Greetings, Travel Tip-Seekers!

Travel Photo Contest Winners will be announced soon!

Here are this week’s tips curated for you from our reliable sources in the travel industry and from general interest newsletters, websites, and publications.

I swear this is a true story.

My passport was due to expire at the end of November, so I filled out the online renewal form and mailed it in two weeks ago. I decided to have Dave take the worst passport photo in the world, assuming I was going to have to live with a politician’s photo in my beloved little blue book as well.

By email the passport office had told me to expect the new one by late July, but I received it today. And guess what? No politician’s photo! The joke’s on me. Now I have to live with my witchy crone photo for the next 10 years!

Apparently they’re only doing a test run of 25,000 with the other photo in it. If you want one pf them maybe you can request it.

While we were trying to make a final decision about running our trip to Rwanda and Uganda this year, the US government’s Department of Homeland Security announced that all travelers to Uganda must re-enter the US through only one airport: Dulles. A few days later they added two more airports to the approved list. Chaos.

Now the same agency has a plan to withdraw border officers from airports in US “sanctuary cities.” That would be NYC, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. LA is not on the current list of sanctuary cities, but California is a sanctuary state, so LAX and SFO might be put on the DHS list, too. Again, who knows?

Just to be safe, you might want to route yourself back into the US through a different city if you can. For my next few trips I’m returning through Dulles and Houston.

The Points Guy is probably on the payroll at Chase but he does have a point about their trip coverage. Chase Sapphire Reserve is an expensive card and the price is going up again this year, but I’ve found it almost pays for itself if you use the $300 in dining and $300 in travel credits every year. Amex Platinum’s coverage is just as good, and I’ve always found it has more flexible booking options. Ralston has the AMEX and as you can imagine, we’re both burning through miles almost as quickly as we accumulate them.

Bottom line advice from us is to use any card you want that gives you miles. And if you want to protect your investment in a trip, read the terms on your credit cards and any insurance you buy so you’ll know how much you can expect to collect if something happens.

How do you know if you’re up for the physical demands of a particular group trip? I’m not talking about Machu Picchu or the Himalayas. I’m way too soft for those trips! But what about trips that seem active but not strenuous for the most part? Like our trip to see the gorillas? The best thing to do if you’re in doubt is to read the trip listing carefully and if you have any questions, contact the company. Most small tour operators like ours will be honest with you, rather than try to sell you a trip. There’s no point in putting someone on a trip who will be miserable. Other trips may be a better fit.

The Mayo Clinic has a pretty good fitness self-assessment test that can help you determine if you have what it takes to keep up on a given trip. Regardless of your age—you could be super fit and 75, or not so much at 50—it’s important to be honest with yourself about where you are now, and your plan for getting to where you need to be by the time a trip departs. Or matching yourself to a trip that fits your desired level of activity.

Here’s something a little more reflective. A short essay on why your phone camera is not the best way to experience a trip. That’s the great thing about groups. Someone else will probably take the same photo you would have. Take turns!

Oh and BTW there’s an app that will track your time on your phone. You don’t have to use it while you’re traveling. Paying attention to this stat has cut my phone use by an hour a day at home!

The Correspondent, by Virginia Evans. I heard the author interviewed on NPR and bought the book, then didn’t pick it up for 6 months. Kicking myself. So clever and engaging. It reveals the many layers of an older woman’s life as told through letters she writes and receives.

Letter-writing is a forgotten art, isn’t it? Here’s something I’ve been considering.

As much fun as it is to see each other on FaceTime from abroad, think of the years our correspondents might cherish a hand-written postcard or letter from us. What we choose to describe and recount in our letters becomes part of what we leave behind for our friends and family. Especially as technology encroaches more and more of our shared humanity, connections through personal items like handwritten letters, and community will become more and more important, I think. Don’t you? Will they remember the souvenirs, or your stories from faraway places?

Love to hear your thoughts on this. Reply to this email and I’ll see it.

Thanks for reading. Happy trails!

Jeannie Edmunds

Chief Operating Officer

For all its raw, elemental beauty, Iceland also offers refined Nordic sophistication—world-class restaurants, striking architecture, cutting-edge art, and excellent shopping. It's a place of wonderful contradictions: wild yet welcoming, remote yet remarkably progressive (hello, most gender-equal country in the world).

All the trip details here.

Did you know that in Oaxaca, the temperatures in August are in the upper 70s? NextTribe has a love affair with Mexico. Jeannie Ralston called it home for four transformative years of her life. It’s so close that it’s often taken for granted by North Americans who haven’t explored much beyond its famous beaches and tourist hot spots. But Mexico has an incredibly rich tapestry of culture, from a huge variety of  soul-stirring cuisine to astonishing classical and modern art, architecture, and deep history.

The crown jewel of Mexico (other than San Miguel de Allende, of course) is Oaxaca, nestled in the country's mountainous South. Here, ancient Zapotecs and Mixtecs built great cities and temples, while Spanish colonizers later created one of Mexico's most enchanting and vibrant colonial towns—a UNESCO World Heritage site, Oaxaca City.

The Oaxaca Trip preview is Friday June 12, 6:30 pm. Please RSVP here:

All the details here.

Trip Previews are presentations about upcoming trips for those who may be curious, but haven’t booked the trip yet. Someone attending each Trip Preview will win a $400 discount in a random drawing unless the trip is Sold Out.

Click on a square to see our trip listing.

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