May 24, 2024 • 53 mins
The Wishing Well's Harry Reif discusses this week's travel news and Hot Deals!
Discover exciting travel destinations perfect for grandparents and their grandkids! From theme parks to cruises, we explore family-friendly adventures that will create lasting memories. Learn tips for smooth logistics and how to make the most of your special vacation with the grandkids.
Discover exciting travel destinations perfect for grandparents and their grandkids! From theme parks to cruises, we explore family-friendly adventures that will create lasting memories. Learn tips for smooth logistics and how to make the most of your special vacation with the grandkids.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
This is a Lifeless Ordinary. It'sa travel show and podcasts from your friends
at the wishing Well two forty threef Avenue in harsemerg and online at the
wishing Well dot This. The wishingWell is your ultimate luxury concierge, travel
agency and a Lifeless Ordinary is atravel show and podcast hosted by Terry Dean,
bringing her over forty years of experiencein the travel industry to help guide
(00:21):
you to great experiences in your travel, whether it be around the block,
around the country, or around theworld. Let's bring in Terry Dean say
hello, but not today today wesay hello, Harry. Terry's on assignment.
Chris. My wife sent me apicture yesterday of where she's at,
and she looks like she's having agreat time on assignment. She is as
is her young daughter, Morgan.I didn't see Morgan in the picture,
(00:43):
but she looked maybe that was herin the background. I'm not sure if
it could well have been. Ididn't get the pictures on your My wife
took a screenshot of your Facebook accountand said, hey, I know where
Terry's at. Yo. She isShe's down there in Mouseville. Yeah,
she looks like she's having a goodton. I hope she is. She
just serves a break. Yeah,we all do. And we've got a
three day weekend. People are traveling, and I think people are still going
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out and doing that these days,even with the economy the way it is.
Oh my gosh, they're traveling likecrazy. That's what I want to
talk about today, specifically, lookat me, perfect setup, Harry.
Let's get into the big news.So I'm going to start with one that
I think is going to put smileson everybody's face because it did online when
I thought about it. There wasa problem that they had last week this
(01:30):
past Saturday in Munich. I don'tknow if you heard about that or not,
but they shut down the Munich airportfor a little while and actually sixty
flights were canceled because of this incidentat the Munich airport. I wonder what
it was. Was it flooding orsomething like that, Nothing like that at
all. They did something very strange. This had to do with climate activists,
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and the climate activists showed up earlyin the morning before the sun came
up, at five o'clock in themorning at Germany's Munich airport, and they
somehow breached the airport's fences, goton the ground and made their way over
to the runway, and they wantedto protest all the bad things that happened
as a result of flying. Andeven with the innovation that we've talked about
(02:16):
on this show before, they stillthink there's too much pollution. So what
they did is they went out ontothe runway, Chris, and they glued
themselves to the runway. I thinkI saw pictures of this. I didn't
realize that's what this story was.Yep. So they it took them a
little while for the officials to figureit out, but they removed them somehow.
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But in the meantime, sixty flightsgot canceled and I'm sure sixty flights
times you know, a couple hundredpassengers of flight. They definitely made in
as they say, in landing andimpact. Yeah, okay, okay.
So that's one piece of environmental news. I have another piece of environmental news
so too. That's I think moreserious and more positive. Our friends at
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Viking and the Wishing Well there's alot with Viking Cruise Lines. We've talked
about that many many times. Theypartnered with the University of California, San
Diego scripts Institute of Oceanography, Andwhat they're trying to do is they're trying
to understand the way that oceanic philoplankton. That's a tough one to say,
(03:19):
philoplankton. What is phyloplankton. Piloplanktonare those little small organisms that move around
in the water. They kind ofstart out just being moved by the waves
and the currents in the water,and they grow a little bit bigger,
but not much bigger. But phyloplanktonwork in the water and they actually absorb
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carbon and provide atmospheric oxygen. Andthat's really important because they are believed to
absorb almost forty percent of the world'scarbon wow, and in that process they
produce fifty percent of the world's atmosphericoxygen. So Viking is hosting research on
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board several of their ships, theGreat Lake Ships and the Antarctic Ships to
work together with Viking as they movethrough the oceans. They're doing research while
on board. But better for guestsis that these same people provide guidance and
they actually are doing some lectures andteaching the guests on board about how the
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file plank in the ocean affect theenvironment. Isn't that anything to do?
So you can go on a cruiseand learn something in the process. All
right, So my third one thismorning is I want to talk about airport
security because it is a holiday weekend, and there are holiday weekends coming up
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all through the summer, and I'mtrying to see what we can do with
all the knowledge that we have atthe wishing Well and that they have in
the industry. People often ask uswhat can I do to get through those
lines? I hate those lines.I hate those lines. I hate those
lines. Right, can you useto do whatever? That check thing is?
That check mark on my drivers it'sa star. I guess it's something
the drivers like. Real ID.Yes, real ID is is one and
(05:09):
you can use that. You shouldbe using that, But right now any
ID will get you in. That'sgoing to soon change on Actually was May
eleventh of two thousand and eight.They first said you're going to have to
have real ID that's an authenticated driver'slicense, or you can always use a
(05:30):
passport. But real idea was supposedto go into effect on May eleventh,
two thousand and eight. Well,on May seventh, twenty twenty five,
or about a year from today,it is again scheduled to go into effects.
So if you have to effect,it is not an effect. You
can use any ID to get through, any driver's license to get through the
(05:53):
airport today or passport always. Youcan use a passport, but effective May
seventh, twenty twenty five is that'sone of the things. So if you
haven't got a real idea, andmost people are doing that through the renewal
of their driver's licenses. I justrecently did mine. Isn't that automatic now
when you were renew you don't haveto go through that. But if you're
(06:13):
going to get real ID check withDMV in Virginia. There are pretty simple
rules on the site and every statehas them too. You have to authenticate
your existing driver's license. You dothat with a birth certificate or a passport
and something else that shows your address, like utility bills. I remember doing
that a few years ago and itseemed like it only took a minute or
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two. It's pretty easy to accomplishit. It's incredibly easy if you have
the correct documents, and you haveto have a birth certificate or a passport
and some other form of identification.But check with your state's Department of Motor
Vehicle's website to see what you need. But that's one of the things that
you can do to get through securityfaster and make sure that you get through
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security faster in the future, especiallyafter May of next year. But there's
some other things. One of thethings I recommend is when you get ready
to pack, if you've got tocarry on, empty that bag. We've
read some things in the news latelyabout people having things in their bag that
they should not. Yeah, andthe consequences can be pretty harsh depending on
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where you're traveling. So my adviceis empty that bag. Every single thing
out of the bag should come outof it. It's interesting because I know
I have my bathroom kit, whateverthat is, I've never emptied. There's
there's toothpastes and an old toothbrush that'sbeen in there for ten years. It's
(07:38):
like a cheers when I travel,So why not just leave it there?
Yeah, Well, empty it andauthenticate everything that goes back in there and
make sure it's following the rules.That's a real simple tip. But if
you add each item one by oneto make sure it's allowable, it's not
going to cause you problem. It'sgoing to save you when you get in
line later on and the you know, the agent, the TSA agent picks
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it up out and says, Chris, what's this. Yeah, I went
through the the body scan where youhave to put your arms up in the
air, and I couldn't hear whatthe guy was saying, and I leaned
to hear him, and I went, excuse me, and I messed up
the scan and I'm like, I'msorry, we can do that again.
He goes, oh, no,I got the full pat town. You
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get that full yeah, the fullpat down. Well, the other thing
about packing when you say that,so I've I've got sleep apne, I've
got the sea pat machine. Yougot to always show them all that I
pack thinking about going through the TSAline, so I keep I keep all
of my electronics, my wires,you know, all your charging cables.
I put all that in my bagwith my seapat because I know that's going
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to have to be open and gothrough and they can, you know,
look through, and then you knoweveryone I'll talk about slip on shoes and
all that. I don't do that, but I always load the suitcase in
a way that when the TSA ifthey want to sort through it, I
make it easy on them. Well, that's for your carry on right,
Yeah, I've never checked baggage.I've ever done that. Well, a
lot of people check bags, andchecking bags is good, especially if you've
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got an affinity program with the airlinesyou do it for free, or credit
cards you do it for free.But if you are going through the hand
inspection for your carry on luggage,make sure you empty that bag purposefully,
put everything in there one by oneby one to make sure that you're following
those rules. And it'll save youfrom having anything inside that's prohibited unless you
(09:28):
just don't know what the rules are. But I've got to tip on that
one too, Okay, all right. So one of the things that you
can do if you're not sure aboutwhether something's allowed or not. TSA has
a new service. You can usetext and you can text the numbers two
seven five eight seven to two.You can text TSA, or you can
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use ask TSA on X or FacebookMessenger. You can say ask TSA and
you can talk to somebody real timeand ask your questions before you get into
that line. If you don't likethat, there's a MYTSA app that you
can use. You download to yourphone and you can ask questions off the
(10:13):
app or they even have you know, an eight hundred number, and that
number real quickly is eight six sixtwo eight nine nine six seven three.
So if you're unsure whether you canbring, you know, a bottle of
water for your CPAP, check withTSA and they'll answer that for you.
So they're really trying to do whatthey can to upgrade the customer service.
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Also, on that app, talkto you about airport wait times. They
not only will tell you what's happeningreal time, but because TSA does all
kinds of pre clearance at the airports, they have a forecast or what traffic's
going to look like tomorrow in theday after, so you can see a
lot of valuable information. Check outthat app. It's called MYTSA. And
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then isn't there also one that letsyou bypass the line? Now, that's
the one that I really like,and that's the one that I have.
It's called TSA pre Check. Itdoes not you bypass the line, but
it gives you a better line thanyou can use. The cost is less
than eighty dollars for five years,so if you're traveling multiple times during the
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year, eighty dollars is a dropin the bucket to cut the line,
okay, but it's more. It'smore than just cutting the line. If
you have that TSA pre check,you can continue to wear your shoes.
You don't have to wait till you'reseventy five. If you're seventy five,
you don't have to take off yourshoes. But if you don't wait till
then you can do that with thisapp. The other things you can do.
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You can keep your belt on,you can wear a light jacket,
and you can keep your laptop inyour bag. And you're what we call
the three to one one bag.You and Teriy have talked about that many
times. The three to one onebag, the little plastic bag. It's
a one court plastic bag. Youcan have items up to three three point
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four ounces. I'm saying you'd getone bag per person, so three instead
of three point four they say threeand one one, So one plastic bag,
one per person. And in thatyou can put as many liquid containers
of up to three point four ounces. You can't have a twelve ounce container
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with three point four ounces in it. But like the little bottles of mouthwash.
Yeah, for example, you canyou can put in there. My
wife does all this for me.When we went on our honeymoon. She
came home from the I think shemight have bought it at the pharmacy,
a little clear bag. She hadall the low empty bottles and it's going
in the bathroom to fill them up. And I was like, can we
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just use what they offer us atthe hotel? No, I guess.
So there are two exceptions to therules, and you talked about one of
them. If you've got a medicaldevice like a CPAP, and also if
you have some metaicins that's liquid.Those are exceptions to the rule. Okay,
And if you don't remember all that, go back to what I said
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earlier, check that my TSA appor call TSA, text TSA and ask
them and they'll give you the sameanswer that I have. So those are
some tips for getting through the line. The other thing I have real valuable,
and you don't see this in manyplaces. Are two other ones.
One is obvious plus mine. Oneis give yourself enough time. If you
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hear in the news that there's alot of people traveling, guess what.
Every single one of those travelers isgoing to go through a TSA line,
whether it's pre check or the standardline, So give yourself enough time arrive
at the airport early. We recommendtwo hours for domestic flight, three hours
for international flights. The airlines havesome different rules on the website, and
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I'm seeing some conflicting things up there. It can get confusing. But if
you go to two hours for domesticthree for international, you're going to be
safe. I just feel like,if I've invested all this money to you
know, travel to Europe. MaybeI'm going to see the Olympics in Paris
this summer, show up at theairport three hours early is insurance, Yeah,
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to an enjoyables kickoff to my tripor return home. You're absolutely right.
I don't think I've ever been latefor a flight. I have driven,
like to Charlottesville in that panic,going am I gonna And of course
this is me trying to be theretwo hours early, and a panic that
I'm going to only be there anhour early. You know, it's like
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what happens if I get stuck inline, you catch the fuel truck across
the mountain or something like that behindyou. But I've driven to the airport
as though I were an airline pilotssometimes and have made it. But I
have one last tip, and Ithink this is probably the most valuable tip.
You like those little doggy bowls thatthey give you to put all your
change and keys and stuff in atthe airport. Yeah, how many people
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leave things behind? The answer ismany, Yeah, many many. It's
real easy because you're stressed going throughthat. You've got one thing in a
bowl. You've got your jacket ina you know, in a little bin,
You've got your laptop, and anotherbin your suitcase floating through. So
you got six things coming through theline and you're worried. Am I gonna
make it through the scanner? Here'smy tip. If you have space in
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your carry on bag or find acarry on bag that's got space so that
you can empty your pockets before yougo through the line, put it into
your bag instead of having things inthe little doggy bowl. Instead of having
a cell phone here and you know, your keys there and a bin wherever,
you're gonna have everything in your bag. So all you do is carry
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off your piece of luggage and carryoff your little piece of carry on,
you know, under your seat bag. And you've got all your stuff,
you can unload it and put itback in your pockets once you've navigated through
the TSA checkpoint. Yeah, that'sthat's Harry's tip for the day. So,
uh, sage advice, Harry Sageadvice. So the other piece of
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news, and we'll be talking aboutthis as we move through the show.
This morning, the American Hotel andLodging Association did a survey. They found
that fifty two percent of the peoplethat they surveyed said they're going to travel
overnight for a family trip this year. Forty two percent said I'm also going
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to travel overnight for a romantic getawayin the next four months, and thirty
one percent said they're going to travelovernight for Memorial Day. So there's a
precursor for what's going to happen inJuly. For July fourth, that's a
third of the people surveyed. Upto half the people surveyed said they are
traveling. So in the beginning wewere talking about is there a lot of
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travel going on the answer is maybe, Yeah, it sounds like it is.
So we've got a holiday weekend thatwe're actively enjoying right now, and
this is the time that maybe youstart thinking about family vacations and you know,
doing some summer getaways. How abouttaking the grandkids with you. I
think it's a great idea. I'ma grandpa, so I think it's an
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outstanding idea. Our show today iscalled take the Grandkids on Vacation, and
we're gonna get into that in thenext segment. But we get some hot
deals that will help you get readyto travel with the grandkids. Yeah.
I want to talk about several hotdeals that I have. One of them
has to do with a place thatI think a lot of the folks listening
today will will remember how many peoplehave listened to Nickelodeon on TV. Remember
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Nickelodeon and that green Slime all thatstuff. Yeah, yeah, Well there
are actually Nickelodeon resorts. I've seenthese, and I want to go.
I want to go too. Andthat's why this is on my list because
I was looking at going. There'sone in rivere Amaya, there's one in
Pluntakana. And this summer Chris iswhat they're calling it. The summer of
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Who's the Hero on Nickelodeon. Ohgosh, I don't know a guy that
lived in the Sea Oh, SpongeBob, Spongebobe. It's the summer of Pungebob
love it this summer, so theyhave a special promotion. And what I
did is I priced a couple things. I looked at a couple grandparents,
a couple grandkids going from Dulles Airportfor a week. This includes the Club
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Nick. So if those kids arebetween four and twelve, the grandparents need
a break once in a while,right, so you can drop these kids
at Club Nick where they have scavengerHunt, they do SpongeBob movies and episodes.
They have slime available if the kidsneed it. They've got a little
miniature kid pool with little miniature kidlounge chairs like that. It's almost I
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think probably eight to twelve inches deep. So this pool is pretty safe.
And they have people there, youknow, watching it too, like lifeguards.
I guess they are lifeguards, notlike lifeguards. They are lifeguards,
but they're watching it. But Ilooked at a family room in there for
two adults, two children, includingtravel one week from Dulles starting at seven
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thousand dollars. That's including your airfare, okay, And the best thing about
this resort it is all inclusive,so once you're there, you are eating
and drinking. Adults are drinking adultdrinks, the kids are drinking kid drinks.
But you are you have all ofeverything is included. So and creating
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memories NonStop, and creating NonStop memory. Say, all you got to bring
is a camera phone? Right,So that's one. Maybe a Rivie or
mine. Maybe Nickelodeon isn't your deal. So here's another one. One of
the most interesting places I traveled andwe'll remember forever is Costa Rica. And
I know you and Terry have talkedabout Costa Rica before too. So I've
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got a week in July on thebeach at Guanacoste for two adults, two
children. Now this is grandparents,we said, right, okay, okay.
So this particular resort has a splashwater world with slides, I entertainment,
music, a kids club. Itincludes a non motorized water sports so
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kayaking, windsurfing, stand up paddlesurfing. I don't know about grandpa trying
that one school. They even includea scuba tryout in the pool. And
uh, that's sixty six, onehundred dollars leaving from Richmond for one week
in July. How's that for anice Grandpa graft. Kids are gonna love
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you. And you can see aspecial animal in Costa Rica that will endear
yourself ud be endeared in your heartforever. And that is where you can
see the sloths. That's Costa Rica. My wife loves sloths. I think
they're great. I even have afurry stuffed little sloth that I use to
store, you know, little thingsin on top of my dresser. It's
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like a sloth holder. Harry,I'm getting to know a little too much
about your personal There you go,there you go. So if you don't
want to go to Nickelodeon, ifyou don't want to go to Costa Rica,
but you're a cruiser. I searchedout something for the cruisers this week
too, Chris and cruising is againall inclusive like the other two. There's
a cruise that goes from Boston toBermuda and Maine in June. I priced
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two adults, two kids. Thisis a family balcony room. So this
is not an inside room, adungeon kind of room. This is a
family balcony room. It includes abeverage package, specially dining. It includes
Wi Fi, It includes gratuities,there's even some credit out there for shore
excursions, and insurance is something thatwe'd have to add on this depending on
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the people in their ages. Butthis one goes starts in Boston, goes
at sea for a day, goesdown to Bermuda Docks for three days.
In Bermuda, you take a rideback up the shoreline, stop in Bar
Harbor or as they say, upthere bah Haba, and you end in
Boston. This one is pricing atthis family balcony room for fifty three hundred
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dollars. Okay, but there's more. If you have a military discharge or
active military, or if you're ateacher, you can get an extra discount
of either ten percent or five percenton top of that price. I like
it. Yeah, you want onemore? Sure? This one's my favorite,
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my personal favorite. And I'm actuallyas a grandpa thinking about this.
I'm going to talk to my sonnext weekend about this. Have you ever
heard of Club Mad I have.Yeah, They're really famous all around the
world. There aren't many in NorthAmerica. There is one up in Montreal,
just north of Montreal, northeast ofMontreal, in a town called Charlevoi.
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It's about an hour from Quebec City, and it's actually four hours northeast
of Montreal, even though they listedas Montreal. It's a little run up
from there, but it's up theSaint Lawrence River, so if you know
where I'm talking about. I lookedat this property because Club med is known
for their all inclusive they are alsoa luxury all inclusive. This is a
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ski resort in the winter, butthey've opened up a lot of summer programs
there. It's in a wonderful location. It's in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve location,
so it's ideal for nature lovers.Fantastic views. You're up on a
mountain looking down at the Saint LawrenceRiver. The cheerlifts run in the summer,
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so you can ride up to thetop, do your thing up there,
look around, do some hiking.They have mountain biking available up there,
and during the summer they also havebetween mid July and August they bring
in what they call the Astro CircusFestival. So if you're looking for something
to do, you want to celebrateyour inner child, you want to do
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some stargazing, you want to learnhow to do the trapeze thing or circus
lessons. This is for you.They've got a planetarium experience that they're going
to have a show running five daysa week. They've got touring through the
Cosmos with their planetarium, a littleMars mission that they do. They do
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a little space launch simulated space launchand talk about that and talk about the
secrets. And at night they havestargazing, because what a great location.
You're up there on top of amountain. Some experts will be there to
lead some explorations. So if youwant to walk and hike around, learn
about some of the things going on, learn about the Milky Way, learn
(24:42):
about constellations. All of this isincluded in your stay at Club Med.
They've got a light show that goeson, they've got music performances, all
kinds of things going on. Butyou're in a little pod of nature at
this UNESCO site away from it all. And this is a drivable location from
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where we're sitting right now as we'retalking, it's a drivable location. They
have a sale going on that thisroom would normally, this deluxe room with
a mountain view, normally for thisone week period would go for eleven thousand
dollars. Ouch. Yeah, howmuch is it with the bargain that is
(25:26):
over my credit card limit on alot of my credit cards. The cost
for this same room, and youhave to book this very soon. This
sale is going off. But thecost for this room now is just under
four thousand dollars, and that includesthe parking. They charge it for parking.
But I built that in assuming you'dtake a ride up. Excellent for
(25:47):
four thousand dollars to experience Club Medplus all those things and keep your kids
entertained in a location that's really prettyexciting from an outdoorsy perspective. It's a
historic site plenty to see. Youcan take some side trips go down and
(26:07):
you'll have your car so you cango down and take a cruise down the
Saint Lawrence if you want to.Lots of stuff to do there. Harry,
I like the deal she brought usthis week. How do we get
in touch with you? In bookone of these? We're easy to get
in touch with. We're not goingto be working on Monday. We're going
to take the day off and honorour war dead on Monday on Memorial Day,
which is what that holiday's really about. So we won't be there Monday,
(26:30):
but on Tuesday we will be there, and tomorrow we will be there.
You can get in touch with us. We're at five at two forty
three, had to think two fortythree Niff Avenue in Harrisonburg. You can
find us on the web at thewishing Well dot biz, or you can
give us a call. We're atfive four zero nine zero eight two three
(26:52):
three three, and we do geta lot of people to call from outside
the area and more excited about that. We're happy to serve you wherever you
are. So our hot deals wereall about taking the grandkids on vacation.
That's actually the theme for our entireshow today, and so we are going
to start digging a little deeper intowhere we can go, what we can
do with the kids, and makethis just as memorable for the grandparents as
(27:14):
it is for the kids. Absolutely, we'll take the grandkids on vacation next
here on a lifeless ordinary. Protectyour vacation investment with guidance from a travel
professional. The wishing Well knows traveland helps you avoid pitfalls that can spoil
your hirer earned vacation. We'll planyour trip and have you back as you
travel. All of this without supportor so called convenience fees. We're on
(27:34):
the web at THO Wishingwell dot diizor call us at five four zero nine
zero eight two three three three.That's five four zero nine zero eight two
three three three. The washing Wellreally does make dreams come true. And
welcome back to a lifeless ordinary theTravel Showing Podcast from your friends at the
wishing Well. This week, HarryRife from The wishing Well joins us.
(27:56):
This is a fun Saturday morning onMemorial Day weekend. Talking about taking the
kids on vacation. Do you havea vacation memory with your grandparents? Harry,
Oh, I don't have one withmy grandparents because they weren't around that
much. But I have one withmy parents, and I'm trying to replicate
that with my grandkids because it doesn'tmatter if it's parents or grandparents or both,
(28:21):
and we see a lot of that. Those memories last forever. There's
nothing you can do to take memoriesaway. I often tell people, Chris,
if you have a memory, evenif you do something bad, you
get sick and you can't travel anymore, those memories are with you forever.
If you do something really bad andyou end up in the what they called
the big House, they'll take awayyour money, they'll take away your billy,
(28:45):
but the memories are always going tobe there with you. So yeah,
I have one that I really remember. It was a trip outside of
the country and it was to aplace that we just spoke about. It
was to Montreal. The Olympics werein my Montreal. Remember that was that
the that was in the seventies,seventies, early eighties. It was I
(29:07):
think it was seven. I haveto go back and google it, I
guess, but it was in theseventies. I want to say seventy six.
Yeah, I think I'm not sure. But we went to the Olympics
in Montreal, and oh my gosh, that's something that will stick with me
forever. We talked, just talkedabout Club med in Montreal. I'm taking
a trip up to Montreal this comingmonth, and when I go there,
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I'm going to look for that stadiumbecause it was one of the most futuristic
buildings built at the time. Soyeah, that stays with me all the
way into my seventies. So itmust have made an impression. Yeah,
what about you. So my momwas a single mom raising me. She
did not have a lot of money, so Grandma her mom was always the
(29:52):
one who took us on vacation,and we went to Disney World when I
was probably six sevent years old.I guess it was right after the Epcot
Center opened, and so it waslike all brand new and exciting. And
I mean, so is exciting whenyou go to Disney World. It is,
but you know, when you're sixyears old, it was like going
to another planet. Yeah, andI got to fly on a plane.
(30:14):
We drove down but flew home andit was my first time on an airplane
and I just was in awe ofthe fact that we were in the air
I didn't understand how it worked,how it worked. And then when I
got older, she took us.It was a family reunion, I think,
but she, you know, shewas covering the costs. We went
down to Kittyhawk Kildevio Hills, andthat was just fun because it wasn't like
(30:40):
all those other vacations there was.There wasn't this agenda of we got to
get up and walk twenty five thousandsteps through an amusement park. I went
to the I think they have likean arboretum down there, and we went
to the beach. I don't likethe beach, So I don't think I
did much of the beach. Ienjoyed. I was old enough. I
feel like I might have been enoughto drive, so I may have been
(31:06):
on try myself. But we wentto the the Wright Brothers Museum and I
really enjoyed that, and I wentand I had my camera with me and
I went and I just took picturesof flowers everywhere because it was just so
pretty. Elisian, Well, I'llhire you. Can you arrange flowers?
No, I can't arrange, butI can take pictures of them, So
(31:27):
yeah, I and I I alwaysthink back that it was, you know,
my grandmother Wilson who made all thosethings happen. And you remember a
lot of details about that. I'msure you remember things that happened, you
know, on the trip too well. I remember being in Orlando and calling
my dad and it was we wentdown at Christmas and it was I don't
(31:51):
know, seventy five degrees in Orlando. My great aunt, my great aunt
lived in Clearwater, so we werestaying with her and I'm like, I'm
hearing shorts and he's like, it'stwelve degrees here. You didn't do I
don't know if I was enough,were brave enough to do that to my
dad? But yeah, no,I love thinking about back on that.
(32:12):
I love thinking just silly memories thatcome back. Sure, like the fact
that they don't have Christmas trees downin Florida. It's either a fake tree
or Charley tree or Charlie Brown Christmastree. That's right. And I was
so worried that Santa wasn't gonna findme. These are the memories I have,
Harry Well, the memories are whatmatter, and that's why an investment
(32:34):
in vacation is a really good investment. Yeah. My second memory real quickly.
I was living in Michigan, andMichigan's a very flat place. Not
much happens. You don't see theclouds in the sky and great formations and
things like that. But my momdecided that she was going to take us
kids to a place where you couldbe in the mountains. She decided she'd
(32:59):
take to a place where you couldvisit a cave. And guess where we
came. Probably here. We cameright here. Okay. I had no
idea that years and years later i'dend up working here and living here.
But I remember being up in ShenandoahPark. I remember being at Luray Caverns.
I have that same exact thing.My grandmother brought us down to the
(33:22):
cast railroad and we went to alDarn. I can't remember the town right
across the state line down you getthere through Augusta County. Churchville, No,
Churchville's on our side, Yeah,past Churchville whatever that. Anyway,
when I moved down here and Istarted going, wait a minute, I
remember I was here. I am. It's a small world. And also
(33:46):
the great thing about vacations that youtake with your parents and with your grandparents,
you learn a lot of things inthe process. You learn about geography,
You learn about different people. Yousee people that may look different,
may speak different, may have differenthouses of worship or all kinds of things.
(34:07):
Schools look different, everything looks different, the clothes that they wear may
look different, and you realize thatthe world is a little bigger than what
exists in your home backyard. Monterey, I love money. Yeah, Monree
is a great place that I loveto visit too. Yeah, we went
there when I was a kid.So what we're talking about though, really
(34:29):
makes sense because as I start tolook at some of the statistics and some
of the data to prepare for ourshow this morning. I found that families
are planning trips. They are lookingforward. Actually, families are reporting that
for the next five years. Theyalready have two to three trips planned.
(34:51):
Really, and that reflects in thedata that we have at the Wishing Well
too. Terry has bookings well intotwenty twenty five. We have inquiries for
twenty twenty six. We have peoplethat are telling us to do group trips,
but they don't want to do it. You know, in twenty twenty
five, they are already promoting andpoliticking for the group trip they want in
twenty twenty six. Interesting, andI think that's great. The kinds of
(35:15):
things they're doing not going to surpriseyou. Families look at beach getaways very
very popular. They are looking tofind trips where they can connect with family.
So they're looking at trips and I'mspeaking with a family tomorrow. They're
going to be bringing in folks fromvarious parts of the country and going on
(35:37):
a trip, so they want toconnect with family. People want a cruise.
You see it, you hear aboutit. Everybody's cruising, So people
want a cruise and the other thingsthat they want to do in their vacation.
They want to do just what we'retalking about. Experience new cultures.
They want to go to different placesin the world, see different things that
they may have read about, seethe world, experience new cultures. And
(36:00):
that is for most people how theylearn things. Think about reading it in
a book, think about looking ata video, thinking about putting your feet
in the soil and immersing yourself ina new place. Which would you choose?
The answer is pretty easy. I'dgo me too. So those are
(36:22):
the things that people are saying ismost important. And the other thing that
we talked about earlier were all inclusives. When I was talking about deals,
guess what seventy six percent of thepeople surveyed said all inclusive vacations are their
preferred vacation is that's because they don'twant the surprise of expenses piling up whether
(36:47):
they're on vacation or is it reallythat good of a deal. I think
it's a good deal, and Ithink people don't like surprises, and I
think that people are uncertain. Ifyou haven't gone to a place, you
don't know what you're going to payfor, you don't know what meals are
going to cost. You don't knowwhat hotels are going to cost. You
(37:07):
don't know what it'll take to getfrom the airport to the place that you're
staying. So knowing all that upfront just brings a sense of confidence in
knowing what your vacation is going tocost. And I think that is also
a part of what we hear todaywhen people are saying, you know,
(37:28):
I got to watch my budget.I got to watch my budget. So
if you put all that together,all inclusives are a wonderful solution for knowing
what you're going to spend. Now. I enjoyed it. I've only been
to one all inclusive. It wasin Mexico. I went to Cancun.
I enjoyed that mainly because I wastrying to put them out of the business
(37:49):
of serving food to me, youand me both, and I thought I
got my money's worth, and anybodyelse who was there that night's money sort,
well, you're absolutely right. Iwas taught talking to a chef on
the recent cruise that I was onour group cruise over to Italy and Greece,
and I asked him I had alot of one on one time with
him because of the group. Wehad arranged some events, and I said,
(38:13):
hey, you know what happens tothe consumption of food over the course
of a cruise. And he smiledhis big, broad smile, and he
says, just as you'd expect.He said, on day one, it's
incredible. He says, on daytwo, it's very high. On day
three it's still high. By theend of the week, people are eating
(38:35):
less. I said, so whenyou do these longer duration cruises, he
said, people go back to eatinglike normal, even though everything is all
you want and it's free. Andthis particular cruise offered not only food,
but also beverages, right, Andhe said, the same is true on
the beverage side, and I said, thank goodness. Yeah, people less
(38:59):
of all beverages when they when they'retraveling. You're right, So a lot
of things going on. There wasanother travel survey I saw that was talking
to grandparents, and this was especiallyinteresting to me. Do you have any
idea you want to take a stayup and guess how many grandparents have taken
their kids on what they are callingthis is AARP it's calling a skip generation
(39:22):
vacations. They leave the parents athome and they take the kids and go
on a vacation. Six not thathigh yet, but it's thirty two,
but I think that number is growingand I'm part of that statistic. I'm
going to take my grandkids, andI'm still debating whether I'm going to invite,
you know, my son and daughterin law. I'm gonna you know,
(39:44):
the question is, how do yousell it? You know. My
idea is to say, hey,how'd you like to have a break from
you know, from the guys,and I can take them for a week
and they'll say okay. And Isaid, now, I'd like to take
them for a week, and I'mgoing to take them out of the country
and see how that plays. Leavethem there. Now, there are a
lot of rules. If you're listeningthis morning and you are considering doing that
(40:06):
on a serious note, there area lot of rules about taking a grand
kid, taking somebody that's not yourchild out of the country. It's not
difficult, but there are rules.They're very concerned about children leaving the country
without the consent of both of theirparents. So you will have to do
a little bit of extra work.But it's not you know, owner's work.
(40:29):
It's not difficult at all. Ibet the wishing well can help with
that. The wishing well can tellyou just exactly what to do, and
it's really, you know, prettysimple. So you know, they have
to take your kid to work day, I'm like, go to work on
your own. I'll take your kidsand we'll go on vacation. So that's
that's my grandpa trip. It saidthat more than seventy seven percent of the
(40:50):
boom or grandparents do the trip planning. That surprised me a little bit.
And this next statistic did not surpriseme. Seventy six percent of the grandparents
are paying one hundred percent for thetrick. Oh yeah, yeah, So
it's a good deal for the parents, Chris, it's a really good deal
for the parents. You get,you know, a break from your kids.
Not that you need a break fromyour kids, but sometimes it's nice
(41:14):
to have a little break from yourkids. So you don't have to abide
by to leave the parents at home. Part of what I'm talking about today.
Tell him they can come, butgive him some conditions. You gotta
behave. You gotta let me spoilthe grandkids. If we want to go
ziplining, by gosh, we're gonnago zip lining and see if that doesn't
(41:36):
make the grandkids smile maybe even smirka little bit, you know, when
you're bringing the news to their parentsand then breaking the news to them that
they're not getting anything for Christmas ortheir birthday next year. Yeah, so
I've got to call my son andmake sure that he hasn't been listening to
us, because now he knows allmy tricks. Harry, we need to,
I think, maybe take a littlebit of time to talk about the
(41:57):
considerations if you're actually playing on takingyour grandkids with you. You know what
that entails, what it all lookslike, and I think we need to
take a quick break. When wecome back, we'll dig real deep into
that. Let's do that, allright. That's coming up next here on
a life less Ordinary. Protect yourvacation investment with guidance from a travel professional.
The wishing Well knows travel and helpsyou avoid pitfalls they can spoil your
(42:19):
hard earned vacation. We'll plan yourtrip and have your back as you travel.
All of this without support or socalled convenience fees. We're on the
web at THO Wishingwell dot biz,or call us at five four zero nine
zero eight two three three three that'sfive four zero nine zero eight two thirty
three three. The washing Well reallydoes make dreams come true and welcome back
(42:40):
to a life less ordinary, thetravel show and podcast from your friends at
the Wishing Well. You can findthem at two forty three and f Avenue
and Harrisonburg. They're online at thewishing Well dot biz or give them a
call five four oh nine oh Atwenty three thirty three member. They'll be
closed on Monday as they observe MemorialDay, but it'll be hard at work
on Tuesday, Harry, hard ascan be. I will be working for
(43:05):
two days and one day. I'msure you got to make up for taking
the time off on Monday. Beforewe went to our break, Harry,
we were saying, there's some considerationsyou need to be thinking about if you're
actually planning to take your grandkids withyou on a trip. Yes, there's
some important considerations we talked about alittle bit over the break. The biggest
thing is you make sure that youhave permission, and permission doesn't mean just
(43:27):
asking the parents. What you needto have is you make sure that you
have those kids' paperwork, and bypaperwork, i'm talking about passports of course,
if you're leaving the country. Anytimeyou cross a border, they will
not let you carry a child outthat's not yours unless you have a passport
for that child, and you willneed a letter from both parents giving you
(43:52):
permission and outlining where you're going tobe going, how long you're going to
be gone, and that letter's gotto be signed and it must be notarized.
If you're taking your own children acrossthe border, do you have no
issues for your own children? Ifyou're the parents, you still have to
have a passport for the Yeah,children require a passport. And one of
(44:13):
the things that we run into sometimeswith people with younger children, passports are
good for ten years for you andI. His passports are only good for
five years. They age, theyneed a new photo, they need a
new photo, they look different,and so they age out of their passport
more quickly, and so you wewill always check with people to have them
(44:36):
check those dates. Terry and Iwill often ask people to show us the
passports because people will tell you,yeah, they're fine, they're not necessarily
fat vacation quickly, yes, Andyou want to make sure that those passports
are good for a full six months. After the date that you expect to
return, not go on vacation,but return. So you want to have
(44:59):
six months after you expect to returnfrom vacation. So you want to check
all that documentation, and we canhelp you at the Wishing Well with that.
But that permission is very, veryimportant. In addition to permission,
there's some other things that you wantto have as special considerations. If you're
going to take a grandkid out ofthe country, this does not apply for
(45:22):
your own children, but it doesapply if they are not your children.
And with families and extended families,blended families, semi blended families, all
of the different exceptions to the traditionalgrandparent parent child relationships that we have today.
These rules are especially important with thepermission slips, but also a lot
(45:45):
of children today are on medication orhave medicine that they take. You want
to make sure that you have afull understanding before you leave with the parents
of what that medicine is. Youwant to make sure that you have all
the prescriptions correctly, you know,filled, so that they have enough for
the duration of the trip plus anextra week or two in there. Does
(46:07):
it need to be in the bottlewith the pharmacy label on it, or
can I have it in a ziplockbag and just take it with me.
Again, rules for you and Iare a little bit different the rules for
you and I. If it's nota controlled medication, it does not need
to be in any special bottle.You can put them in the little you
know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, whatever the days of the week are.
(46:30):
I can't remember that or my medicinesome days, but you can put
them in those pill containers if it'snot a controlled medication, are narcotic.
For example, for kids, ourrecommendation the same rule applies. Our recommendation
is if you can have a bottle, go to the to the pharmacy,
get a bottle with the kid's nameon it, with the medicine on it.
(46:51):
It will not only help any situationyou might run into, but it
will also help to remind you becausethe dosage is going to be on that
bottle for you too, so youa little safer as you have your grandkid
with you. If you have anythingthat's a controlled substance for anybody, you
always want to have an original bottleand make sure that you have an extra
(47:13):
week. If you're doing a verylong trip more than a week, but
take an extra week's worth with youand pack that in your carry on luggage
always, so know what the medicationroutine is for the kids, Ask the
parents about the exceptions, what happens, if, what happens if, so
that's on there. A third thingon my list for dealing with kids is
(47:37):
insurance. You're going to get tripinsurance. If you're getting a trip through
the wishing well, we're going toinsist that you have travel insurance since you've
got your grandkids with you, sincethey're not on your insurance card. Medicare
does not cover grandkids. Okay,you want to have copies of the parents'
insurance cards so that if something happensalong the way, you've your trip insurance.
(48:00):
Plus you have the parents insurance cardswith you as well for all of
those all of those kids that arewith you. If there are special needs,
you need to have a very seriouswe joke around a lot, the
very serious discussion with your children aboutwhat those grandkids need. So find out,
(48:21):
you know, if there's something specialthey sleep with a Teddy bear or
whatever it is, you know,special blanket. You know, they don't
know how to tie their shoes andjust these slip on shoes. Whatever the
special circumstances are. You may notget a good knowledge of that if you
just come visit them, you know, three or four times a year,
and you won't know all those littlenuances. So have that. And my
(48:45):
advice is with all these things,Chris, especially if you're a grandpa or
grandma, write it down because weforget sometimes. You know, it doesn't
take much to forget something. Acouple other things, just two more.
One is your sleep patterns are goingto be different than your grandkids sleep patterns.
(49:07):
Your sleep routines are going to bedifferent than your kids. Your grandkids
sleep routines, So, especially ifthe parents aren't with you, learn what
those are. When you're traveling andyou're going to different places, you may
change a time zone, maybe onlyan hour, maybe three hours if you
take them on an Alaska cruise,for example, maybe three four hours.
(49:27):
Make sure that you're able to adjustfor those time zones and make sure that
you've thought about how those kids,the grandkids are going to adjust for those
time zones. Also, also talkabout sleep routines. Who you know,
does a grandkid like to climb intobed when they get scared so that you
can expect them to show up onyour bed in the middle of the night.
(49:50):
You see, this is a littleperson crawling in your bed. It's
like, what's happening. You wantto know what the routines are for them
and what they're like in the morning. And then last Lee is one of
the big ones, and that's rules. You got to ask the parents.
As much as you don't need tofollow them along the way one hundred percent,
you at least want them to setout what the rules are, what
they can and what they cannot do, and what you can and cannot do,
(50:15):
you know, with the grandkids,and then sit down with the kids,
involve the kids and what you're doing, and have a discussion about what
you're going to be doing, whatthey can expect to be doing. If
you're going down and you're going togo to a place where there's an opportunity
to learn how to you know,ride a trapeze, is that okay?
Grandparents, I'd want to know haveyou ever done something like that before?
(50:38):
Maybe even go out to one ofthe local you know, kid kid jimberrees
and try that with them beforehand.So when you go on vacation. It's
not a terror experience. It's acomfortable experience and they don't feel pushed.
You may ride a you know,a chairlift, you may take a water
slide on a you know, ona cruise ship. You want to know
(51:00):
about those things. So that's myadvice. If you're going to be taking
the grandkids. Sounds owners, butit's not. There's one thing you haven't
mentioned that I would think would bereally important. Make sure you're picking the
trip with consultation of the grandkids.To yes, just because you might have
fun somewhere, your grandkids may bebored to death, You're absolutely right,
(51:22):
And that's one of the considerations thatI read about also, that we should
involve the kids in the discussion.If you want your grandkids to be enthusiastic
about this trip, if you wantyour grandkids to talk to their parents into
letting you take them on this tripand you know, kidnap them for a
week and take them somewhere, it'sgreat to have them involved in that discussion
(51:45):
because if they choose the place,chances are they're going to pick a place
where they're going to enjoy. They'regoing to ask you questions. Grandpa grandma,
You know what about what can Ido? Is there a swimming pool
there? Yes? Is there youknow, a a water slide? Yes?
Is there a water park? No? You know. So you want
to go through those things and it'llhelp you make the right choices. And
(52:07):
when you come to talk to usabout your destination, Chris, it's important
because we're going to ask you,what do you think the grandkids like,
what's important to them? In thatconsultation meeting? Should you bring the grandkids
with you or is that maybe alittle too much? Too much input it
early on in the in the planning, I think you know, that depends
(52:27):
on the grandkids and on their personalities. You know, I've got one that's
really mature, one that's working onit still, And it depends on the
personalities. But that's something you wantto do in concert with the parents.
I was, you know, sayinga couple of things that's sounding like I'm
dising to parents. I'm laughing whenI'm saying and I hope everybody's hearing me
do that, laughing while I'm sayingit. You want to consider the parents,
(52:50):
and the parents know their kids better, way better than you do,
and in the long run, thekids belong to the parents, not to
the grandparents. Harry, this iswhere I wish I had grandkids who I
could go on vacation with them.If we've got grandkids and we're thinking,
yes, I love everything you've beentalking about today. How do I book
this trip? How do we getin touch with you? We're so easy
to find and get in touch with. You can find us at two forty
(53:13):
three nef Avenue in Harrisonburg. Youcan find us on the web at Thethwishingwell
dot biz, or you can giveus a call. We're at five four
zero nine zero eight two three threethree. This has been a Life Less
Ordinary the travel show from your friendsat the wishing Well at two forty three
nef Avenue in Harrisonburg. If youhave any questions on topics discussed today,
(53:35):
please reach out to The wishing Wellonline at the Wishingwell dot biz or five
four oh nine oh eight twenty threethirty three. Past episodes are available on
the iHeartRadio app. And we'll seeagain next Saturday morning at ten for a
Life Less Ordinary from the wishing Well
This is a Lifeless Ordinary. It'sa travel show and podcasts from your friends
at the wishing Well two forty threef Avenue in harsemerg and online at the
wishing Well dot This. The wishingWell is your ultimate luxury concierge, travel
agency and a Lifeless Ordinary is atravel show and podcast hosted by Terry Dean,
bringing her over forty years of experiencein the travel industry to help guide
(00:21):
you to great experiences in your travel, whether it be around the block,
around the country, or around theworld. Let's bring in Terry Dean say
hello, but not today today wesay hello, Harry. Terry's on assignment.
Chris. My wife sent me apicture yesterday of where she's at,
and she looks like she's having agreat time on assignment. She is as
is her young daughter, Morgan.I didn't see Morgan in the picture,
(00:43):
but she looked maybe that was herin the background. I'm not sure if
it could well have been. Ididn't get the pictures on your My wife
took a screenshot of your Facebook accountand said, hey, I know where
Terry's at. Yo. She isShe's down there in Mouseville. Yeah,
she looks like she's having a goodton. I hope she is. She
just serves a break. Yeah,we all do. And we've got a
three day weekend. People are traveling, and I think people are still going
(01:10):
out and doing that these days,even with the economy the way it is.
Oh my gosh, they're traveling likecrazy. That's what I want to
talk about today, specifically, lookat me, perfect setup, Harry.
Let's get into the big news.So I'm going to start with one that
I think is going to put smileson everybody's face because it did online when
I thought about it. There wasa problem that they had last week this
(01:30):
past Saturday in Munich. I don'tknow if you heard about that or not,
but they shut down the Munich airportfor a little while and actually sixty
flights were canceled because of this incidentat the Munich airport. I wonder what
it was. Was it flooding orsomething like that, Nothing like that at
all. They did something very strange. This had to do with climate activists,
(01:53):
and the climate activists showed up earlyin the morning before the sun came
up, at five o'clock in themorning at Germany's Munich airport, and they
somehow breached the airport's fences, goton the ground and made their way over
to the runway, and they wantedto protest all the bad things that happened
as a result of flying. Andeven with the innovation that we've talked about
(02:16):
on this show before, they stillthink there's too much pollution. So what
they did is they went out ontothe runway, Chris, and they glued
themselves to the runway. I thinkI saw pictures of this. I didn't
realize that's what this story was.Yep. So they it took them a
little while for the officials to figureit out, but they removed them somehow.
(02:38):
But in the meantime, sixty flightsgot canceled and I'm sure sixty flights
times you know, a couple hundredpassengers of flight. They definitely made in
as they say, in landing andimpact. Yeah, okay, okay.
So that's one piece of environmental news. I have another piece of environmental news
so too. That's I think moreserious and more positive. Our friends at
(02:59):
Viking and the Wishing Well there's alot with Viking Cruise Lines. We've talked
about that many many times. Theypartnered with the University of California, San
Diego scripts Institute of Oceanography, Andwhat they're trying to do is they're trying
to understand the way that oceanic philoplankton. That's a tough one to say,
(03:19):
philoplankton. What is phyloplankton. Piloplanktonare those little small organisms that move around
in the water. They kind ofstart out just being moved by the waves
and the currents in the water,and they grow a little bit bigger,
but not much bigger. But phyloplanktonwork in the water and they actually absorb
(03:39):
carbon and provide atmospheric oxygen. Andthat's really important because they are believed to
absorb almost forty percent of the world'scarbon wow, and in that process they
produce fifty percent of the world's atmosphericoxygen. So Viking is hosting research on
(04:00):
board several of their ships, theGreat Lake Ships and the Antarctic Ships to
work together with Viking as they movethrough the oceans. They're doing research while
on board. But better for guestsis that these same people provide guidance and
they actually are doing some lectures andteaching the guests on board about how the
(04:23):
file plank in the ocean affect theenvironment. Isn't that anything to do?
So you can go on a cruiseand learn something in the process. All
right, So my third one thismorning is I want to talk about airport
security because it is a holiday weekend, and there are holiday weekends coming up
(04:44):
all through the summer, and I'mtrying to see what we can do with
all the knowledge that we have atthe wishing Well and that they have in
the industry. People often ask uswhat can I do to get through those
lines? I hate those lines.I hate those lines. I hate those
lines. Right, can you useto do whatever? That check thing is?
That check mark on my drivers it'sa star. I guess it's something
the drivers like. Real ID.Yes, real ID is is one and
(05:09):
you can use that. You shouldbe using that, But right now any
ID will get you in. That'sgoing to soon change on Actually was May
eleventh of two thousand and eight.They first said you're going to have to
have real ID that's an authenticated driver'slicense, or you can always use a
(05:30):
passport. But real idea was supposedto go into effect on May eleventh,
two thousand and eight. Well,on May seventh, twenty twenty five,
or about a year from today,it is again scheduled to go into effects.
So if you have to effect,it is not an effect. You
can use any ID to get through, any driver's license to get through the
(05:53):
airport today or passport always. Youcan use a passport, but effective May
seventh, twenty twenty five is that'sone of the things. So if you
haven't got a real idea, andmost people are doing that through the renewal
of their driver's licenses. I justrecently did mine. Isn't that automatic now
when you were renew you don't haveto go through that. But if you're
(06:13):
going to get real ID check withDMV in Virginia. There are pretty simple
rules on the site and every statehas them too. You have to authenticate
your existing driver's license. You dothat with a birth certificate or a passport
and something else that shows your address, like utility bills. I remember doing
that a few years ago and itseemed like it only took a minute or
(06:35):
two. It's pretty easy to accomplishit. It's incredibly easy if you have
the correct documents, and you haveto have a birth certificate or a passport
and some other form of identification.But check with your state's Department of Motor
Vehicle's website to see what you need. But that's one of the things that
you can do to get through securityfaster and make sure that you get through
(06:57):
security faster in the future, especiallyafter May of next year. But there's
some other things. One of thethings I recommend is when you get ready
to pack, if you've got tocarry on, empty that bag. We've
read some things in the news latelyabout people having things in their bag that
they should not. Yeah, andthe consequences can be pretty harsh depending on
(07:17):
where you're traveling. So my adviceis empty that bag. Every single thing
out of the bag should come outof it. It's interesting because I know
I have my bathroom kit, whateverthat is, I've never emptied. There's
there's toothpastes and an old toothbrush that'sbeen in there for ten years. It's
(07:38):
like a cheers when I travel,So why not just leave it there?
Yeah, Well, empty it andauthenticate everything that goes back in there and
make sure it's following the rules.That's a real simple tip. But if
you add each item one by oneto make sure it's allowable, it's not
going to cause you problem. It'sgoing to save you when you get in
line later on and the you know, the agent, the TSA agent picks
(07:59):
it up out and says, Chris, what's this. Yeah, I went
through the the body scan where youhave to put your arms up in the
air, and I couldn't hear whatthe guy was saying, and I leaned
to hear him, and I went, excuse me, and I messed up
the scan and I'm like, I'msorry, we can do that again.
He goes, oh, no,I got the full pat town. You
(08:20):
get that full yeah, the fullpat down. Well, the other thing
about packing when you say that,so I've I've got sleep apne, I've
got the sea pat machine. Yougot to always show them all that I
pack thinking about going through the TSAline, so I keep I keep all
of my electronics, my wires,you know, all your charging cables.
I put all that in my bagwith my seapat because I know that's going
(08:43):
to have to be open and gothrough and they can, you know,
look through, and then you knoweveryone I'll talk about slip on shoes and
all that. I don't do that, but I always load the suitcase in
a way that when the TSA ifthey want to sort through it, I
make it easy on them. Well, that's for your carry on right,
Yeah, I've never checked baggage.I've ever done that. Well, a
lot of people check bags, andchecking bags is good, especially if you've
(09:05):
got an affinity program with the airlinesyou do it for free, or credit
cards you do it for free.But if you are going through the hand
inspection for your carry on luggage,make sure you empty that bag purposefully,
put everything in there one by oneby one to make sure that you're following
those rules. And it'll save youfrom having anything inside that's prohibited unless you
(09:28):
just don't know what the rules are. But I've got to tip on that
one too, Okay, all right. So one of the things that you
can do if you're not sure aboutwhether something's allowed or not. TSA has
a new service. You can usetext and you can text the numbers two
seven five eight seven to two.You can text TSA, or you can
(09:50):
use ask TSA on X or FacebookMessenger. You can say ask TSA and
you can talk to somebody real timeand ask your questions before you get into
that line. If you don't likethat, there's a MYTSA app that you
can use. You download to yourphone and you can ask questions off the
(10:13):
app or they even have you know, an eight hundred number, and that
number real quickly is eight six sixtwo eight nine nine six seven three.
So if you're unsure whether you canbring, you know, a bottle of
water for your CPAP, check withTSA and they'll answer that for you.
So they're really trying to do whatthey can to upgrade the customer service.
(10:35):
Also, on that app, talkto you about airport wait times. They
not only will tell you what's happeningreal time, but because TSA does all
kinds of pre clearance at the airports, they have a forecast or what traffic's
going to look like tomorrow in theday after, so you can see a
lot of valuable information. Check outthat app. It's called MYTSA. And
(10:56):
then isn't there also one that letsyou bypass the line? Now, that's
the one that I really like,and that's the one that I have.
It's called TSA pre Check. Itdoes not you bypass the line, but
it gives you a better line thanyou can use. The cost is less
than eighty dollars for five years,so if you're traveling multiple times during the
(11:16):
year, eighty dollars is a dropin the bucket to cut the line,
okay, but it's more. It'smore than just cutting the line. If
you have that TSA pre check,you can continue to wear your shoes.
You don't have to wait till you'reseventy five. If you're seventy five,
you don't have to take off yourshoes. But if you don't wait till
then you can do that with thisapp. The other things you can do.
(11:39):
You can keep your belt on,you can wear a light jacket,
and you can keep your laptop inyour bag. And you're what we call
the three to one one bag.You and Teriy have talked about that many
times. The three to one onebag, the little plastic bag. It's
a one court plastic bag. Youcan have items up to three three point
(12:00):
four ounces. I'm saying you'd getone bag per person, so three instead
of three point four they say threeand one one, So one plastic bag,
one per person. And in thatyou can put as many liquid containers
of up to three point four ounces. You can't have a twelve ounce container
(12:22):
with three point four ounces in it. But like the little bottles of mouthwash.
Yeah, for example, you canyou can put in there. My
wife does all this for me.When we went on our honeymoon. She
came home from the I think shemight have bought it at the pharmacy,
a little clear bag. She hadall the low empty bottles and it's going
in the bathroom to fill them up. And I was like, can we
(12:43):
just use what they offer us atthe hotel? No, I guess.
So there are two exceptions to therules, and you talked about one of
them. If you've got a medicaldevice like a CPAP, and also if
you have some metaicins that's liquid.Those are exceptions to the rule. Okay,
And if you don't remember all that, go back to what I said
(13:03):
earlier, check that my TSA appor call TSA, text TSA and ask
them and they'll give you the sameanswer that I have. So those are
some tips for getting through the line. The other thing I have real valuable,
and you don't see this in manyplaces. Are two other ones.
One is obvious plus mine. Oneis give yourself enough time. If you
(13:24):
hear in the news that there's alot of people traveling, guess what.
Every single one of those travelers isgoing to go through a TSA line,
whether it's pre check or the standardline, So give yourself enough time arrive
at the airport early. We recommendtwo hours for domestic flight, three hours
for international flights. The airlines havesome different rules on the website, and
(13:46):
I'm seeing some conflicting things up there. It can get confusing. But if
you go to two hours for domesticthree for international, you're going to be
safe. I just feel like,if I've invested all this money to you
know, travel to Europe. MaybeI'm going to see the Olympics in Paris
this summer, show up at theairport three hours early is insurance, Yeah,
(14:09):
to an enjoyables kickoff to my tripor return home. You're absolutely right.
I don't think I've ever been latefor a flight. I have driven,
like to Charlottesville in that panic,going am I gonna And of course
this is me trying to be theretwo hours early, and a panic that
I'm going to only be there anhour early. You know, it's like
(14:30):
what happens if I get stuck inline, you catch the fuel truck across
the mountain or something like that behindyou. But I've driven to the airport
as though I were an airline pilotssometimes and have made it. But I
have one last tip, and Ithink this is probably the most valuable tip.
You like those little doggy bowls thatthey give you to put all your
change and keys and stuff in atthe airport. Yeah, how many people
(14:52):
leave things behind? The answer ismany, Yeah, many many. It's
real easy because you're stressed going throughthat. You've got one thing in a
bowl. You've got your jacket ina you know, in a little bin,
You've got your laptop, and anotherbin your suitcase floating through. So
you got six things coming through theline and you're worried. Am I gonna
make it through the scanner? Here'smy tip. If you have space in
(15:16):
your carry on bag or find acarry on bag that's got space so that
you can empty your pockets before yougo through the line, put it into
your bag instead of having things inthe little doggy bowl. Instead of having
a cell phone here and you know, your keys there and a bin wherever,
you're gonna have everything in your bag. So all you do is carry
(15:37):
off your piece of luggage and carryoff your little piece of carry on,
you know, under your seat bag. And you've got all your stuff,
you can unload it and put itback in your pockets once you've navigated through
the TSA checkpoint. Yeah, that'sthat's Harry's tip for the day. So,
uh, sage advice, Harry Sageadvice. So the other piece of
(16:00):
news, and we'll be talking aboutthis as we move through the show.
This morning, the American Hotel andLodging Association did a survey. They found
that fifty two percent of the peoplethat they surveyed said they're going to travel
overnight for a family trip this year. Forty two percent said I'm also going
(16:21):
to travel overnight for a romantic getawayin the next four months, and thirty
one percent said they're going to travelovernight for Memorial Day. So there's a
precursor for what's going to happen inJuly. For July fourth, that's a
third of the people surveyed. Upto half the people surveyed said they are
traveling. So in the beginning wewere talking about is there a lot of
(16:44):
travel going on the answer is maybe, Yeah, it sounds like it is.
So we've got a holiday weekend thatwe're actively enjoying right now, and
this is the time that maybe youstart thinking about family vacations and you know,
doing some summer getaways. How abouttaking the grandkids with you. I
think it's a great idea. I'ma grandpa, so I think it's an
(17:07):
outstanding idea. Our show today iscalled take the Grandkids on Vacation, and
we're gonna get into that in thenext segment. But we get some hot
deals that will help you get readyto travel with the grandkids. Yeah.
I want to talk about several hotdeals that I have. One of them
has to do with a place thatI think a lot of the folks listening
today will will remember how many peoplehave listened to Nickelodeon on TV. Remember
(17:30):
Nickelodeon and that green Slime all thatstuff. Yeah, yeah, Well there
are actually Nickelodeon resorts. I've seenthese, and I want to go.
I want to go too. Andthat's why this is on my list because
I was looking at going. There'sone in rivere Amaya, there's one in
Pluntakana. And this summer Chris iswhat they're calling it. The summer of
(17:52):
Who's the Hero on Nickelodeon. Ohgosh, I don't know a guy that
lived in the Sea Oh, SpongeBob, Spongebobe. It's the summer of Pungebob
love it this summer, so theyhave a special promotion. And what I
did is I priced a couple things. I looked at a couple grandparents,
a couple grandkids going from Dulles Airportfor a week. This includes the Club
(18:15):
Nick. So if those kids arebetween four and twelve, the grandparents need
a break once in a while,right, so you can drop these kids
at Club Nick where they have scavengerHunt, they do SpongeBob movies and episodes.
They have slime available if the kidsneed it. They've got a little
miniature kid pool with little miniature kidlounge chairs like that. It's almost I
(18:36):
think probably eight to twelve inches deep. So this pool is pretty safe.
And they have people there, youknow, watching it too, like lifeguards.
I guess they are lifeguards, notlike lifeguards. They are lifeguards,
but they're watching it. But Ilooked at a family room in there for
two adults, two children, includingtravel one week from Dulles starting at seven
(19:00):
thousand dollars. That's including your airfare, okay, And the best thing about
this resort it is all inclusive,so once you're there, you are eating
and drinking. Adults are drinking adultdrinks, the kids are drinking kid drinks.
But you are you have all ofeverything is included. So and creating
(19:21):
memories NonStop, and creating NonStop memory. Say, all you got to bring
is a camera phone? Right,So that's one. Maybe a Rivie or
mine. Maybe Nickelodeon isn't your deal. So here's another one. One of
the most interesting places I traveled andwe'll remember forever is Costa Rica. And
I know you and Terry have talkedabout Costa Rica before too. So I've
(19:42):
got a week in July on thebeach at Guanacoste for two adults, two
children. Now this is grandparents,we said, right, okay, okay.
So this particular resort has a splashwater world with slides, I entertainment,
music, a kids club. Itincludes a non motorized water sports so
(20:06):
kayaking, windsurfing, stand up paddlesurfing. I don't know about grandpa trying
that one school. They even includea scuba tryout in the pool. And
uh, that's sixty six, onehundred dollars leaving from Richmond for one week
in July. How's that for anice Grandpa graft. Kids are gonna love
(20:26):
you. And you can see aspecial animal in Costa Rica that will endear
yourself ud be endeared in your heartforever. And that is where you can
see the sloths. That's Costa Rica. My wife loves sloths. I think
they're great. I even have afurry stuffed little sloth that I use to
store, you know, little thingsin on top of my dresser. It's
(20:48):
like a sloth holder. Harry,I'm getting to know a little too much
about your personal There you go,there you go. So if you don't
want to go to Nickelodeon, ifyou don't want to go to Costa Rica,
but you're a cruiser. I searchedout something for the cruisers this week
too, Chris and cruising is againall inclusive like the other two. There's
a cruise that goes from Boston toBermuda and Maine in June. I priced
(21:15):
two adults, two kids. Thisis a family balcony room. So this
is not an inside room, adungeon kind of room. This is a
family balcony room. It includes abeverage package, specially dining. It includes
Wi Fi, It includes gratuities,there's even some credit out there for shore
excursions, and insurance is something thatwe'd have to add on this depending on
(21:40):
the people in their ages. Butthis one goes starts in Boston, goes
at sea for a day, goesdown to Bermuda Docks for three days.
In Bermuda, you take a rideback up the shoreline, stop in Bar
Harbor or as they say, upthere bah Haba, and you end in
Boston. This one is pricing atthis family balcony room for fifty three hundred
(22:07):
dollars. Okay, but there's more. If you have a military discharge or
active military, or if you're ateacher, you can get an extra discount
of either ten percent or five percenton top of that price. I like
it. Yeah, you want onemore? Sure? This one's my favorite,
(22:29):
my personal favorite. And I'm actuallyas a grandpa thinking about this.
I'm going to talk to my sonnext weekend about this. Have you ever
heard of Club Mad I have.Yeah, They're really famous all around the
world. There aren't many in NorthAmerica. There is one up in Montreal,
just north of Montreal, northeast ofMontreal, in a town called Charlevoi.
(22:52):
It's about an hour from Quebec City, and it's actually four hours northeast
of Montreal, even though they listedas Montreal. It's a little run up
from there, but it's up theSaint Lawrence River, so if you know
where I'm talking about. I lookedat this property because Club med is known
for their all inclusive they are alsoa luxury all inclusive. This is a
(23:15):
ski resort in the winter, butthey've opened up a lot of summer programs
there. It's in a wonderful location. It's in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve location,
so it's ideal for nature lovers.Fantastic views. You're up on a
mountain looking down at the Saint LawrenceRiver. The cheerlifts run in the summer,
(23:37):
so you can ride up to thetop, do your thing up there,
look around, do some hiking.They have mountain biking available up there,
and during the summer they also havebetween mid July and August they bring
in what they call the Astro CircusFestival. So if you're looking for something
to do, you want to celebrateyour inner child, you want to do
(24:00):
some stargazing, you want to learnhow to do the trapeze thing or circus
lessons. This is for you.They've got a planetarium experience that they're going
to have a show running five daysa week. They've got touring through the
Cosmos with their planetarium, a littleMars mission that they do. They do
(24:21):
a little space launch simulated space launchand talk about that and talk about the
secrets. And at night they havestargazing, because what a great location.
You're up there on top of amountain. Some experts will be there to
lead some explorations. So if youwant to walk and hike around, learn
about some of the things going on, learn about the Milky Way, learn
(24:42):
about constellations. All of this isincluded in your stay at Club Med.
They've got a light show that goeson, they've got music performances, all
kinds of things going on. Butyou're in a little pod of nature at
this UNESCO site away from it all. And this is a drivable location from
(25:03):
where we're sitting right now as we'retalking, it's a drivable location. They
have a sale going on that thisroom would normally, this deluxe room with
a mountain view, normally for thisone week period would go for eleven thousand
dollars. Ouch. Yeah, howmuch is it with the bargain that is
(25:26):
over my credit card limit on alot of my credit cards. The cost
for this same room, and youhave to book this very soon. This
sale is going off. But thecost for this room now is just under
four thousand dollars, and that includesthe parking. They charge it for parking.
But I built that in assuming you'dtake a ride up. Excellent for
(25:47):
four thousand dollars to experience Club Medplus all those things and keep your kids
entertained in a location that's really prettyexciting from an outdoorsy perspective. It's a
historic site plenty to see. Youcan take some side trips go down and
(26:07):
you'll have your car so you cango down and take a cruise down the
Saint Lawrence if you want to.Lots of stuff to do there. Harry,
I like the deal she brought usthis week. How do we get
in touch with you? In bookone of these? We're easy to get
in touch with. We're not goingto be working on Monday. We're going
to take the day off and honorour war dead on Monday on Memorial Day,
which is what that holiday's really about. So we won't be there Monday,
(26:30):
but on Tuesday we will be there, and tomorrow we will be there.
You can get in touch with us. We're at five at two forty
three, had to think two fortythree Niff Avenue in Harrisonburg. You can
find us on the web at thewishing Well dot biz, or you can
give us a call. We're atfive four zero nine zero eight two three
(26:52):
three three, and we do geta lot of people to call from outside
the area and more excited about that. We're happy to serve you wherever you
are. So our hot deals wereall about taking the grandkids on vacation.
That's actually the theme for our entireshow today, and so we are going
to start digging a little deeper intowhere we can go, what we can
do with the kids, and makethis just as memorable for the grandparents as
(27:14):
it is for the kids. Absolutely, we'll take the grandkids on vacation next
here on a lifeless ordinary. Protectyour vacation investment with guidance from a travel
professional. The wishing Well knows traveland helps you avoid pitfalls that can spoil
your hirer earned vacation. We'll planyour trip and have you back as you
travel. All of this without supportor so called convenience fees. We're on
(27:34):
the web at THO Wishingwell dot diizor call us at five four zero nine
zero eight two three three three.That's five four zero nine zero eight two
three three three. The washing Wellreally does make dreams come true. And
welcome back to a lifeless ordinary theTravel Showing Podcast from your friends at the
wishing Well. This week, HarryRife from The wishing Well joins us.
(27:56):
This is a fun Saturday morning onMemorial Day weekend. Talking about taking the
kids on vacation. Do you havea vacation memory with your grandparents? Harry,
Oh, I don't have one withmy grandparents because they weren't around that
much. But I have one withmy parents, and I'm trying to replicate
that with my grandkids because it doesn'tmatter if it's parents or grandparents or both,
(28:21):
and we see a lot of that. Those memories last forever. There's
nothing you can do to take memoriesaway. I often tell people, Chris,
if you have a memory, evenif you do something bad, you
get sick and you can't travel anymore, those memories are with you forever.
If you do something really bad andyou end up in the what they called
the big House, they'll take awayyour money, they'll take away your billy,
(28:45):
but the memories are always going tobe there with you. So yeah,
I have one that I really remember. It was a trip outside of
the country and it was to aplace that we just spoke about. It
was to Montreal. The Olympics werein my Montreal. Remember that was that
the that was in the seventies,seventies, early eighties. It was I
(29:07):
think it was seven. I haveto go back and google it, I
guess, but it was in theseventies. I want to say seventy six.
Yeah, I think I'm not sure. But we went to the Olympics
in Montreal, and oh my gosh, that's something that will stick with me
forever. We talked, just talkedabout Club med in Montreal. I'm taking
a trip up to Montreal this comingmonth, and when I go there,
(29:30):
I'm going to look for that stadiumbecause it was one of the most futuristic
buildings built at the time. Soyeah, that stays with me all the
way into my seventies. So itmust have made an impression. Yeah,
what about you. So my momwas a single mom raising me. She
did not have a lot of money, so Grandma her mom was always the
(29:52):
one who took us on vacation,and we went to Disney World when I
was probably six sevent years old.I guess it was right after the Epcot
Center opened, and so it waslike all brand new and exciting. And
I mean, so is exciting whenyou go to Disney World. It is,
but you know, when you're sixyears old, it was like going
to another planet. Yeah, andI got to fly on a plane.
(30:14):
We drove down but flew home andit was my first time on an airplane
and I just was in awe ofthe fact that we were in the air
I didn't understand how it worked,how it worked. And then when I
got older, she took us.It was a family reunion, I think,
but she, you know, shewas covering the costs. We went
down to Kittyhawk Kildevio Hills, andthat was just fun because it wasn't like
(30:40):
all those other vacations there was.There wasn't this agenda of we got to
get up and walk twenty five thousandsteps through an amusement park. I went
to the I think they have likean arboretum down there, and we went
to the beach. I don't likethe beach, So I don't think I
did much of the beach. Ienjoyed. I was old enough. I
feel like I might have been enoughto drive, so I may have been
(31:06):
on try myself. But we wentto the the Wright Brothers Museum and I
really enjoyed that, and I wentand I had my camera with me and
I went and I just took picturesof flowers everywhere because it was just so
pretty. Elisian, Well, I'llhire you. Can you arrange flowers?
No, I can't arrange, butI can take pictures of them, So
(31:27):
yeah, I and I I alwaysthink back that it was, you know,
my grandmother Wilson who made all thosethings happen. And you remember a
lot of details about that. I'msure you remember things that happened, you
know, on the trip too well. I remember being in Orlando and calling
my dad and it was we wentdown at Christmas and it was I don't
(31:51):
know, seventy five degrees in Orlando. My great aunt, my great aunt
lived in Clearwater, so we werestaying with her and I'm like, I'm
hearing shorts and he's like, it'stwelve degrees here. You didn't do I
don't know if I was enough,were brave enough to do that to my
dad? But yeah, no,I love thinking about back on that.
(32:12):
I love thinking just silly memories thatcome back. Sure, like the fact
that they don't have Christmas trees downin Florida. It's either a fake tree
or Charley tree or Charlie Brown Christmastree. That's right. And I was
so worried that Santa wasn't gonna findme. These are the memories I have,
Harry Well, the memories are whatmatter, and that's why an investment
(32:34):
in vacation is a really good investment. Yeah. My second memory real quickly.
I was living in Michigan, andMichigan's a very flat place. Not
much happens. You don't see theclouds in the sky and great formations and
things like that. But my momdecided that she was going to take us
kids to a place where you couldbe in the mountains. She decided she'd
(32:59):
take to a place where you couldvisit a cave. And guess where we
came. Probably here. We cameright here. Okay. I had no
idea that years and years later i'dend up working here and living here.
But I remember being up in ShenandoahPark. I remember being at Luray Caverns.
I have that same exact thing.My grandmother brought us down to the
(33:22):
cast railroad and we went to alDarn. I can't remember the town right
across the state line down you getthere through Augusta County. Churchville, No,
Churchville's on our side, Yeah,past Churchville whatever that. Anyway,
when I moved down here and Istarted going, wait a minute, I
remember I was here. I am. It's a small world. And also
(33:46):
the great thing about vacations that youtake with your parents and with your grandparents,
you learn a lot of things inthe process. You learn about geography,
You learn about different people. Yousee people that may look different,
may speak different, may have differenthouses of worship or all kinds of things.
(34:07):
Schools look different, everything looks different, the clothes that they wear may
look different, and you realize thatthe world is a little bigger than what
exists in your home backyard. Monterey, I love money. Yeah, Monree
is a great place that I loveto visit too. Yeah, we went
there when I was a kid.So what we're talking about though, really
(34:29):
makes sense because as I start tolook at some of the statistics and some
of the data to prepare for ourshow this morning. I found that families
are planning trips. They are lookingforward. Actually, families are reporting that
for the next five years. Theyalready have two to three trips planned.
(34:51):
Really, and that reflects in thedata that we have at the Wishing Well
too. Terry has bookings well intotwenty twenty five. We have inquiries for
twenty twenty six. We have peoplethat are telling us to do group trips,
but they don't want to do it. You know, in twenty twenty
five, they are already promoting andpoliticking for the group trip they want in
twenty twenty six. Interesting, andI think that's great. The kinds of
(35:15):
things they're doing not going to surpriseyou. Families look at beach getaways very
very popular. They are looking tofind trips where they can connect with family.
So they're looking at trips and I'mspeaking with a family tomorrow. They're
going to be bringing in folks fromvarious parts of the country and going on
(35:37):
a trip, so they want toconnect with family. People want a cruise.
You see it, you hear aboutit. Everybody's cruising, So people
want a cruise and the other thingsthat they want to do in their vacation.
They want to do just what we'retalking about. Experience new cultures.
They want to go to different placesin the world, see different things that
they may have read about, seethe world, experience new cultures. And
(36:00):
that is for most people how theylearn things. Think about reading it in
a book, think about looking ata video, thinking about putting your feet
in the soil and immersing yourself ina new place. Which would you choose?
The answer is pretty easy. I'dgo me too. So those are
(36:22):
the things that people are saying ismost important. And the other thing that
we talked about earlier were all inclusives. When I was talking about deals,
guess what seventy six percent of thepeople surveyed said all inclusive vacations are their
preferred vacation is that's because they don'twant the surprise of expenses piling up whether
(36:47):
they're on vacation or is it reallythat good of a deal. I think
it's a good deal, and Ithink people don't like surprises, and I
think that people are uncertain. Ifyou haven't gone to a place, you
don't know what you're going to payfor, you don't know what meals are
going to cost. You don't knowwhat hotels are going to cost. You
(37:07):
don't know what it'll take to getfrom the airport to the place that you're
staying. So knowing all that upfront just brings a sense of confidence in
knowing what your vacation is going tocost. And I think that is also
a part of what we hear todaywhen people are saying, you know,
(37:28):
I got to watch my budget.I got to watch my budget. So
if you put all that together,all inclusives are a wonderful solution for knowing
what you're going to spend. Now. I enjoyed it. I've only been
to one all inclusive. It wasin Mexico. I went to Cancun.
I enjoyed that mainly because I wastrying to put them out of the business
(37:49):
of serving food to me, youand me both, and I thought I
got my money's worth, and anybodyelse who was there that night's money sort,
well, you're absolutely right. Iwas taught talking to a chef on
the recent cruise that I was onour group cruise over to Italy and Greece,
and I asked him I had alot of one on one time with
him because of the group. Wehad arranged some events, and I said,
(38:13):
hey, you know what happens tothe consumption of food over the course
of a cruise. And he smiledhis big, broad smile, and he
says, just as you'd expect.He said, on day one, it's
incredible. He says, on daytwo, it's very high. On day
three it's still high. By theend of the week, people are eating
(38:35):
less. I said, so whenyou do these longer duration cruises, he
said, people go back to eatinglike normal, even though everything is all
you want and it's free. Andthis particular cruise offered not only food,
but also beverages, right, Andhe said, the same is true on
the beverage side, and I said, thank goodness. Yeah, people less
(38:59):
of all beverages when they when they'retraveling. You're right, So a lot
of things going on. There wasanother travel survey I saw that was talking
to grandparents, and this was especiallyinteresting to me. Do you have any
idea you want to take a stayup and guess how many grandparents have taken
their kids on what they are callingthis is AARP it's calling a skip generation
(39:22):
vacations. They leave the parents athome and they take the kids and go
on a vacation. Six not thathigh yet, but it's thirty two,
but I think that number is growingand I'm part of that statistic. I'm
going to take my grandkids, andI'm still debating whether I'm going to invite,
you know, my son and daughterin law. I'm gonna you know,
(39:44):
the question is, how do yousell it? You know. My
idea is to say, hey,how'd you like to have a break from
you know, from the guys,and I can take them for a week
and they'll say okay. And Isaid, now, I'd like to take
them for a week, and I'mgoing to take them out of the country
and see how that plays. Leavethem there. Now, there are a
lot of rules. If you're listeningthis morning and you are considering doing that
(40:06):
on a serious note, there area lot of rules about taking a grand
kid, taking somebody that's not yourchild out of the country. It's not
difficult, but there are rules.They're very concerned about children leaving the country
without the consent of both of theirparents. So you will have to do
a little bit of extra work.But it's not you know, owner's work.
(40:29):
It's not difficult at all. Ibet the wishing well can help with
that. The wishing well can tellyou just exactly what to do, and
it's really, you know, prettysimple. So you know, they have
to take your kid to work day, I'm like, go to work on
your own. I'll take your kidsand we'll go on vacation. So that's
that's my grandpa trip. It saidthat more than seventy seven percent of the
(40:50):
boom or grandparents do the trip planning. That surprised me a little bit.
And this next statistic did not surpriseme. Seventy six percent of the grandparents
are paying one hundred percent for thetrick. Oh yeah, yeah, So
it's a good deal for the parents, Chris, it's a really good deal
for the parents. You get,you know, a break from your kids.
Not that you need a break fromyour kids, but sometimes it's nice
(41:14):
to have a little break from yourkids. So you don't have to abide
by to leave the parents at home. Part of what I'm talking about today.
Tell him they can come, butgive him some conditions. You gotta
behave. You gotta let me spoilthe grandkids. If we want to go
ziplining, by gosh, we're gonnago zip lining and see if that doesn't
(41:36):
make the grandkids smile maybe even smirka little bit, you know, when
you're bringing the news to their parentsand then breaking the news to them that
they're not getting anything for Christmas ortheir birthday next year. Yeah, so
I've got to call my son andmake sure that he hasn't been listening to
us, because now he knows allmy tricks. Harry, we need to,
I think, maybe take a littlebit of time to talk about the
(41:57):
considerations if you're actually playing on takingyour grandkids with you. You know what
that entails, what it all lookslike, and I think we need to
take a quick break. When wecome back, we'll dig real deep into
that. Let's do that, allright. That's coming up next here on
a life less Ordinary. Protect yourvacation investment with guidance from a travel professional.
The wishing Well knows travel and helpsyou avoid pitfalls they can spoil your
(42:19):
hard earned vacation. We'll plan yourtrip and have your back as you travel.
All of this without support or socalled convenience fees. We're on the
web at THO Wishingwell dot biz,or call us at five four zero nine
zero eight two three three three that'sfive four zero nine zero eight two thirty
three three. The washing Well reallydoes make dreams come true and welcome back
(42:40):
to a life less ordinary, thetravel show and podcast from your friends at
the Wishing Well. You can findthem at two forty three and f Avenue
and Harrisonburg. They're online at thewishing Well dot biz or give them a
call five four oh nine oh Atwenty three thirty three member. They'll be
closed on Monday as they observe MemorialDay, but it'll be hard at work
on Tuesday, Harry, hard ascan be. I will be working for
(43:05):
two days and one day. I'msure you got to make up for taking
the time off on Monday. Beforewe went to our break, Harry,
we were saying, there's some considerationsyou need to be thinking about if you're
actually planning to take your grandkids withyou on a trip. Yes, there's
some important considerations we talked about alittle bit over the break. The biggest
thing is you make sure that youhave permission, and permission doesn't mean just
(43:27):
asking the parents. What you needto have is you make sure that you
have those kids' paperwork, and bypaperwork, i'm talking about passports of course,
if you're leaving the country. Anytimeyou cross a border, they will
not let you carry a child outthat's not yours unless you have a passport
for that child, and you willneed a letter from both parents giving you
(43:52):
permission and outlining where you're going tobe going, how long you're going to
be gone, and that letter's gotto be signed and it must be notarized.
If you're taking your own children acrossthe border, do you have no
issues for your own children? Ifyou're the parents, you still have to
have a passport for the Yeah,children require a passport. And one of
(44:13):
the things that we run into sometimeswith people with younger children, passports are
good for ten years for you andI. His passports are only good for
five years. They age, theyneed a new photo, they need a
new photo, they look different,and so they age out of their passport
more quickly, and so you wewill always check with people to have them
(44:36):
check those dates. Terry and Iwill often ask people to show us the
passports because people will tell you,yeah, they're fine, they're not necessarily
fat vacation quickly, yes, Andyou want to make sure that those passports
are good for a full six months. After the date that you expect to
return, not go on vacation,but return. So you want to have
(44:59):
six months after you expect to returnfrom vacation. So you want to check
all that documentation, and we canhelp you at the Wishing Well with that.
But that permission is very, veryimportant. In addition to permission,
there's some other things that you wantto have as special considerations. If you're
going to take a grandkid out ofthe country, this does not apply for
(45:22):
your own children, but it doesapply if they are not your children.
And with families and extended families,blended families, semi blended families, all
of the different exceptions to the traditionalgrandparent parent child relationships that we have today.
These rules are especially important with thepermission slips, but also a lot
(45:45):
of children today are on medication orhave medicine that they take. You want
to make sure that you have afull understanding before you leave with the parents
of what that medicine is. Youwant to make sure that you have all
the prescriptions correctly, you know,filled, so that they have enough for
the duration of the trip plus anextra week or two in there. Does
(46:07):
it need to be in the bottlewith the pharmacy label on it, or
can I have it in a ziplockbag and just take it with me.
Again, rules for you and Iare a little bit different the rules for
you and I. If it's nota controlled medication, it does not need
to be in any special bottle.You can put them in the little you
know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, whatever the days of the week are.
(46:30):
I can't remember that or my medicinesome days, but you can put
them in those pill containers if it'snot a controlled medication, are narcotic.
For example, for kids, ourrecommendation the same rule applies. Our recommendation
is if you can have a bottle, go to the to the pharmacy,
get a bottle with the kid's nameon it, with the medicine on it.
(46:51):
It will not only help any situationyou might run into, but it
will also help to remind you becausethe dosage is going to be on that
bottle for you too, so youa little safer as you have your grandkid
with you. If you have anythingthat's a controlled substance for anybody, you
always want to have an original bottleand make sure that you have an extra
(47:13):
week. If you're doing a verylong trip more than a week, but
take an extra week's worth with youand pack that in your carry on luggage
always, so know what the medicationroutine is for the kids, Ask the
parents about the exceptions, what happens, if, what happens if, so
that's on there. A third thingon my list for dealing with kids is
(47:37):
insurance. You're going to get tripinsurance. If you're getting a trip through
the wishing well, we're going toinsist that you have travel insurance since you've
got your grandkids with you, sincethey're not on your insurance card. Medicare
does not cover grandkids. Okay,you want to have copies of the parents'
insurance cards so that if something happensalong the way, you've your trip insurance.
(48:00):
Plus you have the parents insurance cardswith you as well for all of
those all of those kids that arewith you. If there are special needs,
you need to have a very seriouswe joke around a lot, the
very serious discussion with your children aboutwhat those grandkids need. So find out,
(48:21):
you know, if there's something specialthey sleep with a Teddy bear or
whatever it is, you know,special blanket. You know, they don't
know how to tie their shoes andjust these slip on shoes. Whatever the
special circumstances are. You may notget a good knowledge of that if you
just come visit them, you know, three or four times a year,
and you won't know all those littlenuances. So have that. And my
(48:45):
advice is with all these things,Chris, especially if you're a grandpa or
grandma, write it down because weforget sometimes. You know, it doesn't
take much to forget something. Acouple other things, just two more.
One is your sleep patterns are goingto be different than your grandkids sleep patterns.
(49:07):
Your sleep routines are going to bedifferent than your kids. Your grandkids
sleep routines, So, especially ifthe parents aren't with you, learn what
those are. When you're traveling andyou're going to different places, you may
change a time zone, maybe onlyan hour, maybe three hours if you
take them on an Alaska cruise,for example, maybe three four hours.
(49:27):
Make sure that you're able to adjustfor those time zones and make sure that
you've thought about how those kids,the grandkids are going to adjust for those
time zones. Also, also talkabout sleep routines. Who you know,
does a grandkid like to climb intobed when they get scared so that you
can expect them to show up onyour bed in the middle of the night.
(49:50):
You see, this is a littleperson crawling in your bed. It's
like, what's happening. You wantto know what the routines are for them
and what they're like in the morning. And then last Lee is one of
the big ones, and that's rules. You got to ask the parents.
As much as you don't need tofollow them along the way one hundred percent,
you at least want them to setout what the rules are, what
they can and what they cannot do, and what you can and cannot do,
(50:15):
you know, with the grandkids,and then sit down with the kids,
involve the kids and what you're doing, and have a discussion about what
you're going to be doing, whatthey can expect to be doing. If
you're going down and you're going togo to a place where there's an opportunity
to learn how to you know,ride a trapeze, is that okay?
Grandparents, I'd want to know haveyou ever done something like that before?
(50:38):
Maybe even go out to one ofthe local you know, kid kid jimberrees
and try that with them beforehand.So when you go on vacation. It's
not a terror experience. It's acomfortable experience and they don't feel pushed.
You may ride a you know,a chairlift, you may take a water
slide on a you know, ona cruise ship. You want to know
(51:00):
about those things. So that's myadvice. If you're going to be taking
the grandkids. Sounds owners, butit's not. There's one thing you haven't
mentioned that I would think would bereally important. Make sure you're picking the
trip with consultation of the grandkids.To yes, just because you might have
fun somewhere, your grandkids may bebored to death, You're absolutely right,
(51:22):
And that's one of the considerations thatI read about also, that we should
involve the kids in the discussion.If you want your grandkids to be enthusiastic
about this trip, if you wantyour grandkids to talk to their parents into
letting you take them on this tripand you know, kidnap them for a
week and take them somewhere, it'sgreat to have them involved in that discussion
(51:45):
because if they choose the place,chances are they're going to pick a place
where they're going to enjoy. They'regoing to ask you questions. Grandpa grandma,
You know what about what can Ido? Is there a swimming pool
there? Yes? Is there youknow, a a water slide? Yes?
Is there a water park? No? You know. So you want
to go through those things and it'llhelp you make the right choices. And
(52:07):
when you come to talk to usabout your destination, Chris, it's important
because we're going to ask you,what do you think the grandkids like,
what's important to them? In thatconsultation meeting? Should you bring the grandkids
with you or is that maybe alittle too much? Too much input it
early on in the in the planning, I think you know, that depends
(52:27):
on the grandkids and on their personalities. You know, I've got one that's
really mature, one that's working onit still, And it depends on the
personalities. But that's something you wantto do in concert with the parents.
I was, you know, sayinga couple of things that's sounding like I'm
dising to parents. I'm laughing whenI'm saying and I hope everybody's hearing me
do that, laughing while I'm sayingit. You want to consider the parents,
(52:50):
and the parents know their kids better, way better than you do,
and in the long run, thekids belong to the parents, not to
the grandparents. Harry, this iswhere I wish I had grandkids who I
could go on vacation with them.If we've got grandkids and we're thinking,
yes, I love everything you've beentalking about today. How do I book
this trip? How do we getin touch with you? We're so easy
to find and get in touch with. You can find us at two forty
(53:13):
three nef Avenue in Harrisonburg. Youcan find us on the web at Thethwishingwell
dot biz, or you can giveus a call. We're at five four
zero nine zero eight two three threethree. This has been a Life Less
Ordinary the travel show from your friendsat the wishing Well at two forty three
nef Avenue in Harrisonburg. If youhave any questions on topics discussed today,
(53:35):
please reach out to The wishing Wellonline at the Wishingwell dot biz or five
four oh nine oh eight twenty threethirty three. Past episodes are available on
the iHeartRadio app. And we'll seeagain next Saturday morning at ten for a
Life Less Ordinary from the wishing Well
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