Hello Reader,

🧭 Where in the World?

We happen to be back in Minnesota, one of the places in the world not experiencing a heat wave. Just back from cool days in Alaska (some sunny, some damp), we are delighting in these fresh temps in the 70s and giant puffy clouds against bright blue skies. Does weather color your opinion of places you visit? For us, honestly — yes. Alaska in the rain is still spectacular, but Alaska in the sun is something else entirely.

For us, summer is the season when we welcome visitors, rather than acting as visitors. We'll be home until August, when we may be off to London to see some plays, and then on to Spain again in October and November.

🧳 Our Latest Posts

The first post from our 12 days in Alaska with American Cruise Lines is Visiting Sitka National Historical Park: Totem Poles and Tlingit History, where we spent a couple of engrossing hours among some of the finest examples of Tlingit art outside a museum.

If you're over 50 and traveling internationally, this is the most important post we've published this year — especially the section on what Medicare doesn't cover abroad. Here are her best recommendations on Best Travel Insurance for Travelers Over 50 (and Over 70).

🛫 Get Going: Tours We Recommend For You

If travel planning got pushed to the back burner earlier this year, now is a good time to revisit it. Two trips we're excited about:

​Andalucia Cuisine and Architecture, November 8-15, 2026​

Read all about it on our tour page and contact us if you’d like to chat about details. Kris hasn't stopped talking about the food since she got back — which tells you everything.

​Patagonia eBike Small Group Tour​

Join our buddy Sherry Ott on this soft adventure trip promising stunning views, local culture, and wonderful food and stays in Patagonia estancias. (Or look ahead to her 2027 trip trekking in Nepal.)

🗞️ Travel News From Around the Web

• As we have noted before, visiting the US National Parks can be quite chaotic during the busy summer season. With lines to get in some parks hours long, and some reservation systems either cancelled or not working properly, you may be best off choosing a lesser visited park. We're thinking of maybe checking out Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota, ourselves. If you're looking for some less crowded park to visit, here are some more suggestions.
• Here's yet another travel scam you need to watch out for: reservation hacking. The way it works is that the hackers somehow get hold of legitimate reservations you've made, then contact you to claim the reservation hasn't been confirmed and get you to give them your credit card number. Several big travel companies have had data breaches, including Carnival Cruises, KLM, Air France, and Booking.com. f you get a suspicious message about a reservation, don't click any links — go directly to the company's website or app to check your booking.

💸 This Week's Best Deals in Travel

• Our very favorite travel shoes, Xero, are on sale for 20 percent off everything. Use the code SUMMERVIP20 at checkout. They're super lightweight, comfortable to walk in, and come in styles for city walking, running, trail hiking, waterproof or breathable – you name it. We especially like their new slip-on versions. Use their convenient "shoe finder" feature to find the shoe that's right for you. Between us, we have seven pairs of Xeros. That should be endorsement enough. Do it soon, though. This sale ends tomorrow, June 24.
• An absolutely essential travel accessory, whether you check bags or not, is the Apple AirTag, and they're currently on sale at Amazon for 10 percent off. Believe me, it's comforting to know that your bag is with you, or, maybe better, where it is if it isn't with you.
• And, in what may be the best deal on Amazon right now is the AirPods Pro (3rd generation) that are on sale for $199.95, which is $50 off the normal price. We've both upgraded to these recently and they are by far the best ear buds we've ever used. Great sound, superior noise cancellation that we love on our flights. And, they're very comfortable because there are five sizes of ear tips that come with them and you can pick the one that's just right for you.

📖 What We're Reading

Tom is still staring at his copy of Middlemarch by George Eliot, from which he got sidetracked during our recent trip to Alaska, where he picked up John Muir's Travels in Alaska and thought he should read that while he was there, and because we were visiting some of the same places Muir saw from a Tlingit canoe instead of a comfortable cruise ship.

Kris is reading Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, a surprisingly easy read for such a complex subject. It was one of several books mentioned in The Correspondent (Virginia Evans) which she read recently, so the bedside book pile keeps on stacking up!

Find most of our recommendations at our Amazon book shop — or, if you prefer supporting independent booksellers, Bookshop.org is excellent. Art book lovers: Taschen's catalog is a rabbit hole worth falling into.

❝Travel Quote of the Week❞

Think you these places would satisfy an Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon? Never! Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto unexplored. – Abraham Lincoln

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Happy travels,

Kris and Tom

Tom Bartel and Kristin Henning ​Travel Past 50​ Connect with us on Facebook and Instagram. Join our Facebook community.

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