This issue of our newsletter brought to you by Daily Drop Pro (now $30 off!)​

Hello Reader,

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✈️ Where in the World?

These last days of April are the between times, a sort of limbo. It’s neither winter nor summer and barely spring. We think of spring cleaning but aren’t yet inspired. Potential frosty nights mean it’s still not safe to plant the garden. The wind and chill keep us from picnics or lounging outdoors.

But it is a good time to plan your travel for the rest of the year and into next winter. We can help, because we are in the same boat. Start here.

Where. If you’re lucky, you’ve already decided on your destination or have some inspiration to name that place. Tour? Family event? Someplace you’ve always wanted to visit?

When. Book your flights, which will require you to set your dates. Add days to the front and back end to extend your enjoyment and lessen stress. For best pricing, search for your flights using flexible dates. Even better if you can: remain completely flexible on your dates and use Daily Drop Pro or Thrifty Traveler to keep you notified of flight deals to your preferred destinations. Check the seating charts for your two or three top choice routes to make sure you can select the seats you like. And when you do fly, take our advice on how to make it more comfortable.

​Book your hotel, at least for the first three nights. You may not have your itinerary set, but you know you’ll want to check in and spend the first couple days walking about and getting adjusted to the time zone.

Research. Now that you’ve done planning’s heavy lifting, enjoy learning about your destination. Here are some ways we research:

a. Tourism office of the country/city. Be sure you are looking at the official tourism website, not necessarily the paid or AI-generated results that pop up first. Official tourism websites tend to be reliable, up-to-date, with seasonal features of interest and ideas for special interests like food, nature, culture, etc. Start here.

b. Check travel blogs you follow for related content, like ours!

c. Ask experienced travelers. Join our Travel Past 50 Facebook community and ask for specific ideas related to your itinerary. We’ve found restaurant and hotel ideas this way, as well as fun event and attraction ideas.

Guided Tours. For most major destinations, we schedule at least one private or semi-private guided tour. Huge advantage to be ticketed in advance for busy sites, and to learn from experts while you are there. We don’t know what we don’t know, so we’re not above getting a guide even for museums or places we’ve visited several times before.

We love food tours, and our favorite guided tours are with Context Travel. Note, in addition to their ‘unscripted’ walking tours, Context now offers webinars you can catch in advance. Our advance webinar on food in Venice, for example, helped familiarize us with neighborhoods and food specialties.

🛫 Get Going: Tours We Recommend For You

Our tour to Ireland this fall is sold out. We’re starting to think of a springtime tour to Spain in 2026. If you are interested in that one, give us a heads up now. If you click here, you'll be put on the list for first notice of upcoming tours.

🧳 Our Latest Posts

Audio: Valencia, Spain. Last week Kris spoke with Travel Writers Radio about the city, focusing mostly on the food. Listen here. We hope you were also able to read our posts on Valencia, Spain, and the Fallas celebration.

Video: Packing Tips. Is all that travel planning behind you? Then it’s time to think about packing. Check out our YouTube video detailing how we pack light for Europe and beyond.​

🗞️ Travel News From Around the Web

• The wait for Global Entry has been lengthening of late. Some report waiting more than a year for an appointment. If you have a notion to apply, start now.
• Reminder that most destinations require that you have six months remaining on your passport before entering their country. We’re in the process of renewing passports now. We used the online renewal form, and Tom received his in a little more than 3 weeks; Kris’s is still pending, even though she applied on the same day as Tom.

💸 This Week's Best Deals in Travel

• We're only going to mention one great deal this week. Daily Drop Pro is now $30 off an annual membership. Daily Drop Pro is a tool we use all the time. You can enter your origin airport(s) and they will email you regularly with all the deals that fit your criteria. Also, you can go to their page any time and put in specific search criteria and it will find the best deals on airfare out there. If you only use their info once, you'll more than pay for the annual fee. As an example of what's out there, Daily Drop Pro notified us that flights to Prague, one of our favorite cities, are available for $397 roundtrip this fall. That's too good of a deal to pass on.

✈️ Points and Miles News

• It's amazing that this deal is still on offer. One of our go-to travel cards is from Capital One, which is still making its welcome offer of 75,000 miles and a $250 travel credit when you apply for their Venture Rewards credit card and make the very reasonable minimum spend of $4000 in the first three months. It's a card we carry and use a lot. We don't know how much longer this offer will last, so if you're looking to save about $1000 on your travel this year, I wouldn't wait to get this card. You can read our review here.
• The best deal on one of the best cards for travel has just gotten better. The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is now offering a 100,000 point bonus when you meet the minimum spend of $5000 in the first three month after card approval. When you spend those points on travel through the Chase Travel portal, 100,000 points is worth $1250 toward airline or hotel costs. Add to that a $50 hotel credit and the total offer is worth $1300. Don't miss it. Here's our comprehensive review of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

📖 What We're Reading

While Kris is (still) reading John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, she’s also reading magazine fiction, such as the highly enjoyable The Moron Factory by George Saunders in the March 2025 issue of The Atlantic.

Tom has switched it up a bit from the "serious" tomes of late and is reading Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, which was recommended to him years ago but he's just getting around to it. He reports it's intriguing and exceptionally well written.

For our previous book recommendations, check out this list.

❝Travel Quote of the Week❞

You must not judge people by their country. In South America, it is always wise to judge people by their altitude. – Paul Theroux

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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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