"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.

The heat is exploding, and with it, one of the most pathetic phenomena of contemporary summer: criticizing those who criticize tourism during the year when their vacation time arrives and they are, in fact, actually doing tourism. It's such a blatant spectacle that it's hard to watch it without blushing: profiles circulating on social media photos of other individuals peacefully relaxing on the beach, supposedly grown-ups turned into spies. Naturally, this spectacle only betrays the concern of certain systemic forces regarding the possibility that a genuine awareness is taking place. After decades of enjoying unquestioned cultural prestige, a correct analysis has begun to spread of the ravages that a tourism model based on the importation of cheap labor has brought to our lives, from low productivity that becomes a covert subsidy for entrepreneurs to the plundering of scarce resources and the political potential of the city, breaking ties between neighbors. The criticism of tourism is so fair and accurate that it's spreading like an oil slick.

At this time of year, unless we're enjoying a vacation, the desire to take one grows. To give ourselves a well-deserved break from the routine, we may have spent time and money planning a nice trip and finding the most suitable accommodations. To make up our minds, we can draw inspiration from some of the idyllic images that we've seen. influencers They post on social media: a paradise beach or a remote location, presented as if they were places yet to be discovered and providing a guaranteed escape. However, with influencers, not everything is always what it seems, and even if we get the impression that their recommendations are completely trustworthy, it's worth doing some checks before blindly following them.

We have to see a lot of people before we leave and finish a lot of things, as if we were going far away and for a long time, as if we'd never see anyone again and everything was about to end. We have to pack sensibly, so we can say, "We don't need so many things to live; we could actually live with what fits in our suitcase." Then we come back with our suitcases even fuller of things we don't need but that we like to have. We feel overwhelmed by the pressure of not forgetting anything, neither here nor there. Because we already lose enough. And as if the weight of the suitcase weren't enough, we add the burden of expectations. We have to have a good time and we have to like it, because we've been looking forward to this trip, these days, these vacations for a long time. But even organized trips have their risks. Because if the plan was for the vacation days to go as we had planned, then the non-vacation days should be like that too. Life can be planned to a certain extent. Insurance ads remind you of this every now and then. If you're going to do it, they might also remind you of the name of that person you meet on the street who wouldn't even come to mind. There are people who justify not going far by saying, "No, I don't go anywhere, I'm just here next door to read, see friends, and unwind a bit." They say this with an embarrassed tone, as if that goal were worth much less than trips to exotic, faraway places, like those acquaintances who do so and tell you that the hotel has practically charged them because they find so many deals that instead of spending money on vacation, they make money. There are people who, if they don't have luck, make it up. They're enviable. But having time and the opportunity to do what you want—to read, to have dinner with friends, to walk, to swim, to lie down, or to play—is a luxury and a journey. Especially since there are millions of people who can't even consider it. Plus, you avoid the cumbersome airport protocol, which is one of the most humiliating situations you can experience as a consumer, where the monopoly does with you what it wants and how it wants. For safety, they say. For their own, of course. But everyone who can choose has the right to choose what they want. Let's talk about vacations. Choosing hate as a way of life shouldn't be allowed. Much less as a form of government. But let's return to this time when we supposedly take a long break and swap the routines of the year for summer routines and forget about governments and the corrupt and the patriots with checking accounts in tax havens and tax havens. Our paradise is good memories, those of us lucky enough to have them and remember them.

At five in the morning, the sun is already bathing the camper van where Silvia, Javi, and Astrid are sleeping. In front of them, misty forests and coffee plantations in El Salvador shake off the night, and seven-year-old Astrid has already opened her eyes. She knows that today she will visit a volcano. She gets up alone—as she does almost every day since she began an itinerant life—and, without rushing, gets dressed, makes her bed, and washes her face. She looks for binoculars, prepares her water bottle, and adjusts the straps on her backpack. Then she goes out to check if the other family they will be climbing the trail with is ready.

Traveling by car allows you to save hours at the airport and carry limited luggage, as well as being able to enjoy the trip at your own pace and discover fascinating places that are difficult to access by public transport. road trips There are endless options, but we've put together seven routes through different European locations, each with roads as diverse as their topography. Conditions? Departure and return to Catalonia. Restrictions? We won't be flying, but there is the option of sailing or taking a train. With a duration of 15 days at most, these seven suggestions are perfect for discovering the Old Continent beyond the big cities.

2019 marks a turning point in the family history of Jaume and Patri, whose sons, Magí and Alguer, were then five and a half years old and 17 months old, respectively. At that time, the family embarked on a year-long trip through Southeast Asia, a dream that had been brewing since 2015, before their little one was even born. The family had already traveled the world quite a bit, adventures that began to appear on the blog in 2017. The Mochi FamilyThe big adventure, however, came in January 2019, when the family boarded a one-way flight to Singapore. Jaume and Patri had always dreamed of taking a long family trip, and the birth of their children didn't stop them. "It pushed us to want to share a life-changing experience with them, as well as spend quality time together, break away from the hectic pace of everyday life, and experience the world from a more relaxed and familiar perspective," they say six years later.

The human being you are at home won't improve when you travel. By this I mean that if at home you don't go to museums and see monuments you've never seen (Boí and Taüll, for example) and sometimes eat local cuisine (a sea and mountain restaurant, for example), perhaps you will do so abroad, but without enthusiasm and without critical thinking.

You board the train with a coffee in hand, sit down, look out the window, enjoy the changing landscapes that pass by, and in just a few hours you're in another city, with a different reality ready to be discovered, adding a thousand stories to your memories. No lines, no tolls. In less time than it would take to cross the entire AP-7 on a Sunday afternoon, you can have breakfast in Madrid, stroll along the banks of the Turia River, or get lost in the streets of Zaragoza's historic center.

A century ago, on 30 December 1924 to be exact, the first train on the Barcelona metro network left Lesseps station heading for Plaça Catalunya, and to commemorate this, 2025 is the centenary. One hundred years of tunnels, underground stories and endless journeys that have connected the city from end to end. That's why Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona is preparing activities that will open the doors to spaces that are normally out of our reach: ghost stations, hidden corridors and train simulators that are like real-life video games. An opportunity to peek into the most inaccessible corners of the metro and feel, for a few minutes, like a real train driver.

"When I was preparing for the trip, I was preparing to die," says Melissa, who left everything behind overnight and went on a trip to Bali. "I said goodbye to my house, my job, my partner... and I left, like when you die and go to the other side without knowing what will happen or if anything will happen."

A haven for Arab traders and a hideout for pirates, the Seychelles, in East Africa, emerge before the visitor's eyes like a great explosion of wild vegetation in the Indian Ocean. Often described as the original Garden of Eden, this picture-postcard archipelago is made up of 115 islands, thirty of which are inhabited. The rest are wild islets, many of which are restricted access because they are privately owned or because they are protected as nature reserves.

Eurovacation trips, an agency with almost 40 years of experience in the sector and with a consolidated name as an organizer of guided small group trips from Barcelona, ​​​​offers you a wide range of great trips for this first half of the year.

The expansion of the delta variant of the coronavirus is putting authorities across Europe on alert. This Thursday the French government has recommended its citizens to avoid traveling to Spain and Portugal during the summer holidays, a fact that could be a major blow to tourism in the two countries this season. "For those who have not yet booked their holidays, avoid Spain and Portugal in your destinations", the government's secretary of state in charge of European affairs, Clément Beaune, told the program 4 Verités on France 2 television station. "It is better to stay in France or go to other countries", added Beaune, who was alarmed by the advance of the delta variant "particularly in Catalonia".