Greetings, Travel Tip-Seekers!

Thanks again for coming to our photo contest party! Winners will be announced in a few weeks.

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.

As many of you know, we have a trip departing next week to see the gorillas. We’ve been in constant touch with our people on the ground, watching all the health and government reports very closely, and guess what? We’re still going because….as hysterical as the reporting has been worldwide, the fact is that as of this writing there are only 5 cases in Uganda, a country of 52 million, those cases are all in the capital, Kampala, and all are people taking care of patients or driving patients to the hospital. Uganda has dealt with this before and their health care system is a lot more advanced than the one in DRC. Besides, we only drive through the city of Kampala our last day on the way to Entebbe. So we know our travelers will be fine once they get to Africa.

Coming back into the US, though, the government has made it confusing and chaotic. First they announced last week that green card holders all had to enter the country through Dulles airport. Then they announced that this applies to all US citizens. Then they announced that oh yeah, you can fly into Atlanta or Houston if that’s more convenient. After our travelers had already changed their flights to return through Dulles. Oy!

Now you see why we don’t sell air tickets! Kudos to our intrepid travelers, most of whom have been waiting for a year to take this trip (including Jeannie Ralston!).

And this is why you buy insurance, avoid unchangeable flights, and consider adding the airlines insurance as well if your own insurance doesn’t protect you. Know what you’re buying, and compare coverage and exclusions carefully.

Whether you’re going on a NextTribe trip or not, you might be doing something adventurous, and heaven forbid, you might need to be airlifted.

Scan the QR code above (or click it) to ensure that you will have a medevac if you need it. It’s not insurance. It’s an evacuation plan as an annual membership and it covers up to $100K in medievac expenses for less than $200. Before you buy it, though, if you have an AMEX Platinum or Chase Sapphire Reserve card, they offer a similar benefit so do your comparison shopping!

Anyone who knows me knows I rarely buy new clothes. Or shoes. I love thrifting. But when I was in Japan I splurged on a beautiful upcycled denim dress by Blue Trick. These young models make their clothes look very trendy but I promise you, the way they take the best indigo fabric, quilt it, and make it into stylish shirts and dresses is impressive, unique, and very Japanese. They don’t have an English language website but I’ve found some of their clothing on Postmark since I came back. And they speak English if you want to call the store in Okayama and order something. +81 86 489 0598.

Here are some more photos from their collection on instagram.

Sure, you may have been to the Louvre, LACMA, the MOMA. But have you ever been to the MOBA? Museum of Bad Art sounds like something that might have been created in Austin, but it’s located in Somerville, Massachusetts. If your summer plans include a trip to Boston, maybe you can check this out and let us know how bad it is really is!

Don’t get me wrong. I check it all the time. Yelp, too. And now my favorite go-to for anything is Reddit! But I know a lot of travelers really depend on sites like TripAdvisor to help them choose hotels, restaurants and activities. All I can say is ai is a lot better and faster at this. It can aggregate everything and save you tons of time and headache. Besides, you have to take reviews with a grain of salt and read what they say in the aggregate. People who complain are a lot more vocal than people who have a good experience.

Try this prompt: “I’m considering booking the Love Hotel in Ibiza for 5 nights in September. Act as an experienced travel advisor and with your expertise in travel to this part of the world, tell me if this hotel is the best choice for a girlfriend getaway. What do the top review sites have to say about it? Cite your sources. Check social media posts and comments about it, too. And if it is not the best choice, give me 3 alternatives in the same price range. Tell me the pros and cons of the location, time of year, decor” + whatever you want to add. The trick is to keep asking questions and dive deeper. Don’t spend your time searching a million different places. Let ai do it!

Thanks for reading. Happy trails!

Jeannie Edmunds

Chief Operating Officer

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