Holiday destinations

The Nordkettenbahnen cable car climbs 2,256 metres in thirty minutes. Step off in Innsbruck’s city centre at 9am, and by half past you’re standing at the Hafelekar mountain station, staring across the Karwendel range. That proximity—between cobbled medieval streets and serious alpine terrain—sits at the heart of Innsbruck’s pitch to weekend travellers.

Every December, during the first week of the month, a subtle announcement slips through Amazon’s marketing channels. Most students either don’t notice it at all or only find out when someone in their dorm group chat shares it in a panic, asking, “IS THIS REAL??” Yes, is the response. Prime Young Adult members can purchase domestic flights for $25, either one-way or round-trip, anywhere in the United States, from Amazon in collaboration with the travel website StudentUniverse.

When I asked ChatGPT for “a quiet hotel near Alfama with a balcony” a few weeks ago while planning a weekend in Lisbon, I noticed something wasn’t quite right. Booking.com provided the first three recommendations. Expedia is the fourth. There was no sign of the independent boutique I had visited two years prior, the one with the cracked tile floors and the proprietor who insisted on pouring his own ginjinha at check-in. Not on the first page. Not on the second page.