Mistake fares to Mongolia, AI travel scams, and Bavarian food tour

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Hey friend,

Happy Thanksgiving week!

If your inbox looks anything like ours right now, you're probably swimming in Black Friday emails. We get it - we're about to add to that pile in a second. But before we do, we just wanted to say thanks for being here and reading these things. It means a lot.

Quick question - are there any Black Friday deals you're actually looking out for this year? Travel gear, tech, flights? Hit reply and let us know. We're curious what's actually on people's radar.

Have a great week, y'all!

Pro Tip: Pack by outfit, not by item type. Instead of throwing all your shirts in one cube and pants in another, group complete outfits together. Makes mornings way easier when you're not digging through three different bags. We use these Matador packing cubes - super durable, and they're offering 15% off right now.

👀 What Caught Our Eye

We made a thing: Our 2025 Travel & Creator Gift Guide

Look, every year around the holidays people ask us what gear we actually use, and honestly, we get tired of sending the same DMs over and over. So we sat down and put together every single thing we travel with, create with, and genuinely recommend into one giant gift guide.

It's organized by category (travel gear, creator gear, dog stuff for Kramer, overlanding essentials, clothing), If we missed anything or you have any questions please reach out. Happy to answer any questions you may have. Chris and Sara Gift Guide.pdf​

But here are a few things we're genuinely obsessed with:

• ​Wild Rye Overalls - Sara practically lives in these. They're the perfect combo of functional and not looking like you're about to fix a tractor.
• ​Matador Packing Cube Set - These changed our lives. We can actually find our stuff now instead of dumping out an entire backpack in a hotel room.
• ​Matador SEG 45 Travel Pack - This is THE pack. Carry-on approved, fits everything, doesn't make you look like you're about to summit Everest at the airport.
• ​BruTrek BaseCamp French Press - We're snobs about our coffee on the road, and this thing makes legit coffee anywhere. Worth every penny.

The full guide has like 50+ things across all categories, so if you're shopping for a traveler, creator, or someone with a dog who thinks they're people (hi Kramer), we've got you covered.

✈️ Flights We’d Text to Friends

Here are a few that caught our eye this week:

• ​Washington D.C. → US Virgin Islands for $199 – 60% off (normally $510+). Under $200 to trade snow for beaches. Winter looks better from there.
• ​New York City → Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia for $681 – 30% off (normally $973+). Cheapest we've ever seen to Mongolia (probably a mistake fare, so move fast). If you're into yurts and vast landscapes, this is your moment. March/Sept 2026.
• ​Portland → Honolulu for $255 – 62% off (normally $685+). Hawaii for under $300. Jan-Feb 2026.
• ​Atlanta → Budapest for $550 – 45% off (normally $1015+). Half off to Budapest. The thermal baths alone are worth it.
• ​Chattanooga → Vienna for $514 – 48% off (normally $1000+). Coffee houses, Christmas markets, and schnitzel without the usual price tag.
• ​Orlando → Reykjavik for $499 – 50% off (normally $1015+). Direct flight to Iceland for spring dates. Half the usual price.
• ​Chicago → Santiago, Dominican Republic for $256 – 57% off (normally $600+). DR for under $300. Tons of dates through next year

Is there a city you wish we would feature for flights? Email us back and we'll put it in the next email.

We find all of these through Going. It is worth setting up alerts for your home airport. Most of these deals won't last long, so if one catches your eye, don't sit on it.

📍Worth Sharing

A few things we bookmarked this week

• ​You can now add your U.S. passport to Apple Wallet - Works at 250+ U.S. airports for domestic flights. Still need your physical passport for international travel, but could be handy for those "where did I put my ID" moments at TSA.
• ​Airlines no longer required to automatically compensate for delays and cancellations - The rule that would've made airlines pay cash for delays got rolled back. We're back to airlines deciding what they feel like offering. Travel insurance just became more important.​
• ​Cruise ship blocks rocket launch view - This made us laugh all day. People set up to film a rocket launch and a Carnival cruise ship floats right into the shot at the perfect moment.
• ​Italian town now charges a tourist tax for dogs - Bolzano is charging visitors $2 per day to bring their dog. Locals pay $100 per year. The town says it's for street cleaning, but animal groups aren't happy about it.
• ​Fake AI Christmas market at Buckingham Palace - Someone made an AI image of a Christmas market at Buckingham Palace and people showed up looking for it. We almost added it to our list before realizing it wasn't real. Check your sources, folks.

📣 ICYMI

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🎥 We Drove Through REAL Grimm Fairy Tale Location in Germany

We ate our way through Munich and tried Weisswurst (white sausage) for the first time. That's really all you need to know to understand why you should probably watch this one.

Matador sponsored this video (full transparency), and if you're heading to Munich or just want to see our faces when we try that white sausage, give it a watch and let us know what looks best to you.

Thanks for reading Field Notes. We’re trying to make this a space worth saving, full of things we’d actually send to a friend.

If you ever want to pass it along, here’s the link to subscribe: chrisandsara.kit.com/chrisandsara​

And if something in here made you laugh, think, or book a flight… we’d love to hear about it. Just hit reply or tag us @chrisandsara_ on Instagram.

More soon,

Chris & Sara

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