Greetings, Travel Tip-Seekers!

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate our 9th anniversary in business by taking advantage of our brief offer of $900 off any new booking this year. We mean it. Thanks a lot. It was so successful we hope we make it to our 10th anniversary!

Just kidding.

Seriously, though, I think it shows you like it when we surprise you!

So as we begin our 10th year, here’s another bit of excitement: we’re launching a travel photo contest with some big fat prizes! We’re looking for travel photos that capture a sense of wonder.

The contest will be judged by some high-profile photo women—two from National Geographic, one a Pulitzer Prize winner. Who knows? Maybe it will launch you into a whole new career!

Check out all the details here.

We don’t want everything in your camera roll. And to show you’re serious, you’ll need to pay a small entry fee for each photo. Your entry fees will help us pay an honorarium to our professional judges.

But get this: first prize is $1000 cash or $2000 off a future NextTribe Trip! See other prizes here.

Have we lost our minds? Yes, a little. But we know there are some stellar photographers out there and we want to give you a shout out and celebrate your work. The first place winner will be the subject of a feature in NextTribe magazine, and all winning photos, including Honorable Mentions, will be published in the magazine.

Oh, and no AI images will be accepted. Our judges have ways of checking for that.

Deadline to submit is May 15.

Now, in other news…

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.

Coming back from Morocco this month one of our travelers tried to get me into the United lounge. Since we weren’t on the same departing flight out of Newark she couldn’t use her guest pass for me, so yes, I paid $41 for snacks and a cocktail. The place was crowded, but it was definitely more comfortable than waiting at the gate.

Airlines and credit card companies with lounge benefits are getting stricter to keep out the hordes of passengers who want access, especially at peak times. Capitol One is now charging for guests, and access to airline lounges is tightening up. Also there are time limits at busy airports like Narita. If you have a 12 hour layover, (common if you’re traveling on to Southeast Asia) you can only stay in the lounge for 5 hours.

At least there you can take a train into the city and be back in plenty of time for your flight. That’s what I did last year on the way back from Vietnam, and I recommend it in other cities with long layovers. Get out and explore!

If had a nickel for every article about the optimal day/time to book your airfare, I’d have a lot of nickels. I have a friend who swears by Sunday night after 9PM. Another who says Tuesdays at noon. Here’s what the experts are saying now.

No, it’s not your dirty laundry after you’ve been on the road for a while. And it’s not your water bottle or your phone or your shoes. Check out the results of a study conducted by the Japan Rail Pass company and a microbiologist from the University of Leicester in England.

Study investigator Dr. Primrose Freestone (not a made-up name) wrote that our hands are “well known to be very well colonized by the bacteria and fungi (and some viruses) that normally live there. This means that as well as our resident hand skin microbiome our hands will when they touch any surface pick up additional microbes present within the airport environment, which has the microbial deposits from the thousands of people who pass through each day.” She also concluded “the greater the handling of a passport by different people’s hands the more and greater the variety of bacteria, fungi and even viruses will be deposited onto the surface.” All I have to say is EWWW and wipe down your passport ladies!

I don’t know how they get away with it: Airlines don’t show their passengers miles accounts as a liability on their books. If we all cashed in our miles at the same time it would surely bankrupt them! So seeing all these fat mileage accounts makes them nervous. They want you to spend them instead of store them up, and they know one way to entice you to do that is by flying where you want to go. The Points Guy explains.

Thanks and hope to see you down the road—

Jeannie Edmunds

Chief Operating Officer