Ever since my wife and I took two trans-oceanic trips in the past year (first such trips since late 2019), I've had this itch of visiting places. It's mostly a moot point, as my wife can't really take off that many days due to work commitments, but that hasn't stopped me from looking. She has also given me permission to go to the cycling holylands (viz. Belgium) on my own, though I really don't feel comfortable just jetting off alone to put a checkmark next to one of my cycling bucket list items. There's also a chance that we could go places next July, when she no longer has those commitments.

One thing I just noticed is that airfare to Europe for lie-flat seats during peak travelling times next summer appears very low, as in not much more than what one would pay for premium economy. And this applies to airfare to a whole list of cities, from the more major transit hubs such as AMS, to the slightly less visited places such as MXP, BER, MUC, ZUR, and EDI. Furthermore, for tickets in Spring 2024, they are about $1-1.5k lower than what they were when I checked a few months ago. I've seen reports that Germany is possibly heading into a recession, and that the EU at large might be as well. Given that lie-flat seat pricing is probably a semi-decent proxy for overall business activity, I'm wondering if I'm reading too much from this particular tea-leaf.