July 19, 2022 | View Online | Sign Up
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I spent my weekend navigating Argentina’s healthcare system. For about $120, we got a consultation, antibiotics, a chest x-ray, and some phlegmy lab tests. The same price bracket in an American hospital would get me two hours of parking and an impending sense of financial despair.
No wonder medical tourism is on the rise. Nothing takes the edge off a cheap prostate exam like Argentinian wine.
In today’s edition:
Is travel finally getting cheaper?
2022's best cities in the world
Europe’s on fire (literally)
The government's shocking use of our phone data
Cheers,
Steven
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| AIR TRAVEL
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Time to book that trip? Flights are finally getting cheaper
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There’s hope on the horizon for travelers as airfares may be on a (slight) downward trend. According to the US Consumer Price Index (CPI), flight prices were one of a small number of categories that saw a decline through June.
The decrease was a meager 1.8% from May to June, but when costs haven’t retreated in months, any slight decline is a positive sign for travelers. Airfares are traditionally very seasonal, and with gas prices also dropping, there is hope the drop will continue into the fall before picking up again for the Christmas period.
Accommodation rates also dropped after months of steady increases matching the soaring demands of “revenge travel.” Hotel and motel costs, in particular, fell by 3.3%, painting a similar picture to the airfare trends.
As tourists get the pent-up travel energy out of their system, expect to see prices cool even further. Right now, travelers are spending aggressively, but when airlines have to convince them to get moving again, competitive prices will be back.
The other category that decreased in price was meat… In case you were wondering.
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| TRAVEL NEWS
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Travel awards season: World’s best cities, hotels, and more
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Some of the world’s most prominent travel outlets have released their lists of the best destinations for 2022. Time Out, Travel and Leisure, and Time all unveiled their top picks over the past week.
Interestingly, Time Out and T&L show very little overlap in the reader-voted choices. Time Out placed Scottish capital Edinburgh as the best city for 2022, while T&L placed the fast-growing Mexican destination of Oaxaca in its top spot. The top ten for each magazine were completely different.
Time Out’s list saw Chicago and Medellin in second and third place, with the top five rounded out by Glasgow and Amsterdam. T&L placed San Miguel de Allende and Ubud second and third, while Florence and Istanbul finished fourth and fifth.
Time’s list differs slightly, listing the best destinations as nominated by the magazine’s correspondents. The unranked list highlights a breadth of places and brief but poignant reasons to visit each this year. Destinations include The Galapagos Islands, Ras Al Khaimah, and Dolni Morava.
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| CLIMATE CHANGE
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Brutal European heatwave sees record temps, wildfires, and droughts
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Western Europe is being scorched this week as a relentless heatwave engulfs the continent, causing wildfires, record temperatures, and drought.
France and Spain are facing the brunt of the heat as wildfires continue ravaging the two countries' Southwestern regions. Flames were reaching the beach in many cases and prompted the evacuation of thousands in both countries. Although the fires have not been blamed for any deaths, hundreds of people have died as a result of the heat in Madrid.
Meanwhile, the UK, which generally has lower temperatures than its continental counterparts, is facing record temperatures. Wales has already broken its heat record, clocking in at 35 degrees Celsius (95F). Parts of England are expected to break 40 degrees (105F), which would be the UK’s hottest on record.
In Italy, a dry winter and now sweltering summer has seen the River Po dry up amid the country’s worst drought in 70 years. Startling images of the dried river bed are a major concern, as the river produces water for a third of Italy’s agriculture.
In a report last year, European scientists warned that climate change had created record-breaking intense wildfire seasons that are likely to worsen.
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| US NEWS
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Records show US government tracking millions of private cellphones
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Newly released documents have shown that the Department of Homeland Security purchased access to the cellphone location data of over 250 million people in the United States.
According to the documents, obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, the DHS gained access to the data in 2017 with the intention of enforcing immigration policies. But the new information points to the concerning lack of protections in place for the majority of cellphones now being tracked as data points.
The contracts involve two surveillance companies, Venntel and Babel Street, two of a number of data brokers across the globe that sell tracked information from a number of phone apps to anyone willing to pay. Documents show DHS renewing a $20,000 contract with Venntel for continued access to the data in question. Millions had already been spent on similar contracts.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which released the data on Monday, argues the deals violate citizens’ fourth amendment rights, partly due to the lack of any warrants being obtained for any of the data.
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| GET REWARDED
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| WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING
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Answer: Although lobsters do get older, they don’t do it like us. They show no typical signs of aging and continue growing until they eventually die of exhaustion. |
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