I know a few here have the same older steel bike I have, a Specialized Sirrus Triple from about 1990, when it was spec.d as a brisk day tourer. I like it very much indeed, and have done a lot of European tours on it.

You know how it is when you browse cycling sites? All of a sudden, a Hampsten Tourissimo - lugged steel with S&S couplers - began to look just the ticket for future tours (now that most airlines no longer carry bikes without huge additional cost).

Then, I thought. Never a good thing. Roberts Cycles in UK (and I'm sure many other good framebuilders) advertise carefully bisecting a steel frame and adding the couplers. 500 pounds. Hampsten, $4,000.

Hmm. Not sure I want to put my old pal under the knife, but a coupled springy tourer would be a good thing.

Thoughts? (I fully anticipate "just buy another" as the frequent response, if any!)

I'd put your old pal under the knife. I'm thinking of doing a very similar thing at Bilenky Bike Works in Philadelphia. Their step-by-step for getting your bike retrofitted is pretty interesting in that it seems a straight ahead process: https://www.bilenky.com/retro_step_by_step.html

A Surly Travel Check frameset is about $1000.

You frame is old, eventually all frames fail.

N '/. 2 would be a tandem ?

I would highly recommend a Bike Friday travel bike .. several types /styles
they are made to go inside a standard suitcase , to shirk the Bike handling fees.

2 different 20 " wheel options 451 fast, or 406 rugged.. they will ship anywhere..

I f you wanted quality 10 years ago then it had to be a Roberts. Most were custom made so rarely got sold and if they did- you were lucky if the bike fitted. Still a quality bike and I have always had a hankering for the famed DGS BLX mountain bike.

https://www.robertscycles.com/p_mtb.html

Still a quality bike workshop so if you do want your Sirrus cut up- then Roberts is your man