Hello Reader,

🧭 Where in the World?

Whee! We’re sliding into the Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer and a new travel season.

What is it for you, road trip or air travel? Domestic or foreign? To your usual retreat, or to someplace new?

For our part, we’re planning a trip to Vail, Colorado, for food and outdoor fun in the Rockies, and a visit with family in Bellingham, Washington. In the meantime, Kris is threatening to clean out some closets and clear some corners to make room for summer visitors hanging out at our house for a few weeks.

For road-trippers, check out these reminders for a safe drive.

Flying? We know you’re aware that delays are on the increase. Here are some tips to ease your way:

• Plan your arrival at least a day or two before the start of any planned tours or itineraries so that a cancelled flight or missed connection won’t spoil your entire trip. (And you‘ll be rested for a bright start.)
• Get your travel insurance and read your policy.
• ​Dress comfortably and carry water, battery chargers, and snacks, in case of delays onboard the craft.

🛫 2026 Ireland Tour Now On Sale

Our October 2025 trip to Sligo in western Ireland with Ireland in Focus is sold out. (Message us if you want to be on the waiting list.) But the 2026 version October 2-9, 2026 has just gone on sale.

For a limited time, you can get a $300 discount on the Ireland in Focus 2026 tour by using the promo code TP50 at checkout when you make your deposit.

🗞️ Travel News From Around the Web

• Apparently, the world didn’t come to an end when TSA started, earlier this month, requiring Real ID for all domestic air travel. (Passports are required for all international travel, including Canada and Mexico.) Be prepared at the airport with your proper ID! If you haven't got your Real ID version of your state driver's license yet, you can use your US or foreign passport, passport card, Trusted Traveler cards such as Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, and FAST cards, Department of Defense ID, or Green Card as Real ID.
• Afar Magazine reported on 13 lesser-known U.S. National Parks, where you might consider avoiding the crowds.
• ​Inbound foreign tourism to the US is way down, and it's starting to affect flight and hotel prices. Are you seeing any effects for your travel plans this summer, either foreign or domestic?
• This is not exactly travel news, but the Wall Street Journal just published a long story about how Meta (Facebook and Instagram) is full of scam advertising and is making no effort to stop it, because...profit. If you still like looking at Facebook, be very careful about buying any deals that seem too good to be true. If you STILL like looking at Facebook, consider doing this to make it a little harder (and less profitable) for them to serve you ads: follow the steps here, and you can stop Facebook from sharing your preferences with third party advertisers, and vice versa. It won't stop all the odd and scammy ads, but it's a start.

💸 This Week's Best Deals in Travel

Memorial Day seems to be the time for all the pre-summer sales. There's a whole list of good deals available this week. To wit:

• ​REI Coop is having their biggest sale of the year with up to 30 percent off most equipment. It's our go-to shop for all our outdoor gear. Be sure you don't miss it.
• ​Osprey Packs, which we use for hiking, biking and everything in between, has many items on sale for 40 percent off.
• ​AARP has a membership sale going on starting May 19. If you're not a member of AARP, you're missing out on a lot of discounts, especially for US travel.
• If you're into language learning, or just want to pick up a few phrases before you go, Babbel has a sale starting this Thursday, May 22. Up to 67 percent off.
• Our favorite travel shoes, Xero Shoes, has an up to 30 percent sale going on some styles, if you buy multiple pairs. (Between us, we have five pairs of Xeros.) Check them out for an entirely new way of walking.
• Finally, several items from our Best Travel Accessories post are on sale at Amazon, including the very useful Apple AirTags, Anker 100-watt charging cables, this Bluetooth Transmitter for the plane, the Sea to Summit hanging toiletry bag, and our newest favorite gadget, the Waschii laundry bag.

📖 What We're Reading

Kris is moving on, at last, from A Prayer for Owen Meany, but not done thinking about it. Next up, Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See, along with more short stories.

Tom is really loving the latest book from Louise Erdrich, The Mighty Red. The surface narrative is that of a teenage love triangle, but the novel emcompasses questions of class, wealth, the environment, inescapable history. In other words, the depth of emotion and thought you expect from the Pulitzer and National Book Award winner. By the way, if you want an autographed copy, you can buy it from Louise's own bookstore, Birchbark Books in Minneapolis.

For our previous book recommendations, check out this list.

❝Travel Quote of the Week❞

Hotel rooms inhabit a separate moral universe. – Tom Stoppard

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Happy travels,

Kris and Tom

P.S. What more can we do for you? Reply to this newsletter and ask us anything.

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

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Are you planning to book a trip soon?

• See our favorite travel resources​
• Check out our recommended travel accessories​
• Get the best travel credit card for you​
• Read all our Travel Skills tips posts​

Some other recommendations from our partners:

• See the travel gear and books we recommend at our Travel Past 50 Amazon shop​
• Shop our favorite place for outdoor gear and travel clothing at REI Co-op​
• For your Spain travel, check out suggested itineraries at Spain's official tourism site​

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