Inside Travel Talk
Explore Your World! The Inside Travel Talk Podcast is filled with destination information and travel, cruise and vacation tips and tricks. Its the Christmas catalogue of Travel! We are here to help you get out there and Explore Your World.
Inside Travel Talk
Epic Explorations: Exotic Fijian Escape & and Alaska Adventure into the Arctic Circle
Embark on a journey with me, Mark Faldmo, as we navigate the latest wave of travel innovations and policies set to revolutionize your globetrotting adventures. Say goodbye to baggage blues with Delta Airlines' revamped check-in system, kick-started at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, promising to simplify that pesky recheck process stateside. As bureaucracy takes a backseat, your post-flight experience might just get a whole lot breezier. Meanwhile, the skies are abuzz with the sound of refunds, as a new mandate compels airlines to reimburse for significant delays or cancellations. I'll dissect what this means for your wallet and whether you'll be seeing more travel credits as airlines adapt to this shake-up. And for those with an eye on exotic locales, I'll let you in on Fiji Airways' enticing fare overhaul—think South Pacific dreams on a budget.
Strap in as we take a cultural detour through Amsterdam's charming streets, exploring the city's bold steps to protect its allure by halting hotel sprawl—because sometimes, less is more. I'll share nuggets of wisdom on how to tread lightly as a traveler, savouring the offbeat rhythm of destinations like Antwerp without leaving heavy footprints. For the sea-faring folks, there's buzz over Virgin Voyages' upcoming Brilliant Lady, where I'll spill the details on service that goes the extra nautical mile for those with food allergies. And if you've ever fantasized about a month-long voyage through the Arctic Circle, I've got the scoop on Holland America's epic 28-day excursion—so impressive, you'll want to secure your spot before it's all just a sailor's tale. Join me for these stories and more, as we chart a course through the dynamic world of travel.
The Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com contains travel deals, promotions and offers that may be time-sensitive. All offers and information were accurate when the show aired. Travel deals and offers change constantly and are capacity-controlled and subject to change without notice explore your world.
Show Voice:it's the inside travel talk podcast and radio show presented by blue planning vacations. com. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700 and check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. And now here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Mark Faldmo:Welcome to this week's episode of Inside Travel Talk. I'm Mark Faldmo. Patrick is off again this week and unable to join us. We hope he's back for next week. Today is Saturday, May 11th, and we're here to help you explore your world.
Mark Faldmo:First, a little bit of news that makes international travel a little bit easier, at least coming back into the United States, and this is a welcome change for international flights. Anyone who has traveled and connected in the United States know that it's a difficult experience. Delta Airlines will soon be able to remove part of that experience. It's reported that Delta Airlines is planning to make a major change on the way it operates baggage checks for international flights arriving to the US. According to a newspaper published in Japan, citing Delta officials, starting sometime this year, delta will no longer require baggage rechecks upon arrival in the US for passengers traveling from Tokyo's Haneda Airport and then connecting on to another US city. This would mean that passengers no longer have to collect luggage and then recheck their bags as part of their connection to another destination in the US. I think this is a step forward in improving the experience when traveling back to the US. You know, when traveling to Europe and making connections, you don't have to do this. Currently, you just check your bags and they arrive at your final destination. You know this is good because it'll bring US destinations in line with other international destinations. As a side note, those traveling through the US to another international destination would still need to go through the process of checking your bag at the intermediate airport and checking it back onto your international onward flight. Delta is reportedly planning on first making this change for passengers traveling from Tokyo's Hanada Airport into the US, and it soon will add Seoul, london Heathrow and Frankfurt.
Mark Faldmo:While I like this change and it will definitely help the return to the US from an international destination, I wish more international destinations would be added to the Immigration and Custom pre-clearance program. This is a program where passengers go through immigration and customs before boarding their flight to the US. This allows flights to operate more like a domestic US flight. Bags are checked to your final destination, the plane can arrive at any gate, does not have to go to an international terminal that has access to customs and immigration. Just for information, there are currently 16 airports with this pre-clearance process in place Dublin and Shannon in Ireland, aruba and Bermuda in the Caribbean, abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, nassau in the Bahamas, and then also most international Canadian airports Calgary, toronto, edmonton, halifax Canadian airports Calgary, toronto, edmonton, halifax, montreal, ottawa, vancouver, victoria and Winnipeg have this pre-clearance.
Mark Faldmo:Now I want to switch topics and move to a topic we briefly talked about last week, and that was the new regulation that requires airlines to refund customers if your flight is canceled or significantly delayed, regardless of the reason for the delay or cancellation. You know, I generally think this is a good win for customers, but I don't think many understand what this actually means. You know, the good part of this is the time constraint given on the refund process. It requires airlines to refund within seven days of a canceled or significantly delayed flight. Airlines also now have to let you know that you're entitled to a refund, where before, even if you were entitled to a refund, they may have only offered a flight credit. You know a lot of people are praising this but don't realize that in order to get refunded, you have to decline what the airline has offered you to get to your destination. Meaning that if you want the refund, you have to decline what the airline has offered you to get to your destination. Meaning that if you want the refund, you would have to decline the change and cancel your flight. You know, if you're coming home from vacation. This really isn't a realistic expectation, because if you cancel that flight and get the refund, how are you going to get home? At that point, there's not going to be a lot of flight availability and the prices will be pretty high. I do see another thing potentially coming from this, and that is that airlines will increase the amount of travel credit they will offer. I'm not sure if this is even possible with the new regulation, but while the airlines do have to first let you know that you're entitled to a refund, we may start to see instances where airlines will offer you your refund. That, say, is $200, but the airline may offer you instead of the refund do you want a future travel credit worth $300 or $400 instead of that $200 refund, which, as long as you use that credit, it would be good? On a side note, I did read somewhere that there's a large percentage of travel credits that airlines issue that are never used. So I think that's why, once airlines offer you a refund, they will then start to offer you larger credits than what your refund is worth.
Mark Faldmo:Now, in the first segment, we always talk about the best travel deal of the week. There are some really good travel deals out there right now, and we're going to talk about the South Pacific and talk about Fiji Airways. Fiji Airways has recently restructured how they do fares. It's a lot like other airlines do, where certain fares you get certain amenities. I'm first going to go over, talk about those fare classifications and then talk about some great fares, because I think Fiji is the best gateway to all of the Pacific.
Mark Faldmo:Fiji Airways has recently introduced a light fare. This light fare is basically what it says for traveling light. It offers you a meal, snacks, beverages, in-flight entertainment, but only one carry-on bag. So no checked bags with this light fare. And then it offers you a value fare, which does offer one checked bag and you can also change your fare with fees. Then a comfort fare, which offers two checked bags, and then you can change and cancel your flight with fees and you can also select a seat where the previous two classifications you're unable to choose a seat, and then they have a plus and this is your fully refundable two checked bags, priority check-in, priority baggage. So what does this mean to the traveler?
Mark Faldmo:Let's talk about some of these amazing fares that Fiji Airways has. Now I'm only going to talk about fares from Los Angeles, but keep in mind they also do fly from San Francisco and the fares are similar. So from Los Angeles to Nandi, fiji, that light fare, which again is just the basic fare, is $709 round trip. That's a pretty good airfare and that's obviously the main place that Fiji Airways flies to. But you can also get to Australia from Los Angeles with a connection through Fiji, start at $859 per person for that light fare. And then I think an interesting destination that no one would really think of for Fiji Airways is Hong Kong. You can fly round trip Los Angeles to Hong Kong for $1,069. All of these fares include all of the taxes and fees. With that. Other destinations that Fiji Airways flies to Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, along with Singapore and Japan. If you don't mind that extra connection in Fiji, you can actually also stay over in Fiji. It is a great way to see the South Pacific.
Mark Faldmo:Then I'm going to focus in a little bit more on Fiji and talk about some of the vacation package deals. You know, again, these are from Los Angeles and include five nights hotel. Now some people ask why five nights? Because Fiji is a long time away and that's simply because with the international dateline you're actually gone for seven days. When you fly there you lose a day. With the international dateline spend five nights and then come back basically on the same day. You actually arrive in Los Angeles before you departed Fiji on that day.
Mark Faldmo:But I think one of the best deals and this is a three-star, it's called the Fiji Hideaway Resort and Spa and I've seen this property twice and think it's a really good lead-in hotel it is on the Coral Coast but you can do five-night packages from Los Angeles starting at $11.99 per person and that includes your flights, accommodations, transportation and daily breakfast. And then, if you wanted to go up to a five-star hotel, the Shangri-La in Fiji, which is also on the Coral Coast, this is a great location located out on kind of its own little private island that just has the hotel, but rates there again for a five-night package start at $1,599 per person. You know, fiji is just a great destination, friendly people. I don't think you'll find a destination that has friendlier people than you will with Fiji. It is just such a great pleasure to visit Fiji. And, as way of disclaimer, all the fairs that we just talked about, those are generally available for departing midweek and I did this purposely not date specific, because you do have to search for specific dates when those apply.
Mark Faldmo:Now coming up in segment two, which is our just cruising segment, we're going to discuss some very unique cruise itineraries. You won't want to miss this. Be back in a moment. Cruise itineraries.
Show Voice:You won't want to miss this. Be back in a moment, Taking you to destinations around the world. The Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show is presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. Thanks for listening. We'll be right back.
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Show Voice:Now back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. Presented by blueplanetvacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show right now 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at insidetraveltalk. com. Here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Mark Faldmo:Welcome back to Inside Travel Talk. This is segment two, which is our Just Cruising segment. As a side note, due to Patrick's absence this week we're going to have a little bit shorter episode, but we'll soon be back with full-length episodes. Before we move on to cruise news and other unique cruise itineraries, we have a question from a caller related to last week's episode from Puerto Vallarta itineraries. We have a question from a caller related to last week's episode from Puerto Vallarta.
Mark Faldmo:George texted into the show and asked of the three resorts that we discussed in Puerto Vallarta, which one would I choose and what is my favorite activity to do in Puerto Vallarta? Well, we talked about three resorts last week. One was the Costa Sur, which is a secluded resort. It kind of has a man-made rock reef that puts it in its own little cove that actually has snorkeling. I really like that hotel. And the Buena Ventura Grand, which is a good family hotel, which is a great location right in the heart of Puerto Vallarta. And then, of the three we talked about, the one that I would stay at is the Villa Premier Boutique Hotel. I would choose this for a few reasons. One is its location and two is its size. I like the smaller hotels. It just feels a little bit more exclusive at that hotel. Another thing that I like about it is it's an adult-only hotel and has amazing food. So if you want to go back and listen to last week's episode, you can learn more about the Villa Premier from David, who talked quite extensively about that.
Mark Faldmo:And then, as far as my favorite activity I think one of the best and probably my favorite activity there is called the outdoor adventure. The outdoor adventure is just what it says an outdoor adventure. You first start in the marina. You take a zodiac raft across the bay to a small beach and then from there you board a four-by-four vehicle and you drive up the mountain as far as you can go and then, when you can't go any further, you get on donkeys. You take donkeys up to the top of the mountain and then you zipline down. There's like 21 zips, three rappelling, which is down a waterfall, and then there's also two or three water slides along this. So it really is an adventure in the outdoors. There's also lots of other things. We talked about a few other things in Puerto Vallarta last week. So again, you can go back and listen to that episode and listen to the other things that we discussed. Thanks for your question, George, and text in anytime.
Mark Faldmo:Episodes ago, we talked about Venice's new tourist tax, which was aimed at day trippers into the city. Overtourism has been an issue in Venice and we've talked about this before. I love Venice, as I've mentioned a few times, but on some days it's so crowded it's hard to enjoy the destination. This visitor's tax is aimed at reducing those numbers during the daytime. So on April 25th, Venice started a trial run and this goes until the end of July. There are 29 dates where this new tax, which is about $6 per person, will be enforced, and then they'll spend the rest of the year analyzing the data they collected from this test. That goes through the end of July and they'll implement a permanent solution for the tourist tax sometime in 2025. And if you're planning a day trip into Venice, here's what you can expect on any of the days they're enforcing the tax At the main entry points of the city, they'll have municipal workers there that can assist travelers in paying the tax and, additionally, there will be inspectors and information booths around several areas of the city to check and assist those that need to pay the tax, and there are a few people that are exempt from this, and those are travelers that are staying overnight in Venice so if you have a hotel room, you're exempt from paying the tax. And also people with disabilities, military personnel and, of course, residents of the city are also exempt from this tax.
Mark Faldmo:In a related story, amsterdam is implementing a new restriction to help curb over tourism as well. Over the years, they've passed several laws that have tried to curb or restrict the number of tourists in Amsterdam, and those have been aimed mainly at the rowdy, unruly tourists, which is unfortunate that those exist, but it does happen and is part of tourism. Unfortunately, the new law is actually going to be a ban on new hotels or converting existing buildings into hotels. The only way a new hotel will be able to open is if one closes. And it's pretty interesting With a population of only 1.2 million people in Amsterdam in 2023, they had just under 21 million overnight stays. That's not people, that's just room nights sold. That also doesn't count vacation rentals, bed and breakfast stays and cruise guests. So that's a lot of tourists in a city of just 1.2 million people. So this restriction is trying to keep the city livable for its local residents. So what's the moral of these two news stories.
Mark Faldmo:I think number one is to be a good tourist. Treat the destination and the local inhabitants with respect. I'm amazed at sometimes how tourists act and again, a lot of these things are aimed at the unruly tourist. Just remember you're a guest in their destination. Treat them with respect. Treat the destination with respect. Number two is to consider traveling during the low or off season.
Mark Faldmo:In my opinion, destinations are better in the low or off season. There are less crowds, you get to immerse yourself more in the destination and experience the destination. You know just an example. I remember a few years ago I think this was in 2018, I went to Antwerp, belgium, and I've been there several times, but I went in November and I was amazed In the main square, no one was there. I had all the waffles and chocolate to myself. You know, one thing I remember from that is people commenting. I've never seen that square with no people, and that is because you probably didn't go in the off season, you know. So in the off season, I think you do get to again enjoy the destination a little bit more and there are much less crowds.
Mark Faldmo:Now let's get to our cruising stories. Here's one about Virgin Voyages their fourth ship, the Brilliant Lady, will finally hit the seas in September 2025, it was announced. The ship will debut in New York City before heading on a North American tour, with sailings up to 14 nights that head to Bermuda, Canada, through the Panama Canal, Mexico and to Alaska, and I'm excited for this because it's a chance for those of us on the West Coast to be closer to an embarkation port for Virgin Voyages. As I've said before, virgin Voyages is one of my favorite cruise lines to sail on, you know, especially if you have food allergies. While most cruise lines, I think, do a great job on food allergies, I've not encountered a better experience than on Virgin Voyages. I think I've mentioned this before, but my wife has several food allergies and it's by far the best experience we've had. You know, some people are interested about what the experience is like on Virgin Voyages. In fact, in one port, someone asked my wife and I what was it like cruising there, and her answer was it's a little bit edgy, but that it's the best cruise experience she's had, and by edgy she was talking about it has, you know, little things like it has a tattoo parlor on board and things like that. So the Brilliant Lady's inaugural journey will be September 25th. From New York City, the ship will sail five voyages to either Bermuda or New England before repositioning to Miami for 17 voyages to the Caribbean. Following this, it will cruise through the Panama Canal, transiting the canal into Los Angeles. From Los Angeles, the ship will sail four journeys into Mexico before repositioning to Seattle for a season of Alaska sailings which will start in May of 2026. So that's two years from now, but something to look forward to.
Mark Faldmo:Now here's the cruise deal of the week. Holland America has what they call legendary cruises and I think these are some of the most unique and interesting cruise itineraries out there. There are longer cruises from ports in the US that visit some very interesting ports. Today we're going to talk about Holland America's 28-day Arctic Circle and Summer Solstice cruise from Seattle. So, as I mentioned, this cruise is round-trip Seattle and it's a pretty in-depth option for Alaska. Its sale date is June 8th of 2025. They had a similar sailing this year which sold out pretty quick. So if you're interested in this, it's something you probably should look at pretty quick. So from Seattle, it sells to Ketchikan land of the totem poles. So from Seattle, it sells to Ketchikan land of the totem poles.
Mark Faldmo:Sidka, Alaska, which is interesting. It was the Russian capital of the Alaska Territory when Russia owned Alaska Cruises. The Hubbard Glacier, which is one of the largest tidewater glaciers in the US. It's seven miles across and almost 400 feet tall. It is quite the spectacular sight to see. Cruising the Prince William Sound, Valdez, Alaska College Fjord, which I think is the best glacier cruising that you can do, and then goes on to Seward, Alaska, which is the gateway to the Kenai Peninsula, and then Dutch Harbor. All I know about Dutch Harbor is from watching Deadliest Catch.
Mark Faldmo:And then you have a day at sea and then goes to Nome, Alaska. Crosses into the Arctic Circle just in time for the summer solstice, which is the next day. You also have scenic cruising of the Little Diomede Island, which is part of Alaska, in the US, and then right across from that is Big Diomede Island, which is owned by Russia. The nicknames for those islands are Yesterday and Today because the international date line goes right down in between. So when you're on Little Diomede Island it is Yesterday for those looking at the island from Big Diomede Island, which is in Russia. It's pretty interesting there. Then you go to Kodiak, Alaska, all about the bears.
Mark Faldmo:Anchorage, alaska, homer, alaska, then Glacier Bay, which is probably the most popular glacier cruising, haines, alaska, juneau Alaska, which I think probably has some of the best whale watching, and then cruises down. Its forum port in Canada is Prince Rupert in British Columbia and then ends in Seattle. This, for a 28-day cruise with in-depth of Alaska as you get, has a pretty great rate to start out with. It starts off at $4,419 per person, which I think is a great price for that long of a cruise, for that in-depth and unique of a cruise, and it is also again right in the peak summer season. Veranda, or Balcony Cabin, starts at $8,719.
Mark Faldmo:We'll try and highlight a few more of these legendary voyages from Holland America in future episodes because there are some pretty interesting things and it's nice because they all depart from either the East Coast or the West Coast of the United States. Well, that's our show for this week. We're glad you could join us Tune in next week. If you have any questions on any travel needs, you can call Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717. We'll be glad to help you with that. Visit InsideTravelTalk. com to see all of the episodes of the podcast. Again, join us next week. See you then.
Show Voice:That's it. That's the end of the show You've been listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. Book your adventure right now. Call 888-718-7717. That's 888-718-7717. Thanks for listening. Have a great week.
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