June 14, 2025 • 53 mins
The Wishing Well's Harry Reif discusses this week's travel news and answers your travel questions!
In this episode, we challenge the predictable routine of coffee mugs and neckties by showcasing unique experiential gifts that create lifelong memories. From breathtaking sunrise hikes in Yosemite to spontaneous adventures in the Carolinas, learn how travel can deepen bonds and transform ordinary moments into extraordinary memories. Ideal for families seeking to celebrate dad with unforgettable journeys, this episode serves as your guide to thoughtful, experience-based gift ideas that go far beyond the typical Father's Day fare. Listen for inspiring travel tips, destination highlights, and creative ways to give Dad the gift of time and adventure. Dive in now and start your adventure together!
In this episode, we challenge the predictable routine of coffee mugs and neckties by showcasing unique experiential gifts that create lifelong memories. From breathtaking sunrise hikes in Yosemite to spontaneous adventures in the Carolinas, learn how travel can deepen bonds and transform ordinary moments into extraordinary memories. Ideal for families seeking to celebrate dad with unforgettable journeys, this episode serves as your guide to thoughtful, experience-based gift ideas that go far beyond the typical Father's Day fare. Listen for inspiring travel tips, destination highlights, and creative ways to give Dad the gift of time and adventure. Dive in now and start your adventure together!
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Episode Transcript
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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 ft Avenue in Harsmer and online at the wishing
Well dot Biz. 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
(00:20):
guide 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 and say hello. But this
week again we're going to say hello to Harry. Hey, Chris, Hello,
how are you doing? My friend doing great well. I
guess we've now survived all the graduations. We've got lawn
parties in full swing and summer thunderstorms. It feels like
(00:44):
summertime is finally here.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, I think that's what we're going to have all
weekend long. Started yesterday and it's continuing.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I like this kind of weather, so I'm not complaining
about it. I don't like the heat, but I like
the writing of the thunderstorms. So Harry, We've got another
week's worth of travel news, get caught up on let's
talk about what's happened.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, some of the exciting things are going on. Our
friends at Marriott have introduced a brand new brand that
I wanted to talk about this morning called Sounder Sonder.
And what they've done Marriott has done a great job
of trying to capture every aspect, every niche and corner
of the lodging and hospitality market that they can. And
(01:26):
what Sounder has done is they've reached out and they've said,
there's some people that don't want to stay in a hotel,
but they want to stay in the middle of the
sought after worldwide destinations. And so what they've done is
they've assembled a collection of apartment buildings, intimate bouquet hotels
(01:47):
in these sought after destinations and their very small boutique
kind of collection, and they're calling it Sunder. So, of course,
the wishing Well is one of Marriott's preferred agencies and
we stay abreast of all the brands, So we're excited
to have this new addition to the family and something
new to offer our travelers.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Can I stay there just for a weekend or do
I have to stay for a month?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Is this no. This is you don't have to rent
a place like an apartment for a month or two.
You can do an extended stay a long weekend. You
want to go to a destination. You want to go
to Nice for the weekend, that's great. You want to
go to Cyprus for the weekend, that's great. But you
don't want to stay in a hotel. You want to
be in the middle of things. You want to go
out and have a place to come back and turn
(02:31):
the TV on. Maybe you know, fix a cup of
coffee or drink a glass of wine, break some biscuits
and enjoy. This is the brand for you. Some interesting
I want to take a switch and move over to
the cruise industry and talk about some of our friends
in the rail industry. Virgin Voyages has got something that's
(02:51):
got my attention. They've decided it's the middle of summer,
why not. They've got a special sale where they're giving
up to seventy percent off off for the second person.
So this is almost like paying for a solo vacation
and seventy percent off for the second person. They're going
to give you some taxes and things that they're going.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
To charge you for.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Of course, but to make up for that, they're going
to give you a free balcony upgrade. So really what
you're doing is you're traveling for almost half price. But
the downside of this is good for a short time
right now. I don't know what the expiration date is,
they haven't announced that to us, but it's a short time,
just a quick sale. They want to fill up some
of their inventory, fill up some of their sales. So
(03:36):
if you haven't looked at Virgin Voyage, you might want
to give them a second look. And then the other
one I wanted to talk about this morning that got
me pretty excited is one of my favorites. How many
times have we talked about the Rocky Mountaineer.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
We mentioned them last week.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Okay, they call them Armstrong, they call themselves Armstrong Cooperative
now but Armstrong Collection. I'm sorry, but Rocky Mountaineer. They
decided that they're going to do something too, and they've
got their journeys through Western Canada. They are offering seven
hundred dollars off per couple on the gold Leaf service,
which is their premium service. That is the way to
(04:11):
go when you decide to take your sweetheart. I'm going
to recommend you go gold Leaf, but if you don't
want to do that, you can drop down to Silverleaf,
which is also not shabby at all. They're offering five
hundred dollars off on silver Leaf service for any twenty
twenty six package, so you can plan ahead and get
(04:32):
a great deal on one of the wishing Well's favorite
ways to travel by rail with the Armstrong Cooperative on
the Rocky Mountaineer.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
If you're not familiar with the Rocky Mountaineer, you need
to go to the wishing Well dot Biz up in
the upper right hand corner. You'll see the little Hamburger menu.
Click on that and it'll show you the podcast. Yeah,
and then just type in the search engine there Rocky
Mountaineer and go back and listen to that podcast we did.
Because this is an experience that it's going to be
(05:02):
once in a lifetime. It is. You're going to have
views that you've never imagined seeing in person, and from
what I understand, along with those views, delicious food and
a level of care that is just top notch.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
It is top notch. You get off that train at night,
you don't sleep on the train. You get off the
train at night and you stay in some of the
finest hotels. Who are talking about Fairmount Hotels. And I'm
going to experience this myself in person and in July.
So I'm going to come back and tell you some stories,
Chris about that trip. If you're in love with mother nature,
(05:36):
if you're in love with with wildlife, you want to
see wildlife and its natural habitat. This is the journey
for you. And to get a deal of seven hundred
dollars off just fantastic. You're gonna eat well, you're gonna
see some magnificent things, and you're going to have some
truly truly magnificent lifelong memories, which is what travel is
(05:59):
all about. So those are the things. I don't have
a big long list this morning, but those are some
of the things that I wanted to share with our
listeners this morning. Of upcoming offers, some of them will
be out there for a couple of weeks. This one
is for planning ahead. I'm talking about nineteen going ahead
to I'm sounding like my father now nineteen I'm talking
(06:21):
about travel all the way through twenty twenty six. You're
talking about a year and a half hour. If you
are a planner, this.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Is the thing to be looking at right now.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Speaking of your dad our show today, Yeah, we're talking
about ditch the tie, give dad the gift of travel.
We'll dig a little deeper into that coming up next
year on a Lifeless Ordinary.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Who would think of driving off to a new destination
without guidance from Google or Syria's not The Wishing World
guide your next travel experience. Travel the world as you
enjoy the very best destinations and all they offer at
the best prices. Our mobile travel app keeps your vacation
on track. It 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,
(07:05):
stop by two forty three nept Avenue, or visit us
at the Wishingwell dot biz.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Hey, welcome back to a Lifeless Ordinary, the travel show
and podcast from your friends at the Wishing Well. They
are on neph Avenue in Harrison, Birth They're also online
at the Wishingwell dot biz, or give them a call
at five four oh nine oh eight twenty three thirty three.
Harry Rife is with us this morning. Harry, it's always
good to talk to you, especially when we're talking about
(07:31):
ways to treat Dad for Father's Day, handhand, it's tomorrow.
You don't forget about dad and stepdad's hand kids, So
go ahead, Harry, I'm sorry every kind dad. What about
granddads too? Every kind of day? They have their own day,
grandparents do grandparents Day?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
No, I'm granddad. So I want I want to celebrate
everything I can this Sunday, Chris.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So, our show today is called Ditch the Tie, Give
Dad the Gift of travel. And we've got a lot
of ways that we can give that gift today.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
And I'm gonna start with an online survey. Can we
do an online survey online? Here?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
As long as online means allays online?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, on air?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
There we go.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
So I'm gonna ask everybody listening this morning, and everybody
in the studio here with me, Comma Chris, to raise
your hand if you've ever stood in line a Saturday
before Father's Day at the store I don't care was
department store, discount store, auto park store, and just been
standing there holding something silly, maybe a coffee mug, maybe
(08:28):
a necktie, maybe you know, a little gadget for dad's shop.
Wonder to yourself, is this really the best that I
can do? For Dad all hands in the air yep,
oh my gosh. So let's face it, for many of us,
Father's Day kind of sneaks up on us, and it's
(08:50):
not as popular a holiday as some of the other
holidays during the year.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I heard a theory on why that is why, Because
Mother's Day is in May when kids are still in
school and the teachers have them making macaroni necklaces and things.
Dad's holiday falls in the summer when the teachers aren't
there to make sure that you remember. They need to
move it up to April.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Well, either that or the last project on those last
few days of school in June the beginning of June,
when you're doing nothing anything anyway, make Dad some great gifts.
But you know, if you've been in line, you know
looking at that mug. How many mugs do I have?
I don't know, best Dad, greatest Dad, World's number one dad,
(09:30):
all of those dads, I've got them. But with Father's
Day sneaking up on us, the default gifts we lean
on every year, the silly things tools for the grill
of maybe a bottle of Dad's favorite spirit. They it
gets kind of predictable. But what if instead of gifting things.
You gifted time this year, and you gifted memories this year.
(09:53):
So that's what motivated me to come up with our
topic today. Ditch the tie, give dad the gift of travel.
So I want you to flip the script this morning.
I want to talk about experiences. I want to talk
about bonding. How many more hours would I have liked
to have spent with my dad, who's not with me anymore.
(10:14):
How many more places would I have liked to go
with him? How many more stories would I have liked
to have heard from him, Memory making moments, stories, companionship.
No matter how many socks I gave Dad, nothing can
compare to those special memories I had. And I remember
(10:37):
spending time with him, going to see a ball game,
just going on a short trip or visit a day trip.
I wasn't a big golfer, so Dad and I didn't golf,
but something special where we just went somewhere we went
for one Father's Day, we went on a trip and
(10:58):
just enjoyed coffee and donuts and spent time together. Spent
the morning together, and my sister was a little bit jealous,
but she had him for the afternoon. So here's what
we want to talk about this morning. We want to
talk about those sunrise hikes and Yosemite, the golf challenges.
Buckle in. I'm going to take you on a journey
(11:19):
and I'm going to take you to some of the
best destinations experiences. I'm going to give you some ideas
this morning that work for dads this Father's Day. But
even if you're listening to this on one of our
podcasts after this morning, think about something special that you
can do for your dad any day. And I'm going
(11:40):
to start with thinking about what your dad likes to do. Okay,
do you have an outdoor adventure dad. Maybe in the audience,
if you're an outdoor adventure dad kind of person, think
about one of the best.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Places you could go on a trip with your dad.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
And that would be, in my opinion, Yosemite National Park
in California. You want to go for some views, so
the kinds of things we were just talking about before
on these cruises that you could take with the Rocky Mountaineer.
You want to see wildlife. You want to see it
in its own kind of environment, not go.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
To the zoo.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Take your dad to out to the mountains, Take your
dad to a place that just has those towering granite criffs, cliffs,
the waterfalls, hiking trails. Maybe you can't hike down all
the trails, but maybe you can find one that you
can rent a four wheel or you can get on
a tour, take a stroll, look at some of the
(12:40):
beautiful things that Mother Nature has out there. And these
are the kinds of trips that you can get. We
have adventure trips at the Wishing Well. Terry's spoken with
you about some of these companies that we go by
adventure level and we can go high level adventure if
your dad and you can handle it, or you can
go meet me level adventure if that's what you and
(13:02):
Dad want, or you can go on some other kinds
of trips where you're riding in a jeep. I'm thinking
about adventure. I'm thinking about safaris. I was reading about
a safari this weekend where you get on an electric
powered safari vehicle, go through the African wildlife areas, see
(13:22):
all the wildlife. They can't even hear you coming up,
and there's electric vehicle, so you get to see some
parts of nature that are at their very very best.
That's the outdoor kind of dad for the outdoor kind
of adventure story that you can do for your dad.
There are some luxury stays. If you and dad don't
(13:44):
want to tent, you can look at some luxury stays again, safaris,
you can do luxury safaris. They do tents like you've
never seen, Chris, I'm talking about tents that are outfitted
with every kind of amenity that you might want to
think about.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I want to go camping up in the trees in
the Safari.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
They have tree houses that you can get also, and
that would be a neat place also to you know,
spend a vacation with dad. Get up in the morning,
look out and see the sun come up amongst the
trees and I painting.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
A pretty picture. Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
One of the places that I'm thinking about in Yosemite
there is a place called Tanyana Tenaya. It's a lodge
just outside of the park, but it's got upscale cabins,
it's got an on site spa. Of course, you're going
to have jeep tours so you can explore. You don't
want to wear your hiking boots, but maybe you don't
(14:38):
want to get you know, all that kind of exercise,
So a jeep take a tour like.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
I was talking about.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
There's another hotel inside the park called the Awani Hotel.
This is a historic stone and timber lodge. It's legendary,
the high ceilings, the roaring fireplaces, and five star dining.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
But you're in the wild. How's that sound?
Speaker 1 (15:01):
You're winning me on every one of these here, Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
So that's one of that's one of my ideas for
the outdoor adventure, Dad, I would be remiss if I
didn't speak about Alaska with outdoor adventures. One of my
favorite places to go to see Mother Nature at her finest.
Catch a can fantastic place to go out and see
(15:24):
just salmon coming up the stream, not one or two,
but in a swarm. You've got rugged beauty in ketch
can like you won't see anywhere else. You're on the waterfront,
you're seeing the fiords, you're seeing misty forests, the salmon,
the salmon fishing. If you don't want to fish, you
can certainly enjoy the fruits of the fishermen and you're
(15:44):
going to get the freshest salmon that you'll get in
the world. So another great idea, maybe you want to
do a fishing charter. There's salmon up there, but as
I mentioned, but also in Alaska. You know, it's a
good source for halibit fishing. Also up there. Have you
ever been in a floatplane? No, Oh, they're fantastic. Those
(16:05):
are those airplanes that land on the waters on the bottom. Yeah.
Take a floatplane tour over the Misty Fjords. Part of
the kinds of experiences when our travelers go to Alaska,
they want to do something special. A floatplane tour is fantastic.
Some of the pilots on these planes look like they
haven't graduated from high school yet, but these guys have
(16:26):
the finesse because that's the way to travel around as airplanes.
In Alaska. You can see the Totem Heritage Center and
learn a little bit about the history. And if you're
in the right location at the right time, it's not
unusual to see bear up there. There's a non wildlife
observatory up there too. Some of the places I love
in catch Can there's a Salmon Falls Resort. This is
(16:49):
an all inclusive resort known for its fishing excursions, fine dining,
and waterfront views. It's a place that I know Terry
sent some people before. Littally fantastic. Another resort up there
is a waterfall resort. It's a former cannery and they've
turned us into a luxury fishing lodge. So you can
(17:10):
go there if you have the fisherman's spirit. They'll get
all your gear, they'll get you with a guide, and
they'll make sure that you have the same gourmet kind
of meals, because travel without gourmet food just doesn't travel
for me.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Right Chris, I'm on the same page. Let me ask
you about salmon fishing. Is that like a fly fishing
experience or are you fishing with like a I don't
know how that happens. I am not a fisherman. I
am someone who really enjoys the fruits of fishing. I
need to ask my step son.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
He would know that right away. But those are just
and those are just two quick ideas. If your dad
is that one who's who's got that outdoor kind of spirit,
you want to get him a tremendous gift.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
That would be where I go.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
I want to switch. Now, what if your dad is
a water loving dad.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
That's me Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
My happiest place is being on the water. So whether
it's a lake or the ocean, All of those are
fine with me. One of my favorite places to go
is Grand Cayman, the Cayman Islands, salt water. You want
to do a little snorkeling, you want to do a
little fishing. It is fantastic. The waters in Grand Cayman
(18:28):
are absolutely exquisite. You've got these beautiful turquoise colored waters,
vibrant reefs, five star beachfront hotels. Again, I keep going
back this five star right, the food and the luxury,
you can enjoy the most beautiful places while you're enjoying
the most beautiful style of lodging and eating. If you
(18:52):
want to dive and see shipwrecks, this is something you
can do in the Grand Caymans. Yeah, you want to
lounge on the bee, Grand Cayman's got all of that
for you. There's a Stingrays City tour where you actually
get to pet Stingrays.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
I'm out, you're out. That's not for me.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I haven't heard anything bad about that, So that's the
kind of thing I might try.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
My wife would want that. I know we're talking about dads,
but she anytime anyone talks about pet and Stingray she's like,
oh my gosh, we gotta go.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Well, there's nothing wrong with taking mom on a dad tour.
It's just dad's vacation. But mom is certainly welcome to
come to you. Like scuba diving, you can go out
there deep deep sea fishing. You can get some charters,
get a charter boat, go out for the whole day.
Those captains know exactly where to go so that you'll
come back with some fish. They'll take it and they'll
(19:45):
prepare it for you and you get to eat your
own catch. How's that for the five star fishing. One
of the places I would stop out there, there's a
place called Cayman Spirits Company. And they're not talking about ghosts.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
This is a rum tasting at the Cayman Spirits Company.
Just a wonderful experience too. You can't not walk away
happy after that. So luxury places to stay out there.
There's a Kimpton Hotel in Grand Cayman called a Seafire
Resort and spa.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
This is right on the beach.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Very bright kind of property, bold kind of property. You're
on the beach on the ocean front. Exceptional dining. Also
a spa. That's because mom might come along too, or
Dad's by the way you can enjoy spot.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
There's no shame in dad getting, you know, treated with
a little bit of pampering.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
No, not at all, and actually mom and dad together
or you know, going to spa with your dad. I've
been to a couple of spas with my dad when
he was alive, and he told me how it used
to be in the old country at the spas, and
I listened to his stories there too while I was
enjoying myself in the spa. Another one of my favorite
(20:57):
properties in the Caymans, there's a.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
It's Carlon Grand Cayman.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
And if you have any property that's got the name
Ritz Carlton on it, your expectations are set before you
walk through the door. This is an ultra luxury resort.
Also on the seven Mile Beach underwater photography concierge, So
if you want to do some underwater photography, you see
the concierge. They'll set you up with the right equipment.
(21:24):
And if you want to take a little round of golf,
there's a Greg Norman golf course.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
On property there too.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
And one of the things that they have at the
Ritz Carlton that I think is fantastic you can book
a private catamaran. Maybe you want to do this on
Father's Day. A sunset sale in the Caymans. You are
talking over the top, Chriss. It's unforgettable. If you've ever
seen the sunset and the Grand Caymans, and if you've
(21:52):
never seen a sunset in a Grand.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Caymans, this is a place to go. It's an experience
you'll for sure remember forever.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Or the photographs that you bring back will be great
for your memories, but they're nothing like.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Experiencing that firsthand.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Let's see out of the water another place. What about
a classic fishing trip. We've sent people to Montana, We've
sent people to the Florida Keys, We've sent people to
that arondex Fishing trips aren't.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Just about fish.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
They're about silence, they're about laughter, They're about companionship, about bonding.
They're about hearing the same stories time and time and
time again and laughing with Dad every time he tells them,
just like it's the first time that you heard it.
So if you want to go to Montana, tremendous fly
(22:46):
fishing up there, Mountain views just absolutely stellar. The Florida Keys,
the back country, the back country flats, you can go fishing.
We've got excursions that you can get down there with
people that know their way around the country. You might
go fishing in any kind of a watercraft. You might
go fishing out in the ocean, offshore, deep sea fishing.
(23:09):
And up in the Adirondicks you've got those cool, cool,
cool lakes. I like the fresh water. That's my favorite place.
Cabins just great for whether you're a beginner or whether
you're a pro. You can get the cabins up there.
You can get lodging up there where you have some
(23:30):
time where you can do some of your own cooking.
Or you can go the way that I'd go, and
that's the luxury stays. I like the lodge at Blue Sky, Utah.
It's got all inclusive packages up there with private guides.
You got this rustic luxury and for me, a whiskey lounge.
A nice way to end the day. And can you
(23:50):
imagine sitting next to Dad sipping some fine whiskey, telling
some stories. Got to make sure that Dad's stories are
always better than your story. Okay, that's a requirement for
this kind of tour. If you're down in Florida. I
like Ocean Key Resort and Spine Key West just steps
from the marina. You're going to see all kinds of
(24:14):
wonderful scenery. You're going to see some great sunsets out there.
Absolutely beautiful. And if you want to do something very
special on a fishing trip, I understand that you can
get a customized reel from bass Pro and some of
the other places, put Dad's name on the reel and
present that to him.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
And that's the date there too, So it's a memory thing.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, absolutely, that way he remembers. Yeah, absolutely, And even
when Dad's not there anymore, you've got that reel and
when you look at it, you're going to remember that
day with Dad.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Absolutely fantastic, when the fish was this big and got
off the line and as we're about to pull him
into the boat.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Yeah, again and again, the stories get bigger, bigger, and
so do the fish, right yep, all right, time for
another segment. Yeah, okay, time for another segment before we
take a break. What about a dad who just needs
to chill?
Speaker 1 (25:10):
That's me? Yeah, all right.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
So many dads are so busy all week long, working hard,
trying to provide just wonderful experiences for their family. Make
sure everything's right. Great, great place to stay, great place
to live, great life, all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
But it's a little stressful.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
I got to tell you, as a dad working all
week long, there is not such a thing as a
forty hour week.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Is there?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
You work forty hour week.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
If my boss is listening. Short there's a.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Sixty hour week that I used to work when my
boss was listening. I can tell you I'm not doing that. Yeah,
well I did that, and it can get kind of stressful.
So what I want to look at for the stressful
dads maybe one of the wellness resorts. There are lots
of wellness resorts that we work with. One of the
ones that I would recommend that I like, there's a
(26:04):
Karelli in Miami wellness resort. It's the epicenter of melt
of men's wellness. You can get the chiro therapy, massages, acupuncture, hydrotherapy,
business classes. They'll teach you how to eat really well and.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Lose a little weight.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Maybe in the process.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
A place that I could go.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
You can learn how to box, you can learn some yoga.
My son is a hot yoga fan. He took me
to that one time. I don't know if you've ever
experienced that. But they have this at these places too.
You know the difference between yoga and hot yoga.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Think us like hot rocks and turn the thermosta that way.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
He turn the thermostat away high. It's yoga that's that
that makes you sweat. So these fitness resorts know how
to do it. There's some proven techniques that they use.
They've got experts there to help you get healthy.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
I want to do goat yoga.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I heard about goat yoga. I'm not sure I'm ready
for go yoga.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yeah, there are these adorable little goats there. They look
like they're about the size of a beagle and they
climb all over you while you're doing your poses.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
That's the reason I'm ready to wait. But the other
thing that they have at these resorts again, then this
is a christ and Harry thing again. They teach you
how to do gourmee healthy dining.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
I had that until you said healthy. Can we just
do gourmet dining?
Speaker 2 (27:25):
If they can do it and do it healthy, and
I still think it's gourmet, it's a win. It's a
beachfront location, absolutely fantastic. Again, the Karelian Miami, they have
sweets there with full kitchens, you got the ocean views,
a large spa and wellness facility. I think it's reputed
that this is the largest a wellness facility on the
(27:47):
East Coast. So you're you're in a place that knows
how to do it.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
I think it's interesting, how, especially when you and I
talk how much emphasis we put on food. Yeah, a
little bit. And when I think back on the trips
that I've gone to, food has always been something. Now
you go, oh, and then I had this, and you
will not believe how good this was. Yeah, but I
don't have pictures of any of those meals. And when
it really comes down to it, it was the people
(28:12):
I spent time with in the views and those kind
of experiences. But but come on, gourmet food always takes
whatever was already great and makes it even better.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
It does. And what a nice thing to be able
to go to a place with dad, have him chill
out a little bit, let him know, Hey, you can relax.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Now and get what you want. Mom's not here, TONI
kwag you forgetting whatever you want on this menu.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
That mean we get a second dessert?
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
All right? So I want to send you to another
wellness place. And that is in North Carolina, a place
that I was last week and not at this particular property,
but Brunswick Islands, North Carolina. This is for dads who
don't want crowds. They just want that quiet beach, fantastic kill,
seafood and time with the family. They've got golf, they've
(29:03):
got kayaking, they've got fishing, they've got biking, they've got grilling,
they've got sunset dinners on waterfront desk decks, and you
can explore sunset beach there, explore island down there. Lots
of things to do, but in a peaceful quiet if
you want, If dad needs to have everything removed, all
(29:26):
the distractions removed, Brunswick Islands, North Carolina is a place
you might want to consider. There's the Winds Resort and
beach club down there. Also, we're talking ocean fronts, sweets
palms or uttered grounds and that Southern hospital when you're
in Carolina is you're going to get Southern hospitality. You
cannot avoid it. They've got a private beach home rental
(29:49):
down there. We've got some homes that are vetted through
the Virtuoso network that we can set you up with
and when you're down in the south. You got to
have a seafood boil. Yes, this is a food show.
It's turning into a food show. So those are some
of the ideas for Dad and a way that we
(30:10):
can ditch the tie this year and give.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Dad the gift of travel. Yes, sir, that's the name
of our show today. You're listening to a Lifeless Ordinary
and Harry when we come back, how about things to
do with Dad? If he loves golf. We'll try that,
all right, we'll do it next here on a Lifeless Ordinary.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
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 best prices. Our mobile travel app keeps your vacation
on track and keeps you connected with our team of experts.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
For help.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
If you need it, call us at five four zero
nine zero eight two three three three stop buy two
forty threep Avenue or visit us at the Wishingwell dot biz.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Welcome back to a Lifeless Ordinary. Every Saturday, we talk
with our friends from the Way Well you'll find them
on f Avenue in Harrisonburg, online at the wishing Well
dot biz and you can give them a call. Even
today five four h nine eight twenty three thirty three.
Our show today with Harry is Ditch the Tie Gift Dad,
The Gift of Travel. We've talked about going on fishing adventures.
(31:17):
We've talked about if Dad likes to be on the water.
We've talked about trips to Alaska. We've talked about going
to the Cayman Islands and searching for shipwrecks. I think
there were so many shipwrecks around the Cayman Islands because
everyone's drinking all the rum while they were trying to
navigate around the islands. Not possible. Our next place we
(31:38):
want to go is And I know I've got friends
who are these dads. They love to golf.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, I've met some people that are absolutely passionate about golf,
and full disclosure, that's not me. But I watch these
people get excited. They break out and sweat when you
start talking about some of these places. And I have
been on some of the golf courses that I want
to talk about, but I can't get the passion guys
(32:06):
I'm sorry that's not me, but that means there's one
more place for you to fill.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
One of my friends, Russ, he and his wife went
to the Masters, I think last year, and you have
to get into a lottery to even get the tickets.
And he got the call or to the email, however
that works. You know, that's all he wanted to talk about.
He was so excited about it, and it was just
fun to be around him while he talked about it,
because man, you want to talk passion' that's what That's
(32:31):
what you get when you talk to a golfer.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Well, and if you want to go to an event
like that, the Virtuoso Network we have access to tickets
for events like that, to the Master's Tournament, Lemon's all
those kinds of things. I haven't hit car racing dads today,
but if you want some special sporting event, let us know.
We have some connections. We can almost always find tickets.
(32:57):
But I want to talk about golf loving dads. And
when you say golf, you're talking about some special places.
If you don't mention places like Pinehurst, Scottsdale, Arizona just
nothing but a city of golf courses Coappalua. You want
to go out and play some golf in the Hawaiian Islands,
(33:18):
absolutely fantastic. You want to take a trip abroad and
go over to Scotland, the home of golf. All of
these are possible trips. I want to talk about Pineland,
North Carolina. Pinehurst, North Carolina. That's where some of the legendary,
most charming golf places are. That's just steeped in golfloor,
(33:40):
the Pinehurst Resort. We have packages at the Pinehurst Resort
that include lessons. They of course will store your clubs
if you want to bring your clubs there, and you
can have a tea time concierge.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I've never even heard of a tea time concierge, but
I guess that's the person who makes sure that you
get the particular tea time that you want. The connections again,
through the virtual network allow us to get to these people,
and we have their phone numbers. We can get you
in and we can probably even get your tea time
on Father's Day tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Wow, all right, so call early.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
I can't promise, but we will certainly try. Scottsdale, Arizona,
just nothing but golf courses. I used to spend a
lot of time in Scottsdale. That's where my folks lived,
and so I've got to see the courses there. They
are absolutely incredible. You talk about golf courses in the
middle of the desert, but these golf courses are lush,
(34:40):
they're absolutely beautiful. The weather in Scottsdale is such that
you can play golf pretty near every day of the year.
One of the places that I like in Scottsdale is the.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Four Seasons Resort.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
You're talking about desert luxury, top tier courses. Actually there's
two top tier courses at the Four Seasons Resorts, Scott's
Stale at True North, and it's got a steakhouse on property.
I couldn't get away from the food. That's where you're
going to find me at the steakhouse when you get
done with your round of golf. Maybe both of us
(35:15):
at the steakhouse. What do you think, Chris, Chris and
I will be at the steakhouse. If you want to
do this trip, we'll be at the steakhouse waiting for you.
But the courses in there are not one, but two
top tier rated golf courses. If you want to go
to Hawaii, Kappolua. I'm going to send you to the
Ritz Carlton again because we love that brand. They do
(35:37):
just over the top amenities. You've got a fair way
that you're up there golfing. You've got ocean views. I mean,
you're in Hawaii in every direction. You can't help but
have ocean views. And we were talking a little bit
during break about photographs. If you're on some of these
golf courses and you don't bring yourself and you don't
(36:01):
stop and take a few minutes to take some photographs
while you're up there, not just to the beautiful scenery,
but if you and dad together, these are memories. These
are great photos to hang in your house, you know,
so that you get these memories again and again and again.
And if you want to have a title at the bottom,
(36:21):
I would probably write something like best day ever. Okay,
isn't that the right thing to say?
Speaker 1 (36:27):
So we've got some golfing.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
I want to switch from golfing now and talk about
some urban adventures.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
There's some cities that are absolutely great cities to visit
with dad. One of the favorite cities on my list,
A couple favorite cities on my list in California, But
I'm going to choose this morning to talk about San Diego.
San Diego is such a neat city because there's so
much happening there. You want to go see a baseball
(36:58):
game anytime during the year. You want to see some
great beaches. You want to visit a brewery. Maybe you
want to enjoy some street food, maybe a burrito. San
Diego is your place. You can go out and try surfing.
I've never tried surfing, but wouldn't it be cool to
have your first surfing lesson with.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Dad at La Jolla.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Maybe you want to take a hike. There's Tory Pines.
Maybe you want to take a harbor cruise and just
see the city. They have craft beer festivals there. San
Diego is such a great city because the weather is
fantastic all no humidity all year, yeah, and a slight
breeze all the time, just to make your your your
(37:44):
life great. I'm going to recommend for a place to
stay there as one of the properties. I know you
and Terry have talked about many times. You talked about
Montage and Pendri. Those are a family of brands, and
there is a Pendry right in downtown San Diego. It's
got a rooftop pool, it's got the Six Bars restaurants,
(38:04):
and you're right next to the ballpark there Petco Park.
The Penry San Diego, the Pendry family, there's such a
fantastic job. They treat each one of their properties as
though it's their personal family resort. So when you walk in,
you can find people that recognize you, that know your name.
(38:25):
After a couple of days walking around that property, they
will say, hey, Chris, how's it going, What did you
do today? What do you want to do tomorrow? They
just make you feel like your family. They make you
feel like you're visiting their home. Not just a fantastic hotel,
but a home as well. So I love that property.
The other one I liked in San Diego is the
(38:45):
Hotel del Colornado. It's just an icon that it's been
there for a long long time. It's right on the
beach and it's got that Americana kind of charm. When
you walk into a hotel and you just feel like
you've been there one hundred times before. That's the Hotel
Del Coronado. City escapes like places like San Diego. They
(39:08):
are great because there's so many things to do. You
don't have to plan everything. I'd advise you to do
some planning. If you want to see a ballgame, you
want to see a particular team, plan your visit around
that and get tickets for that beforehand. But there's always
something to do in a city like San Diego, another
city that I like a lot, and maybe at the
(39:31):
other end where you're not talking about the warm beach breezes,
but the city of Chicago, another great city filled with
a lot of nostalgia, filled with some great properties, filled
with some things to do. You got Chicago on your mind.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
I do, because I don't remember now. Two thousand and seven,
maybe I did a tour of baseball stadiums and Chicago
was one of the places that and I didn't have
a plan for anywhere I went other than to go
to the baseball game and then I stuff around the game.
So I rolled into Chicago. It was a rainy Sunday evening,
(40:06):
much like last night. Was yeah, and through the windshield wipers,
I see the Neon sign above Wrigley Field, and I
was like, I'm here. And the next morning I went
out and drove around, and you know, I saw the
water fountain that they had at the beginning of Married
with Children. Oh yeah, I saw the NBC Studios location
(40:28):
in Chicago. I went to the original UNO's Pizza. Yeah. Now,
have you been to the UNO's in Chicago? All Right,
So you know, you get there, you stand in line.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
You have to.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
You don't just walk in and sit down, and they
take your order somewhere like halfway through the line, because
it takes an hour for them to cook your pizza
because it's such a unique crush. It's stick and it's
very wet. And they brought the pizza. I sat at
the bar because I wanted to sit down. I had
been standing long enough. And it only brought me half
(41:01):
my pizza. I said, where's the other half of the pizza?
And they said, we keep it in the oven for
you to keep it warm, because nobody can actually eat
an entire one of these because the crust is just
so heavy. And that was one of those things I
still tell people about it. It's like it was where
I grew up. It was to Carlo's Pizza, very unique.
If you are on social media, you've probably seen memes
(41:24):
about to Carlos and how disgusting people in Pittsburgh are
for eating raw cheese and raw pepperoni on their pizza.
That's what I grew up on, man, And I'm going
to tell you the UNO's pizza when it was left
over and I was driving to my next place, which
I think may have been Saint Louis, I ate it
in the car and it tasted just like to Carlo's,
and I was like, this is the best trip I've
(41:46):
ever had. And I went and saw the Cubs play,
and uh I, it's just everything about Chicago, you know,
as long as you stay in the safe parts of town,
well are just wonderful Chicago.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
There's a lot of safe places to be. One of
my favorite places in Chicago also is on the river front.
And during the summer you're talking about you're on the
shore of Lake Michigan, absolutely beautiful. You've got the breeze
coming off the lake. It's nothing but a park. The
waterfall you're talking about or the water fountain you're talking
(42:21):
about as part of that park, and they have festivals
every weekend. There's something to do. Also along the riverfront
is the famous Shedd Aquarium. Fantastic place to visit too,
and the place I like to stay. I like the
Roosevelt Hotel fantastic property. It's that old style elegance. There
(42:44):
are several hotels that we have on our Virtuoso list
for Chicago. I'm just talking about the Roosevelt, but there
are several downtown. There are those classic iconic old style
hotels when you walk inside and you just look all
around Florida ceiling, nothing but imagery to capture your attention.
(43:04):
And walk into a place like that with Dad and
he'll go, yeah, I remember this, and get.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
A Chicago dog.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Oh yeah, the Chicago hot dog. It was.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
It was not for me, but I'm glad I did it,
just so I can.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
You have to do that. And if you're a Saturday
Night Live fan, you want to visit the Billy Go
Tavern and it will remind you of Saturday Night. That's
the real Yeah, that's the Cheaberger Cheaburger Billy Go Tavern.
Downtown Chicago absolutely can't a place you can't miss. So
we've talked about a lot of places, a lot of
(43:38):
different kinds of dads. We talked about, you know, urban dads.
We've talked about dads who need need to chill out.
We've talked about the outdoor adventure dad. What else we had, Oh,
the golf loving dad. So we've got lots of dads.
But one of the most important things that you're thinking
about what we're talking about today, Chris, is how to
(44:00):
figure out what's the right one to do. And there's
not a bad choice in the bunch, but you want
to figure out the right one to do. And part
of the key to making a special memory with Dad
happen is planning. And that's where I think folks like
the wishing Well can come in and help you make
(44:23):
sure everything goes right, because when you're talking about traveling
with dad, you may have a situation where Dad's got
some travel limitations, so you may want to think about
how you're going to travel, what the airline accommodations need
to look like, what the connections need to look like.
And those are the kinds of attention to detail that
we can start with on the trip and follow through
(44:44):
with the activities that you do, the hotels that you
stay at, the types of accommodations in the hotel. That's
all part of that planning process.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
So I think we just talked last week as we
were answering all those questions, our listeners the process that
you take at the wishing well when you sit down
with a client, someone who says, I want to do
something really fun with dad. Dad she always said he
(45:14):
wanted to go to Alaska, or yeah, how does that
process work as you're figuring out? Last week we talked
about that interview process. How do you get to know
dad well? And I think, what a great opportunity we
have to get to know Dad because this trip is
for Dad. And one of the greatest parts of a
(45:35):
gift like this, Chris, is that you can involve Dad
from the very beginning. For fathers, they let him know
you're doing something and you want to take him on
a trip. But then I think having ownership is really important.
So as part of that process, we would talk with
you and Dad. If he's not right here with you,
that's not a problem. We use zoom, we use telephones.
(45:58):
Whatever works for your dad and you. We will work
together with you.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
We're going to ask you that set of questions. We're
going to try and learn a little bit about you,
the kinds of things that you want to accomplish. We're
going to learn a lot just from talking to you
about how to pace that trip. This is not about
trying to get Dad exhausted or try and burn you
out during this trip. We want to know how to
pace the trip. We want to know about the style
(46:23):
of travel that you like. You know, you and I
we're going to go wherever the best food is. That
might not be for everybody, So you know, they may
may rate food. I don't know how anyone could, but
they may rate food. You know, just a step below.
What about if we make this travel experience also include
the rental of a luxury car, so you're riding around
in a Mustang or a Mustang convertible for this weekend too.
(46:47):
Do you see how we can take this trip and
put little touches on it to just make it go
from end to end as a wonderful experience, not just
one part of it, but the whole trip through that
you know, through the process we're talking about, you know.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
And I think it's so important too, because a lot
of times we're too close to I don't want to
say we're too close to Dad, because that's a good thing,
but we're too close to the problem. We don't know,
and it's like, oh, Dad would love this, and we
don't ask questions. We don't when the planning starts to
maybe go south because you don't have the personal experience
(47:25):
to be doing the planning of such such a big adventure.
And then you get frustrated with the whole thing, and
then the trip isn't even fun because all that leading
up to it. This is where you guys are just
so special in that process.
Speaker 2 (47:37):
Well, and to know the things that are possible. Did
you know that you could get, you know, a ringside
seat or a tour of a stadium while you're you know,
going out for a ballgame. Did you know you could
get a backstage tour, you know in an iconic place
like Radio City Music Hall if you're up in New
York City, Or did you know that you could get
(47:58):
a private and you know, inside shed aquarium or you know,
some other location where you're at Those are things you
don't know. I talked about rental cars. You can rent
a Mustang. Anybody can rent a Mustang. How about renting
a Lotus okay for the weekend. Those are the kinds
of things that we can share with you. But we
(48:20):
can't do that until we get to know who you are.
We can't get to do that until we go through
the process that you talked about. That almost sounds like
we're interviewing you. We're not trying to pry into your life.
We're not trying to learn, you know, details about you
that you don't want to share. We're trying to find
out who you are. We're trying to find out what's exciting.
We're trying to find out whether you're someone who wants
(48:42):
to go on a half day fishing trip or you
know what a full day be the right one for you.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
Well, I imagine too that you probably have people who
who come in and they're like, my dream is to
go on this fishing trip, and so I'm going to
go fishing for seven days. And you're like, you might
not have thought this all the way. That's right, And
you don't want someone to leave their vacation feeling like
they missed out. Once you're there and you go, oh,
(49:08):
I wish we would have had plans to do that.
Or my wife and I on our honeymoon, we went
to the Grand Canyon from Vegas and we picked the
wrong the wrong side of the rim. Oh yeah. We
were in the bus for it felt like eleven hours,
and I talked to Terry and she was like, Oh,
you should have gone here and you would have been
(49:28):
able to do this. And I'm like, oh, I wish
I would have had an expert when we did that.
I didn't know you guys back then, Well you don't
know what you don't know?
Speaker 2 (49:35):
Yeah, I mean a famous person, right, And you're riding
back in the plane with somebody and they say, hey,
did you do this? And the answer is what, I
didn't know I could do that. That's that's part of
our job. So when you're talking about putting together this trip,
what you're really doing, you're giving a gift of time.
You're giving a gift to memory. And that's so different
(49:59):
than you know, another mug, another pair of socks.
Speaker 3 (50:03):
That's where we started out.
Speaker 2 (50:04):
You know, even if you monogram that wallet, it's still
just another wallet.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
Right. This is the way my brain thinks. If you
want to give dad another mug, give him a mug
that says grand Canyon on it from your trip that
you took to the Grand can.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
Yeah. Yeah, get a picture of you and him and
the grand Camp and you're riding down on the donkey.
You know, did you know you could ride into the
Grandson Yeah? Yeah, so I don't want to do it.
But at the end of the day, think about this.
On Father's Day, what Dad really wants is time with you.
What Dad really wants is memories with you. And this
(50:39):
whole segment today, the whole show today has been around
bonding with dad. And we've talked about guys and dads. Well,
guess what, girls have dads too, And there's lots of
trips that we can do that you know, that are
focused on things with girls and dads. So you know
you're going to spend some time together. You want to
have some laughs, you want to have some memories, you
(51:01):
want to have some shared stories of shared experiences. What
a great way to come back. And you know, at
Christmas time this year, tell the rest of the family
what you and dad did on your vacation. Maybe it
was around the golf where you finally beat him. Maybe
it was, you know, the fishing competition where he got
(51:23):
seven times as many fish as you.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
Whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (51:26):
Maybe it was the ball that you caught in the outfield,
you know, at Wrigley Stadium. Whatever it is, consider the
gift of travel, because the gift of travel is filled
with memories, it's filled with laughter, it's filled with time
spent together with someone that you love and care about.
(51:46):
Just a tremendous way to create those stories that you're
going to tell and tell again. And the interesting thing, Chris,
when you tell the story to your grandkids and when
you know you read the journal that your dad has
about the trip that you took together, they don't even
have to agree.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
They're going to be.
Speaker 2 (52:08):
Two different stories from two different perspectives, and both of
them are nothing if they aren't real.
Speaker 1 (52:14):
Harry, I was joking with you earlier saying grand grandparents
have their own day. They don't need Father's Day too.
I know you're a father and a grandfather, so I
want to wish you a happy Father's Day. I know
you we talked. We were actually talked about your dad
before we went on the air, so I know Dad
is always in your heart and your memories and your thoughts.
(52:35):
And if you are in a situation that you don't
feel like maybe you have a dad in your life.
Remember there are a lot of men who fill those roles,
and we want to think about all of them and
say thank you to them as well as we celebrate
Father's Day tomorrow. And for those of you like me
who became a stepfather, you know, within the last couple
of years. Good luck, my friend, it's the best journey
(52:56):
you'll ever take. Well.
Speaker 2 (52:57):
Yeah, there's fathers of every kind. There's biological fathers and
there's there's you know, non biological fathers. Every one of
them's a father because they're the ones who you're spending
time with.
Speaker 1 (53:06):
If you want to plan out next year's Father's Day
with Dad and you want to get a hold of
the wishing Well, there's really three easy ways to do that.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
Yeah, we're so easy to find. We're at two forty
three f Avenue in Harrisonburg, between Classico and the Mall.
We are on the webed of Thewishingwell dot biz or
you can give us a call five four zero nine
zero eight two three three three.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
We want to hear from you wherever we are. 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 Well
online at the wishing Well dot biz or five four
oh nine oh eight twenty three thirty three past episodes
are available on the iHeartRadio app, and we'll see again
(53:49):
next Saturday morning at ten for a life less ordinary.
From the wishing Well
This is a Lifeless Ordinary. It's a travel show and
podcasts from your friends at the wishing Well two forty
three ft Avenue in Harsmer and online at the wishing
Well dot Biz. 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
(00:20):
guide 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 and say hello. But this
week again we're going to say hello to Harry. Hey, Chris, Hello,
how are you doing? My friend doing great well. I
guess we've now survived all the graduations. We've got lawn
parties in full swing and summer thunderstorms. It feels like
(00:44):
summertime is finally here.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, I think that's what we're going to have all
weekend long. Started yesterday and it's continuing.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
I like this kind of weather, so I'm not complaining
about it. I don't like the heat, but I like
the writing of the thunderstorms. So Harry, We've got another
week's worth of travel news, get caught up on let's
talk about what's happened.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, some of the exciting things are going on. Our
friends at Marriott have introduced a brand new brand that
I wanted to talk about this morning called Sounder Sonder.
And what they've done Marriott has done a great job
of trying to capture every aspect, every niche and corner
of the lodging and hospitality market that they can. And
(01:26):
what Sounder has done is they've reached out and they've said,
there's some people that don't want to stay in a hotel,
but they want to stay in the middle of the
sought after worldwide destinations. And so what they've done is
they've assembled a collection of apartment buildings, intimate bouquet hotels
(01:47):
in these sought after destinations and their very small boutique
kind of collection, and they're calling it Sunder. So, of course,
the wishing Well is one of Marriott's preferred agencies and
we stay abreast of all the brands, So we're excited
to have this new addition to the family and something
new to offer our travelers.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Can I stay there just for a weekend or do
I have to stay for a month?
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Is this no. This is you don't have to rent
a place like an apartment for a month or two.
You can do an extended stay a long weekend. You
want to go to a destination. You want to go
to Nice for the weekend, that's great. You want to
go to Cyprus for the weekend, that's great. But you
don't want to stay in a hotel. You want to
be in the middle of things. You want to go
out and have a place to come back and turn
(02:31):
the TV on. Maybe you know, fix a cup of
coffee or drink a glass of wine, break some biscuits
and enjoy. This is the brand for you. Some interesting
I want to take a switch and move over to
the cruise industry and talk about some of our friends
in the rail industry. Virgin Voyages has got something that's
(02:51):
got my attention. They've decided it's the middle of summer,
why not. They've got a special sale where they're giving
up to seventy percent off off for the second person.
So this is almost like paying for a solo vacation
and seventy percent off for the second person. They're going
to give you some taxes and things that they're going.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
To charge you for.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Of course, but to make up for that, they're going
to give you a free balcony upgrade. So really what
you're doing is you're traveling for almost half price. But
the downside of this is good for a short time
right now. I don't know what the expiration date is,
they haven't announced that to us, but it's a short time,
just a quick sale. They want to fill up some
of their inventory, fill up some of their sales. So
(03:36):
if you haven't looked at Virgin Voyage, you might want
to give them a second look. And then the other
one I wanted to talk about this morning that got
me pretty excited is one of my favorites. How many
times have we talked about the Rocky Mountaineer.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
We mentioned them last week.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Okay, they call them Armstrong, they call themselves Armstrong Cooperative
now but Armstrong Collection. I'm sorry, but Rocky Mountaineer. They
decided that they're going to do something too, and they've
got their journeys through Western Canada. They are offering seven
hundred dollars off per couple on the gold Leaf service,
which is their premium service. That is the way to
(04:11):
go when you decide to take your sweetheart. I'm going
to recommend you go gold Leaf, but if you don't
want to do that, you can drop down to Silverleaf,
which is also not shabby at all. They're offering five
hundred dollars off on silver Leaf service for any twenty
twenty six package, so you can plan ahead and get
(04:32):
a great deal on one of the wishing Well's favorite
ways to travel by rail with the Armstrong Cooperative on
the Rocky Mountaineer.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
If you're not familiar with the Rocky Mountaineer, you need
to go to the wishing Well dot Biz up in
the upper right hand corner. You'll see the little Hamburger menu.
Click on that and it'll show you the podcast. Yeah,
and then just type in the search engine there Rocky
Mountaineer and go back and listen to that podcast we did.
Because this is an experience that it's going to be
(05:02):
once in a lifetime. It is. You're going to have
views that you've never imagined seeing in person, and from
what I understand, along with those views, delicious food and
a level of care that is just top notch.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
It is top notch. You get off that train at night,
you don't sleep on the train. You get off the
train at night and you stay in some of the
finest hotels. Who are talking about Fairmount Hotels. And I'm
going to experience this myself in person and in July.
So I'm going to come back and tell you some stories,
Chris about that trip. If you're in love with mother nature,
(05:36):
if you're in love with with wildlife, you want to
see wildlife and its natural habitat. This is the journey
for you. And to get a deal of seven hundred
dollars off just fantastic. You're gonna eat well, you're gonna
see some magnificent things, and you're going to have some
truly truly magnificent lifelong memories, which is what travel is
(05:59):
all about. So those are the things. I don't have
a big long list this morning, but those are some
of the things that I wanted to share with our
listeners this morning. Of upcoming offers, some of them will
be out there for a couple of weeks. This one
is for planning ahead. I'm talking about nineteen going ahead
to I'm sounding like my father now nineteen I'm talking
(06:21):
about travel all the way through twenty twenty six. You're
talking about a year and a half hour. If you
are a planner, this.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Is the thing to be looking at right now.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Speaking of your dad our show today, Yeah, we're talking
about ditch the tie, give dad the gift of travel.
We'll dig a little deeper into that coming up next
year on a Lifeless Ordinary.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Who would think of driving off to a new destination
without guidance from Google or Syria's not The Wishing World
guide your next travel experience. Travel the world as you
enjoy the very best destinations and all they offer at
the best prices. Our mobile travel app keeps your vacation
on track. It 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,
(07:05):
stop by two forty three nept Avenue, or visit us
at the Wishingwell dot biz.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
Hey, welcome back to a Lifeless Ordinary, the travel show
and podcast from your friends at the Wishing Well. They
are on neph Avenue in Harrison, Birth They're also online
at the Wishingwell dot biz, or give them a call
at five four oh nine oh eight twenty three thirty three.
Harry Rife is with us this morning. Harry, it's always
good to talk to you, especially when we're talking about
(07:31):
ways to treat Dad for Father's Day, handhand, it's tomorrow.
You don't forget about dad and stepdad's hand kids, So
go ahead, Harry, I'm sorry every kind dad. What about
granddads too? Every kind of day? They have their own day,
grandparents do grandparents Day?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
No, I'm granddad. So I want I want to celebrate
everything I can this Sunday, Chris.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So, our show today is called Ditch the Tie, Give
Dad the Gift of travel. And we've got a lot
of ways that we can give that gift today.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
And I'm gonna start with an online survey. Can we
do an online survey online? Here?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
As long as online means allays online?
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, on air?
Speaker 1 (08:07):
There we go.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
So I'm gonna ask everybody listening this morning, and everybody
in the studio here with me, Comma Chris, to raise
your hand if you've ever stood in line a Saturday
before Father's Day at the store I don't care was
department store, discount store, auto park store, and just been
standing there holding something silly, maybe a coffee mug, maybe
(08:28):
a necktie, maybe you know, a little gadget for dad's shop.
Wonder to yourself, is this really the best that I
can do? For Dad all hands in the air yep,
oh my gosh. So let's face it, for many of us,
Father's Day kind of sneaks up on us, and it's
(08:50):
not as popular a holiday as some of the other
holidays during the year.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
I heard a theory on why that is why, Because
Mother's Day is in May when kids are still in
school and the teachers have them making macaroni necklaces and things.
Dad's holiday falls in the summer when the teachers aren't
there to make sure that you remember. They need to
move it up to April.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Well, either that or the last project on those last
few days of school in June the beginning of June,
when you're doing nothing anything anyway, make Dad some great gifts.
But you know, if you've been in line, you know
looking at that mug. How many mugs do I have?
I don't know, best Dad, greatest Dad, World's number one dad,
(09:30):
all of those dads, I've got them. But with Father's
Day sneaking up on us, the default gifts we lean
on every year, the silly things tools for the grill
of maybe a bottle of Dad's favorite spirit. They it
gets kind of predictable. But what if instead of gifting things.
You gifted time this year, and you gifted memories this year.
(09:53):
So that's what motivated me to come up with our
topic today. Ditch the tie, give dad the gift of travel.
So I want you to flip the script this morning.
I want to talk about experiences. I want to talk
about bonding. How many more hours would I have liked
to have spent with my dad, who's not with me anymore.
(10:14):
How many more places would I have liked to go
with him? How many more stories would I have liked
to have heard from him, Memory making moments, stories, companionship.
No matter how many socks I gave Dad, nothing can
compare to those special memories I had. And I remember
(10:37):
spending time with him, going to see a ball game,
just going on a short trip or visit a day trip.
I wasn't a big golfer, so Dad and I didn't golf,
but something special where we just went somewhere we went
for one Father's Day, we went on a trip and
(10:58):
just enjoyed coffee and donuts and spent time together. Spent
the morning together, and my sister was a little bit jealous,
but she had him for the afternoon. So here's what
we want to talk about this morning. We want to
talk about those sunrise hikes and Yosemite, the golf challenges.
Buckle in. I'm going to take you on a journey
(11:19):
and I'm going to take you to some of the
best destinations experiences. I'm going to give you some ideas
this morning that work for dads this Father's Day. But
even if you're listening to this on one of our
podcasts after this morning, think about something special that you
can do for your dad any day. And I'm going
(11:40):
to start with thinking about what your dad likes to do. Okay,
do you have an outdoor adventure dad. Maybe in the audience,
if you're an outdoor adventure dad kind of person, think
about one of the best.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Places you could go on a trip with your dad.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
And that would be, in my opinion, Yosemite National Park
in California. You want to go for some views, so
the kinds of things we were just talking about before
on these cruises that you could take with the Rocky Mountaineer.
You want to see wildlife. You want to see it
in its own kind of environment, not go.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
To the zoo.
Speaker 2 (12:17):
Take your dad to out to the mountains, Take your
dad to a place that just has those towering granite criffs, cliffs,
the waterfalls, hiking trails. Maybe you can't hike down all
the trails, but maybe you can find one that you
can rent a four wheel or you can get on
a tour, take a stroll, look at some of the
(12:40):
beautiful things that Mother Nature has out there. And these
are the kinds of trips that you can get. We
have adventure trips at the Wishing Well. Terry's spoken with
you about some of these companies that we go by
adventure level and we can go high level adventure if
your dad and you can handle it, or you can
go meet me level adventure if that's what you and
(13:02):
Dad want, or you can go on some other kinds
of trips where you're riding in a jeep. I'm thinking
about adventure. I'm thinking about safaris. I was reading about
a safari this weekend where you get on an electric
powered safari vehicle, go through the African wildlife areas, see
(13:22):
all the wildlife. They can't even hear you coming up,
and there's electric vehicle, so you get to see some
parts of nature that are at their very very best.
That's the outdoor kind of dad for the outdoor kind
of adventure story that you can do for your dad.
There are some luxury stays. If you and dad don't
(13:44):
want to tent, you can look at some luxury stays again, safaris,
you can do luxury safaris. They do tents like you've
never seen, Chris, I'm talking about tents that are outfitted
with every kind of amenity that you might want to
think about.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
I want to go camping up in the trees in
the Safari.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
They have tree houses that you can get also, and
that would be a neat place also to you know,
spend a vacation with dad. Get up in the morning,
look out and see the sun come up amongst the
trees and I painting.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
A pretty picture. Okay.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
One of the places that I'm thinking about in Yosemite
there is a place called Tanyana Tenaya. It's a lodge
just outside of the park, but it's got upscale cabins,
it's got an on site spa. Of course, you're going
to have jeep tours so you can explore. You don't
want to wear your hiking boots, but maybe you don't
(14:38):
want to get you know, all that kind of exercise,
So a jeep take a tour like.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
I was talking about.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
There's another hotel inside the park called the Awani Hotel.
This is a historic stone and timber lodge. It's legendary,
the high ceilings, the roaring fireplaces, and five star dining.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
But you're in the wild. How's that sound?
Speaker 1 (15:01):
You're winning me on every one of these here, Okay.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
So that's one of that's one of my ideas for
the outdoor adventure, Dad, I would be remiss if I
didn't speak about Alaska with outdoor adventures. One of my
favorite places to go to see Mother Nature at her finest.
Catch a can fantastic place to go out and see
(15:24):
just salmon coming up the stream, not one or two,
but in a swarm. You've got rugged beauty in ketch
can like you won't see anywhere else. You're on the waterfront,
you're seeing the fiords, you're seeing misty forests, the salmon,
the salmon fishing. If you don't want to fish, you
can certainly enjoy the fruits of the fishermen and you're
(15:44):
going to get the freshest salmon that you'll get in
the world. So another great idea, maybe you want to
do a fishing charter. There's salmon up there, but as
I mentioned, but also in Alaska. You know, it's a
good source for halibit fishing. Also up there. Have you
ever been in a floatplane? No, Oh, they're fantastic. Those
(16:05):
are those airplanes that land on the waters on the bottom. Yeah.
Take a floatplane tour over the Misty Fjords. Part of
the kinds of experiences when our travelers go to Alaska,
they want to do something special. A floatplane tour is fantastic.
Some of the pilots on these planes look like they
haven't graduated from high school yet, but these guys have
(16:26):
the finesse because that's the way to travel around as airplanes.
In Alaska. You can see the Totem Heritage Center and
learn a little bit about the history. And if you're
in the right location at the right time, it's not
unusual to see bear up there. There's a non wildlife
observatory up there too. Some of the places I love
in catch Can there's a Salmon Falls Resort. This is
(16:49):
an all inclusive resort known for its fishing excursions, fine dining,
and waterfront views. It's a place that I know Terry
sent some people before. Littally fantastic. Another resort up there
is a waterfall resort. It's a former cannery and they've
turned us into a luxury fishing lodge. So you can
(17:10):
go there if you have the fisherman's spirit. They'll get
all your gear, they'll get you with a guide, and
they'll make sure that you have the same gourmet kind
of meals, because travel without gourmet food just doesn't travel
for me.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Right Chris, I'm on the same page. Let me ask
you about salmon fishing. Is that like a fly fishing
experience or are you fishing with like a I don't
know how that happens. I am not a fisherman. I
am someone who really enjoys the fruits of fishing. I
need to ask my step son.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
He would know that right away. But those are just
and those are just two quick ideas. If your dad
is that one who's who's got that outdoor kind of spirit,
you want to get him a tremendous gift.
Speaker 3 (17:59):
That would be where I go.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
I want to switch. Now, what if your dad is
a water loving dad.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
That's me Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
My happiest place is being on the water. So whether
it's a lake or the ocean, All of those are
fine with me. One of my favorite places to go
is Grand Cayman, the Cayman Islands, salt water. You want
to do a little snorkeling, you want to do a
little fishing. It is fantastic. The waters in Grand Cayman
(18:28):
are absolutely exquisite. You've got these beautiful turquoise colored waters,
vibrant reefs, five star beachfront hotels. Again, I keep going
back this five star right, the food and the luxury,
you can enjoy the most beautiful places while you're enjoying
the most beautiful style of lodging and eating. If you
(18:52):
want to dive and see shipwrecks, this is something you
can do in the Grand Caymans. Yeah, you want to
lounge on the bee, Grand Cayman's got all of that
for you. There's a Stingrays City tour where you actually
get to pet Stingrays.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
I'm out, you're out. That's not for me.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
I haven't heard anything bad about that, So that's the
kind of thing I might try.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
My wife would want that. I know we're talking about dads,
but she anytime anyone talks about pet and Stingray she's like,
oh my gosh, we gotta go.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Well, there's nothing wrong with taking mom on a dad tour.
It's just dad's vacation. But mom is certainly welcome to
come to you. Like scuba diving, you can go out
there deep deep sea fishing. You can get some charters,
get a charter boat, go out for the whole day.
Those captains know exactly where to go so that you'll
come back with some fish. They'll take it and they'll
(19:45):
prepare it for you and you get to eat your
own catch. How's that for the five star fishing. One
of the places I would stop out there, there's a
place called Cayman Spirits Company. And they're not talking about ghosts.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
This is a rum tasting at the Cayman Spirits Company.
Just a wonderful experience too. You can't not walk away
happy after that. So luxury places to stay out there.
There's a Kimpton Hotel in Grand Cayman called a Seafire
Resort and spa.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
This is right on the beach.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Very bright kind of property, bold kind of property. You're
on the beach on the ocean front. Exceptional dining. Also
a spa. That's because mom might come along too, or
Dad's by the way you can enjoy spot.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
There's no shame in dad getting, you know, treated with
a little bit of pampering.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
No, not at all, and actually mom and dad together
or you know, going to spa with your dad. I've
been to a couple of spas with my dad when
he was alive, and he told me how it used
to be in the old country at the spas, and
I listened to his stories there too while I was
enjoying myself in the spa. Another one of my favorite
(20:57):
properties in the Caymans, there's a.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
It's Carlon Grand Cayman.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Oh wow.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
And if you have any property that's got the name
Ritz Carlton on it, your expectations are set before you
walk through the door. This is an ultra luxury resort.
Also on the seven Mile Beach underwater photography concierge, So
if you want to do some underwater photography, you see
the concierge. They'll set you up with the right equipment.
(21:24):
And if you want to take a little round of golf,
there's a Greg Norman golf course.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
On property there too.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
And one of the things that they have at the
Ritz Carlton that I think is fantastic you can book
a private catamaran. Maybe you want to do this on
Father's Day. A sunset sale in the Caymans. You are
talking over the top, Chriss. It's unforgettable. If you've ever
seen the sunset and the Grand Caymans, and if you've
(21:52):
never seen a sunset in a Grand.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Caymans, this is a place to go. It's an experience
you'll for sure remember forever.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Or the photographs that you bring back will be great
for your memories, but they're nothing like.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Experiencing that firsthand.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Let's see out of the water another place. What about
a classic fishing trip. We've sent people to Montana, We've
sent people to the Florida Keys, We've sent people to
that arondex Fishing trips aren't.
Speaker 3 (22:22):
Just about fish.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
They're about silence, they're about laughter, They're about companionship, about bonding.
They're about hearing the same stories time and time and
time again and laughing with Dad every time he tells them,
just like it's the first time that you heard it.
So if you want to go to Montana, tremendous fly
(22:46):
fishing up there, Mountain views just absolutely stellar. The Florida Keys,
the back country, the back country flats, you can go fishing.
We've got excursions that you can get down there with
people that know their way around the country. You might
go fishing in any kind of a watercraft. You might
go fishing out in the ocean, offshore, deep sea fishing.
(23:09):
And up in the Adirondicks you've got those cool, cool,
cool lakes. I like the fresh water. That's my favorite place.
Cabins just great for whether you're a beginner or whether
you're a pro. You can get the cabins up there.
You can get lodging up there where you have some
(23:30):
time where you can do some of your own cooking.
Or you can go the way that I'd go, and
that's the luxury stays. I like the lodge at Blue Sky, Utah.
It's got all inclusive packages up there with private guides.
You got this rustic luxury and for me, a whiskey lounge.
A nice way to end the day. And can you
(23:50):
imagine sitting next to Dad sipping some fine whiskey, telling
some stories. Got to make sure that Dad's stories are
always better than your story. Okay, that's a requirement for
this kind of tour. If you're down in Florida. I
like Ocean Key Resort and Spine Key West just steps
from the marina. You're going to see all kinds of
(24:14):
wonderful scenery. You're going to see some great sunsets out there.
Absolutely beautiful. And if you want to do something very
special on a fishing trip, I understand that you can
get a customized reel from bass Pro and some of
the other places, put Dad's name on the reel and
present that to him.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
And that's the date there too, So it's a memory thing.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
Yeah, absolutely, that way he remembers. Yeah, absolutely, And even
when Dad's not there anymore, you've got that reel and
when you look at it, you're going to remember that
day with Dad.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Absolutely fantastic, when the fish was this big and got
off the line and as we're about to pull him
into the boat.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Yeah, again and again, the stories get bigger, bigger, and
so do the fish, right yep, all right, time for
another segment. Yeah, okay, time for another segment before we
take a break. What about a dad who just needs
to chill?
Speaker 1 (25:10):
That's me? Yeah, all right.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
So many dads are so busy all week long, working hard,
trying to provide just wonderful experiences for their family. Make
sure everything's right. Great, great place to stay, great place
to live, great life, all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
But it's a little stressful.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
I got to tell you, as a dad working all
week long, there is not such a thing as a
forty hour week.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Is there?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
You work forty hour week.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
If my boss is listening. Short there's a.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
Sixty hour week that I used to work when my
boss was listening. I can tell you I'm not doing that. Yeah,
well I did that, and it can get kind of stressful.
So what I want to look at for the stressful
dads maybe one of the wellness resorts. There are lots
of wellness resorts that we work with. One of the
ones that I would recommend that I like, there's a
(26:04):
Karelli in Miami wellness resort. It's the epicenter of melt
of men's wellness. You can get the chiro therapy, massages, acupuncture, hydrotherapy,
business classes. They'll teach you how to eat really well and.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Lose a little weight.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Maybe in the process.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
A place that I could go.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
You can learn how to box, you can learn some yoga.
My son is a hot yoga fan. He took me
to that one time. I don't know if you've ever
experienced that. But they have this at these places too.
You know the difference between yoga and hot yoga.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Think us like hot rocks and turn the thermosta that way.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
He turn the thermostat away high. It's yoga that's that
that makes you sweat. So these fitness resorts know how
to do it. There's some proven techniques that they use.
They've got experts there to help you get healthy.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
I want to do goat yoga.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
I heard about goat yoga. I'm not sure I'm ready
for go yoga.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yeah, there are these adorable little goats there. They look
like they're about the size of a beagle and they
climb all over you while you're doing your poses.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
That's the reason I'm ready to wait. But the other
thing that they have at these resorts again, then this
is a christ and Harry thing again. They teach you
how to do gourmee healthy dining.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
I had that until you said healthy. Can we just
do gourmet dining?
Speaker 2 (27:25):
If they can do it and do it healthy, and
I still think it's gourmet, it's a win. It's a
beachfront location, absolutely fantastic. Again, the Karelian Miami, they have
sweets there with full kitchens, you got the ocean views,
a large spa and wellness facility. I think it's reputed
that this is the largest a wellness facility on the
(27:47):
East Coast. So you're you're in a place that knows
how to do it.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
I think it's interesting, how, especially when you and I
talk how much emphasis we put on food. Yeah, a
little bit. And when I think back on the trips
that I've gone to, food has always been something. Now
you go, oh, and then I had this, and you
will not believe how good this was. Yeah, but I
don't have pictures of any of those meals. And when
it really comes down to it, it was the people
(28:12):
I spent time with in the views and those kind
of experiences. But but come on, gourmet food always takes
whatever was already great and makes it even better.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
It does. And what a nice thing to be able
to go to a place with dad, have him chill
out a little bit, let him know, Hey, you can relax.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Now and get what you want. Mom's not here, TONI
kwag you forgetting whatever you want on this menu.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
That mean we get a second dessert?
Speaker 1 (28:40):
Sure?
Speaker 2 (28:41):
All right? So I want to send you to another
wellness place. And that is in North Carolina, a place
that I was last week and not at this particular property,
but Brunswick Islands, North Carolina. This is for dads who
don't want crowds. They just want that quiet beach, fantastic kill,
seafood and time with the family. They've got golf, they've
(29:03):
got kayaking, they've got fishing, they've got biking, they've got grilling,
they've got sunset dinners on waterfront desk decks, and you
can explore sunset beach there, explore island down there. Lots
of things to do, but in a peaceful quiet if
you want, If dad needs to have everything removed, all
(29:26):
the distractions removed, Brunswick Islands, North Carolina is a place
you might want to consider. There's the Winds Resort and
beach club down there. Also, we're talking ocean fronts, sweets
palms or uttered grounds and that Southern hospital when you're
in Carolina is you're going to get Southern hospitality. You
cannot avoid it. They've got a private beach home rental
(29:49):
down there. We've got some homes that are vetted through
the Virtuoso network that we can set you up with
and when you're down in the south. You got to
have a seafood boil. Yes, this is a food show.
It's turning into a food show. So those are some
of the ideas for Dad and a way that we
(30:10):
can ditch the tie this year and give.
Speaker 1 (30:14):
Dad the gift of travel. Yes, sir, that's the name
of our show today. You're listening to a Lifeless Ordinary
and Harry when we come back, how about things to
do with Dad? If he loves golf. We'll try that,
all right, we'll do it next here on a Lifeless Ordinary.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
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 best prices. Our mobile travel app keeps your vacation
on track and keeps you connected with our team of experts.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
For help.
Speaker 2 (30:45):
If you need it, call us at five four zero
nine zero eight two three three three stop buy two
forty threep Avenue or visit us at the Wishingwell dot biz.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Welcome back to a Lifeless Ordinary. Every Saturday, we talk
with our friends from the Way Well you'll find them
on f Avenue in Harrisonburg, online at the wishing Well
dot biz and you can give them a call. Even
today five four h nine eight twenty three thirty three.
Our show today with Harry is Ditch the Tie Gift Dad,
The Gift of Travel. We've talked about going on fishing adventures.
(31:17):
We've talked about if Dad likes to be on the water.
We've talked about trips to Alaska. We've talked about going
to the Cayman Islands and searching for shipwrecks. I think
there were so many shipwrecks around the Cayman Islands because
everyone's drinking all the rum while they were trying to
navigate around the islands. Not possible. Our next place we
(31:38):
want to go is And I know I've got friends
who are these dads. They love to golf.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, I've met some people that are absolutely passionate about golf,
and full disclosure, that's not me. But I watch these
people get excited. They break out and sweat when you
start talking about some of these places. And I have
been on some of the golf courses that I want
to talk about, but I can't get the passion guys
(32:06):
I'm sorry that's not me, but that means there's one
more place for you to fill.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
One of my friends, Russ, he and his wife went
to the Masters, I think last year, and you have
to get into a lottery to even get the tickets.
And he got the call or to the email, however
that works. You know, that's all he wanted to talk about.
He was so excited about it, and it was just
fun to be around him while he talked about it,
because man, you want to talk passion' that's what That's
(32:31):
what you get when you talk to a golfer.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
Well, and if you want to go to an event
like that, the Virtuoso Network we have access to tickets
for events like that, to the Master's Tournament, Lemon's all
those kinds of things. I haven't hit car racing dads today,
but if you want some special sporting event, let us know.
We have some connections. We can almost always find tickets.
(32:57):
But I want to talk about golf loving dads. And
when you say golf, you're talking about some special places.
If you don't mention places like Pinehurst, Scottsdale, Arizona just
nothing but a city of golf courses Coappalua. You want
to go out and play some golf in the Hawaiian Islands,
(33:18):
absolutely fantastic. You want to take a trip abroad and
go over to Scotland, the home of golf. All of
these are possible trips. I want to talk about Pineland,
North Carolina. Pinehurst, North Carolina. That's where some of the legendary,
most charming golf places are. That's just steeped in golfloor,
(33:40):
the Pinehurst Resort. We have packages at the Pinehurst Resort
that include lessons. They of course will store your clubs
if you want to bring your clubs there, and you
can have a tea time concierge.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I've never even heard of a tea time concierge, but
I guess that's the person who makes sure that you
get the particular tea time that you want. The connections again,
through the virtual network allow us to get to these people,
and we have their phone numbers. We can get you
in and we can probably even get your tea time
on Father's Day tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (34:14):
Wow, all right, so call early.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
I can't promise, but we will certainly try. Scottsdale, Arizona,
just nothing but golf courses. I used to spend a
lot of time in Scottsdale. That's where my folks lived,
and so I've got to see the courses there. They
are absolutely incredible. You talk about golf courses in the
middle of the desert, but these golf courses are lush,
(34:40):
they're absolutely beautiful. The weather in Scottsdale is such that
you can play golf pretty near every day of the year.
One of the places that I like in Scottsdale is the.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Four Seasons Resort.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
You're talking about desert luxury, top tier courses. Actually there's
two top tier courses at the Four Seasons Resorts, Scott's
Stale at True North, and it's got a steakhouse on property.
I couldn't get away from the food. That's where you're
going to find me at the steakhouse when you get
done with your round of golf. Maybe both of us
(35:15):
at the steakhouse. What do you think, Chris, Chris and
I will be at the steakhouse. If you want to
do this trip, we'll be at the steakhouse waiting for you.
But the courses in there are not one, but two
top tier rated golf courses. If you want to go
to Hawaii, Kappolua. I'm going to send you to the
Ritz Carlton again because we love that brand. They do
(35:37):
just over the top amenities. You've got a fair way
that you're up there golfing. You've got ocean views. I mean,
you're in Hawaii in every direction. You can't help but
have ocean views. And we were talking a little bit
during break about photographs. If you're on some of these
golf courses and you don't bring yourself and you don't
(36:01):
stop and take a few minutes to take some photographs
while you're up there, not just to the beautiful scenery,
but if you and dad together, these are memories. These
are great photos to hang in your house, you know,
so that you get these memories again and again and again.
And if you want to have a title at the bottom,
(36:21):
I would probably write something like best day ever. Okay,
isn't that the right thing to say?
Speaker 1 (36:27):
So we've got some golfing.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
I want to switch from golfing now and talk about
some urban adventures.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
There's some cities that are absolutely great cities to visit
with dad. One of the favorite cities on my list,
A couple favorite cities on my list in California, But
I'm going to choose this morning to talk about San Diego.
San Diego is such a neat city because there's so
much happening there. You want to go see a baseball
(36:58):
game anytime during the year. You want to see some
great beaches. You want to visit a brewery. Maybe you
want to enjoy some street food, maybe a burrito. San
Diego is your place. You can go out and try surfing.
I've never tried surfing, but wouldn't it be cool to
have your first surfing lesson with.
Speaker 3 (37:19):
Dad at La Jolla.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Maybe you want to take a hike. There's Tory Pines.
Maybe you want to take a harbor cruise and just
see the city. They have craft beer festivals there. San
Diego is such a great city because the weather is
fantastic all no humidity all year, yeah, and a slight
breeze all the time, just to make your your your
(37:44):
life great. I'm going to recommend for a place to
stay there as one of the properties. I know you
and Terry have talked about many times. You talked about
Montage and Pendri. Those are a family of brands, and
there is a Pendry right in downtown San Diego. It's
got a rooftop pool, it's got the Six Bars restaurants,
(38:04):
and you're right next to the ballpark there Petco Park.
The Penry San Diego, the Pendry family, there's such a
fantastic job. They treat each one of their properties as
though it's their personal family resort. So when you walk in,
you can find people that recognize you, that know your name.
(38:25):
After a couple of days walking around that property, they
will say, hey, Chris, how's it going, What did you
do today? What do you want to do tomorrow? They
just make you feel like your family. They make you
feel like you're visiting their home. Not just a fantastic hotel,
but a home as well. So I love that property.
The other one I liked in San Diego is the
(38:45):
Hotel del Colornado. It's just an icon that it's been
there for a long long time. It's right on the
beach and it's got that Americana kind of charm. When
you walk into a hotel and you just feel like
you've been there one hundred times before. That's the Hotel
Del Coronado. City escapes like places like San Diego. They
(39:08):
are great because there's so many things to do. You
don't have to plan everything. I'd advise you to do
some planning. If you want to see a ballgame, you
want to see a particular team, plan your visit around
that and get tickets for that beforehand. But there's always
something to do in a city like San Diego, another
city that I like a lot, and maybe at the
(39:31):
other end where you're not talking about the warm beach breezes,
but the city of Chicago, another great city filled with
a lot of nostalgia, filled with some great properties, filled
with some things to do. You got Chicago on your mind.
Speaker 1 (39:46):
I do, because I don't remember now. Two thousand and seven,
maybe I did a tour of baseball stadiums and Chicago
was one of the places that and I didn't have
a plan for anywhere I went other than to go
to the baseball game and then I stuff around the game.
So I rolled into Chicago. It was a rainy Sunday evening,
(40:06):
much like last night. Was yeah, and through the windshield wipers,
I see the Neon sign above Wrigley Field, and I
was like, I'm here. And the next morning I went
out and drove around, and you know, I saw the
water fountain that they had at the beginning of Married
with Children. Oh yeah, I saw the NBC Studios location
(40:28):
in Chicago. I went to the original UNO's Pizza. Yeah. Now,
have you been to the UNO's in Chicago? All Right,
So you know, you get there, you stand in line.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
You have to.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
You don't just walk in and sit down, and they
take your order somewhere like halfway through the line, because
it takes an hour for them to cook your pizza
because it's such a unique crush. It's stick and it's
very wet. And they brought the pizza. I sat at
the bar because I wanted to sit down. I had
been standing long enough. And it only brought me half
(41:01):
my pizza. I said, where's the other half of the pizza?
And they said, we keep it in the oven for
you to keep it warm, because nobody can actually eat
an entire one of these because the crust is just
so heavy. And that was one of those things I
still tell people about it. It's like it was where
I grew up. It was to Carlo's Pizza, very unique.
If you are on social media, you've probably seen memes
(41:24):
about to Carlos and how disgusting people in Pittsburgh are
for eating raw cheese and raw pepperoni on their pizza.
That's what I grew up on, man, And I'm going
to tell you the UNO's pizza when it was left
over and I was driving to my next place, which
I think may have been Saint Louis, I ate it
in the car and it tasted just like to Carlo's,
and I was like, this is the best trip I've
(41:46):
ever had. And I went and saw the Cubs play,
and uh I, it's just everything about Chicago, you know,
as long as you stay in the safe parts of town,
well are just wonderful Chicago.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
There's a lot of safe places to be. One of
my favorite places in Chicago also is on the river front.
And during the summer you're talking about you're on the
shore of Lake Michigan, absolutely beautiful. You've got the breeze
coming off the lake. It's nothing but a park. The
waterfall you're talking about or the water fountain you're talking
(42:21):
about as part of that park, and they have festivals
every weekend. There's something to do. Also along the riverfront
is the famous Shedd Aquarium. Fantastic place to visit too,
and the place I like to stay. I like the
Roosevelt Hotel fantastic property. It's that old style elegance. There
(42:44):
are several hotels that we have on our Virtuoso list
for Chicago. I'm just talking about the Roosevelt, but there
are several downtown. There are those classic iconic old style
hotels when you walk inside and you just look all
around Florida ceiling, nothing but imagery to capture your attention.
(43:04):
And walk into a place like that with Dad and
he'll go, yeah, I remember this, and get.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
A Chicago dog.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Oh yeah, the Chicago hot dog. It was.
Speaker 1 (43:14):
It was not for me, but I'm glad I did it,
just so I can.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
You have to do that. And if you're a Saturday
Night Live fan, you want to visit the Billy Go
Tavern and it will remind you of Saturday Night. That's
the real Yeah, that's the Cheaberger Cheaburger Billy Go Tavern.
Downtown Chicago absolutely can't a place you can't miss. So
we've talked about a lot of places, a lot of
(43:38):
different kinds of dads. We talked about, you know, urban dads.
We've talked about dads who need need to chill out.
We've talked about the outdoor adventure dad. What else we had, Oh,
the golf loving dad. So we've got lots of dads.
But one of the most important things that you're thinking
about what we're talking about today, Chris, is how to
(44:00):
figure out what's the right one to do. And there's
not a bad choice in the bunch, but you want
to figure out the right one to do. And part
of the key to making a special memory with Dad
happen is planning. And that's where I think folks like
the wishing Well can come in and help you make
(44:23):
sure everything goes right, because when you're talking about traveling
with dad, you may have a situation where Dad's got
some travel limitations, so you may want to think about
how you're going to travel, what the airline accommodations need
to look like, what the connections need to look like.
And those are the kinds of attention to detail that
we can start with on the trip and follow through
(44:44):
with the activities that you do, the hotels that you
stay at, the types of accommodations in the hotel. That's
all part of that planning process.
Speaker 1 (44:54):
So I think we just talked last week as we
were answering all those questions, our listeners the process that
you take at the wishing well when you sit down
with a client, someone who says, I want to do
something really fun with dad. Dad she always said he
(45:14):
wanted to go to Alaska, or yeah, how does that
process work as you're figuring out? Last week we talked
about that interview process. How do you get to know
dad well? And I think, what a great opportunity we
have to get to know Dad because this trip is
for Dad. And one of the greatest parts of a
(45:35):
gift like this, Chris, is that you can involve Dad
from the very beginning. For fathers, they let him know
you're doing something and you want to take him on
a trip. But then I think having ownership is really important.
So as part of that process, we would talk with
you and Dad. If he's not right here with you,
that's not a problem. We use zoom, we use telephones.
(45:58):
Whatever works for your dad and you. We will work
together with you.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
We're going to ask you that set of questions. We're
going to try and learn a little bit about you,
the kinds of things that you want to accomplish. We're
going to learn a lot just from talking to you
about how to pace that trip. This is not about
trying to get Dad exhausted or try and burn you
out during this trip. We want to know how to
pace the trip. We want to know about the style
(46:23):
of travel that you like. You know, you and I
we're going to go wherever the best food is. That
might not be for everybody, So you know, they may
may rate food. I don't know how anyone could, but
they may rate food. You know, just a step below.
What about if we make this travel experience also include
the rental of a luxury car, so you're riding around
in a Mustang or a Mustang convertible for this weekend too.
(46:47):
Do you see how we can take this trip and
put little touches on it to just make it go
from end to end as a wonderful experience, not just
one part of it, but the whole trip through that
you know, through the process we're talking about, you know.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
And I think it's so important too, because a lot
of times we're too close to I don't want to
say we're too close to Dad, because that's a good thing,
but we're too close to the problem. We don't know,
and it's like, oh, Dad would love this, and we
don't ask questions. We don't when the planning starts to
maybe go south because you don't have the personal experience
(47:25):
to be doing the planning of such such a big adventure.
And then you get frustrated with the whole thing, and
then the trip isn't even fun because all that leading
up to it. This is where you guys are just
so special in that process.
Speaker 2 (47:37):
Well, and to know the things that are possible. Did
you know that you could get, you know, a ringside
seat or a tour of a stadium while you're you know,
going out for a ballgame. Did you know you could
get a backstage tour, you know in an iconic place
like Radio City Music Hall if you're up in New
York City, Or did you know that you could get
(47:58):
a private and you know, inside shed aquarium or you know,
some other location where you're at Those are things you
don't know. I talked about rental cars. You can rent
a Mustang. Anybody can rent a Mustang. How about renting
a Lotus okay for the weekend. Those are the kinds
of things that we can share with you. But we
(48:20):
can't do that until we get to know who you are.
We can't get to do that until we go through
the process that you talked about. That almost sounds like
we're interviewing you. We're not trying to pry into your life.
We're not trying to learn, you know, details about you
that you don't want to share. We're trying to find
out who you are. We're trying to find out what's exciting.
We're trying to find out whether you're someone who wants
(48:42):
to go on a half day fishing trip or you
know what a full day be the right one for you.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
Well, I imagine too that you probably have people who
who come in and they're like, my dream is to
go on this fishing trip, and so I'm going to
go fishing for seven days. And you're like, you might
not have thought this all the way. That's right, And
you don't want someone to leave their vacation feeling like
they missed out. Once you're there and you go, oh,
(49:08):
I wish we would have had plans to do that.
Or my wife and I on our honeymoon, we went
to the Grand Canyon from Vegas and we picked the
wrong the wrong side of the rim. Oh yeah. We
were in the bus for it felt like eleven hours,
and I talked to Terry and she was like, Oh,
you should have gone here and you would have been
(49:28):
able to do this. And I'm like, oh, I wish
I would have had an expert when we did that.
I didn't know you guys back then, Well you don't
know what you don't know?
Speaker 2 (49:35):
Yeah, I mean a famous person, right, And you're riding
back in the plane with somebody and they say, hey,
did you do this? And the answer is what, I
didn't know I could do that. That's that's part of
our job. So when you're talking about putting together this trip,
what you're really doing, you're giving a gift of time.
You're giving a gift to memory. And that's so different
(49:59):
than you know, another mug, another pair of socks.
Speaker 3 (50:03):
That's where we started out.
Speaker 2 (50:04):
You know, even if you monogram that wallet, it's still
just another wallet.
Speaker 1 (50:08):
Right. This is the way my brain thinks. If you
want to give dad another mug, give him a mug
that says grand Canyon on it from your trip that
you took to the Grand can.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
Yeah. Yeah, get a picture of you and him and
the grand Camp and you're riding down on the donkey.
You know, did you know you could ride into the
Grandson Yeah? Yeah, so I don't want to do it.
But at the end of the day, think about this.
On Father's Day, what Dad really wants is time with you.
What Dad really wants is memories with you. And this
(50:39):
whole segment today, the whole show today has been around
bonding with dad. And we've talked about guys and dads. Well,
guess what, girls have dads too, And there's lots of
trips that we can do that you know, that are
focused on things with girls and dads. So you know
you're going to spend some time together. You want to
have some laughs, you want to have some memories, you
(51:01):
want to have some shared stories of shared experiences. What
a great way to come back. And you know, at
Christmas time this year, tell the rest of the family
what you and dad did on your vacation. Maybe it
was around the golf where you finally beat him. Maybe
it was, you know, the fishing competition where he got
(51:23):
seven times as many fish as you.
Speaker 1 (51:25):
Whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (51:26):
Maybe it was the ball that you caught in the outfield,
you know, at Wrigley Stadium. Whatever it is, consider the
gift of travel, because the gift of travel is filled
with memories, it's filled with laughter, it's filled with time
spent together with someone that you love and care about.
(51:46):
Just a tremendous way to create those stories that you're
going to tell and tell again. And the interesting thing, Chris,
when you tell the story to your grandkids and when
you know you read the journal that your dad has
about the trip that you took together, they don't even
have to agree.
Speaker 1 (52:07):
They're going to be.
Speaker 2 (52:08):
Two different stories from two different perspectives, and both of
them are nothing if they aren't real.
Speaker 1 (52:14):
Harry, I was joking with you earlier saying grand grandparents
have their own day. They don't need Father's Day too.
I know you're a father and a grandfather, so I
want to wish you a happy Father's Day. I know
you we talked. We were actually talked about your dad
before we went on the air, so I know Dad
is always in your heart and your memories and your thoughts.
(52:35):
And if you are in a situation that you don't
feel like maybe you have a dad in your life.
Remember there are a lot of men who fill those roles,
and we want to think about all of them and
say thank you to them as well as we celebrate
Father's Day tomorrow. And for those of you like me
who became a stepfather, you know, within the last couple
of years. Good luck, my friend, it's the best journey
(52:56):
you'll ever take. Well.
Speaker 2 (52:57):
Yeah, there's fathers of every kind. There's biological fathers and
there's there's you know, non biological fathers. Every one of
them's a father because they're the ones who you're spending
time with.
Speaker 1 (53:06):
If you want to plan out next year's Father's Day
with Dad and you want to get a hold of
the wishing Well, there's really three easy ways to do that.
Speaker 2 (53:15):
Yeah, we're so easy to find. We're at two forty
three f Avenue in Harrisonburg, between Classico and the Mall.
We are on the webed of Thewishingwell dot biz or
you can give us a call five four zero nine
zero eight two three three three.
Speaker 1 (53:28):
We want to hear from you wherever we are. 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 Well
online at the wishing Well dot biz or five four
oh nine oh eight twenty three thirty three past episodes
are available on the iHeartRadio app, and we'll see again
(53:49):
next Saturday morning at ten for a life less ordinary.
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Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.