Inside Travel Talk
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Inside Travel Talk
Seas and Skies: French Riviera Charm, and Paris to Normandy River Cruise
Join us as Patrick Wiscombe takes you on his serene voyage, thanking MSC Cruises and his co-host Mark Faldmo for making it all possible. From there, we whisk you away to Europe, where we explore enchanting land and river journeys, with a special mention of Nice in the French Riviera. And for those with furry friends, get ready to be intrigued by Bark Air, the luxury airline tailored for pets and their humans. We also tackle the frustrating issue of lost luggage, particularly spotlighting American Airlines’ mishandling rates, sharing personal stories and practical advice on navigating this all-too-common travel hiccup.
The cruising world is buzzing with news, and we have all the latest updates. Carnival Cruise Lines has just absorbed P&O Cruises Australia, aiming to meet the rising demand for ocean adventures. Patrick also spills a funny story about the fierce competition for deck chairs and Carnival's "chairing is caring" initiative. And if you’re dreaming of a picturesque getaway, don’t miss our discussion on an irresistible cruise deal from Paris to Normandy that promises seven days of scenic bliss through France. Whether you’re a cruise veteran or just starting to dip your toes into travel, this episode is packed with insights and laughs to inspire your next journey.
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 planet vacations. com. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 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.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh my goodness, welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. I am broadcasting live from Mexico right now. Mark, I've been in the Caribbean for the past week. We did the show last week from just inside my state room. I'm still sitting here and that's where I'm oh, you've moved in the last week.
Patrick Wiscombe:I am so relaxed I feel like goo. I don't want to get off the ship because everything's going to start moving very quickly. Get back into port, get your global entry pass, get to the airport. I've been in island time for the past week and I'm so relaxed right now that I can't even move.
Mark Faldmo:Well, that's what a cruise will do to you.
Patrick Wiscombe:Well, I'm having Nice relaxing. You're going to be in Cancun here in about a month, about a month from now, month from now. Yeah, I'm excited for you to go. This has been an extraordinary experience and on next week's show, I just want to talk about the whole ship and experience. And on next week's show, I just want to talk about the whole ship and I want to thank MSC Cruises. We paid for the cruise, Nikki and I, but I do want to thank Laura Okunowski and my broadcasting partner, mark Faldmo, for putting this whole thing together. For Nikki and I. It has been an extraordinary experience and I can't thank you enough. Thank you. I'm in Mexico right now and Mark is in his home studio in Salt Lake City, so thank you so much for allowing this to be part of your Saturday morning.
Patrick Wiscombe:You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show Coming up. On this edition of the show, we are going to be talking about European escapes. This is one of Mark's favorite, favorite topics Always has been. But not only are we going to explore European places, we're going to do it by land and we're also going to do it by river, so if you've ever wanted to go to Europe. Stay tuned for this segment right here. We're not teasing an hour from now. Stay tuned. Right now Are we going to Nice in the French Riviera? Yeah, we'll go to Nice in the French Riviera. Oh, dude, okay, all right, before we get there, let's talk about the travel news of the week. You found this story In fact, you had to send it to me because I have just checked out the last week. There's a new airline that provides luxury air travel for dogs and their humans. This that provides luxury air travel for dogs and their humans.
Mark Faldmo:This is pretty interesting. It's called Bark Air. Their inaugural flight was earlier this year and it is designed for dog travel in mind, with humans being secondary. It's pretty pricey. It starts at $6,000 one way. This is between New York and Los Angeles. That's for one dog and for one human. This is between New York and Los Angeles. That's for one dog and for one human. And the dogs get premium meal. They have in-flight blankets just for the dogs. They have spa treatments. Before the flight they have a pup intake where they go through an evaluation. So the flight attendants that are trained in all things dogs will know how to handle the temperament and preferences of each dog on board. There's no restriction to the size or breed of the dog, but human passengers must be over 18.
Patrick Wiscombe:I and there's gonna be a lot of sniffing on this uh yeah, yeah, I.
Mark Faldmo:I think it's a pretty interesting concept. Right now they are operating on Gulfstream 5 jets, which are smaller private jets, but they say the ultimate goal is to have a custom designed 747 with private cabins, a central dog park designed 747 with private cabins, a central dog park and a social bar for humans.
Patrick Wiscombe:Normally I would say this is not going to work. I am going to say that this is going to be pretty successful because the way that some you know the 20-somethings treat their dogs is pretty remarkable. Yeah, and so I think this is going to work.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, I think it will too. People love their dogs. They're hoping that as they grow the prices will come down. Right now they're just operating between New York and Los Angeles and New York and London.
Patrick Wiscombe:What's the name of the airline again Called Bark Air? In all of your travels, have you ever lost a piece of luggage and has it found your way back to your house? I have lost luggage, and has it found your way back to your house?
Mark Faldmo:I have lost luggage and it has found my way back to my destination or house. It's been a long time since I've lost luggage, however.
Patrick Wiscombe:You and I really don't check anything, Nikki and I don't check anything, we just take everything with us. So I've never experienced that, but it has to be well. I guess it depends on what's lost, but it's got to be fairly upsetting. What do you mean? You lost my luggage. There was a new story a little bit earlier this week that said that American Airlines mishandles the most luggage. But I would think that all carriers, to be fair to the story, they all kind of have their issues, but American Airlines, according to this article, they mishandled the most luggage.
Mark Faldmo:From 2021 to current 2024, they had 1.7 million reports of mishandling of luggage by American Airlines. Oh wow.
Patrick Wiscombe:That's a lot.
Mark Faldmo:And there's actually a list of airlines. We'll go through those. American was the worst at nine bags per thousand bags checked in percentage wise that's not that many air Canada and Alaska airlines were six bags per thousand lost well and Alaska loses doors, but that's not their fault yes, and then I'm sorry.
Mark Faldmo:And then JetBlue is five and a half bags per thousand, delta Airlines is five, and then Spirit Airlines comes in at just under five mishandled bags per thousand. We give Spirit sometimes a bad rap for some of their other policies, but as far as some of their technical stuff baggage handling, all of that they're top in the market, although Southwest Airlines is not on this list, so Southwest is even better than that and they probably check in more bags than anyone because baggage flies free with Southwest. Oh, that's right, southwest probably has a better system if they're not even showing up on this list of the top 10.
Patrick Wiscombe:Percentage-wise I mean nine bags per thousand. That's minuscule, but if it's your bag it feels very personal.
Mark Faldmo:Especially if you're on a trip and you have no clothes Coming home, it's not as bad. But if you're going on a cruise or something and you don't have any clothes that's. I've had several groups and several customers that have gone a whole week basically without clothes and some cruise lines have kind of lost and found stuff left behind and they'll let people come down and pick through those clothes to see if they want to wear those clothes.
Patrick Wiscombe:The one news story that I did see was an article that was unusual places to stay around the world. These types of articles always fascinate me. What's on this list?
Mark Faldmo:There's a few, and I'm not going to give the whole list, but I'll just kind of skip around to some that I think are fascinating. But number one on this list of the most unusual places is the Snow Hotel in Kirkenes, Norway. Yeah, I would do that one, Absolutely. So it's a hotel in the wintertime, that is just. It's a five-star hotel and it's just made out of snow.
Patrick Wiscombe:Sounds like a cold night. I guess you couldn't crank the heat, no.
Mark Faldmo:Although, you know, in an igloo they say, the temperatures don't get too bad. I would like to test that. And another one is the Las Co Colas Eco Resort in Peru. This is in the Sacred Valley and it's basically big glass domes are the rooms and they're hanging out on a cliff. You have to rappel down to your rooms, but they have restaurants and a spa. All of that it's glamping at and a spa, all of that it's it's glamping at its finest. I would do that. I've driven past that hotel a couple of times when we were in Peru.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, you've seen it.
Mark Faldmo:I've seen it Pretty interesting. All right, give us one more. Another one is the Arctic Treehouse Hotel in Finland, and it's a hotel that is designed for the Northern Lights.
Patrick Wiscombe:Ooh.
Mark Faldmo:So that's one of its main purposes here, nestled along the treetops in a forest in Finland.
Patrick Wiscombe:We need to get to know these people. We need to do a fam. You and I Take Heather and Nikki and go check, check this stuff out.
Patrick Wiscombe:that'd be fun, we should that's a very niche, all right, yeah, how do you say? Is it niche or niche? I guess it's niche, really niche. Okay, segment one of the show is always the hot travel deal of the week, regardless of where it is in the world, but this just happens to be in the French Riviera and Nice. What are the dates on this and what are some of the things that people can do? So?
Mark Faldmo:I've had actually several people that want a beach location, but they don't want their typical Mexico, Hawaii, and so we came up with the French Riviera for them, and Nice is actually one of my favorite places to visit. This is October 9th to the 16th, so seven days with six nights hotel, with a flight. It's actually flying on Virgin Atlantic, operated by Delta Airlines, staying at the Mercure Promenade des Anglais it's a four-star hotel that's kind of right not really beachfront but across the street from the beach Starts at $16.99 per person For a week. That's for a week. Wow, that's airfare and six nights hotel. And then I want to look at this to actually see how good of a deal this was. Okay Because I chose a hotel I would stay at if you chose just the cheapest hotel, so no regard for quality or location. This package was 850 dollars. That's airfare and six nights hotel. That kind of gives you an idea of the airfare. So the airfare is probably in about that $700 range, um to fly Salt Lake city to Nice.
Patrick Wiscombe:So okay, and then and then. So basically it's a hundred dollars a night for the hotel, for the four star. Okay, roughly, yes, roughly yep.
Mark Faldmo:October is a great time to go. There are several things to do from me. Some of these we've talked about before. But one is nice has a fascinating old town. It's a pedestrianized area and it's a very colorful neighborhood narrow streets with shops, restaurants. The best part of it is the flower, fruit and vegetable market that is there Sometimes to get and do those local things. The markets the fruit and vegetable, the meat markets, the fish markets in Europe are always fascinating to me to visit. They have a flower, fruit and vegetable market. The next thing to do there is the Promenade des Angles, which is the English walk, and that's the promenade that runs along the beach. So you know the hotels in the city are across the street from the road and then there's a promenade. There's a replica of the Statue of Liberty there and then there are a lot of little villages around to visit. You can go to Villefranche Sur-mer, which is about three and a half miles away, and you can walk to it by a nice tree-lined coastal trail.
Patrick Wiscombe:See, that sounds nice. Yeah it is. Oh, you've done it.
Mark Faldmo:I've done that.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, wow.
Mark Faldmo:Okay, yeah, it's nice, you know, to get to that little. You know a lot of those little villages on the French Riviera. It's fascinating. Oh, and then other places you can go. Now we've talked about this one before, St Paul de Vence, which is about 13 miles away, a hilltop town. I can tell you where the great crepe shop is. There Again, just you know, a hilltop town, walled hilltop town with narrow streets, and then it can take a day trip to Monte Carlo. It's about a 30 minute scenic train ride. We talked about trains a little bit last week yeah that was last week In Switzerland.
Mark Faldmo:This is a shorter train ride but it's very scenic. And then, when you go to Monaco, you can go to the old town of Monaco. You can go to the marina where there are lots of yachts, Walk around up by the casino, See Ferraris driving around everywhere, exotic cars. Monaco is a fascinating place to visit. And then you can also take a 30 minute train the other direction and go to Cannes. Cannes Castle is a hilltop castle which is pretty interesting to visit, and then you can also go see where the film festival is held in Cannes. So you know lots of things to do right in that area of Nice.
Patrick Wiscombe:As we go to break, just go ahead and recap it, if you would. This is the French Riviera at Nice. Give us the dates again.
Mark Faldmo:Yep, October 9th to the 16th, six Nights Hotel at the Four Star Miracle Promenade Hotel starting at $1699 per person Awesome.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, well, I guess we'll be booking that after the. Uh, well, I'll probably wait until we're in person and broadcasting in the studio To book that trip. Call Mark in his office. Call Blue Planet Vacations. His office number is 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. When we come back segment number two, the Just Cruising segment it is only about cruising We'll have the cruise news of the week. We're going to talk about something that I have experienced this past week. The fight for deck chairs is real and we're also going to talk about a deal. I think we're talking about a deal to go from Paris to Normandy. Is that right?
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, we're doing a St River cruise.
Patrick Wiscombe:Awesome. That's next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues. He is Mark Faldmo. I'm Patrick Wiscombe.
Show Voice:Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your Saturday morning. We will be back in just a few minutes, 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, 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.
Patrick Wiscombe:Ahoy mateys. Segment number two of the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Segment number two of the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Alongside my broadcast partner and friend, mark Faldmo my name is Patrick Wiscombe literally coming to you inside of the MSC seashore, just off the coast of where am I? In some place, Mexico. I've been on island time for the past week and it has been a spectacular experience on MSC Cruise Lines. I'll give the full review on next week's show, but until then this is the Just Cruising segment, always in segment number two of the show. Coming up in this segment we are going to take a look at a deal, a cruise, specifically from Paris to Normandy, which absolutely fascinates me. Is that a seven week or a 10-day cruise or not? A seven week, seven day, seven day, seven day cruise? Okay, so between the unique places to stay going to Nice and the French Riviera which we talked about in the last segment Mark, I think you're starting to speak my language on the Paris to Normandy.
Mark Faldmo:Paris to Normandy, yeah that would be a fun surprise. You asked me a question about that off the air last week and so that got me thinking let's do that, and it kind of ties in with one of the news stories that we're going to talk about.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get to the cruise news of the week and then we'll do the Paris to Normandy cruise, so stay tuned for that. We're not going to make our listeners wait, we'll just cover that here in this segment. Carnival Cruise Lines is buying. I think it was a cruise line, I think it was in Australia, but it was a cruise line I had never heard of.
Mark Faldmo:Yep, so it's a PMO Cruise Line Cruises Australia, which is actually a brand that Carnival owns already. Carnival Corporation owns several Princess, Holland America, costa, and so they are just going to absorb P&O Cruises. Demand for Carnival is so high that they need more ships. They've already taken three ships from Costa and moved them into the Carnival fleet. Now they're taking these two ships from P&L Cruises. The ships will remain in Australia and do the same thing. They'll just be rebranded as Carnival.
Patrick Wiscombe:I experienced this about the past eight days. The fight for deck chairs is real people. There's a little bit of sniping going on. People stay in the shade, literally in my experience. They stay in the shade and then they kind of identify somebody who's moving and then you just kind of casually swoop in hey, that's my jerk, nothing has come to blows. To casually swoop in hey, that's my jerk, nothing has come to blows. But there's some spirited discussion.
Mark Faldmo:I will say that, not with you. No, no, there's been some big fights over deck chairs on cruise ships and at hotels as well.
Mark Faldmo:So this is another carnival story. It explained how they enforce that. Most cruise lines and hotels do have a no reserving deck chairs policy but it's enforced sometimes and not enforced in other ways. But Carnival has a whole staff on team. It's called the chairing is caring team. You say chairing, chairing, chairing.
Mark Faldmo:They actually have stickers. If they find an unattended chair they'll put a sticker on it says we checked here at 7 30, no one was in that. We'll give you 30 minutes to get back then, if not, we'll take your stuff off and open it for other people. There are people that'll wake up at 5 am when they're setting up the deck chairs. They'll go out and reserve those and they won't come until one or two. So Carnival actually has a team with stickers that will come and give you a warning and then they'll come back later and if that warning is still there and you're not in it, they'll move your stuff and let someone else take that. So then it's not passengers yelling at each other. The people can go yell at the crew, but technically they have a no saving deck chairs policy crew, but technically they have a no-saving deck chairs policy.
Patrick Wiscombe:One of the news stories that I saw just while we were have been traveling here in the Caribbean is that high waters are forcing some Danube river cruises to cancel. I think things have kind of mellowed out now, At least that's my perception. What's going on there?
Mark Faldmo:Right now the Danube River is seeing unusually high waters. That can be an issue with river cruises high water, low water. When it's high water, there are certain bridges. They can't get the ships under. A lot of the cruise lines like Avalon, AMA Waterways, Viking the ones that we talk about predominantly have some ways to alleviate this, where they have two identical ships sailing in opposite directions, and so you'll meet, oh wow, at the bridge they can't go under, and then you'll go out for the day's activities and then, while you're on activities, the crew will move all of the luggage into the same stateroom on the ship on the other side of the bridge. That is, continue on your cruise, that's brilliant.
Patrick Wiscombe:I got to hand it to him. I was like how do you solve that one?
Mark Faldmo:Worst case scenario they will bust the itinerary. They might modify it a little bit and do most of it by bus, which is not ideal because you know, a river cruise is so nice that you don't have to unpack and pack every day, and it can be a problem on all the rivers of Europe. All of the rivers of Europe are connected through canals and lock system. You can sail from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea, sail on several different rivers, but eventually get there through canal systems and locks. Once a year there's a week or two where this is an issue on some river somewhere in Europe.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's talk about the cruise deal of the week. Let me just give it some backstory of this. I was talking to Mark off the air about a Paris cruise. There's no way I'm going near Paris during the Olympics. No way, that does not interest me. But you did did find, if I'm reading this right, you did find a Paris to Normandy cruise. Now that to me is fascinating. What are the details and how much?
Mark Faldmo:This one I kind of chose this because there's been, you know, the 80th anniversary of D-Day and Normandy. There's been a lot of hype and interest for the area and these cruises personally have never really interested me, but the more I look at it the more intriguing they are. Oh, really, Okay. So I'm looking at Avalon Waterways here, which is one of my favorite cruise lines that does that. AMA is my favorite, but I really like Avalon because they have really innovative cabins. They've turned the beds to face outwards and so they have a big floor-to-ceiling glass window so you can lay in bed and look out and watch the scenery go by.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh see now you may have just sold it right there.
Mark Faldmo:That would be awfully comfortable and incredibly relaxing, and no, other cruise line does that, so they've just turned the beds the other direction and I really like that about Avalon Waterways. This cruise starts and ends in Paris. You leave in Paris and then it comes back at the end and you overnight in Paris. It stops in little towns and villages along the way. They have a full day excursion to Normandy, the World War II landing beaches, the Pointe du Hoc, American Cemetery, which we've talked about this in some of our earlier podcasts. I think every American should go to Normandy and see the D-Day beaches and the American Cemetery.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, that was three weeks ago. That was, I think it was June 6th.
Mark Faldmo:We didn't even really get to the deal, to the meat of this.
Mark Faldmo:Right now their offer is $500 off per couple on select cruises and free airfare from select cities and free airfare from select cities. One thing I like about the free airfare from select cities is it's not just your typical. Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Salt Lake City is included in this. Denver, las Vegas a lot of the larger US cities is included in this free airfare. Right now, 2025 is just free airfare. It doesn't have that bonus $500 off per couple. It's select dates and there's dates in every month that include that offer. And then you know, just looking at that Normandy cruise, I chose a fall date and it was about $4,500 per person.
Patrick Wiscombe:Is that a week long Seven? Ten days, that's a week long, okay, seven days. I'm afraid that I will not get Nikki out of Paris. I'm almost thinking that we have to go before we jump on the cruise and I'm thinking that even a week, ten days before that's how much Nikki wants to go to Paris she would eat that up. I want to go there when the cathedrals open. So I think it opens near Christmas of this year, Notre Dame.
Mark Faldmo:So Notre Dame Yep, I have a great memory of Notre Dame eating Jesus. Second time I've referenced a crepe in this show, you know crepe out in front of, uh, Notre Dame.
Patrick Wiscombe:So we go there for the crepes. We don't go there for the experience. We go for the grapes. I travel a lot for the food, so you and I found a place in Florida.
Mark Faldmo:That was part of diners, drives-ins and dives with uh Guy Fieri. And what was the name of that place? That place was called Millie's empanada factory. It was a Cuban restaurant, man. It was so good, some of the best Cuban food that I've had.
Patrick Wiscombe:When you and I were at where were we? The Florida Everglades? We went to Shark Valley. We went there after being at Shark Valley for what? A couple hours, two and a half hours, something like that and we were pretty hungry. We walked in there and it was just guzzling water and Diet Coke. I was so thirsty. The guy had to look at me and just going why are you ordering so much Diet Coke?
Mark Faldmo:Been out in the sun all day. You got a little sunburned on that, as I recall too.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, and that was the night of the baseball game. My Florida Marlins who were still terrible, by the way to book the Paris to Normandy cruise, call Mark or any of the offers that we've had in the segment on the hot travel deal of the week. It was French Riviera, nice $16.99 per person staying at the four-star. I won't even begin to pronounce it.
Patrick Wiscombe:Thank you, October 9th through the 16th. And to book the Paris to Normandy cruise call 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. I got to get back to relaxing. Go have fun in Costa Maya. Yep, before we take off, please go to insidetraveltalk. com, subscribe to the podcast and from there you can actually subscribe to all of. Subscribe to the podcast and from there you can actually subscribe to all of the shows on the podcast platforms. Have a terrific Saturday. We'll talk to you next week.
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.
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