Hello Reader,

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🧭 Where in the World?

We’re thinking ahead so you don’t have to. While we’re on the road (or train tracks), we want to share some of the best travel opportunities we’ve seen of late. Read on, follow the links, and plan your next trip soon.

🇦🇷 First and foremost, consider joining us on our custom tour to Chile and Argentina, starting February 21, 2026. Reserve now to experience the wine, culture and impressive scenery from Santiago (Chile) and Mendoza and Buenos Aires (Argentina).

Click here for the overview, highlights and a link to the details.

🛫 Get Going: Tours We Recommend For You

PUERTO RICO! Our only regret about our last visit to Puerto Rico was that we didn’t spend more time and see more places. Now we’ve lined up a visit to the west side of the island, walking distance to the beach and near several markets and colonial villages.

This time we’ll park ourselves at La Locura, the modern hillside rental property designed by a well-known Puerto Rican architect to take advantage of sea breezes in this tropical climate. At a tranquil distance from the white sands of Buye Beach, La Locura is perfect for couples, families, or friend groups. Three individual houses each offer accommodations for 4 people. A private swimming pool, small basketball court, outdoor dining areas, and quiet balconies offer everyone social and solitary moments. La Locura is privately owned and loaded with works of art, ornamental plants, and impressive views. Friends of Travel Past 50 can book now – one 2 BR house starts at just $200 per night with a five-night minimum.

It’s easy and affordable to travel to Puerto Rico, and no passport is required for U.S. residents. Check availability today by emailing Frank at fdstone1@gmail.com.

FEELING ADVENTUROUS? Since we first became members of ATTA, the Adventure Travel Trade Association, we’ve understood age need not be an impediment to “soft adventure” and rich experiences in nature. Plan your next trip around an active travel portion, like hiking or biking with a group or self-guided. We can refer you to trusted ATTA member tour operators here.​

FEELING HUNGRY? Do plan a food tour with an extra day at your next destination city. It’s a great way to get your bearings, get to know new neighborhoods, meet locals and visitors, and taste the best of the most typical dishes. Through Europe we use Devour Tours, and in Madrid we specifically recommend Walk and Eat Spain.

FEELING CURIOUS? Invest in your travel experience by arranging the best education programs or guides while you’re there. We’ve just completed a course on “Art and the Art of Living” by the newish company, Elective Study Abroad. They'll be announcng their 2026 courses soon. The week-long program in Montpellier, France we just completed, added to our approach to culture, history, and art museums…and we know we’ll apply this new perspective on future world wanderings. (More on that soon.) Even if you can only devote a day, you can dive deeper into a single topic with an expert guide, such as from Context Travel. Worth it.

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🧳 Our Latest Posts

While we’re digesting all we heard and saw (and ate) in Montpellier, please follow us on Instagram and Facebook to see some of the sights.

🗞️ Travel News From Around the Web

• How will the US Government shutdown affect travel? Your guess is as good as ours – but we're sort of happy to be in Europe now and taking trains everywhere. Here's the current status of things to watch out for if you're traveling during the shutdown. In Europe, btw, it pays to stay informed about wildcat strikes, like those currently going on in France and Italy.
• Starting next week, US travelers to Europe will be fingerprinted. We'll probably be among the first to try this out. We're going to allow a little extra time at the airport as we fly from England to Ireland next week.

💸 This Week's Best Deals in Travel

• As we're finally back on the road this week, we're reminded yet again how a few travel gadgets and clothes can really make your packing and flying easier. The first thing we're reminded how much we love is our contoured eye masks that are so much more comfortable than the cheapies the airline gives you. Combine those with the Trtl neck pillow, and it makes sleeping on the plane so much more comfortable. (BTW, the Trtl pillow is quite a bit more expensive than other neck pillows you can buy, but we've tried them all, and this is the one we like.)
• The other accessory we love is the Waschii portable clothes washing bag. You can get several pairs of socks and underwear in there at once, and the fact you can easily wash things out on the road makes packing light an easy choice. Combine that with clothes detergent sheets (cut in half) from Earth Breeze, and you're good to go.

📖 What We're Reading

Kris is reading Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (The God of Small Things), a highly personal story of the author’s mother and their complicated life together.

Tom is reading City of Thieves by David Benioff about two young Russian men, condemned to death by their own secret police during the siege of Leningrad in World War II. Their only chance to save themselves is to find one dozen eggs in a starving city for the cruel pleasure of their brutal tormentor.

We're recommending books at Bookshop.org. If you buy a book from them, it benefits independent local booksellers. For our previous book recommendations, check out this list..

❝Travel Quote of the Week❞

We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend. ― Robert Louis Stevenson

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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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