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Hello Reader,

🧭 Where in the World?

Tom and I are taking a little break this week, which may or may not involve Las Vegas. Wish us luck.

🛫 Get Going: Tours We Recommend For You

Come with us to Sweden, Norway, and maybe Denmark

Great news: we are still offering a $100 discount on our custom, small group tour to Scandinavia in September. Only 9 spots remain, so grab a friend or three and sign up today. Tom and I have personally designed the itinerary, so you know it will be a fun mash-up of activities.

Here’s what our past tour guests say about our Travel Past 50 tours:

“We truly enjoyed the itinerary and thought the choice of activities was great. You achieved that delicate balance between "we'll handle everything" and "no, I'm not your mother" that blended the guide-enhanced experiences with self-directed exploration and discovery. Kudos and Thank You!” - Roger and Deb

You’ll see all the tour details and can book with only $99 down.

Scandinavia Sept 18-29, 2025, with an optional 3-day extension to Copenhagen.

12 Days. Now $4,959

Are you up for your own Greek Odyssey?

Our good friend Jackie runs JUMP Adventures, an active tour specialist. We've traveled with her a couple of times including tramping around Patagonia. She currently has a tour on sale to Greece May 9-16 where you'd be using boats and e-bikes to traverse a very interesting route made popular by Odysseus about 3000 years ago. (Don't worry. Jackie knows exactly where she's going.) Jackie's offering $100 off the tour to Travel Past 50 readers with the code TRAVELPAST50. Check it out here.

🧳 Our Latest Posts

• Based on a news release from Winnipeg (see our Travel News below), and on recent chats with our Canadian amigos (see what we did there?) we want to share this post from our visit to Winnipeg in 2023. Top Places to Visit in Winnipeg includes the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Recalling it is inspiring us to work on a new post about some of our favorite museums in the world. What’s your favorite museum in the world?

🗞️ Travel News From Around the Web

• The Canadian Museum for Human Rights has announced a major new exhibition: Love in a Dangerous Time: Canada’s LGBT Purge, on display until early 2026. The story behind the exhibit is that from the 1950s to the 1990s, the Government of Canada systematically investigated, harassed and fired 2SLGBTQI+ members of the Canadian Armed Forces, the RCMP and the federal public service – over 9,000 of them. Now called “the LGBT Purge,” this official policy destroyed thousands of careers, did untold psychological damage and ruined lives. Read more about the exhibit and this extraordinary museum here.
• As you probably know, carrying your bag on a plane is getting increasingly difficult. Here are a couple strategies to deal with the hassle, including gate checking your bag immediately to avoid the bag fee. Of course, before you go anywhere, read our packing tips. If you can really go minimalist, try going with only a "personal item" that fits under the seat in front of you.

💸 This Week's Best Deals in Travel

• As long as Apple AirTags are on sale, you're going to keep seeing them recommended here. We paid $20 more than the current price for ours last year.
• Our very favorite merino wool socks (and other gear) from Point6 are on sale now for 50 percent off. If you know how pricy merino wool socks can be, you know this is a great deal. Use the Valentine's Day code BEMINE to get the discount.

✈️ Points and Miles News

• ​Daily Drop Pro is a service we use that emails us terrific airfare deals almost on a daily basis. Last week, for example, we got notice of this deal from Minneapolis to Istanbul for less than $600. Check out Daily Drop Pro yourself to see deals like this every day.

📖 What We're Reading

Every now and then, you just like to look at pretty pictures. One of the painters Tom loves is Caravaggio, whose paintings are in most top European museums. So, when he discovered this Caravaggio: The Complete Works published by the great art and photography publishers, Taschen, it's now on our increasingly crowded shelf of art books.

In preparation for our Vegas visit, he's also rereading Jonathan Little's terrific book on live poker: Live No-Limit Cash Games: The Theory.

Kris is finishing Table for Two, the wonderful stories by Amor Towles that move from New York (six stories) to Los Angeles, setting for the novella “Eve in Hollywood.” She’s also reading the new book, Horse Lovers by our pal Karin Winegar, about the female fascination with horses.

For our previous book recommendations, check out this list.

❝Travel Quote of the Week❞

Never mistake motion for action. – Ernest Hemingway

Happy travels,

Kris and Tom

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

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