# The Cross Check
> Thoughts, stories and ideas.Travel advice that reads the fine print. Overrated destinations, insurance loopholes, shoulder-season math. We check so you don't have to.
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## Pages
- [About this site](https://crosscheck.blog/about.md) - The Cross Check is an independent publication launched in July 2026 by Jonas Applegate. If you subscribe today, you'll get full access to the website as well as email newsletters about new content when it's available. Your subscription makes this site possible, and allows The Cross Check to continu…

## Posts
- [Second City, no. 1: Paros is not a cheaper Santorini, and that is the point](https://crosscheck.blog/second-city-no-1-paros-is-not-a-cheaper-santorini-and-that-is-the-point.md) - Every list tells you to swap Santorini for Paros. We cleared Santorini six weeks ago, so we cannot pretend it is a straight substitution. Here is the honest version, with the ferry math.
- [The cleaning fee is charged per stay, not per night. That is the entire game.](https://crosscheck.blog/the-cleaning-fee-is-charged-per-stay-not-per-night-that-is-the-entire-game.md) - Same rule that fixed hotel fees covers vacation rentals, and the total is now honest. But the fee is structured so that short stays subsidize long ones, and one platform earns a commission on the fee itself.
- [Off Peak, no. 1: the Caribbean's best week is the one people think is dangerous](https://crosscheck.blog/off-peak-no-1-the-caribbeans-best-week-is-the-one-people-think-is-dangerous-2.md) - Hurricane season pricing runs through November 30. Actual hurricane risk collapses by mid-November. That two-week overlap is the best price-to-risk window on the Caribbean calendar, and it's bookable right now.
- [Basic economy got worse in 2026, and the changes were announced quietly](https://crosscheck.blog/basic-economy-got-worse-in-2026-and-the-changes-were-announced-quietly.md) - Three major rule changes landed between December and May, all of them subtractions. What basic economy costs you now, airline by airline, and the two situations where it's still the right buy.
- [The Amalfi Coast isn't overrated. The trip everyone books is.](https://crosscheck.blog/the-amalfi-coast-isnt-overrated-the-trip-everyone-books-is.md) - The coast is as good as advertised. The default itinerary, Positano in August, is the most expensive way to see the least of it. Same coastline, 30 to 50 percent cheaper, with the fistfights at the bus stop optional.
- [Your "free" travel insurance depends on which card you tapped](https://crosscheck.blog/your-free-travel-insurance-depends-on-which-card-you-tapped.md) - Premium cards really do include trip cancellation coverage. The catch isn't the coverage, it's that paying with the wrong card, or splitting the bill across two cards, can void it entirely.
- [Lisbon: CLEARED, with one condition. It's a month.](https://crosscheck.blog/lisbon-cleared-with-one-condition-its-a-month.md) - Same city, same trams, same pasteis. Book it for early October instead of August and the price drops roughly a quarter while the lines shrink. The board's second CLEARED, and the condition is a calendar entry.
- [The resort fee didn't die. It moved upstream.](https://crosscheck.blog/the-resort-fee-didnt-die-it-moved-upstream.md) - A federal rule now forces hotels to show the fee in the advertised price. It caps nothing, bans nothing, and changes exactly one thing: where the number hides. Here's how to read the new label.
- [Tulum: the board's first CANCELLED, three days after Mexico launched a rescue plan](https://crosscheck.blog/tulum-the-boards-first-cancelled-three-days-after-mexico-launched-a-rescue-plan.md) - Empty beaches and 35% discounts sound like a buying signal. They aren't yet, because the things that emptied Tulum are mostly still there. The receipts, plus the brand-new rescue plan that puts this verdict on the re-check list.
- [Your airline owes you cash, not a voucher. It's been the law since 2024.](https://crosscheck.blog/your-airline-owes-you-cash-not-a-voucher-its-been-the-law-since-2024.md) - Cancelled flight? A federal rule says the refund is automatic, in cash, within seven business days, and the voucher they offer first is the opt-out. Here's how not to opt out by accident.
- [Santorini: we came to cancel it. The 2026 numbers argued back.](https://crosscheck.blog/santorini-we-came-to-cancel-it-the-2026-numbers-argued-back-2.md) - The poster child of overtourism just had a cruise cap, a demand slump, and a 40% hotel discount collide. The verdict surprised us too.
- ["Cancel For Any Reason" insurance: four words, three conditions, and a 25-50% haircut](https://crosscheck.blog/cancel-for-any-reason-insurance-four-words-three-conditions-and-a-25-haircut.md) - The best-named product in travel insurance lets you cancel for any reason, as long as it's not too late, you insured everything, you bought it fast enough, and you're fine getting most of your money back.

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