Cutting Through the Holiday Chaos

The Wishing Well's Harry Reif discusses this week's travel news and Hot Deals!

Feeling overwhelmed by holiday stress? In this episode we share practical tips to help you navigate the festive season with ease. Discover how to make good on two of the most popular New Year’s resolutions: spending more time with family and taking a well-deserved vacation.

Join us as we explore serene and exciting destinations like Scottsdale, AZ, the picturesque city of Geneva, Switzerland, the winter wonderland of Mt. Tremblant, and the vibrant culture of Montreal. Whether you’re planning a family getaway or a solo retreat, we’ve got you covered with expert advice and insider tips to make your holiday season truly special.

Don’t miss out on this essential guide to a stress-free holiday and a fulfilling New Year!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a Lifeless Ordinary. It's a travel show and
podcasts from your friends at the wishing Well two forty
three f avenue in harsmerg and online at the wishing
Well dot This. The wishing Well is your ultimate luxury concierge,
travel agency and a Lifeless Ordinary is a travel show
and podcast hosted by Terry Dean, bringing her over forty
years of experience in the travel industry to help guide

(00:21):
you to great experiences in your travel, whether it be
around the block, around the country, or around the world.
Let's bring in Terry Dean say hello, but not today
today we bring in Harry and say hello. You got
the B team today, Chris, Harry, you shouldn't. You shouldn't
put yourself in that position right from the beginning of
our show today, it's good to see you. It's great

(00:41):
to see you too. Nobody can stand up to Terry,
but I'm going to do my awful best to you know,
to get up there. Well, I'm glad to see you today. Harry.
Had a busy week travel wise. We got a lot
of news to catch up on. Oh yeah, well, one
of the things that we talk about seems like almost
every week, Chris is real ID and real ID we've

(01:03):
talked about. It's been extended till next year, till twenty
twenty five, and what we haven't talked about is the
way that real idea is going to be used. Last week,
we spent some time talking about how you can get
your driver's license and ID tied together in many many states,
and when we look at getting through airports getting into

(01:23):
federal facilities, there are really four options that TSA officers,
User Security Office federal security officers use for identification, and
that is a digital ID. You can show your driver's license,
you can use a state issued ID, or you can
use a passport. And what you're seeing at airports now
that I think you're going to see more of and

(01:44):
that's why I have it in our news segment is
the biometric cameras. They're using biometric cameras now and they're
matching you with the picture on your ID, and they're
actually electronically trying to pair those together. Interesting when I
last week we were talking about being able to add
your ID to your phone, and so I did that

(02:04):
while you were talking, and I had to put the
phone like right up to my face and it scanned
my face before it would connect my ID to my phone.
So it's similar to that. It's exactly that, And what
it does is it actually creates a digital signature of
your face. It measures the distance between your eyes, the
people's in your eyes, your ears, all those kinds of

(02:25):
things that even if you put on a you know,
a fake mustache and disguise, it will still be able
to ascertain that that is you, and the security cameras
are you. The security people are using these biometric cameras,
and some of the people at airports are a little
startled by that, but they need not be, because if
you don't want that picture saved, and it's typically not saved,

(02:49):
all you got to do is know that they're not
saving that. And if you don't want your picture used,
you do have the option at airport security to say no,
don't use my picture, and they'll just look at your
driver's license a little harder. The idea is they want
to make sure that that's you. I'm less concerned about
the biometric photo that they're scanning and what they see

(03:12):
when they X ray me in that machine where I
have to stand up and it spins around me. Yep, Well,
they haven't done that yet for letting you into it,
but they into the airport. But they are doing some
of those kinds of things to make sure that you
can walk through the line and not have to take
off your shoes, not have to take off your belt,
not have to you know, take off your hat, and

(03:32):
all those kinds of things. But the big news is
that some airlines are partnering now with the federal government.
And at this point, both Delta and United have partnered
with the federal government and they are getting some special
dispensations where they're helping with the security for their best passengers.
So if you're a Delta passenger and you're going to Detroit, JFK,

(03:54):
Los Angeles, Aguardia, Salt Lake City, Delta maybe assisting the
federal officers with that scanning process. If you've got that
electronic registration and you're registered as a TSA pre check
traveler or Global Entry traveler, if you're with United Airlines,
that may help you in Newark, Los Angeles, LaGuardia, Chicago,

(04:19):
or also Salt Lake City. And just this week I've
read American is going to be jumping in on that too,
So you're going to see the airlines getting more involved
with security. All three agents, all three entities, passengers, the
federal government, and the airlines are interested in moving you
through that airport more quickly and getting rid of those lines.

(04:41):
And I applaud that big time. See, I don't travel
a lot, but I appreciate it for when I do. Yeah,
So that's what's going on with real ID. Another thing
in the news that I had is Tropical Storm Patty.
She's hanging around out in the Caribbean May. She's not
yet declared as the next one, but she may upon

(05:01):
us next week. Terry talks with you so many times
about hurricane season and why you may want to think
about going to the Caribbean islands and the you know,
late October November timeframe. We've seen the storms coming through.
The next one you might hear about is tropical Storm Patty.
You heard it here first, So they say it's about
sixty percent chance that we'll hear from Patty next week

(05:25):
and she'll start to wreak some havoc in the Caribbean.
We'll see what happens in there. So Tropical Storm Patty
keep her on your radar. We talked about real ID
this morning. I want to also talk about passports. I
got a really interesting memo this week where the Secretary
of State Lincoln and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. I'm

(05:49):
not sure if I'm pronouncing her name correctly, but they
celebrated that they have reduced the wait times for international
travelers for visas, and they've all also reduced passport processing
time for American citizens. I did not have any idea
that during twenty and twenty four the US government has

(06:14):
so far issued twenty four point five million passport books
and cards. That's a half million jump from twenty twenty three,
and that's just amazing to me. They've got a new
online renewal program too that if you're listening this morning
and you are looking at your passport and you have

(06:37):
less than six months on it, go to state dot
gov and look at this online passport renewal program. It's
really easy. It launched about a month ago, and it
is fantastic. If you have a passport in good standing,
it's very easy to renew that online, and that is
the ultimate identification and it is absolutely necessary if you're

(07:01):
looking to travel outside of the United States. That was
some good news too. Passports getting better, right real id
getting better, passport's getting better weather, We're not sure the
other getting better news, and we're following this. I'm waiting
to see what happens on this, but everyone's probably been
hearing about Boeing. Boeing's been on strike. I guess about

(07:25):
eight weeks now. They turned down and offer one time.
The machinists have turned down and offer, but there is
scheduled to be another vote this coming week. We think
that they've gotten together on this. It's about thirty three
thousand people. That's a lot of workers that are out
of work, and the latest proposal that I read, they're

(07:47):
going to increase their wages by thirty eight percent over
four years. I'm thinking of putting in my application. Okay.
They are also going to get a ratification bonus. I
don't understand how you get a bonus for going on strike,
but they're going to get a ratification bonus too. So
I hope the Boeing people are listening. I hope they

(08:08):
were going to vote for this contract, and I hope
that they can get back to building planes and building
them very safely. Okay, and I have one other thing
this morning that I thought we could talk about. A
little bit that was pretty entertaining. I got a survey results,
and this looks at the top airlines considered among US
flyers by generation. Of course, I'm a baby boomer, okay,

(08:30):
And before we get into this, can do you have
a definition of what the different generations are, because I
absolutely do help me with that, because I never know
the difference between a gen X or a gen Z
A millennial. Okay, So baby boomers, we're the oldest of
the bonch. Okay. We were born between nineteen forty six
nineteen sixty four, Okay, okay, so that's me. There's the

(08:50):
gen x's. The gen x's are nineteen sixty five to
nineteen eighty. No, it's millennials eighty one to ninety six.
And then we have our gen zs ninety seven to
twenty twelve. And if you were born after twenty twelve,
there is not a name that I'm aware of yet
for you. You're too young to care at this point.
That's right, you're probably not considering flying yet. So which

(09:11):
one are we going to start with? I want to
start with the baby boomers, and they ranked favorite airlines,
and I'm going to look at the top several and
these are go down to the all through the tens. Okay,
so the top ten airlines in each one. But baby
boomers fifty one percent favored Delta airlines, followed by forty

(09:32):
five percent favorite American airlines, then another forty five percent
like Southwest, forty three like United, and twenty Jet Blue.
Your gen X, you said, right, I am, what do
you think your favorite airline is? I just look, so
I'm going to say Delta. Delta would be correct like
the baby boomers about the same fifty two percent like them.

(09:55):
But here's where it shifts a little bit. The second
favorite air airline for gen X's is United, followed very
very closely, actually about a tie with American Southwest drops
a little bit. They are number four, then jet Blue
again number five, and then British Air jumps in. In

(10:15):
your generation, how many times have you flown British Air? Never?
There you go, and one of my favorites Alaska also
number seven. Now the millennials, the millennials have switched. The
millennials favor American airlines by fifty percent, followed closely by United,
then third Delta, Southwest, Jet Blue and British Airs jumped

(10:36):
in there. Again okay, and then the gen Zs. The
gen Zs are United customers number one, followed by American Delta.
Then this was a surprise to meet Chris. Emirates is
the number four favorite airline of the gen Zs and
one of the things that Emirates is known for. Obviously
they're overseas flights, but the sleeping pods. They have some

(10:59):
of the best you know, business in first class. Yeah,
in the air. So it says those guys are flying
better than me. I don't figure that out. My guess
is they're not basing this on their own personal experience,
but what they see in the commercials either the commercials
either that or they're on a really nice expense account. Yeah. Okay,
But I've got another another twist on this. What about

(11:19):
men and women? Men and women don't agree on their
favorite airlines either, not surprisingly right, Okay, So as guys,
what do you think our favorite airlines are. I'm gonna
go with Delta again. Well, they started with United and
Delta was number three, but it was Delta and American
were number one and two pretty close, followed by Delta, Southwest,

(11:43):
Jet Blue. But if you are of the other gender,
if you're a female, your favorite is Delta, followed by
American and United, then Southwest also at number four, and
Jet Blue. So interesting when you look at the different
gender and you look at the different generations. Not terribly far.

(12:04):
I'm talking about, you know, marginal percentage points, like a
couple four or five percentage points. It sounds like the
top three and almost all of them though, were Delta, American,
and United, which are the ones that were most likely
to fly when we're doing domestic travel yet Yeah, yeah,
and Southwest is bumping in there too, number four, number
three sometimes too. Southwest, the one where you don't have

(12:26):
assigned seats, you don't yet have assigned seats, they're moving
to that. I would think that would be for the
gen z that they would like that. I think they
would like something a little bit more casual. And they
ranked them number seven. Yeah, it's us old guys. We
don't seem to care where we sit right, just giving

(12:47):
a seat and I'm happy. So I thought that was
kind of interesting. The other thing that was a tension
getting for me is looking at how in Domestic and
International Flyers Book they're transportation, and this one surprised me
a little bit It says that during the past year,
for people flying domestically, forty eight percent, almost half are

(13:12):
booking through agencies. That's something Terry and I have talked
about many times. We've seen an increased number of people
coming in and having us book tickets for them. We
weren't sure Phil was just us, but this is confirming
that's happening across the board, and even more so when
it comes to international flights. Seventy two percent of international

(13:36):
flyers are visiting travel agencies to book their tickets. That
was a big surprise to me. Did you think that
number would be that high? I would think so for
international travel, Yeah, you don't want to risk messing that up.
International can be really rough if you mess it up.
And I think what maybe boosting some of the numbers
domestically is if you make a mistake there too, if

(13:57):
you get a name misspelled, if you don't have the
birthdate exactly correct, that becomes a very expensive process or
where she yet you show up and you're denied boarding.
So I think people have maybe fallen under that, uh
you know hammer a couple times. Well, So I just
flew to Memphis last week, down to Saint Jude, and

(14:21):
so I have a radio name and I have a
real name, and they put some of my stuff under
my radio name, and I'm emailing back, going, polease fix
this now need yeah, And then you have to pay
to do that. I mean, the fees are fifty dollars,
one hundred dollars. They're not you know, like five dollars.
It's not a parking ticket. It's a big thing to

(14:42):
change the fees. And I don't know why those numbers
are so high, but it's it's very, very expensive. So
I was very you know, intrigued seeing that, just a
little bit of extra news, and I thought that was
a important thing to look at as we're looking at
some of the trends. I think the takeaway that I
have from that is number One, it's not surprising. Number Two,

(15:05):
it's a little encouraging that between the four generations that
you listed, we're all picking about the same you know, airlines,
you know, maybe placing them slightly different in the top three,
but we're all having similar experiences, yes, similar experiences, And
you know, I think a lot of it has to
do with the airlines and the service levels. A lot
of it has to do with where people are flying.

(15:26):
I'd be interested in seeing how this study relates to
where those generations of people live, because each airline has
certain service areas too, so you could dig into this
a little more. But for some quick entertainment on a
Saturday morning, there we go. Yeah, so, Harry, we just
got done with Halloween. We're moving into a couple of
holidays now where a lot of us will be booking

(15:47):
these flights to go home and see loved ones. It
can definitely be chaotic, yes, And today's show is called
cutting through the holiday chaos, and we're going to dig
into that as well. Here on a Life Less Ordinary.
Protect your vacation investment with guidance from a travel professional.
The wishing Well knows travel and help you avoid pitfalls
they can spoil your hard earned vacation. We'll plan your

(16:10):
trip and have your back as you travel. All of
this without support or so called convenience fees. We're on
the web at the Wishingwell dot biz or call us
at five four zero nine zero eight two three three three.
That's five four zero nine zero eight two three three three.
The wishing Well really does make dreams come true. And

(16:30):
welcome back to a Life less Ordinary. This is your
travel show and podcasts from your friends at the wishing Well.
You can find them on ne f Avenue and Harrisonburg
online at the wishing Well dot biz, or I recommend
you call them at five four h nine oh a
twenty three thirty three. Maybe discuss ways to cut the

(16:51):
chaos out of your holiday travel, which is just around
the corner. And that's what our show is all about today,
well said Harry, Let's figure out some ways to cut
through all this holiday chaos. Yes, so we made it
through Halloween, right, which wasn't really a travel event for me. No.
The last week's show we talked about a lot of
great places you can travel for Halloween. Oh my goodness. Yes,

(17:11):
and that list doesn't get any shorter when you bring
up the next couple holidays coming up, Chris, Thanksgiving and Christmas,
so right there with Halloween, but probably five times as much.
Both Thanksgiving and Christmas are really happy holidays. They're focused
on celebrating time with family, friends, loved ones. They're focused

(17:33):
on saying thanks for all the wonderful things in our lives.
But it's also a time I've observed over my years
that our schedules get really crazy. It's anything but ordinary.
Everything goes for blue when it comes time for Thanksgiving
and time for Christmas. Right the schools are on holiday break,

(17:54):
work schedules get really wonky because everyone's trying to use
up personal time, vacation time, time just to spend time.
Nobody has any idea what the weather's going to be like.
They're trying to plan things. Very few days left, and
this one's important. There are very few days left, really,
just a couple months left to make good on all

(18:15):
those Remember you did New Year's resolutions about ten months
ago and I stopped doing those years ago both I
never stuck with them. Well, a lot of people make
these resolutions and they've got two months left to keep them.
So this morning, I want to help the listeners cut
through some of that holiday stress, and I'm going to
share some ideas on how people can make good on

(18:37):
two of the most popular New Year's resolutions that many
people make. And even if you don't make these as resolutions,
I think there are things that are at the top
of mind when Thanksgiving comes around and when Christmas comes around.
Those two things are Number one, spending more time with family,
right your kids, your parents, your siblings, and even relative

(19:01):
at least the ones you like, right, not all the
relatives necessary, but at least the ones you like fair enough,
fair enough, Okay. And number two, how many people just
say I'm going to get away. I'm going to plan
a getaway. I'm gonna take a vacation. I'm going to
visit some place that's on my bucket list. You and
Terry are always talking about bucket lists. Visit someplace on

(19:23):
my bucket list, check out a work and home obligations.
Just kind of divorce myself from all those commitments for
a week or so. I'm going to reconnect with myself,
let my brain kind of, you know, reset itself, and
re energize. So, if you have either one or both

(19:43):
of those two resolutions, I want to help this morning.
And I'm going to start by talking about some of
the places that can satisfy either or both of those resolutions.
Places that you can go by yourself, with your special person,
with your family, places that are off the beaten path
of vacation destinations. Most are likely places that you may

(20:07):
not have already been to. And I'm gonna start with
one of the places that I have been to a lot,
and I think is one of the best places to
spend that week, and most people have that week. The
crazy week is the one between Christmas and New Year's. Yeah,
isn't that the goofiest week of the year, right? That
should just make that a holiday. Think the whole week, Ye,

(20:29):
Christmas to New Year should be one holiday. I'm voting
for you, brother. I'm also the guy who tried to
sway my friends into believing in a thirteen month calendar.
So I might not have it all correct. Well, I
might not vote for you then, but I'm going to
let you work on it, and I think this is
a great start, Chris. So I'm going to start by

(20:50):
suggesting that you look at going to a place called Scottsdale, Arizona.
Scottsdale is just outside of Phoenix. It's a place that
Turns and I have spoken about before on the show,
and it's one of my favorite places because here you
are at Christmas time looking outside the window and you

(21:11):
are in the desert. And when you're in the desert,
you expect it to be really hot. Well, temperatures in
Scottsdale around that time of year during the day, mid sixties,
pretty dog ne comfortable. It gets down to the mid
forties low forties at night, so it's a pretty comfortable environment.
But the thing that always strikes me when I go

(21:32):
to Scottsdale is the way that they can decorate a
cactus with Christmas lights. Now that's a very delicate process. Yeah, okay,
but they light up the desert. It looks marvelous. And
one of my favorite places, a place that I went
to as a very young man, was a place called
the Mountain Shadows Resort that is just outside of downtown Scottsdale,

(21:56):
and very nice resort, family oriented, not you know, too
crazy busy, but just you know, very pleasant, very nice.
You've got an outstanding view of the Camelback Mountains right
outside of your room. And when you're in that Scottsdale area,
you're not in the city of Phoenix, so you don't
have the chaos there, but you can enjoy some tremendous shopping.

(22:19):
There's an old town scotts Stale there that's not very
far away. Lots of Native American culture out there, lots
of Indian culture, horse trails, horses, golfing, the desert botanical gardens,
and that's the time of year that all of the
botanical plants are blooming. You've heard of the Christmas cactus, okay,

(22:41):
so you're going to see that, and lots of things
to do if you like old cars. That's where some
of the best old car auctions are. So I put
together what it would take to go out there for
a week between Christmas and New Year's which again, it's
a kind of a high travel season because even before
you made it a holiday was already popular, all right.

(23:02):
So you can get direct NonStop flights from Dalls to Phoenix.
You can stay at a very nice resort, a four
or five star resort, Mountain Shadows, and you can do
that for a week for just about five thousand dollars.
Pretty good deal, yeah, okay, and it knocks one off
your bucket least. And you don't need real ID. Well

(23:24):
you need a driver's license right now to get through
the airport, so no real ID, no Passport's pretty easy
to get to. My dad always said when he retired
he was going to retire to Scottsdale. That's where my
parents did retire too. That's how I know that place
so very very well. It's absolutely fantastic place in just

(23:45):
a wonderful place to visit. Around Christmas time. I always
looked forward to it. My dad used to pay my
boys twenty dollars a piece between Christmas and New Year's
when we visit, he'd pay them twenty dollars a piece
to have them jump into his backyard pool. Okay, and
when you're ten years old, twenty dollars is like winning

(24:07):
the lottery. So every year they would do it. Every year,
my dad would pull out the money and pay them
and laugh and have a good old time. And what
a great experience and what great memories of Scottsdale, Arizona.
So you can create some of those for yourself if
you want to try that. But I want to jump
to a different location next, I want to jump over
the pond again. I'm going to get you their non

(24:28):
stop direct flights because that's very, very important over the
holiday season to get those NonStop flights because that's when
the airports are busier. So any chance that you have
to get stuck in an airport is minimized if you
don't go to an interim airport, go direct on NonStop flights.
I'm headed to Geneva, Switzerland. Next, count me in. You

(24:51):
got it. There's a hotel there called the Wilson Hotel.
It's at the tip of the lake, the lower of
Lake Geneva, near the city of Geneva, and it's a
marvelous hotel for restaurants. One of them Michelin starred some

(25:11):
great ethnic food. Geneva is kind of known as the
Swiss Riviera, so you've got skiing, You've got lots of
history there. You can go visit a medieval castle on
an island, the Chateau de Chilan, right in the middle
of the lake. It's been there since the twelfth century.
You can visit a castle in Geneva. You can go

(25:34):
visit and you might like this. Are you a Queen fan? Yes? Okay.
They recorded six albums there between seventy eight and ninety five.
And they have the charming holiday markets there in Geneva,
So you can go see some music history, you can
see an ancient castle, you can visit the holiday markets.

(25:56):
And surprisingly for all of that, louting your international airfare
four to two, we're talking about seventy three hundred dollars.
Okay again that high holiday week. So these are great
prices given when I'm sending you there in one of
the most you know sought after holiday periods, you will

(26:17):
spend the end of Christmas and you will spend New
Year's in Lake Geneva I like it or not in
Lake Geneva, but at Geneva nearby Lake Geneva. Okay, next one,
I want to send you to another place that I've
personally visited, used to visit quite often, and I like
very much. But closer to home here in North America.

(26:40):
I'm going to send you up to mont or and Bloc. Okay,
where's that it is in Canada. It is almost straight
north from where we are. It's just to the west
of Montreal. Again, direct NonStop flights out of Dulles. And
for this one, I'm gonna spruce it up a little bit.
I'm going to put you in a Fairmont Hotel. Fairmont's

(27:02):
are one of our favorite hotels. They do an outstanding job.
They're virtuoso hotels, which means that they are the best
of the best. So we're gonna put you in the
Fairmont Tremblanc. It's nestled in a village at the foot
of Mont Tremblanc, the skier, So you're in a ski
village for this one, all right. And whether you're a
skier or not, You've got beautiful views of the mountain.

(27:24):
You've got beautiful views of Trembron, Tremblanc Lake. You've got
the skiing of course, walk up Skian, you walk out
of your room, go Skian. How's that for convenient? Okay?
And even if you're not skinning, maybe your kids want
to ski, or your special someone wants to ski. If
you don't want to ski, you can do ice skating.

(27:44):
If you don't want to ice skate, you can do
snowmobil Have you ever gone snowmobiling? I want to, but
I have not. It's a blast, It's an absolute blast.
It's some of the most fun that you can have.
I put a car in this vacation because I want
you to be able to get around a little bit.
So you've got great views, great skiing, great things to

(28:05):
do in a fantastic high end hotel for a week
between Christmas and New Year's eighty one hundred dollars for
two including the air, including that first class hotel, including
a car, so you can drive around and see whatever
you want to say. You are right just to the

(28:26):
west of Montreal. You're taking good care of us around
the holidays here yeah, I'm trying. I'm trying. So the
last one I want to look at is Montreal itself,
and Montreal is a wonderful city. I was last there
this summer and it was fantastic again, NonStop direct flights.
I'm going to put you downtown Montreal in a Lamont Stefan,

(28:49):
which is right near McGill University. You are not far
from the Saint Lawrence River, which at Christmas time is
absolutely beautiful. They have the Christmas markets going on in
the city of Montreal. You've got food and drink, you've
got that French culture. You think you might be in Europe,
but you're not. Okay, you're just a little bit north

(29:09):
of the US border with Canada. They have something that
they call lumino therapy. That's light therapy. That is light therapy.
Of course the French would pronounce it a little bit different.
That would probably luminidos that I pay or something like that.
But what they have is they have these interactive art installations.
They light up the sides of buildings and facades along

(29:32):
Saint Catharine Street with just these animated lighting displays as
only a true French artist could do. So you've got
a lot going on there between the markets. A visit
to Notre Dame Basilica would be mandatory if you're going
to make that trip, I think. And they have a
big park there called mont Royal Park, beautiful park. You

(29:56):
can take a walk if you want to try cross
country skiing. Another first, Remember I was talking about bucket lists,
all right, So try some cross country skiing. Really very easy.
It's like walking in shoes with the heels not attached,
so the back of your feet are not attached to
the skis when you're cross country skiing. If you want

(30:16):
to do a little bit of ice skating, you can
get out there. They freeze the little part of the
river that comes through Montreal. They've got a Chinatown again.
A wonderful, wonderful week between Christmas and New Year's and
you're talking in the sixty five hundred dollars range again
for a very elegant hotel, a very elegant week during

(30:39):
one of the busiest weeks of the year. I love
that we're making memories that are going to last a
lifetime too. Yeah, checking off the bucket list, creating some memories,
and you're really taking an international visit. You are in Europe.
When you're in Montreal, for sure, you feel like you're
in Europe. Mont Tremblant. You'll see some of that too,

(31:00):
a little more mixed up there because you get a
lot of the people from the United States crossing the
borders in New Hampshire and Vermont coming up there to
go skiing, because it's really nice skiing up there, but
some really good things to do. So that's a great
couple of things to get you going. I want to
twist our focus a little bit and I want to

(31:22):
talk about another facet of cutting through the holiday chaos,
and that is talking about group travel. Chris, let's get
into that next here on a life less ordinary, who
would think of driving off to a new destination without
guidance from Google or Syria. Let the Wishing World guide
your next travel experience. Travel the world as you enjoy
the very best destinations and all they offer at the

(31:43):
best prices. Our mobile travel app keeps your vacation on
track and keeps you connected with our team of experts.
For help. If you need it, call us at five
four zero nine zero eight two three three three stop
buy two forty three Avenue or visit us at the
wishing Well dot bizz and welcome back to a life
less ordinary. This is a Saturday morning tradition for those

(32:05):
of us who love travel. It's your travel showing podcasts
from your friends at the wishing Well. Harry Rife from
the wishing wells with us this morning. You can get
a hold of him by stopping by and saying hi
on f Avenue in Harrisonburg. You can look him up
on the web at the Wishingwell dot biz or call
Harry at five four h nine eight twenty three thirty three.

(32:26):
Our show today's entitled cutting through the Holiday Chaos. We've
gone through four or five amazing holiday destinations between Christmas
and New Year. But group travel shouldn't be forgotten either.
It's another great way to do some holiday travel. It is,
and a lot of people prefer group travel because these

(32:47):
are really packages where you don't have to be by yourself,
but you've got somebody. You've got a dosint with you,
somebody to guide you, a shepherd to help you on
this trip. And there are many benefits to travel. A
lot of people don't think about group travel, but one
of the biggest advantage to group travel, Chris, is cost savings.

(33:08):
What we do at the Wishing Well for group travel
is we try and find great travel opportunities that we
recognize are just outstanding values, and we try and be
first to recognize those. We contact those vendors and we
tell them we're interested in putting together a group for
that destination when it's just been introduced. So those people

(33:30):
are anxious to put together a little bit of a
special deal. They throw in some extra perks and that
translates into cost savings for people who take advantage of
these packages. So we get these discounts on flights, maybe
ground transportation, accommodations, and it's a great way to take
a dream vacation and make it be more affordable. That's

(33:53):
one of the big reasons. They also simplify the logistics
when we do group travel with the Wishing Well. Very
often we include transportation from our doorstep. I love that. Yeah,
that means you come park your car for free in
our lot. We arrange motor coach transportation to the airport
wherever we're leaving. Maybe it's Richmond, maybe it's dull As,

(34:16):
maybe it's you know, Washington National. We arrange that transportation
and we get dropped off curbside. The part I love
the most about that is for me travel, it's that
point when I leave the house to get to the
airport that I find to be the most stressful. It
can be because I'm always in my head doing that
backwards countdown going I've got to be there for the

(34:37):
boarding is at this time? Too? Urshwhere that gets me?
This time? Leave a little time for traffic, and I'm like,
what if I have an accident? Oh no, it's like exactly,
And when you get to the airport, do you know
where to go? Well, if I go through Charlottesville, yeah,
there's so much two parking lots, so not a lot
of group travel through Charlottesville. Once in a while we
can do that, but usually we're involved with one of
the major airports, and that's because of the first ree

(35:00):
and I gave and that's costs. Yeah. In those cases, no,
I don't have any idea where to go, so you know,
you know where to go. Sometimes we can arrange for
group check ins, which also make things a whole lot easier,
and it's just a whole lot more convenient to do
this group travel. We coordinate everything, so everything from the
transportation to the flights, including transfers. Sometimes people will come

(35:24):
back and tell us stories, not that we've booked this travel,
but about travel they booked. They booked this great cruise,
they flew down to wherever they have to go to,
you know, Orlando wherever. What they forgot is how am
I gonna get from the airport to the cruise ship.
So we try not to forget about those things, and
we will build in all of those transfers and make

(35:45):
sure that you know everything is ready for you when
you get there, so that putting it all together logistics
very important. And then I guess I've already mentioned this
a little bit, but group perks when we do group
travel very often, we'll have group events. We might have
a special cocktail reception with our durus for our group.

(36:08):
We might have a group dining option where we will
reserve one of the better restaurants for our group. We
may have bonus dollars that sit in your cabin for
excursions and tours. Maybe we've even arranged a special excursion
just for our group so that it might be sold

(36:29):
out for other people, but our group's got it. We've
done that in advance, so it's a fantastic way to
enhance that overall travel experience with groups. And then the
best thing of all is with our groups, you get
somebody from the wishing well. Might be Terry, might be me,
might be Paul Hellmuth, might be you know, one of
the other agents that are working with us. But you

(36:50):
get someone who is with your group and who is
responsible for that trip. How's that for taking some load
off your shoulders. I'm likely this more and more. Yeah.
Remember what was the name of our show again, cutting
through the holiday chaos? Right, So that's the benefits of
group travel. And what I wanted to do was talk
about two amazing groups that are in place right now.

(37:12):
We are taking reservations for both of these groups and
they are filling up. They are limited, but I wanted
to talk about it now. It's early in the season
for booking groups. So how about that. I want you
to write the phone number down because you're going to
want this as you're hearing about both of these group
travel opportunities. It's five four oh nine oh eight twenty
three thirty three. It's five four oh nine oh eight

(37:35):
two three three three, So keep that number handy as
we talk about these group travel experiences. And there's more
about them on our website too, under the tab called
group travel. If you visit the wishing Well dot to biz,
that's a biz you'll see under group travel. You'll see
these opportunities too. But I want to talk about them

(37:57):
a whole lot more than what I can put on
the website. And the first one I want to talk
about is this amazing nine night trip. We're going to
visit Spain, Portugal, and Morocco next year June seventeenth to
the twenty eighth. Three amazing destinations. Spain is one of

(38:17):
my favorite international destinations. Portugal and Morocco are two destinations
that have been on my bucket list. So I'm talking
about people getting things off of their bucket list. This
is going to be off of my bucket list when
we do this trip. This is a great cruise if
you are interested in history, if you're interested in culture,

(38:38):
if you're interested in some really stunning landscapes, this is
the place that you want to consider again. June seventeenth
through the twenty eighth Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. Now, this
is a cruise, and the advantage of a cruise, Chris,
is that you unpack one time you get on board,

(39:00):
you get into your cabin, you unpack one time, and
your hotel, that ship, your restaurant. That ship moves from
port to port to port. So you get to visit
all of these exciting destinations without having to pack, without
having to worry about getting on the bus on time,
without having to worry about where you're gonna eat, how

(39:20):
you're gonna pay for it, because it's all covered as
part of that cruise. All you're lodging all your meals.
So we're going to start in Barcelona, and we actually
have built in because when you fly from the United
States to Barcelona, that's typically an overnight trip. I don't
know about you, but when I fly overnight and the
clock changes by five hours, four hours, six hours, whatever

(39:42):
it might be, you know, for that particular trip, my
body's bi rhythm gets a little wonky. I've never had
that much of a time change. But I've also don't
think I've ever experienced any jet lag. Yeah, I'm you're amazing. Well, no,
it's because I've always had such horrible slo I sleep
anytime anywhere, and so I grabbed three hours here, another

(40:05):
two then, and it's like, oh, look at the time
did it makes sense And I'm happy to report that
I'm also in that club. I don't have much problems
sleeping on a plane, but there are many people who do.
So one of the things we built into this trip
for those people is when you get to Barcelona, we
did build in a one night hotel stay in Barcelona,

(40:27):
and the reasons for that are one to give your
body a chance to recover a little bit, and two
for you to get a little extra time in Barcelona.
So this has built in a one night hotel in
Barcelona before we embark on our cruise aboard the Celebrity Equinox.

(40:48):
The Celebrity Equinox is a really great ship, but we're
going to start in Barcelona. I'm going to get to
the ship just in a second. Barcelona is a really
interesting city because Barcelona is it's the ibrant capital of Catalonia.
It's renowned for its rich history. It's got marvelous, stunning
architecture and a lot of cultural significance. It was actually

(41:11):
founded as a Roman city, and over the years it's
evolved into a major cultural and economic hub. It's got
a blend of Gothic and modernistic architecture, you see a
lot of art there. Antony Gaudis. It's a UNESCO World
Heritage Site and it's one of our top tourist destinations Barcelona, Spain.

(41:35):
It was actually it's been reborn in the last several
years at several centuries. It's got this eclectic fusion. It's
a modern in a medieval city at the same time.
So it's a coastal city, it's got that European charm
and you very much know that you're in Europe. Lots

(41:56):
of travelers there and some of the architecture that you're
see it's dating back two thousand years, something that you
can't easily see here in the United States right do
thousand years, so you're going to see examples of the
Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, the modern masters, Catalonian artists,
and the art museums. They're just abound throughout the city.

(42:20):
So lots of things to see there. Some of the
famous artists that you'll see works by Goya, Pablo Picasso,
Salvador Dali, and Joan miro So. Lots of things going on.
But if you get a little just too much of
the city, the hustle and bustle, take a short walk
and you are at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea,

(42:43):
and that's where you're going to join our cruise ship,
the Celebrity Equinox. And so we depart from Barcelona and
on this nine day trip we're going to spend some time.
We're going to stop in Lisbon. That's Portugal's hilly coastal capital,
one of the oldest cities in Western Europe, goes back
again to the Roman Empire, and it's been a maritime

(43:06):
center since the Age of Discoveries. It's got a lot
of charm because it's got a traditional and contemporary culture
put together really neat historic landmarks and neighborhoods. There lots
of things to see and visit there. We're going to
go on to Porto. Porto is a coastal city in
northwest Portugal, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. We're going to

(43:28):
check out the historic center of the city, the narrow
cobbled streets that you know. Europe is so famous for
some old style Baroque churches, colorful buildings, lots of things
to see and do when we visit Porto. And then
we're going to head to Morocco to Tangier. Tangiers is

(43:49):
an interesting city because it's kind of the crossroads between
Europe and Africa, sometimes called the door of Africa. Tangiers
the city I'm very excited to visit because it connects
two very different parts of the world and it's got
a tremendous history and influenced by both cultures, including the Phoenicians,

(44:10):
Romans and Arab cultures. It's a port city, so that's
why it has this significance over time. It's always been
important as a port city. So the tea markets, the
spice markets, some of the special cuisine there. I'm interested
in tasting some of that Moroccan just to find out
what's special about that. We can visit caves, museums, fortresses

(44:33):
going back centuries into history. So we're going to see
a lot of things in that city again very exciting,
lots of great restaurants there where you see a mixture
of all these cultures, including some of the French influences,
some of the modern art, lots of things. And that's

(44:53):
the tail end of our tour. This is on the
celebrity equinox of very very nicely appointed ship with lots
of things on there. Did I mention that we have
selected balcony cabins. No, but thank you. Who wants to
stay inside in a closed up room? Every cabin on
this ship is a balcony. We're including premium economy airfare

(45:16):
this one night, and I mentioned some extras, so we've
got premium beverage package, We've got Wi Fi, specially dining.
All of those things are built into this. This trip
starts just under six thousand dollars a person. That's including airfare. Chris,
what I tell you? You want to call the number now? Right?
Five four oh nine oh eight twenty three thirty three.

(45:38):
I'm on board, Harry. This sounds like an amazing group
travel experience on the Equinox. But we have another option
for you if if that one you're thinking, yeah, that's great,
but I want more. Yeah, I'm not done. I got
another one for you. You ready? All right? This was
all right? So if you're not into that history, you're
not into all that culture, how about taking a ride

(45:58):
on a brand new ship. We've talked about this before
and I am on board, literally on board this idea.
Let's go. Yeah, I'm talking about NCL, Norwegian Cruise Lines
newest ship, the Norwegian Aqua. She's launching in April of
twenty five. We got a reservation in May, so we're
gonna give her a little shakedown into May. We're gonna

(46:19):
get on board on the twenty fourth of May until
the thirty first of May. We're gonna get on board
and take a ride in the Caribbean. We're gonna do
a seven night Caribbean cruise, Chris. We're gonna start in
Port Canaveral, which is Orlando area. We're gonna visit the
Dominican Republic. We're gonna visit Saint Thomas, which is part
of the US Virgin Islands. We're gonna go over and

(46:40):
give equal time to the Brits, and we're gonna visit Tortola,
the British Virgin Islands. And we're gonna make a stop
on ncl's very own great Stirrup k their private island,
which they've outfitted and jazzed up with a lot of
fun for everybody. So this is the Caribbean Cruise, happening

(47:01):
May twenty fourth through thirty first. Now, this cruise ship
is brand new, lots of things here. I've been reading
about it. Terry's been talking with you about it. I
know for sure, this is an ideal cruise if you're
not planning to do you know, this crazy kind of
sight seeing everywhere around the world, but you just want
to chill out, relax, enjoy sunshine, have your family with you.

(47:24):
It includes because I said family and we're in the Caribbean,
we're going to take a trip on the end of
this to Disney and we have an optional add on.
It's a two day add on. And this is especially
great for families. But I shouldn't exclude people that don't
have kids because they just love Disney. Yeah, there are
adult Disney lovers too, and this trip is going to

(47:47):
be has been curated and will be escorted by the
wishing Wells very own Disney expert, extraordinary Paul Helmeth. That's
a great example of what you're talking about. He's an
adult that is absolutely infatuated with Disney. He knows everything
about Disney and he can tell you how to get
from one place to another off the top of his head.

(48:10):
I love it. Yeah, So he is going to be
your host for this. This ship is fantastic. I've been
reading about it. It's got dining that's off the wall.
It's got to tie specialty restaurant. It's got a vegetarian
focused area on board. It's got a steakhouse, a French restaurant,
Italian restaurant, Tepanyaki, lots to do. I love to eat

(48:33):
so much that that, to me becomes stressful because it's like,
how am I going to get to every one of
these restaurants before we're off the ship? Well, you got
all these days. I've only named five restaurants. You got
more than five days, all right? I might want to
go to them twice. Okay, And when you get done
with that, then you can go visit the Infinity Edge Pool.
And here's one that I know you're not going to do.

(48:55):
This ship has what they're calling a hybrid roller coaster
and water slide. If you wouldn't have put the water
slide in, I'm all for the roller coaster. We'll wait
to hear this part. It covers three stories and you
travel at up to thirty one miles an hour. I
might have to try that because I love the daredevil

(49:16):
kind of stuff, the adrenaline rush. Well, this baby hangs
off the edge of the boat. Yeah, I'm on board. Okay,
that's exciting. Yeah, you got to stay on board. It's
the water park that bothers me. There you go. And
if that's not what you want to do, they've got
another free fall slide and they're called the Drop. It
drops ten stories. Yeah please, all right, how about a

(49:38):
little entertainment, Yeah, can you handle that? This has the first,
the very first Prince show at Sea. It's called Revolution,
a celebration of Prince. So if you're a Prince fan,
that's great. If you're not a Prince fan, or if
you're a Prince fan and a Fleetwood Mac fan, there's
also a Fleetwood Mac tribute show. These are the free

(49:59):
shows on Chris on this trip, so a large ship.
I've talked about the destinations, lots to do. This ship
will keep you busy, okay, while you're not visiting the
islands and at Disney. Add on, we're visiting the Caribbean.
So we're gonna stay at Disney. Where should we stay

(50:19):
none other than the Caribbean Resort. It's one of false
favorite Paul's favorite properties, right next to Epcot. Twelve minute
gondola ride to Epcot, fifteen minute bus ride to the
Magic Kingdom. So this is really great. You are staying
on property, you get into the property early. You got
the Disney Wizard with you if you take this optional

(50:41):
today add on there. This trip is starting at thirty
four hundred dollars a person, that's including your heir. That's
a great price, okay. And we have the drink package
on board for you, free Wi Fi. We've built in
a signature dining experience so you can try out one
of those are Us that's included, and a whole lot

(51:02):
more So, just wanting to let people know, can you
cut through the holiday chaos? You absolutely can. We're talking
about individual travel, we're talking about travel with groups. The
couple quick things I want to just finish out with groups.
One is a social aspect. If you haven't been on
one of our groups, you're missing something. You get to

(51:23):
meet new friends and they become your friends after the trip,
so you come home with friends. Not a bad deal.
And the convenience, everything's planned, everything's there. So if you're
looking for something that's hassle free, enjoyable, cost effective, consider
one of these group travel packages. But whatever you do,
you've got two months left, less than two months left

(51:45):
to finish out twenty twenty four. You've got the time
built in during that week that there's not much going on,
figure out what to do. I hope I've given you
some great ideas this morning. I noticed that when we
were talking about trying to wrap up our resolute for
twenty twenty four, you didn't mention losing weight. Never a resolution.
It's always an objective, but never a resolution, because I

(52:07):
don't like to break my resolutions gras well. Look, every
one of these locations has great food involved. I'm thinking, yeah,
if that's on your resolution list, forget it. You're done well.
If you're dropping ten stories, if that doesn't scare yat
eating nothing, well, I would be ready to sit down
and have a great steak dinner at the steakhouse after that. Yes, sir,
I join you right there. And a lot of opportunities

(52:30):
for some great walking, some great exercising too. So don't
let the fitness aspect turn you off. That's you know,
that's not a deterrent. There's so much fun and good
times to be had. What are your skiing or riding
in the Caribbean. We are show today was called cutting
through the holiday chaos. I think my takeaway from all
of this is planning and if you don't have to

(52:53):
do the planning, there's no chaos, and that's where you
guys come in to do all the planning for us.
How do we get in touch with you? We're really
easy to get in touch with and you made a
great point. The time to do it is now because
these trips, these deals won't be around, so get in
touch with us. Please give us a call. We're at
five four zero nine zero eight two three three three

(53:13):
stop by visit us. We're at two forty three nef
Avenue between Costco and the Mall. We are on the
web and these trips are on the web. The group
trips are on the web at the Wishingwell dot biz.
This has been a Life Less Ordinary, the travel show
from your friends at the wishing Well at two forty
three nef Avenue in Harrisonburg. If you have any questions
on topics discussed today, please reach out to the wishing

(53:35):
Well online at the wishing Well top biz or five
four oho nine oh eight twenty three thirty three. Past
episodes are available on the iHeartRadio app. And we'll see
you again next Saturday morning at ten for a Life
Less Ordinary from the wishing Well