Thoughts on travel (2025)

Musings, observations, and other half-completed thoughts that occurred to me as we took a transatlantic cruise (Miami-Barcelona), stayed in Andalusia and Alicante (Spain), then briefly toured Rome on the way home (via London and Los Angeles).

• The “tourists go home” movement is mostly theater. We visited the Canary Islands, Barcelona, and Sevilla, three hotbeds of protest against foreign tourists in general and apartment-buying foreigners specifically (we are both). We saw none of it. There are occasional protest events, but they’re scheduled and conducted for the cameras and local politics (this Sunday’s protests are an example). It’s not that there isn’t a real issue: lack of affordable housing is very real, as is over-tourism. The first is primarily a problem because Spain’s socialist government hasn’t tried very hard to increase home/apartment construction since their economy imploded back in 2008. Now they have a huge backlog, and too much demand, not enough supply. And the other part is Spanish property owners changing their rental units to tourist rentals. Who wants to rent to your fellow Spaniards when they can invoke unwise renter protections and live rent-free for years while you try to evict them? Whose problem is that? The tourists? Foreign owners represent a single-digit percentage of Spanish properties. And everybody knows that Spain is riding an economic wave right now at least partly fueled by tourism. So expect a lot of press noise and political posturing, but just love from those you meet on the street.
• I’ve complained every year in these posts about the growing slovenliness of travelers in general, i.e, adopting American-casual as appropriate attire. It’s official. In the Year of Our Lord 2025, you can no longer spot an American using the usual dead-giveaways (until one opens his mouth). Baseball caps are ubiquitous on men of all ages. Shorts, too. Women in workout leotards. Both sexes with oddly-named collegiate attire (“Carolina U.” in purple?) or English slang prints (sometimes quite offensive, but I guess not if you’re not primarily an English-speaker). Europeans still get dressed up for things, but if they’re just walking down for a cappuccino and a croissant, they’ll look like they might be headed to Mickey D’s!
• Modern technology has pretty much ended one’s ability to get really lost. GPS is always “watching you, watching you” as Hall & Oates sang. Google has mapped the entire planet, then photographed its streets, too. I’ve come to rely on Google for locations and times of operations for local businesses, especially bars, cafes, and restaurants. And it’s been pretty accurate in major cities. But we like to get out and about, to small cities, towns, and even villages. And there, the days and hours of operation, even whether the business is still in business, are all quite lacking. The businesses themselves don’t keep the data updated, and the locals who frequent them already know. So remember, Google may get you to that little bit of heaven cafe you seek, but whether it’s open or not? Only heaven knows!

• There is no need to pretend you’re a Canadian, eh! Europeans don’t generally bring up politics with strangers. We met many locals, in taxis, on tours, in cafes, and we were never shy about being Americans. Of course we had two advantages: speaking Spanish and being able to say we live in Mexico, which everybody finds endlessly fascinating, so there’s no need to talk about US politics. While Americans seem to enjoy immediately picking red and blue sides, other countries don’t. So if you don’t shove it (your MAGA-hate or -hat) in a local’s face, nobody else will care, either.
• Transatlantic cruises are a real alternative to red-eye flights to Europe. You can scale your costs to your budget (inside cabin/no frills, balcony with drinks package, sweet suite) compared to economy/premium economy/first class airfare. Yes, you need to get back, eventually. But you do buy 10-14 days of leisure, a few ports-of-call, and minimized jet lag. For those with the luxury of time, it is a very attractive alternative. Caveats: don’t try to discover whether you like ocean cruises on a transatlantic one. The Sargasso Sea is no place to learn you have a landlubbers stomach (although they’ll have plenty of meds on board if you do). Do research the various lines, as their offerings are very different and aimed at different crowds. Transatlantic cruises will generally feature an older, more well-off clientele, that is, people who have the time (most importantly) to spend. But in general transatlantic cruises are less pricey (per day) than other cruises, because they are one-offs (the ship needs to get from here-to-there for the upcoming season).
• The EU and UK have added new travel authorizations. These are not visas, which are legal permissions to visit. Long ago, western nations agreed to visa-free travel between certain countries to facilitate business and tourism. After 9/11, the problems with this approach were apparent. The US was first off the mark with ESTA, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization. The EU has been trying to initiate a similar system called ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorization System) for a decade, and it’s still not in effect! The UK has rolled out its Electronic Travel Authorization or ETA. All of these are administrative reviews done online. You pay some money, submit personal/travel data, and get a response which verifies your data is tied to your passport and good for travel over a specified period (usually 2+ years). The processes are simple and should be quick, as long as you haven’t been naughty, traveled to odd locations, or have a name like Bill Bin Laden. Anyway, what do you need to know? You need to complete the process before you travel! And it may apply to transit at airports, too. We were returning from Rome via London/Heathrow, and neither the government, the airport, nor the airlines could assure me we would not leave the secure area of the airport to make our connections, so we could technically “enter” the UK and need ETA. We got it (instantly) as a precaution, and it’s good for two years. Better safe than sorry. When the EU’s ETIAS comes online, you’ll need to do the same for continental Europe. Be prepared! (Late update: the Heathrow Express bus ran between the terminals on the secure side, so we didn’t need our ETA at all. But if we had checked luggage, we might have needed it.)

• We remain impressed with Spain’s national train system. It was one of the worst in Europe, but a few years back, the government stopped controlling the market, let in competition, and invested in infrastructure (courtesy of the EU). The results have been tremendous. You can get comfortable, high-speed train tickets for 20-40 Euros that take you quickly cross country. Most of the lines connect in Madrid, but even with the connections they are fast. We were just on a fast line from Madrid that clocked in at 299 kph (that’s 186 mph!). There are plenty of locals lines (cercanias), trams, a few subways, and of course many busses. On the high speed network, both Renfe (the Spanish national line) and Iryo (a Italian-Spanish consortium) impressed us. Comfortable cars, multiple classes, good service, even good food at the cafeteria car. We were less impressed with Ouigo (the French-owned alternative) which seems to have adopted the budget airline model of customer service. But all were quick and inexpensive. Pro-tip: if you’re visiting Spain and moving around, skip the airports and use the train. Just book your tickets early, as there are huge discounts for early booking and the trains do fill up. Second pro-tip: if you take a high-speed train, your ticket is good for local travel before/after the main ride (ie., getting to/from the train station on other trains/trams or connecting between trains).
• Maybe everybody else knows this, but here goes in case someone doesn’t: we like keeping up with the news/shows we watch regularly while we travel. So we bring a long our Firestick and remote, then plug it into the smart TVs every hotel/rental has. It updates automatically to the new television, then brings up our channels, viewing apps, etc., all as we like it. Perhaps it’s just because we use YouTube TV (not YouTube, which is different) on the Firestick. But I’m betting other streaming devices and providers have similar options. It’s a nice touch of home, and takes up very little space (about the size of an electric shaver). Don’t forget an international plug adapter!