Remote New Zealand/$15K Hiking Fee/Southwest Airlines to Europe
Nomadico issue #142
New Zealand Wakes Up, Discovers Remote Workers
In a story that looks like it came from 2021, New Zealand’s government announced this week that it would “allow people to work while travelling in the country.” Apparently they just discovered that digital nomads were already doing that everywhere else in the world. They see this as a way to make up for the fact that they’re one of the few destinations that hasn’t returned to or surpassed pre-pandemic tourism levels. (It probably didn’t help that they instituted one of the largest tourist taxes in the world last year, on top of the hefty costs long-haul passengers pay to fly there.)
15 Grand to Hike Mount Everest
If one of your life goals was to hike the world’s tallest mountain, you’ll need to set aside more cash. Nepal hiked its fee for September onward to $15,000 in the high season, up from $11,000. (It’s lower in other months, but since few manage to summit then, that’s kind of a moot point.) This is just one part of the overall cost since you need a team of guides and sherpas, some oxygen tanks, and bags for carrying out your own poop. The full cost can easily top $100K.
Want to Retain Top Performers?
When the biz school textbooks get written 20 years from now, they’ll probably look at which organizations went into decline because they required workers to commute to an office again. A recent Pew Research study found that among those who can work remotely, nearly half would be “unlikely to stay at their current job.” More than a quarter of them said they’d be very unlikely to stay. This aligns with other studies showing that those who will likely stay tend to be those just coasting along or on their way to retirement, not the top performers and rising stars.
Southwest Airlines Connects to Europe
Starting in February, you’ll be able to book a flight on Southwest that gets you to Europe, thanks to a partnership with IcelandAir. The first flight will be from Baltimore, but others are promised to follow, starting with Nashville and Denver. The key benefit is that you can fly onward in Europe on the partner airline and the bags will get checked through. I haven’t seen anything yet about whether you can use Southwest points, but if so that would be huge since IcelandAir is one of the few large carriers that doesn’t belong to any of the big 3 alliances like OneWorld.
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