As editors of a city lifestyle magazine with a travel section that covers locales far beyond our beloved Phoenix Valley, you can imagine that we get pitched A TON about new and exciting travel offers around the country. Of course, we can't fit everything into a 200 page monthly magazine that only allots five of those pages to regional travel. Sigh... 'tis the nature of publishing.

But it pains us too much to kill all of our darlings. So each month, we scrape a few travel tidbits off the cutting room floor and bring you Travel Bag Bites – bite-sized travel-related goodies (special offers, activities and deals) to snack on while planning your next great escape.

1. Phoenix Comicon – May 25-28
Calling all sci-fi fans, comic enthusiasts and bookworms – Phoenix Comicon is back. Spend the weekend browsing the tables set up in the exhibitor hall and meet actors and writers like Karen Gillan, Dick Van Dyke, Anthony Michael Hall and Bonnie Wright. Full event $75; T $20; F and Su $30; Sa $45. T, F, Sa 10 a.m.-2 a.m.; Su 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Phoenix Convention Center, 100 N. Third St., Phoenix, phoenixcomicon.com.

At the beginning of the documentary "Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent," which opens in the Valley Friday at Harkins Shea, the handsome old title character pads around what appear to be ancient Mexican ruins with a funereal look on his face, morosely contemplating the failure of the world to live up to his standards of perfection. But Tower is not a disillusioned political or religious idealist, not a diplomat whose plans for world peace have been ignored.

Our top picks for June’s best arts events.

Now that spring break has come and gone, it’s safe to venture out to the “Arizona Riviera” for some lakeside partying of your own – sans sunburns and alcohol poisoning, s’il vous plaît. These three new activities will get you in the Lake Havasu spirit, and they’re all in walking distance of one another.

1. Practical Art Random Craft Night: Let’s Color! – May 17
This is the launch event for the weekly Practical Art Random Craft Night. Each week will feature different artistic mediums from paper crafts to jewelry making. To kick things off: coloring, natch. Some supplies are provided and all are welcome. Free. 6-8 p.m. Practical Art, 5070 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, practical-art.com/events.

“It was nothing like we thought it was going to be,” Chef Christopher Gross of Christopher’s and Crush Lounge says of his visit to the Russian capital with girlfriend Jamie Hormel. The city felt more cosmopolitan than Eastern Bloc, he found. “You have these pre-conclusions of the Soviet Union or whatever and it was very New York-ish. It’s a beautiful walking city.” We asked our culinary comrade to share some trip highlights.

Your mom deserves the world, of course, but who’s got the budget for such a purchase? It’s definitely not on sale at Costco. In lieu of the entire world or even a private island, we’ve come up with a list of local goodies to pamper Phoenix moms on Mother’s Day on any budget, from free to platinum.

Each week, we round up the best arts events, and some under-the-radar finds, from around the Valley.

Cinco de Mayo, much like St. Patrick’s Day, has come to mean beer-fueled cultural appropriation rather than historical cultural celebration. I’m Irish and though I’m not personally offended when people booze it up while dressed like leprechauns on March 17, I do understand being frustrated by frat bros who refuse to learn about why they’re partying.