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Hello Reader,

We are doing more dreaming than travel this week, seeing as how the temps are well below zero. We’re not the only part of the continent battling weather. Stay safe, and let’s collectively think ahead. Where will you travel next?

🧭 Where in the World?

We are very excited to begin preparing for our trip to Valencia, Spain, in mid March. Best of all, we’ll be able to go behind the scenes at Valencia’s annual Fallas festival. Tom wrote about Las Fallas in this post about the best festivals in Spain. Burning the giant effigies is akin to celebrating spring cleaning, and I’m all for that.

We’ve been to Valencia before, but this will be our chance to stay a while longer and get to know the area. Who knows, we may venture down to Murcia where we lived for a couple months while we were house sitting. You can read about our housesitting adventures here!​

This post has plenty of practical tips. If you are properly prepared, house sitting can be a great way to ‘slow-travel.’

🛫 Get Going: Tour on Sale Now

Now’s the time to book your tour to Scandinavia with us. We have 9 spots left, and an extra $100 savings through February. Book now and, if you like, we’ll help you with your travel plans around our tour dates of September 18-29.

We’re salivating already at the thought of the Nordic cuisine we’ll be enjoying. Stockholm alone has a dozen Michelin-star restaurants. In 2023, it was named the European Capital of Gastronomy. Be prepared for fresh, flavor-intense produce, excellent sea and freshwater fish, artistic but simple preparations, and sustainable practices.

We’re always available for questions, as are our partners for this trip, @goaheadtours. See the full itinerary here.

🧳 Our Latest Posts

• Many of our readers are considering National Park destinations to visit this summer. As we write this, we know thousands of employees of the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. National Park Service have been fired. At the same time, demand for Park use is up. Be prepared: There will surely be a decline in services – one Park lost its only EMT, for example. Travel Past 50 keeps a thorough list of U.S. National Parks here. Let’s hope public appeals will keep these services operating, and it won’t be just a dream to visit to your favorite National Park this year.
• Both of us contributed to a Huffpost article on 22 places to visit when you're in your 50s. (Yes we admit we're a bit past our 50s ourselves.) But, you can check what we have to say about Sweden and Sevilla, Spain, and why they're great to visit when, shall we say, you have a little maturity on your side.

🗞️ Travel News From Around the Web

• Spain is the second most visited country in the world, with more than 94 million tourists in 2024. This, of course, leads to some problems in the most touristed cities such as Barcelona, where locals sprinkled tourists with squirt guns last year. But there are many areas of Spain that aren't crowded with tourists, including Cáceres and Mérida, two charming cities we visited last year. We do suggest after trying Barcelona and Madrid, you do check out some the lesser visited spots. (Free signup required to read this article from The London Telegraph.)
• We've heard from more than one reader about sites that pop up when you're searching for the newly required Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) for the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.) Don't be fooled. Use the actual UK ETA site, where the fee is £10 (about $12.60 US) which can be charged to your credit card. We've heard of some sites charging almost $100 for the service. Be careful. You should also know the UK has dropped the ETA requirement for those who are only transiting through a UK airport.

💸 This Week's Best Deals in Travel

• One of the best ways to snag cheaper airfares is to subscribe to the Daily Drop's email list. There are two plans, a free one, and a paid one. The free one is a good place to start, and it won't cost a thing to try. If you want something more robust, you can save $50 right now on your first year of Daily Drop Pro, plus get a FREE set of packing cubes. They have a limited quantity of packing cube sets available, sign up now!
• Yes, Apple AirTags are still on sale for $70 for a pack of 4. This can't last forever, so take advantage while you can. (Latest AirTag success story: after a ride through the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, our nephew was separated from his bike on his way to catch his flight home, when his driver dropped him 4 km away from where the bike had been left. Because he had an AirTag on the bike, he was able to take another taxi to the bike and still catch his flight.)
• And, this Belkin portable charger is also still on sale for about a third off its normal price. We carry one of these, and it's been a lifesaver (or a phone battery saver) more than once.

📖 What We're Reading

Kris is going all in on the 100^th anniversary issue of The New Yorker.

Tom has just started Takeover: Hitler's Final Rise to Power by Timothy W. Ryback, but his eyes are glazing over and he's looking for something a little lighter. Got any suggestions?

For our previous book recommendations, check out this list.

❝Travel Quote of the Week❞

Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination. – Oscar Wilde

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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