An American couple from Ohio arrives at a public pool in Valencia on a Tuesday morning in July. The pool is half full. A grandmother in her sixties is doing slow laps. Two women in their thirties are reading on loungers. Several teenagers are playing in the deep end. About half the women are topless. …
Packing for a trip might seem like a simple task throw your essentials in a bag and you’re done, right? Not quite. Veteran travelers know that how you pack can make or break your entire experience, whether it’s a weekend getaway or a three-week international adventure. Smart packing means less stress, more space, and fewer …
Updated for 2026: We first published this Omio review back in 2024, and a lot has changed since — Omio is now live in 47 countries, added ferries, and launched in Japan. We’ve refreshed the whole thing below with current prices and features. If you want our full hands-on test of the new Japan booking, …
Of all the shocks that await the American who moves to Spain, this is the one almost nobody sees coming, and it is among the most maddening. You have been driving for forty years. You have a spotless record and a valid license from your home state. And roughly six months after you become a …
In August, Spain splits in two. The great cities, Madrid above all, drain of their people and fall strangely quiet, shops shuttered and streets hushed, while the coast swells to bursting as half the country and much of Europe descends on the beaches at once. It is as if the nation empties out of one …
You did everything right. You have a proper American will, drawn up by a lawyer, leaving your estate exactly as you and your spouse intend. Then you retire to Spain, buy a lovely home near the coast, and settle into your new life, never imagining that the careful document sitting in a drawer back home …
The letter or the app reminder arrives, and it lands differently when you are living abroad. Your US passport is heading toward expiration, and you are not in Ohio where you can pop into a post office, but in Spain or France or Italy, where renewing the little blue book means dealing with a US …
We’re planning a trip to Japan right now — and I thought I’d take you along for the part first-timers find most confusing: booking the transport. Here’s what makes this the moment to write it down. Omio has been our most trusted booking site for years — we’ve leaned on it hard across Europe, from …
Every winter, a certain kind of Chicago couple has the same conversation. The wind is howling off the lake, the heating bill has arrived, and they are dreaming of somewhere warm to spend their retirement. For generations the answer was obvious and singular, which was Florida, the default sunbelt escape for the frozen Midwest. But …
You spread your towel on a Spanish beach, light a cigarette the way beachgoers have for a century, and a lifeguard walks over to tell you, politely, that this is a smoke-free beach. A few years ago this would have been almost unthinkable across much of southern Europe. In the summer of 2026 it is …
You picture a magic umbrella that opens over every bad travel scenario, then stays open until you are home and dry. Now picture what really happens. Your airline cancels for weather. The hotel is prepaid. A hurricane gets named the day after you buy flights. Your backpack vanishes at a café while you are in …
There is a quiet window every summer when the experienced travelers make their move, and most people miss it entirely. While the crowds are still sweating through the peak of August and dreaming of next year, the people who have figured out European travel are booking September, and they are doing it now, in the …