December 14, 2024 • 51 mins
Are you ready for a journey that promises to transform your travel bucket list? Discover the extraordinary allure of luxury travel with Inside Travel Talk, where we explore enticing vacation ideas that redefine the art of exploration. From the chance to sail away on a Holland America cruise to embarking on a 59-day train journey across 12 countries, this episode is your passport to a world of opulent experiences and unforgettable adventures. Like a tantalizing teaser, we touch on Disneyland's preparations for their monumental 70th anniversary, offering a peek behind the magic curtain.
Travel enthusiasts will relish our curated selection of exciting destinations and smart travel tips, featuring Fromers' top places to visit in 2025, like the music-filled streets of Nashville and the enchanting landscapes of Slovenia. We share insights into the latest transportation updates, including Las Vegas's new zone taxi fares and Hawaii's booming visitor numbers. Imagine yourself wandering through Greenland's icy vistas or experiencing the thrill of Universal's Epic Universe, promising to rival even the most magical of Disney dreams.
Stay aboard as we cruise through the latest trends in the travel industry, with a humorous detour into the quirky role of a "wiggist" on Norwegian Cruise Line voyages. From river cruising's expansion into exciting new regions to the surprising impact of airline fees, this episode is packed with insights that will elevate your travel experiences. As we cap off with a discussion on must-have travel gadgets, you'll be equipped with the finest tools and ideas to enhance your journeys.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Patrick Wiscombe (00:00):
It is the weekend, so it's time for the
Inside Travel Talk podcast andradio show.
On today's show, mark and Iwill be talking about how to win
a cruise around the world, aluxury train ride around the
world.
We'll be talking about Hawaii,Ireland, and it wouldn't be an
episode of the show if we didn'ttalk about Modern Family's Eric
(00:20):
Stonestreet.
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.
Travel deals and offers changeconstantly and are
capacity-controlled and subjectto change without notice.
Show Voice (00:46):
Helping you plan your next vacation.
This is the Inside Travel Talkpodcast and radio show presented
by BluePlanetVacations.
com America's best traveladvisors.
Call us now 801-649-3700,801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
(01:07):
com.
Here's Patrick Wiscombe andMark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe (01:23):
It must be the weekend.
You are listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show.
Hello there, my name is PatrickWiscombe.
Mark Faldmo will be in thestudio here in just a couple of
moments and, if you are brandnew to the show, the entire
purpose of this show is to helpyou plan and book your next
(01:45):
vacation, or simply give youideas of where you want to go on
your next vacation, and we arepresented each and every
Saturday and Sunday byBluePlanetVacations.
com.
Mark Faldmo is walking into thestudio.
I'm here.
Are you ready to do this?
Mark Faldmo (02:06):
I am.
I am sorry I'm running a littlebit late.
I'm headed back.
Stayed up in the park city arealast night for my birthday so
happy birthday, just uh, barelymade it in time where'd you stay
last night?
Patrick Wiscombe (02:22):
did you go to Heber?
Mark Faldmo (02:24):
went to Heber and stayed at the Zermatt resort so
you did.
Patrick Wiscombe (02:27):
You ended up going yep, how was the?
Uh accommodations?
I haven't been up to Zermattfor quite a while it was nice.
Mark Faldmo (02:35):
I wanted something a little bit quieter, not really
in park city, just to go relaxfor a day, be compressed.
Then I had to wake up early andhurry back to do the show let's
start the show off with thetravel news headlines.
Patrick Wiscombe (02:47):
I mentioned at the very top of the show that
we are going to give the detailsabout how to win a Holland
America cruise around the world.
Let's just start there.
Mark Faldmo (02:57):
Holland America is doing a kind of a 12 days of
Christmas giveaway.
This has been going for a fewdays.
It goes until the 17th ofDecember, so you have a few days
here to enter.
You can enter every day and atthe end of it they are going to
give away around the worldcruise on Holland America.
They also have other prizesthey're giving away, so they'll
(03:18):
be giving away an Alaska cruise,a Caribbean cruise, a
Mediterranean cruise, as well asother daily prizes.
How you can enter this is youcan go to HollandAmerica.
com or just Google Great HALidayGiveaway.
Holiday is spelledH-A-L-I-D-A-Y, so H-A-L for
(03:38):
Holland America line.
So Great Holiday Giveaway.
You just put in your emailaddress and your name and
contact information and thenyou'll be entered to win the
daily prize and to win the grandprize.
You'll also get deposit creditfor a deposit towards a future
cruise which you can use thatand book through Blue Planet
(03:58):
Vacations.
Patrick Wiscombe (03:59):
Let's keep the world theme going here.
There is an around the worldvacation on a luxury train.
What details do we have?
Mark Faldmo (04:08):
This is by a company called Rail Bookers.
It's a company we work with andthey've put together an around
the world journey by train.
It's 59 days long, visits 12countries, 20 iconic cities and
rides seven of the world's mostpopular rail routes.
Oh, wow, I'll try and gothrough the itinerary quickly.
(04:29):
It's very exciting.
So the journey begins inVancouver, Canada.
From there, you take the RockyMountaineer route.
When you're done with the RockyMountaineer route, you fly from
Calgary to Edinburgh, Scotland.
You board the Royal Scotsmantrain, which goes around
Scotland, and that's a trainthat you actually sleep on board
(04:50):
.
And then from Edinburgh, you goto Rome and take the La Doce
Vita train from Rome to Venice,and then from Venice and this is
the one I would be excitedabout you take the Simpleton
Orient Express, so it goesVenice to Paris.
Patrick Wiscombe (05:07):
Wow.
Mark Faldmo (05:07):
And then from Paris you go Paris to Budapest.
You eventually end up inIstanbul, turkey.
From there you fly from Turkeyto Delhi.
In India, you take the IndianPanorama train for a few days
and then, when you're done withthat, you can fly to
Johannesburg, south Africa.
You could get some safaris.
(05:28):
You take the Rovos Rail, whichis overnight train, through to
Victoria Falls Just an amazingjourney there in Southern Africa
and then end in Cape Town.
From Cape Town you fly toSingapore.
Ad Voice (05:43):
Wow.
Mark Faldmo (05:43):
And you take the Eastern Oriental Express in
Malaysia and then you end inSingapore.
Patrick Wiscombe (05:49):
How many days is the journey?
Mark Faldmo (05:50):
It's 59 days.
Oh wow.
Now I will say it's fairlyexpensive.
Some of these are very high endluxury trains, but on this show
we're always trying to findsome of those unique vacation
options, and this is definitelyone of the unique options.
You get everything fromglaciers to safari on this and
(06:12):
everything in between I would dothat in a second.
Patrick Wiscombe (06:16):
I didn't even know such a thing existed.
Was it the book or a movie?
Or maybe, yes to both, aroundthe world in 80 days, but this
one's 59 days In 59 days?
Wow, we'll see in two months.
Yeah, talk about jet lag or, inthis case, train lag, train lag
.
Yeah, I saw this story thatDisneyland in Anaheim,
(06:38):
California, is preparing tocelebrate its 70th anniversary.
First of all, it's amazing thatit's been 70 years.
Mark Faldmo (06:45):
Yes, and for their 70-year anniversary, the park is
offering up to 30% off selecthotel stays of four nights or
longer at Disneyland ResortHotels, and they're also
offering $50 kid tickets.
Oh wow, to kick it off, theyhave a new attraction, which is
in the Main Street Opera HouseTheater.
(07:06):
It's called Walt Disney AMagical Life and it's a featured
cinematic presentation of WaltDisney's journey, and it also
has the first audio animatronicof Walt Disney himself.
Patrick Wiscombe (07:19):
So they're turning him into a character now
.
Mark Faldmo (07:21):
They're turning him into a character.
So that's one of the new thingsthat they're adding, and
they're bringing back some newparades, some old parades, lots
of fun things at Disneyland Parkthis year for their 70th
anniversary.
Patrick Wiscombe (07:34):
Anyone who's interested in Disney can call
Mark in his office, especiallythe $50 tickets, and then 30%
off.
What is it?
Disneyland Hotel?
Obviously that would be theWest End, and then Grand
Californian, and then 30% off.
Mark Faldmo (07:44):
what is it?
Disneyland Hotel?
Obviously that would be theWest End.
Patrick Wiscombe (07:46):
And then Grand Californian and then Paradise
Pier would be their hotels.
Yes, do they have more hotels,or is it just those three?
Mark Faldmo (07:53):
still Just those three, because they were going
to build a Star Wars one, butthat one got nixed.
Patrick Wiscombe (08:00):
That's dreadful.
Don't nix the Star Wars, by theway.
I have a joke for you.
This is a Star Wars joke.
What did Yoda say when he firstsaw himself in 4K?
What?
Show Voice (08:13):
HDMI.
Patrick Wiscombe (08:16):
Thank you.
Mark Faldmo (08:17):
Yeah, good dad joke , was it?
Patrick Wiscombe (08:26):
We're running a little short on time.
Let's get to the destination ofthe week, which is always in
this first segment, and we'regoing to be talking about
Ireland.
Was this a call that you took alittle bit earlier this week
from Jessica?
This was a call.
Okay, Jessica wants to go toIreland.
She says that she has seven toeight days and she's asking what
would you recommend, mark, andwhen is the best time to go, and
(08:48):
where would you stay and whatwould you do?
What would you see?
Mark Faldmo (08:51):
I think the best time to go to Ireland is, in the
fall, Ireland in seven to eightdays.
You can see that, and here'swhat I'd recommend to do.
You fly to Dublin, obviously,and spend two to three nights in
Dublin and then go to Killarney, which is down in the southwest
area, and then spend two tothree nights.
(09:12):
My favorite place is inDrummond Castle.
Its roots first started inabout 1015-ish or so, the year
1015.
The actual castle part that yousee today was built in the
1500s, so you can stay in thatold part of the castle and then
there's a newer wing of it thatwas built in the 80s, I believe.
(09:33):
But it's just an amazing castleto stay in.
Patrick Wiscombe (09:36):
I like how they say.
The newer wing was built in the80s.
Mark Faldmo (09:39):
It's already 40 plus years old Yep, and there's
lots of interesting things youcan do in Ireland.
We don't have enough time to gothrough that.
We can go to blarney castle.
Kiss the blarney stone, whichwhen you kiss that, it's said to
give you the gift of gab.
I probably need to do thatagain because I was probably
making out with it.
yes, yeah, you know you can goWaterford Crystal, go to the
(10:04):
Woolen Mills.
One of my favorite places isthe Dingle Peninsula Cliffs of
Moher.
There's so much to do and see.
But what I like about Irelandis that medieval love.
Dromolund Castle, it's afive-star place that you stay at
.
It's got a golf course.
They have all sorts of thingsyou'd kind of associate with
(10:26):
castles like archery and thingslike that.
So Ireland is a wonderfulvacation.
You can also look at a littlebit longer vacation for Jessica.
You know we looked at a Globustour that was 10 days long, so
it's a little bit too long forwhat she wanted, but you can do
it in seven days seven to eightdays if you want to do that.
Patrick Wiscombe (10:44):
Are you a U2 fan?
Mark Faldmo (10:46):
Yes, I am.
Patrick Wiscombe (10:47):
You can go see where Bono grew up Is Slane
Castle in Ireland, I think it is.
Mark Faldmo (10:52):
I think so Okay.
Patrick Wiscombe (10:53):
Take a picture in front of Bono's old place, I
guess, post it and put at U2and say, hey, I'm at your house.
Yeah, Jessica is going.
Right, she is going.
Yes, okay, she says seven toeight days, but really, if
you're going to go to that partof the world, you better, better
make it.
You know, worth your whileJessica.
Has she booked it yet, or doesshe still need to call you back?
(11:15):
It's?
Mark Faldmo (11:16):
booked, not on deposit yet.
Okay, well, Jessica, or anyoneelse who?
Patrick Wiscombe (11:19):
wants to go to Ireland, Jessica, or anyone
else who wants to go to Ireland?
Call Mark in his office,888-718-7717, 888-718-7717.
And you can also go toblueplanetvacations.
com.
(11:40):
When we come back, it is timefor the hot travel deal of the
week, and this week we are goingto Hawaii.
Yep, you can never go wronggoing to Hawaii.
And we're also going to betalking about Las Vegas,
combating Uber and Lyft pricesurging.
It is real and, yes, you willget absolutely hammered if you
(12:00):
just try and book when you getoff the plane or wherever you
are.
Las Vegas is taking it to theUbers and the lifters, which is
a good idea.
That is next when the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show continues.
Alongside Mark Faldmo, my nameis Patrick Wiscombe.
(12:21):
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend.
We will be right back.
Show Voice (12:29):
If you have travel questions, they have the answers
.
You're listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show with Patrick Wiscombe andMark Faldmo, presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com.
Call or text the show right now801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
(12:49):
We'll be right back.
Ad Voice (13:01):
This segment of Inside Travel Talk is sponsored by
Star Clippers.
For over 30 years, starClippers has offered unique,
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To book your unique StarClipper sailing adventure,
contact Blue Planet Vacations at888-718-7717 or blue or blue
(13:23):
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Show Voice (13:39):
You're listening to the inside travel talk podcast
and radio show presented by blueplanet vacations dot com,
America's best travel advisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com.
Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe (14:04):
We hope that you are enjoying your weekend,
whether you're listening to uson Saturday or Sunday.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend
and hopefully we can justentertain you a little bit while
you're driving to and fromwherever you're going.
If you're at the gym, bless youWorking out on the treadmill.
(14:28):
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend.
Coming up in this segment, weare going to be talking about
Fromers Best places to go in2025.
And Las Vegas is taking it toLyft and Uber, and we'll also be
talking about Hawaii.
We're going to Oahuspecifically, and, in fact,
(14:51):
let's just start with theFromers' best places to go in
2025.
What is on their list?
Mark Faldmo (14:59):
Mark.
This is an annual list theyusually put out.
There's 21 destinations.
I'm not going to cover all ofthem today, just a couple that
kind of stick out to me as onesthat are interesting, in no
particular order.
It's just there are 21destinations to visit in 2025.
Nashville, Tennessee, is onthere.
It's probably not on a lot ofpeople's radar.
(15:20):
I've been to Nashville a fewtimes.
Going to the country music'siconic Grand Old Opry is amazing
.
I'm not really a country musicfan, but I absolutely loved
going to the Grand Old Opry youcan go to.
Patrick Wiscombe (15:35):
Morgan Wallen's bar and watch him throw
a chair off the top of his bar.
Mark Faldmo (15:39):
Yeah, yeah, great food Nashville hot chicken so
good.
One of my favorite things therewas the Dukes of Hazzard Museum
that's right there and DaisyDuke's gift shop.
Oh, boy so a lot of great thingsin Nashville Good food.
What else is on the list?
Next thing on the list isUniversal's Epic Universe, which
(16:03):
is their new park we've talkedabout before.
I think it's going to be agame-changing theme part.
In my opinion it'll well.
I guess if you're a Disney fan,you're a Disney fan, but from
what I've seen, I think that'sgoing to be far and above
anything that Disney has put out, which is saying a lot, because
Disney does really good withwhat they do.
Another thing on the list isGreenland.
(16:24):
This one is on the list becauseGreenland was once a very hard
place to reach.
Now there are several cruisesthat go there and, as we talked
about, there's now directflights, united Airlines, from
the US to Greenland.
And then we'll just talk aboutone more destination, because
this one is really.
When I saw on the list list,it's kind of out there in left
(16:45):
field, but it's Slovenia.
A lot of people probably don'teven know where Slovenia is.
On its western border is Italy,on its southern border is
Croatia, on its eastern borderis Hungary and on its northern
border is Austria.
It is kind of the Alps.
(17:07):
It's known for its mountainsand ski resorts, but it has some
of the most beautiful sceneryin all of Europe.
Have you been there?
I have been there just on a daytrip off of a cruise.
MSC is about the only cruiseline now that I've seen that
actually makes stops in Slovenia.
A few weeks ago we talked aboutthe Adriatic Sea, so this is at
(17:31):
the northern part of that andthey do have a small part of
their border that is on theAdriatic Sea, but some of the
castles you see that are builtup on cliffs.
That's in Slovenia.
Just amazing scenery and beauty.
And then history.
You know a lot of people reallywant to go to Croatia.
This is kind of a less touristyversion of Croatia.
I would want to go back andspend more time there.
(17:52):
Other places on the listBolivia, bath and Stonehenge,
Tucson, Arizona and Ohio'sCuyahoga Valley National Park
rounded out the top few on thelist.
Patrick Wiscombe (18:04):
I saw this news story that Las Vegas is
this is my term going to warwith Uber and Lyft because of
price surges, so they areintroducing zone taxi fares.
This is good news for consumersbecause it feels like Uber and
Lyft can really just hammer you.
Mark Faldmo (18:21):
This has actually been going on for a while in Las
Vegas.
I was just at a presentation byLas Vegas and they brought this
up, and so I thought it was agood thing to bring up the show
today.
I don't understand.
I arrived to an airport and Isee hundreds of people waiting
for Uber and Lyft and then lookover at the taxi queue and no
one's there.
People will wait 20 to 40minutes for an Uber left when
(18:44):
they could go, get in a taxi andgo.
So what Las Vegas has done isthey've introduced zone fares.
So no matter the time of day,if the airport's involved, if
you're going to or from theairport, it's a set price and
they have South Strip, centerStrip, north Strip, downtown or
kind of the zones there of thetaxis.
(19:05):
If you arrive at the airport ata very busy time, Uber or Lyft
is going to cost you three tofour more times what the taxi
fare is.
Patrick Wiscombe (19:15):
My only argument why people wait that
long is taxis have kind of donethis to themselves, historically
speaking.
They used to charge outrageousamounts of money.
Mark Faldmo (19:24):
Yes, yeah, now, getting around town if you're
going hotel to hotel, Uber orLyft is probably the best,
unless it's in that kind ofsurge timeframe when there's a
high demand for Uber and Lyft.
I still use Uber and Lyft toget around town, but from any
airport, I almost always now goto a taxi.
Patrick Wiscombe (19:43):
You can ask what the fare is up front and
you can see what the fare is onthe Uber and Lyft apps, so you
can just quickly compare.
Mark Faldmo (19:50):
And if you're a fan of Uber and Lyft I found Lyft
is much less expensive than Uberthese days and if you're a
Delta Airlines fan, you get aLyft credit- oh, that's part of
the Delta app, isn't?
It.
It's part of the Delta app.
Yeah, okay.
Patrick Wiscombe (20:05):
Yeah, one of their partners.
I saw that Hawaii just had oneof their busiest Octobers since
the pandemic.
Mark Faldmo (20:12):
Yeah, which is probably ever, because 2019 was
a banner year.
This October, Hawaii had 97.3%visitors when compared to
October of 2019.
So they are almost back to thatpre-pandemic level, with the
exception of Maui.
Maui was down 24% compared toOctober 2019.
(20:35):
Maui has continued to strugglesince the fires, which has
really hampered their recovery.
Hawaii as a whole is almostback to what they were
pre-pandemic.
Patrick Wiscombe (20:46):
Well, that leads us into the hot travel
deal of the week.
So let's start off in Oahu.
Mark Faldmo (20:51):
I looked for fairly close in.
So this is Oahu, January 23rd,for five nights, includes round
trip air from Salt Lake City onUnited Airlines.
Four star hotels, hotels forless than $1,000 a person with
the package, and it includesairfare yeah, airfare.
Five nights hotel a four-starat the Romer Hotel starts at
(21:12):
$879 per person.
This is a hotel that's recentlybeen renovated and they changed
their name to Romer.
I'm not sure what it was before, but it's about three blocks
from the beach, kind of near theFort D'Ursay area, which you'd
have to cut across that park toget to the beach.
Oh, that's not terrible $879for that.
Another four-star is the TwinFin Hotel a four-star hotel,
(21:37):
$1129 per person.
And this one is right acrossthe street from the beach.
Some people might recognize thename Aston Waikiki Beach that's
what this hotel is.
So it became the Twin Fin Hotel.
And then my favorite hotel isthe Hilton Hawaiian Village.
Oh yeah, four and a half starhotel, $1229 per person.
Patrick Wiscombe (21:58):
That's amazing .
And, by the way, what is that?
Is that about five weeks fromnow?
Mark Faldmo (22:03):
It's about five weeks from now.
I'm finding right now the sweetspot for, like Hawaii and
Mexico, is right about six weeksfor the best airfare and prices
.
Patrick Wiscombe (22:13):
What are some of the things to do on Oahu?
Mark Faldmo (22:15):
One of the things that I want to do that I have
not done, and that's why I'mbringing this up, is the
Hollywood movie set tour.
This is at Kalua Ranch JurassicPark Lost, filmed in this Kalua
Ranch area on the North Shoreof Hawaii.
And then there's also a reallygreat zipline Kiana Farms
(22:36):
zipline on the North.
Shore.
Yeah, I was going to say that'sthe North Shore.
Yeah, it's right by, just downthe street from the courtyard by
Marriott North Shore.
And then I guess, while we'rethere at the courtyard talking
about the best luau, rightacross the street, the
Polynesian Cultural Center, Ithink, has the best luau on the
island of Oahu.
I've done several but I reallylike the Polynesian Cultural
(22:57):
Center because one you get afull day of seeing all the
villages, you get a luau show,and then you get after dinner
after luau show, and it's aboutthe same cost as just going to
just a luau of the other guysokay, this is your five-week
warning.
Patrick Wiscombe (23:13):
To get to Hawaii, go to wahoo.
I was just there in march withmy wife, Nicki awesome place.
We stayed at the HiltonHawaiian village at mark's
recommendation.
Totally recommend it, awesomeplace to stay.
Call mark in his office,888-718-7717.
888-718-7717.
(23:35):
And he'll also post those dealson blueplanetvacations.
com.
When we come back after thebottom of the hour news break
we've got the infamous JustCruising segment, so we'll have
the cruise news of the week andwe'll also talk about going to
Alaska on Holland America.
(23:56):
That is next when the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show continues.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
He is Mark Faldmo, we will beright back.
He is Mark Faldmo, we will beright back.
Show Voice (24:10):
They've literally traveled millions of miles to
answer your travel-relatedquestions.
Yeah, they really have.
You're listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com.
America's best travel advisors,Patrick and Mark, will be back
after these messages.
Ad Voice (24:40):
Travel insurance plans can help protect you and your
vacation.
Travelex is known for theiraward-winning customer service
and high claims paid rate.
Contact Blue Planet Vacationsat 888-718-7717 or
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com for more information.
Patrick Wiscombe (24:59):
Okay, we're back.
You are listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast, a radio
show Coming up.
In the remaining 28 minutes ofthis hour, mark and I will be
talking about Alaska cruises.
Now's the time to book.
Broadway-style shows are makingan appearance on Norwegian
Cruise Line and a very specialguest makes a four-second
appearance on the show.
(25:20):
Let's get back to 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.
Travel deals and offers changeconstantly and are capacity
controlled and subject to changewithout notice.
Show Voice (25:50):
Now back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and
radio show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com America's best traveladvisors.
Hit us up right now,801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
(26:10):
com.
Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe (26:21):
All aboard For the Just Cruising segment.
The infamous Just Cruisingsegment as part of the Inside
Travel Talk podcast, a radioshow heard each and every
weekend right here on this radiostation at this very time,
coming up in this final segmentof the show, Eric Stonestreet,
(26:42):
modern Family's Eric Stonestreet, is going to make a four-second
appearance on the show.
Why We'll tell you.
During this segment, NorwegianCruise Lines is doing
Broadway-style shows, butthey're going to start parring
them back.
And of course, we have theCruise Deal of the Week always
(27:03):
in this segment.
But let's start this segmentoff with the Cruise News of the
Week.
Where should we start here?
Segment off with the cruisenews of the week.
Where should we start here?
Should we go river cruising?
On this one, let's do this.
This is interesting, all right.
So river cruising keeps gettingbigger.
They're expanding on new riversand new regions.
Mark Faldmo (27:22):
River cruising started pretty much in Europe.
Most people know river cruisingin Europe and this last year
and into next year and thefollowing year there's really a
lot of new options for rivercruising around the world.
There is a river cruisestarting on the Kochi River in
India.
It's a small 20-passenger boatbut it goes to towns, villages,
(27:46):
Hindu temples.
Amawater ways is startingcruising in Colombia and that's
kind of the real first SouthAmerica river cruise that's been
out there on kind of a mainlineriver cruise.
So Ama is pioneering this.
More and more river cruisecompanies are going into Asia
(28:06):
and the Amazon.
So in Peru, the upper Amazon,there's lots of river cruise
options now.
And then Asia along the Mekongand we've talked about that
before, but again there's moreand more options.
And then in the United Statesthe American Cruise Line has an
eight-day Great Rivers ofFlorida voyage and it it's on
(28:27):
one of their new 130 passengerships that sails around Florida.
Patrick Wiscombe (28:32):
Mexico has approved a $42 cruise passenger
tax.
That's not what I want to hear.
Mark Faldmo (28:39):
This is pretty interesting because a lot of
cruise lines do go to Mexico,whether it's on the West Coast
Puerto Vallarta, Cabo Mazatlánor on the East Coast,
particularly Cozumel.
Almost every Western Caribbeanitinerary stops in Cozumel.
This really drew some criticismfrom cruise lines.
(28:59):
Some cruise lines said theywere going to stop going to
Mexico and actually thosethreats did pay off a little bit
.
This was supposed to startright away and they've delayed
it for further discussion.
Most people probably won'tnotice it because it'll be
buried in the cost of the cruisefare, but hopefully they decide
not to do that.
That's $42 a person more thatit's going to cost you to take a
(29:21):
cruise that stops in Mexico.
Most of the taxes are $5 to $12.
One thing that a lot of thecruise lines and tourism boards
are kind of complaining about isthat $42 is not even going to
help the tourism infrastructureor the cruise infrastructure.
Most of it is going to themilitary.
Patrick Wiscombe (29:41):
Norwegian Cruise Line, NCL, says that
they're going to be doing fewerBroadway-style shows.
Now I will say that the showsthat were on there were
excellent.
This one kind of surprises me,but I'm thinking that it
probably has to do withlicensing it actually has to do
with logistics.
Mark Faldmo (29:59):
They were the first one to bring on kind of a
Broadway-style show with theBlue man Group, and then Royal
Caribbean, followed with severalBroadway shows.
And what Norwegian has found intheir passenger surveys is that
people don't want to spend anhour and a half at a Broadway
show.
They want a 45-minute show andthen go on and do other things.
(30:20):
Norwegian, for instance, hassaid just the staffing of the
shows.
Some of those Broadway showsrequire a full-time wiggist
person that does the wigs forthe you know, and they're like
it's kind of a waste of a crewpersonnel for someone that just
sits there and does wigs all dayfor the shows.
(30:41):
And so you know they are goingto keep some of the shows on
board but they are going to cutback because logistically and
production wise they're a littlebit too expensive and they're
also too long for the passenger.
Patrick Wiscombe (30:55):
I would do like that in your resume I'm a
wiggist.
I'm a wiggist.
Yes, I think we might even havea podcast title the Wiggist,
yes, the Wiggist.
Are you a fan of Modern Family,the TV?
Mark Faldmo (31:08):
show.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:08):
And I know it's been off the air for a few
years now, but who was yourfavorite character?
Mark Faldmo (31:13):
I probably like the dad the best.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:15):
Oh, yeah, yeah Okay.
Mark Faldmo (31:16):
Manny.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:18):
One of my favorite characters was Eric
Stonestreet, who is also a hugeKansas City Chiefs fan.
I've always been a Chiefs fan.
He's been named Some of therefs, apparently Stop.
If you don't know who EricStonestreet is, here's a
four-second clip.
Here's his four-secondappearance.
Sort of like Costco.
(31:39):
I'm big, I'm not fancy and Idare you to not like me.
His character, cam, absolutelymade me laugh every single week.
So why do I bring EricStonestreet into this?
He's been named the godfatherfor the Norwegian Aqua, which is
the brand new ship.
Is it coming out?
Mark Faldmo (31:55):
2025?
Yeah, it'll be April 13th of2025.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:00):
Is there a media preview that you and I
will be taking?
Mark Faldmo (32:04):
in April sometime, we'll see if we can get
ourselves invited to that.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:08):
I'd be just fine with that.
Do we know where they'resailing out of?
Or the not the inaugural, butthe media preview?
Wouldn't that be New York City,Miami?
Oh, that's where that's at.
Mark Faldmo (32:19):
I always love those preview cruises, especially the
naming ones.
I've been lucky enough to be ona few of those.
One I remember with Pitbull andhe actually had a special
presentation just for the cruiseship.
It was pretty cool, and thenhim being part of the naming
ceremony.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:35):
So what is the significance of a godfather
when it comes to naming the ship?
Mark Faldmo (32:41):
Well, it's interesting because it's usually
a godmother.
Ad Voice (32:43):
Yeah, that's what.
Mark Faldmo (32:44):
I thought More and more.
There's been a few godfathersof cruise ships.
A lot of them are.
They're people that areimportant to the industry or
celebrities.
With a new ship they want totry and generate as much bang
for the buck as they can get.
You know, like I was talkingabout Pitbull just a minute ago,
right, he was really big atthat time.
(33:05):
His nickname Mr.
Worldwide.
They really try and choose thatto try and get promotional
value and interest for the newship.
Patrick Wiscombe (33:13):
Let's get to the cruise deal of the week.
Always at this segment of theshow, we're talking about Alaska
on Holland America Cruises.
Let's talk waterfalls andspirit bears.
I don't know where you're goingwith this, but let's start
there.
Mark Faldmo (33:27):
Yeah, this is a very interesting itinerary by
Holland America.
They're doing some reallyunique itineraries.
This one particular isSeptember of 2026.
Now some people might say whyare you talking about it so
early?
But this is a very uniqueitinerary.
It's an 18-day cruise roundtrip from Vancouver.
(33:47):
It's an 18-day cruise roundtrip from Vancouver where they
say spirit bears there'sactually a type of bear called
spirit bear.
You can find it on Prince RoyalIsland, which is one of the
islands that the cruise shipsells by, and it is basically an
albino bear.
It's kind of honey-colored, tan, yellowish.
So you do some scenic cruisingat the first part of the cruise
around some of those islandsthat are in the panhandle of
(34:10):
Alaska and Canada area goes toSika, Alaska.
Goes to Hubbard glacier which,if you can see it, is one of the
most spectacular glaciers.
I think it's like seven mileslong a tidewater glacier.
That's like seven miles longwhoa.
Patrick Wiscombe (34:26):
And then it goes to the glaciers.
Mark Faldmo (34:27):
That long the glacier.
Is that long?
Patrick Wiscombe (34:30):
yes, so this makes of the uh glacier national
park look kind of small.
Mark Faldmo (34:35):
Yes, oh, my word, this is actually the other side
of glacier national park, justto the north of it.
So this glacier feeds from thesame ice field as glacier
national park or glacier bay.
Sorry, glacier bay, glacier bay, yeah, and then.
Patrick Wiscombe (34:47):
It was Glacier National Park or Glacier.
Ad Voice (34:48):
Bay Sorry.
Mark Faldmo (34:48):
I'm sorry, yeah, glacier Bay, glacier Bay, yeah,
and then from Hubbard, glacier,you go to Valdez, Alaska, then
to Kodiak, Alaska.
So there's another bear relatedthe Kodiak Grizzlies Goes to
Homer, Alaska.
An interesting stop isAnchorage, Alaska, because most
cruise ships don't go toAnchorage because you have to
sail clear around the peninsulato get to Anchorage Right.
(35:08):
So they end in Whittier orSeward, but this one does go to
Anchorage and then it does alsostop in Glacier Bay, Juneau,
Wrangell, Alaska, Ketchikan,prince Rupert, and then some
more scenic cruising and ends inVancouver.
So, it is 18 day cruise insidecabins at $3,079 per person and
(35:33):
again, that includes all of thetaxes and fees on that.
Just a very unique itinerary,probably the most unique Alaska
itinerary that I've seen.
That is a great itinerary Twoyears away, September 16th
through October 4th of 2026.
But it is selling fast.
I was just looking at some ofthe stats on that and it's
(35:54):
already almost halfway full.
So for something unique that isa great deal to go to Alaska
starts at $3,429 per person, andthis ship is a smaller ship so
(36:15):
it doesn't really have balconiesper se.
They're all suites that havebalconies, so the suites start
at $6,129 per person.
Per person.
Patrick Wiscombe (36:25):
I'm not joking when I say this.
18 days in Alaska would be forme.
Seven days was way too fast,and it was beautiful.
I truly wish that I had moretime in Alaska.
So, this might be the answerfor me, Nicky.
Mark Faldmo (36:39):
And it is later in the year, so there's a good
chance of seeing the NorthernLights.
Oh yes, it's about the sametime of year that you went, yep,
and you're getting a.
Patrick Wiscombe (36:51):
To book that vacation.
Call Mark in his office, justget the conversation rolling
888-718-7717.
888-718-7717.
And he'll also post thisparticular cruise deal of the
week on blueplanetvacations.
com when we come back.
(37:13):
Final segment we've got Mark'stravel tips, we've got the
little bit more travel news andwe're going to give you some
tech gadgets that you shouldreally consider just putting in
your stash to travel.
That is next when the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show continues.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe, heis Mark Faldmo.
(37:36):
Thank you, really thank you,for allowing this to be part of
your weekend.
We will be right back.
Show Voice (37:46):
Explore your world.
You're listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
We'll be right back.
Ad Voice (38:15):
Inside Travel Talk is brought to you by Anna.
Waterways, from castles andcapitals to vistas and villages.
Visit some of Europe's mostremarkable sites and cities To
set out on your own river cruisejourney.
Contact Blue Planet Vacationsat 888-718-7717 or
blueplanetvacations.
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717 or blue planet vacations.
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Show Voice (38:40):
They'll help you plan and book your next vacation
.
Yeah, really, you're listeningto the inside travel talk
podcast and radio show presentedby blue planet vacations.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
(39:01):
And now here's Patrick Wiscombeand Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe (39:10):
Final segment of this week's Inside Travel
Talk podcast and radio show.
Final segment of this week'sInside Travel Talk podcast and
radio show.
Thank you so much for listeningthis week and, if I may
encourage you, if you want tore-listen to or just you can't
listen to us live each Saturdayor Sunday, go to
(39:31):
InsideTravelTalk.
com.
Insidetraveltalk.
com, go to the website.
You can stream the show thereif you just want to stream it
directly, but you can alsosubscribe to the podcast on
InsideTravelTalk.
com so you don't miss an episode.
(39:52):
All right, mark, coming up inthis final segment we've got the
travel news of the week.
We're going to be talking aboutCongress pressing airlines on
bag fees.
I know that airlines just makea boatload of money off those
change fees, the bag fees, infact.
Let's just start there.
(40:12):
That happened, I think was itearlier this week.
Mark Faldmo (40:16):
There was a hearing about airline bag fees.
Congress had the major airlinesin to ask them about their
practices for airline fees.
Basically, they said your feesare targeting suckers.
I like that Congress isinvestigating this.
Airlines made last year aroundthe world $33 billion in baggage
(40:40):
.
That's just the baggage fees.
Wow, between 100, that's 120airlines in the world made $33
billion last year in baggagefees.
But then I also kind of go backto this kind of, in a way, is
Congress's fault.
Congress has a 7.5% tax onairfares, but exempt from that
(41:01):
airfares are fees, so baggagefees are exempt from that.
Seat fees are exempt from that.
A few years back there was thefuel surcharge fee.
Oh yeah, that was exempt fromthat.
So while Congress has passedlaws where all of these fees, if
it's mandatory, has to beincluded in the fare, this tax
(41:22):
has just incentivized airlinesto make more and more fees.
I remember a few years back Iwas looking at an airfare round
trip from New York to London.
It was about $700.
Was the fare Like?
Oh, that's a great fare?
And then when you actuallybreak down the fare, the actual
airfare part of that was $110.
The rest of it was all somesort of taxes and fees.
(41:45):
Now those taxes and fees gointo the airline pocket, but
they don't have to pay that taxon the airfare.
And the tax system in this case.
If they just taxed all parts ofthat, there probably still
would be fees, but they wouldprobably not be as prevalent as
they are now.
Now, in the end, the customerpays that tax anyway, so it
doesn't necessarily matter tothe airline, right, but it
(42:06):
really has incentivized them tocharge these fees, increase
these fees, make them more andmore part of the travel
experience.
That sounds like a lot of money, which it is a lot of money,
but of all the airlines, thatonly accounts for about four and
a half percent of their totalrevenue.
Wow, that's the part that thecustomer feels the most, I think
.
Yeah, it's the most visible, itis yeah.
Patrick Wiscombe (42:29):
Mark had a great idea that we should talk
about some of the best travelgadgets and presents to consider
, and the list that you came upwith I got to hand it to you.
This is good stuff.
Mark Faldmo (42:41):
Most of these, you can still get here for Christmas
.
So if you have an avid traveleror you are an avid traveler,
these are some things I wouldrecommend.
Where do you want to start?
For me, the most importantthing is your noise canceling
headsets.
Oh yeah, there's all differentkinds of noise canceling
headsets.
Oh yeah, there's all differentkinds of noise canceling
headsets.
I'd make sure they're Bluetooth, and one that I really like is
(43:03):
the JBL 660NC.
It's $50 at Amazon.
This is one I actually justpurchased for Heather because
she didn't have a Bluetoothheadset, and there's nothing
that bothers me more than havingcords attached to me during a
flight.
Patrick Wiscombe (43:17):
My word yes.
Mark Faldmo (43:18):
And you can get noise canceling headsets that
start from $20 and go up intothe hundreds of dollars.
But this is a really good kindof midline and Heather really
likes it.
But along with that you have toget an AirFly, which is the.
Bluetooth connector, so that'ssomething you connect into the
headphone jack in the seat backTV on the airplane and then
(43:39):
it'll just broadcast the soundto your headphones.
So no cable, and so that's $35on Amazon.
I actually have three of those,so including the one I just
bought for Heather, so they're areally good thing to have.
And then also, I thinksomething that's important is a
travel plug adapter, which wetalked about this on a show and
(44:00):
you went out and bought this one.
The one I recommend is CepticsC-E-P-T-I-C-S travel kit and it
has like a full size plug, butthen on the back of it you just
slip in the adapter for whatevercountry you're in, and you have
two US outlets and, dependingon the model, two to four USB
outlet.
(44:20):
But I like this one because Ithink it's pretty versatile in
what it offers.
Yeah, the next thing is a goodpair of compression socks.
You know a lot of people don'tthink about this, but if you're
on a flight for more than threehours, compression socks are
really good for your health,especially like flights to
Europe.
If you don't get up and move,compression socks can really
(44:40):
help with keeping your bloodcirculating and not clotting in
your foot and causing medicalissues.
The next thing this is kind ofinteresting.
It's called Alaska BearBluetooth Eye Mask, and so what
it is?
It's an eye mask like aheadband.
It covers your eyes and yourears, but it has little
noise-canceling speakers in theear part, oh really.
(45:02):
And so it noise-cancels thesound from the airplane.
What about?
Patrick Wiscombe (45:07):
chargers.
Mark Faldmo (45:08):
Chargers.
The one I like is iWalkportable power.
It's a small device that justplugs into the bottom of your
phone so you don't have a wholeother brick with a cord going to
your phone like some of those.
So I really like that.
And then I actually saw one theother day that was magnetic.
It was like the tablets, youknow the charging pads, but it
(45:30):
just sticks to the back of yourphone.
And then we talked about thislast week Apple AirTags.
Oh, I love AirTags $75 onAmazon.
Or, if you have an Android,tile life 360 is a good version
and those are $64.
Both of those for a pack of four.
I told the story maybe it wasthree weeks ago about someone
(45:55):
big group in Cancun.
Their bag somehow got loaded onanother bus, but they were able
to track it down.
They followed the bus to thehotel.
It went and they were able tofind their bag because it had
the air tags in the suitcase.
And then the last thing on thelist is a life straw.
If you're traveling to certaincountries that might not have
the best water purification,this is a personal water filter
and it's basically just a strawthat you can put in the water
(46:17):
and it'll filter it.
When I was in the Amazon inPeru, we used the LifeStraws and
also the water filtrationbottles.
I think it was also made byLifeStraw.
So you do want something likethat, especially if you're going
to countries with not the bestwater standards.
Patrick Wiscombe (46:35):
Before we take off, mark, I want to talk about
your sister.
She had her flight canceled,and let's just go over what to
do if your flight is canceled.
Mark Faldmo (46:44):
This actually just happened the other day, and so
that's why I wanted to put it inhere.
The first thing is don't panic.
There are lots of ways to takecare of this.
I know having a flight canceledor severely delayed.
Their flight just kept gettingdelayed Push back, push back,
push back.
They ended up being in theairport for 10 hours until the
flight was actually canceled,and this was in Minneapolis, so
(47:06):
they were partway through theirjourney when this happened.
The first thing is to alwayshave the airlines app.
The app will tell you if yourflight's canceled or delayed and
it'll also use, depending onthe airline, most apps will give
you rebooking options, so youcan just rebook it right there.
Usually at the airport, goingto the ticket counter where your
flight is supposed to leave isusually the busiest.
(47:28):
There are other customerservice centers around the
airport that sometimes don'thave quite as long line, unless
it's a weather event whereeverything is delayed or
canceled.
And then the next thing istrying to figure out why your
flight was canceled.
This was my sister's hardestpart, because the gate agent
kept saying it's weather, it'sweather, we're not going to give
(47:51):
you a hotel voucher, which wasconfusing because I went on
FlightAware, which is a greatairplane tracking site.
I looked at everywhere thatplane had been.
There's no weather along theway.
There's no way it could havebeen weather.
The airline won't necessarilytell you that.
I think the gate agent was justsaying it's weather because
they didn't want to deal withall the passengers.
(48:12):
Now, since they were told thatthey went and booked a hotel on
their own that wasnon-refundable and then about
half an hour after that, thehotel voucher came for them
which they couldn't use.
If it's mechanical, if it'screw-related, the airline has to
provide meal vouchers and ahotel voucher for you if it's
needed.
(48:32):
And the next thing this is justa good time to plug travel
insurance.
Oh yeah, they did not havetravel insurance.
It probably would have costthem 30 bucks on just this
flight.
It would have covered the costof the hotel.
They have a during traveldepartment at those travel
policies that will just help youwith everything and they have a
lot more resources to deal withthis than you waiting at the
(48:55):
airport for a gate agent thatmay or may not want to talk to
you.
We've also talked about thisbefore.
Treat those gate agents niceand you can get a lot further.
It's unfortunate, but peoplereally don't treat those gate
agents right, especially in adelay or cancellation, and they
get so frustrated I thinksometimes they just say it's
weather, there's nothing I cando, and they just put up that
(49:16):
wall.
So be kind and nice andhopefully you'll get kind and
nice back to you.
You may not get what you want,but you'll get it politely.
Patrick Wiscombe (49:27):
That information is really helpful.
Mark has flown over 4 millionmiles, he's been on over 150
cruises, he knows what he'sdoing and he will help you book
and plan your next vacation.
And, of course, you know, ifyou're just looking for an idea
(49:50):
and you want to bounce the ideaoff him, call Mark in his office
.
Want to bounce the idea off him?
Call Mark in his office888-718-7717.
888-718-7717.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your Saturday
and Sunday mornings here on 860KKAT.
(50:12):
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 and we are on all of themajor podcast platforms.
Well, our job is done and nowit's your turn to get out and
explore the world while you can,because you never know what
curve balls life is going tothrow at you.
(50:34):
While you can, because younever know what curveballs life
is going to throw at you.
Live your life deliberately.
Live your life intentionally.
Thank you so much for listening.
Have a great week.
We'll talk to you again nextSaturday and Sunday.
Show Voice (50:48):
That's it.
That's the end of the show.
You've been listening to theInside Travel Talk podcast and
radio show with Patrick Wiscombeand Mark Faldmo, presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com.
Book your adventure right now.
Call 888-718-7717.
That's 888-718-7717.
(51:09):
Thanks for listening.
Ad Voice (51:29):
Have a great week.
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
blueplanetvacations.
com.
It is the weekend, so it's time for the
Inside Travel Talk podcast andradio show.
On today's show, mark and Iwill be talking about how to win
a cruise around the world, aluxury train ride around the
world.
We'll be talking about Hawaii,Ireland, and it wouldn't be an
episode of the show if we didn'ttalk about Modern Family's Eric
(00:20):
Stonestreet.
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.
Travel deals and offers changeconstantly and are
capacity-controlled and subjectto change without notice.
Show Voice (00:46):
Helping you plan your next vacation.
This is the Inside Travel Talkpodcast and radio show presented
by BluePlanetVacations.
com America's best traveladvisors.
Call us now 801-649-3700,801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
(01:07):
com.
Here's Patrick Wiscombe andMark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe (01:23):
It must be the weekend.
You are listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show.
Hello there, my name is PatrickWiscombe.
Mark Faldmo will be in thestudio here in just a couple of
moments and, if you are brandnew to the show, the entire
purpose of this show is to helpyou plan and book your next
(01:45):
vacation, or simply give youideas of where you want to go on
your next vacation, and we arepresented each and every
Saturday and Sunday byBluePlanetVacations.
com.
Mark Faldmo is walking into thestudio.
I'm here.
Are you ready to do this?
Mark Faldmo (02:06):
I am.
I am sorry I'm running a littlebit late.
I'm headed back.
Stayed up in the park city arealast night for my birthday so
happy birthday, just uh, barelymade it in time where'd you stay
last night?
Patrick Wiscombe (02:22):
did you go to Heber?
Mark Faldmo (02:24):
went to Heber and stayed at the Zermatt resort so
you did.
Patrick Wiscombe (02:27):
You ended up going yep, how was the?
Uh accommodations?
I haven't been up to Zermattfor quite a while it was nice.
Mark Faldmo (02:35):
I wanted something a little bit quieter, not really
in park city, just to go relaxfor a day, be compressed.
Then I had to wake up early andhurry back to do the show let's
start the show off with thetravel news headlines.
Patrick Wiscombe (02:47):
I mentioned at the very top of the show that
we are going to give the detailsabout how to win a Holland
America cruise around the world.
Let's just start there.
Mark Faldmo (02:57):
Holland America is doing a kind of a 12 days of
Christmas giveaway.
This has been going for a fewdays.
It goes until the 17th ofDecember, so you have a few days
here to enter.
You can enter every day and atthe end of it they are going to
give away around the worldcruise on Holland America.
They also have other prizesthey're giving away, so they'll
(03:18):
be giving away an Alaska cruise,a Caribbean cruise, a
Mediterranean cruise, as well asother daily prizes.
How you can enter this is youcan go to HollandAmerica.
com or just Google Great HALidayGiveaway.
Holiday is spelledH-A-L-I-D-A-Y, so H-A-L for
(03:38):
Holland America line.
So Great Holiday Giveaway.
You just put in your emailaddress and your name and
contact information and thenyou'll be entered to win the
daily prize and to win the grandprize.
You'll also get deposit creditfor a deposit towards a future
cruise which you can use thatand book through Blue Planet
(03:58):
Vacations.
Patrick Wiscombe (03:59):
Let's keep the world theme going here.
There is an around the worldvacation on a luxury train.
What details do we have?
Mark Faldmo (04:08):
This is by a company called Rail Bookers.
It's a company we work with andthey've put together an around
the world journey by train.
It's 59 days long, visits 12countries, 20 iconic cities and
rides seven of the world's mostpopular rail routes.
Oh, wow, I'll try and gothrough the itinerary quickly.
(04:29):
It's very exciting.
So the journey begins inVancouver, Canada.
From there, you take the RockyMountaineer route.
When you're done with the RockyMountaineer route, you fly from
Calgary to Edinburgh, Scotland.
You board the Royal Scotsmantrain, which goes around
Scotland, and that's a trainthat you actually sleep on board
(04:50):
.
And then from Edinburgh, you goto Rome and take the La Doce
Vita train from Rome to Venice,and then from Venice and this is
the one I would be excitedabout you take the Simpleton
Orient Express, so it goesVenice to Paris.
Patrick Wiscombe (05:07):
Wow.
Mark Faldmo (05:07):
And then from Paris you go Paris to Budapest.
You eventually end up inIstanbul, turkey.
From there you fly from Turkeyto Delhi.
In India, you take the IndianPanorama train for a few days
and then, when you're done withthat, you can fly to
Johannesburg, south Africa.
You could get some safaris.
(05:28):
You take the Rovos Rail, whichis overnight train, through to
Victoria Falls Just an amazingjourney there in Southern Africa
and then end in Cape Town.
From Cape Town you fly toSingapore.
Ad Voice (05:43):
Wow.
Mark Faldmo (05:43):
And you take the Eastern Oriental Express in
Malaysia and then you end inSingapore.
Patrick Wiscombe (05:49):
How many days is the journey?
Mark Faldmo (05:50):
It's 59 days.
Oh wow.
Now I will say it's fairlyexpensive.
Some of these are very high endluxury trains, but on this show
we're always trying to findsome of those unique vacation
options, and this is definitelyone of the unique options.
You get everything fromglaciers to safari on this and
(06:12):
everything in between I would dothat in a second.
Patrick Wiscombe (06:16):
I didn't even know such a thing existed.
Was it the book or a movie?
Or maybe, yes to both, aroundthe world in 80 days, but this
one's 59 days In 59 days?
Wow, we'll see in two months.
Yeah, talk about jet lag or, inthis case, train lag, train lag
.
Yeah, I saw this story thatDisneyland in Anaheim,
(06:38):
California, is preparing tocelebrate its 70th anniversary.
First of all, it's amazing thatit's been 70 years.
Mark Faldmo (06:45):
Yes, and for their 70-year anniversary, the park is
offering up to 30% off selecthotel stays of four nights or
longer at Disneyland ResortHotels, and they're also
offering $50 kid tickets.
Oh wow, to kick it off, theyhave a new attraction, which is
in the Main Street Opera HouseTheater.
(07:06):
It's called Walt Disney AMagical Life and it's a featured
cinematic presentation of WaltDisney's journey, and it also
has the first audio animatronicof Walt Disney himself.
Patrick Wiscombe (07:19):
So they're turning him into a character now
.
Mark Faldmo (07:21):
They're turning him into a character.
So that's one of the new thingsthat they're adding, and
they're bringing back some newparades, some old parades, lots
of fun things at Disneyland Parkthis year for their 70th
anniversary.
Patrick Wiscombe (07:34):
Anyone who's interested in Disney can call
Mark in his office, especiallythe $50 tickets, and then 30%
off.
What is it?
Disneyland Hotel?
Obviously that would be theWest End, and then Grand
Californian, and then 30% off.
Mark Faldmo (07:44):
what is it?
Disneyland Hotel?
Obviously that would be theWest End.
Patrick Wiscombe (07:46):
And then Grand Californian and then Paradise
Pier would be their hotels.
Yes, do they have more hotels,or is it just those three?
Mark Faldmo (07:53):
still Just those three, because they were going
to build a Star Wars one, butthat one got nixed.
Patrick Wiscombe (08:00):
That's dreadful.
Don't nix the Star Wars, by theway.
I have a joke for you.
This is a Star Wars joke.
What did Yoda say when he firstsaw himself in 4K?
What?
Show Voice (08:13):
HDMI.
Patrick Wiscombe (08:16):
Thank you.
Mark Faldmo (08:17):
Yeah, good dad joke , was it?
Patrick Wiscombe (08:26):
We're running a little short on time.
Let's get to the destination ofthe week, which is always in
this first segment, and we'regoing to be talking about
Ireland.
Was this a call that you took alittle bit earlier this week
from Jessica?
This was a call.
Okay, Jessica wants to go toIreland.
She says that she has seven toeight days and she's asking what
would you recommend, mark, andwhen is the best time to go, and
(08:48):
where would you stay and whatwould you do?
What would you see?
Mark Faldmo (08:51):
I think the best time to go to Ireland is, in the
fall, Ireland in seven to eightdays.
You can see that, and here'swhat I'd recommend to do.
You fly to Dublin, obviously,and spend two to three nights in
Dublin and then go to Killarney, which is down in the southwest
area, and then spend two tothree nights.
(09:12):
My favorite place is inDrummond Castle.
Its roots first started inabout 1015-ish or so, the year
1015.
The actual castle part that yousee today was built in the
1500s, so you can stay in thatold part of the castle and then
there's a newer wing of it thatwas built in the 80s, I believe.
(09:33):
But it's just an amazing castleto stay in.
Patrick Wiscombe (09:36):
I like how they say.
The newer wing was built in the80s.
Mark Faldmo (09:39):
It's already 40 plus years old Yep, and there's
lots of interesting things youcan do in Ireland.
We don't have enough time to gothrough that.
We can go to blarney castle.
Kiss the blarney stone, whichwhen you kiss that, it's said to
give you the gift of gab.
I probably need to do thatagain because I was probably
making out with it.
yes, yeah, you know you can goWaterford Crystal, go to the
(10:04):
Woolen Mills.
One of my favorite places isthe Dingle Peninsula Cliffs of
Moher.
There's so much to do and see.
But what I like about Irelandis that medieval love.
Dromolund Castle, it's afive-star place that you stay at
.
It's got a golf course.
They have all sorts of thingsyou'd kind of associate with
(10:26):
castles like archery and thingslike that.
So Ireland is a wonderfulvacation.
You can also look at a littlebit longer vacation for Jessica.
You know we looked at a Globustour that was 10 days long, so
it's a little bit too long forwhat she wanted, but you can do
it in seven days seven to eightdays if you want to do that.
Patrick Wiscombe (10:44):
Are you a U2 fan?
Mark Faldmo (10:46):
Yes, I am.
Patrick Wiscombe (10:47):
You can go see where Bono grew up Is Slane
Castle in Ireland, I think it is.
Mark Faldmo (10:52):
I think so Okay.
Patrick Wiscombe (10:53):
Take a picture in front of Bono's old place, I
guess, post it and put at U2and say, hey, I'm at your house.
Yeah, Jessica is going.
Right, she is going.
Yes, okay, she says seven toeight days, but really, if
you're going to go to that partof the world, you better, better
make it.
You know, worth your whileJessica.
Has she booked it yet, or doesshe still need to call you back?
(11:15):
It's?
Mark Faldmo (11:16):
booked, not on deposit yet.
Okay, well, Jessica, or anyoneelse who?
Patrick Wiscombe (11:19):
wants to go to Ireland, Jessica, or anyone
else who wants to go to Ireland?
Call Mark in his office,888-718-7717, 888-718-7717.
And you can also go toblueplanetvacations.
com.
(11:40):
When we come back, it is timefor the hot travel deal of the
week, and this week we are goingto Hawaii.
Yep, you can never go wronggoing to Hawaii.
And we're also going to betalking about Las Vegas,
combating Uber and Lyft pricesurging.
It is real and, yes, you willget absolutely hammered if you
(12:00):
just try and book when you getoff the plane or wherever you
are.
Las Vegas is taking it to theUbers and the lifters, which is
a good idea.
That is next when the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show continues.
Alongside Mark Faldmo, my nameis Patrick Wiscombe.
(12:21):
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend.
We will be right back.
Show Voice (12:29):
If you have travel questions, they have the answers
.
You're listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show with Patrick Wiscombe andMark Faldmo, presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com.
Call or text the show right now801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
(12:49):
We'll be right back.
Ad Voice (13:01):
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 blue or blue
(13:23):
planet vacations dot com.
Show Voice (13:39):
You're listening to the inside travel talk podcast
and radio show presented by blueplanet vacations dot com,
America's best travel advisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
com.
Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe (14:04):
We hope that you are enjoying your weekend,
whether you're listening to uson Saturday or Sunday.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend
and hopefully we can justentertain you a little bit while
you're driving to and fromwherever you're going.
If you're at the gym, bless youWorking out on the treadmill.
(14:28):
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your weekend.
Coming up in this segment, weare going to be talking about
Fromers Best places to go in2025.
And Las Vegas is taking it toLyft and Uber, and we'll also be
talking about Hawaii.
We're going to Oahuspecifically, and, in fact,
(14:51):
let's just start with theFromers' best places to go in
2025.
What is on their list?
Mark Faldmo (14:59):
Mark.
This is an annual list theyusually put out.
There's 21 destinations.
I'm not going to cover all ofthem today, just a couple that
kind of stick out to me as onesthat are interesting, in no
particular order.
It's just there are 21destinations to visit in 2025.
Nashville, Tennessee, is onthere.
It's probably not on a lot ofpeople's radar.
(15:20):
I've been to Nashville a fewtimes.
Going to the country music'siconic Grand Old Opry is amazing
.
I'm not really a country musicfan, but I absolutely loved
going to the Grand Old Opry youcan go to.
Patrick Wiscombe (15:35):
Morgan Wallen's bar and watch him throw
a chair off the top of his bar.
Mark Faldmo (15:39):
Yeah, yeah, great food Nashville hot chicken so
good.
One of my favorite things therewas the Dukes of Hazzard Museum
that's right there and DaisyDuke's gift shop.
Oh, boy so a lot of great thingsin Nashville Good food.
What else is on the list?
Next thing on the list isUniversal's Epic Universe, which
(16:03):
is their new park we've talkedabout before.
I think it's going to be agame-changing theme part.
In my opinion it'll well.
I guess if you're a Disney fan,you're a Disney fan, but from
what I've seen, I think that'sgoing to be far and above
anything that Disney has put out, which is saying a lot, because
Disney does really good withwhat they do.
Another thing on the list isGreenland.
(16:24):
This one is on the list becauseGreenland was once a very hard
place to reach.
Now there are several cruisesthat go there and, as we talked
about, there's now directflights, united Airlines, from
the US to Greenland.
And then we'll just talk aboutone more destination, because
this one is really.
When I saw on the list list,it's kind of out there in left
(16:45):
field, but it's Slovenia.
A lot of people probably don'teven know where Slovenia is.
On its western border is Italy,on its southern border is
Croatia, on its eastern borderis Hungary and on its northern
border is Austria.
It is kind of the Alps.
(17:07):
It's known for its mountainsand ski resorts, but it has some
of the most beautiful sceneryin all of Europe.
Have you been there?
I have been there just on a daytrip off of a cruise.
MSC is about the only cruiseline now that I've seen that
actually makes stops in Slovenia.
A few weeks ago we talked aboutthe Adriatic Sea, so this is at
(17:31):
the northern part of that andthey do have a small part of
their border that is on theAdriatic Sea, but some of the
castles you see that are builtup on cliffs.
That's in Slovenia.
Just amazing scenery and beauty.
And then history.
You know a lot of people reallywant to go to Croatia.
This is kind of a less touristyversion of Croatia.
I would want to go back andspend more time there.
(17:52):
Other places on the listBolivia, bath and Stonehenge,
Tucson, Arizona and Ohio'sCuyahoga Valley National Park
rounded out the top few on thelist.
Patrick Wiscombe (18:04):
I saw this news story that Las Vegas is
this is my term going to warwith Uber and Lyft because of
price surges, so they areintroducing zone taxi fares.
This is good news for consumersbecause it feels like Uber and
Lyft can really just hammer you.
Mark Faldmo (18:21):
This has actually been going on for a while in Las
Vegas.
I was just at a presentation byLas Vegas and they brought this
up, and so I thought it was agood thing to bring up the show
today.
I don't understand.
I arrived to an airport and Isee hundreds of people waiting
for Uber and Lyft and then lookover at the taxi queue and no
one's there.
People will wait 20 to 40minutes for an Uber left when
(18:44):
they could go, get in a taxi andgo.
So what Las Vegas has done isthey've introduced zone fares.
So no matter the time of day,if the airport's involved, if
you're going to or from theairport, it's a set price and
they have South Strip, centerStrip, north Strip, downtown or
kind of the zones there of thetaxis.
(19:05):
If you arrive at the airport ata very busy time, Uber or Lyft
is going to cost you three tofour more times what the taxi
fare is.
Patrick Wiscombe (19:15):
My only argument why people wait that
long is taxis have kind of donethis to themselves, historically
speaking.
They used to charge outrageousamounts of money.
Mark Faldmo (19:24):
Yes, yeah, now, getting around town if you're
going hotel to hotel, Uber orLyft is probably the best,
unless it's in that kind ofsurge timeframe when there's a
high demand for Uber and Lyft.
I still use Uber and Lyft toget around town, but from any
airport, I almost always now goto a taxi.
Patrick Wiscombe (19:43):
You can ask what the fare is up front and
you can see what the fare is onthe Uber and Lyft apps, so you
can just quickly compare.
Mark Faldmo (19:50):
And if you're a fan of Uber and Lyft I found Lyft
is much less expensive than Uberthese days and if you're a
Delta Airlines fan, you get aLyft credit- oh, that's part of
the Delta app, isn't?
It.
It's part of the Delta app.
Yeah, okay.
Patrick Wiscombe (20:05):
Yeah, one of their partners.
I saw that Hawaii just had oneof their busiest Octobers since
the pandemic.
Mark Faldmo (20:12):
Yeah, which is probably ever, because 2019 was
a banner year.
This October, Hawaii had 97.3%visitors when compared to
October of 2019.
So they are almost back to thatpre-pandemic level, with the
exception of Maui.
Maui was down 24% compared toOctober 2019.
(20:35):
Maui has continued to strugglesince the fires, which has
really hampered their recovery.
Hawaii as a whole is almostback to what they were
pre-pandemic.
Patrick Wiscombe (20:46):
Well, that leads us into the hot travel
deal of the week.
So let's start off in Oahu.
Mark Faldmo (20:51):
I looked for fairly close in.
So this is Oahu, January 23rd,for five nights, includes round
trip air from Salt Lake City onUnited Airlines.
Four star hotels, hotels forless than $1,000 a person with
the package, and it includesairfare yeah, airfare.
Five nights hotel a four-starat the Romer Hotel starts at
(21:12):
$879 per person.
This is a hotel that's recentlybeen renovated and they changed
their name to Romer.
I'm not sure what it was before, but it's about three blocks
from the beach, kind of near theFort D'Ursay area, which you'd
have to cut across that park toget to the beach.
Oh, that's not terrible $879for that.
Another four-star is the TwinFin Hotel a four-star hotel,
(21:37):
$1129 per person.
And this one is right acrossthe street from the beach.
Some people might recognize thename Aston Waikiki Beach that's
what this hotel is.
So it became the Twin Fin Hotel.
And then my favorite hotel isthe Hilton Hawaiian Village.
Oh yeah, four and a half starhotel, $1229 per person.
Patrick Wiscombe (21:58):
That's amazing .
And, by the way, what is that?
Is that about five weeks fromnow?
Mark Faldmo (22:03):
It's about five weeks from now.
I'm finding right now the sweetspot for, like Hawaii and
Mexico, is right about six weeksfor the best airfare and prices
.
Patrick Wiscombe (22:13):
What are some of the things to do on Oahu?
Mark Faldmo (22:15):
One of the things that I want to do that I have
not done, and that's why I'mbringing this up, is the
Hollywood movie set tour.
This is at Kalua Ranch JurassicPark Lost, filmed in this Kalua
Ranch area on the North Shoreof Hawaii.
And then there's also a reallygreat zipline Kiana Farms
(22:36):
zipline on the North.
Shore.
Yeah, I was going to say that'sthe North Shore.
Yeah, it's right by, just downthe street from the courtyard by
Marriott North Shore.
And then I guess, while we'rethere at the courtyard talking
about the best luau, rightacross the street, the
Polynesian Cultural Center, Ithink, has the best luau on the
island of Oahu.
I've done several but I reallylike the Polynesian Cultural
(22:57):
Center because one you get afull day of seeing all the
villages, you get a luau show,and then you get after dinner
after luau show, and it's aboutthe same cost as just going to
just a luau of the other guysokay, this is your five-week
warning.
Patrick Wiscombe (23:13):
To get to Hawaii, go to wahoo.
I was just there in march withmy wife, Nicki awesome place.
We stayed at the HiltonHawaiian village at mark's
recommendation.
Totally recommend it, awesomeplace to stay.
Call mark in his office,888-718-7717.
888-718-7717.
(23:35):
And he'll also post those dealson blueplanetvacations.
com.
When we come back after thebottom of the hour news break
we've got the infamous JustCruising segment, so we'll have
the cruise news of the week andwe'll also talk about going to
Alaska on Holland America.
(23:56):
That is next when the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show continues.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe.
He is Mark Faldmo, we will beright back.
He is Mark Faldmo, we will beright back.
Show Voice (24:10):
They've literally traveled millions of miles to
answer your travel-relatedquestions.
Yeah, they really have.
You're listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com.
America's best travel advisors,Patrick and Mark, will be back
after these messages.
Ad Voice (24:40):
Travel insurance plans can help protect you and your
vacation.
Travelex is known for theiraward-winning customer service
and high claims paid rate.
Contact Blue Planet Vacationsat 888-718-7717 or
blueplanetvacations.
com for more information.
Patrick Wiscombe (24:59):
Okay, we're back.
You are listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast, a radio
show Coming up.
In the remaining 28 minutes ofthis hour, mark and I will be
talking about Alaska cruises.
Now's the time to book.
Broadway-style shows are makingan appearance on Norwegian
Cruise Line and a very specialguest makes a four-second
appearance on the show.
(25:20):
Let's get back to 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.
Travel deals and offers changeconstantly and are capacity
controlled and subject to changewithout notice.
Show Voice (25:50):
Now back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and
radio show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com America's best traveladvisors.
Hit us up right now,801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
And check out the podcast atInsideTravelTalk.
(26:10):
com.
Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe (26:21):
All aboard For the Just Cruising segment.
The infamous Just Cruisingsegment as part of the Inside
Travel Talk podcast, a radioshow heard each and every
weekend right here on this radiostation at this very time,
coming up in this final segmentof the show, Eric Stonestreet,
(26:42):
modern Family's Eric Stonestreet, is going to make a four-second
appearance on the show.
Why We'll tell you.
During this segment, NorwegianCruise Lines is doing
Broadway-style shows, butthey're going to start parring
them back.
And of course, we have theCruise Deal of the Week always
(27:03):
in this segment.
But let's start this segmentoff with the Cruise News of the
Week.
Where should we start here?
Segment off with the cruisenews of the week.
Where should we start here?
Should we go river cruising?
On this one, let's do this.
This is interesting, all right.
So river cruising keeps gettingbigger.
They're expanding on new riversand new regions.
Mark Faldmo (27:22):
River cruising started pretty much in Europe.
Most people know river cruisingin Europe and this last year
and into next year and thefollowing year there's really a
lot of new options for rivercruising around the world.
There is a river cruisestarting on the Kochi River in
India.
It's a small 20-passenger boatbut it goes to towns, villages,
(27:46):
Hindu temples.
Amawater ways is startingcruising in Colombia and that's
kind of the real first SouthAmerica river cruise that's been
out there on kind of a mainlineriver cruise.
So Ama is pioneering this.
More and more river cruisecompanies are going into Asia
(28:06):
and the Amazon.
So in Peru, the upper Amazon,there's lots of river cruise
options now.
And then Asia along the Mekongand we've talked about that
before, but again there's moreand more options.
And then in the United Statesthe American Cruise Line has an
eight-day Great Rivers ofFlorida voyage and it it's on
(28:27):
one of their new 130 passengerships that sails around Florida.
Patrick Wiscombe (28:32):
Mexico has approved a $42 cruise passenger
tax.
That's not what I want to hear.
Mark Faldmo (28:39):
This is pretty interesting because a lot of
cruise lines do go to Mexico,whether it's on the West Coast
Puerto Vallarta, Cabo Mazatlánor on the East Coast,
particularly Cozumel.
Almost every Western Caribbeanitinerary stops in Cozumel.
This really drew some criticismfrom cruise lines.
(28:59):
Some cruise lines said theywere going to stop going to
Mexico and actually thosethreats did pay off a little bit
.
This was supposed to startright away and they've delayed
it for further discussion.
Most people probably won'tnotice it because it'll be
buried in the cost of the cruisefare, but hopefully they decide
not to do that.
That's $42 a person more thatit's going to cost you to take a
(29:21):
cruise that stops in Mexico.
Most of the taxes are $5 to $12.
One thing that a lot of thecruise lines and tourism boards
are kind of complaining about isthat $42 is not even going to
help the tourism infrastructureor the cruise infrastructure.
Most of it is going to themilitary.
Patrick Wiscombe (29:41):
Norwegian Cruise Line, NCL, says that
they're going to be doing fewerBroadway-style shows.
Now I will say that the showsthat were on there were
excellent.
This one kind of surprises me,but I'm thinking that it
probably has to do withlicensing it actually has to do
with logistics.
Mark Faldmo (29:59):
They were the first one to bring on kind of a
Broadway-style show with theBlue man Group, and then Royal
Caribbean, followed with severalBroadway shows.
And what Norwegian has found intheir passenger surveys is that
people don't want to spend anhour and a half at a Broadway
show.
They want a 45-minute show andthen go on and do other things.
(30:20):
Norwegian, for instance, hassaid just the staffing of the
shows.
Some of those Broadway showsrequire a full-time wiggist
person that does the wigs forthe you know, and they're like
it's kind of a waste of a crewpersonnel for someone that just
sits there and does wigs all dayfor the shows.
(30:41):
And so you know they are goingto keep some of the shows on
board but they are going to cutback because logistically and
production wise they're a littlebit too expensive and they're
also too long for the passenger.
Patrick Wiscombe (30:55):
I would do like that in your resume I'm a
wiggist.
I'm a wiggist.
Yes, I think we might even havea podcast title the Wiggist,
yes, the Wiggist.
Are you a fan of Modern Family,the TV?
Mark Faldmo (31:08):
show.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:08):
And I know it's been off the air for a few
years now, but who was yourfavorite character?
Mark Faldmo (31:13):
I probably like the dad the best.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:15):
Oh, yeah, yeah Okay.
Mark Faldmo (31:16):
Manny.
Patrick Wiscombe (31:18):
One of my favorite characters was Eric
Stonestreet, who is also a hugeKansas City Chiefs fan.
I've always been a Chiefs fan.
He's been named Some of therefs, apparently Stop.
If you don't know who EricStonestreet is, here's a
four-second clip.
Here's his four-secondappearance.
Sort of like Costco.
(31:39):
I'm big, I'm not fancy and Idare you to not like me.
His character, cam, absolutelymade me laugh every single week.
So why do I bring EricStonestreet into this?
He's been named the godfatherfor the Norwegian Aqua, which is
the brand new ship.
Is it coming out?
Mark Faldmo (31:55):
2025?
Yeah, it'll be April 13th of2025.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:00):
Is there a media preview that you and I
will be taking?
Mark Faldmo (32:04):
in April sometime, we'll see if we can get
ourselves invited to that.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:08):
I'd be just fine with that.
Do we know where they'resailing out of?
Or the not the inaugural, butthe media preview?
Wouldn't that be New York City,Miami?
Oh, that's where that's at.
Mark Faldmo (32:19):
I always love those preview cruises, especially the
naming ones.
I've been lucky enough to be ona few of those.
One I remember with Pitbull andhe actually had a special
presentation just for the cruiseship.
It was pretty cool, and thenhim being part of the naming
ceremony.
Patrick Wiscombe (32:35):
So what is the significance of a godfather
when it comes to naming the ship?
Mark Faldmo (32:41):
Well, it's interesting because it's usually
a godmother.
Ad Voice (32:43):
Yeah, that's what.
Mark Faldmo (32:44):
I thought More and more.
There's been a few godfathersof cruise ships.
A lot of them are.
They're people that areimportant to the industry or
celebrities.
With a new ship they want totry and generate as much bang
for the buck as they can get.
You know, like I was talkingabout Pitbull just a minute ago,
right, he was really big atthat time.
(33:05):
His nickname Mr.
Worldwide.
They really try and choose thatto try and get promotional
value and interest for the newship.
Patrick Wiscombe (33:13):
Let's get to the cruise deal of the week.
Always at this segment of theshow, we're talking about Alaska
on Holland America Cruises.
Let's talk waterfalls andspirit bears.
I don't know where you're goingwith this, but let's start
there.
Mark Faldmo (33:27):
Yeah, this is a very interesting itinerary by
Holland America.
They're doing some reallyunique itineraries.
This one particular isSeptember of 2026.
Now some people might say whyare you talking about it so
early?
But this is a very uniqueitinerary.
It's an 18-day cruise roundtrip from Vancouver.
(33:47):
It's an 18-day cruise roundtrip from Vancouver where they
say spirit bears there'sactually a type of bear called
spirit bear.
You can find it on Prince RoyalIsland, which is one of the
islands that the cruise shipsells by, and it is basically an
albino bear.
It's kind of honey-colored, tan, yellowish.
So you do some scenic cruisingat the first part of the cruise
around some of those islandsthat are in the panhandle of
(34:10):
Alaska and Canada area goes toSika, Alaska.
Goes to Hubbard glacier which,if you can see it, is one of the
most spectacular glaciers.
I think it's like seven mileslong a tidewater glacier.
That's like seven miles longwhoa.
Patrick Wiscombe (34:26):
And then it goes to the glaciers.
Mark Faldmo (34:27):
That long the glacier.
Is that long?
Patrick Wiscombe (34:30):
yes, so this makes of the uh glacier national
park look kind of small.
Mark Faldmo (34:35):
Yes, oh, my word, this is actually the other side
of glacier national park, justto the north of it.
So this glacier feeds from thesame ice field as glacier
national park or glacier bay.
Sorry, glacier bay, glacier bay, yeah, and then.
Patrick Wiscombe (34:47):
It was Glacier National Park or Glacier.
Ad Voice (34:48):
Bay Sorry.
Mark Faldmo (34:48):
I'm sorry, yeah, glacier Bay, glacier Bay, yeah,
and then from Hubbard, glacier,you go to Valdez, Alaska, then
to Kodiak, Alaska.
So there's another bear relatedthe Kodiak Grizzlies Goes to
Homer, Alaska.
An interesting stop isAnchorage, Alaska, because most
cruise ships don't go toAnchorage because you have to
sail clear around the peninsulato get to Anchorage Right.
(35:08):
So they end in Whittier orSeward, but this one does go to
Anchorage and then it does alsostop in Glacier Bay, Juneau,
Wrangell, Alaska, Ketchikan,prince Rupert, and then some
more scenic cruising and ends inVancouver.
So, it is 18 day cruise insidecabins at $3,079 per person and
(35:33):
again, that includes all of thetaxes and fees on that.
Just a very unique itinerary,probably the most unique Alaska
itinerary that I've seen.
That is a great itinerary Twoyears away, September 16th
through October 4th of 2026.
But it is selling fast.
I was just looking at some ofthe stats on that and it's
(35:54):
already almost halfway full.
So for something unique that isa great deal to go to Alaska
starts at $3,429 per person, andthis ship is a smaller ship so
(36:15):
it doesn't really have balconiesper se.
They're all suites that havebalconies, so the suites start
at $6,129 per person.
Per person.
Patrick Wiscombe (36:25):
I'm not joking when I say this.
18 days in Alaska would be forme.
Seven days was way too fast,and it was beautiful.
I truly wish that I had moretime in Alaska.
So, this might be the answerfor me, Nicky.
Mark Faldmo (36:39):
And it is later in the year, so there's a good
chance of seeing the NorthernLights.
Oh yes, it's about the sametime of year that you went, yep,
and you're getting a.
Patrick Wiscombe (36:51):
To book that vacation.
Call Mark in his office, justget the conversation rolling
888-718-7717.
888-718-7717.
And he'll also post thisparticular cruise deal of the
week on blueplanetvacations.
com when we come back.
(37:13):
Final segment we've got Mark'stravel tips, we've got the
little bit more travel news andwe're going to give you some
tech gadgets that you shouldreally consider just putting in
your stash to travel.
That is next when the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show continues.
My name is Patrick Wiscombe, heis Mark Faldmo.
(37:36):
Thank you, really thank you,for allowing this to be part of
your weekend.
We will be right back.
Show Voice (37:46):
Explore your world.
You're listening to the InsideTravel Talk podcast and radio
show presented byBluePlanetVacations.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
We'll be right back.
Ad Voice (38:15):
Inside Travel Talk is brought to you by Anna.
Waterways, from castles andcapitals to vistas and villages.
Visit some of Europe's mostremarkable sites and cities To
set out on your own river cruisejourney.
Contact Blue Planet Vacationsat 888-718-7717 or
blueplanetvacations.
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717 or blue planet vacations.
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Show Voice (38:40):
They'll help you plan and book your next vacation
.
Yeah, really, you're listeningto the inside travel talk
podcast and radio show presentedby blue planet vacations.
com, America's best traveladvisors.
Call or text the show now801-649-3700.
801-649-3700.
(39:01):
And now here's Patrick Wiscombeand Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe (39:10):
Final segment of this week's Inside Travel
Talk podcast and radio show.
Final segment of this week'sInside Travel Talk podcast and
radio show.
Thank you so much for listeningthis week and, if I may
encourage you, if you want tore-listen to or just you can't
listen to us live each Saturdayor Sunday, go to
(39:31):
InsideTravelTalk.
com.
Insidetraveltalk.
com, go to the website.
You can stream the show thereif you just want to stream it
directly, but you can alsosubscribe to the podcast on
InsideTravelTalk.
com so you don't miss an episode.
(39:52):
All right, mark, coming up inthis final segment we've got the
travel news of the week.
We're going to be talking aboutCongress pressing airlines on
bag fees.
I know that airlines just makea boatload of money off those
change fees, the bag fees, infact.
Let's just start there.
(40:12):
That happened, I think was itearlier this week.
Mark Faldmo (40:16):
There was a hearing about airline bag fees.
Congress had the major airlinesin to ask them about their
practices for airline fees.
Basically, they said your feesare targeting suckers.
I like that Congress isinvestigating this.
Airlines made last year aroundthe world $33 billion in baggage
(40:40):
.
That's just the baggage fees.
Wow, between 100, that's 120airlines in the world made $33
billion last year in baggagefees.
But then I also kind of go backto this kind of, in a way, is
Congress's fault.
Congress has a 7.5% tax onairfares, but exempt from that
(41:01):
airfares are fees, so baggagefees are exempt from that.
Seat fees are exempt from that.
A few years back there was thefuel surcharge fee.
Oh yeah, that was exempt fromthat.
So while Congress has passedlaws where all of these fees, if
it's mandatory, has to beincluded in the fare, this tax
(41:22):
has just incentivized airlinesto make more and more fees.
I remember a few years back Iwas looking at an airfare round
trip from New York to London.
It was about $700.
Was the fare Like?
Oh, that's a great fare?
And then when you actuallybreak down the fare, the actual
airfare part of that was $110.
The rest of it was all somesort of taxes and fees.
(41:45):
Now those taxes and fees gointo the airline pocket, but
they don't have to pay that taxon the airfare.
And the tax system in this case.
If they just taxed all parts ofthat, there probably still
would be fees, but they wouldprobably not be as prevalent as
they are now.
Now, in the end, the customerpays that tax anyway, so it
doesn't necessarily matter tothe airline, right, but it
(42:06):
really has incentivized them tocharge these fees, increase
these fees, make them more andmore part of the travel
experience.
That sounds like a lot of money, which it is a lot of money,
but of all the airlines, thatonly accounts for about four and
a half percent of their totalrevenue.
Wow, that's the part that thecustomer feels the most, I think
.
Yeah, it's the most visible, itis yeah.
Patrick Wiscombe (42:29):
Mark had a great idea that we should talk
about some of the best travelgadgets and presents to consider
, and the list that you came upwith I got to hand it to you.
This is good stuff.
Mark Faldmo (42:41):
Most of these, you can still get here for Christmas
.
So if you have an avid traveleror you are an avid traveler,
these are some things I wouldrecommend.
Where do you want to start?
For me, the most importantthing is your noise canceling
headsets.
Oh yeah, there's all differentkinds of noise canceling
headsets.
Oh yeah, there's all differentkinds of noise canceling
headsets.
I'd make sure they're Bluetooth, and one that I really like is
(43:03):
the JBL 660NC.
It's $50 at Amazon.
This is one I actually justpurchased for Heather because
she didn't have a Bluetoothheadset, and there's nothing
that bothers me more than havingcords attached to me during a
flight.
Patrick Wiscombe (43:17):
My word yes.
Mark Faldmo (43:18):
And you can get noise canceling headsets that
start from $20 and go up intothe hundreds of dollars.
But this is a really good kindof midline and Heather really
likes it.
But along with that you have toget an AirFly, which is the.
Bluetooth connector, so that'ssomething you connect into the
headphone jack in the seat backTV on the airplane and then
(43:39):
it'll just broadcast the soundto your headphones.
So no cable, and so that's $35on Amazon.
I actually have three of those,so including the one I just
bought for Heather, so they're areally good thing to have.
And then also, I thinksomething that's important is a
travel plug adapter, which wetalked about this on a show and
(44:00):
you went out and bought this one.
The one I recommend is CepticsC-E-P-T-I-C-S travel kit and it
has like a full size plug, butthen on the back of it you just
slip in the adapter for whatevercountry you're in, and you have
two US outlets and, dependingon the model, two to four USB
outlet.
(44:20):
But I like this one because Ithink it's pretty versatile in
what it offers.
Yeah, the next thing is a goodpair of compression socks.
You know a lot of people don'tthink about this, but if you're
on a flight for more than threehours, compression socks are
really good for your health,especially like flights to
Europe.
If you don't get up and move,compression socks can really
(44:40):
help with keeping your bloodcirculating and not clotting in
your foot and causing medicalissues.
The next thing this is kind ofinteresting.
It's called Alaska BearBluetooth Eye Mask, and so what
it is?
It's an eye mask like aheadband.
It covers your eyes and yourears, but it has little
noise-canceling speakers in theear part, oh really.
(45:02):
And so it noise-cancels thesound from the airplane.
What about?
Patrick Wiscombe (45:07):
chargers.
Mark Faldmo (45:08):
Chargers.
The one I like is iWalkportable power.
It's a small device that justplugs into the bottom of your
phone so you don't have a wholeother brick with a cord going to
your phone like some of those.
So I really like that.
And then I actually saw one theother day that was magnetic.
It was like the tablets, youknow the charging pads, but it
(45:30):
just sticks to the back of yourphone.
And then we talked about thislast week Apple AirTags.
Oh, I love AirTags $75 onAmazon.
Or, if you have an Android,tile life 360 is a good version
and those are $64.
Both of those for a pack of four.
I told the story maybe it wasthree weeks ago about someone
(45:55):
big group in Cancun.
Their bag somehow got loaded onanother bus, but they were able
to track it down.
They followed the bus to thehotel.
It went and they were able tofind their bag because it had
the air tags in the suitcase.
And then the last thing on thelist is a life straw.
If you're traveling to certaincountries that might not have
the best water purification,this is a personal water filter
and it's basically just a strawthat you can put in the water
(46:17):
and it'll filter it.
When I was in the Amazon inPeru, we used the LifeStraws and
also the water filtrationbottles.
I think it was also made byLifeStraw.
So you do want something likethat, especially if you're going
to countries with not the bestwater standards.
Patrick Wiscombe (46:35):
Before we take off, mark, I want to talk about
your sister.
She had her flight canceled,and let's just go over what to
do if your flight is canceled.
Mark Faldmo (46:44):
This actually just happened the other day, and so
that's why I wanted to put it inhere.
The first thing is don't panic.
There are lots of ways to takecare of this.
I know having a flight canceledor severely delayed.
Their flight just kept gettingdelayed Push back, push back,
push back.
They ended up being in theairport for 10 hours until the
flight was actually canceled,and this was in Minneapolis, so
(47:06):
they were partway through theirjourney when this happened.
The first thing is to alwayshave the airlines app.
The app will tell you if yourflight's canceled or delayed and
it'll also use, depending onthe airline, most apps will give
you rebooking options, so youcan just rebook it right there.
Usually at the airport, goingto the ticket counter where your
flight is supposed to leave isusually the busiest.
(47:28):
There are other customerservice centers around the
airport that sometimes don'thave quite as long line, unless
it's a weather event whereeverything is delayed or
canceled.
And then the next thing istrying to figure out why your
flight was canceled.
This was my sister's hardestpart, because the gate agent
kept saying it's weather, it'sweather, we're not going to give
(47:51):
you a hotel voucher, which wasconfusing because I went on
FlightAware, which is a greatairplane tracking site.
I looked at everywhere thatplane had been.
There's no weather along theway.
There's no way it could havebeen weather.
The airline won't necessarilytell you that.
I think the gate agent was justsaying it's weather because
they didn't want to deal withall the passengers.
(48:12):
Now, since they were told thatthey went and booked a hotel on
their own that wasnon-refundable and then about
half an hour after that, thehotel voucher came for them
which they couldn't use.
If it's mechanical, if it'screw-related, the airline has to
provide meal vouchers and ahotel voucher for you if it's
needed.
(48:32):
And the next thing this is justa good time to plug travel
insurance.
Oh yeah, they did not havetravel insurance.
It probably would have costthem 30 bucks on just this
flight.
It would have covered the costof the hotel.
They have a during traveldepartment at those travel
policies that will just help youwith everything and they have a
lot more resources to deal withthis than you waiting at the
(48:55):
airport for a gate agent thatmay or may not want to talk to
you.
We've also talked about thisbefore.
Treat those gate agents niceand you can get a lot further.
It's unfortunate, but peoplereally don't treat those gate
agents right, especially in adelay or cancellation, and they
get so frustrated I thinksometimes they just say it's
weather, there's nothing I cando, and they just put up that
(49:16):
wall.
So be kind and nice andhopefully you'll get kind and
nice back to you.
You may not get what you want,but you'll get it politely.
Patrick Wiscombe (49:27):
That information is really helpful.
Mark has flown over 4 millionmiles, he's been on over 150
cruises, he knows what he'sdoing and he will help you book
and plan your next vacation.
And, of course, you know, ifyou're just looking for an idea
(49:50):
and you want to bounce the ideaoff him, call Mark in his office
.
Want to bounce the idea off him?
Call Mark in his office888-718-7717.
888-718-7717.
Thank you so much for allowingus to be part of your Saturday
and Sunday mornings here on 860KKAT.
(50:12):
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 and we are on all of themajor podcast platforms.
Well, our job is done and nowit's your turn to get out and
explore the world while you can,because you never know what
curve balls life is going tothrow at you.
(50:34):
While you can, because younever know what curveballs life
is going to throw at you.
Live your life deliberately.
Live your life intentionally.
Thank you so much for listening.
Have a great week.
We'll talk to you again nextSaturday and Sunday.
Show Voice (50:48):
That's it.
That's the end of the show.
You've been listening to theInside Travel Talk podcast and
radio show with Patrick Wiscombeand Mark Faldmo, presented by
BluePlanetVacations.
com.
Book your adventure right now.
Call 888-718-7717.
That's 888-718-7717.
(51:09):
Thanks for listening.
Ad Voice (51:29):
Have a great week.
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
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