Hello Reader,

🧭 Where in the World?

April, as memorialized by T.S. Eliot in The Waste Land, may be the cruelest month, but we believe it’s the best month for looking forward. That’s what we’re doing: preparing for months ahead. Ready to plant, ready to fly, ready to connect with friends and family, ready to discover some new corners – abroad and in our backyard.

First up: Back to Spain! To start, Kris will be exploring the famous region of Jerez – famous for sherry wines and the Royal School of Equestrian Arts – in the province of Cádiz. Jerez has been named the Spanish Capital of Gastronomy for 2026. Expect enticing notes and mouth-watering photos to follow.

Tom will be improving his Spanish with Expanish classes in Málaga. Then we’ll join up to chase windmills elsewhere in Spain!

Then, in June, it’s on to Alaska with American Cruise Lines. Though our time is limited around this cruise trip, we know it will be a great introduction. Could this be, finally, checking off our 50^th state visited?

🛫 Get Going: Tours We Recommend For You

If you think we’re over our love affair with Spain, nahhh! In fact, we’re thrilled to be re-introduced to Andalucia by someone who’s not only an expert in architecture, heritage, and urban studies, but whose family has lived inside the Alhambra for generations! Of all the times we’ve visited Granada and Cordoba, we’ve never had an opportunity like this.

We’re talking about our Nov 8-15, 2026, trip with Elective Study Abroad: Architecture and Cuisine of Andalusia. Sign up now; next week we’ll open the enrollments to the public. (So far, we’ve only announced this through our Travel Past 50 emails.)

Want to learn more? Meet Blanca Espigares Rooney, our instructor in both Granada and Cordoba, with this Q and A. Check out our talented group facilitator, Liam Howarth. Or see photo highlights from last year’s session.

Hurry, space is limited. Join our exclusive November 2026 trip to Spain, centered on the Elective Study Abroad course, Architecture and Cuisine of Andalucía. You can read all about it on our Travel Past 50 Tours page by clicking here.

Travel Past 50 readers save $250 with the code TP502026. There’s no single supplement, and just for the asking we’ll help with any of your pre- or post- travel extensions in Spain, our home away from home.

🧳 Our Latest Posts

Little known fact: Kris regularly contributes to the Travel Writers Radio show, and her segments – covering destinations around the world – also appear in the audio section of Travel Past 50. We’ve recently re-indexed the content so that it’s easier to find episodes by country – so check it out!

🗞️ Travel News From Around the Web

• ​The Click That Cost $11,000 and Other Travel Pitfalls is the headline of this NYTimes horror story about how unwary travelers got scammed by phony hotel websites, and other tricks used by people who want to steal your money. If you only read one story about travel this week, make it this one. (Short version: if you see the address guestreservations in the URL of your hotel booking site, don't click it.)
• Due to the increased costs brought on by the Iran war, most US airlines have increased bag fees to help offset increase costs of jet fuel. Here's the latest bad news on bag fees, and some ways you can avoid – or pay for – the higher fees.
• If you're a visitor to Great Britain and like to frequent the unique British pubs, it's best to know pub etiquette. Here's the BBC's take on what to do – and what not to do – in the pub.
• Most fun press release to cross our desk: the San Diego Tourism Authority is celebrating TED’s decision to make San Diego its new home in March 2027 for the annual flagship conference with the launch of “Flipfloptimism” – an exclusive edition of fully biodegradable flip flops derived from plant-based polymers.

💸 This Week's Best Deals in Travel

• Music to our ears: just yesterday our favorite travel app, Thrifty Traveler, sent us notification of a deal to fly to Spain this winter in Business Class for as little as 41,000 points (the rough equivalent of $400.) That's an amazing deal that we're going to take advantage of, and we never would have known about it without Thrifty Traveler. If you sign up using our link, your annual membership is $20 off.

📖 What We're Reading

Kris has gathered a little pile of books to fill this odd fortnight between novels. The reads so far include The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, various tales from a 1945 illustrated edition of Andersen’s Fairy Tales, random selections from The Complete Poetry of Dorothy Parker, and, as always, a few more vignettes from Fernando Pessoa’s The Book of Disquiet.

Tom has been on a "Great American Novel" kick lately and is currently loving East of Eden, by John Steinbeck.

You can see most of the books we recommend in one place at our Amazon book shop. If you'd prefer an alternative to Amazon, there is Alibris.com, where we frequently buy used books, and Bookshop.org, which supports independent booksellers. And, if you're into art books, like we are, check out the catalog at Taschen, the world's foremost publisher of art books.

If you buy a book through our links, we make a small commission at no additional cost to you.

❝Travel Quote of the Week❞

A group of crows is called a murder. A group of people walking slowly in front of me is called a motive. – Abby Heugel

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Have any feedback? Ideas for future posts or email topics? We'd love to hear from you. Email us at feedback@travelpast50.com.

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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