Festive Escapes: Santa Claus Express, Paris Delights, and Spring Tulips

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Patrick Wiscombe (00:00):
Let me welcome everybody to the Inside Travel
Talk podcast and radio show.
On today's show, we are goingto be discussing the Santa Claus
Express.
It's hard to believe thatChristmas is in about two months
and if you've always wanted togo to Paris, listen up.
We've got travel deals to Paris.
We're also going to be talkingabout Tulip Time River Cruises

(00:20):
and we have a question for youShould you book an all-inclusive
trip?
We're going to answer all ofthose questions, so let's start
the show.
The Inside Travel Talk podcastand radio show presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com contains travel deals,promotions and offers that may
be time-sensitive.
All offers and information wereaccurate when the show aired.

(00:41):
Travel deals and offers changeconstantly and are capacity
controlled and subject to changewithout notice.

Show Voice (00:56):
Explore your world.
It's the Inside Travel Talkpodcast and radio show presented
by BluePlanetVacations.
com.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700 and
check out the podcast atinsidetraveltalk.
com.
And now here are your hosts,Patrick iskam and mark Faldmoe.

It is time for another Inside Travel Talk
podcast and radio show.
Good morning.
If you're listening to us onSaturday morning, october 26th,
or Sunday, october 27th on 860KKAT here in Salt Lake City, my

(01:52):
name is Patrick Wiscombe and ifyou are brand new to the show,
first of all let me just saythank you for listening, thank
you for pausing right here onthis frequency so you can hear
the show.
The entire purpose of this showis to help you plan and book
your next vacation, give youideas, and we want to help you
create memories, not only foryourself, but for your family,

(02:15):
your friends, your significantother.
You have definitely found theright show.
You can get the podcast atinsidravelTalk.
com or wherever you get yourpodcasts.
We're on all of the majorpodcast platforms and we are
presented by BluePlanetVacations.
com, and let me welcome my goodfriend, Mark Faldmo.

(02:35):
He's also the owner of thecompany.
How are you?

Mark Faldmo (02:37):
I'm good, it's good to be here.
We've got some exciting thingsto talk about.
We have another train storyworked in which I'm very excited
to talk about.

Coming up in this segment.
We've got the travel newsheadlines and we're also going
to talk about the destination ofthe week.
Philip is asking a question.
He wants to plan a family tripthat is uniquely Christmas.
That's coming up in this firstsegment.
So let's get to the travel newsof the week.
You and I have been followingthis story for a while that
Universal's, meaning UniversalStudios, universal's Epic

(03:08):
Universe has finally announcedan opening date and when the
tickets go on sale.

We talked about this, probably two months ago,
where we kind of gave a previewof the new park, epic Universe.
So just quickly, it has fiveimmersive worlds they call them
portals which are the WizardingWorld of Harry Potter, ministry
of Magic, super Nintendo World,how to Train your Dragon and
Dark Universe and Celestial Park.

(03:38):
Response to this park Ticketswent on sale for this this week,
this past week.
So October 22nd is when theywent on sale, and the date of
opening is May 22nd.
Oh wow, they're really planningin advance.
They are yeah and so.
So right now the park ticketsare on sale, as I mentioned, and

(04:01):
you can buy one day, three day,four day, multiple day park
tickets, but any of thosemultiple day park tickets will
only include one day at EpicUniverse.
The rest of the days you'llhave to be at one of the other
Universal parks.

I have great news for you that I forgot to
tell you yesterday.
When you and I went to Floridain April, we went on the
Margaritaville at Sea, theParadise vessel.
Yes, I have good news for you.
When we were on that flight, Iwas getting my global entry
application submitted and I hadto schedule the interview.

(04:36):
That was six months later.
Here's the good news.
Part of that, and it ties intothis next story I finally had my
interview yesterday.
I finally have global entryMark.

That's good.
I think global entry is one ofthe best programs you can buy,
especially if you travelinternationally.
It also comes with TSA freecheck.

Yep, why do I bring that up?
I know that I supportbiometrics going through airport
security because it's fast.
What does this news article say?

So this actually is a surprisingly high number it
was 79% support airportsecurity's use of biometric
technology to verify identity oftravelers.
So this does streamline thescreening process and make sure
that you are who you are.
So your biometrics match upwith your ID and again it just

(05:28):
makes for convenience.
You know we've talked aboutsome of the new technologies
like TSA PreCheck.
You just go, it takes a pictureof you and you walk through.
It knows who you are, it knowswhat flight you're on and it
saves time.

Delta is going to introduce a flight from
Minneapolis to Copenhagen.
Sure, seems like we're talkingabout Copenhagen a lot lately.

We are, and it's because of the new code share
agreement with SAS Airlines onthat.
And so I think last week wetalked about SAS starting a
flight out of Seattle toCopenhagen.
This week it's Delta Airlinesstarting the flight from
Minneapolis to Copenhagen.
So again, this is just anotherway Scandinavia is opening up.

(06:08):
Copenhagen has been a littlebit harder to get to, especially
if you're on the West Coast,and there are lots of cruises
that start in Copenhagen, sothis is just really going to
open up that.

You have a list of the most travel-worthy
UNESCO World Heritage Sitesaround the world.
If someone is not familiar witha UNESCO World Heritage Sites
around the world, if someone isnot familiar with a UNESCO World
Heritage Site, let's just startthere.
What is that?

When you're traveling, you should seek out
these UNESCO World HeritageSites.
They are sites that celebratehuman creativity.
They have a significance inhuman history, traditional human
settlement, major stages of theearth history and the
significant natural habitat forbiodiversity.
So those are the requirementsthat UNESCO puts on naming these

(06:51):
sites.

What are some of those sites around the world?

To name a few, and I've been to several of these
and they are definitely worthvisiting.
The number one on the list isMachu Picchu in Peru.
You have always said that Go toMachu Picchu.
Yeah, Machu Picchu is amazing,just that whole experience of
getting there, what youexperience and what you see.
Another site is the KarnakTemple in Luxor, Egypt.

(07:14):
Another one, Angkor Wat, inCambodia.

Yeah, I do want to do that.

We've talked about that a few times Yep Stonehenge
in England.
One that's a little bit easierto get to is the Sagrada Familia
in Barcelona.
These are all examples ofUNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Find those sites and work thoseinto your travel plans.
That's a great idea.

Okay, let's talk about the destination of
the week.
Was this a text or an emailthat you got from Philip?
This was a text on the show'stext line, so let me just give
out the show text line whilewe're talking about it.
It's 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
That's how you get a hold ofthe show.
Philip wanted to take hisfamily on a what he's calling a

(07:59):
uniquely Christmas holiday andhe's asking do you have any
recommendations?
You know what?
The first thing that came tomind was the Christmas markets
in Europe.

That is a good way to experience Christmas related
things, and that is probably thefirst thing that come to my
mind as well, but I tried tolook for something a little bit
more unique.
This is something you canactually do year round, but the
best time is in thatmid-November to December
Christmas time, and it is theSanta Claus Express.

Is this a train?

This is a train, so this is our train story.
This train goes from Helsinki,Finland, to Lapland in the
Arctic Circle.
So it goes way up north inFinland.
It's an overnight train.
It takes about 12 hours to getthere.
It's a double-decker train, hasregular train cars with regular

(08:53):
seats, or you can get sleepercars with private toilet and
shower.
It is a nice train.
And then the destination isreally what's nice about it?
Its final destination is a cityof about 65,000.
It's right on the Arctic Circle, actually about four miles
south, called Rovunihimi it'sthe name of the city.

(09:14):
There are several hotels,restaurants, things to do there,
but the highlight is the SantaClaus Village, and this is where
it is Christmas year-round.
Oh wow, it's located right onthe Arctic Circle.
There's actually a webcam thatyou can go to year round.
It's just go to Santa ClausVillage dot info and there's a

(09:35):
webcam so you can click on itand see what Santa's Village
looks like.
On that live shot it shows theArctic Circle running right
through it, so you can walkright up the Arctic Circle in
that.

So you can go to the Arctic Circle, then you
can.
Oh see, I would do that Justsay hey.
I've been to the Arctic.

Ad Voice (09:53):
Circle, and I don't mean the restaurant in Salt Lake
.

Yeah Well, I've been there too, but the Santa
Claus Village is very unique.
Obviously.
It's decorated like Christmasyear-round.
Santa is there year-round, andhere are a couple of the places
that you can visit, some of theactivities you can do.
There's Mrs.
Claus Christmas Cottage andthen they have the Christmas

(10:19):
House Safari where you go out onsafari and you're holding
sleighs by reindeer.
There's a place called Santa'sForest that's filled with
Christmas trees that you canwalk through.
There's the Santa Claus officewhere Santa is making his list.
You can visit Santa there.
Santa's Motor Park where youdrive ice go-karts around a

(10:41):
racetrack there we go.
There's a place called SnowmanWorld and there's the Elf's Hat
Academy and then there's alsothe Christmas house where Santa
Claus is.
He's either at his office or athis house.
There's lots of things you cando, all Christmas themed and
obviously also, if you go thereat the right time of the year,
great place to see the NorthernLights.

Oh, I didn't even think about the Northern
Lights.
Yeah, that's a first of all.
This is just great, but to seethe Northern Lights on top of
all this, that's pretty special.
The live webcamsantaclausvillage.
info.
Can we put that in the shownotes on the website?

That'll be in the show notes.
So if you go toblueplanetvacations.
com, you can click on thisepisode and that'll be in the
show notes as well, along withother information about what to
do in Santa Claus Village.

How did you find out about this?
This is terrific.
This is a great idea.

I've heard about it before but I've never really
looked into it.
So that's one thing.
Again, because I like trains,that kind of caught my attention
.
I really looked into it to seeall of these wonderful things
you can do on this trip.

You will not get better coverage of train
travel than right here on thisshow.
I've got my credit card righthere.
Hold on, I want to surprise mykids with this one.
That would be a lot of fun, soI will be calling you.
I know I've got your cellnumber, but let me give the

(12:05):
office number for everyonelistening 888-718-7717.
888-718-7717 is Mark's officenumber at blueplanetvacations.
com.
Get out, go explore the world,especially something like that.
If you love Christmas, not onlywill I do it, mark will

(12:31):
probably do it, and then let'sreport back to the listeners how
it went.
What a great idea when we comeback.
We've got more travel news ofthe week.
We've got the hot travel dealof the week, always in segment
two, and we are talking aboutParis.
If you want to go to Paris,this is the segment for you.

(12:52):
That is next when the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show continues.
Alongside Mark Faldmo, my nameis Patrick Wiscombe.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
We will be right back.

Show Voice (13:07):
Taking you to destinations around the world.
The Inside Travel Talk podcastand radio show is presented by
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700 801-649-3700.

Ad Voice (13:37):
Thanks for listening.
We'll be right back Europe'smost remarkable sites and cities
To set out on your own rivercruise journey.
Contact Blue Planet Vacationsat 888-718-7717 or
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com.

Show Voice (13:59):
Now back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and
radio show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
Call or text the show right now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com here's Patrick Wiscombe andMark Faldmo here's Patrick

(14:25):
Wiscombe and mark Faldmo.

Welcome back inside of the inside travel talk
podcast and radio show.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
Mark Faldmo joins me.
He's the owner of Blue PlanetVacations and if you have
questions that you want to textus during the show, please do so
801-649-3700.

(14:51):
801-649-3700.
If you are planning your ownvacation or you need guidance or
you want to take advantage ofthe deals that we're talking
about during the show, you cantext that number 801-649-3700.
Coming up in this segment,always in segment number two of

(15:12):
the show, it is the hot traveldeal of the week and this week
we are going to Paris.
We're going to Paris, butbefore we talk about Paris,
we've got some travel news thatwe need to talk about.
With Thanksgiving basicallybeing five weeks out at this
point, there are the best andworst days to fly for

(15:32):
Thanksgiving 2024.
Let's start there, since that'scoming up.

If you haven't booked your Thanksgiving travel,
you should do it now, becauseactually the best time to book
travel is the first week ofOctober, so we're past that date
now.
But if you haven't, here arethe best and worst days to
travel on Thanksgiving.
First, the worst day to travelis the Sunday following

(15:58):
Thanksgiving, which would beDecember 1st this year.
That is also one of thepriciest days to travel on of
any day of the year, is itreally?
Prices are up 10% compared tolast year for travel on December
1st and travelers will payabout $140 more per ticket
compared to those who wait totravel on Monday.

(16:20):
So it does go down considerablyif you can wait, if you can wait
until that, Monday December 2nd.
Also, other days aroundThanksgiving Thursday November
21st and Monday November 25thare ideal days to travel as well
.
Those days offer about a 23%savings per ticket when looking
at flight purchase data.

Well, that kind of ties into this next
story, the top US airlines.
What are the criteria thatgives it the ranking?

This is a list of the best airlines.
It has 16 factors and they lookat things like staff service,
seat comfort, technology.
So it takes the whole travelexperience, breaks it down into
16 factors.
Which airlines scored thehighest?
According to this survey?

(17:14):
Alaska Airlines secured the topspot with a score of 87.82 out
of a total of 100.
Alaska Okay.
Delta was followed closely witha score of 86.85.
And then Hawaiian Airlines,which scored 86.08.
So those are the top three USdomestic airlines.
At the other end of thespectrum, frontier Airlines

(17:34):
received the lowest score ofjust 4.53 out of a possible 100.
Spirit Airlines came in next,at 16.08.
Southwest was fourth, JetBluewas fifth, united was sixth and
American Airlines ranked ninth.

Disney is rethinking its accessibility
services program for those withdisabilities.
Now I'll be the first to raisemy hand that when we went to
Disneyland, in this case with mymother-in-law, there were 10 or
11 of us in tow.

There was a cheat code to get to the number of
people that can go through lineswith you and also a site to
actually verify that you need it, Because a lot of people just
show up and say I need awheelchair.
Now they are being a little bitmore judicious in who they
actually allow to use thatservice.
You can just go to theaccessibility services website

(18:37):
for Walt Disney World orDisneyland and it'll give you
all of the details.

This is good news, and this story ties into
the hot travel deal of the week,which is Paris.
The Notre Dame Cathedral hasfinally announced a reopening
date.
This is the cathedral thatburned down.
It was years ago at this point.
When are they reopening?

So it burned down in 2019.
The opening date is December8th, so just a few weeks away.
I would be really interested tosee how they've rebuilt that.
The main facades, I think, arestill there.
I remember one tour guide thattook us.
We walked all the way aroundthe cathedral pointing out all
the things.
There's a gargoyle on therewhich is the hunchback of Notre
Dame.
I just remember some of thelittle crepe carts that are out
in front of that, eating reallygood crepes in front of Notre

(19:28):
Dame.
So that's so it was church anddinner.
Yeah, church and dinner, but itis an iconic place to visit in
Paris and I'm glad that it'sopening and that people get to
visit that again.

Let's talk about the hot travel deal of the
week to Paris.
You have a client that wantedto go to Paris this spring but
then backed out.
Is that right?
Am I reading that right?

Yes, oh wow, they backed out because they talked
to some friends and the friendssaid well, in Paris they don't
like Americans, so it's probablynot a good vacation experience.
Oh boy, and this is areputation that Paris does have,
Although I don't think youshould cancel a vacation based

(20:13):
on that, because people have alldifferent personalities all
around the world and it is thatpersonality.
Personally, my experiences inParis I've rarely experienced
that.

The speediness .

Yeah, I think in the past I've told a story about
the only place I've ever beenpickpocketed was in the Paris
subway.

Oh, I didn't know, that's where it happened.

Yeah, it was late at night, and if it wouldn't
have been for some niceParisians, I'd had a really hard
time getting back to my hotel.
The only thing that pickpocketers got were my map and
directions back to the hotel.

Let's talk about the airfare and five
nights from Salt Lake City toParis.
What's the price on that andwhere are we staying?

I looked in April Early spring is a great time to
go to Paris.
Our fare from Salt Lake Cityfive nights hotel starts at
$19.59 per person.
Wow, that is so good, and Iwill say there are hotels that
are lower than that.
I found some hotels that werestarting in the $1,300s per

(21:16):
person.
But I do believe where you stayis important.
This isn't exactly city centerin Paris, but it was staying at
a hotel called the Mercure TowerEiffel Point Maribeua, which is
about one mile from the EiffelTower, so it's still fairly
centrally located.
Paris has 20 districts.
They call them arrondissementsand they spiral out from city

(21:39):
center.
So arrondissement one throughfour are actually considered the
city center and then theyspiral out from there.
I'd recommend choosing a hotelin arrondissement one through
nine, just to give you kind ofan idea where things are located
.
The Eiffel Tower is inarrondissement seven.
Arc de Triomphe andChamps-Élysées are in

(21:59):
Arrondissement 8.
The Louvre Museum is inArrondissement 1.
So it's right in the middle oftown.

What are some of your favorite things to do in
Paris?

The number one visitor attraction is the Eiffel
Tower.
It has three different levels.
You can go to level one, leveltwo or level three.
Popular thing to do is there'srestaurants on level two so you
can go have lunch or dinnerthere.
These restaurants do require ajacket to dine there.
My favorite thing at the EiffelTower is they have a place

(22:31):
called the Macaroon Bar.
It's on the second level andthey have an exclusive macaroon
recipe developed specificallyfor the Eiffel Tower.
So that's another food thingother than crepes that I like.
Going to the third floor of theEiffel Tower, it's a little bit
harder ticket to get, but youcan go there and you have great
views of the city.

(22:51):
Another top place is the LouvreMuseum and then Notre Dame
Cathedral.
You can do a center rivercruise.
You can do a day or night.
You can also do a lunch ordinner cruise as well.
I've done a dinner cruise onthe Seine, you know, cruising
past the Eiffel Tower.
It's a nice experience.
One place that I would highlyrecommend is to go out to the

(23:16):
Palace of Versailles.
Another thing that I like to dois the Paris Catacombs.
Yeah, you've mentioned thatbefore the catacombs were
created in the 17th century.
They're 65 feet beneath Paris,located in limestone quarries.
It was because they were justrunning out of places to bury
people, so they decided to burythem underground, but it's a

(23:36):
very interesting thing to do.

And no trip to Paris would be complete without
the D-Day and the Normandytours.
At least that's where my headwent.

That's a day tour you can do.
It is a long day, it's about a12-hour day, but you can get up
and see all of the sites ofD-Day and the Normandy beaches.

Not only will I be going on this one, but I'm
afraid that five days it's justnot even going to be enough.

No, it's not, and that's a good starting spot.

I do see Nikki and I going for, I would say,
minimum 10 days, maybe two weeks.
I can even see us moving there.
We'll have the internationalversion of the radio show it was
the radio show if you areinterested in heading to Paris,

(24:25):
call Mark in his office.
Save this segment, replay it, goto inside travel talk.
com so you can listen to theshow again and subscribe to the
podcast.
But call him in his office888-718-7717, 888-718-7717.
When we come back at the bottomof the hour after the Fox News

(24:48):
update, it's the infamous JustCruising segment.
We're talking Royal Caribbean,the Carnival Cruise Lines, has
added more cruises for next yearand we are going to go see some
tulips in Amsterdam.
That is next when the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show continues.

(25:09):
He is Mark Faldmo.

Show Voice (25:16):
You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast
and radio show with PatrickWiscombe and Mark Faldmo,
presented by BluePlanetVacations.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700.
That's 801-649-3700.

(25:38):
com.

Ad Voice (25:53):
We'll be right back.
Eldorado Spa Resort.
Our oceanfront resorts areexclusively for adults and have
been voted among the mostromantic resorts in Mexico and
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Resort, contact Blue PlanetVacations at 888-718-7717 or
com.

Welcome back to the Inside Travel Talk
podcast radio show Coming up.
In the next 30 minutes we willbe talking about Tulip Time
River cruises in Amsterdam andall-inclusive Mexico vacations,
but the question that we'regoing to ask is should you book
an all-inclusive trip?
Let's get back to the show.
The Inside Travel Talk podcastand radio show presented by

(26:34):
com contains travel deals,promotions and offers that may
be time sensitive.
All offers and information wereaccurate when the show aired.
Travel deals and offers changeconstantly and are capacity
controlled and subject to changewithout notice.

Show Voice (26:53):
This is the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio
show Presented byBluePlanetvacations.
Call or text the show right now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
And now here are your hostsPatrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo

(27:15):
.

Welcome back into the Inside Travel Talk
podcast, a radio show.
Mark Faldmo is the owner ofBlue Planet Vacations and this
show is presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com.
And this show is presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com Coming up in this segment.
It is the infamous JustCruising segment.

(27:45):
So all aboard, if you're justjoining the show here at the
bottom of the hour, and thankyou so much for tuning us in and
taking us along wherever andhowever you're accessing the
show.
Today We've got the travel newsof the week.
This is just the cruise news ofthe week and of course, we'll

(28:09):
have the cruise deal of the weekcoming up in this segment.
But let's first start with thetravel news headlines.
I saw this story marked thatRoyal Caribbean is saying hola
to Mexican Perfect Day.

Royal Caribbean has their Perfect Day at Coco Cay
in the Bahamas, and it's a fullyimmersive experience that Royal
Caribbean has created on theisland.
They are now just announced anew port called Perfect Day
Mexico, which is going to be inMahoal, which is Costa Maya,

(28:41):
Mexico, so that's in thesouthern end of the Yucatan
Peninsula.

Oh, that's right, I forgot about that.

Yeah, this will be a private port where they'll
have a water park.
The thing that's nice aboutthis is you'll also be able to
go out and do other activitieslike you would, if you're going
to just say Costa Maya.
So they'll have a wholetransportation hub where shore
excursions will leave from, soyou're not just locked into that
private port area.

Carnival Cruise Lines has added more
cruises for the 2026-27 season.
What cruises are they adding?

They have some new ships coming out and they've
also kind of redeployed someships to meet demand.
And one of the things that Ithink is exciting that they've
announced is a series of 10-dayAlaska cruises from San
Francisco.
So they are moving a ship toHomeport in San Francisco.
This is Carnival's first timedoing that.

(29:40):
It's actually going to do kindof an exciting itinerary from
Brisbane, Australia, throughFiji, Tahiti and Hawaii to get
to San Francisco.
We'll talk about that at alater time, but it is going to
Homeport in San Francisco andvisit Alaska.
Carnival has always gone fromNorfolk Virginia but they're
adding a new ship called the.
Carnival has always gone fromNorfolk Virginia but they're

(30:00):
adding a new ship called theCarnival Sunshine there and it's
going to do five to seven daycruises to Bermuda and also
series of five to seven dayBahamas cruises from Norfolk
Virginia.

Is it weird that I want to go to the Bermuda
Triangle?

It's not.
You've been to the BermudaTriangle when we were in Key
West.
What Key West is one of thepoints on the Bermuda Triangle.

I did not know that.
Well, I guess I came back.
So you came back.
Yep, I guess it's safe.
You can go.
Yep, where's Huey Lewis in thenews when you need it?
Yeah, this is when I wish wecould play copyrighted music on
the show Back to the Futuremusical.
Yes, Marty McFly, there's aBack to the Future musical on

(30:47):
the new Star of the Seas, isn'tthat?
Which ship is that?
Is that Royal Caribbean?

That's Royal Caribbean.
Yeah, so this past week RoyalCaribbean confirmed that their
next Broadway musical will beBack to the Future on the new
ship, the Star of the Seas.

You know, I'm afraid to say I can't believe
I'm going to say this, but Ithink that's where I got my
laugh from George George McFly.
I think that's where I got that.

That's probably where you got that.

I saw Back to the Future on TV and I'm like,
oh my word, I'm imitating GeorgeMcFly and I didn't even know it
didn't know it.

yeah, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian cruise
line have always had theseBroadway shows.
That started years ago whenNorwegian brought on the blue
man group for entertainmentpurposes on one of their new big
ships and it's kind of justgone from there with Royal
Caribbean, kind of just gonefrom there with Royal Caribbean,
kind of one-upping them fromthe Blue man Group to having a
Broadway show.

(31:44):
Then Norwegian brought on aBroadway show and now several
ships have Broadway musicals.
Makes for a nice evening ofentertainment when you're out on
a cruise.
Their announcement for this,their graphic, is a flux
capacitor with the date on it.
There we go August 31st 2025,which is when it'll start.

American Cruise Lines is going to
introduce a new class of coastalships.

These coastal ships .
There's two of them coming out.
They're going to be 125passenger sister ships.
They'll be arriving in Novemberof 2025.
And the hallmark of these shipswill be the large cabins.
They range from 300 square feetto 620 square feet and every
room will have a private balcony.

(32:29):
These are really large cabinscompared to your average cruise
ship cabin.
These will do 15-dayitineraries.
They'll do the Florida coastand the Florida keys and also
Florida's Gulf coast and theFlorida keys.
So now they'll do some prettyunique cruising.
To be on that smaller ship 125passengers I think that's a

(32:53):
great way to vacation on a smallvessel like that and you get to
see some pretty unique places,especially down around the
Florida keys.

Let's get to the cruise deal of the week.
Always in segment number threeof the show, we're going to
Amsterdam.
There was a listener.
Her name is Megan.
She wanted to go see the tulipsin Amsterdam and Megan is
asking when is the best time togo see the tulips?
My guess is spring, somewherebetween like mid march and mid
April and you're right, a tulipseason is mid-march to actually

(33:25):
mid-may.

One thing about tulips is you kind of have to
get lucky to catch them.
As soon as tulips bloom, thefarmers cut off the colorful
tops because that makes thebulbs multiply, so the fields
might only have color on themfor one to three days, so you've
really got to catch it rightwhen they're coming out.

(33:46):
Probably the best place to seetulips is in Keukenhof Gardens,
which is in Amsterdam.
It's a flower garden but it'sonly open two months out of the
year.
In 2025, it's open from March20th to May 11th.
Probably one of the best waysto see the tulips is a tulip
time cruise.
We've talked about these before, but the round trip Amsterdam.

(34:10):
You get to see other places inEurope.
You get to see the flowerssurrounding area and also
windmills, which is anotherimportant thing to see if you're
going to Amsterdam.

My guess is that these cruises the TULIP
time cruises probably sell outearly, so people should probably
get on it real quick.

Yeah, so if you're interested in a 2025 cruise, I
did find some space on cruises.
Some of the lower prices andsuites are sold out, but there
is availability for the 2025season and 2026 still has plenty
of availability.
Alma Waterways is probably myfavorite cruise line and they're

(34:51):
currently offering 20% offselect cruises, plus $899
airfare on select cruises $900Europe, that's really really
good.
The cruise that I looked at wasa March 17th cruise, so you know
, right at the beginning of thetulip season.
It's a seven night cruise andit starts at $29.59 per person.

(35:14):
That is with that 20% discountapplied, and then the airfare is
on top of that.
They also do have somediscounts if you want to go stay
in Amsterdam free for twonights, and I would recommend
staying in Amsterdam for twonights pre or post cruise.
Just also experience Amsterdama little bit more.

You and I always seem to recommend to go
before because you've got alittle more energy and after a
cruise you're a little tired.
Yes, Do you still recommendthat?

Yeah, yeah, I still recommend going before the
cruise.
It helps you get acclimated,especially going to Europe.
Helps you get acclimated to thetime a little bit.
Oh, that's right, and I've donethis before getting on a river
cruise, not being acclimated tothe time and having to get up at
6 or 7 am to catch theexcursion.

(36:04):
That's included, and you'vebeen up till 4 am because you're
not adjusted to the time.

Ad Voice (36:10):
So I like going to get , you know, get a little bit
acclimated to the time there.

That's a great point.
I hadn't thought about that oneto the time there.

That's a great point.
I hadn't thought about that one.

Also one thing on that price that $29.59 is kind
of the lead-in, which is awindow cabin.
I'd recommend going up to abalcony cabin.
Those balcony cabins start at$38.39 per person.
On this particular scene thevery lowest price range was sold
out and the suites were alsosold out on this, so you're kind

(36:40):
of in kind of those middleprice tiers that are still
available okay, and but that'sjust for 2025, 2026, there's
still plenty of availability,still availability okay, where
are we going?

what ports?

Amsterdam.
Go out from there, go to a citycalled Zirakazizi Sorry I'm
horrible at pronunciation, butthey have a historic harbor
there and from there you can goout to the Delta to see the
flood museum, see the dikes, seeall of that that makes the
Netherlands Netherlands.

(37:13):
You know the dikes andwindmills.
From there go to Ghent.
From this port you can also getto Bruges, probably one of my
favorite cities to visit inEurope.
Then the next port is Antwerp,Belgium.
Here you can get some greatBelgian chocolate, do some
waffle tasting.
Antwerp, the diamond capital ofthe world.
You can go to the DiamondExchange.
Go to Rotterdam.

(37:34):
From there is where you'd getKinderd ijk , which is a UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
It's the windmills.
So kind of going back to ourstory from earlier about World
Heritage Sites Kinderd ijk ,where you can go see some
amazing windmills, see how theywork, see what they do.
The ship does go back toAmsterdam and spend a night in
Amsterdam, and so on that dayyou're in Amsterdam.

(37:56):
They do have the KeukenhofGardens excursion.
I think this is probably thebest way to go see the tulips in
the Netherlands.
You could go do it by a landtour, but here you also get some
of those other places likeBruges, Antwerp, Rotterdam, you
get to see other areas of theregion.

There's some space for 2025, definitely 2026.
Take advantage of this.
Go to Europe.
If you've never gone cruising,try it out, river cruising
especially.
It's kind of an intimate way tosee the world because you're

(38:35):
alone.
But you're not alone, man.
We live in a great time rightnow where you can pretty much
just see the world how you wantit, when you want it, however
you want it.
Take advantage of this offer.
Call Mark in his office,888-718-7717, 888-718-7717.

(38:57):
And you can also go toblueplanetvacations.
com.
This hour always goes by sofast.
Last is coming up.
We've got more travel news andwe're also going to talk about
going to Mexico and should youdo an all-inclusive vacation?

(39:18):
We're going to answer thatquestion next, when the inside
travel talk podcast or radioshow continues.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe, heis Mark Faldmo.

Show Voice (39:29):
Explore your world.
You're listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show with Patrick Wiscombe andMark Faldmo.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700.
That's 801-649-3700.
com.
We'll be right back.

Ad Voice (39:54):
This segment of Inside Travel Talk is sponsored by
Star Clippers.
For over 30 years, starClippers has offered unique,
authentic tall ship sailingexperiences featuring creative
itineraries throughout theMediterranean Caribbean and
Central America.
To book your unique StarClipper sailing adventure,
contact Blue Planet Vacations at888-718-7717 or

(40:15):
com.

Show Voice (40:24):
This is the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio
show with Patrick Wiscombe andMark Faldmo, presented by
com America's best traveladvisors.
Call the show right now801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
And now your hosts, PatrickWiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

I say this every single week.
This hour goes by so fast and Iwant to thank everyone who is
tuning in to the radio stationright now, 860 KKAT in Salt Lake
City.
We're on every Saturday andSunday mornings at 11 am

(41:13):
Mountain Time.
You can also listen to it onthe 860 KKAT app and you can
also.
If you just want to make surethat you catch every single
episode, may I ask you to go toInsideTravelTalk.
com to subscribe to the podcast,just so you get every single

(41:33):
episode Coming up.
In this final segment of theshow, we will be talking about
all-inclusive Mexican vacationsand should you book an
all-inclusive Mexican vacationsand should you book an
all-inclusive vacation?
That's coming up here in just acouple of minutes, but before

(41:56):
we do, we've got the finaltravel news headlines for this
week's show, and let's startwith JetBlue canceling or
dropping hot food ontransatlantic flights in economy
.
So it's going to depend on thelevel of service that you get.

There are actually lots of negative comments about
this story.
So JetBlue is getting somepushback on this.
As you mentioned, they'redropping hot food.
They are replacing it with thechilled frittata A chilled
frittata.

A chilled frittata.

And chilled frittata.
Just looking through, some ofthe comments are saying chilled
frittata doesn't make any sense.
You know it doesn't even soundgood.
You're right, it doesn't soundgood.
So some of the other choices soa chilled frittata, a grain bowl
, ginger, garlic, tofu.
So a chilled frittata, a grainbowl, ginger, garlic, tofu, all

(42:47):
the salad, all the choices thatJetBlue has.
So you know this could causesome problems because a lot of
the airline meals are built sothat they don't smell and if
people bring on their own food.
I love beef jerky but there'snothing like someone opening a
bag of beef jerky on a flightand it fills the whole cabin I

(43:08):
guess I've never noticed thatbefore there's could be some
disadvantage of this of peoplejust bringing on whatever and
having other flyersuncomfortable because of the
smells of the food.
So we'll see if that works out.
For jet blue it seems like astep back in the customer
experience you had me at chilledfrittata.

Yeah, Eurostar is going to be the first
non-airline SkyTeam member.
What does that mean forpassengers?

The last few weeks we've actually had lots of talk
about the SkyTeam alliance,which is Delta Airlines alliance
.
What that means is you cancombine your airline ticket with
a train ticket.
You could get SkyTeam benefitsfor the rail portion of your
journey.
So you say the rail portion,the rail portion okay, the

(43:56):
Eurostar is the train thatbasically runs between Paris and
London.
Oh, so from there you can getFrance, Belgium, nether and the
UK.

When we were talking about JetBlue getting
rid of hot food on thetransatlantic flights in the
economy class, I should haveasked this question Can you
bring food through TSA?
I want to say no.

If you're going through TSA, once you're on the
other side of the gate, I guessyou can bring it on the plane
Actually you can bring foodthrough TSA, you do have to keep
in mind that all food wouldstill be subject to the 3-1-1
liquid rule.
So, if it's considered a liquidpaste or gel, it has to be
under the 3.4 ounces.

(44:42):
The exception to that are babyfood and a few other things.

If my food is liquid paste or gel, I'm not
sure I want to eat it.

Yes, so you can actually bring solid foods
through TSA.
So pasta, sandwiches, bread,those are all not subject to
that 3-1-1 policy.
You do need to keep in mind ifyou're flying internationally a
lot of countries do not allowyou to bring fresh fruits and

(45:14):
vegetables through.

Okay that makes sense.

You can get quite a hefty fine for doing that.
Snack ideas I guess that youcan bring through Protein bar,
dried fruit and nuts.
You can bring muffins andpastries, beef jerky Although we
just did that story about don'topen it on the airplane chips,
crackers, things like that.

Okay, what's your favorite kind of jerky?

Well, I like peppered beef jerky.
Yeah, me too.
It used to be teriyaki, butI've moved to complete just an
only peppered beef jerky now.

So Jack Link's .

Jack Link's.
Yeah, so good.

Now that we're headed into winter, how do
airlines deal with storms?

Now we're just hitting kind of the tail end of
hurricane season and moving intothat winter time range.
There are a lot of things thatpeople don't think of when it
comes to airline scheduling.
Oftentimes you'll see, one tothree days before a storm,
you'll see some airlinesstarting to proactively cancel

(46:19):
flight.
Now what they're taking intoaccount is they're taking where
their crew's at, where theplanes are going to be, so that
they can bring those planes backinto service faster.
Before they would fly till thevery last minute and then it
would take days to a week ormore sometimes to recover from

(46:41):
storms.
So now they're proactivelycanceling flights and putting
them where crew and planes aregoing to be so they can quickly
get planes back into service.
Oh, interesting, and otherthings they have to take into
account are the maintenanceschedules of the airplane.
So the maintenance schedulescome into this.
Their airlines are constantlytaking planes out of service,

(47:03):
putting planes back in service.
So if this happens over a stormor something like that, they do
have to make sure that theplanes are in the right place to
start their network up quickly.

I wanted to talk about a comment that was
made on Facebook about going onvacation to Mexico and if you
should book an all-inclusivehotel in Mexico.
There was a comment left thatyou should avoid all-inclusive
vacations in Mexico because theyruin the local business.
I couldn't disagree more.

Yeah, I think this person that made that comment to
not stay at any all-inclusivewatched a documentary called the
Last Tourist.
It is a very good documentary.
It was created by a guy thatowns a company called G
Adventures and they really gettheir customers to be immersed
into the local economy.

(47:58):
One of the points that is madein this documentary is that many
all-inclusive resorts aredesigned to keep people in the
resort and not go out and spendmoney in the local economy,
which there are some that dothat.

Well, sure, but not everyone.

And also a lot of the all-inclusives are owned by
companies outside the country,so not all of the money stays
inside the country.
I disagree with the premise ofthe Facebook comment, because
the one point that the lasthorse is trying to make is make
sure that you go out and spendmoney in the local economy.

(48:36):
Leave the resorts participatein activities that are operated
by local companies.
Eat at restaurants yeah, it'strue that you're at an
all-inclusive all of your foodis there but this comment was
made in particular to PuertoVallarta.
We talked about last week thePuerto Vallarta taco tour.
Oh yeah, you can go out and getsome really good food in Puerto

(48:57):
Vallarta.

Aren't you headed there for Thanksgiving
just before Thanksgiving there?

are a few days before Thanksgiving.
Okay, all right, yes, and I amtraveling on those good days
that we talked about earlier.
If we look at Puerto Vallartaspecifically, there are two
locally owned and family-runcompanies that run all-inclusive
resorts.
One is Buena Ventura Resortsand the other is Maraval Resorts

(49:23):
, and both are really involvedin the community.
All of the money spent stayswithin the community of Puerto
Vallarta, and each of thesecompanies also has a charity.
For instance, the BuenaventuraResorts has a child youth
symphony, where they go andidentify and help
underprivileged children learnto play instruments, identify

(49:47):
and help underprivilegedchildren learn to play
instruments, and they'veactually got some of these
underprivileged children intothe National Symphony in Mexico.
These things really do benefitthe local community.
I also have a friend that runsa transfer and tour company
called Beach Life Concierge in.
Puerto Vallarta.
She's a local of PuertoVallarta.
All of her tours year in PuertoVallarta.

(50:09):
She's a local of PuertoVallarta All of her tours.
She doesn't do all of the tours, but all of her tours are
designed to get you immersed inthe local culture, to really
experience the destination.
My recommendation is, ratherthan choosing not to go to a
destination or not to stay at aparticular type of hotel in this
case, an all-inclusive hoteljust make sure you're going and

(50:30):
participating in the localeconomy.
Singling out all-inclusivesdoesn't make sense to me,
because if you stay at a hotel,most of the time people are
eating at the hotel as well, andthose hotels are not locally
owned.
In most cases, that money'sgoing elsewhere.
So you can always find locallyowned hotels, and both of these

(50:53):
the Buena Ventura and Maravalcompanies each of them has three
great properties.
There are four or five starresorts.
I've stayed at these severaltimes and again, they're just a
great way to visit PuertoVallarta.

When are you headed to Mexico again?
Was it the week of Thanksgiving?
So it'd be what like the 24thand 25th, something like that.

It is yeah, yeah, I'm just going for two nights.
A quick trip to Puerto Vallarta.
Heather always likes to gosomewhere for Thanksgiving, but
this year you know, last year wewent to Hawaii with the whole
family, so this year we're justgoing a few days before
Thanksgiving to just have a nicerelaxing beach retreat.

If you want to go to Mexico or any of the
destinations Paris, the TulipTime Cruises mark in his office,
888-718-7717, 888-718-7717.
You can also visit him atblueplanetvacations.
com.
And, as we wrap up, you canlisten to the show again

(52:02):
tomorrow morning, Sunday at 11am, right here on 860 KKAT.
And if you want or need tolisten to the show again, you
can download and subscribe tothe podcast version of this show
on insidetraveltalk.
com.
We are on all of the majorpodcast platforms and while
you're at it, may I ask you tosubscribe and leave us a
five-star review, because itreally does help us get traction

(52:24):
with the podcast platform.
So thank you.
Well, everybody, now it's yourturn to get out and explore the
world.
You never know what curveball'slife is going to throw at you.
Live your life deliberately.
Live your life intentionally.
Don't let life dictate howyou're going to live, and just

(52:46):
remember today is a good day fora good day.
Have a great week.
We'll talk to you again nextweek.

Show Voice (52:54):
That's it.
That's the end of the showYou've been listening to the
Inside Travel Talk podcast andradio show with Patrick Wiscombe
and Mark Faldmo, presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com.
Book your adventure right now.
Call 888-718-7717.
That's 888-718-7717.

(53:15):
Have a great week.

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