As we're about to enter the whirlwind of the Christmas festivities, you've probably already started thinking about and dreaming of the trips you want to take in 2026. Every great trip needs careful planning, and that's why Eurovacations Travel It offers the possibility of getting to know countries all over the world with the peace of mind of traveling with everything done for you: flights, hotels, visits, excursions, experiences, all booked, and, in addition, with a guide from Barcelona.

Which is better, summer time or winter time? The debate is open. If we stick with daylight saving time, the changes would be noticeable during the winter. These would be the most notable effects we would notice, especially around the winter solstice:

This summer will be remembered for the extreme heat, the fires, and the massacres. But each of us will have our own particular summer, transformed into a refuge for memory. More or less everyone in our first world is now returning to routine. It's noticeable in the streets. We're already connected. Disconnecting, which we did much more when summers were analog, is practically impossible in digital times. Some people tune out the news because it's bad and it affects them. In summer and all year round. Others do it because it doesn't interest them. Everything is permissible. How can you not read books? says a woman who makes videos on social media And it's also news. Because there are those who don't want to know anything but want to know everything about those contemporary gurus who trap them in the social cobwebs. Neither are better at liking to read, nor others worse at spending the day watching TikTok videos. Among other reasons because being better or worse can't be summed up in a weekly article. And I'll leave it here because I prefer to flee, which rhymes with reading, from that topic like I do from the heat.

I walk up from the cove to get the car after a swim. To follow the path, I have to look up. It's been raining for the past few days. Behind the luminous green tops of the pines, the sky is a massive block of blue glass, perfected by the north wind.

Reality repeats itself to the point of boredom, and that boredom can be a deterrent when it comes to writing about what's wrong, what's unfair, what's discriminatory. That's why, much to my chagrin, we need to be tiresome.

We conclude (not astronomically or meteorologically, but in the work calendar) this summer of 2025, which, from my point of view, has been a strange summer. A summer ofheat waves and waves of fires, with the typical news snakes of the time, but mostly negative and with endless and very bitter controversies.

As teacher And as a mother, I confess that September is my favorite month of the year. We're back at it again. I love choosing a new planner and starting the school year with the excitement of doing everything right. It's like when I was little, I'd open a new notebook, write a pretty title, and write the first two pages in beautiful handwriting. September is like that; it's the month of good intentions, blank pages, and long days that still smell of summer. Even our children are thinking, "This year I'll definitely do everything right and get great grades." We'll talk again in June.

Anna Boltas, 17, experienced her father being told there wasn't enough blood available for more transfusions to keep him alive when he suffered from bladder cancer. "My sister and I offered to give him the necessary blood, but we were told that donations don't work that way," she explains. So, she decided to donate everything: platelets, blood, and plasma. In 2019, Carlos González had a headache. It didn't seem like anything that couldn't be cured with ibuprofen, but he began to feel a strange heartbeat, and in the emergency room, he discovered he had an arteriovenous malformation in his brain that needed surgery. During the 18-hour operation, 36 bags of donated blood were used. "My 14-year-old daughter doesn't tell me she wants to be of age to go out and party, but rather to donate blood," he boasts.

With a little dedication, we can return from vacation with a tidy house and a well-established routine. The key is to be realistic: keep only what we use and enjoy, and let go of the rest. After a few days away and with our routine completely changed, we return home and see it with new eyes. We spent the summer with few things, and we realize that it's not necessary to keep as many utensils and objects as we thought.

Hair fibers suffer greatly during the summer: solar radiation dries out and discolors hair, and sea and pool water don't help either. Although Neus Garcia, manager of Neus Hair Salon in Badalona, ​​​​recommends preventing the negative effects by protecting and hydrating your hair properly, and avoiding the use of hairdryers, flat irons, or curling irons during the summer, she offers some tips to recover your usual tone once this period is over.

Getting water in your ears isn't serious, this is the first thing Fran Fernández Segura, a family doctor at the CAP la Paz in Barcelona, ​​makes clear, but it can be annoying. "The external ear is like a tube, and when water gets in it at the beach or in the pool, it will come out naturally," he explains. If it takes a while or bothers us, we can use a towel to dry the ear or move our head. However, under no circumstances should the ear be manipulated by inserting objects or cotton swabs "because it can become inflamed and we can introduce bacteria."

The concept of a second home is too small for most celebrities and mansions or houses where they usually spend their summers. celebrities Global travelers aren't particularly original when it comes to choosing their vacation destinations, and most opt for exclusive settings that guarantee privacy. The same goes for their homes: they have all kinds of amenities and are impenetrable to prying eyes.

The heat of the summer months can be a threat when consuming certain foods, and beyond considering hygiene conditions, it's necessary to pay attention to temperature. "From the perspective of food safety, the main problem in summer is the breaking of the cold chain in raw foods," explains José Juan Rodríguez, professor in the Department of Animal and Food Sciences at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). According to him, several aspects must be taken into account.

Some prefer to swim in the pool, others in the sea, but whether you're a freshwater or saltwater swimmer, keep in mind that you run an invisible risk: infections from pathogens that live in the water. In the case of seawater, beach flags are a good ally to also check the health of the water. "Sometimes there's a red flag, and people see that the water is flat, clear, and jellyfish-free, and they ignore the warning. In these cases, it's probably due to the state of the water," says the doctor at the Sant Joan de Déu Montserrat Sanmartí Hospital health park.

Article 24 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishes that everyone has the right to rest. Even royals, who although unlike the rest of us mortals do not have a period closed by calendar or working days, in summer they also take advantage to disappear for several days.

Although sitting on a terrace and drinking an ice-cold beer seems like an ideal way to cope with the stifling summer heat, it can actually be "counterproductive" if not done in moderation. This is the opinion of Emilio Salgado, the physician in charge of the Clinical Toxicology Unit at the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona. In fact, he recommends avoiding alcohol consumption when exposed to high temperatures.

Restaurant and hospitality entrepreneurs in Mallorca are laying off workers in the middle of the tourist season. They try to justify this with the argument that there are fewer tourists this year, something that no one can believe because data from Ibestat and the INE clearly show that the summer of 2025 will follow the same trend as 2024; that is, all tourism records will be shattered. In fact, this year, spending is growing even more than the number of tourists. Specifically, and in Mallorca alone, between January and June, almost six million tourists arrived on the island (3.7% more than last year), spending €6.712 billion, a figure that represents a 6.7% increase compared to the previous year.

"I just got back from my first flying vacation in nineteen years," explains Anon. Sandra, on the other hand, went more than a decade without flying and once thought she'd "never get on a plane again." Nigel lived for twenty years with "severe anxiety" just thinking about flying, but after his trip from Vancouver, he admits that he now "almost enjoys it." These testimonies reflect a reality that affects 25% of the world's population: the fear of flying.

With the arrival of good weather, sun exposure increases, as does the desire to wear new sunglasses. But do we know what we're buying when we choose a pair of glasses? Optometrist Carla Fàbregas gives us four tips.

I apologize in advance. A columnist is expected to offer an opinion, an idea, an analysis. Not private matters that probably aren't of interest to the reader.