December 6, 2024 • 53 mins
The Wishing Well's Harry Reif discusses this week's travel news and Hot Deals!
In this episode we explore travel destinations that promise to rejuvenate your soul and create unforgettable memories. Join us as we dive into the serene beauty of Alaska, the vibrant celebrations of Las Vegas on New Year's Eve, the thrilling adventures of an African safari, and the rich history of Egypt.
Whether you're seeking tranquility, excitement, or cultural enrichment, these bucket list destinations offer something for every soul. Discover why these places should be on your travel radar!
In this episode we explore travel destinations that promise to rejuvenate your soul and create unforgettable memories. Join us as we dive into the serene beauty of Alaska, the vibrant celebrations of Las Vegas on New Year's Eve, the thrilling adventures of an African safari, and the rich history of Egypt.
Whether you're seeking tranquility, excitement, or cultural enrichment, these bucket list destinations offer something for every soul. Discover why these places should be on your travel radar!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a Lifeless Ordinary.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It's a travel show and podcasts from your friends at
the wishing Well two forty three f avenue in harsmerg
and online at the wishing Well dot this. The wishing
Well is your ultimate luxury concierge, travel agency and a
Lifeless Ordinary is a travel show and podcast hosted by
Terry Dean, bringing her over forty years of experience in
the travel industry to help guide you to great experiences
(00:22):
in your travel, whether it be around the block, around
the country, or around the world.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I must bring in Harry Rife and say hello, Well,
good morning, Chris. It's good to see you, Harry. It's
great to see you too.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Get back here a little chili. It's going to be
a lot nicer come Monday and Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I hear so they say, yeah, so, uh, where's Terry?
What's going on with her? Terry is out in the
middle of the ocean. She's cruising. Her and her daughter
are out in the Caribbean, enjoying what she spends the
rest of the year selling to everybody else. That's a
little travel.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
She's not a.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Wonderful cruise and she has managed to truly get away
from the whole week. She says, the cell service on
the ship has not been great, and I said, that's
a wonderful thing to have happened, right, that's kind of vacation. Yeah,
and she deserves to have a nice vacation, Yes she did. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, Well, we're a couple of weeks away now from Christmas,
and I bet you there's a lot of travel news
going on.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Oh, there's a lot of travel news. Probably one of
the most interesting things that's in the travel news is
about the fifty seven year old Russian woman who got
on board and took a trip to Paris from JFK.
You hear about that? Why not? Well, they finally figured
out what she did and how she did it.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Is this stuff that we should share or keep to ourselves.
I don't want other people to do the same thing.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
No, we don't want a lot of this going on.
But it really has a lot to do with the
fact that she did this over the busy holiday weekend.
And what she did is she bypassed an airport terminal
employee who was I guess a little bit of sleep
at the switch at one of the checkpoints, and she
came by the known crew member's checkpoint kind of snuck
(02:01):
her way through there. She went into line for standard
TSA screening. She joined up with a family and kind
of rolled through the line with the family, So some
people were not paying close attention. The good news is
the system works. The bad news is the people were
the weakest part of the system. Is usually the case, right,
(02:23):
get a little complacent. So yeah, there's nothing wrong with
the system. We just got to use it correctly. But
that's in concert with what we see from TSA. They
announced that the airport last week over the Thanksgiving weekend,
had their busiest day. More than three millionaireline passengers came
(02:43):
through US screening points, and that is just a little
bit better than a year ago. So that's great news.
People are out and traveling about that's in the news.
We're going to see more and more people are traveling.
If bookings hit the wishing well or any indication, Chris,
(03:03):
it's going to grow and grow and grow. So we're
real happy about that. The UN World Tourism Organization told
us that in nineteen or excuse me, in twenty twenty four,
tourism is projected to hit our record eleven trillion. Wow,
that's not a number I know how to say trillion, okay,
(03:26):
eleven trillion for twenty twenty four, and that's an eleven
percent increase over twenty twenty three. So it's about where
we were at pre pandemic levels. And again, if what
we see is going to be an indicator, it's going
to be very, very busy. Yeah. Yeah. One of the
best things going on next year in travel news is
(03:47):
we're starting to look ahead. Twenty twenty five is going
to mark the eightieth anniversary of World War Two's end,
so we expect to see a whole lot of travel
to Germany Berlin in particular, and that's consistent with some
of the the other things that Virtuoso is also telling
us and all the other Virtuoso agencies. They're seeing a
couple of trends for twenty twenty five, and what they're
(04:11):
saying is that they're seeing more and more multi generational
families are traveling this coming year. They're going to villas,
they're going for those unique experiences. Remember a few weeks ago,
Terry and I were talking about the speakeasies we found
in Las Vegas. So they're going after those kinds of
experiences where they get to do those special things. They're
(04:33):
also looking at travel opportunities which have upgraded amenities, everything
from mini bars with real food in them that you
can actually take out in the minibar before you're charged
for take a look at it and want to buy it.
Not saying I'm desperate for a snack in the middle
of the night, I'm afraid to even open the refrigerator
(04:54):
because I think it's going to charge me. No, well,
that was the case, that's been the case, but I
think that's that's going away. So those are a couple
of trends that we see there. One of the other
things that I wanted to mention in the news this week,
I think is something that's not going to be happening.
But this is what the legislators are saying, is that
(05:14):
Mexico is going to start charging cruise ship passengers forty
two dollars ahead for port calls. Can you imagine how
popular that's going to be. The measure was approved and
they say it's going to go into effect in twenty
twenty five. We're going to see what happens. Cosmelo Course
(05:36):
is one of the busiest ports of call for cruise
ships in the world and forty two dollars ahead. You
got cruise ships coming in with you know, seven eight
thousand passengers. Not a bad payday for Mexico. Yeah. The
one bad thing about that is that money's not destined
to go towards tourism, and a lot of people are
complaining about that. They're actually going to allocate two thirds
(05:59):
of the money towards the Mexican Army. Oh kind of crazy.
But we'll see how that happens. The tourism people are
on it. We'll see if we can make something happen
to not let that happen. Interesting thing in travel news
this week also that I'm pretty excited about. Have you
ever worried about your bag when you go on a trip.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Well, I always take it with me on the plane
because I'm like, I am not letting them happen. Last
not letting them The last trip that I went on,
they did the voluntary bag check at the gate, and
I did it for free.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, and I was like, Okay, sure, take the bag.
And I love that.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I was able to see it on my phone. I
said was coming and going, and I knew more about
my trip that the bag was having than I did
about my own Tenerant.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, the airline apps are great with that. I just
recently returned from an international trip and I watched my bag,
you know, change planes as I as I moved across
the world. It's a real good thing. Alaska Airlines is
up in the game by one okay okay. Back in
twenty twenty two, they introduce electronic bag tags that they
(07:06):
have been linking to their airline reservation system like an
air tag. Yeah, it's like an air tag. And what
this does, it's going to one up the air tag though,
because when you get the air tag on your bag,
you still have to check in and get the paper
tag on your bag. With this innovation that Alaska is
up to introducing, they are not going to have that step.
(07:30):
Just bring the tag there. They'll bluetooth that tag into
their system and the tag will be your bag tag.
It's genius. Yeah, it's genius. And what's especially good about
that is Terry and I are always reminding people when
they go to the airport, take a look at that
tag that the agent puts onto your bag. Make sure
(07:52):
that her tag or his tag that they put on
the bag matches what's on your ticket that the destinations
are this that tells where their bag is going to go?
Oh that's good.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I didn't do that when they took time. A matter
of fact, they didn't give me a chance to. They
took my bags, set them back behind the counter, and
then put tags on.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Always check the tag to make sure that it's destined
in the same place as you are destined. These tags
are going to solve that problem because it links the
bag to your airline reservation, so it's got no choice
but to send the bag. Why isn't everybody doing this? Well,
I think it's a great idea and it is not
surprising if in the future weeks as we talk, we'll
(08:33):
see other airlines, you know, copying what Alaska Airlines is doing.
But it's a great thing. You have to buy the
bag tag, of course. They cost eighty nine dollars. Oh wait,
but it's a lifetime bag tag. Okay, I'm like, get
in tell me that at the beginning. No, they're not
free thought.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I thought it was going to be like I'm trying
to think when you put the quarter in the thing
at Aldi's and then you get your quarterback when you're done.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
No, no, no, no, this is a Netherlands based company.
It's called appropriately Bag Tag. They manufacture these, but you
buy it once eighty nine dollars and your bags are
with you for life. Okay, Yeah, not a bad deal.
Not a bad deal at all. One of the other
things this morning, my last piece of news that I
want to talk about. Actually I got two things, but
(09:18):
one of the ones that I'm pretty excited about. I'm
not sure I'm ready to go buy this yet, but
Virgin Voyages cruise line. They are launching an annual pass
and you can buy an annual pass which lets you
travel on any of the brand's ships, even the new
(09:38):
ship that they have coming out called the Brilliant Lady.
Lets you travel on any of those ships for a year.
You can start either January first, February first, March first,
or April first of twenty twenty five. They're going to
sell a limited number of these passes and you can
cruise as much as you want. How much a year
(10:01):
your knuckling like this? Well, I mean, I'm Jess, and
it's going to be a huge number. It's a huge number.
But can I tell you what it Yeah, yeah, I'll
tell you what it costs. This is only Chris, only
one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. I was going to
guess one twenty five. So that sounds right. You were
right there, but you still it probably will cost you
one twenty five because you're still liable for the cruise
(10:22):
taxes and the fees. Okay, but because you buy this pass,
you're going to have premium WiFi, one hundred dollars, bar
tab credit for drinks on each sailing priority embarkation, and
get this complementary laundry service.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
All right, So if I was taking a cruise on
you said Virgin Atlantic. Yep, how much would a cruise
cost me? If I just it was because this is
only for one person, I assume this is not for
me and a guest.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Oh this is a pair of people. Oh pair? Okay?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
How much would it cost me if my wife and
I wanted to go on a cruise? Oh, you's debase.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
You can get on a Virgin cruise probably for the
two of you for maybe one thousand dollars, so a
little less.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
So if I have the money, yeah, I could cruise.
I know you're saying, I can go like every weekend
if I wanted to, But once a month is one
thousand dollars. That's one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Yeah,
so I'm saying that's.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
A great price. Well, but you're picking the least expensive cruise.
I'm saying, you can go on any cruise, on any show.
That's why I'm saying this is a great price, and
they're gonna put you in an upgraded cabin. Yeah. This,
I just don't have the money to do it. But
if I did, I'm on this, well, call your credit
card company and see if they'll give you one of
those special deals. Okay, they let me charge it. I
(11:36):
just couldn't pay for it. Yeah, that's a little problem
for me too. All right. Last thing, we're still seeing
a lot of action on the Department of Transportation's proposal
to have airlines compensate passengers for cancellations and delays of
more than three hours. And this is something that it
(11:57):
has been going back and forth. There's all kinds of
action on this. I'm watching it. I'm waiting for this
to get settled. But it looks like the Department Transportation
is going to start recognizing that passengers really do have
a bill of rights, that airlines really are responsible for
making sure that not only you are responsible for being
(12:19):
at the airplane at the time you're supposed to leave,
but the airplane's supposed to leave at the time that
it's supposed to leave. And so there's a lot of
things going on right now. But compensation for at least
three hours of delay is going to start at two
hundred dollars and go up to as much as seven
hundred and seventy five dollars if your flight is delayed.
(12:43):
So they'll make you feel a little bit better, howlongs,
the flight have to be delayed to get the seven
seventy seven to seventy five is for a six hour delay.
That might be willing to wait six hours for seven
seventy five that's one hundred bucks plus an hour. Yeah,
that's not bad. I could sit in the airport for
exter six hours. Yeah, and they'll still hopefully they'll they'll
(13:03):
buy an airport meal in that too. This is consistent, though,
with some of the things that are going on in
other parts of the world too. Europe in particular has
been cracking down on that. The UK, Brazil, Canada even
has becoming a little more aggressive about requiring airlines to
(13:24):
pay when they have the delays, and that's the result
of the airlines. They've been overscheduling, or maybe not overscheduling,
that's the wrong word. They have been scheduling up to
one hundred percent, which means there's no room for air
So if you have something go wrong and you have
airplanes going from one point to another, and then from
(13:46):
that second point to a third point to a fourth point,
you get the picture. Once one of those segments is
in trouble, everything afterward is going to be in trouble
through the end of the night until start and reset
the clock the next day. So I think that this
is telling the airlines probably all these optimization schemes that
(14:08):
you're using for optimizing crew, for optimizing aircraft, maybe you've
gone a little bit too far, because it's not always
aircraft that caused the delay. It's also crew. They're waiting
for crew, and for a lot of good reasons. Crew
have certain hours and they're required to have certain hours
(14:29):
of rest between the flights. I like that rule a lot,
and so sometimes that's what's causing the delays too. But
they're working through these legislation options in there, and if
you want to go to the Department of Transportation, websites.
You can look at the website I have is a
regulations dot gov, and you can look at the Department
(14:53):
of Transportation out there. We're in a comment period right now,
so if this is something that's dirked you in the past,
time to put your comments in and you know, hold
airlines feet to the fire.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
It's a typical American I just assume that the United
States is regulating airlines around the world. Are there any
countries that are actually doing this right?
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah? Yeah. The European Union has has really cracked down
on airlines that are not running on time. And I
think that, you know, some of the pressure in the
United States is coming from what's going on overseas and saying,
my gosh, if the you know, Europeans are doing it,
even the Canadians are doing it, we should be doing
(15:35):
it too, and we should expect service, you know, from
the airlines. They've cut back a lot of things. It's
not fair to cut back so much that you can't
depend on the transportation you're looking for, because if you
have connections, particularly if you have international connections, and you
miss them, it's not unusual that your trip is delayed
(15:57):
by one entire day and get into the busy holiday seasons.
When the flights are sold out. Guess what it may
be not just one day because there may not be
a seat available. Wow. Yeah, I didn't consider that either. Yeah,
that's big problem. So we're looking I'm looking forward to
some good things happening there. I think that's you know,
(16:18):
that's all in the right direction. I think that we
can depend on, you know, our legislators to do it.
But I think it's also important that you need to
get online and you know, comment on some of these
proposals too. So those are the big things in the news.
Lots of ground we covered there, didn't we.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yeah, And I now now I've got to go look
some stuff up.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I want more information on somebody. I'm excited about our
show today. It's called Soulful Travel. Yeah, I'm Soulful Travel.
And how did I come up with that title, you
might wonder.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Well, I don't even know what it means yet. So
are we like, are we traveling to Memphis to you know,
see good R and B music.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
No, we're not doing Memphis, We're not doing Motown. We
are talking about your soul, okay, not the musical soul.
And I guess how about this for a tease, Chris.
Remember the Doctor Seuss book. It was called Oh the
Places You Go? You Go? Now, I have to look
(17:16):
that one up to you. There you go, all right.
I haven't read Doctor Sus since I was like five
years old. Yeah, Doctor Seuss had had one of my
favorite books and it was called Oh the Places You'll Go.
And that's what I'm gonna do with Soulful Travel today.
We're going to do it all in the voice of
doctor Seuss. No, all right, we'll do that, brother. We'll
(17:36):
find out more coming up next year on a Life
Less Ordinary. Protect your vacation investment with guidance from a
travel professional. The wishing Well knows travel and helps you
avoid pitfalls that can spoil your hard earned vacation. We'll
plan your trip and have your back as you travel.
All of this without support or so called convenience fees.
We're on the web at the wishing Well dot viz
(17:57):
or call us at five four zero nine zero eight
two three three three. That's five four zero nine zero
eight two three three three. The washing Well really does
make dreams come true.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
And welcome back to a Life Less Ordinary, the travel
show and podcast from your friends at the wishing Well.
You can find them on that f avenue in Harrisonburg,
online at the wishing Well dot biz, or give him
a call at five four oh nine oh eight twenty
three thirty three. Harry right from the wishing Wells with
us this week on a Life Less Ordinarium. Right before
we went to the break, we found out our show
(18:30):
was called Soulful Travel and you said it's about our
soul and Doctor Seuss.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Well, the show's not about Doctor Seuss. I said, I
was going to give you a teaser, and I gave
you a quote from Doctor Seuss. It was one of
my favorite books called Oh the Places You'll Go. I
can give you another one. J R. Tolkien, the British
fantasy guy, right, Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit. He wrote,
(18:57):
not all who wander our life lost.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I've seen a lot of people put that on the
back of their jeeps. People who go people who like
to go out and you go hiking and walk on
trails and things like that.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah. Well, what I want to talk about this morning
is that travel is really one of the best things
for your soul as a person. It's the best way
to find yourself if you get lost for a little
bit in a place you're unfamiliar with. This is gonna
be tough for you. Chris. Without everything planned, without everything
(19:31):
in place, without everything lined up. What are you accusing
me of. I'm saying that some people want to have details.
I know you're detailed guy. I'm less of a detailed guy.
Probably not enough of a detailed guy. Okay, you and
Terry always are prepared. I'm the one who comes in
maybe a little less.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I like to make sure that the things that we
want to get done are scheduled, but I like to
leave time to just enjoy.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
There you go. Well, when you're with me, you're in
this soulful travel mode. Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
My attitude about life is you're never really lost. If
you can't find your way in the direction you're going,
turn around and go the other way. You might find
it in that direction.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
I think you're right, and especially last week, I return
from one of my favorite trips ever. Okay, I went
on a trip that was actually not a vacation. Hard
to believe. Okay, it was not a vacation. This was
one hundred percent work trip. But in the middle of it,
(20:35):
I had a couple of spare days as I went
from one assignment to the next.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
And let me just say, you have the best job
in the world if this is what you get to
do on a spare day.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Yeah. I want to talk about that trip, and that
trip in particular relates to some of the volunteer work.
A lot of people who know me know that I
do volunteer work. I do accreditation for colleges and universities
around the world to help them better their computing programs.
That's part of my past life when I was a
(21:07):
computer scientist and very serious about that and a faculty member.
I try and help colleges and universities promote their programs
by having excellent practices and building just great curricula and
having great faculty. So I volunteer to go out and
check on that, and I do that every single year.
(21:28):
This year, I was assigned to visits back to back
with those couple of days in between in the wonderful
country of Egypt, a place I had never been. So
here I go. I go off to this new place.
I am one hundred percent focused on doing the work
I'm supposed to be doing. I know that there are
(21:49):
two free days in between, and so I said to
my host, just plan something for me to do. So
I don't, you know, just sit around for the weekend.
And it was Friday and Saturday or the weekend over there.
I don't sit around for those two days and do nothing.
And boy did they come through. And it reminded me
(22:12):
about filling your soul with ideas, places, experiences that you
just never thought about, you never dreamt about, and you
know it was. It was a wonderful experience. And that's
what I want to talk about. This morning. I left Washington,
d C. At five o'clock. I arrived in Cairo, Egypt,
(22:34):
at nine thirty in the morning. So it's a little
bit of a ride to get over there, all right.
You spend you know, a good bit of time on
a plane. But to make things worse, when it's nine
thirty in the morning in Cairo, it's four thirty in
the afternoon to them.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
So oh, so it's nine thirty in your morning, four
thirty there afternoon.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
That's right. My watch said nine thirty. I have an
analog watch and it's still said, you know, nine thirty.
Didn't change automatically. But they were finishing their day. I
was in the morning, you know, of my day after
having been on a plane all night long. So I
was kind of messed up a little bit. Thirteen hours
in the air is not not real friendly to you
(23:19):
with a couple hours of layover in between. But I
was ready hit the ground running, and I experienced a
part of the world history that dates back thousands of years.
We talked about the United States, you know, our history
here Fi. Yeah, we're going to celebrate two hundred and
fifty years. They're you know, a couple thousand years too.
(23:39):
That we were walking in places I'd only read about,
you know, as a kid, learning about people, civilizations dating back,
you know, twenty five hundred years. I did things that
I never dreamt of doing, never planned, you know, to do.
I've seen a camel at the circus, I rode one
(24:00):
in the desert. I'd seen pictures of pyramids. I went
inside one all the way, all the way inside into
the burial chamber, you know. In the town of Giza,
just outside of Cairo. I visited a museum that was
filled with so many historical artifacts that I can't even
(24:21):
remember all of what I've seen. I didn't have time
to stop and take pictures along the way, but I
looked at things that were dating back before five hundred BC. Wow,
that's not something that you know, I think about very often.
I tasted delicious new foods. I enjoyed a cruise down
(24:42):
the River Nile, and it included belly dancing, Egyptian belly dancing.
And you might know this because you study a lot
of things. Do you know what the Tanora dancers are? No?
Have you ever seen those dancers? They just spin around
and they spin around and they spin around. That's the
whirling dervish. Okay, okay. I spent dinner time going down
(25:07):
the Nile, watching belly dancing and washing Tonora dancers and
learning about you know, Greek music, Egyptian music, Roman music,
all of the historical kinds of things that I had
just never ever paused and thought about before. So that's
(25:28):
what I mean when I'm talking about soulful travel. Yeah.
So I didn't imagine the things i'd do. I didn't
imagine the memories i'd return with. I didn't imagine, you know,
the photos i'd have on my phone. And that's why
I looked at those two teasers that I talked about.
You know, doctor SEUs said it best. Oh the places
(25:48):
you'll go and Tolki and said, you know, not who wondered,
not all who wander are lost. I was both of
those things for you know, about ten days.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
This is really exciting. And you showed meet the pictures
before we started the show. Today, it's like, man, you're
right there in front of the pyramid with a camel.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yeah, yeah, and something in a movie. I'm standing next
to the sphinx. I'm you know, I'm up there looking
at these, you know, statues, just a whole hallway of statues.
I'm in libraries that have you know, manuscripts dating back,
you know, and you know, thousands of years, hydroglyphics, hieroglyphics,
(26:32):
and it's like I didn't even think all these things
even existed. You know. If somebody mentioned that they did,
of course I'm gonna say, yeah, I should know about them.
But I never stopped and thought about it. And that,
to me is the marvel of travel. And that's what
inspired me to want to talk about soulful travel today. Well,
then let's talk more about all right, So I want
to share some ideas. I went and looked for some
(26:55):
ideas that I hope are going to capture your attention.
We'll capture our listeners tension. And I'm hoping that as
I go through this list and I've got a few
things i want to talk about, I'm hoping that at
least one of these items are going to make it
to yours and to everybody that's listening today's bucket list,
(27:15):
because that's what's going to nurture your soul and let
you be a soulful traveler. I like it. Okay, all right,
let's let's start and think about Oh as you're thinking
about these, don't just think about them for yourself. I
was on this trip by myself. I had two colleagues
that were with me from other universities, but I would
(27:35):
have much rather done this trip with someone you know,
real close to me. You know, maybe my you know,
a best friend, child, grandkid, you know, someone that I
really care about. As you're thinking about it, think about
this and think about the fact that as we look ahead,
we're getting ready to hit the new year twenty twenty five,
(27:58):
we have possibility these destinations experiences that are going to
match every traveler's personality and every traveler's style. So here
we go. I'm going to start with one that should
be on everybody's bucket list. It's been on mine, and
I checked this one off and I'm ready to return.
And that is Alaska. If Alaska isn't on your bucket list,
(28:22):
please consider putting it there. Alaska is a place that's
best explored on the water, and there are so many
options today for going to Alaska. You can do some
very economical cruises. You can do cruises that are luxury cruises.
You can cruise on small ships, you can cruise on
(28:43):
large ships. But just think about a cruise to Alaska.
When do you want to go. My favorite time for Alaska,
from everything I've studied and the experience I had, is
you look at springtime. Springtime is a time when Alaska
comes back to life. The winter hiatus is over. Everything
(29:06):
is coming back to life. You can enjoy in Alaska
some of the freshest and best tasting salmon and Alaskan
king crab legs you've ever tasted. When I was there,
I went on a buffet that had crab legs all
you can eat, Alaskan crab legs, all you can eat, Chris,
think about it, Oh, I'm thinking about Oh. Yeah, we
(29:28):
visited the Iditarod dogs the famous sled dogs. They are
at their summer retreat. In order to go visit them.
I traveled to the top of a glacier. Not a
bad place to say that you visited. I traveled on
the Alaskan Railway. Takes you for a brief time into Canada.
On this trip, you don't need It's one of the
(29:50):
few ways you can get into Canada without a passport.
If you're in Alaska and you travel this Alaskan Railway route,
part of it goes into Canada and it circles around
and comes back into the United States. Now, it's not
really wise to even think about getting off the train.
One is you don't have a passport, so you'd be
in Canada illegally. But two, it's just all frozen glacier
(30:14):
up there, so you can say you went to Canada.
You don't have a passport, but you rode the train.
One of the ways that I like to suggest people
look at Alaska, especially if you're budget minded, is one
of the cruise lines that really knows Alaska, and that's
Holland America. They are experts in Alaska. They've been there
(30:35):
for a long time. They own a lot of the land,
based facilities in Alaska, so you can combine their trips
with some great tours and excursions there too. And I
price something out just in case you want to put
something on your bucket list, and also put a number
beside it to help you choose what's possible. I looked
(30:56):
at two people Memorial Day weekend round trip to Seattle,
including here out of our airport here in Dulles. Insurance,
taxes and fees. You can do this with I'd say
about twenty two hundred dollars a person, very comfortably. That's
including air. Not too bad.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
If you want more information about Alaska and travel too,
We've got some podcasts that we've done here on a
Lifeless Ordinary. Yes, you can go the wishing Well tod
PiZZ or use the free iHeartRadio app. Chasing Chill Cool
Escapes from Summer Heat was the last one we did
where we talked about Alaska and we'd take deep into
all those things you need to do and including like
what kind of clothes to take with you. Yes, it's
(31:37):
not what you probably were planning on taking with you.
And the beautiful blue of the glaciers. I remember that
when when you and Terry were talking about.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Oh, they're awesome. It's a blue that you've never seen before.
It's you know, you can see it in a in
a color palette on a TV screen and paint, but
to see that in person, it's like seeing you know,
some of the things that I was talking about earlier
in Egypt. You just have to see it in person.
You know, video is great, photographs are great, but seeing
(32:08):
it in person there's you know, there's a reason we
have five senses, Okay, and you know your site is
one of those senses, but the other four all combined.
When you're in a place and see something just as
you're saying, it is absolutely magnificent. So where are we
head next, Well, I'm going from Alaska, I'm coming back
(32:32):
onto the continent. And New Year's is coming up pretty soon,
right where a few weeks away? Yeah, i'd say, so,
we're getting ready to change change the calendars from twenty
twenty four to twenty twenty five. So one of the
other things that should be on everybody's bucket list is
Las Vegas. Las Vegas is a place that's lit up
(32:52):
and known for the neon lights all year long, but
being there for New Year's and I did that one
time is a fantastic experience. New York City in Las
Vegas for New Year's our life changing experience. Really, Oh
for sure, you're talking about a town that parties all
year long anyway, But do they do anything but special
(33:16):
like at midnight? Do they have a ball drop or anything?
In Vegas they don't have a Well I think there
probably is some kind of ball drop, but there's so
much other stuff going on.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
That my experience in Vegas is I would not even
realize that the calendar had changed. I'd be having such
a good time.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Well, and that's why I like Vegas so much. You know,
Vegas has changed a lot. So many people come in
and talk to me about a trip to Vegas or
you know, thinking about a trip to Vegas, and they said, well,
I'm not sure I want to go. You know, Vegas
has a little bit of a CD reputation. It's you know,
it's not the best place to go. They're wrong. Yeah,
(33:56):
I disagree with that. Vegas has reinvented itself really. I
mean it's been well over a decade now. They've reinvented
that city and they've made it family friendly. It is
a city now that is probably as much entertainment, actually
more entertainment going on for some of the venues out
(34:17):
there than you'll find in New York City. You'll see
theater in New York City. In Vegas you'll see everything.
Circ The Soul has got what five shows I think
running out there, and all the residencies and yes, and
the residencies and the experiences. If you want to go
(34:37):
to Vegas, you can can take a side trip and
go see the Grand Canyon. So you start in Vegas
and you'll spend a day and go see the Grand Canyon,
the Hoover Dam. If you want to be in Vegas
and you want to go see some sports. I mean,
the Allegiance Stadium is fantastic. Been inside there a couple
of times. It is absolutely remarkable. They have the New
(35:00):
Sphere Theater there, which is just amazing. It is unbelievable.
And they have a show in there that you can
go and see that just shows off all the features
of the theater.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
So if you're not familiar with the inside of this theater,
I don't remember the number, it's tens of thousands of
speakers that are directed and pinpointed to each individual seat. Yes,
I don't know if they're doing this yet, but they
say they could actually do a movie and multiple languages,
and if you were sitting in the section where it
(35:34):
was in French, you wouldn't realize that the next section
over was hearing English.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I didn't know that. That's fantastic. Yeah, it's amazing. And
the other part about the Sphere is even if you
can't get inside, and you should, okay, but if you
choose not to or you cannot get inside, just watching
it on the outside, it is a light show in
and of itself. Yeah, just incredible. The entire exterior of
(35:58):
the Sphere is life. It's their LEDs and they can
pretty much make anything happen. It's absolutely fantastic. The performers,
besides seeing cirque soul shows, you can see you know,
you can see Elvis, Michael Jackson, Blue Man Group. Now
Elvis and Michael aren't really there, of course, but Blue
(36:19):
Man Group is and they've been there for years and years.
A great show, lots to see, lots to do. If
you want to eat, oh my gosh, go to the
buffet at the Win. The Win is a fantastic but
buffet on the strip, you're not really on the strip.
You're just off, but you're just a block off. Yeah,
(36:39):
you're right there. I like the Caesars Buffet also very
very good. Lots of things to do there, and they
have transportation that's real easy to you know, go up
and down the strip. They have a monoael that goes
up and down the strip. In the airport is right
ten minutes away from If.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
You're in pretty good shape. I'm not like, you know,
an athlete. If you go out and walk on a
regular basis, you can walk the strip. It's walkable, yea.
And they've got little bridges that go over the road
so as a pedestrian you're not trying to cross traffic.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Oh it's worse than Froger to try and cross Las
Vegas Boulevard. But another interesting thing to do in Las
Vegas that a lot of people don't do is go
to Old Las Vegas. I've been there once, yeah, and
I was like that was enough for me. Yeah. I
think it's worth seeing because it's kind of like the
way it was, and then you return to the way
it is. I like the way it is and Fremont Street.
(37:36):
Fremont Street, that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Yeah, Yeah, you've got to see that display because that's
kind of like the sphere, but it's an arch over
top of it.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Yep, it's a canopy that covers the street. It's fantastic
and one of the things that I haven't done there,
but I will do when I go back. Every little
boy likes to drive big equipment, right, Yeah, can you
drive like a caterpillar? Yes you can. You can get
earth moving equipment and spend your time right in Las Vegas. Okay,
(38:04):
they're gonna let you help build one of the new
hotels or something. I don't think that would be amazing,
but they let you dig. You know, every little boy
wants to dig, and I imagine there are a lot
of little girls want to just get in it and
run a steam shovel. Yes, you can do it in
Las Vegas. So I put together a little package there
four New years. So it's not the least expensive package
(38:27):
you can get to Las Vegas. But I've put together
some flights from Dallas. I have five days in Vegas,
and I must have been thinking about this Egyptian trip
because guess what hotel I put in? The Luxor hotel. Yeah,
so I picked a premier king room. Doing all of
that with air in the hotel four or five days,
(38:49):
it's about fifteen hundred dollars a person four New Years, Chris,
Such a good price for New Years.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Yeah, Vegas is one of the most affordable places I
think you can travel to in the US.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
It is.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
It is if you're trying to go to a special destination.
I mean, you can do skyline drive for less. But
if you're looking for a destination, that's it. We got
to take a quick break, Arey, and we're going to
come back and we're going to keep talking about these
soulful travel ideas. I love the show today. We'll be
back at a second here in a life less ordinary,
Who would.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Think of driving off to a new destination without guidance
from Google or Siri? Let the wishing Well guide your
next travel experience. Travel the world as you enjoy the
very best destinations and all they offer at the best prices.
Our mobile travel app keeps your vacation on track and
keeps you connected with our team of experts. For help.
If you need it, call us at five four zero, nine,
(39:38):
zero eight two thirty three three Stop buy two forty
three Avenue or visit us at the Wishingwell dot biz.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
And welcome back to a Life Less Ordinary, the travel
Showing podcast from your friends at the wishing Well. Every
Saturday morning, we get together and we talk traveling. This
week we're with Harry Rife from the wishing Well. Harry,
you went to Egypt? Was it last week?
Speaker 1 (40:01):
You returned last week?
Speaker 2 (40:02):
We returned last week from Egypt, and it has got
you in this mindset of We've got to do more
travel for our soul. We've talked about taking an Alaskan trip,
taken an Alaskan cruise. We've just talked about Vegas and
the little boy and me is ready to book my
trip because I want to get in one of those
earth movers. But of course there's so much more to
(40:24):
do in Vegas than just that. And that's a New
Year's getaway. And now where do we head?
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Well, we've talked about places that should be on everybody's list,
but I'll cheat a little bit by picking places that
I've been to, so I know those are great places.
The third place I know is a great place too, Chris,
but it's a place that's still on my personal list.
So I want to take us a whole different direction.
(40:52):
We've had a different parts so far. We've been to Alaska,
We've been to Vegas. Next, I'm going back to the
continent I was on when I was in Egypt, and
that is to the continent of Africa. And I want
to talk about a safari y. Yeah, safaris are just
very very interesting. They come in all different types. They
(41:15):
like every other trip, they cater to every interest. It
could be a family, could be a couple with friends,
could be a celebration or milestone event. Maybe I'll have
to use that as my excuse to get over there.
Good place for honeymooners. And they even have safaris that
are focused on solo travelers. So if it's on your
(41:35):
bucket list and the person that you know has been
pursuing the bucket list can't go with you for whatever reason,
go by yourself. Their laws a safari yeah, okay, and Africa.
Safaris are attractive because everybody knows about the wildlife on
(41:56):
a safari, and that is the central reason to go
on afar. We are talking about incredible exposure that we've
had over our life to all these images. You know
what they say, the top five, the lions, the lepers,
the elephants, the rhinos, and the buffalo. Those are the
top five that they usually talk about when you read
(42:18):
about safaris, But there are so many more animals living
in their natural habitat, and seeing these animals is the
reason you want to go on a safari. There, the animals,
the charisma, the intimacy, the just the aura of being there,
(42:39):
being around them. We talked about senses earlier, to sense
the field, the smell, the sights, everything and experience. That
is something that's very attractive to me and I think
that will, you know, be very attractive to my soul.
Hopefully it will be attractive to yours too. Are safaris safe? Yeah,
these guys do the safaris. They live, you know, at
(43:05):
the jungle. In the jungle, they know what's going on,
they know what's safe, and they put so many people
through these safaris. It's not like a circus where an
animal is caged up and you know, can get crazy
because of the stress that's been around it. You're basically
driving through their neighborhood. Okay, okay, So the animals are
(43:27):
much more relaxed. They're curious, they're looking at you, they're
used to you because they are enough safaris going through
all the time, and when they set up these camps
at night, they know how to do that safely. Some
of these safaris will use lodges overnight. Some people feel
more comfortable being inside of building. Others have tented encampments
(43:51):
that they use overnight, like a like like a urt
like just old fashioned tents too. Okay, okay, And that's
part of the style that you have to pick. When
you pick your safari, You're gonna pick how you're going
to lodge, what you're gonna eat. Do you want your
dinner's gourmet cook by a chef or do you want
(44:12):
you know, more rustic feel All right.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
My wife would say lodge. I'm figuring if I'm in
a safari, I want to see the stars at night.
I want to be outside and enjoy that and hear
the noise of Oh I wonder if that lion means
i'thing about to be something somebody's dinner.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
But yeah, oh man, yeah, I don't want to hear screams.
I just want to hear night noises, right, yeah, yeah,
And I think that's you know, that's the neat part
about safaris is that you can tailor them, you know,
to what you want You can also tailor safaris to
the kinds of animals you want to see. Maybe you're
more focused on wanting to see, you know, apes and chimpanzees, gorillas,
(44:51):
you will probably go. I would say, if you want
to see the gorillas and chimpanzees, you probably head to Uganda.
The windy, impenetrable forest is where you'll see those. If
you might want to head to Kenya, you're going to
see the Wildebese migration. Lots of things that you can do,
(45:12):
and that's part of that pre planning to say, what
experiences do I want to have. The people over there,
you asked about safety and stuff. The people over there
know where to go, when to go, what you're going
to see, and there's a high likelihood you're going to
see it. I think one of the toughest things if
I'm preparing to go on a safari is I've got
(45:35):
to figure out how to empty the memory on my
camera because I know I'm going to fill it. You
just buy a new pictures just buy a brand new phone,
don't even activate it, just use it for the camera,
or maybe even invest in a real camera and go
to you know, go to the community college and learn
how to use it and take some take photos with
your SLR if you're going on a safari, Yeah, well
(45:55):
you got to learn how to use your SLR, right,
So I think that's a great thing. People talk about
the best time to go. The best time to go
overall is summertime. That May through September. It's the best
our summertime, our summertime, right. Yeah. I talked about all
the different, uh, you know, options for where you're going
(46:16):
to stay. They move you about in vehicles that are
really comfortable vehicles. They're well provisioned. They have snacks inside
and you know, bottled water, things like that, and each
one of these safaris is going to have an expert
guide in that vehicle. And those guides as they're moving
through the you know, through the trails, they know where
(46:38):
to stop, they know where the animals like to hang out,
they know where they like to eat lunch, you know
where you'll find them feeding at certain times a day.
And so when you're buying a safari, you're not just
buying you know, the trip and the lodging and the food,
but you're buying the services of an expert guide. And
so we have companies that we work with especially under
(47:05):
the Virtuoso brand. That's where we look for that expertise
because you can go driving through the jungle, or you
can be on a guided drive through the jungle. The
guide me too. Yeah, so I price this out for
a safari, this is going to be really surprising. You
(47:25):
want to talk about maybe a seven day would be
about the minimum you'd want to do for a couple people.
You're talking about twenty five hundred dollars, okay a person,
and you're going to have to add air to that.
Air is going to add probably about three thousand dollars
a person, So it's going to be a little bit
of a pricey vacation. But the biggest price that you'll
(47:48):
pay if you're ready to do a safari is you're
going to want to get some rest because flying time
is about twenty hours really yeah, okay, so where are
we're flying in. You can fly into a Nairoba, you
can fly into Kenya, depends on the safari that you pick,
(48:09):
and you know where those tour operators have their basing points.
So you're you're doing you know, you're doing a little
bit of flying. The good news is if you can
sleep on a plane that's what I like to do.
You know, the what I was saying about the air
depends on the class of service you get. I guess
(48:31):
you can get down if you go down to coach.
I've seen flights as low as eleven hundred dollars a
person i'd suggest, did you just recommend coach for a
twenty hour four I would absolutely not show coach. I'm
going to go at least business class, which is going
to be closer to about forty five hundred dollars, or
(48:51):
if I can gather up my miles and combine miles
with dollars, or if something really special happens the next
time I buy a lottery ticket, I'm gonna go first
class and get one of those lie flat sleepers. Yeah,
that's the way I went to Europe. I love that,
Or to Egypt. I really like that. Now I'm kind
of kind of hooked on those. You're gonna spend as
(49:12):
much as eighteen thousand dollars for your flight for first round,
for first class, So lie back, lie down sleeper. You'll
arrive rested, Chris. Yeah, you're very very rested and well fed. Okay,
but you can. The point is you can. When I said,
you've got lots of different choices with budgets. You've got
(49:33):
lots of different choices with budgets, and that's exactly you
know what it means. It means you can, you know,
vary things in there in terms of the type of safari,
in terms of the type of air fair you do,
and if you're going to take one of those lesser
priced flights over there, maybe you'll add a hotel or
for a night or two when you arrive, so you
can kind of catch up with yourself after sitting in
(49:55):
that you know, coach seat for twenty hours. But the
important thing is with everything that I'm talking about this morning,
it's all affordable. It's a question of you know, what
are the trade offs you're going to do, and which
order do you want to hit the things on your
bucket list. I mean, if we hit the lottery, you
can sign me up for all three of them. Here,
(50:16):
well I want I got a number four. Okay, I
have time for number four. Got a couple of minutes,
let's do number four. I talked about my brief working
trip to Egypt, and so I'm ready to return as
a tourist. Chris and I visited two cities. While I
was over there. I visited the large city of Alexandria,
King Alexander, and that's right on the Mediterranean Sea. It's
(50:38):
some great sea bass every night for about a week.
And then I visited Cairo. But a great way that
I would recommend for somebody that's going over just to
tour Egypt is to follow the Nile. The Nile is
the source of life in the middle of the desert,
and there are some tremendous trips over there that combine
a cruise down the Nile River. You get to see
(51:01):
everything from Cairo all the way down to the Aswan Dam,
and then you return to Cairo to explore the rich history,
some of the museums that I was talking about, the
libraries there. You'll have time to do that, and you
get to see both the Old Cairo the New Cairo,
lots of things to do. Best time to visit Egypt is,
(51:22):
in my opinion, June through September. It gets a little warm.
I'd go sometime between November and April. That's when the
temperatures are a little more easy to take. Costs for
a trip like I'm describing about thirty six hundred dollars
a person. That includes a lot of your meals and
you're going to have to add air again about fifteen
(51:44):
hundred dollars coach forty five hundred dollars. Business is still
a good guideline. The good news is that you know
you can get to Egypt see it for two people
for a week for about ten thousand dollars. Okay, not bad.
So you mentioned food in Egypt. What is the Egyptian cuisine? Oh,
(52:06):
my gosh, Egyptian cuisine was remarkable. When we get back
to looking at pictures after we finish our show today,
I'll share some of that. They eat very very well.
I found that food in Egypt is not that expensive.
It's very very affordable. But they eat a lot of
(52:28):
the traditional dishes that you think about our hummus and tabouli,
things like that, they eat a lot of lamb over there.
Depending on where you are. When I was in Alexandria,
I feasted on sea bass and sea bass and sea bass.
I went to a restaurant that was hanging over the
Mediterranean Sea and they had a big long table full
(52:50):
of fish on ice. You chose what you wanted, they
cooked it. That's what you eat in Egypt.
Speaker 2 (52:55):
I could talk about this for another hour, Harry, We're
out of time. How do we get in touch with you?
If you want to book one of these bucketless soulful experiences.
Speaker 1 (53:02):
We're ready to help you have a soulful travel experience.
Get in touch with us at the wishing Well dot
biz online. You can come visit us. We're at two
forty three nef Avenue. If you happen to be in Harrisonburg,
give us a call five four zero nine zero eight
two three three three, especially if you're listening from Afar,
because we'd love to talk to you and help you
(53:22):
find a soulful travel experience.
Speaker 2 (53:25):
This has been a life less Ordinary, the travel show
from your friends at the wishing Well at two forty
three nep Avenue in Harrisonburg. If you have any questions
on topics discussed today, please reach out to the wishing
Well online at the wishing Well top biz or five
four oho nine eight twenty three thirty three. Past episodes
are available on the iHeartRadio app. And we'll see again
next Saturday morning at ten for a life Less Ordinary
(53:48):
from the wishing Well
This is a Lifeless Ordinary.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
It's a travel show and podcasts from your friends at
the wishing Well two forty three f avenue in harsmerg
and online at the wishing Well dot this. The wishing
Well is your ultimate luxury concierge, travel agency and a
Lifeless Ordinary is a travel show and podcast hosted by
Terry Dean, bringing her over forty years of experience in
the travel industry to help guide you to great experiences
(00:22):
in your travel, whether it be around the block, around
the country, or around the world.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I must bring in Harry Rife and say hello, Well,
good morning, Chris. It's good to see you, Harry. It's
great to see you too.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Get back here a little chili. It's going to be
a lot nicer come Monday and Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I hear so they say, yeah, so, uh, where's Terry?
What's going on with her? Terry is out in the
middle of the ocean. She's cruising. Her and her daughter
are out in the Caribbean, enjoying what she spends the
rest of the year selling to everybody else. That's a
little travel.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
She's not a.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Wonderful cruise and she has managed to truly get away
from the whole week. She says, the cell service on
the ship has not been great, and I said, that's
a wonderful thing to have happened, right, that's kind of vacation. Yeah,
and she deserves to have a nice vacation, Yes she did. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, Well, we're a couple of weeks away now from Christmas,
and I bet you there's a lot of travel news
going on.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Oh, there's a lot of travel news. Probably one of
the most interesting things that's in the travel news is
about the fifty seven year old Russian woman who got
on board and took a trip to Paris from JFK.
You hear about that? Why not? Well, they finally figured
out what she did and how she did it.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Is this stuff that we should share or keep to ourselves.
I don't want other people to do the same thing.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
No, we don't want a lot of this going on.
But it really has a lot to do with the
fact that she did this over the busy holiday weekend.
And what she did is she bypassed an airport terminal
employee who was I guess a little bit of sleep
at the switch at one of the checkpoints, and she
came by the known crew member's checkpoint kind of snuck
(02:01):
her way through there. She went into line for standard
TSA screening. She joined up with a family and kind
of rolled through the line with the family, So some
people were not paying close attention. The good news is
the system works. The bad news is the people were
the weakest part of the system. Is usually the case, right,
(02:23):
get a little complacent. So yeah, there's nothing wrong with
the system. We just got to use it correctly. But
that's in concert with what we see from TSA. They
announced that the airport last week over the Thanksgiving weekend,
had their busiest day. More than three millionaireline passengers came
(02:43):
through US screening points, and that is just a little
bit better than a year ago. So that's great news.
People are out and traveling about that's in the news.
We're going to see more and more people are traveling.
If bookings hit the wishing well or any indication, Chris,
(03:03):
it's going to grow and grow and grow. So we're
real happy about that. The UN World Tourism Organization told
us that in nineteen or excuse me, in twenty twenty four,
tourism is projected to hit our record eleven trillion. Wow,
that's not a number I know how to say trillion, okay,
(03:26):
eleven trillion for twenty twenty four, and that's an eleven
percent increase over twenty twenty three. So it's about where
we were at pre pandemic levels. And again, if what
we see is going to be an indicator, it's going
to be very, very busy. Yeah. Yeah. One of the
best things going on next year in travel news is
(03:47):
we're starting to look ahead. Twenty twenty five is going
to mark the eightieth anniversary of World War Two's end,
so we expect to see a whole lot of travel
to Germany Berlin in particular, and that's consistent with some
of the the other things that Virtuoso is also telling
us and all the other Virtuoso agencies. They're seeing a
couple of trends for twenty twenty five, and what they're
(04:11):
saying is that they're seeing more and more multi generational
families are traveling this coming year. They're going to villas,
they're going for those unique experiences. Remember a few weeks ago,
Terry and I were talking about the speakeasies we found
in Las Vegas. So they're going after those kinds of
experiences where they get to do those special things. They're
(04:33):
also looking at travel opportunities which have upgraded amenities, everything
from mini bars with real food in them that you
can actually take out in the minibar before you're charged
for take a look at it and want to buy it.
Not saying I'm desperate for a snack in the middle
of the night, I'm afraid to even open the refrigerator
(04:54):
because I think it's going to charge me. No, well,
that was the case, that's been the case, but I
think that's that's going away. So those are a couple
of trends that we see there. One of the other
things that I wanted to mention in the news this week,
I think is something that's not going to be happening.
But this is what the legislators are saying, is that
(05:14):
Mexico is going to start charging cruise ship passengers forty
two dollars ahead for port calls. Can you imagine how
popular that's going to be. The measure was approved and
they say it's going to go into effect in twenty
twenty five. We're going to see what happens. Cosmelo Course
(05:36):
is one of the busiest ports of call for cruise
ships in the world and forty two dollars ahead. You
got cruise ships coming in with you know, seven eight
thousand passengers. Not a bad payday for Mexico. Yeah. The
one bad thing about that is that money's not destined
to go towards tourism, and a lot of people are
complaining about that. They're actually going to allocate two thirds
(05:59):
of the money towards the Mexican Army. Oh kind of crazy.
But we'll see how that happens. The tourism people are
on it. We'll see if we can make something happen
to not let that happen. Interesting thing in travel news
this week also that I'm pretty excited about. Have you
ever worried about your bag when you go on a trip.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
Well, I always take it with me on the plane
because I'm like, I am not letting them happen. Last
not letting them The last trip that I went on,
they did the voluntary bag check at the gate, and
I did it for free.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, and I was like, Okay, sure, take the bag.
And I love that.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
I was able to see it on my phone. I
said was coming and going, and I knew more about
my trip that the bag was having than I did
about my own Tenerant.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, the airline apps are great with that. I just
recently returned from an international trip and I watched my bag,
you know, change planes as I as I moved across
the world. It's a real good thing. Alaska Airlines is
up in the game by one okay okay. Back in
twenty twenty two, they introduce electronic bag tags that they
(07:06):
have been linking to their airline reservation system like an
air tag. Yeah, it's like an air tag. And what
this does, it's going to one up the air tag though,
because when you get the air tag on your bag,
you still have to check in and get the paper
tag on your bag. With this innovation that Alaska is
up to introducing, they are not going to have that step.
(07:30):
Just bring the tag there. They'll bluetooth that tag into
their system and the tag will be your bag tag.
It's genius. Yeah, it's genius. And what's especially good about
that is Terry and I are always reminding people when
they go to the airport, take a look at that
tag that the agent puts onto your bag. Make sure
(07:52):
that her tag or his tag that they put on
the bag matches what's on your ticket that the destinations
are this that tells where their bag is going to go?
Oh that's good.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I didn't do that when they took time. A matter
of fact, they didn't give me a chance to. They
took my bags, set them back behind the counter, and
then put tags on.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Always check the tag to make sure that it's destined
in the same place as you are destined. These tags
are going to solve that problem because it links the
bag to your airline reservation, so it's got no choice
but to send the bag. Why isn't everybody doing this? Well,
I think it's a great idea and it is not
surprising if in the future weeks as we talk, we'll
(08:33):
see other airlines, you know, copying what Alaska Airlines is doing.
But it's a great thing. You have to buy the
bag tag, of course. They cost eighty nine dollars. Oh wait,
but it's a lifetime bag tag. Okay, I'm like, get
in tell me that at the beginning. No, they're not
free thought.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
I thought it was going to be like I'm trying
to think when you put the quarter in the thing
at Aldi's and then you get your quarterback when you're done.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
No, no, no, no, this is a Netherlands based company.
It's called appropriately Bag Tag. They manufacture these, but you
buy it once eighty nine dollars and your bags are
with you for life. Okay, Yeah, not a bad deal.
Not a bad deal at all. One of the other
things this morning, my last piece of news that I
want to talk about. Actually I got two things, but
(09:18):
one of the ones that I'm pretty excited about. I'm
not sure I'm ready to go buy this yet, but
Virgin Voyages cruise line. They are launching an annual pass
and you can buy an annual pass which lets you
travel on any of the brand's ships, even the new
(09:38):
ship that they have coming out called the Brilliant Lady.
Lets you travel on any of those ships for a year.
You can start either January first, February first, March first,
or April first of twenty twenty five. They're going to
sell a limited number of these passes and you can
cruise as much as you want. How much a year
(10:01):
your knuckling like this? Well, I mean, I'm Jess, and
it's going to be a huge number. It's a huge number.
But can I tell you what it Yeah, yeah, I'll
tell you what it costs. This is only Chris, only
one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. I was going to
guess one twenty five. So that sounds right. You were
right there, but you still it probably will cost you
one twenty five because you're still liable for the cruise
(10:22):
taxes and the fees. Okay, but because you buy this pass,
you're going to have premium WiFi, one hundred dollars, bar
tab credit for drinks on each sailing priority embarkation, and
get this complementary laundry service.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
All right, So if I was taking a cruise on
you said Virgin Atlantic. Yep, how much would a cruise
cost me? If I just it was because this is
only for one person, I assume this is not for
me and a guest.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Oh this is a pair of people. Oh pair? Okay?
Speaker 2 (10:54):
How much would it cost me if my wife and
I wanted to go on a cruise? Oh, you's debase.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
You can get on a Virgin cruise probably for the
two of you for maybe one thousand dollars, so a
little less.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
So if I have the money, yeah, I could cruise.
I know you're saying, I can go like every weekend
if I wanted to, But once a month is one
thousand dollars. That's one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Yeah,
so I'm saying that's.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
A great price. Well, but you're picking the least expensive cruise.
I'm saying, you can go on any cruise, on any show.
That's why I'm saying this is a great price, and
they're gonna put you in an upgraded cabin. Yeah. This,
I just don't have the money to do it. But
if I did, I'm on this, well, call your credit
card company and see if they'll give you one of
those special deals. Okay, they let me charge it. I
(11:36):
just couldn't pay for it. Yeah, that's a little problem
for me too. All right. Last thing, we're still seeing
a lot of action on the Department of Transportation's proposal
to have airlines compensate passengers for cancellations and delays of
more than three hours. And this is something that it
(11:57):
has been going back and forth. There's all kinds of
action on this. I'm watching it. I'm waiting for this
to get settled. But it looks like the Department Transportation
is going to start recognizing that passengers really do have
a bill of rights, that airlines really are responsible for
making sure that not only you are responsible for being
(12:19):
at the airplane at the time you're supposed to leave,
but the airplane's supposed to leave at the time that
it's supposed to leave. And so there's a lot of
things going on right now. But compensation for at least
three hours of delay is going to start at two
hundred dollars and go up to as much as seven
hundred and seventy five dollars if your flight is delayed.
(12:43):
So they'll make you feel a little bit better, howlongs,
the flight have to be delayed to get the seven
seventy seven to seventy five is for a six hour delay.
That might be willing to wait six hours for seven
seventy five that's one hundred bucks plus an hour. Yeah,
that's not bad. I could sit in the airport for
exter six hours. Yeah, and they'll still hopefully they'll they'll
(13:03):
buy an airport meal in that too. This is consistent, though,
with some of the things that are going on in
other parts of the world too. Europe in particular has
been cracking down on that. The UK, Brazil, Canada even
has becoming a little more aggressive about requiring airlines to
(13:24):
pay when they have the delays, and that's the result
of the airlines. They've been overscheduling, or maybe not overscheduling,
that's the wrong word. They have been scheduling up to
one hundred percent, which means there's no room for air
So if you have something go wrong and you have
airplanes going from one point to another, and then from
(13:46):
that second point to a third point to a fourth point,
you get the picture. Once one of those segments is
in trouble, everything afterward is going to be in trouble
through the end of the night until start and reset
the clock the next day. So I think that this
is telling the airlines probably all these optimization schemes that
(14:08):
you're using for optimizing crew, for optimizing aircraft, maybe you've
gone a little bit too far, because it's not always
aircraft that caused the delay. It's also crew. They're waiting
for crew, and for a lot of good reasons. Crew
have certain hours and they're required to have certain hours
(14:29):
of rest between the flights. I like that rule a lot,
and so sometimes that's what's causing the delays too. But
they're working through these legislation options in there, and if
you want to go to the Department of Transportation, websites.
You can look at the website I have is a
regulations dot gov, and you can look at the Department
(14:53):
of Transportation out there. We're in a comment period right now,
so if this is something that's dirked you in the past,
time to put your comments in and you know, hold
airlines feet to the fire.
Speaker 2 (15:04):
It's a typical American I just assume that the United
States is regulating airlines around the world. Are there any
countries that are actually doing this right?
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah? Yeah. The European Union has has really cracked down
on airlines that are not running on time. And I
think that, you know, some of the pressure in the
United States is coming from what's going on overseas and saying,
my gosh, if the you know, Europeans are doing it,
even the Canadians are doing it, we should be doing
(15:35):
it too, and we should expect service, you know, from
the airlines. They've cut back a lot of things. It's
not fair to cut back so much that you can't
depend on the transportation you're looking for, because if you
have connections, particularly if you have international connections, and you
miss them, it's not unusual that your trip is delayed
(15:57):
by one entire day and get into the busy holiday seasons.
When the flights are sold out. Guess what it may
be not just one day because there may not be
a seat available. Wow. Yeah, I didn't consider that either. Yeah,
that's big problem. So we're looking I'm looking forward to
some good things happening there. I think that's you know,
(16:18):
that's all in the right direction. I think that we
can depend on, you know, our legislators to do it.
But I think it's also important that you need to
get online and you know, comment on some of these
proposals too. So those are the big things in the news.
Lots of ground we covered there, didn't we.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yeah, And I now now I've got to go look
some stuff up.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
I want more information on somebody. I'm excited about our
show today. It's called Soulful Travel. Yeah, I'm Soulful Travel.
And how did I come up with that title, you
might wonder.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Well, I don't even know what it means yet. So
are we like, are we traveling to Memphis to you know,
see good R and B music.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
No, we're not doing Memphis, We're not doing Motown. We
are talking about your soul, okay, not the musical soul.
And I guess how about this for a tease, Chris.
Remember the Doctor Seuss book. It was called Oh the
Places You Go? You Go? Now, I have to look
(17:16):
that one up to you. There you go, all right.
I haven't read Doctor Sus since I was like five
years old. Yeah, Doctor Seuss had had one of my
favorite books and it was called Oh the Places You'll Go.
And that's what I'm gonna do with Soulful Travel today.
We're going to do it all in the voice of
doctor Seuss. No, all right, we'll do that, brother. We'll
(17:36):
find out more coming up next year on a Life
Less Ordinary. Protect your vacation investment with guidance from a
travel professional. The wishing Well knows travel and helps you
avoid pitfalls that can spoil your hard earned vacation. We'll
plan your trip and have your back as you travel.
All of this without support or so called convenience fees.
We're on the web at the wishing Well dot viz
(17:57):
or call us at five four zero nine zero eight
two three three three. That's five four zero nine zero
eight two three three three. The washing Well really does
make dreams come true.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
And welcome back to a Life Less Ordinary, the travel
show and podcast from your friends at the wishing Well.
You can find them on that f avenue in Harrisonburg,
online at the wishing Well dot biz, or give him
a call at five four oh nine oh eight twenty
three thirty three. Harry right from the wishing Wells with
us this week on a Life Less Ordinarium. Right before
we went to the break, we found out our show
(18:30):
was called Soulful Travel and you said it's about our
soul and Doctor Seuss.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Well, the show's not about Doctor Seuss. I said, I
was going to give you a teaser, and I gave
you a quote from Doctor Seuss. It was one of
my favorite books called Oh the Places You'll Go. I
can give you another one. J R. Tolkien, the British
fantasy guy, right, Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit. He wrote,
(18:57):
not all who wander our life lost.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
I've seen a lot of people put that on the
back of their jeeps. People who go people who like
to go out and you go hiking and walk on
trails and things like that.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
Yeah. Well, what I want to talk about this morning
is that travel is really one of the best things
for your soul as a person. It's the best way
to find yourself if you get lost for a little
bit in a place you're unfamiliar with. This is gonna
be tough for you. Chris. Without everything planned, without everything
(19:31):
in place, without everything lined up. What are you accusing
me of. I'm saying that some people want to have details.
I know you're detailed guy. I'm less of a detailed guy.
Probably not enough of a detailed guy. Okay, you and
Terry always are prepared. I'm the one who comes in
maybe a little less.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I like to make sure that the things that we
want to get done are scheduled, but I like to
leave time to just enjoy.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
There you go. Well, when you're with me, you're in
this soulful travel mode. Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
My attitude about life is you're never really lost. If
you can't find your way in the direction you're going,
turn around and go the other way. You might find
it in that direction.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
I think you're right, and especially last week, I return
from one of my favorite trips ever. Okay, I went
on a trip that was actually not a vacation. Hard
to believe. Okay, it was not a vacation. This was
one hundred percent work trip. But in the middle of it,
(20:35):
I had a couple of spare days as I went
from one assignment to the next.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
And let me just say, you have the best job
in the world if this is what you get to
do on a spare day.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Yeah. I want to talk about that trip, and that
trip in particular relates to some of the volunteer work.
A lot of people who know me know that I
do volunteer work. I do accreditation for colleges and universities
around the world to help them better their computing programs.
That's part of my past life when I was a
(21:07):
computer scientist and very serious about that and a faculty member.
I try and help colleges and universities promote their programs
by having excellent practices and building just great curricula and
having great faculty. So I volunteer to go out and
check on that, and I do that every single year.
(21:28):
This year, I was assigned to visits back to back
with those couple of days in between in the wonderful
country of Egypt, a place I had never been. So
here I go. I go off to this new place.
I am one hundred percent focused on doing the work
I'm supposed to be doing. I know that there are
(21:49):
two free days in between, and so I said to
my host, just plan something for me to do. So
I don't, you know, just sit around for the weekend.
And it was Friday and Saturday or the weekend over there.
I don't sit around for those two days and do nothing.
And boy did they come through. And it reminded me
(22:12):
about filling your soul with ideas, places, experiences that you
just never thought about, you never dreamt about, and you
know it was. It was a wonderful experience. And that's
what I want to talk about. This morning. I left Washington,
d C. At five o'clock. I arrived in Cairo, Egypt,
(22:34):
at nine thirty in the morning. So it's a little
bit of a ride to get over there, all right.
You spend you know, a good bit of time on
a plane. But to make things worse, when it's nine
thirty in the morning in Cairo, it's four thirty in
the afternoon to them.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
So oh, so it's nine thirty in your morning, four
thirty there afternoon.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
That's right. My watch said nine thirty. I have an
analog watch and it's still said, you know, nine thirty.
Didn't change automatically. But they were finishing their day. I
was in the morning, you know, of my day after
having been on a plane all night long. So I
was kind of messed up a little bit. Thirteen hours
in the air is not not real friendly to you
(23:19):
with a couple hours of layover in between. But I
was ready hit the ground running, and I experienced a
part of the world history that dates back thousands of years.
We talked about the United States, you know, our history
here Fi. Yeah, we're going to celebrate two hundred and
fifty years. They're you know, a couple thousand years too.
(23:39):
That we were walking in places I'd only read about,
you know, as a kid, learning about people, civilizations dating back,
you know, twenty five hundred years. I did things that
I never dreamt of doing, never planned, you know, to do.
I've seen a camel at the circus, I rode one
(24:00):
in the desert. I'd seen pictures of pyramids. I went
inside one all the way, all the way inside into
the burial chamber, you know. In the town of Giza,
just outside of Cairo. I visited a museum that was
filled with so many historical artifacts that I can't even
(24:21):
remember all of what I've seen. I didn't have time
to stop and take pictures along the way, but I
looked at things that were dating back before five hundred BC. Wow,
that's not something that you know, I think about very often.
I tasted delicious new foods. I enjoyed a cruise down
(24:42):
the River Nile, and it included belly dancing, Egyptian belly dancing.
And you might know this because you study a lot
of things. Do you know what the Tanora dancers are? No?
Have you ever seen those dancers? They just spin around
and they spin around and they spin around. That's the
whirling dervish. Okay, okay. I spent dinner time going down
(25:07):
the Nile, watching belly dancing and washing Tonora dancers and
learning about you know, Greek music, Egyptian music, Roman music,
all of the historical kinds of things that I had
just never ever paused and thought about before. So that's
(25:28):
what I mean when I'm talking about soulful travel. Yeah.
So I didn't imagine the things i'd do. I didn't
imagine the memories i'd return with. I didn't imagine, you know,
the photos i'd have on my phone. And that's why
I looked at those two teasers that I talked about.
You know, doctor SEUs said it best. Oh the places
(25:48):
you'll go and Tolki and said, you know, not who wondered,
not all who wander are lost. I was both of
those things for you know, about ten days.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
This is really exciting. And you showed meet the pictures
before we started the show. Today, it's like, man, you're
right there in front of the pyramid with a camel.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yeah, yeah, and something in a movie. I'm standing next
to the sphinx. I'm you know, I'm up there looking
at these, you know, statues, just a whole hallway of statues.
I'm in libraries that have you know, manuscripts dating back,
you know, and you know, thousands of years, hydroglyphics, hieroglyphics,
(26:32):
and it's like I didn't even think all these things
even existed. You know. If somebody mentioned that they did,
of course I'm gonna say, yeah, I should know about them.
But I never stopped and thought about it. And that,
to me is the marvel of travel. And that's what
inspired me to want to talk about soulful travel today. Well,
then let's talk more about all right, So I want
to share some ideas. I went and looked for some
(26:55):
ideas that I hope are going to capture your attention.
We'll capture our listeners tension. And I'm hoping that as
I go through this list and I've got a few
things i want to talk about, I'm hoping that at
least one of these items are going to make it
to yours and to everybody that's listening today's bucket list,
(27:15):
because that's what's going to nurture your soul and let
you be a soulful traveler. I like it. Okay, all right,
let's let's start and think about Oh as you're thinking
about these, don't just think about them for yourself. I
was on this trip by myself. I had two colleagues
that were with me from other universities, but I would
(27:35):
have much rather done this trip with someone you know,
real close to me. You know, maybe my you know,
a best friend, child, grandkid, you know, someone that I
really care about. As you're thinking about it, think about
this and think about the fact that as we look ahead,
we're getting ready to hit the new year twenty twenty five,
(27:58):
we have possibility these destinations experiences that are going to
match every traveler's personality and every traveler's style. So here
we go. I'm going to start with one that should
be on everybody's bucket list. It's been on mine, and
I checked this one off and I'm ready to return.
And that is Alaska. If Alaska isn't on your bucket list,
(28:22):
please consider putting it there. Alaska is a place that's
best explored on the water, and there are so many
options today for going to Alaska. You can do some
very economical cruises. You can do cruises that are luxury cruises.
You can cruise on small ships, you can cruise on
(28:43):
large ships. But just think about a cruise to Alaska.
When do you want to go. My favorite time for Alaska,
from everything I've studied and the experience I had, is
you look at springtime. Springtime is a time when Alaska
comes back to life. The winter hiatus is over. Everything
(29:06):
is coming back to life. You can enjoy in Alaska
some of the freshest and best tasting salmon and Alaskan
king crab legs you've ever tasted. When I was there,
I went on a buffet that had crab legs all
you can eat, Alaskan crab legs, all you can eat, Chris,
think about it, Oh, I'm thinking about Oh. Yeah, we
(29:28):
visited the Iditarod dogs the famous sled dogs. They are
at their summer retreat. In order to go visit them.
I traveled to the top of a glacier. Not a
bad place to say that you visited. I traveled on
the Alaskan Railway. Takes you for a brief time into Canada.
On this trip, you don't need It's one of the
(29:50):
few ways you can get into Canada without a passport.
If you're in Alaska and you travel this Alaskan Railway route,
part of it goes into Canada and it circles around
and comes back into the United States. Now, it's not
really wise to even think about getting off the train.
One is you don't have a passport, so you'd be
in Canada illegally. But two, it's just all frozen glacier
(30:14):
up there, so you can say you went to Canada.
You don't have a passport, but you rode the train.
One of the ways that I like to suggest people
look at Alaska, especially if you're budget minded, is one
of the cruise lines that really knows Alaska, and that's
Holland America. They are experts in Alaska. They've been there
(30:35):
for a long time. They own a lot of the land,
based facilities in Alaska, so you can combine their trips
with some great tours and excursions there too. And I
price something out just in case you want to put
something on your bucket list, and also put a number
beside it to help you choose what's possible. I looked
(30:56):
at two people Memorial Day weekend round trip to Seattle,
including here out of our airport here in Dulles. Insurance,
taxes and fees. You can do this with I'd say
about twenty two hundred dollars a person, very comfortably. That's
including air. Not too bad.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
If you want more information about Alaska and travel too,
We've got some podcasts that we've done here on a
Lifeless Ordinary. Yes, you can go the wishing Well tod
PiZZ or use the free iHeartRadio app. Chasing Chill Cool
Escapes from Summer Heat was the last one we did
where we talked about Alaska and we'd take deep into
all those things you need to do and including like
what kind of clothes to take with you. Yes, it's
(31:37):
not what you probably were planning on taking with you.
And the beautiful blue of the glaciers. I remember that
when when you and Terry were talking about.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Oh, they're awesome. It's a blue that you've never seen before.
It's you know, you can see it in a in
a color palette on a TV screen and paint, but
to see that in person, it's like seeing you know,
some of the things that I was talking about earlier
in Egypt. You just have to see it in person.
You know, video is great, photographs are great, but seeing
(32:08):
it in person there's you know, there's a reason we
have five senses, Okay, and you know your site is
one of those senses, but the other four all combined.
When you're in a place and see something just as
you're saying, it is absolutely magnificent. So where are we
head next, Well, I'm going from Alaska, I'm coming back
(32:32):
onto the continent. And New Year's is coming up pretty soon,
right where a few weeks away? Yeah, i'd say, so,
we're getting ready to change change the calendars from twenty
twenty four to twenty twenty five. So one of the
other things that should be on everybody's bucket list is
Las Vegas. Las Vegas is a place that's lit up
(32:52):
and known for the neon lights all year long, but
being there for New Year's and I did that one
time is a fantastic experience. New York City in Las
Vegas for New Year's our life changing experience. Really, Oh
for sure, you're talking about a town that parties all
year long anyway, But do they do anything but special
(33:16):
like at midnight? Do they have a ball drop or anything?
In Vegas they don't have a Well I think there
probably is some kind of ball drop, but there's so
much other stuff going on.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
That my experience in Vegas is I would not even
realize that the calendar had changed. I'd be having such
a good time.
Speaker 1 (33:34):
Well, and that's why I like Vegas so much. You know,
Vegas has changed a lot. So many people come in
and talk to me about a trip to Vegas or
you know, thinking about a trip to Vegas, and they said, well,
I'm not sure I want to go. You know, Vegas
has a little bit of a CD reputation. It's you know,
it's not the best place to go. They're wrong. Yeah,
(33:56):
I disagree with that. Vegas has reinvented itself really. I
mean it's been well over a decade now. They've reinvented
that city and they've made it family friendly. It is
a city now that is probably as much entertainment, actually
more entertainment going on for some of the venues out
(34:17):
there than you'll find in New York City. You'll see
theater in New York City. In Vegas you'll see everything.
Circ The Soul has got what five shows I think
running out there, and all the residencies and yes, and
the residencies and the experiences. If you want to go
(34:37):
to Vegas, you can can take a side trip and
go see the Grand Canyon. So you start in Vegas
and you'll spend a day and go see the Grand Canyon,
the Hoover Dam. If you want to be in Vegas
and you want to go see some sports. I mean,
the Allegiance Stadium is fantastic. Been inside there a couple
of times. It is absolutely remarkable. They have the New
(35:00):
Sphere Theater there, which is just amazing. It is unbelievable.
And they have a show in there that you can
go and see that just shows off all the features
of the theater.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
So if you're not familiar with the inside of this theater,
I don't remember the number, it's tens of thousands of
speakers that are directed and pinpointed to each individual seat. Yes,
I don't know if they're doing this yet, but they
say they could actually do a movie and multiple languages,
and if you were sitting in the section where it
(35:34):
was in French, you wouldn't realize that the next section
over was hearing English.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I didn't know that. That's fantastic. Yeah, it's amazing. And
the other part about the Sphere is even if you
can't get inside, and you should, okay, but if you
choose not to or you cannot get inside, just watching
it on the outside, it is a light show in
and of itself. Yeah, just incredible. The entire exterior of
(35:58):
the Sphere is life. It's their LEDs and they can
pretty much make anything happen. It's absolutely fantastic. The performers,
besides seeing cirque soul shows, you can see you know,
you can see Elvis, Michael Jackson, Blue Man Group. Now
Elvis and Michael aren't really there, of course, but Blue
(36:19):
Man Group is and they've been there for years and years.
A great show, lots to see, lots to do. If
you want to eat, oh my gosh, go to the
buffet at the Win. The Win is a fantastic but
buffet on the strip, you're not really on the strip.
You're just off, but you're just a block off. Yeah,
(36:39):
you're right there. I like the Caesars Buffet also very
very good. Lots of things to do there, and they
have transportation that's real easy to you know, go up
and down the strip. They have a monoael that goes
up and down the strip. In the airport is right
ten minutes away from If.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
You're in pretty good shape. I'm not like, you know,
an athlete. If you go out and walk on a
regular basis, you can walk the strip. It's walkable, yea.
And they've got little bridges that go over the road
so as a pedestrian you're not trying to cross traffic.
Speaker 1 (37:12):
Oh it's worse than Froger to try and cross Las
Vegas Boulevard. But another interesting thing to do in Las
Vegas that a lot of people don't do is go
to Old Las Vegas. I've been there once, yeah, and
I was like that was enough for me. Yeah. I
think it's worth seeing because it's kind of like the
way it was, and then you return to the way
it is. I like the way it is and Fremont Street.
(37:36):
Fremont Street, that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Yeah, Yeah, you've got to see that display because that's
kind of like the sphere, but it's an arch over
top of it.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Yep, it's a canopy that covers the street. It's fantastic
and one of the things that I haven't done there,
but I will do when I go back. Every little
boy likes to drive big equipment, right, Yeah, can you
drive like a caterpillar? Yes you can. You can get
earth moving equipment and spend your time right in Las Vegas. Okay,
(38:04):
they're gonna let you help build one of the new
hotels or something. I don't think that would be amazing,
but they let you dig. You know, every little boy
wants to dig, and I imagine there are a lot
of little girls want to just get in it and
run a steam shovel. Yes, you can do it in
Las Vegas. So I put together a little package there
four New years. So it's not the least expensive package
(38:27):
you can get to Las Vegas. But I've put together
some flights from Dallas. I have five days in Vegas,
and I must have been thinking about this Egyptian trip
because guess what hotel I put in? The Luxor hotel. Yeah,
so I picked a premier king room. Doing all of
that with air in the hotel four or five days,
(38:49):
it's about fifteen hundred dollars a person four New Years, Chris,
Such a good price for New Years.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Yeah, Vegas is one of the most affordable places I
think you can travel to in the US.
Speaker 1 (38:58):
It is.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
It is if you're trying to go to a special destination.
I mean, you can do skyline drive for less. But
if you're looking for a destination, that's it. We got
to take a quick break, Arey, and we're going to
come back and we're going to keep talking about these
soulful travel ideas. I love the show today. We'll be
back at a second here in a life less ordinary,
Who would.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Think of driving off to a new destination without guidance
from Google or Siri? Let the wishing Well guide your
next travel experience. Travel the world as you enjoy the
very best destinations and all they offer at the best prices.
Our mobile travel app keeps your vacation on track and
keeps you connected with our team of experts. For help.
If you need it, call us at five four zero, nine,
(39:38):
zero eight two thirty three three Stop buy two forty
three Avenue or visit us at the Wishingwell dot biz.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
And welcome back to a Life Less Ordinary, the travel
Showing podcast from your friends at the wishing Well. Every
Saturday morning, we get together and we talk traveling. This
week we're with Harry Rife from the wishing Well. Harry,
you went to Egypt? Was it last week?
Speaker 1 (40:01):
You returned last week?
Speaker 2 (40:02):
We returned last week from Egypt, and it has got
you in this mindset of We've got to do more
travel for our soul. We've talked about taking an Alaskan trip,
taken an Alaskan cruise. We've just talked about Vegas and
the little boy and me is ready to book my
trip because I want to get in one of those
earth movers. But of course there's so much more to
(40:24):
do in Vegas than just that. And that's a New
Year's getaway. And now where do we head?
Speaker 1 (40:30):
Well, we've talked about places that should be on everybody's list,
but I'll cheat a little bit by picking places that
I've been to, so I know those are great places.
The third place I know is a great place too, Chris,
but it's a place that's still on my personal list.
So I want to take us a whole different direction.
(40:52):
We've had a different parts so far. We've been to Alaska,
We've been to Vegas. Next, I'm going back to the
continent I was on when I was in Egypt, and
that is to the continent of Africa. And I want
to talk about a safari y. Yeah, safaris are just
very very interesting. They come in all different types. They
(41:15):
like every other trip, they cater to every interest. It
could be a family, could be a couple with friends,
could be a celebration or milestone event. Maybe I'll have
to use that as my excuse to get over there.
Good place for honeymooners. And they even have safaris that
are focused on solo travelers. So if it's on your
(41:35):
bucket list and the person that you know has been
pursuing the bucket list can't go with you for whatever reason,
go by yourself. Their laws a safari yeah, okay, and Africa.
Safaris are attractive because everybody knows about the wildlife on
(41:56):
a safari, and that is the central reason to go
on afar. We are talking about incredible exposure that we've
had over our life to all these images. You know
what they say, the top five, the lions, the lepers,
the elephants, the rhinos, and the buffalo. Those are the
top five that they usually talk about when you read
(42:18):
about safaris, But there are so many more animals living
in their natural habitat, and seeing these animals is the
reason you want to go on a safari. There, the animals,
the charisma, the intimacy, the just the aura of being there,
(42:39):
being around them. We talked about senses earlier, to sense
the field, the smell, the sights, everything and experience. That
is something that's very attractive to me and I think
that will, you know, be very attractive to my soul.
Hopefully it will be attractive to yours too. Are safaris safe? Yeah,
these guys do the safaris. They live, you know, at
(43:05):
the jungle. In the jungle, they know what's going on,
they know what's safe, and they put so many people
through these safaris. It's not like a circus where an
animal is caged up and you know, can get crazy
because of the stress that's been around it. You're basically
driving through their neighborhood. Okay, okay, So the animals are
(43:27):
much more relaxed. They're curious, they're looking at you, they're
used to you because they are enough safaris going through
all the time, and when they set up these camps
at night, they know how to do that safely. Some
of these safaris will use lodges overnight. Some people feel
more comfortable being inside of building. Others have tented encampments
(43:51):
that they use overnight, like a like like a urt
like just old fashioned tents too. Okay, okay, And that's
part of the style that you have to pick. When
you pick your safari, You're gonna pick how you're going
to lodge, what you're gonna eat. Do you want your
dinner's gourmet cook by a chef or do you want
(44:12):
you know, more rustic feel All right.
Speaker 2 (44:14):
My wife would say lodge. I'm figuring if I'm in
a safari, I want to see the stars at night.
I want to be outside and enjoy that and hear
the noise of Oh I wonder if that lion means
i'thing about to be something somebody's dinner.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
But yeah, oh man, yeah, I don't want to hear screams.
I just want to hear night noises, right, yeah, yeah,
And I think that's you know, that's the neat part
about safaris is that you can tailor them, you know,
to what you want You can also tailor safaris to
the kinds of animals you want to see. Maybe you're
more focused on wanting to see, you know, apes and chimpanzees, gorillas,
(44:51):
you will probably go. I would say, if you want
to see the gorillas and chimpanzees, you probably head to Uganda.
The windy, impenetrable forest is where you'll see those. If
you might want to head to Kenya, you're going to
see the Wildebese migration. Lots of things that you can do,
(45:12):
and that's part of that pre planning to say, what
experiences do I want to have. The people over there,
you asked about safety and stuff. The people over there
know where to go, when to go, what you're going
to see, and there's a high likelihood you're going to
see it. I think one of the toughest things if
I'm preparing to go on a safari is I've got
(45:35):
to figure out how to empty the memory on my
camera because I know I'm going to fill it. You
just buy a new pictures just buy a brand new phone,
don't even activate it, just use it for the camera,
or maybe even invest in a real camera and go
to you know, go to the community college and learn
how to use it and take some take photos with
your SLR if you're going on a safari, Yeah, well
(45:55):
you got to learn how to use your SLR, right,
So I think that's a great thing. People talk about
the best time to go. The best time to go
overall is summertime. That May through September. It's the best
our summertime, our summertime, right. Yeah. I talked about all
the different, uh, you know, options for where you're going
(46:16):
to stay. They move you about in vehicles that are
really comfortable vehicles. They're well provisioned. They have snacks inside
and you know, bottled water, things like that, and each
one of these safaris is going to have an expert
guide in that vehicle. And those guides as they're moving
through the you know, through the trails, they know where
(46:38):
to stop, they know where the animals like to hang out,
they know where they like to eat lunch, you know
where you'll find them feeding at certain times a day.
And so when you're buying a safari, you're not just
buying you know, the trip and the lodging and the food,
but you're buying the services of an expert guide. And
so we have companies that we work with especially under
(47:05):
the Virtuoso brand. That's where we look for that expertise
because you can go driving through the jungle, or you
can be on a guided drive through the jungle. The
guide me too. Yeah, so I price this out for
a safari, this is going to be really surprising. You
(47:25):
want to talk about maybe a seven day would be
about the minimum you'd want to do for a couple people.
You're talking about twenty five hundred dollars, okay a person,
and you're going to have to add air to that.
Air is going to add probably about three thousand dollars
a person, So it's going to be a little bit
of a pricey vacation. But the biggest price that you'll
(47:48):
pay if you're ready to do a safari is you're
going to want to get some rest because flying time
is about twenty hours really yeah, okay, so where are
we're flying in. You can fly into a Nairoba, you
can fly into Kenya, depends on the safari that you pick,
(48:09):
and you know where those tour operators have their basing points.
So you're you're doing you know, you're doing a little
bit of flying. The good news is if you can
sleep on a plane that's what I like to do.
You know, the what I was saying about the air
depends on the class of service you get. I guess
(48:31):
you can get down if you go down to coach.
I've seen flights as low as eleven hundred dollars a
person i'd suggest, did you just recommend coach for a
twenty hour four I would absolutely not show coach. I'm
going to go at least business class, which is going
to be closer to about forty five hundred dollars, or
(48:51):
if I can gather up my miles and combine miles
with dollars, or if something really special happens the next
time I buy a lottery ticket, I'm gonna go first
class and get one of those lie flat sleepers. Yeah,
that's the way I went to Europe. I love that,
Or to Egypt. I really like that. Now I'm kind
of kind of hooked on those. You're gonna spend as
(49:12):
much as eighteen thousand dollars for your flight for first round,
for first class, So lie back, lie down sleeper. You'll
arrive rested, Chris. Yeah, you're very very rested and well fed. Okay,
but you can. The point is you can. When I said,
you've got lots of different choices with budgets. You've got
(49:33):
lots of different choices with budgets, and that's exactly you
know what it means. It means you can, you know,
vary things in there in terms of the type of safari,
in terms of the type of air fair you do,
and if you're going to take one of those lesser
priced flights over there, maybe you'll add a hotel or
for a night or two when you arrive, so you
can kind of catch up with yourself after sitting in
(49:55):
that you know, coach seat for twenty hours. But the
important thing is with everything that I'm talking about this morning,
it's all affordable. It's a question of you know, what
are the trade offs you're going to do, and which
order do you want to hit the things on your
bucket list. I mean, if we hit the lottery, you
can sign me up for all three of them. Here,
(50:16):
well I want I got a number four. Okay, I
have time for number four. Got a couple of minutes,
let's do number four. I talked about my brief working
trip to Egypt, and so I'm ready to return as
a tourist. Chris and I visited two cities. While I
was over there. I visited the large city of Alexandria,
King Alexander, and that's right on the Mediterranean Sea. It's
(50:38):
some great sea bass every night for about a week.
And then I visited Cairo. But a great way that
I would recommend for somebody that's going over just to
tour Egypt is to follow the Nile. The Nile is
the source of life in the middle of the desert,
and there are some tremendous trips over there that combine
a cruise down the Nile River. You get to see
(51:01):
everything from Cairo all the way down to the Aswan Dam,
and then you return to Cairo to explore the rich history,
some of the museums that I was talking about, the
libraries there. You'll have time to do that, and you
get to see both the Old Cairo the New Cairo,
lots of things to do. Best time to visit Egypt is,
(51:22):
in my opinion, June through September. It gets a little warm.
I'd go sometime between November and April. That's when the
temperatures are a little more easy to take. Costs for
a trip like I'm describing about thirty six hundred dollars
a person. That includes a lot of your meals and
you're going to have to add air again about fifteen
(51:44):
hundred dollars coach forty five hundred dollars. Business is still
a good guideline. The good news is that you know
you can get to Egypt see it for two people
for a week for about ten thousand dollars. Okay, not bad.
So you mentioned food in Egypt. What is the Egyptian cuisine? Oh,
(52:06):
my gosh, Egyptian cuisine was remarkable. When we get back
to looking at pictures after we finish our show today,
I'll share some of that. They eat very very well.
I found that food in Egypt is not that expensive.
It's very very affordable. But they eat a lot of
(52:28):
the traditional dishes that you think about our hummus and tabouli,
things like that, they eat a lot of lamb over there.
Depending on where you are. When I was in Alexandria,
I feasted on sea bass and sea bass and sea bass.
I went to a restaurant that was hanging over the
Mediterranean Sea and they had a big long table full
(52:50):
of fish on ice. You chose what you wanted, they
cooked it. That's what you eat in Egypt.
Speaker 2 (52:55):
I could talk about this for another hour, Harry, We're
out of time. How do we get in touch with you?
If you want to book one of these bucketless soulful experiences.
Speaker 1 (53:02):
We're ready to help you have a soulful travel experience.
Get in touch with us at the wishing Well dot
biz online. You can come visit us. We're at two
forty three nef Avenue. If you happen to be in Harrisonburg,
give us a call five four zero nine zero eight
two three three three, especially if you're listening from Afar,
because we'd love to talk to you and help you
(53:22):
find a soulful travel experience.
Speaker 2 (53:25):
This has been a life less Ordinary, the travel show
from your friends at the wishing Well at two forty
three nep Avenue in Harrisonburg. If you have any questions
on topics discussed today, please reach out to the wishing
Well online at the wishing Well top biz or five
four oho nine eight twenty three thirty three. Past episodes
are available on the iHeartRadio app. And we'll see again
next Saturday morning at ten for a life Less Ordinary
(53:48):
from the wishing Well
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