July 26, 2024 • 53 mins
The Wishing Well's Terrie Dean discusses this week's travel news and hot deals!
Plus, in this episode, we embark on an enchanting journey, exploring the epitome of luxury rail travel. We’ll traverse continents, cultures, and landscapes aboard some of the world’s most opulent trains: the Orient Express, the Rocky Mountaineer, the Shiki-Shima, the Andean Explorer, and more.
Join us on this unforgettable journey as we delve into the history, culture, and unparalleled luxury of these iconic trains. Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or a dreamer with a passion for the grandeur of rail travel, this episode is sure to inspire your next adventure. All aboard!
Plus, in this episode, we embark on an enchanting journey, exploring the epitome of luxury rail travel. We’ll traverse continents, cultures, and landscapes aboard some of the world’s most opulent trains: the Orient Express, the Rocky Mountaineer, the Shiki-Shima, the Andean Explorer, and more.
Join us on this unforgettable journey as we delve into the history, culture, and unparalleled luxury of these iconic trains. Whether you’re a seasoned traveler or a dreamer with a passion for the grandeur of rail travel, this episode is sure to inspire your next adventure. All aboard!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is a Lifeless Ordinary. It'sa travel show and podcasts from your friends
at the wishing Well two forty threef Avenue in Harsemberg and online It's a
wishing Well dot This. The wishingWell is your ultimate luxury concierge, travel
agency and A Lifeless Ordinary is atravel show and podcast hosted by Terry Dean,
bringing her over forty years of experiencein the travel industry to help guide
(00:20):
you to great experiences in your travel, whether it be around the block,
around the country, or around theworld. Let's bring in Terry Dean.
Say hello, Chris, how areyou. I am great. It's oh
gosh, the weather is so nice. I know, I'm loving every minute
of it. We had had thatstretch where I thought, oh my gosh,
we're never going to see fall again. Well, and then it was
(00:42):
so dry for so long, andthen all you have to do is,
you know, plan something outside andit rains. I think I should have
done that a long time ago.I wish you would have, I know,
right, but we did need whatlittle bit of rain that we did
get. We're not nearly where weshould be. I know, we still
have out conditions here in our area, but hopefully everybody's enjoying some really fun
(01:04):
weather today. We think after we'redone here, I might do some yardwork.
Okay, good for You've got todo something about the weeds. They
didn't stop growing, No, theydidn't. You know, whatever it is
in not having rain, weeds dolove that. They tend to really thrive
in that condition. So we haven'ttalked in a couple of weeks. We've
(01:25):
got a lot of travel news.We had that problem with Delta. I
know it's I think they maybe areback to normal now, well not entirely,
but I mean the big news,of course, was the big Microsoft
CrowdStrike fiasco that happened throughout the Internetsystem and the IT system. Are we
(01:49):
going to talk about that in ournews today? Yeah? I mean I
think I don't know that we couldhit news this week, Chris and not
talk about it. I don't knowanything about CrowdStrike. I think that the
first time I heard about him waswhen this happened on Monday. But I
read an article that they sent outten dollars coupons as an apology to all
their customers. I bet you Deltais really really enjoying that ten dollars qupons.
(02:12):
Sure, but I find that alittle ironic, to be honest with
you, based on some of thethings that the airlines have done to try
and ease people's feathers and put thoseback in place. But yeah, that's
I mean, we did have amajor IT outage in the past several days
and it literally brought to a haltthe aviation industry. We had well over
(02:38):
globally about thirty eight one hundred tofive thousand flights cancel in a moment.
It's crazy, and it really hada ripple effect throughout the system. And
what happened was this was not cybersecurity breach. This was not any type
of Internet terras or anything like that. Note In fact, it was just
(03:04):
a push of a update, asoftware update that caused all of this to
occur. And so, you know, we hope that this will cause those
that you have a higher pay gradethan I do to take a look at
this system, see where it's weaknessesand vulnerabilities lie, and see if something
(03:27):
can't be done to fix that sothat we don't go through this ever.
Again, that's a huge vulnerability.I did something similar to that once at
a job I had where I pusheda button, thinking oh, I'm fixing
a problem and pretty much deleted theentire archive for the radio station I worked
at. And I kept thinking,when I read that news, I'm like,
(03:49):
do you know that they thought wevetted this and we're pushing it out
and then the news hits them andit's like, oh, I feel so
bad for the people involved in that. And you know, honestly, Chris,
when something like that happens, Ialways say this the wishing well.
Our agency always seems to have somebodygoing somewhere sometime when all of these things
(04:11):
occur, because we're just busy.I mean, we're busy every day of
the week, every day of themonth. And the chances that we're going
to have people travel and be affectedby whatever it is going on weatherwise,
you know, whatever this it systemproblem was, whatever's going on in Paris,
you know, there's chances that we'regoing to have somebody affected. But
(04:32):
here's the good news, bad news. Okay, the good news is we're
there. We're watching our clients back. We can intercept in a moment's notice
and be available and try to startpulling the right strings to make sure that
people get where they need to go. And are protected. People who book
(04:53):
on their own, Chris, theydo not have that kind of assurance.
And that's what we talk about insuranceand assurance. A lot of times,
insurance is that thing that helps makeyou whole in the aftermath of the problem
and hopefully restores you and makes youhold in. But we are the assurance
(05:13):
while people are traveling to make surethat their problem is solved so that they
get to continue on and don't haveto worry about insurance to cover a failed
attempt to fix something right. Yeah, so you know, those are some
things to bear in mind. Youknow, we do give shameless commercials and
(05:34):
shameless plugs here for the wishing well. Hope you don't mind. We love
you and we want to make surethat we take good care of you when
you're out there. So please,if you do have itineraries that you feel
like and anymore I think everybody doesthat could use the watchful professional hands of
a good travel god. We're probablythe right place for you. We'd love
(05:56):
to have you. There's some severalother pieces of news that I I think
it's good if we hit on SouthwestAirlines made news again. Is there any
day or any week now? Thatthey don't make the news of some kind.
If they do, I don't knowwhen it is. I think this
one's sort of interesting. I dotoo, kind of in a surprising shift,
actually, Chris for a lot oftravelers. The airline announced this week
(06:17):
that it's going to change its policyconcerning assigned seating, and it's going to
begin planning to now assigned seats,offer more premium seating options, and redesign
its often chaotic boarding model as waysto enhance its customer experience and increase increase
its future revenue. The airline hasn'tassigned seats for over fifty years, yet
(06:42):
Delta's data found that about eighty toeighty six percent of flyers actually prefer assigned
seats, and Southwest expects their newcabin layout to begin in twenty twenty five,
following regulatory approval by the FAA.Their president and CEO, Bob Jordan
said, although our unique open seatingmodel has been a part of Southwest Airlines
(07:05):
since our inception, our thoughtful andextensive research kind of makes it clear that
this is the right choice at theright time for our customers, our people,
and our shareholders, and we're excitedto incorporate customer and employee feedback to
design a unique experience that only Southwestcan deliver. He went on to say
(07:27):
that they've been building purposefully to thischange is part of a comprehensive upgrade to
the Southwest experience as they focus oncustomer expectations and it's going to unlock some
new sources of revenue. There's yourticket right there. There's the whole reason
this is occurring consistent with their laserfocus. I like that on delivering improved
(07:48):
financial performance. Let's just be honest, Southwest, your stock is down.
So this means that there's an opportunityfor them to seize some ways to gain
some ex to a operating revenue.And I mean, I think that's the
push behind that, as they alwayssay, follow the money. So this
is you know, people will getassigned seats. Maybe they like that,
(08:09):
maybe they don't. I don't know. There are a lot of Southwest frequent
flyers that I know of that don'tseem to mind that's so bad. They
just always take the early bird option, pay fifteen dollars, get free bags,
and call it a day. Isee. I always thought the Southwest
had a pretty good track record thattheir their travelers enjoyed the Yeah, mostly,
I mean I think their travelers aremostly happy. I mean, we
(08:30):
have seen them come into the newsin some appalling ways lately with all kinds
of failed every I mean, youknow, speaking perfectly honestly, they need
to upgrade their computer systems. Butin a stroke of irony in the whole
thing of this Microsoft It crowd strikething, guess who wasn't they weren't you
(08:52):
know why? Because theirs to oldexactly exactly, So there's really kind of
a bit of an irony that newsstory. But there you go, some
news about Southwest Airlines And the nextnews story I want to hit is called
air travel improvements. Flight cancelations numberdecreasing, in airport investments increasing. So
(09:13):
in a year so far that's beenmarked by, of course, the Boeing
scandal and labor problems between flight attendanceand management at several airlines and several different
levels, there's some good news,they say that's emerged in the aviation world.
The cancelation rate CHRIS of flights isat it's lowest in years, despite
(09:35):
record breaking levels of air travel thisyear. And I'm wondering if this report
was actually prepared and released prior tothis Microsoft fiasco, because that certainly would
have to factor into canceled flights,I would think. But in any event,
the Federal Aviation Administration number showed thatthe flight cancelation rate for the first
(09:56):
half of twenty twenty four was justone point point four percent, which was
nearly the lowest rate in more thana decade. That's actually the same rate
that was recorded in twenty fifteen.The Federal Aviation Administration announced that two hundred
and eighty nine million, that's withan LM two hundred and eighty nine million
(10:18):
dollars in airport infrastructure grants in fortystates, and an additional one billion dollars
will be available funding to modernize airportterminals. There's your tax dollars at work
improving the airports. You know.Hopefully they'll get that right. Who knows?
(10:41):
Keeping FAA in our news. Anotherstory involves a second airport that's going
to happen in Las Vegas. Thef Federal Aviation Administration is actually on board
for this. The FAA has givenits approval to start construction on a second
airport, Chris in Las Vegas.I'm actually going to be there a little
(11:03):
at the early part of next month, so this ought to be exciting.
This is going to be an executiveairport just outside of the city, and
this new airport is going to serveUS single engine and multi engine planes as
well as rodocraft like helicopters, andit's going to accommodate aircraft that could not
normally fit at Harry Reid International formerlyMcarran Airport, especially on a huge tourist
(11:30):
day like when they had Formula Oneracing and on days when they have the
Super Bowl when they're hosting that.So they felt like this was very necessary.
Las Vegas is hoping to lure theNational Basketball Association franchise. It recently
hosted its first Grand Prix race.We talked about that a little bit here
on a lifeless ordinary. Las Vegashas professional sports franchises in the National Hockey
(11:54):
League and the National Football League andthe Women's National Basketball Association, and is
in negotiations to get the Oakland Athleticsbaseball franchise to relocate. So they're finding
that this extra airport is very necessary. Las Vegas is already an important tourist
city to visit. It draws almostforty one million tourists per year. That's
(12:15):
a lot of human beings. Thecity also has a plethora of high profile
events. It was estimated that intwenty twenty three, more than fifty seven
million people arrived in Las Vegas byairplane. And our Virtuoso Annual Conference is
going to be held there for thenext several years, I believe, and
will be the fifth one that I'veattended since they've been holding it there and
(12:39):
now always have it in August.And it's hot. It's really hot.
It's you know what I say,Chris, it's so hot you might as
well lick the sun. I agree, yep. In other news, the
Olympic National Committee formally announced that SaltLake City has been selected as the twenty
thirty four Winter Olympic Game site.According to an NBC News report, Utah's
(13:03):
capital city was the only candidate.You gotta love that after the International Olympic
Committee gave Salt Lake City exclusive Whatdid they have to do exactly so even
get it there? I mean,did they just have to say, yeah,
we'll take it. Well, fromwhat I understand, the Olympics are
having a hard time finding cities whowant to host indeed, and the Olympic
(13:24):
Games bid was presented on stage inParis by Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Salt
Lake City Mayor Aaron Mendenhall, andalpine ski legend Lindsay Vaughn. And I
actually got to meet Lindsay Vaughn atlast year's Virtuoso National Conference, so you
know, good honor. But beforethe final approval vote of eighty three to
six, however, Cox agreed topledges demanded by IOC leaders in a contract
(13:50):
that included a clause that local officialsmust work with current and future US presidents
and members of Congress to alleviate yourconcerns quote un quote about the federal investigations
into doping cocks. Added, wewill work with our members of Congress and
use all of the levels of poweropen to us to resolve those concerns.
(14:11):
So, you know, there's alwaysa little bit of politics that come dribbling
into everything, always spoiling the fun, you know, But there you go.
Just some news there. Next onmy list is actually some news that
I wanted to announce. People askme all the time about, you know,
what's happening since the bridge was destroyedin Baltimore. About cruising and that
(14:31):
kind of thing. So in clthat's Norwegian Cruise Line actually made some announcements
about some new deployments that are goingto be for sale for the year twenty
twenty six, and that's going toinclude departures now from Philadelphia. Okay,
so Norwegian's ship the Jewel is goingto make its big return to Philadelphia.
(14:54):
You'll be able to choose from sevento nine day cruises to Bermuda out of
Philadelphia or Canada in New England toalso Quebec City or vice versa, and
a great opportunity to extend your stayto discover the beautiful city that is Philadelphia.
So we're excited about that. Thatwas some news that I wanted to
share with listeners today and they're actuallyattaching some really nice specials to that,
(15:16):
which is a great way to leadus into our sales. I think some
hot deals. Got some hot deals, you're right, and the first one
is with our good friends at VikingCruise Line. I always like to announce
these because anymore you have to sortof pick and choose really correctly and just
at the right time to get theViking's free airfare offer. And I always
(15:41):
say when we're talking to people aboutbooking travel these days, anytime you can
get free airfare, especially if it'sto Europe, that's luxury. Okay,
free airfare is luxury when you canget that in the ticket price. Now,
the interesting part about this particular optionis that Viking's offering is that it
(16:02):
is going to expire on July thethirty first, so make sure you put
that date squarely on your calendar ifa river cruise is anywhere in your future.
This is going to include the GrandEuropean Tour, which I have several
people on that cruise right now.We've got America's Heartland which is going to
sail from Saint Louis to the TwinCities. Free airfare on that a Ryin
(16:23):
Getaway. That's the one that wedid our group on. You might remember
last year on the Viking we didthe Ryin get Away there. They also
are offering Romantic Danube with free internationalairfare and the Danube Walls on select sailings
as well. You can always extendthose and get some extra time pre and
(16:44):
post cruise. We'd love to helpyou out there at the Wishing Well if
you want more details about that allyou have to do is give us a
call. We're going to announce thatnumber and the ways to get in touch
with us as I announce this nextitem, which is our next group trip,
Chris, we have a group that'sgoing to be sailing nine to night
Western Mediterranean crews on the Celebrity Equinox. This is fantastic because I can't tell
(17:11):
you how many people since the beginningof the year I've had to approach us
that wanted to go to Portugal andSpain. And when you have that many
people ask you, sooner or lateryou capitulate and you go, well,
okay, let's go. And sothis one goes from Barcelona. We're going
to fly in Premium Economy class onBritish Airways, which, if you've not
looked up what premium Economy class ison British air it's really akin to what
(17:36):
the old business class used to be. You still get lounge access at the
airports just like first class passengers do. You get free drinks on board,
you do get reclining seats, althoughthey are not the lay flat seats.
But aside from that, it's thesame top level service that most people in
first class get. But it's justnot the lay flat seats. We're going
(17:59):
to part from Barcelona on this cruise, we'll go to Saveya, Spain,
two days in Lisbon, Portugal thatis amazing, and Porto, Portugal,
the home of port wine and someof the best wines in the world.
We will also on this cruise goto Tangier, Morocco, so this includes
not just Portugal in Spain, whichwe were asked for, but you know,
(18:22):
at the wishing Well, we alwaysgo a little step further, and
we threw in Morocco just for fun, and then we wind up again in
Barcelona. The dates on this cruiseare going to be June the nineteenth departure,
and again it's a non night cruise, so we're pretty excited about this
one, and fairs starting from onlyfifteen to sixty seven per person, So
(18:47):
if you're interested in that one,you're going to want to give us a
call. We pretty much feel likethat's going to be a sellout. Chris,
that number is five four oh nineeight twenty three thirty three exactly,
and we would be happy to talktalk to you about any of those specials
that we talked about today, orany that you might dream up on your
own, so I'm interested. Ourshow today is entitled one If by Land.
(19:08):
What does that mean? Yeah?So you know, we do a
lot of talking here on a LifelessOrdinary about places that you can only get
to by air. So today Ithought it would be fun if on a
Lifeless Ordinary we took an opportunity andreally put a microscope over some of the
most luxurious train trips in the world. And I will tell you, Chris,
(19:33):
these are you do not want toleave your seat. These are going
to be ones you're going to wantto stick around for. I can't wait.
We'll talk more about it next hereon a Lifeless Ordinary. Protect your
vacation investment with guidance from a travelprofessional. The wishing Well knows travel and
help you avoid pitfalls. They canspoil your hird earned vacation. We'll plan
your trip and have your back asyou travel. All of this without support
(19:55):
or so called convenience fees. We'reon the web at though Wishingwell dot biz
or call us at five four zeronine zero eight two three three three.
That's five four zero nine zero eighttwo three three three. The washing Well
really does make dreams come true.And welcome back to a Life Less Ordinary,
the travel showing podcast from your friendsat the wishing Well. Every Saturday
(20:15):
morning, we sit down with anice cup of coffee, good friends and
we talk travel. That's right,and that's Terry Dean. She's one of
those friends. Terry Dean is withthe wishing Well. You can find them
on f Avenue in Harrisonburger online atthe wishing Well dot bids get m a
qualify for nine oh eight twenty threethirty three. Today's show is entitled one
(20:37):
If by Land. We are talkingtrain travel today we are, and we've
talked an awful lot here Chris ona Lifeless Ordinary about how the average traveler
today would they want more out oftheir travel experiences than just those off the
shelf vacations or vanilla if you will. Instead, today's traveler, I think
they want to be wold, theywant to be exhillar, they want to
(21:00):
be stimulated, and they want toexperience something they never have before and perhaps
something that nobody they know has everexperienced before. It has to be unique,
it just has to be. Andreally that's where a Lifeless Ordinary kind
of originated with this show, andthat's where we try to excel here after
(21:21):
week after week, and we wantto point you toward these unimaginable travel experiences
all over the world that are actuallyquite attainable. Some people don't think they
might be, but I'm here todiffer. You know, they really are,
and that's the excitement of the industrythat I love so much. Now
today is not unlike our other Saturdaymeetings, Chris, but today we're going
(21:45):
to turn the way way back machineon and we're going to take a look
at one of America's first and mostluxurious modes of transportation on a show.
I decided to entitle one if byLand because today we're going to explore all
of those wonders and luxuries associated withluxury real travel. Luxury rel travel can
(22:08):
actually be traced back to the eighteeneighties. Now, that's when the Orient
Express began its first journey from Paristo Vienna on June fifth of eighteen eighty
three. And that's another reason whyI decided to kind of highlight that today,
is because that's when it originated.But where it originated was in Paris,
(22:30):
and we know Paris has really beenin the news with the Olympics going
on and all of that, soThe train was created by a Belgian engineer
by the name of Jorge Nagelmackers andhis company Campagne International wagin Lee. And
what's important about that wagin Lee isthat that name actually belongs and had belonged
(22:53):
to one of our competitors many yearsago, Wagen Lee Travel, or as
we know them today, Carlson Travel. And they featured then featured sleeping cars,
a dining carriage. They had menusthat had local cuisine and regional foods.
(23:15):
And you know what they say,everything that old is old is new
again, and that's where we aretoday. The Orient Express represented a showcase
of luxury and lots of comfort duringa time when travel was really still dangerous.
I mean, you remember, ifyou've ever been out west. They
even have the old Western Rail wherethe robbers get on board the train and
(23:38):
do all those reenactments. Well,trains were considered pretty dangerous back then,
and its name became synonymous with luxurytravel, though in the nineteen twenties.
The train struggled though, to maintainits popularity after World War Two, And
right now I'm focused on the OrientExpress because it was just about that time
that we had the rise of airtravel. And then changing geopolitical landscapes caused
(24:03):
it to cease its operations in twothousand and nine. That hasn't been that
long ago. Today, luxury traintravel is still offered in a lot of
countries through private operators and public privatejoint ventures, and these are the ones
that we're going to focus on today. So I want to say I'm a
huge train fan. I love totravel by train. I'd gladly take the
(24:26):
train over air travel if I couldeverywhere I go. I love it that
much. Have you ever been notlike this? No, yeah, on
anything other than just Amtrak. I'venot even been on ampe It's incredible.
The Zoo when I was a kidhad a little train that was settled.
Well, they have one at Gypsyyou'll park two christ that this is way
(24:49):
different. But that's really one ofthe reasons why the wishing Well is going
to also be hosting the Rocky Mountaineertrip next month. And I laugh and
say I did that because own thejoint and I get to do anything I
want when I'm there. So,because I love train travel so much,
I thought that the Rocky Mountaineer wouldbe great and people would love it and
sign up for it, and thetruth is we sold it out and we
(25:11):
actually could have even taken more peoplethan we did. We're going to talk
about the Rocky Mountaineer a lot inpart of our show today, but I
want to talk to you first aboutone called the Venice Simplin Orient Express.
A lot of people want to knowwhy in the world is the Venice Simplin
Orient Express so famous. Well,I'll tell you there's really several reasons.
(25:33):
One is because it's the world's mostauthentic luxury train. It still looks and
has the feel very much of theway it did when it first began back
in the nineteen twenties it was madefamous. The second reason is because it
was made famous in the Agatha Christiestories. But she's just a real beauty
too. The train's nineteen twenties vintageArt Deco cars just sparkle away in their
(26:00):
navy and gold colors and snowy whiteroof just takes your breath away. She's
beautiful. I mean, this isa gorgeous, gorgeous train, and you
might think she's an old girl,but when you get on board, you're
gonna really immerse yourself in the mostfamous luxury train carriages in the world,
because you're going to be transported acrossEurope back to the golden age of travel,
(26:21):
and that's really when it was fun, that's when it was elegant.
That's a time that we all wishwe could go back to. And it's
so fun for me to see someof our younger travelers today really love to
harken back to some of those traveldays and this is the way you can
do it. You're going to findauthentically polished woods, that rich, luxurious
(26:44):
upholstery, antique features which absolutely setthe scene as you're transported back into the
nineteen twenties where true luxury was foundon the rails. I mean, if
you were an aristocrat, you traveledby train, that's what you did.
The Venus Simpling orient Express truly remarkable, and any journey on board is going
to evoke memories to be cherished foryears to come. I promise you now,
(27:08):
if you want to know what shelooks like inside, well she's got
those elegant cabins again, complete withthose rich details, lots of those fine
fabrics, the glossy wood paneling thatI told you about that it's mahogany.
By the way, and during theday, your twin cabin is going to
let you admire the scenery from yourcabin window as you're taken across Europe.
(27:29):
But then as nightfalls, those cabinsand your cabin stewards or your butler's as
they like to call them, transformyour bedroom. That allows you to sink
into this sumptuous comfort all the whilewhile the world goes by, and you
get to actually ride the train whileshe's still moving, and you get to
hear that clackety clock on the trainand sleep to that. To me,
(27:51):
that's heaven, that's divine, youknow. Simply put, there is nothing
quite like it. And the venousSimplin Orient Express is the epitome of luxury
on rails, offers exquisite experiences onevery journey, whether you choose to travel
between London and Venice or Paris andIstanbul, service personnel are dedicated to offering
(28:12):
you all of that opulence at thehighest quality, and a journey on the
Simpling Orient Express is one to treasureforever and the ideal escape to an adventure
only heard of in storybooks now.The average cost for an experience on the
simpl And Orient Express overnight is roughlyabout thirty four hundred UK or British pounds,
(28:37):
which with the currency conversion these days, is just about pound four pound
dollar for dollar, so it's aboutthirty four hundred US dollars. The price
includes all of your meals on board, usually consisting of a four course dinner
Hello continental breakfast, and a threecourse brunch or lunch, steward service and
(28:57):
champagne reception upon arrival. It's afabulous experience and again, as I said
earlier, very attainable. I mean, thirty four hundred dollars, that's not
obscene, that's you know, inkeeping with what a lot of people might
pay for a vacation to say theCaribbean. So I think on board a
nice, luxurious train like this certainlysomething to take a look at it.
(29:21):
Now, our next stop, Chris, is going to take us all the
way to Japan on the Shikishima.This is a futuristic kind of a design
train kind of meets traditional elegance.Isn't just a train ride, this is
actually an immersive experience. I wantyou to think sleek, modern carriages with
these panoramic windows that frame these beautifullandscapes in Japan, It's interesting. When
(29:45):
I was in Japan, I rememberlooking out of the train where I was
actually on a high speed train,and I looked out the windows and I
went, man, I could justas easily be in the Schnidel Valley.
Ranges and scapes that I were lookingwas looking at out my window were very
reminiscent of what I saw here.I mean, we take for granted this
(30:08):
beautiful area that we live in,and when you do travel outside and you
see that, it's like, man, we live in a beautiful area,
you know. But the good partabout that is when you do travel to
some place like Japan and that scenerylooks very similar to you, you wind
up automatically feeling very much at home. You know, it just automatically grabs
(30:32):
you in that way. But onboard this particular train, you're going to
find again all of those luxurious suites, those are complete with private baths.
Again, in Butler service, youmake sure every need is met. And
the cuisine, it's a culinary journeythrough Japan's finest flavors, with every dish
(30:53):
more exquisite than the last. AndI mean this is not just meals that
are placed in front of you.This is where culinary experiences are a show.
It's part of the show to beon this train. I mean,
it's amazing, and your journey beginsthe moment you actually step on the train.
Chris. The furnishings that decorate theseluxurious, relaxing interiors, they're all
(31:19):
items of rare beauty. Now,this is what the Japanese people do very
well. They love their history andthey love these sacred items, and they
love it even more when they canshare it with people that come and visit.
And so a lot of these sacred, rare items of beauty you actually
(31:40):
find right on these trains. Imean, priceless items of art are on
these trains. They reflect the historyand the natural features of the regions of
Eastern Japan and a very special journeyamidst the traditional beauty of Japan. Now,
(32:00):
also on this train is something veryunique and rare to a lot of
train travelers. Japan's Shikishima is whatthey call a cypress bath on board.
They're the only train in the worldwhere you can enjoy this kind of blissful
experience. Now, these baths areThis was amazing to me. When I
did the research on this, Iwent are you kidding me right now.
(32:22):
The baths are made to the exactspecifications of the train company from natural wood
obtained from the cypresses that are noless They must be at least three hundred
years old. They are grown inthe Kiso Valley straddling Nagano and Gifu Prefectus.
(32:44):
The baths are big enough to comfortablyhold one adult, and they are
carved from one piece of cypress.Really, yes, the faint aroma of
wood, of course is there.And then they have this soft, white
grained cyprus that really is supposed tosoothe your mind and body. And those
(33:05):
tubs have been made with precision rightdown to the millimeter level to ensure get
this, that the water doesn't spillout with the movement of the train.
That would be the coolest experience ever, would it not. I mean,
you're sitting in this train and thecarving of this tub that you're in has
(33:28):
been done with such precision that notone drop of water can slosh out of
that. Now. I know mydaughter can do that at home, and
I'm pretty fastidious, but this wouldbe something for the record books. Now.
Interestingly enough, the only way tosecure your position on board this train
(33:49):
is to make application. Can't justmake a reservation. Yes, you heard
me correctly. However, they aresold out right now and they're not currently
accepting applications. But when they do, the process looks a little like this.
First of all, you make application. Once you've chosen your preferred departure
date, you complete the application form. If there are more applications than space
(34:15):
available, participants have to be selectedin a drawing. Okay, so you'd
be notified of the selection results byemail. Then, if you're selected,
you'll receive an invoice for your travelfare and additional information about the trip.
You pay for that travel fare bycredit card online, Still no conversation with
(34:37):
the company, and then your prearrival check. They ask you some questions
based on your request regarding on siteplans, personal requests, health conditions,
allergies, etc. All that's doneby email, and then finally you get
a final itinerary. Two weeks beforeyour departure, they'll send you that final
(34:58):
itinerary again by email. If youwere fortunate enough to make your way onto
the Japan Shikishima Luxury Train, thetrain suite a luxury sleeper has fares ranging
from three hundred and twenty thousand yento eight hundred thousand yen and I did
the conversion on that. That's abouttwo thousand and fifty to seven thousand US
(35:21):
dollars based on double occupancy and whatlevel of suite you get accepted at.
But a custom Cypress tub, yougot that right. The price depends on
the length of the trip, witha two day, one night trip starting
at about two thousand, eight hundredand fifty six US dollars that's four hundred
and forty thousand yen and a fourday, three night trip starting at about
(35:45):
nine hundred and forty thousand yen orsixty one hundred dollars US. But all
in all, I think just anamazing experience and to know that there are
things like this that actually exist thatpeople do take advantage of and experience,
to me sounds like something akin toa double seven movie, you know,
(36:07):
a James Bond. I mean,I could imagine watching a James Bond movie
where he steps onto the Japanese Shikishimaluxury train and enjoys that while something awful
takes place, you know, andthere he is with the love of his
life or who will soon be deadand in this cypress bath. I mean,
(36:28):
I think it all sounds so romantic. It's wonderful, and I hope
you've kept your seat alongside the radiotoday with us, because our next luxury
train experience is going to take usacross the pond on that amazing rocky mountaineer
in Canada, offering a taste ofthe wild with kind of a hefty side
of luxury. That's one of theones that I love. And as you
(36:52):
travel along these rugged rockies, youactually will be pampered like never before.
They've got those glass dome coaches thatoff and we'll offer all of our guests
that are joining us on our groupa three hundred and sixty degree view of
the majestic mountains lush for as crystalClear rivers. And then we've got this
onboard host that is just going tobowl us over with fascinating tales of that
(37:15):
region that we're going to see inCanada History Wildlife. We actually had some
folks who just returned from this verytrip, the one that we're doing,
which is called Journey through the Clouds, including Bamp and we were talking to
him on the phone the other day, Harry was and they were absolutely in
(37:35):
a word. Amazed by their experience, They said, we had an expectation
that this was going to be agreat trip. We had no idea it
was going to be as profoundly lifechanging as it was. It was the
most amazing trip, they said oftheir entire life. Now, these folks
(37:57):
are eighty years old, and they'vedone some exclusive and a lot of traveling
in their lifetimes together, and thisthey captured in their comments to us as
one of the most exhilarating, oneof the most unique, and one of
the most luxurious experiences of their life. So I know that our group is
in for quite an experience when wedo this together. Now, compared to
(38:22):
other trains that we've explored, youmight be wondering what's so great about the
Rocky Mountaineer. Well, that's partof it that I just mentioned to you.
Some say that the train is aonce in a lifetime experience, best
way to see some of North American'smost spectacular scenery, that's for sure.
But the Rocky Mountaineer is known forthose glass domed coaches with those three hundred
(38:43):
and sixty degree views of those Canadianvistas that you're going to see. Some
cars even have the outdoor viewing platforms, and I'm excited about that because I
love to kind of get outside whenthe train's moving and see kind of up
close and personal what we're going through. There's that world class hospitality I was
talking about, of course, andyes, that fabulous cuisine I mentioned,
(39:06):
Yeah, that's all locally sourced ingredientsand flavors. But then there's also the
thoughtful details. But like they weretelling me, this couple was telling me
that there's lumbar supports in all ofthe trained seats, which, as you're
riding them for long periods of time, you would think, man, that's
got to be rough on your back. No, not at all. They've
got those lumbar supports on those beautifulleather trade seats, elevated foot rests,
(39:31):
and also seat warmers on board thetrain. Rocky Mountaineer offers two classes of
service. They've got silver Leaf andgold Leaf. All of our guests are
going to enjoy the gold Leaf service. Some say the gold Leaf carriages are
actually twice as nice and twice ashigh as the silver Leaf, which offers
superior views as well. The wishingWell did sell out our Rocky Mountaineer experience
(39:55):
for this August, but who knows, we might actually have to do another
one of those in years to comebecause it was a quite popular offer.
People loved it, and I knowwe could have sold more if we could
have taken them, So that's oneto look for in the future. Now,
next we're going to be heading Chrisdown Under to Australia's Gone Expedition that's
(40:20):
going to take you on a spectacularjourney through the heart of the Outback.
Now this isn't just a train rideagain, this is a full blown adventure.
I mean, anytime we think ofAustralia and the down Under, I
always get a very different idea ofany place else on Earth. You've got
the tropical top end to the reddeserts of the South. There in Australia,
(40:45):
you're going to witness some of themost diverse and dramatic landscapes on the
planet on this particular one. Onboard, you will enjoy top notch service.
They've got, of course, luxuriouscabins, what else we're talking about,
luxury trains and gourmet meals that showcasethe very best of Australian cuisine.
(41:05):
The Gon Expedition is actually a fourday all inclusive train journey from Darwin to
Adelaide and it runs from April toOctober and that trip stops in Catherine Gorge,
Alice Springs and kuber Pete also offersoff train experiences, so you do
have the opportunity to get off thetrain at any of those stops and do
(41:28):
some excursions, kind of like thinkof a cruise on land. Okay,
so you've got shore excursions on acruise. You've got those same types of
opportunities on some of these luxury trains. And the Gon Expedition is considered one
of the world's most famous rail journeysand a great way to experience the diversity
of Australia's continent. And the tripis because everything in Australia actually is very
(41:52):
spread out. You know, it'snot close. Nothing's really close to get
to. You've got to travel agood ways to get around there. And
the trip is really punctuated by somethoughtful little touches like the unexpected glass of
champagne at the breakaway lookout, you'vegot dinner under the skies at night that
(42:12):
they do for you, and ofcourse the attentive service of the staff combined
with the magnificent Australian scenery all makethat a journey to remember. It's absolutely
fabulous. It's in Australia. It'scalled the Gun Expedition and it is one
of Australia's greatest treasures. You'll finda lot of Australian people who have never
(42:34):
been on this journey, but theylove to tell other people about it.
That's the way the Aussies are,you know. So this is one that
if you're looking to go to Australiaand the idea of just doing something ordinary
when you got to Australia wasn't yourcup of tea. This is definitely an
experience that would make your trip toAustralia extraordinary with still being able to see
some of the most important sits inthe continent, you know. So,
(43:00):
finally, I want to finish outour most luxurious train experience is in the
world with one that's going to takeus to Peru. Let's travel there next
here on a lifeless ordinary. Protectyour vacation investment with guidance from a travel
professional. The wishing Well knows traveland help you avoid pitfalls. They can
spoil your hirer earned vacation. We'llplan your trip and have your back as
(43:22):
you travel all of this without supportor so called convenience fees. We're on
the web at tho Wishingwell dot bizor call us at five four zero nine
zero eight two three three three.That's five four zero nine zero eight two
three three three. The washing Wellreally does make dreams come true and welcome
back to a life less ordinary.You're a weekly travel showing podcast from your
(43:45):
friends at the wishing Well. They'reon ne f Avenue in Harrisonburg online at
the wishing Well dot biz and youcan always give them a call. They
love that. Five four to zeronine oh eight twenty three thirty three.
As we do on most Saturdays,we sit down with Terry Dean from the
wishing Well. Our show today isentitled one If by Land. We're talking
luxury rail travel and we have enjoyedsome great options already. I know,
(44:09):
we always have a lot of funhere Chris talking about travel, because I
mean, if you talk about traveland you're not having fun, something is
sorely wrong with you, you know. But we do. I mean,
you and I have a really goodtime talking about these places. And what
I love in particular about today's showis that not only are we highlighting a
(44:29):
luxury style of vacation that a lotof people I'm sure would yearn to do.
But as I said before, theyare attainable. I wouldn't use the
word affordable, but they are certainlyattainable. But the other part of it
that's really I think exciting to meis that we're covering some destinations that we
don't normally get a lot of timeor that we take a lot of time
(44:52):
to talk about or uncover here ona lifeless ordinary very often like Australia,
like Japan. You know some ofthe other trains that we talked about,
you know, beginning in Venice andtrains like the Orient Express. And the
next one that we're going to talkabout is in Peru, another one of
(45:12):
my favorite places, and I enjoyedfinding out about this particular train. Now,
this one is called the Verve ClickouSolitaire Journeys on board the Belmont trains.
The Belmonte name is now synonymous withluxury rail travel. They own a
multitude of rails. I met withthe actual owner of Belmond Company when we
(45:38):
attended our last year's of Virtuoso conferencein Las Vegas, and let me tell
you they have a stellar product,and they are I would say white glove
from the top all the way down. They really are. And while wow
wow, Chris talk about unparalleled luxury, this particular one has it all.
(46:00):
And this time, as I said, we're in Peru, one of the
expected top destinations by the way fortwenty twenty five. And that is they're
saying because of its natural, uniqueexperiences, Peru just has something that travelers
right now are clamoring to find.They want that whatever that X quotient is
(46:21):
that makes people sit up and takenotice and really get excited about travel.
Peru is all that. So youcombine that with this top destination and the
ultimate Peruvian escape and journey from Cuscoto Ariquipa, paired with the verve Clicku
Champagnes, you've got a recipe fora great vacation. Now, the first
(46:45):
thing you do on board this particularmode of transportation is you're going to board
the first luxury sleeper train in SouthAmerica and experience Peru in a style that
most people only dream about. Andreally that's what these experiences are. I
mean, they're dreaming and they're overthe top. I remember one of those
(47:07):
experiences I had when I went toFrance once upon a time, actually went
over for a wedding. Had nothingto do with a train, but it
just made me think about that.I remember opening my eyes in this cathedral
that I was in. It wasfor a friend's wedding, and it was
(47:27):
on the coast, the southern coastalregion of France. It was beautiful,
just a gorgeous nautical area of thisparticular area of France. And I remember
opening my eyes and going, amI really here? Is this real?
Is this a dream? Or amI actually here in this cathedral right now
(47:49):
having this experience? And I canimagine that being in any one of these
trains that we've talked about would bethat. But for this particular one,
the one that I save for last, the verv Clicku Solitaire Journey on board
Belmont Trains. This is really somethingof beauty. As I said, you
(48:10):
board this luxury sleeper and you startyour adventure in this historic city of Cusco,
and that includes a day trip toMachu Pichu. A lot of people
have heard of Machu Picchu, knownothing about it, but I can tell
you right now it's there, It'sreal, It's located in Peru, and
that's where you begin this journey.Now, if you want to know what's
so great about Machu Pichu, well, I'll tell you. It's a UNESCO
(48:34):
World Heritage Site. First of all, that's considered a wonder of the world
for a lot of reasons. Butit includes the architecture, history, and
natural settings. And when I've readabout the actual architecture of Machu Pichu and
what made it a World Heritage Siteand a wonder of the world, I
(48:57):
was struck by the fact of somethingthat the incas you used to do.
They used a technique called alshar masonryto cut and fit stones together without any
mortar whatsoever. It was that kindof precision that kept them together, creating
precise walls that get this Chris ourearthquake proof. Imagine that if we did
(49:21):
that to our buildings in California today. They did that many many years ago
in Manchu Pichu, and they areearthquake proof. That alone is a wonder
to behold. But then you've gotthe natural settings. Of course. Manchu
Picchu is located hih in the Andesabout twenty four hundred meters above sea level.
(49:43):
It's surrounded by a river and offersa lot of views of mountains and
valleys, and that area is alsoimportant for biodiversity conservation with a variety of
microclimets. They've got habitats and speciesof plants and animals there that the likes
of which you've probably never seen before. But next you'll admire the wild scenery
from your window of this train,probably after you take a pause for a
(50:07):
world class dining experience and an onboardSPA ritual. Yes I said SPA on
board this train, before you windthrough Lake Tidikaka and the US Floating Islands,
and then arriving back finally at Ariquipa. Now another cool fact about this
particular train experience. Because of thehigh elevation in Peru, this is one
(50:30):
of the highest train routes in theworld. Inside, the cars are obviously
filled with luxury, but that localflare of love as well, everything from
Peruvian tapestries made from real alpaca woolon the bed to something that they call
Pisco sours that are served in therear observation bar car in the train.
(50:54):
Now, additional journey highlights include whatthey call dining with a view There you're
going to feast in a sixteenth centuryCusco chapel by candlelight. That's one of
the unique experiences that you get aspart of this train experience. In Machu
Picchu you get a day trip tothe Temple of the Sun with a garden
(51:16):
champagne experience lunch, you know that'sfine. And then in Lake Titi Kaka
there's a sunrise experience at Lake TitiKaka and a visit to the floating Euros
Islands. All of that a partof this very unique experience. We've talked
a lot about these trains today andluxury train travel has become very popular.
(51:39):
It's something that actually some of myclients at the Wishing Well come in and
ask me for by name. Theyknow which ones they want to go on
and those are the ones they wantto book. And luxury trains they do
now have restaurants, they've got bars, they've got bathrooms, sleeping seating areas,
not to mention full blown spa servicesand treatments while you're on board.
(52:01):
So there you have it, aluxury train vacation. It's really chris more
than just a trip. It's anadventure, it's an experience. A journey
all rolled into one. Imagine glidingthrough some of these stunning landscapes that we
talked about, sipping wine, elegantcars, every moment, designed to pamper
and delight you and make you feellike royalty. So if you're interested in
(52:23):
any of those, all you haveto do is look me up at the
wishing well. I'd be happy tohelp you out with any of those.
Which one sounded the best to you? They all sound amazing, you said
the Orient Express? They are theystill doing those? Absolutely are? Okay,
So I would pick Orion Express becauseI'd love to travel through Europe.
I know I want to do theRocky Mountaineer and travel through northern part of
(52:45):
North America. Okay, we cando both. Do both? Yeah in
Japan. I like Japan. Iknow we do. Just do all of
them. You can be James Bondfor a day, go to Australia.
You want to do that. Iwant to do it all. I love
the show. This was a funshow. I love the idea of rail
t special. You're talking luxury.It's my real travel terry. What a
fun show. How do we getin touch with you? If we'd like
(53:06):
to get more information? Or maybebook one of these trips. I'm really
easy to find. You can lookme up. I am at two forty
three NEF Avenue in the Valley Centerin Harrisonburg, Virginia. You can call
us at five four oh nine oheight two three three three, or look
us up in the web the Wishingwelldot biz. This has been a life
Less Ordinary, the travel show fromyour friends at the wishing Well at two
(53:29):
forty three NEP Avenue in Harrisonburg.If you have any questions on topics discussed
today, please reach out to thewishing Well online at the Wishingwell dot biz
or five four oh nine eight twentythree thirty three. Past episodes are available
on the iHeartRadio app. And we'llsee again next Saturday morning at ten for
a life less Ordinary from the wishingWell
This is a Lifeless Ordinary. It'sa travel show and podcasts from your friends
at the wishing Well two forty threef Avenue in Harsemberg and online It's a
wishing Well dot This. The wishingWell is your ultimate luxury concierge, travel
agency and A Lifeless Ordinary is atravel show and podcast hosted by Terry Dean,
bringing her over forty years of experiencein the travel industry to help guide
(00:20):
you to great experiences in your travel, whether it be around the block,
around the country, or around theworld. Let's bring in Terry Dean.
Say hello, Chris, how areyou. I am great. It's oh
gosh, the weather is so nice. I know, I'm loving every minute
of it. We had had thatstretch where I thought, oh my gosh,
we're never going to see fall again. Well, and then it was
(00:42):
so dry for so long, andthen all you have to do is,
you know, plan something outside andit rains. I think I should have
done that a long time ago.I wish you would have, I know,
right, but we did need whatlittle bit of rain that we did
get. We're not nearly where weshould be. I know, we still
have out conditions here in our area, but hopefully everybody's enjoying some really fun
(01:04):
weather today. We think after we'redone here, I might do some yardwork.
Okay, good for You've got todo something about the weeds. They
didn't stop growing, No, theydidn't. You know, whatever it is
in not having rain, weeds dolove that. They tend to really thrive
in that condition. So we haven'ttalked in a couple of weeks. We've
(01:25):
got a lot of travel news.We had that problem with Delta. I
know it's I think they maybe areback to normal now, well not entirely,
but I mean the big news,of course, was the big Microsoft
CrowdStrike fiasco that happened throughout the Internetsystem and the IT system. Are we
(01:49):
going to talk about that in ournews today? Yeah? I mean I
think I don't know that we couldhit news this week, Chris and not
talk about it. I don't knowanything about CrowdStrike. I think that the
first time I heard about him waswhen this happened on Monday. But I
read an article that they sent outten dollars coupons as an apology to all
their customers. I bet you Deltais really really enjoying that ten dollars qupons.
(02:12):
Sure, but I find that alittle ironic, to be honest with
you, based on some of thethings that the airlines have done to try
and ease people's feathers and put thoseback in place. But yeah, that's
I mean, we did have amajor IT outage in the past several days
and it literally brought to a haltthe aviation industry. We had well over
(02:38):
globally about thirty eight one hundred tofive thousand flights cancel in a moment.
It's crazy, and it really hada ripple effect throughout the system. And
what happened was this was not cybersecurity breach. This was not any type
of Internet terras or anything like that. Note In fact, it was just
(03:04):
a push of a update, asoftware update that caused all of this to
occur. And so, you know, we hope that this will cause those
that you have a higher pay gradethan I do to take a look at
this system, see where it's weaknessesand vulnerabilities lie, and see if something
(03:27):
can't be done to fix that sothat we don't go through this ever.
Again, that's a huge vulnerability.I did something similar to that once at
a job I had where I pusheda button, thinking oh, I'm fixing
a problem and pretty much deleted theentire archive for the radio station I worked
at. And I kept thinking,when I read that news, I'm like,
(03:49):
do you know that they thought wevetted this and we're pushing it out
and then the news hits them andit's like, oh, I feel so
bad for the people involved in that. And you know, honestly, Chris,
when something like that happens, Ialways say this the wishing well.
Our agency always seems to have somebodygoing somewhere sometime when all of these things
(04:11):
occur, because we're just busy.I mean, we're busy every day of
the week, every day of themonth. And the chances that we're going
to have people travel and be affectedby whatever it is going on weatherwise,
you know, whatever this it systemproblem was, whatever's going on in Paris,
you know, there's chances that we'regoing to have somebody affected. But
(04:32):
here's the good news, bad news. Okay, the good news is we're
there. We're watching our clients back. We can intercept in a moment's notice
and be available and try to startpulling the right strings to make sure that
people get where they need to go. And are protected. People who book
(04:53):
on their own, Chris, theydo not have that kind of assurance.
And that's what we talk about insuranceand assurance. A lot of times,
insurance is that thing that helps makeyou whole in the aftermath of the problem
and hopefully restores you and makes youhold in. But we are the assurance
(05:13):
while people are traveling to make surethat their problem is solved so that they
get to continue on and don't haveto worry about insurance to cover a failed
attempt to fix something right. Yeah, so you know, those are some
things to bear in mind. Youknow, we do give shameless commercials and
(05:34):
shameless plugs here for the wishing well. Hope you don't mind. We love
you and we want to make surethat we take good care of you when
you're out there. So please,if you do have itineraries that you feel
like and anymore I think everybody doesthat could use the watchful professional hands of
a good travel god. We're probablythe right place for you. We'd love
(05:56):
to have you. There's some severalother pieces of news that I I think
it's good if we hit on SouthwestAirlines made news again. Is there any
day or any week now? Thatthey don't make the news of some kind.
If they do, I don't knowwhen it is. I think this
one's sort of interesting. I dotoo, kind of in a surprising shift,
actually, Chris for a lot oftravelers. The airline announced this week
(06:17):
that it's going to change its policyconcerning assigned seating, and it's going to
begin planning to now assigned seats,offer more premium seating options, and redesign
its often chaotic boarding model as waysto enhance its customer experience and increase increase
its future revenue. The airline hasn'tassigned seats for over fifty years, yet
(06:42):
Delta's data found that about eighty toeighty six percent of flyers actually prefer assigned
seats, and Southwest expects their newcabin layout to begin in twenty twenty five,
following regulatory approval by the FAA.Their president and CEO, Bob Jordan
said, although our unique open seatingmodel has been a part of Southwest Airlines
(07:05):
since our inception, our thoughtful andextensive research kind of makes it clear that
this is the right choice at theright time for our customers, our people,
and our shareholders, and we're excitedto incorporate customer and employee feedback to
design a unique experience that only Southwestcan deliver. He went on to say
(07:27):
that they've been building purposefully to thischange is part of a comprehensive upgrade to
the Southwest experience as they focus oncustomer expectations and it's going to unlock some
new sources of revenue. There's yourticket right there. There's the whole reason
this is occurring consistent with their laserfocus. I like that on delivering improved
(07:48):
financial performance. Let's just be honest, Southwest, your stock is down.
So this means that there's an opportunityfor them to seize some ways to gain
some ex to a operating revenue.And I mean, I think that's the
push behind that, as they alwayssay, follow the money. So this
is you know, people will getassigned seats. Maybe they like that,
(08:09):
maybe they don't. I don't know. There are a lot of Southwest frequent
flyers that I know of that don'tseem to mind that's so bad. They
just always take the early bird option, pay fifteen dollars, get free bags,
and call it a day. Isee. I always thought the Southwest
had a pretty good track record thattheir their travelers enjoyed the Yeah, mostly,
I mean I think their travelers aremostly happy. I mean, we
(08:30):
have seen them come into the newsin some appalling ways lately with all kinds
of failed every I mean, youknow, speaking perfectly honestly, they need
to upgrade their computer systems. Butin a stroke of irony in the whole
thing of this Microsoft It crowd strikething, guess who wasn't they weren't you
(08:52):
know why? Because theirs to oldexactly exactly, So there's really kind of
a bit of an irony that newsstory. But there you go, some
news about Southwest Airlines And the nextnews story I want to hit is called
air travel improvements. Flight cancelations numberdecreasing, in airport investments increasing. So
(09:13):
in a year so far that's beenmarked by, of course, the Boeing
scandal and labor problems between flight attendanceand management at several airlines and several different
levels, there's some good news,they say that's emerged in the aviation world.
The cancelation rate CHRIS of flights isat it's lowest in years, despite
(09:35):
record breaking levels of air travel thisyear. And I'm wondering if this report
was actually prepared and released prior tothis Microsoft fiasco, because that certainly would
have to factor into canceled flights,I would think. But in any event,
the Federal Aviation Administration number showed thatthe flight cancelation rate for the first
(09:56):
half of twenty twenty four was justone point point four percent, which was
nearly the lowest rate in more thana decade. That's actually the same rate
that was recorded in twenty fifteen.The Federal Aviation Administration announced that two hundred
and eighty nine million, that's withan LM two hundred and eighty nine million
(10:18):
dollars in airport infrastructure grants in fortystates, and an additional one billion dollars
will be available funding to modernize airportterminals. There's your tax dollars at work
improving the airports. You know.Hopefully they'll get that right. Who knows?
(10:41):
Keeping FAA in our news. Anotherstory involves a second airport that's going
to happen in Las Vegas. Thef Federal Aviation Administration is actually on board
for this. The FAA has givenits approval to start construction on a second
airport, Chris in Las Vegas.I'm actually going to be there a little
(11:03):
at the early part of next month, so this ought to be exciting.
This is going to be an executiveairport just outside of the city, and
this new airport is going to serveUS single engine and multi engine planes as
well as rodocraft like helicopters, andit's going to accommodate aircraft that could not
normally fit at Harry Reid International formerlyMcarran Airport, especially on a huge tourist
(11:30):
day like when they had Formula Oneracing and on days when they have the
Super Bowl when they're hosting that.So they felt like this was very necessary.
Las Vegas is hoping to lure theNational Basketball Association franchise. It recently
hosted its first Grand Prix race.We talked about that a little bit here
on a lifeless ordinary. Las Vegashas professional sports franchises in the National Hockey
(11:54):
League and the National Football League andthe Women's National Basketball Association, and is
in negotiations to get the Oakland Athleticsbaseball franchise to relocate. So they're finding
that this extra airport is very necessary. Las Vegas is already an important tourist
city to visit. It draws almostforty one million tourists per year. That's
(12:15):
a lot of human beings. Thecity also has a plethora of high profile
events. It was estimated that intwenty twenty three, more than fifty seven
million people arrived in Las Vegas byairplane. And our Virtuoso Annual Conference is
going to be held there for thenext several years, I believe, and
will be the fifth one that I'veattended since they've been holding it there and
(12:39):
now always have it in August.And it's hot. It's really hot.
It's you know what I say,Chris, it's so hot you might as
well lick the sun. I agree, yep. In other news, the
Olympic National Committee formally announced that SaltLake City has been selected as the twenty
thirty four Winter Olympic Game site.According to an NBC News report, Utah's
(13:03):
capital city was the only candidate.You gotta love that after the International Olympic
Committee gave Salt Lake City exclusive Whatdid they have to do exactly so even
get it there? I mean,did they just have to say, yeah,
we'll take it. Well, fromwhat I understand, the Olympics are
having a hard time finding cities whowant to host indeed, and the Olympic
(13:24):
Games bid was presented on stage inParis by Utah Governor Spencer Cox, Salt
Lake City Mayor Aaron Mendenhall, andalpine ski legend Lindsay Vaughn. And I
actually got to meet Lindsay Vaughn atlast year's Virtuoso National Conference, so you
know, good honor. But beforethe final approval vote of eighty three to
six, however, Cox agreed topledges demanded by IOC leaders in a contract
(13:50):
that included a clause that local officialsmust work with current and future US presidents
and members of Congress to alleviate yourconcerns quote un quote about the federal investigations
into doping cocks. Added, wewill work with our members of Congress and
use all of the levels of poweropen to us to resolve those concerns.
(14:11):
So, you know, there's alwaysa little bit of politics that come dribbling
into everything, always spoiling the fun, you know, But there you go.
Just some news there. Next onmy list is actually some news that
I wanted to announce. People askme all the time about, you know,
what's happening since the bridge was destroyedin Baltimore. About cruising and that
(14:31):
kind of thing. So in clthat's Norwegian Cruise Line actually made some announcements
about some new deployments that are goingto be for sale for the year twenty
twenty six, and that's going toinclude departures now from Philadelphia. Okay,
so Norwegian's ship the Jewel is goingto make its big return to Philadelphia.
(14:54):
You'll be able to choose from sevento nine day cruises to Bermuda out of
Philadelphia or Canada in New England toalso Quebec City or vice versa, and
a great opportunity to extend your stayto discover the beautiful city that is Philadelphia.
So we're excited about that. Thatwas some news that I wanted to
share with listeners today and they're actuallyattaching some really nice specials to that,
(15:16):
which is a great way to leadus into our sales. I think some
hot deals. Got some hot deals, you're right, and the first one
is with our good friends at VikingCruise Line. I always like to announce
these because anymore you have to sortof pick and choose really correctly and just
at the right time to get theViking's free airfare offer. And I always
(15:41):
say when we're talking to people aboutbooking travel these days, anytime you can
get free airfare, especially if it'sto Europe, that's luxury. Okay,
free airfare is luxury when you canget that in the ticket price. Now,
the interesting part about this particular optionis that Viking's offering is that it
(16:02):
is going to expire on July thethirty first, so make sure you put
that date squarely on your calendar ifa river cruise is anywhere in your future.
This is going to include the GrandEuropean Tour, which I have several
people on that cruise right now.We've got America's Heartland which is going to
sail from Saint Louis to the TwinCities. Free airfare on that a Ryin
(16:23):
Getaway. That's the one that wedid our group on. You might remember
last year on the Viking we didthe Ryin get Away there. They also
are offering Romantic Danube with free internationalairfare and the Danube Walls on select sailings
as well. You can always extendthose and get some extra time pre and
(16:44):
post cruise. We'd love to helpyou out there at the Wishing Well if
you want more details about that allyou have to do is give us a
call. We're going to announce thatnumber and the ways to get in touch
with us as I announce this nextitem, which is our next group trip,
Chris, we have a group that'sgoing to be sailing nine to night
Western Mediterranean crews on the Celebrity Equinox. This is fantastic because I can't tell
(17:11):
you how many people since the beginningof the year I've had to approach us
that wanted to go to Portugal andSpain. And when you have that many
people ask you, sooner or lateryou capitulate and you go, well,
okay, let's go. And sothis one goes from Barcelona. We're going
to fly in Premium Economy class onBritish Airways, which, if you've not
looked up what premium Economy class ison British air it's really akin to what
(17:36):
the old business class used to be. You still get lounge access at the
airports just like first class passengers do. You get free drinks on board,
you do get reclining seats, althoughthey are not the lay flat seats.
But aside from that, it's thesame top level service that most people in
first class get. But it's justnot the lay flat seats. We're going
(17:59):
to part from Barcelona on this cruise, we'll go to Saveya, Spain,
two days in Lisbon, Portugal thatis amazing, and Porto, Portugal,
the home of port wine and someof the best wines in the world.
We will also on this cruise goto Tangier, Morocco, so this includes
not just Portugal in Spain, whichwe were asked for, but you know,
(18:22):
at the wishing Well, we alwaysgo a little step further, and
we threw in Morocco just for fun, and then we wind up again in
Barcelona. The dates on this cruiseare going to be June the nineteenth departure,
and again it's a non night cruise, so we're pretty excited about this
one, and fairs starting from onlyfifteen to sixty seven per person, So
(18:47):
if you're interested in that one,you're going to want to give us a
call. We pretty much feel likethat's going to be a sellout. Chris,
that number is five four oh nineeight twenty three thirty three exactly,
and we would be happy to talktalk to you about any of those specials
that we talked about today, orany that you might dream up on your
own, so I'm interested. Ourshow today is entitled one If by Land.
(19:08):
What does that mean? Yeah?So you know, we do a
lot of talking here on a LifelessOrdinary about places that you can only get
to by air. So today Ithought it would be fun if on a
Lifeless Ordinary we took an opportunity andreally put a microscope over some of the
most luxurious train trips in the world. And I will tell you, Chris,
(19:33):
these are you do not want toleave your seat. These are going
to be ones you're going to wantto stick around for. I can't wait.
We'll talk more about it next hereon a Lifeless Ordinary. Protect your
vacation investment with guidance from a travelprofessional. The wishing Well knows travel and
help you avoid pitfalls. They canspoil your hird earned vacation. We'll plan
your trip and have your back asyou travel. All of this without support
(19:55):
or so called convenience fees. We'reon the web at though Wishingwell dot biz
or call us at five four zeronine zero eight two three three three.
That's five four zero nine zero eighttwo three three three. The washing Well
really does make dreams come true.And welcome back to a Life Less Ordinary,
the travel showing podcast from your friendsat the wishing Well. Every Saturday
(20:15):
morning, we sit down with anice cup of coffee, good friends and
we talk travel. That's right,and that's Terry Dean. She's one of
those friends. Terry Dean is withthe wishing Well. You can find them
on f Avenue in Harrisonburger online atthe wishing Well dot bids get m a
qualify for nine oh eight twenty threethirty three. Today's show is entitled one
(20:37):
If by Land. We are talkingtrain travel today we are, and we've
talked an awful lot here Chris ona Lifeless Ordinary about how the average traveler
today would they want more out oftheir travel experiences than just those off the
shelf vacations or vanilla if you will. Instead, today's traveler, I think
they want to be wold, theywant to be exhillar, they want to
(21:00):
be stimulated, and they want toexperience something they never have before and perhaps
something that nobody they know has everexperienced before. It has to be unique,
it just has to be. Andreally that's where a Lifeless Ordinary kind
of originated with this show, andthat's where we try to excel here after
(21:21):
week after week, and we wantto point you toward these unimaginable travel experiences
all over the world that are actuallyquite attainable. Some people don't think they
might be, but I'm here todiffer. You know, they really are,
and that's the excitement of the industrythat I love so much. Now
today is not unlike our other Saturdaymeetings, Chris, but today we're going
(21:45):
to turn the way way back machineon and we're going to take a look
at one of America's first and mostluxurious modes of transportation on a show.
I decided to entitle one if byLand because today we're going to explore all
of those wonders and luxuries associated withluxury real travel. Luxury rel travel can
(22:08):
actually be traced back to the eighteeneighties. Now, that's when the Orient
Express began its first journey from Paristo Vienna on June fifth of eighteen eighty
three. And that's another reason whyI decided to kind of highlight that today,
is because that's when it originated.But where it originated was in Paris,
(22:30):
and we know Paris has really beenin the news with the Olympics going
on and all of that, soThe train was created by a Belgian engineer
by the name of Jorge Nagelmackers andhis company Campagne International wagin Lee. And
what's important about that wagin Lee isthat that name actually belongs and had belonged
(22:53):
to one of our competitors many yearsago, Wagen Lee Travel, or as
we know them today, Carlson Travel. And they featured then featured sleeping cars,
a dining carriage. They had menusthat had local cuisine and regional foods.
(23:15):
And you know what they say,everything that old is old is new
again, and that's where we aretoday. The Orient Express represented a showcase
of luxury and lots of comfort duringa time when travel was really still dangerous.
I mean, you remember, ifyou've ever been out west. They
even have the old Western Rail wherethe robbers get on board the train and
(23:38):
do all those reenactments. Well,trains were considered pretty dangerous back then,
and its name became synonymous with luxurytravel, though in the nineteen twenties.
The train struggled though, to maintainits popularity after World War Two, And
right now I'm focused on the OrientExpress because it was just about that time
that we had the rise of airtravel. And then changing geopolitical landscapes caused
(24:03):
it to cease its operations in twothousand and nine. That hasn't been that
long ago. Today, luxury traintravel is still offered in a lot of
countries through private operators and public privatejoint ventures, and these are the ones
that we're going to focus on today. So I want to say I'm a
huge train fan. I love totravel by train. I'd gladly take the
(24:26):
train over air travel if I couldeverywhere I go. I love it that
much. Have you ever been notlike this? No, yeah, on
anything other than just Amtrak. I'venot even been on ampe It's incredible.
The Zoo when I was a kidhad a little train that was settled.
Well, they have one at Gypsyyou'll park two christ that this is way
(24:49):
different. But that's really one ofthe reasons why the wishing Well is going
to also be hosting the Rocky Mountaineertrip next month. And I laugh and
say I did that because own thejoint and I get to do anything I
want when I'm there. So,because I love train travel so much,
I thought that the Rocky Mountaineer wouldbe great and people would love it and
sign up for it, and thetruth is we sold it out and we
(25:11):
actually could have even taken more peoplethan we did. We're going to talk
about the Rocky Mountaineer a lot inpart of our show today, but I
want to talk to you first aboutone called the Venice Simplin Orient Express.
A lot of people want to knowwhy in the world is the Venice Simplin
Orient Express so famous. Well,I'll tell you there's really several reasons.
(25:33):
One is because it's the world's mostauthentic luxury train. It still looks and
has the feel very much of theway it did when it first began back
in the nineteen twenties it was madefamous. The second reason is because it
was made famous in the Agatha Christiestories. But she's just a real beauty
too. The train's nineteen twenties vintageArt Deco cars just sparkle away in their
(26:00):
navy and gold colors and snowy whiteroof just takes your breath away. She's
beautiful. I mean, this isa gorgeous, gorgeous train, and you
might think she's an old girl,but when you get on board, you're
gonna really immerse yourself in the mostfamous luxury train carriages in the world,
because you're going to be transported acrossEurope back to the golden age of travel,
(26:21):
and that's really when it was fun, that's when it was elegant.
That's a time that we all wishwe could go back to. And it's
so fun for me to see someof our younger travelers today really love to
harken back to some of those traveldays and this is the way you can
do it. You're going to findauthentically polished woods, that rich, luxurious
(26:44):
upholstery, antique features which absolutely setthe scene as you're transported back into the
nineteen twenties where true luxury was foundon the rails. I mean, if
you were an aristocrat, you traveledby train, that's what you did.
The Venus Simpling orient Express truly remarkable, and any journey on board is going
to evoke memories to be cherished foryears to come. I promise you now,
(27:08):
if you want to know what shelooks like inside, well she's got
those elegant cabins again, complete withthose rich details, lots of those fine
fabrics, the glossy wood paneling thatI told you about that it's mahogany.
By the way, and during theday, your twin cabin is going to
let you admire the scenery from yourcabin window as you're taken across Europe.
(27:29):
But then as nightfalls, those cabinsand your cabin stewards or your butler's as
they like to call them, transformyour bedroom. That allows you to sink
into this sumptuous comfort all the whilewhile the world goes by, and you
get to actually ride the train whileshe's still moving, and you get to
hear that clackety clock on the trainand sleep to that. To me,
(27:51):
that's heaven, that's divine, youknow. Simply put, there is nothing
quite like it. And the venousSimplin Orient Express is the epitome of luxury
on rails, offers exquisite experiences onevery journey, whether you choose to travel
between London and Venice or Paris andIstanbul, service personnel are dedicated to offering
(28:12):
you all of that opulence at thehighest quality, and a journey on the
Simpling Orient Express is one to treasureforever and the ideal escape to an adventure
only heard of in storybooks now.The average cost for an experience on the
simpl And Orient Express overnight is roughlyabout thirty four hundred UK or British pounds,
(28:37):
which with the currency conversion these days, is just about pound four pound
dollar for dollar, so it's aboutthirty four hundred US dollars. The price
includes all of your meals on board, usually consisting of a four course dinner
Hello continental breakfast, and a threecourse brunch or lunch, steward service and
(28:57):
champagne reception upon arrival. It's afabulous experience and again, as I said
earlier, very attainable. I mean, thirty four hundred dollars, that's not
obscene, that's you know, inkeeping with what a lot of people might
pay for a vacation to say theCaribbean. So I think on board a
nice, luxurious train like this certainlysomething to take a look at it.
(29:21):
Now, our next stop, Chris, is going to take us all the
way to Japan on the Shikishima.This is a futuristic kind of a design
train kind of meets traditional elegance.Isn't just a train ride, this is
actually an immersive experience. I wantyou to think sleek, modern carriages with
these panoramic windows that frame these beautifullandscapes in Japan, It's interesting. When
(29:45):
I was in Japan, I rememberlooking out of the train where I was
actually on a high speed train,and I looked out the windows and I
went, man, I could justas easily be in the Schnidel Valley.
Ranges and scapes that I were lookingwas looking at out my window were very
reminiscent of what I saw here.I mean, we take for granted this
(30:08):
beautiful area that we live in,and when you do travel outside and you
see that, it's like, man, we live in a beautiful area,
you know. But the good partabout that is when you do travel to
some place like Japan and that scenerylooks very similar to you, you wind
up automatically feeling very much at home. You know, it just automatically grabs
(30:32):
you in that way. But onboard this particular train, you're going to
find again all of those luxurious suites, those are complete with private baths.
Again, in Butler service, youmake sure every need is met. And
the cuisine, it's a culinary journeythrough Japan's finest flavors, with every dish
(30:53):
more exquisite than the last. AndI mean this is not just meals that
are placed in front of you.This is where culinary experiences are a show.
It's part of the show to beon this train. I mean,
it's amazing, and your journey beginsthe moment you actually step on the train.
Chris. The furnishings that decorate theseluxurious, relaxing interiors, they're all
(31:19):
items of rare beauty. Now,this is what the Japanese people do very
well. They love their history andthey love these sacred items, and they
love it even more when they canshare it with people that come and visit.
And so a lot of these sacred, rare items of beauty you actually
(31:40):
find right on these trains. Imean, priceless items of art are on
these trains. They reflect the historyand the natural features of the regions of
Eastern Japan and a very special journeyamidst the traditional beauty of Japan. Now,
(32:00):
also on this train is something veryunique and rare to a lot of
train travelers. Japan's Shikishima is whatthey call a cypress bath on board.
They're the only train in the worldwhere you can enjoy this kind of blissful
experience. Now, these baths areThis was amazing to me. When I
did the research on this, Iwent are you kidding me right now.
(32:22):
The baths are made to the exactspecifications of the train company from natural wood
obtained from the cypresses that are noless They must be at least three hundred
years old. They are grown inthe Kiso Valley straddling Nagano and Gifu Prefectus.
(32:44):
The baths are big enough to comfortablyhold one adult, and they are
carved from one piece of cypress.Really, yes, the faint aroma of
wood, of course is there.And then they have this soft, white
grained cyprus that really is supposed tosoothe your mind and body. And those
(33:05):
tubs have been made with precision rightdown to the millimeter level to ensure get
this, that the water doesn't spillout with the movement of the train.
That would be the coolest experience ever, would it not. I mean,
you're sitting in this train and thecarving of this tub that you're in has
(33:28):
been done with such precision that notone drop of water can slosh out of
that. Now. I know mydaughter can do that at home, and
I'm pretty fastidious, but this wouldbe something for the record books. Now.
Interestingly enough, the only way tosecure your position on board this train
(33:49):
is to make application. Can't justmake a reservation. Yes, you heard
me correctly. However, they aresold out right now and they're not currently
accepting applications. But when they do, the process looks a little like this.
First of all, you make application. Once you've chosen your preferred departure
date, you complete the application form. If there are more applications than space
(34:15):
available, participants have to be selectedin a drawing. Okay, so you'd
be notified of the selection results byemail. Then, if you're selected,
you'll receive an invoice for your travelfare and additional information about the trip.
You pay for that travel fare bycredit card online, Still no conversation with
(34:37):
the company, and then your prearrival check. They ask you some questions
based on your request regarding on siteplans, personal requests, health conditions,
allergies, etc. All that's doneby email, and then finally you get
a final itinerary. Two weeks beforeyour departure, they'll send you that final
(34:58):
itinerary again by email. If youwere fortunate enough to make your way onto
the Japan Shikishima Luxury Train, thetrain suite a luxury sleeper has fares ranging
from three hundred and twenty thousand yento eight hundred thousand yen and I did
the conversion on that. That's abouttwo thousand and fifty to seven thousand US
(35:21):
dollars based on double occupancy and whatlevel of suite you get accepted at.
But a custom Cypress tub, yougot that right. The price depends on
the length of the trip, witha two day, one night trip starting
at about two thousand, eight hundredand fifty six US dollars that's four hundred
and forty thousand yen and a fourday, three night trip starting at about
(35:45):
nine hundred and forty thousand yen orsixty one hundred dollars US. But all
in all, I think just anamazing experience and to know that there are
things like this that actually exist thatpeople do take advantage of and experience,
to me sounds like something akin toa double seven movie, you know,
(36:07):
a James Bond. I mean,I could imagine watching a James Bond movie
where he steps onto the Japanese Shikishimaluxury train and enjoys that while something awful
takes place, you know, andthere he is with the love of his
life or who will soon be deadand in this cypress bath. I mean,
(36:28):
I think it all sounds so romantic. It's wonderful, and I hope
you've kept your seat alongside the radiotoday with us, because our next luxury
train experience is going to take usacross the pond on that amazing rocky mountaineer
in Canada, offering a taste ofthe wild with kind of a hefty side
of luxury. That's one of theones that I love. And as you
(36:52):
travel along these rugged rockies, youactually will be pampered like never before.
They've got those glass dome coaches thatoff and we'll offer all of our guests
that are joining us on our groupa three hundred and sixty degree view of
the majestic mountains lush for as crystalClear rivers. And then we've got this
onboard host that is just going tobowl us over with fascinating tales of that
(37:15):
region that we're going to see inCanada History Wildlife. We actually had some
folks who just returned from this verytrip, the one that we're doing,
which is called Journey through the Clouds, including Bamp and we were talking to
him on the phone the other day, Harry was and they were absolutely in
(37:35):
a word. Amazed by their experience, They said, we had an expectation
that this was going to be agreat trip. We had no idea it
was going to be as profoundly lifechanging as it was. It was the
most amazing trip, they said oftheir entire life. Now, these folks
(37:57):
are eighty years old, and they'vedone some exclusive and a lot of traveling
in their lifetimes together, and thisthey captured in their comments to us as
one of the most exhilarating, oneof the most unique, and one of
the most luxurious experiences of their life. So I know that our group is
in for quite an experience when wedo this together. Now, compared to
(38:22):
other trains that we've explored, youmight be wondering what's so great about the
Rocky Mountaineer. Well, that's partof it that I just mentioned to you.
Some say that the train is aonce in a lifetime experience, best
way to see some of North American'smost spectacular scenery, that's for sure.
But the Rocky Mountaineer is known forthose glass domed coaches with those three hundred
(38:43):
and sixty degree views of those Canadianvistas that you're going to see. Some
cars even have the outdoor viewing platforms, and I'm excited about that because I
love to kind of get outside whenthe train's moving and see kind of up
close and personal what we're going through. There's that world class hospitality I was
talking about, of course, andyes, that fabulous cuisine I mentioned,
(39:06):
Yeah, that's all locally sourced ingredientsand flavors. But then there's also the
thoughtful details. But like they weretelling me, this couple was telling me
that there's lumbar supports in all ofthe trained seats, which, as you're
riding them for long periods of time, you would think, man, that's
got to be rough on your back. No, not at all. They've
got those lumbar supports on those beautifulleather trade seats, elevated foot rests,
(39:31):
and also seat warmers on board thetrain. Rocky Mountaineer offers two classes of
service. They've got silver Leaf andgold Leaf. All of our guests are
going to enjoy the gold Leaf service. Some say the gold Leaf carriages are
actually twice as nice and twice ashigh as the silver Leaf, which offers
superior views as well. The wishingWell did sell out our Rocky Mountaineer experience
(39:55):
for this August, but who knows, we might actually have to do another
one of those in years to comebecause it was a quite popular offer.
People loved it, and I knowwe could have sold more if we could
have taken them, So that's oneto look for in the future. Now,
next we're going to be heading Chrisdown Under to Australia's Gone Expedition that's
(40:20):
going to take you on a spectacularjourney through the heart of the Outback.
Now this isn't just a train rideagain, this is a full blown adventure.
I mean, anytime we think ofAustralia and the down Under, I
always get a very different idea ofany place else on Earth. You've got
the tropical top end to the reddeserts of the South. There in Australia,
(40:45):
you're going to witness some of themost diverse and dramatic landscapes on the
planet on this particular one. Onboard, you will enjoy top notch service.
They've got, of course, luxuriouscabins, what else we're talking about,
luxury trains and gourmet meals that showcasethe very best of Australian cuisine.
(41:05):
The Gon Expedition is actually a fourday all inclusive train journey from Darwin to
Adelaide and it runs from April toOctober and that trip stops in Catherine Gorge,
Alice Springs and kuber Pete also offersoff train experiences, so you do
have the opportunity to get off thetrain at any of those stops and do
(41:28):
some excursions, kind of like thinkof a cruise on land. Okay,
so you've got shore excursions on acruise. You've got those same types of
opportunities on some of these luxury trains. And the Gon Expedition is considered one
of the world's most famous rail journeysand a great way to experience the diversity
of Australia's continent. And the tripis because everything in Australia actually is very
(41:52):
spread out. You know, it'snot close. Nothing's really close to get
to. You've got to travel agood ways to get around there. And
the trip is really punctuated by somethoughtful little touches like the unexpected glass of
champagne at the breakaway lookout, you'vegot dinner under the skies at night that
(42:12):
they do for you, and ofcourse the attentive service of the staff combined
with the magnificent Australian scenery all makethat a journey to remember. It's absolutely
fabulous. It's in Australia. It'scalled the Gun Expedition and it is one
of Australia's greatest treasures. You'll finda lot of Australian people who have never
(42:34):
been on this journey, but theylove to tell other people about it.
That's the way the Aussies are,you know. So this is one that
if you're looking to go to Australiaand the idea of just doing something ordinary
when you got to Australia wasn't yourcup of tea. This is definitely an
experience that would make your trip toAustralia extraordinary with still being able to see
some of the most important sits inthe continent, you know. So,
(43:00):
finally, I want to finish outour most luxurious train experience is in the
world with one that's going to takeus to Peru. Let's travel there next
here on a lifeless ordinary. Protectyour vacation investment with guidance from a travel
professional. The wishing Well knows traveland help you avoid pitfalls. They can
spoil your hirer earned vacation. We'llplan your trip and have your back as
(43:22):
you travel all of this without supportor so called convenience fees. We're on
the web at tho Wishingwell dot bizor call us at five four zero nine
zero eight two three three three.That's five four zero nine zero eight two
three three three. The washing Wellreally does make dreams come true and welcome
back to a life less ordinary.You're a weekly travel showing podcast from your
(43:45):
friends at the wishing Well. They'reon ne f Avenue in Harrisonburg online at
the wishing Well dot biz and youcan always give them a call. They
love that. Five four to zeronine oh eight twenty three thirty three.
As we do on most Saturdays,we sit down with Terry Dean from the
wishing Well. Our show today isentitled one If by Land. We're talking
luxury rail travel and we have enjoyedsome great options already. I know,
(44:09):
we always have a lot of funhere Chris talking about travel, because I
mean, if you talk about traveland you're not having fun, something is
sorely wrong with you, you know. But we do. I mean,
you and I have a really goodtime talking about these places. And what
I love in particular about today's showis that not only are we highlighting a
(44:29):
luxury style of vacation that a lotof people I'm sure would yearn to do.
But as I said before, theyare attainable. I wouldn't use the
word affordable, but they are certainlyattainable. But the other part of it
that's really I think exciting to meis that we're covering some destinations that we
don't normally get a lot of timeor that we take a lot of time
(44:52):
to talk about or uncover here ona lifeless ordinary very often like Australia,
like Japan. You know some ofthe other trains that we talked about,
you know, beginning in Venice andtrains like the Orient Express. And the
next one that we're going to talkabout is in Peru, another one of
(45:12):
my favorite places, and I enjoyedfinding out about this particular train. Now,
this one is called the Verve ClickouSolitaire Journeys on board the Belmont trains.
The Belmonte name is now synonymous withluxury rail travel. They own a
multitude of rails. I met withthe actual owner of Belmond Company when we
(45:38):
attended our last year's of Virtuoso conferencein Las Vegas, and let me tell
you they have a stellar product,and they are I would say white glove
from the top all the way down. They really are. And while wow
wow, Chris talk about unparalleled luxury, this particular one has it all.
(46:00):
And this time, as I said, we're in Peru, one of the
expected top destinations by the way fortwenty twenty five. And that is they're
saying because of its natural, uniqueexperiences, Peru just has something that travelers
right now are clamoring to find.They want that whatever that X quotient is
(46:21):
that makes people sit up and takenotice and really get excited about travel.
Peru is all that. So youcombine that with this top destination and the
ultimate Peruvian escape and journey from Cuscoto Ariquipa, paired with the verve Clicku
Champagnes, you've got a recipe fora great vacation. Now, the first
(46:45):
thing you do on board this particularmode of transportation is you're going to board
the first luxury sleeper train in SouthAmerica and experience Peru in a style that
most people only dream about. Andreally that's what these experiences are. I
mean, they're dreaming and they're overthe top. I remember one of those
(47:07):
experiences I had when I went toFrance once upon a time, actually went
over for a wedding. Had nothingto do with a train, but it
just made me think about that.I remember opening my eyes in this cathedral
that I was in. It wasfor a friend's wedding, and it was
(47:27):
on the coast, the southern coastalregion of France. It was beautiful,
just a gorgeous nautical area of thisparticular area of France. And I remember
opening my eyes and going, amI really here? Is this real?
Is this a dream? Or amI actually here in this cathedral right now
(47:49):
having this experience? And I canimagine that being in any one of these
trains that we've talked about would bethat. But for this particular one,
the one that I save for last, the verv Clicku Solitaire Journey on board
Belmont Trains. This is really somethingof beauty. As I said, you
(48:10):
board this luxury sleeper and you startyour adventure in this historic city of Cusco,
and that includes a day trip toMachu Pichu. A lot of people
have heard of Machu Picchu, knownothing about it, but I can tell
you right now it's there, It'sreal, It's located in Peru, and
that's where you begin this journey.Now, if you want to know what's
so great about Machu Pichu, well, I'll tell you. It's a UNESCO
(48:34):
World Heritage Site. First of all, that's considered a wonder of the world
for a lot of reasons. Butit includes the architecture, history, and
natural settings. And when I've readabout the actual architecture of Machu Pichu and
what made it a World Heritage Siteand a wonder of the world, I
(48:57):
was struck by the fact of somethingthat the incas you used to do.
They used a technique called alshar masonryto cut and fit stones together without any
mortar whatsoever. It was that kindof precision that kept them together, creating
precise walls that get this Chris ourearthquake proof. Imagine that if we did
(49:21):
that to our buildings in California today. They did that many many years ago
in Manchu Pichu, and they areearthquake proof. That alone is a wonder
to behold. But then you've gotthe natural settings. Of course. Manchu
Picchu is located hih in the Andesabout twenty four hundred meters above sea level.
(49:43):
It's surrounded by a river and offersa lot of views of mountains and
valleys, and that area is alsoimportant for biodiversity conservation with a variety of
microclimets. They've got habitats and speciesof plants and animals there that the likes
of which you've probably never seen before. But next you'll admire the wild scenery
from your window of this train,probably after you take a pause for a
(50:07):
world class dining experience and an onboardSPA ritual. Yes I said SPA on
board this train, before you windthrough Lake Tidikaka and the US Floating Islands,
and then arriving back finally at Ariquipa. Now another cool fact about this
particular train experience. Because of thehigh elevation in Peru, this is one
(50:30):
of the highest train routes in theworld. Inside, the cars are obviously
filled with luxury, but that localflare of love as well, everything from
Peruvian tapestries made from real alpaca woolon the bed to something that they call
Pisco sours that are served in therear observation bar car in the train.
(50:54):
Now, additional journey highlights include whatthey call dining with a view There you're
going to feast in a sixteenth centuryCusco chapel by candlelight. That's one of
the unique experiences that you get aspart of this train experience. In Machu
Picchu you get a day trip tothe Temple of the Sun with a garden
(51:16):
champagne experience lunch, you know that'sfine. And then in Lake Titi Kaka
there's a sunrise experience at Lake TitiKaka and a visit to the floating Euros
Islands. All of that a partof this very unique experience. We've talked
a lot about these trains today andluxury train travel has become very popular.
(51:39):
It's something that actually some of myclients at the Wishing Well come in and
ask me for by name. Theyknow which ones they want to go on
and those are the ones they wantto book. And luxury trains they do
now have restaurants, they've got bars, they've got bathrooms, sleeping seating areas,
not to mention full blown spa servicesand treatments while you're on board.
(52:01):
So there you have it, aluxury train vacation. It's really chris more
than just a trip. It's anadventure, it's an experience. A journey
all rolled into one. Imagine glidingthrough some of these stunning landscapes that we
talked about, sipping wine, elegantcars, every moment, designed to pamper
and delight you and make you feellike royalty. So if you're interested in
(52:23):
any of those, all you haveto do is look me up at the
wishing well. I'd be happy tohelp you out with any of those.
Which one sounded the best to you? They all sound amazing, you said
the Orient Express? They are theystill doing those? Absolutely are? Okay,
So I would pick Orion Express becauseI'd love to travel through Europe.
I know I want to do theRocky Mountaineer and travel through northern part of
(52:45):
North America. Okay, we cando both. Do both? Yeah in
Japan. I like Japan. Iknow we do. Just do all of
them. You can be James Bondfor a day, go to Australia.
You want to do that. Iwant to do it all. I love
the show. This was a funshow. I love the idea of rail
t special. You're talking luxury.It's my real travel terry. What a
fun show. How do we getin touch with you? If we'd like
(53:06):
to get more information? Or maybebook one of these trips. I'm really
easy to find. You can lookme up. I am at two forty
three NEF Avenue in the Valley Centerin Harrisonburg, Virginia. You can call
us at five four oh nine oheight two three three three, or look
us up in the web the Wishingwelldot biz. This has been a life
Less Ordinary, the travel show fromyour friends at the wishing Well at two
(53:29):
forty three NEP Avenue in Harrisonburg.If you have any questions on topics discussed
today, please reach out to thewishing Well online at the Wishingwell dot biz
or five four oh nine eight twentythree thirty three. Past episodes are available
on the iHeartRadio app. And we'llsee again next Saturday morning at ten for
a life less Ordinary from the wishingWell
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