Travel Desk

Two-thousand, four-hundred and forty-eight miles. That was the span of Route 66 when highway officials stitched it together to link Chicago, Los Angeles and countless cities and towns in between. But as an enduring American symbol, this highway reaches much further than that, inspiring books, songs, movies and countless road trips.

It turns 100 this year, so with summer coming, we drove it all.

Across eight states, we scouted out vintage motels, new businesses, neon signs, friendly Muffler Men, road food, vivid characters and 20th century ruins. We also kept our eyes open for hints of the road’s evolution, from the Dust Bowl years, segregation and the postwar boom to the freeway-era slump and the reemergence of Route 66 as a long, winding and living historic landmark.

Now we’re taking you along for the ride. If you’ve ever daydreamed about covering some part of the famous roadway, hop on in and let’s get our kicks, shall we?

Richard Mitchell, 84, of Albuquerque in 2016. Mitchell used the Green Book to drive across the United States in 1964. The travel guide “assured protection for Negro travelers.”

(Photo by Craig Fritz / For The Times
)

Forty-four of the 89 counties along Route 66 were sundown towns, communities where it was encouraged for Black people to leave before dark — or else. Route 66 diners, motels and gas stations routinely refused service to Black travelers. In 1936, a Harlem postal worker named Victor Green began publishing the Negro Motorist Green Book, a guide to the hotels, restaurants and gas stations along the route that would serve Black travelers. More than 1,400 tourist homes (private residences that took in guests when hotels wouldn’t) were listed during the guide’s run.

For Black families on Route 66, the Green Book was as essential as a spare tire. In Tulsa, the Greenwood District was once known as “Black Wall Street.” White thugs destroyed it in the 1921 Race Massacre. The community rebuilt and became a hub of Black commerce near the route. Springfield, Ill., was one of the first cities on Route 66 to offer services to Black travelers. It was also the site of the 1908 Race Riot, which helped spur the founding of the NAACP.

A vintage photo of the Hayes Motel in Los Angeles. It was featured in the Green Book, which listed places that served African Americans during the era of segregation.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

See what remains today: Only about 30% of Green Book sites along Route 66 are still standing. The DuBeau in Flagstaff, Ariz., once a Green Book listing, now operates as a motel. The recently shuttered Clifton’s in downtown Los Angeles sits at 7th and Broadway, the original terminus of Route 66. Route History Museum in Springfield is the only museum in the country dedicated to the Black experience on Route 66, housed in a 1930s Texaco station one block off the road. It offers a virtual reality experience that walks visitors through the Green Book cities of Illinois, including sundown towns.

Beyond the Green Book, other businesses that are worth a visit include Threatt Filling Station in Oklahoma, a Black-owned gas station (and safe haven for Black travelers) during the era of segregation, and the neon sign from Graham’s Rib Station, a beloved Black-owned restaurant for many years. It’s located at the local History Museum on the Square in Springfield, Mo.

The snow was flying sideways and he had no jacket, but this lumberjack did not shiver. He stood about 25 feet tall, ax in hand, wearing a red hat and rictus grin. And he was made of fiberglass.

I stood at his feet on the Northern Arizona University campus in Flagstaff, full of the satisfaction that comes at having accomplished something truly trivial: At last, I was face to face with the original Muffler Man.

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Easter Island has its stone-faced monoliths. China has its terra-cotta warriors. And we Americans have these roadside giants, also known as Paul Bunyans, Uniroyal Gals and most commonly, Muffler Men. Manufactured in Los Angeles, they first appeared on the highways of North America in the early 1960s as an advertising gimmick, often promoting car lots or car parts. Now they’re rising again, a battalion of restored and replica specimens, beloved by road-trippers, kitsch aficionados, artists, preservationists and savvy entrepreneurs.

“To me, they’re kind of instant friends,” said Amy Inouye, the designer and artist who rescued L.A.’s most iconic Muffler Man, Chicken Boy, a chicken-headed statue that stands atop her gallery in Highland Park. “They’re really tall and they just want to be accepted for who they are.”

The Northern Arizona University campus in Flagstaff includes the first oversize fiberglass Muffler Man, who has long been outfitted as a lumberjack.

These figures are especially plentiful along Route 66 this year as it turns 100 — there was a “pre-centennial frenzy” in the words of roadsideamerica.com, which coined the term “Muffler Men” and tracks them on a map. Nobody’s certain how many figures were made during the golden age of Muffler Men, but since 2020, the tally of giants has climbed above 250, including “a few dozen” rediscoveries since 2010, according to Doug Kirby, the co-founder and publisher of the site.

“Just in the last year or two, all these Muffler Men are being added,” he said. In addition, more than a dozen giants are currently in transition — that is, getting reconditioned or relocated.

1.) Cigars and Stripes BBQ in Berwyn, Ill., features a Muffler Man smoking a cigar and holding a jumbo bottle of barbecue sauce. 2.) The Gemini Giant stands along Route 66 in Wilmington, Ill.

On a recent westbound journey from Chicago on Route 66, I started seeing them almost immediately.

First, on Ogden Avenue in the Chicago suburb of Berwyn, there was the Cigars & Stripes Muffler Man. He stood on the roof of the Cigars & Stripes BBQ Lounge, brandishing a chicken wing and a fridge-size bottle of barbecue sauce while chewing on a stogie.

Next, in Wilmington, Ill., came the Gemini Giant, who stands 23 feet tall above a tiny park. Made for a Wilmington diner in 1965, he was auctioned off for $275,000 in early 2024 and placed in his current location later that year. He wears a clunky silver space helmet and holds a rocket in his hands.

I had come across a few Muffler Men before this trip, including Big Josh, who looks down upon Joshua Tree from the Station gift shop on State Route 62. But now I was paying more attention.

At first, I learned, these giants were all men, conceived around 1962 by a Lawndale entrepreneur named Bob Prewitt and made popular from the early 1960s through the mid-1970s by a company in Venice called International Fiberglass.

Made from a standard set of molds and held together by steel frames, most Muffler Men are assembled from three or four pieces. Besides those figures holding mufflers and tires, others were outfitted as cowboys, Indians, lumberjacks (often known as Paul Bunyans), astronauts, chefs, dentists, golfers, hot dog vendors, race-car drivers, pirates and service-station attendants. Then there were the jug-eared goofball characters, which some scholars of the art form call halfwits, while others prefer snerds.

As interest in this kind of advertising grew, female giants followed, including Uniroyal Gals and Rosie the Riveters. Oversized animals, including dinosaurs, bulls, roosters, hens and seals, also multiplied.

Juni Peraza, 25, works at the Meadow Gold Mack retail shop on 11th Street in Tulsa, Okla. She said she has only recently realized the possibilities that come with 11th Street being part of Route 66.

All that action faded in the 1970s. But in about 1989, the seeds of a new Muffler Man era were sown.

Kirby, Mike Wilkins and Ken Smith, who had worked together on the 1985 book “Roadside America,” were building a database for a follow-up project when they realized, “Hey, wait, this configuration of statue we’re seeing in a lot of places,” Kirby said. “We decided we’d better start keeping track.”

The first few they saw were holding mufflers. Thinking of the old nursery rhyme “Muffin Man,” and a Frank Zappa song of the same name, Kirby decided to call them Muffler Men.

When the roadsideamerica.com website launched in 1996, Muffler Men were part of it. By 2000, Roadside America had uncovered their origin story and interviewed Steve Dashew, former president of International Fiberglass. And readers had embraced the giants in a big way.

This fiberglass Rosie the Riveter figure went up on 11th Street in Tulsa in 2025.

“It was like a religious epiphany for some people. For years, they were driving past these things,” Kirby said. “As soon as they realized it was part of an uncharted network across the country … it’s like your third eye has been opened.”

Ken Bernstein, principal city planner for Los Angeles Office of Historic Resources, calls Muffler Men “monumental and distinctive representations of midcentury car culture, especially along auto-centric corridors where it was important to catch the eye of passing motorists.”

New giants, known as custom jobs, are being steadily manufactured now. There’s an entire economic community emerging around their restoration, replication, sales, transport and display, including companies like (Re)Giant and sculptor Mark Cline’s Enchanted Castle Studios. (To confuse matters, many Southern California mechanics woo customers by welding together mufflers to make human figures. Those creations, too, are often called Muffler Men.)

The American Giants Museum in Atlanta, Ill., created in 2024 by Bill Thomas of the Atlanta Betterment Fund and collector-historian Joel Baker, is devoted to the fiberglass figures. The museum, open April through October, includes four standing Muffler Men, with two more expected around Memorial Day.

Because the giants stand in the open air, visitors who show up after hours — as I did — can ogle them any time.

Atlanta, Ill., is home to the American Giants Museum, which celebrates the Muffler Men and Uniroyal Gals that were common roadside advertising features in the middle 20th century.

“I love history. I love anything to do with cars and old advertisements. I think it just takes people back,” said Lee Woods, 55, who jumped on the Muffler Men bandwagon about five years ago and owns the museum.

Woods and his wife, Diane, who have a fleet of tow trucks in Hot Springs, Ark., were collecting old porcelain gas station signs, gas pumps and old cars in 2021 when, on a drive through Illinois, they laid eyes on the Gemini Giant.

“I told my wife I would love to have one of them things to represent our tow company,” Woods recalled.

Before long, they had hired someone to build a custom tow-truck-operator Muffler Man. And before that Muffler Man was done, Lee Woods had bought another one — a Paul Bunyan in Oklahoma. Then in 2023 he got a hold of a Muffler Man Mr. Spock from Rainbow Neon in Salt Lake City. Now Woods has eight Muffler Men in Arkansas.

“Sometimes I get carried away, my wife says,” Woods said.

Last fall, he bought the museum, where he collaborates with Baker, who is founder of the American Giants website, creator of a Giants YouTube series and serves as a Muffler Man broker, consultant and transportation specialist.

“When people see these things, they think they’re the coolest thing out there,” Woods said. “Today we’ve had people from six different countries here.”

1.) Cowboy Bob, who is about 20 feet tall, plays guitar and wears a bolo tie, is one of several oversize fiberglass mascots along 11th Street in the Meadow Gold District of Tulsa. 2.) Meadow Gold Mack, a friendly lumberjack, is mascot for a shop of the same name on 11th Street in Tulsa. 3.) A Muffler Man near Gearhead Curios in Galena, Kan. 4.) The 2nd Amendment Cowboy is a fiberglass giant that stands at the entrance to a trailer park near the art installation Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.

From here, the giants seemed to come fast and furious. One in Galena, Kan. Two in Vinita, Okla. (which has since added a third). Five in Tulsa’s Meadow Gold District (including one with an 8-foot-long guitar).

Then in Weatherford, Okla., came a 30-foot astronaut. In Amarillo, a “2nd Amendment Cowboy” with a pair of big pistols at his feet. In Gallup, N.M., a giant on the roof of a used car lot.

By the time I’d reached Flagstaff, my count was 18.

Then came my snowy moment with the original Muffler Man, whose nickname is Louie. Experts agree that he was produced in about 1963 and sent to a Flagstaff cafe with a lumberjack theme (and yes, that cafe stood along Route 66).

Louie stood there until the cafe closed more than 10 years later. Then he was donated to NAU and stationed by the ticket office of the university’s Walkup Skydome. Another lumberjack stands inside.

But after Louie, I hit a drought — no more giant sightings in Arizona and none on the Route 66 alignment I followed into Southern California.

This seemed wrong, because there are so many giants along the byways of Southern California and because this is the land of their birth. Besides Big Josh, there’s the Paul Bunyan in Mentone, the empty-handed Muffler Man known as Kevin on Sherman Way in Van Nuys. There’s the flag-wielding Porsche Muffler Man in Carson (who previously served in the same spot as a club-brandishing Golf Man). And there are plenty of others.

It didn’t seem right to end the journey without another sighting. So I made my way to Highland Park to meet the one who rules the roost.

More specifically, I headed for 5558 N. Figueroa St., which was on the path of Route 66 for several years in the 1930s and which is the home of Chicken Boy.

Blessed with the customized head of a chicken, the body of a Muffler Man and a bucket in his hands (for eating chicken?), Chicken Boy stood for years atop the Chicken Boy fried-chicken restaurant on Broadway downtown, inspiring writer Art Fein to label him “L.A.’s Statue of Liberty.”

After the restaurant was shuttered in 1984, Inouye swooped in to rescue Chicken Boy and place him in protective storage — for years, as it turned out.

The fiberglass statue known as Chicken Boy stands on the roof of artist, designer and gallerist Amy Inouye’s studio on Figueroa Street in Highland Park.

In October 2007, after she and longtime partner Stuart Rapeport had bought the Highland Park studio space and pulled permits, Inouye put Chicken Boy back together again and set him up on the roof. There he remains, sharing space with a billboard, visible up and down the block between Avenue 55 and Avenue 56.

If a nomination by L.A. preservationist Charles J. Fisher goes through, Chicken Boy could become the first Muffler Man declared a city historic-cultural monument. And if you drop by the Future Studio Gallery on a Saturday between noon and 3 p.m. or 4 p.m., you’ll likely find Inouye, now 74, along with a trove of Chicken Boy T-shirts, patches, pencils and ceramic treasure boxes.

But seeing Chicken Boy is its own reward, especially after seeing so many of his fiberglass cousins. I got there on a balmy afternoon, beheld Chicken Boy’s beak gleaming in the sun, and knew my mission was complete.

Famous signs along the nearly 2,500 miles of Route 66 include the 66-foot soda bottle at Pops in Oklahoma, the wagging neon tail of Albuquerque’s Dog House and the hand-painted slogans for Snow Cap Drive-In in Arizona. But in L.A., none is so iconic as the giant looming penguin that signifies milkshakes, burgers, oldies playlists and sheer Americana at the end of the road.

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The Mother Road that stretches from Chicago to the West Coast unofficially ends at the Santa Monica Pier, but at its technical terminus, Mel’s Drive-In declares the “ROUTE ENDS HERE,” inlaid in terrazzo beneath that jumbo tuxedoed penguin. It’s been a beacon for decades, and though the beloved restaurant space recently was listed for sale for $26 million, Mel’s owners hope it remains a diner and destination for generations.

For much of its history, the diner at the end of Route 66 was the 1959-founded Penguin Coffee Shop, a Googie-architecture marvel of angular windows, rock walls and little cartoons of penguins hanging above swivel stools and an open kitchen.

The original penguin sign from the former Penguin Coffee Shop still stands at Mel’s Drive-In in Santa Monica.

As a very young child I remember sliding into the booths with my father, whose office was nearby on Wilshire. Back then, the tall angled ceilings seemed to soar and the breakfast combos looked mountainous.

“It was a Googie kind of restaurant — you know, we don’t have that many of them around anymore,” my dad recalls. “It had an aura of roadside diner about it. … Everybody would see the giant penguin out there. I don’t think Burgess Meredith ever ate there, though.” The joke takes me a beat before landing; my version of Batman’s Penguin will always be Danny DeVito.

“It was a Googie kind of restaurant — you know, we don’t have that many of them around anymore,” the writer’s dad recalls.

We’d visit every month or two, until the Penguin closed its doors in 1991 and transformed into a Western Dental office, which kept the penguin sign but dropped those high ceilings and removed the kitchen along with other hallmarks of its roadside charm. Thankfully, its journey didn’t end there.

The Weiss family, which founded Mel’s Drive-In diner in 1947, had been eyeing the property for years and signed a lease in 2016. Then there was the link to their own history: The prolific Armet & Davis architecture firm designed the Penguin as well as the current home of Mel’s Sherman Oaks.

“When the dentist office went out of business,” said co-owner Colton Weiss, “it seemed like a no-brainer to make it Mel’s and bring it back to the glory days of being a diner.”

What followed were two years of “very expensive” renovations, according to the third-generation Mel’s owner.

Beyond the iconic penguin sign — which obtained “historically or architecturally significant” designation in 2000 — Mel’s pays homage with the large sculptural, custom-made glass globe lights, which replicate the original’s. The Weisses hired garden specialists to review decades-old photos of the Penguin Coffee Shop to determine which varieties of flowers decorated the front of the restaurant, then they replanted them.

Since the building’s reopening in 2018, thousands of guests have ended the journey along Route 66 with a meal in the diner.

While sledgehammering drywall, they uncovered the diner’s original rock wall. Along a hallway near the bathrooms, a small gallery of Penguin Coffee Shop photos offers another glimpse of the predecessor. This location also features a marshmallow-and-chocolate-sauce Penguin Shake in honor of the tuxedoed mascot of the original.

It wasn’t until they were close to signing a deal that they realized it sat along Route 66.

“We’re like Route 66 authorities now,” said Weiss, whose father, Steven Weiss, was largely responsible for the restoration.

Since the building’s reopening in 2018, the owners say thousands of guests have ended their travels with a meal in the diner. They bustle through the doors after the long journey, sometimes bedecked in Route 66 merchandise, and sometimes buying Mel’s own brand of Route 66 merch while there.

Atmosphere and details of Mel’s Drive-In Diner.

“We had a guy do it in a ’67 Chevy, that was on his bucket list: Older guy who did it with his wife, and it was a convertible,” said Weiss. “He did it in summertime, so by the time he showed up he was covered in dust and dirt. He couldn’t be happier to make it to Mel’s and get a burger.”

Another, he said, did the whole route on a bicycle.

The diner offers certificates of completion for those who finish the trek, and devised a burger named for the route. A fish tank at the entrance features a Route 66 theme, as does a mural on a small wall of the parking lot. Two official signs, placed by the city, denote the location’s significance.

“The city knew there’d be renewed interest in a diner being the real ending of Route 66,” Weiss said. “Before, I don’t know anybody who’d want to end their trip at a dentist’s office. Maybe somebody who broke their teeth on the way.”

But the trail’s end could someday see its own end. The property was listed for sale in 2025. Representatives for the building’s management company didn’t respond to requests for comment.

“We’re trying to keep it there as long as possible,” Weiss said. “People really enjoy this location, and it seems like one of the last diners in Santa Monica.” Weiss declined to comment further.

Mel’s assistant manager Yazmin Minguelasays she sees more travelers now because it’s the centennial of Route 66. “But even before that, we still had a lot of visitors.”

She’s worked for Mel’s 22 years, six of which have been spent in the Santa Monica restaurant. Her shifts are full of Westside regulars, celebrities and guests finishing their trip along Route 66.

“Ending on a diner is nostalgia,” my dad mused. “Having a place like Mel’s, which is a substitute for the kind of flea-bitten ptomaine joints that you might get along Route 66, brings back memories to very old people. And very new people ask questions like, ‘Who’s Burgess Meredith?’”

Mel’s Drive-In is open at 1670 Lincoln Blvd., Santa Monica, Sunday to Thursday from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to midnight.

Monte Carlo Liquors & Steak House is a lone brick island in a large asphalt lot that sits just over 100 feet from the Central Avenue Bridge that stretches over the Rio Grande in Albuquerque.

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The business’ name says everything: The front of the building lodges a liquor store selling the basic brands of spirits and beer. Around back, an arrow, painted garnet against an otherwise beige facade, points toward a red door sheltered by a small, domed awning. The words “steakhouse entrance” have been stenciled above in letters big enough to be seen two blocks away.

The 56-year-old throwback is often my first stop after landing in New Mexico. I have been traveling to the state regularly since the summer of 1999, when I attended my first of many writing retreats led by Natalie Goldberg, author of “Writing Down the Bones” and many other books. Its northern topography — the enormous sense of space, the way the light moves and colors shift against the mountains and desertscapes — keep me returning.

The 56-year-old throwback Monte Carlo Liquors & Steak House is often my first stop after landing in New Mexico.

Albuquerque, home to the state’s largest airport, is a gateway. It’s also the city with the longest continuous urban stretch of Route 66, named Central Avenue and running nearly 18 miles through its core. Two of my very favorite restaurants in New Mexico reside along this zagging sweep, both quirky and atmospheric and also grounding in their sense of place.

I return to Monte Carlo for two reasons: the honky-tonk atmosphere and the green chile cheeseburger.

Beyond the red door lies the platonic ideal of a Midcentury dive. The windowless dining room remains perpetually dim. Crimson pleather booths line the walls, which are covered with vintage beer signs and framed portraits of Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe … and Guy Fieri, who visited in 2008. A collection of model cars sits behind glass in one corner. It is easy to imagine a near past when cigarette smoke hovered like low cloud cover.

I cannot report on the fried appetizers or char-broiled steaks that comprise much of the menu. Occasionally I order a Greek appetizer — a nod to the heritage of Michael Katsaros, whose family still runs the place — which includes a block of feta sprinkled with oregano, olives, a single rolled grape leaf, slices of tomato and cucumber and, uniquely, thick blocks of salami.

Here’s why I return to Monte Carlo: the honky-tonk atmosphere and the green chile cheeseburger.

Chasing green chile cheeseburgers through New Mexico is sport for food obsessives. Cheryl Jamison, a longtime food writer who lives in Santa Fe, steered me to Monte Carlo years ago.

The staff grounds the beef sirloin daily, a crucial step. Seeds are visible among the chopped roasted chiles, smoky and vegetal and bringing some heat, overlaid with a single square of American cheese melted into place. The sting of a dry gin martini is exactly right between bites.

Is this the best green chile cheeseburger in Albuquerque? Impossible for me to say, but it is an excellent gauge from which to begin a survey.

The dining room is perpetually dim, and crimson pleather booths line the walls, covered with vintage beer signs and framed portraits.

The chile cheeseburger at Monte Carlo.

Wherever you’re headed from Monte Carlo, it’s worth a quick stop to admire the twin Route 66 Rio Grande markers that stand on either side of the nearby bridge. Their adobe color blends so seamlessly into the landscape that you could speed by them without much notice. They were installed in the early 2000s as part of the city’s public art programs. Their tiered form nods to the cloud terrace motif that appears repeatedly in New Mexico’s indigenous Pueblo art and architecture. It’s easiest at night to spy their subtle Route 66 logos lit up in red and green neon.

Red and green are the unofficial state colors of New Mexico, as you’ll see again and again on plates delivered by servers at Duran Central Pharmacy, the finest destination along Central Avenue for immersion into regional cooking.

Indigenous ingredients (corn, beans, squash, game meats, berries and piñon among them) and heavy Spanish colonial influences (chiles were said to have been brought to the area as early as the late 1500s) help define New Mexican cuisine.

Modern restaurant menus, with the familiar enchiladas and tamales and hard-shell tacos, can resemble Tex-Mex, but never say that to a New Mexican local. The chiles delineate culinary borders. “Red or green?” customers will be asked repeatedly. Meaning: Do you want your dish smothered in sauce made from roasted green chiles, or a simmered counterpart fashioned from dried red chile pods?

The combination plate, Christmas style, at Duran’s.

If you want both, as many of us do, the answer is “Christmas.”

At “Duran’s,” as locals call it, see and taste the distinctions on Duran’s combination plate, which includes one beef or chicken taco, one pork tamale and one rolled cheese enchilada with a side of pinto beans. Green has a toothier texture and fresher flavor; red is saucier with dusky, earthen undertones. Try the duo over a hefty knife-and-fork breakfast burrito filled with chorizo, chilaquiles, a bowl of chili or, a special on Wednesdays and Fridays, sopaipillas (pillows of fried dough) blanketed in cheese.

Founded in 1942, Duran originally had a soda fountain that converted to a sit-down restaurant in the 1960s. Touches of Midcentury Modern kitsch, especially a starburst clock on the restaurant’s roadside sign, marks its place along Route 66.

Touches of Midcentury Modern kitsch include a starburst clock on the restaurant’s roadside sign, marking its place along Route 66.

And yes, this building also pulls double duty as a thriving pharmacy. On return visits when I’m feeling too excited about jumping back into New Mexican foodways, I start at Monte Carlo for a cheeseburger and martinis before a second lunch of sopaipillas, “Christmas-style,” at Duran, knowing I can pick up ibuprofen and calcium carbonate for dessert.

Monte Carlo Liquors & Steak House is located at 3916 Central Ave. SW, Albuquerque, (505) 836-9886, monte-carlo-liquors.hub.biz

Duran Central Pharmacy: 1815 Central Ave. NW, Albuquerque, (505) 247-4141, duransrx.com

Route 66 was 20 years old and World War II had just ended when Bobby Troup, an aspiring songwriter from Pennsylvania, decided to go west. As it turned out, that drive in early 1946 did more than anyone could have imagined to establish the road as a symbol of footloose American freedom.

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Troup, 25 at the time, had already earned an economics degree from the University of Pennsylvania, written a hit song (1941’s “Daddy,” sung by Sammy Kaye), worked for bandleader Tommy Dorsey and served as a Marine through the war years. But to restart his career as a songwriter and actor, he believed that he needed to be in Los Angeles. So he and his wife, Cynthia, pointed their 1941 Buick toward California.

They started on U.S. 40, then picked up Route 66 in Illinois. Along the way, as Troup told author Michael Wallis in the book “Route 66: The Mother Road,” Cynthia came up with a phrase she thought was songworthy.

Bobby Troup, composer of the hit song “Route 66” and grand marshal of Duarte, Calif.’s Salute to Route 66 parade, rides in a 1948 Buick convertible and waves to fans in 1996.

(Louisa Gauerke / Associated Press)

“Get your kicks on Route 66,” she said.

Troup took it from there, creating “a kind of musical map of the highway.”

As Troup later recalled in an introduction to a Route 66 book by Tom Snyder, they heard Louis Armstrong play a club in St. Louis, stopped at Meramec Caverns in Missouri and found that “a good part of the highway was absolutely miserable — narrow, just two lanes, and very twisting through the Ozarks and Kansas.” Then came a snowstorm in Texas.

By the end of the drive, the up-tempo tune was half-done. Then, not quite a week after arrival, Troup landed a chance to pitch a few songs to Nat “King” Cole, who had already won fame with hits including “Sweet Lorraine” and “Straighten Up and Fly Right.”

They were sitting by a piano on stage — after Cole’s last set of the night at the Trocadero on Sunset Strip — when the nervous young songwriter decided to share his unfinished road song.

“I got up on the riser, pulled the piano bench back a little bit — and it went over the side and I fell over backwards,” Troup confessed in a later interview.

Still, Cole “loved it,” Troup recalled. “As a matter of fact, he got on the piano with me and played it.”

This was February. By mid-March, the song was done and Cole was recording it in a studio on Santa Monica Boulevard, part of Route 66.

The finished version name-checked a dozen cities along the route, including these words:

Now you go through Saint Looey

Joplin, Missouri,

And Oklahoma City is mighty pretty.

You see Amarillo,

Gallup, New Mexico,

Flagstaff, Arizona.

Don’t forget Winona,

Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino.

Won’t you get hip to this timely tip

When you make that California trip

Get your kicks on Route 66.

In April, Capitol Records released “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” and the tune quickly rose to #11 on the Billboard chart of top-selling singles. Before 1946 was out, it had been recorded again, this time by Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters. That version went to #14.

Musicians Nat “King” Cole, left, and Bing Crosby, circa 1945.

(NBC / NBCU Photo Bank / NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images)

Coming just as postwar America was rediscovering leisure travel, the song was a big hit — and for many, a painful irony. Even with guidance from the Green Book used by many African American travelers in those days, it would have been deeply risky — and illegal in some places — for any Black man, Nat King Cole included, to eat and sleep on Route 66. This was a year before Jackie Robinson integrated baseball’s major leagues, two years before the U.S. Army was integrated.

As Candacy Taylor puts it in her 2020 book “Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America,” “the open road wasn’t open to all.” Into the 1950s, Taylor writes, “about 35% of the counties on Route 66 didn’t allow Black motorists after 6 p.m.” and six of the eight states on the route still had segregation laws. Cole may have helped sell Route 66, Taylor writes, but “the carefree adventure he was promoting was not meant for him.”

Documentary photographer Candacy Taylor at the New Aster Motel in Los Angeles in 2016. In her book “Overground Railroad,” she writes about the discrimination Black travelers faced while driving on Route 66.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Two years after recording the song, when the increasingly wealthy Cole and his family bought a Hancock Park mansion and became the neighborhood’s first Black homeowners, many neighbors tried to keep him out, poisoned the family dog and burned racist insults into his lawn.

The Coles stayed put. The family was still in that home on South Muirfield Road in 1956, when Cole became the first African American to host a network television show, and in 1965, when Cole died of cancer at 45.

Troup, who later was divorced from Cynthia and married singer/actor Julie London, went on to record more than a dozen albums and had other songs recorded by Little Richard and Miles Davis. As an actor, Troup filled many guest-star roles on television, played Dr. Joe Early on the 1970s TV show “Emergency!” and had a small part in Robert Altman’s 1970 film “MASH.”

Meanwhile, the song kept rolling. As years passed, Perry Como, Sammy Davis Jr., Chuck Berry, the Rolling Stones, the Manhattan Transfer, Michael Martin Murphey, Asleep at the Wheel, Buckwheat Zydeco, Depeche Mode, Glenn Frey, the Brian Setzer Orchestra and John Mayer recorded versions. At different points in the 2006 movie “Cars,” you hear Berry’s and Mayer’s versions. Troup, who died in 1999, never forgot the difference the song made, both in his life and the way people think about the road.

“On the basis of that song, I was able to go out and buy a house and stay in California,” Troup told Wallis. “I never realized when I was putting it together that I was writing about the most famous highway in the world. I just thought I was writing about a road — not a legend.”

The Rolling Stones are among the countless musicians who have recorded versions of “Route 66.”

(David Redfern / Redferns via Getty Images)

Ian Bowen is manager of the “66 to Cali” shop/kiosk on the Santa Monica Pier. Many travelers go to the kiosk for the Route 66 “passports” and certificates of completion.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Beyond the merry-go-round and before the Ferris wheel on Santa Monica Pier, Ian Bowen does business in a snug kiosk overstuffed with souvenirs, guidebooks and replica highway signs. The whole structure measures about 77 square feet. But the idea behind it sprawls for miles and keeps Bowen talking for hours on end: Route 66.

The 66 to Cali kiosk is owned by Dan Rice, who started the business in 2009 after years of travels on the Mother Road. But Bowen, 35, has been managing it for 10 years, making sales, offering advice and hearing travelers’ tales, which almost always come with surprises. He calls himself “a bona fide nerd about Route 66.”

“It took me six years to do the whole road and finish my last stretch in Arcadia, Oklahoma,” Bowen said between customers one recent night. Rather than cover more than 2,400 miles in a single trip, he has done what many American “roadies” do: biting off one chunk at a time. Before you know it, he said, “you become part of the community.”

That became obvious as Bowen flipped through the photo albums he keeps in the kiosk. There’s Harley Russell, ribald proprietor and performer at the Sandhills Curiosity Shop in Erick, Okla. There’s Fran Houser, the late, widely beloved proprietor of the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas. And there’s Bowen getting a haircut from Angel Delgadillo, the Seligman, Ariz., barber, now 99, who kicked off a resurgence of interest in Route 66 in 1987 with a call for historical recognition.

This is not the career Bowen planned for; he studied to be an industrial designer. But now that he’s in the business of celebrating Route 66, he sees it, and other highways like it, as a launching pad for independent businesses, a lifeline for small towns and an antidote to the isolation of contemporary society.

“The old roads aren’t just about nostalgia,” Bowen says on his website. “They’re about creativity, honest work, investing in ourselves and our communities, and the notion that effort is rewarded.”

For those considering a Route 66 trip, Bowen has advice of all kinds.

Want an old-school meal along the route in Santa Monica? Bowen will point you toward Bay Cities Italian Deli & Bakery, which opened in 1925.

A lunch spot near Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch in Oro Grande? Cross-Eyed Cow Pizza, said Bowen, is just down the road.

The backstory on Bobby Troup’s song “Route 66?” Bowen can tell you that Nat King Cole recorded it in early 1946 in a studio at 7000 Santa Monica Blvd. And that address, now occupied by the Jeffrey Deitch art gallery, is actually on Route 66.

Whatever your itinerary, Bowen urges a loose schedule, leaving plenty of room for discoveries and unplanned conversations. Otherwise, “it’s so easy to use up all your time and end up running behind,” he said.

One recent Friday, Leonidas Georgiou, 36, stepped up to the kiosk, brimming with enthusiasm.

Georgiou, who lives in Athens, only learned about Route 66 last year “from an influencer on Greek TikTok.” But once he heard about it, he acted fast. Georgiou plotted a U.S. trip, recruited his mom to ride shotgun and picked up a rented Mazda SUV in Chicago. They made the drive in 23 days, with detours to Las Vegas and Monument Valley and a stop at the Walter White house (from “Breaking Bad”) in Albuquerque.

The varying weather and landscape, Georgiou said, made it feel like a four-season trip. Several times, in cities where hotels seemed too pricey or too sketchy, he and his mom slept in their SUV. Before Bowen could speak up, Georgiou added that he’s a police officer in Athens, and that he chose their spots carefully. Georgiou’s mother, who didn’t speak much English, nodded in affirmation.

“Instead of spending $40 each and getting bedbugs, it’s better to sleep in the car,” Georgiou said. And in the larger picture, he said, it was important to give the trip all the time it needed.

“This is a lifetime journey,” Georgiou said.

Bowen nodded and smiled. Another 66 traveler, another set of surprises.

‘We have lammerullepøllse – lamb rolled sausage – today,” says Daniel Hesseldal-Haines, chef at Det Lille Sommerhotel on the Danish island of Samsø. “It tastes better than the translation sounds. And,” he gestures towards a woman sitting by the window, “the lamb is from Camilla’s farm.”

Camilla gives us a friendly wave, and my eyes fix upon her sweater, featuring row upon row of colourful motifs. Think Fair Isle but less orderly: each stripe holds a different design. “Oh, I made this,” she says. “It’s hønsestrik – chicken knitting. You can use it to tell your story – so this one is about hiking,” she adds, pointing to each section: “These are my footprints, this is my tent, my coffee flask …”

Samsø, just 43 sq miles (112 sq km), lies off the coast of the Jutland peninsula, an hour’s ferry ride from Aarhus, and is something of a poster child for sustainability and the good life, being known as “Denmark’s vegetable garden” because of its fertile soil and beneficial climate. It’s been energy-positive since 2007, thanks to community buy-in to initiatives including windfarm ownership and biomass heating systems powered by agricultural waste. The aim is to be completely fossil fuel-free by 2030 – two decades ahead of Denmark’s goal of carbon-neutrality by 2050.

Centuries ago, Samsø was a site of strategic importance during the Viking age: the Kanhave canal, hand-hewn through its narrowest point to facilitate maritime passage, is testament to that. But for many Danes, Samsø is simply a summer holiday destination – not only because of its reliable sunshine, but also because of its beaches, Guinness World Records-certified world’s largest maze and protected northern hills. For almost 100 years, mainlanders’ families have owned summerhouses here and, during the warmer months, the population of about 3,500 inhabitants swells, with visitors numbering more than 300,000.

My visit is in early spring and Det Lille Sommerhotel, in the busy harbour village of Ballen, is my base. Run by Daniel and his wife Lea, who took it over from her mother five years ago, its cosy, seaside theme fits its location perfectly. Spring is a great time to visit – the island is just beginning to wake up. Small groups of walkers pace the lanes. Crops are being harvested, and honesty boxes full of leeks and onions are set up outside homes. Everywhere, hedges and trees are studded with tight green buds on the brink of unfurling.

I head out in the spring sunshine to meet Aage Madsen, the owner of Samsø Bær, on the north-east coast. He makes juices, jams, oils and liqueurs from the island’s natural bounty (the schnapps even comes from the plumules from the birch tree in his back garden). You can tour the factory’s premises with tastings included, as well as stocking up on products to take home, and like many businesses on the island, there’s an honesty system with mobile-pay in place when the shop is unattended.

Over a coffee in Aage’s kitchen, I recognise the work of Samsø potter Sigrid Hovmand on the shelf; the previous day I had spent time in her Nordby studio (open year round by appointment), learning about how she shapes her hand-thrown ceramics into irresistibly tactile, organic yet practical forms.

Even in the warmth of summer, temperatures rarely crack 22C, but springtime sunshine makes a perfectly respectable 15C seem quite balmy. It’s ideal weather for hiking and biking – two of the best ways to explore – and indeed, Samsø is set up for both, with myriad routes to tackle on foot, plus multiple cycling routes and rental stores. Peaceful country roads take me on a leisurely cycle from Ballen to Vesborg Fyr, a striking white lighthouse built in 1858 on the island’s south-western point. When I climb the coiled staircase to the top, the views in every direction are wonderful: breeze-ruffled fields, sparkling sea and the lazy cartwheeling of wind turbines. Only occasionally do I spot a vehicle purring through the landscape. Indeed, there’s not a single traffic light on the island – although there are a lot of electric charging points, most in Tranebjerg, Samsø’s “big city” – a relative term, but where the tourist office, hospital and supermarket are located.

It’s also the site of Sams Island Distillery. Established in 2017 by Mads Nielsen and a former business partner, the brand prides itself on sourcing its ingredients locally. Mads even grows his own beets to provide the “sugar” for his rum, creates small-batch liqueurs with seasonal berries and hunts Lasius fuliginosus – ants with a citrusy secretion in their abdomen – to give his gin a lemony kick. We venture into the woods and he shows me his gathering ground: here, inspired by the of ants in Copenhagen’s former restaurant Noma’s botan ebi (jumbo shrimp dish), he spent months crawling around in search of them.

Before I leave, I hike out along the Besser Rev spit. At 3 miles (5km), it’s an overground reef, formed of glacial marine deposits and forming a narrow, stony path, tufted with scrubby, low-lying vegetation. Brushed on its western side by the shallow waters of Stavns fjord, and by the stronger currents of the Kattegat Sea on the east, passage is sometimes denied by tidal activity. Although I’ve timed my walk carefully, I’m prevented from reaching the reef’s final stretches by signs forbidding access from 1 April until 15 July: it’s nesting season and this area is a vital breeding ground for sea birds. My progress thwarted, I’m content to sit on the sand by the adgang forbudt sign with my face tilted towards the gentle sun, listening to the sounds of nature and contemplating Googling “properties for sale on Samsø”.

The trip was provided by VisitSamsø and VisitDenmark. Det Lille Sommerhotel has B&B doubles from 745DKK (£86) a night

There will be ‘island’ items on the menu

Holidaymakers will be able to buy a Greggs sausage roll at Tenerife South airport from later this month when the baker opens its only international outlet. Greggs last operated shops abroad in Belgium in 2008, but said Tenerife was “the ideal location to test spreading our wings in an overseas setting”.

While the exact date for the opening is not yet set, Greggs said the shop in the international departures area of the airport will stock a range of bakes, rolls and sweet treats, as well as freshly-made sandwiches. A Spanish omelette roll will be available as part of the breakfast menu alongside freshly squeezed orange juice, prepared and bottled in-shop daily, “giving customers a refreshing taste of island life”, the baker said.

Tenerife South airport welcomes around 13 million holidaymakers every year, with around 50% flying to and from the UK. Greggs said the location made it the “perfect way to round off a trip without breaking the bank”.

The shop will also offer seating for up to 92 customers. Greggs chief executive Roisin Currie said: “Tenerife South Airport is a hub for millions of UK and international passengers each year, making it the ideal location to test spreading our wings in an overseas setting.

“It’s an exciting milestone for Greggs as we bring a slice of home to the Canaries, and we’re confident our great-value offering will resonate just as well under the Spanish sun as it does on the UK high street.”

The new shop will open in partnership with Lagardere Travel Retail, which operates more than 5,000 stores in airports, railway stations and other locations in over 50 countries worldwide. Javier Cagigal, chief executive of Lagardere Travel Retail Spain and Portugal, said: “We’re delighted to partner with Greggs to bring such a well-loved brand into Tenerife South Airport for the very first time.

“As passengers head home, this new opening gives them a familiar, comforting choice in departures – whether that’s a last treat, a relaxed sit-down moment or something to ease the journey home.”

Greggs, which was founded in Newcastle in 1939, has more than 2,500 locations across the UK, but now wants to “test spreading [its] wings” abroad with this new branch

Greggs is set to open its first overseas branch — in Tenerife.

The bakery chain says it will offer British tourists arriving on the island “a slice of home” with the shop, which will be tailored to the local setting, serving Spanish Omelette Rolls and freshly squeezed orange juice. The store will also feature seating for up to 92 customers.

British holidaymakers are known for taking familiar comforts abroad, from teabags to tins of baked beans. Soon, travellers heading through Tenerife will not need to pack their own sausage rolls though, as the branch will open at Tenerife South Airport later this month.

Greggs, which has more than 2,500 locations across the UK, described the airport as “the ideal location to test spreading our wings in an overseas setting.” It follows in the success of Wetherspoons, which opened its first pub in continental Europe — Castell de Santa Bàrbera — in Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernández Airport last December.

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Tenerife South Airport sees around 13 million passengers each year, with roughly half travelling to and from the UK. Greggs’ outlet there will target tourists with its best-known baked goods and sweet treats, including sausage rolls and doughnuts.

Greggs chief executive Roisin Currie said the airport’s large number of British and international visitors made it the perfect place to trial the brand overseas. She added that the company was excited to bring “a slice of home” to the Canary Islands and believed its affordable range would prove just as popular in Spain as it is in Britain.

Located in the departures area, the bakery is intended to give travellers a final taste of home before flying back to the UK. Greggs said it would offer customers “the perfect way to round off a trip without breaking the bank.”

The branch is opening in partnership with Lagardère Travel Retail, which operates more than 5,000 stores worldwide. Lagardère chief executive Javier Cagigal said the company was pleased to bring such a well-loved British brand to Tenerife. He said the new store would provide passengers with a familiar and comforting option before their journey home, whether they wanted a quick snack, a final treat or a place to relax before boarding.

GREGGS is opening its first bakery outside the UK in nearly 20 years – meaning Brits will be able to get the famous sausage roll while on holiday.

It will be the first Greggs opening in Spain, as it is set to welcome passengers at Tenerife South Airport later this month.

Partnering with Lagardere Travel Retail, it will be the first international outlet for the bakery since 2008, when it last had stores in Belgium.

The new opening will be in the departures side of the airport, and will “test to spreading our wings in an overseas setting”.

An official opening date is yet to be confirmed but it will have all of the classics as well as some local dishes.

This includes a Spanish Omelette Roll, which will be alongside hot bakes, sweet snacks and sandwiches.

Read more on new openings

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The bakery, which originated in Newcastle, said the location made it the “perfect way to round off a trip without breaking the bank”.

Tenerife South Airport is popular with Brits, where around 50 per cent of the annual 13million holidaymakers are from the UK.

Greggs chief executive Roisin Currie said: “Tenerife South Airport is a hub for millions of UK and international passengers each year, making it the ideal location to test spreading our wings in an overseas setting.

“It’s an exciting milestone for Greggs as we bring a slice of home to the Canaries, and we’re confident our great-value offering will resonate just as well under the Spanish sun as it does on the UK high street.”

Javier Cagigal, chief executive of Lagardere Travel Retail Spain and Portugal, said: “We’re delighted to partner with Greggs to bring such a well-loved brand into Tenerife South Airport for the very first time.

“As passengers head home, this new opening gives them a familiar, comforting choice in departures – whether that’s a last treat, a relaxed sit-down moment or something to ease the journey home.”

Earlier this year, Wetherspoons also opened its first ever pub in mainland Europe.

Having launched at Alicante Airport, there are now plans to open at Barcelona El-Prat Airport in September, followed by a second next year.

I’M dancing in the midday sun, frozen margarita in hand, while the DJ plays top tunes to complement the incredibly beautiful Bahamian backdrop.

I’m at the new Royal Beach Club, on Paradise Island, a private party pad in the Bahamas owned by cruise company Royal Caribbean.

This 17-acre stretch includes three differently-themed areas and the world’s largest swim-up bar.

And the beach club is exclusively for passengers travelling on board Royal Caribbean ships.

It’s booked similarly to a cruise excursion, and the £126 fee buys you food, and drink all day, as well as access to three temperature- controlled pools and two huge white-sand beaches.

For those who don’t want alcoholic drinks, it’s £96.

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Transfer to the club from ships docked at Bahamian capital Nassau are by bright-pink water taxi — ours was dubbed Flirty Flamingo.

After a few daiquiris by lunchtime, we were loving the upbeat atmosphere, with a real Las Vegas pool-party vibe.

As well as the Party Cove — by far the liveliest zone on the island — there is the Family Beach, designed with kids in mind.

The pool is perfect for younger children who want to play in shallow water and there is live music, and games, so parents can have fun, too.

For those who would rather kick back with a book and a beer, the Chill Beach is more relaxed.

But most come here to party and, with ten bars dotted around the island, it’s very easy to do that.

The food didn’t disappoint either.

Each area has an island grill, serving Bahamian favourites like coconut shrimp and jerk chicken.

After a day dancing in the sun, we were grateful to be able to amble on to one of the multi- coloured ferries back to the ship.

We were sailing on the 18-deck Wonder of the Seas, one of the world’s largest cruise vessels — and there was plenty on board to keep us busy, including 20 restaurants, five live shows, a surf simulator, zipline and ten-storey slide.

The ship is capable of hosting almost 7,000 passengers, in its 2,600 cabins.

Our balcony stateroom was bright and breezy, with the benefit of some outside space.

While there are plenty of venues for you to enjoy the tasty included dining, we splashed out on one of my favourite venues that come at an extra cost.

Seafood restaurant Hooked is around £36 extra per person if booked in advance, but is definitely worth it.

Delicious menu options included Alaskan salmon, Maine lobster and freshly shucked oysters, as well as a fantastic surf-and-turf.

After dinner, we managed to get a seat at the popular inTENse show, whose all-female performers include synchronised swimmers, acrobats and martial-arts specialists.

With a larger ship, the challenge can sometimes be getting your bearings, but on Wonder of the Seas the eight “neighbourhoods” mean you quickly get into the swing of things.

My favourites included Central Park, a serene open-air courtyard, adorned with trees and plants; The Boardwalk, a fun, fairground-themed zone; and the Royal Promenade, a social space with shops, bars and restaurants.

It’s easy to see why a Royal Caribbean cruise appeals to a wide range of holidaymakers.

Whether you are cruising as a family, a couple or with friends, there is a lot of fun to be had.

The karaoke lounge is a must — even if you don’t want to roll out your inner Jane McDonald.

The entertainment value for the audience here is high — with some very interesting performances from guests that have been sipping rum punch all afternoon.

There is more fun to be had off the ship, too.

All Royal Caribbean cruises to the Bahamas also stop at the cruise line’s own private island, Perfect Day at CocoCay, which is included in the cost.

The perks included with your cruise continue on the island, too.

If you want a break from sunning yourself by the turquoise sea, you can also embrace your inner kid at the Thrill Waterpark, which does come at an extra cost.

Here, you can take on the third-highest waterslide on the planet.

This tube-slide is shockingly fast, with riders hurtling down at more than 30mph — taking just seconds to splash-land.

Which is a lot faster than it takes to climb the 255 steps to get to the top.

Back on the Wonder of the Seas, guests can take advantage of their last night at sea with the bars, pools and decks full of life.

With lots of fun things to see and do on board — and now with the Royal Beach Club giving you even more fun on land — a Royal cruise definitely offers the best of all worlds.

BRITISH Airways’ multi-million pound superjumbo refit faces certification delays over fears crew cannot safely restrain drunk passengers in its new business class seats.

The airline is in the process of upgrading its Airbus A380 fleet with its latest Club Suite, which comes with a sliding privacy door.

But the makeover could hit delays because of concerns over how staff would deal with an air rage passenger on the upper deck.

BA plans to move a small section economy seats off the top floor and replace them with a larger Club World cabin.

Its passenger restraint kit is understood to be approved for economy and premium economy seats – not the new suite-style business seats.

That could leave crew with a major problem if a passenger became violent or disruptive upstairs.

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Sources said hauling a violent passenger down the A380’s narrow staircases could put crew and other passengers at risk.

The first aircraft are currently being worked on in Manila, Philippines, as part of the refurbishment programme.

Industry sources have also suggested there may be certification concerns over the weight of the new business seats, which include motors and sliding doors.

Extra weight on the upper deck could affect the plane’s payload limits.

However, any delay may also be linked to wider supply chain issues affecting premium aircraft seats across the industry.

British Airways said the A380 refit programme remains on schedule for 2026.

This news digest explores the cultural and historical significance of Mother’s Day, specifically highlighting how Samoa designates the following Monday as a public holiday to honor parents. The text traces the holiday’s American origins to Anna Jarvis, who established the tradition to commemorate her mother’s post-Civil War reconciliation efforts. Beyond historical context, the source provides a snapshot of global current events occurring around May 11, 2026, including political developments in Thailand and sports updates. It also contrasts traditional celebrations with the somber realities in Gaza, where the holiday is marked by loss due to ongoing conflict. Finally, the digest serves as a general information hub, offering financial data … 

Claim your free family day pass to English Heritage sites, valid until Sunday, 14 June 2026. Simply cut out your voucher from today’s paper and present it at the site of your choice.

Spring is in full swing at English Heritage sites around the UK, and you can discover them for FREE with this amazing offer in the paper starting from Tuesday.

Using the voucher in the Daily Mirror, you and your family can gain access to spectacular woodland castles, colourful country houses and Victorian gardens in full bloom.

The pass covers up to two adults and three children, or one adult and four children, or two adults. It is valid until Sunday, 14 June 2026, and is inclusive of the bank holiday.

There are hundreds of historic sites across the country just waiting to be discovered and each one has a fascinating story to tell. There is everything from Viking attacks and medieval mayhem to Georgian glamour and Second World War heroics.

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So whatever you and your family enjoy – whether it’s a stroll around striking gardens and castles, exploring hidden tunnels or learning about World War II, historic monarchs, and the Viking way of life – you’re bound to find something to keep every member of the family happy and entertained.

And you can make the most of the season with plenty of outdoor space, fun-packed playgrounds and cafes with outdoor seating serving up ice creams, delicious lunches and refreshing drinks.

Whether you explore a Roman fortress, a royal palace or a rambling ruined abbey there’s no better way to seize the season and head out into history with friends and family

How to claim

Cut out the voucher and present it at your chosen English Heritage site by Sunday June 14, 2026, inclusive.

Please check the English Heritage website for opening times.

These are just some of the English Heritage sites you could visit

Dover Castle — An English fortress atop the White Cliffs of Dover, where visitors can explore wartime tunnels and a medieval keep

Osborne — The seaside palace of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on the Isle of Wight

Pendennis Castle — The Tudor fortress in Falmouth, Cornwall, built by Henry VIII where visitors now find hidden tunnels, sweeping views, and lawns for picnics

Hadrian’s Wall — The historical landmark in Northumberland which was built by the Romans to guard the north-west frontier of their empire

Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Garden — A medieval fortress turned beautiful garden in Warwickshire

Whitby Abbey — A striking 7th-century gothic monastery sitting in the historic fishing port of Whitby

Walmer House and Gardens — A Tudor fortress turned country house, which has been the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Port for three centuries

Down House — The home of Charles Darwin where he wrote On the Origin of Species, where you’ll find his “outdoor laboratory” and extensive gardens

At these sites, you can make the most of the temperate season with plenty of outdoor space and playgrounds for kids to run around in, as well as in- and outdoor cafés with serving ice creams, lunches and drinks.

Plus, you can get a scone for just £1 when bought with any hot drink in an English Heritage café.

Stonehenge and some other sites are not included in this offer.

For full terms and conditions visit the English Heritage website.

easyJet passengers are being warned they could face serious consequences if they don’t completely switch off certain electronic devices

Holidaymakers travelling with easyJet this summer are being warned that they could unknowingly fall foul of strict cabin rules unless they fully switch off a commonly used electronic device before stepping on board. The trouble is that many passengers only discover the rule once they’ve already reached the airport or are on the verge of boarding, where last-minute slip-ups could spell serious problems.

According to EasyJet, the warning relates to e-cigarettes and vaping devices, which must be carried in hand luggage only and are strictly forbidden from being stowed in hold baggage under any circumstances. The airline’s official policy states: “All electronic cigarettes and vaping devices must be carried in the cabin, re-charging is strictly prohibited and the device must be completely switched off.”

It also advises passengers to keep their devices on their person where they can be kept an eye on throughout the flight, reducing the risk of accidental activation. These rules are in place due to concerns over lithium-ion batteries, which are used to power vaping devices and are well known for posing a fire risk if they become damaged or overheat.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority categorises lithium batteries as a significant safety risk in aviation due to their potential for ‘thermal runaway’, producing intense heat and flames that are notoriously difficult to extinguish in confined spaces. The International Air Transport Association has highlighted a worldwide rise in lithium battery-related incidents, which has gone hand in hand with the increasing prevalence of portable electronic devices, prompting airlines across the globe to tighten their rules considerably.

EasyJet also warns that passengers must take precautions to prevent their vaping devices from being switched on accidentally during flights, including ensuring they are fully powered down before boarding. The airline stipulates that travellers may carry no more than two spare batteries in their hand luggage, and that these must be properly protected to prevent them from coming into contact with metal objects.

Under UK aviation rules, vaping devices must be kept in hand luggage at all times. Official government guidance states that e-cigarettes are strictly prohibited from hold baggage.

Industry experts point out that confusion often arises because rules can vary between airlines and destinations, which can leave passengers unknowingly packing the wrong items before they even reach airport security. Aviation safety specialists also warn that using or charging vaping devices while on board flights is strictly prohibited by all major airlines, with penalties ranging from confiscation to fines or even travel bans in severe cases.

As summer travel demand picks up, holidaymakers are being urged to check airline regulations before they set off to avoid delays, confiscations, or being refused entry at the boarding gate.

BUTlIN’S is about to get loud as has launched new karaoke pods across all three of its three resorts.

Whether guests are on a family holiday or a Big Weekender, everyone can sing their heart out inside the newest attraction.

Follow The Sun’s award-winning travel team on Instagram and Tiktok for top holiday tips and inspiration @thesuntravel.

The new karaoke pods are a fun-filled private sing-along experience found inside state-of-the-art pods.

Groups of up to 12 can sing their hearts out and won’t have to worry about have a song stolen as there are over 45,000 tunes to choose from.

If you want to re-live the 55-minute stardom session, the high-tech pods capture everything with photos, videos and even GIFs.

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Each pod also has studio-grade soundproofing and immersive effects too.

You don’t have to leave the pod for any part of the sing-along either as drinks can be ordered and delivered straight to the pod.

Heidi Watson, Head of Innovation at Butlin’s, said: “We’re thrilled to have partnered with the Coca-Cola brand to bring this exciting, new karaoke experience to all three of our resorts.”

Heidi continued: “It’s the perfect activity for families or groups of friends, to create unforgettable memories together while singing their hearts out to their favourite tunes.  

“We’re confident the new Karaoke Pods will be popular with our guests, and an amazing addition to the activities already on offer across all of our different breaks.”

Found in Hotshots at all three resorts, pods can be booked in advance or on the day for £36. 

The karaoke pods are already up and running, so can be booked in time for May Half Term breaks which start from £184 between May 22 and June 1.

For families there’s plenty of entertainment when it comes to shows from MPW Maximum Pro Wrestling to The Masked Singer Live as well as Peppa Pig and the Theatre of Rock.

Guests can also enjoy swimming pools and slides at waterworld, fairground rides, and daytime activities like Playxperience and soft play.

The karaoke pods will no doubt be a hit for adults heading on Big Weekenders too whether that be for the 90s Reloaded to the Ultimate 80s.

Currently with Spring Savings you can get an extra 10 per cent off on selected weekender breaks from £79pp.

Headline artists this year include icons Fatboy Slim, Wet Wet Wet, Jason Donovan, Madness, Peter Andre and Scouting for Girls.

SUN, sea, sand and an Irish bar – it sounds like a dream and less of a reality to most of us living in the UK.

But for Sean and Aine Rice, this is actually the case, and the two are set to star in an upcoming episode of Channel 4‘s Escape to Florida.

Follow The Sun’s award-winning travel team on Instagram and Tiktok for top holiday tips and inspiration @thesuntravel.

When it comes to swapping life in the UK for a sun-soaked destination, it seems that most nowadays are heading to the likes of Portugal or far-flung Australia.

But Sean and Aine Rice who are from Northern Ireland, headed the other way across the Atlantic and settled in the USA.

The couple first called New York their home, but in the year 2000 moved to the ‘Sunshine State’ where they settled in Brandon near Tampa before heading to Apollo Beach.

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Talking to Sun Travel, Sean revealed just why he loves Florida so much and reveals that of course, the weather plays a big part in it.

He said: “Any day in the year is good day in Florida, we get great weather throughout the year.

“Even when the extreme heat arrives, Florida is catered for it, so you suffer from the humidity too much.”

Sean has lived in the States for 40 years, and Aine for 27 – together they share two sons and a two-year-old granddaughter.

Both confess that moving to Florida might be a little different now from when they bought their Floridan family home 26 years ago.

Sean told us: “It was extremely cheap back then, you certainly got a lot more house for your buck back in the day.

“Our first house was around £125,000, and it’s around doubled or tripled in price now.”

The couple now live in Apollo Beach which is south of Tampa and is referred to as a ‘boater’s paradise’.

It has over 55 miles of canals and direct access to Tampa Bay with plenty of wildlife swimming around the bay like dolphins and manatees.

There are some disadvantages to life in Florida though as Sean and Aine found in 2024 when their home was severely flooded by Hurricane Helene.

But the couple took repairing their house in their stride and have completely transformed it.

Sean told us: “Home is what you make it, and we turned ours into a mini resort.

“Originally it was a 1,700 square foot house with over 200 feet of water front and we’ve really modernised it.

“We’ve got our own dock, an outdoor shower, a driving range, putting green, space for our kayaks, we have an outdoor kitchen, and we plan on putting a sauna out there too.

“It’s somewhere you can hang out and relax, and there are palm trees that keep you out of the sun.

“We want to enjoy all the elements and the only time we really have to leave is to go shopping – it’s pretty cool.”

As for work, the pair run the Salty Shamrock, an Irish pub in the heart of Apollo Beach.

It serves up classic American meals as well as Irish classics like chicken pot pie, sausage and mash and seaside favourite, fish and chips.

The pub hosts live events and celebrate St Patrick’s Day when it comes around in March.

There’s plenty to do as well, especially when it comes to daytrip.

He said: “When we can, we like to jump on the boat to Fort Myers, have lunch, a few drinks – I’m an avid golfer and there are hundreds of golf courses in Florida.

“I love old Florida too which are the swamps and the everglades with the alligators out there.

“We’re also two hours from Orlando where the theme parks are, and we’re close to Tampa – there’s lots more to do there now especially when it comes to the food scene.

“But mostly, I love to fish on the water.”

Aine agreed adding: “There’s always something to do here, especially if you’re an outdoorsy person from fishing to boating, exploring the state parks or playing sports – I love pickleball at the moment.”

She continued: “I never feel guilty about being indoors when the sun is out like I did in Ireland – there’s a real urge to be outside and I enjoy it very much.”

The couple return to Northern Ireland multiple times a year, so what do they miss the most about their home country?

Aine said: “I miss family and a sense of community because that’s what I feel is missing in Florida, which is why we’ve created that with our bar.”

Sean added: “The people – Irish people are unique, when tourists ask me about Ireland, I say rent a car, get lost and talk to everyone.

“We travel a lot, but I’ve never experienced any place quite like Ireland. I love the coast of Donegal and how rural it all is and that it hasn’t been commercialised.

“I always look forward to going back.”

For anyone keen to make the move from the UK to the US, Sean has some advice to pass on.

He said: “Florida is a great place to live, as long as you do your homework.

“I’d say to come here, you do need some sort of career in mind, or get transferred with a sister company. For someone to come out and just ‘wing it’, it would be a huge uphill battle

“It can be quite the culture shock too in the likes of Apollo Beach – it’s much less fast-paced than New York or London.

“Remember that you don’t get things like free health care, and schools are very different from the UK too.

“And down in Florida, we have a lot of Spanish and Cuban neighbours, so I’d encourage anyone moving here to try and learn Spanish – although I’ve never have.

“Life in Florida has its ups and downs of course, but I’d recommend it to this day.”

Watch Escape to Florida on Monday-Friday on Channel 4 at 4PM.

Catch Sean and Aine’s episode on May 18.

PROPOSALS for a new £600million UK theme park have been backed by the British Tourist Authority (BTA).

The Government-funded tourist authority is supporting the plans for the historical park, which will offer live shows and reenactments.

French firm Puy du Fou submitted plans to build a site north of Bicester near the M40.

In the supporting letter, BTA director Andrew Stokes, praised the ride-free park’s established track record in France and Spain, saying it offers a “truly distinctive visitor experience through its historic theme park concept”.

He also commended the park’s collaborative approach in working with Experience Oxfordshire to create a fully authentic experience.

BTA said it “can see the potential for this project to generate significant interest and excitement among domestic and international visitors alike”.

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Stokes added that the plans “demonstrate confidence in the UK as a destination, in our leisure sector, and in the long-term strength of the visitor economy”.

The site will include four period villages with 13 live shows and have also been backed by Experience Oxfordshire.

Support chief executive Hayley Beer-Gamage said: “The decision by Puy du Fou to invest in Oxfordshire, and specifically within the Cherwell district, is a strong endorsement of the area as a globally recognised destination.

“This investment will drive job creation, stimulate economic growth, and increase visitor spend across both the district and the wider county.”

According to the park operator, the site will directly employ around 2,000 people, while supporting a further 6,000 jobs in hotels, restaurants, suppliers, and other local businesses.

Puy du Fou also said it will deliver a £500million annual boost to the local and regional economy.

In a report published earlier this year, BTA broke down the long-term economic benefits for Oxfordshire and the Cherwell district.

“Tourism has a significantly positive regional economic impact across the UK”, Stokes said.

“Relevant to Oxfordshire and Cherwell, the South East region is the second largest recipient, accounting for £17 billion of economic activity in 2024.”

Puy du Fou first opened in 1978, and is rated the second best attraction in France behind Disneyland Paris.

A WOMAN was left £900 out of pocket and missed her own 50th birthday abroad because of a passport mistake STILL being made by thousands.

Ali Burridge, from Suffolk, was due to fly to Benidorm with 15 of her friends during the May bank holiday weekend for celebrate her big birthday.

Having spent £900 on flights and accommodation, she ran into problems after arriving at the airport

Staff behind the counter at London Stansted gave her the “heartbreaking” news that she couldn’t board the plane due to a passport rule she had “no idea about”.

The rules, which have been in place since the UK left the EU, no longer allows passports to be older than 10 years – unlike previous rules which let you roll up to nine months over.

Thousands of Brits have been caught out by the confusing rule, which is when your expiry date is actually incorrect.

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This also caught Ali out, who bought her passport before the new rules and meant she didn’t realise the extra time on her passport was no longer valid.

She said: “It was awful when I was told the news, to be honest, I’m still in shock.

“I had been looking forward to this since my 40th birthday – we had spent the previous year organising it all. In reality, the rule has cost me money and memories.”

Her sister Tracey said the girls were “in tears” after they landed and heard the news, with them travelling out on an earlier flight.

Ali also said that no issues were raised on the website when she checked in two weeks before, despite it asking for her expiry date.

She continued: “If it had flagged the issues, I would have been able to get a new one, which is annoying.”

Despite driving to Peterborough with an attempt to get a new one at the Passport Office, she was unable to in time for her trip.

Instead, she was forced to stay home whilst some of her friends that had already made it out there enjoyed the sun – who managed to FaceTime her while out there.

She added: “I still know and see a lot of people travelling on the old passport, so I want to raise awareness so this doesn’t happen to others.

“You could be easily caught out like me if you don’t travel often. I’m seeing this situation as a valuable life lesson.”

RYANAIR is axing MORE flights to Europe – hitting four popular airports this year.

The budget airline has confirmed that it would be closing its base at Thessaloniki as well as reducing flights at Athens.

Not only that, but off-season flights to Chania and Heraklion in Crete have been scrapped.

This means 700,000 fewer seats on sale this winter, working out to a 45 per cent reduction, and resulting in 12 routes being scrapped in total.

Ryanair has cited airport charges as the reason behind the reduction in flights, saying the airports are “no longer competitive” in the off peak season.

Ryanair’s Chief Commercial Officer, Jason McGuinness said they “regretted” the closures and reductions, but said it was because of the “failure to pass through the ADF reduction” unlike other airports in Greece.

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He added: ” The Fraport Greece monopoly have hiked airport charges +66% since 2019.

“Unfortunately, there will now be less low-cost air fares for Thessaloniki’s citizens and visitors, and year-round tourism will be harmed as a result.

“These aircraft will be reallocated to Albania, regional Italy and Sweden, where airports have passed on their Govt’s aviation tax savings – resulting in more connectivity, tourism and jobs this Winter in those regions.”

It comes as the budget airline axes millions of seats elsewhere in Europe.

Last summer, they airline confirmed two million seats across Spain would be scrapped, with all routes to Tenerife North, Santiago de Compostela, Vigo, Jerez and Valladolid cancelled.

And back in March, Ryanair cancelled all flights to The Azores, often dubbed the Hawaii of Europe.

DYSON has brought out the latest new hairdryer to revolutionise the market – and it’s perfect for travellers.

But what is it really like to use? I tested it out on a recent holiday abroad to see if it’s really worth the hype.

Dyson Supersonic Travel Hair Dryer, £249 (with free £45 travel bag)

The new Dyson hairdryer is 25 per cent lighter, weighing just 0.33 kg (331 grams) compared to as much as 0.82 kg of the larger hairdryers.

As someone with very thick and very long hair, drying my own can be extremely laborious and time consuming.

So where better to try out the new travel version of Dyson’s much-loved hairdryer on a recent trip abroad?

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First up I was impressed how small it was to fit in my suitcase, being not much bigger than a water bottle.

It is 32 per cent smaller than its standard hairdryer, being just 22cm compared to 28cm in length.

It’s also light, with a shorter 2m cord – meaning it kept my luggage weight low, as well as the added benefit of less arm ache when drying my hair.

Another tick in its favour is that it’s voltage automatically adapts to whichever country you are in, so it works in full no matter where you are.

But I was insanely impressed with how fast it dried my hair.

There are three different heats – low, medium and high – and two speed settings.

I tested it out on my just-out-the-shower hair meaning it was soaking wet.

Usually I have to let this dry for at least 20 minutes before even attempting to dry it.

And the Dyson on its hottest setting dried my hair almost completely in about three minutes.

Another two and it would definitely have been fully dry.

it also comes with a detachable styling concentrator which – very satisfyingly – clips on by magnet.

It made my hair feel much softer than I’d expected (often feeling pretty ratty and dry using the budget hotel hairdryers).

I didn’t believe a hair dryer could actually dry hair that quickly, and while it might be a bit crazy to call it life changing, it’s something I’ve been raving about my friends to for weeks since.

It is also cheaper than the current full size Dyson hairdryer at £399, or the original at £279.

Dyson Supersonic Travel Hair Dryer, £249

It currently comes in “ceramic pink” colour, with a complimentary £45 travel bag if you buy directly with Dyson.

Here are some of our other travel deals, including cheap holidays you can still book for May half term.

We’ve also rounded up some seaside holiday parks with deals from £2.29pp.