Baggage Fees<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The airlines never met a fee they didn\u2019t like and when one of their competitors raises the price, the execs usually match them in lockstep. So after JetBlue went first, as mentioned last week, many of the other lemmings followed, with $45 for the first bag being the most common amount now, blamed on fuel costs. For budget airlines, you\u2019re going to pay extra to bring anything unless you travel with just a \u201cpersonal item,\u201d but for the legacy airlines you can usually still get away with bringing a carry-on into the packed cabin. Otherwise, Alaska Air, Air Canada, JetBlue, and United all offer credit cards with free bag checks on all flights, not just a subset of them. This includes at least one companion if booked together. The current United sign-up bonus with Chase<\/a> is huge too, enough for a round-trip ticket to almost anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are You Buying Bottled Water out of Habit?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got a bottle in your bag pocket, remember?\u201d the woman said to her significant other in the line at the airport coffee shop in front of me yesterday. He put it back and saved $4.99 (plus tax) because he was 20 steps away from a filtered water dispenser. I saw another guy pay $6.89 for bottled water in our second airport of the day while being equally close to another dispenser. Since numerous studies have shown that bottled water is more contaminated than your average tap water<\/a>, paying a premium and then throwing away more plastic seems like a bad idea all around if you\u2019re flying in the USA or Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Looming Worker Crisis for US Hotels<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re having trouble finding a hotel staffer when you need one, it\u2019s probably not your imagination. We\u2019ve already seen the reduced influx of immigrants to the USA impact the food industry, but the next big hit will be where you lay your head when traveling. According to those in the industry<\/a>, there\u2019s already a serious worker shortage and it\u2019s going to get worse. \u201cThe hospitality industry ended 2025 with 98,000 fewer workers than the year before, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.\u201d With immigrants making up one-third of the labor force for hotels (and more for the construction of new ones), don\u2019t expect rates to go anywhere but up in the coming years stateside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of\u00a0A Better Life for Half the Price<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0The World\u2019s Cheapest Destinations<\/em>. See\u00a0past editions here,<\/a>\u00a0where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nomadico issue #202<\/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\/45903"}],"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=45903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45904,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45903\/revisions\/45904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}