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Hello Reader,

🧭 Where in the World?

We’re so busy seeing things here in Valencia, Spain, that we’ve barely had a chance to upload photos! The dust (and ashes) of the monumental Fallas celebration have settled, and we’re lucky enough to stay on in Valencia for another week to report on the more normal, everyday experiences in this city.

Those experiences include paella – the real deal cooked over wood fires as we’ve never tasted before. We’ve seen the UNESCO World Heritage Lonja de la Seda (Silk Exchange), a rare civic building in the Gothic style from the 15^th Century. We’re about to visit the Lladró factory and hit some balls at the renowned El Saler Golf Club and Parador.

We get to relax in style between excursions in one of the most calm, comfortable, and well-appointed hotels in the country, Only YOU Hotel Valencia. We stayed here a couple nights and liked it so much we extended our stay.

Traveling to Valencia? We highly recommend you check out these Top Reasons to Visit Valencia.

Follow Travel Past 50 on Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube to see our Fallas photos and videos (to be posted over the next couple weeks).

🛫 Get Going: Tours We Recommend For You

This week is your last chance to sign up for our Travel Past 50 tour to Sweden and Norway. We still have nine spots left on our Scandinavia: Cities, Culture, and Adventure with Kris and Tom, September 18-29. Book by March 31 and save $125. We’re happy to consult with you if you want to extend your travels.

🗞️ Travel News From Around the Web

• Finland again tops the AP list of happiest countries in the world. The Finns are joined by their Nordic neighbors, Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden to round out the top four. The United States has fallen to its lowest level ever at 24. You can see this map for the happiness scores for all countries.
• Speaking of happy, here are the winning photos from the 2025 World Nature Photography Awards.
• And, speaking of not so happy, The US Department of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued a statementclaiming the authority to search all your electronic devices when you enter the United States. If you're interested, here's a rather longish discussion of whether they can search your devices without a warrant.

💸 This Week's Best Deals in Travel

• It still doesn't get better than free, and the free version the Daily Drop email newsletter is one of the best deals in travel. Who wouldn't want a regular email that tells you about the cheapest flights? Sign up now. What's the risk?
• We're probably going to keep suggesting you get Apple AirTags while they're on sale, for, oh, I don't know, as long as they're on sale. Really, the best deal in luggage security you can get.

✈️ Points and Miles News

• If you don't have the Capital One Venture Card, you should take advantage soon of their enhanced welcome offer of 75,000 miles, plus a $250 travel credit. That's the equivalent of $1000 in travel credits for the $95 annual fee. We'd say a better than 10:1 ratio of benefits to cost is a pretty good deal.

❝Travel Quote of the Week❞

If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough. – Robert Capa

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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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