Inside Travel Talk

Hidden Treasures: Mexican Gems, Cancun Escapes, and Turkish Delight Cruises

• Mark Faldmo & Patrick Wiscombe • Season 2 • Episode 31

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What if you could explore hidden gems in Mexico while staying ahead of the latest travel trends? Join us as we welcome back Mark Faldmo from his recent Cancun adventure! This episode kicks off with the travel deal of the week, spotlighting some of Mexico's most enchanting destinations, including the culturally rich towns of Tulum and Bacalar and the serene Isla Mujeres. We also dive into American Airlines' groundbreaking initiative to introduce hydrogen electric engines for zero-emission regional jets and cover the new CDC rules for dogs entering the U.S., ensuring your furry friends are well-prepared for travel.

Our journey continues with a luxurious stop at the El Dorado Spa Resorts in Cancun's Riviera Maya, perfect for those planning a romantic getaway. Transitioning to the "Just Cruising" segment, we bring you the latest updates in cruise news, from Nassau's exciting plans to build a new water park to Norwegian Cruise Line's strategic move to make Philadelphia a home port by 2026. We round out the episode with an in-depth look at Istanbul, a city where East meets West. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or planning your next adventure, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration to ignite your wanderlust.

Patrick Wiscombe:

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.

Show Voice:

Explore your world. 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 and check out the podcast at inside travel talk. com. And now here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe:

He is back, Mark Faldmo, the great Faldino. I'm back from warm Cancun. Welcome home.

Mark Faldmo:

We went down there for a few days to celebrate our anniversary.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I want to say that it's 12. 12 years, always in segment. Number one is the hot travel deal of the week. My guess is we're probably going to Mexico, since that's where you just came from.

Mark Faldmo:

We are. Yeah, we've got a really good Cancun slash Mexico segment planned. How many times have you been there? It's probably at least 30 or 40. Okay, so a few big, quite a bit.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Yes, let's get to the travel news of the week. American Airlines has agreed to buy hydroelectric engines.

Mark Faldmo:

Yep, so these engines are? It's actually hydrogen electric, so they will use the hydrogen to run their jet engines in hopes of being zero emissions on regional jets for now. Right now, the company that is testing these is currently testing a 10 to 20 seat airplane which has a range of about 300 miles, but they are looking to put this on the Bombardier CRJ aircraft with up to 65 seats and hoping to go 700 miles on a hydrogen electric jet engine.

Patrick Wiscombe:

All I care about is that they don't fall out of the sky like anybody. I would think that the testing is going to be fairly intense and that the government oversight on this is going to be. They're going to be watching things pretty closely.

Mark Faldmo:

It is yeah, Anytime they bring in a new power plant for airplanes, even modifications to other ones, there's quite an approval process that they have to go to for that.

Patrick Wiscombe:

There's a story out from the CDC the Centers for Disease Control is setting new rules for bringing dogs into the United States. What are the criteria?

Mark Faldmo:

This is for dogs coming into and also returning from a trip from the United States. They'll need to be at least six months old, be microchipped, appear healthy and have proof of a valid rabies vaccine. They also must not have traveled to any country where rabies is endemic in the past six months, which sounds like that should have always been the rule. They're now making that the rule. So, travelers, if you are looking to bring a dog back into the US or to the US, they recommend checking with the airline, because this does affect which dogs can be in the cabin, and some airlines have also said, because of these new rules, that they might just not accept dogs anymore on international flights coming back into the country.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I was amazed at how many dogs are on flights. I cannot believe how many people travel with their pets. Now, service animals I get. I'm just talking about the family pet.

Mark Faldmo:

Even at the Cancun airport, I saw several non-service dogs. It's pretty interesting, oh wow.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Big dogs too. I saw that Outriggers Castaway Island. Is this in Fiji that they're going to open a new water park?

Mark Faldmo:

This is in Fiji. Castaway Island is probably one of my favorite places to stay. It's a smaller 60 or 70 room hotel just out on its own private island. It's a really good family hotel and they are putting in water park that includes a water trampoline, water slide, swings, tower and a few more items to it, so this will make that family resort even better for the kids.

Patrick Wiscombe:

It is time for the hot travel deal of the week, so let me set the theme here To celebrate Mark and Heather's 12th wedding anniversary. We've got the hot travel deal of the week going to Mexico, and I think we're talking about the magic towns or the magical towns which we've talked about before. You really love those towns.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, I do. So we're going to talk about some magic towns that are around Cancun and then just talk about one of my favorite resort chains to stay at in Cancun area. So magic towns are special government designated towns that have cultural heritage, historical heritage, architecture, gastronomy, have legends and traditions, nature, gastronomy have legends and traditions. I've been to several of them and loved each one that I've been to. There are five magic towns near Cancun that you can visit, probably one of the newest additions to the magic town, which is the town of Tulum. Tulum has been one of the major archaeological sites you can visit and the town has kind of grown up around that and so it was just made a magic town because of that archaeological site in the area.

Mark Faldmo:

The next magic town it's a town called Bacalar, which is down near Costa Maya, so it's about four hours south of Cancun, but what this is famous for is the Seven Color Lagoon. So this is a natural nature paradise which is near Cancun. The Seven Color Lagoon is just amazing. There are seven different shades of blue in this lagoon. This lagoon I've been there a few times and it just takes it to a new level. All the different colors of blue. It's quite amazing. Let's go to the next one, Isla Mujeres, the island of women. Yes, Isla Mujeres. This is just a nice little island, about a 20, 30 minute ferry ride. There's not very many cars there, everything's golf carts. You rent a golf cart to drive around. The hotels are smaller, not very many cars there, everything's golf carts.

Patrick Wiscombe:

You rent a golf cart to drive around. The hotels are smaller. I like the idea of taking a ferry to go someplace 20, 30 minutes. There's something about just being in a smaller boat going someplace. It's so relaxing to me it is. It makes it exciting. Yeah, that's a good word. It just makes it exciting.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, and then we'll do one more magic town that's near Cancun and it's Valladolid.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I haven't heard of that one.

Mark Faldmo:

It's a historical town. It has the traditional town square with the big church in it. It just has a lot of history and colorful homes. I've been there a few times. I love to explore Mexico when.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I'm down there. I wanted to ask you about some of these more inclusive resorts from Lomas. This is the hot deal of the week here and it's Lomas Hospitality.

Mark Faldmo:

They own several hotels in the area. We'll talk about a few of the hotels, but they have right now a promotion and it's not really a promotion because this is kind of central to their brand. They're calling it more inclusive. What it includes is transportation from the airport to and from the hotels. It also includes a catamaran and reef snorkel at Maroma Beach, which Lomas Travel owns, and so from all of their hotels you get transportation to Maroma Beach where you can do a catamaran and reef snorkel. You can also do wave runners. You can also go just relax on their beach club, which includes access to the beach club, the non-motorized water sports and just a few things in that area. They also own the Nickelodeon Hotel down there, so it includes admission to the Aqua Nick Water Park, which is the largest water park in the Riviera Maya. And then, on property of the El Dorado Royale, they have a cenote and a ranch which is a rescue ranch for horses, so you can go interact with the rescued horses and also swim in the cenote.

Patrick Wiscombe:

What is cenote? I don't think I've ever heard that word.

Mark Faldmo:

Cenote is a sinkhole. There are cenotes all over the Yucatan Peninsula and that's where their water comes from. It's all limestone and so the rivers run underneath the limestone and cenotes are kind of where the roofs of the rivers have fallen. In, heather and I just on Monday went to a cenote and it's a big round open cavern With just a little hole at the top that lets the sunlight in. Oh wow, and so it was actually a very beautiful cenote, one of the best I've been to. I told the guide that and he said this doesn't even make my top 10. So there's a lot of wonderful cenotes to go to down there. What about hotels down there?

Mark Faldmo:

Lomas Hospitality has several hotels in the area. They have two family there. What about hotels down there? Lomas Hospitality has several hotels in the area. They have two family hotels. My favorite of the two is called Generations, Riviera Maya. They have anywhere from studio to three bedroom units so you can take larger families, extended families. They have some rooms that have their own infinity pools up to the fourth level of the building. So they have a main pool and then four levels have a pool on them, and then they also, as I mentioned earlier, they own the nickelodeon hotel, which is another good family hotel, and then they have adults only hotels.

Mark Faldmo:

Their kind of flagship hotel they have is the El Dorado Royale. It's the largest hotel, has about 600 rooms, so fairly small by Cancun and Riviera Maya standards, but that's their largest, probably my favorite. Well, it's a tie between two hotels, but it's the El Dorado Casitas. That's where Heather and I stayed this last trip. They're just U-shaped buildings. Each building has four units to it, two on the bottom, two at the top, and they're five to eight buildings per U-shape and so each U-shape has its own pool, its own bar. They're pretty luxurious. They have swim ups. They also have units that have their own private infinity pool. All different room categories there.

Mark Faldmo:

Next place, El Dorado Maroma also has a room category. It's actually started as just a small, I think 24 room hotel, but they've expanded it a little bit on that. I think it's 70 rooms right now, but they do have a building that has several infinity pools on it and it's on Maroma Beach. It's right next to the activity center that we mentioned earlier. And they have El Dorado Seaside Palms, which is their first hotel, and that's probably on one of the best beaches in the Riviera Maya, and then Seaside Suites, El Dorado. Seaside Suites is right next to the Palms, and that one is famous because it's got seven levels and all seven levels have an infinity pool on, so every room has an infinity pool connected to it. Wow, so those are the hotels, and whenever I go to Cancun and I have a choice in where I stay, I always try and stay at one of these Lomas hospitality hotels.

Patrick Wiscombe:

By the way, while you were talking about all of the adults only hotels there from Lomas, Mary she's no stranger to the show she sent a while you were talking about all of the adults-only hotels there from Lomas, Mary, she's no stranger to the show. She sent a text while you were talking and, by the way, you can text the show while we are on the air and we'll answer your travel questions. Mary had the number before. It's 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. That's how you ask your travel-related question. But while we're talking about the magic towns, she wanted to ask a question. I heard you went to Cancun, but I want to visit some archaeological sites. What are some of the less visited sites? What do you recommend?

Mark Faldmo:

Yep, so a lot of people know about the Chichen Itza Tulum Coba. Those are the three major ones that everyone goes to down there, but two that I think are worth visiting. One is Ek'Balam. That's where Heather and I went this past week. It's a smaller site that has a huge pyramid. The parking lot only holds maybe 100 cars and when we were there there was maybe only 30 people at the whole site. Oh wow, so it's not as visited and it has some very interesting history. It actually is. You know, the Mayan civilizations are pre-classical, classical and post-classical, so that has its histories in the pre-classical of the Mayan culture and so it has some of the earliest information on the Mayan culture. And then the other one is Muyil. It's called what Muyil.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Oh, moyel, moyel.

Mark Faldmo:

It's even smaller. The last time I went there, the parking lot maybe wasn't even really a parking lot, we just parked on the grass and went in some smaller sites. Smaller pyramids are there. They're not large, but what that's famous for is the Mayans dug canals from the ocean inland and the pyramids are at the end of the canals and you can actually take boats in and ride out almost to the ocean, where it's kind of like a trading outpost and so you can take boats in these canals dug out by the Mayans and I've seen people that actually go snorkeling and they're snorkeling tours that you can do.

Mark Faldmo:

So those are two interesting sites. Another time, when we have more time, we'll have to talk about some others. There's lots of less visited, lesser known but still pretty amazing sites you can visit in Cancun amazing sites you can visit in Cancun.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Okay, Mary, if you have questions about the archaeological sites, call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. And if you have questions and want to go to Cancun, or if it's just been one of those things, I want to go to Cancun. Stay at one of the Lomas Hospitality properties El Dorado Royale, casitas, Maroma Seaside Palm, Seaside Suites. Mark has all of the information. Call him One more time. Here's the phone number 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. When we come back, it's the infamous Just Cruising segment. I think we're going to Rome, is that right? We're actually going to Turkey. Oh, we're going to. Oh, even better. You know what I've always wanted actually going to Turkey. Oh, we're going to. Oh, even better. You know I've always wanted to go to Turkey. Anyway, we got to go to break here. Thank you so much for allowing Mark and I to be part of your Saturday morning. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. He and I will be right back.

Show Voice:

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:

All aboard the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Ahoy, mateys, it is Saturday morning, a little bit after 10 o'clock. My name is Patrick Wiscombe, alongside my good friend, mark Faldmo, who is just back, literally just getting back this very moment, well, I guess about two hours ago, from Cancun. And he, good thing, everything was on time, Mark. Yes, Otherwise, Patrick was going to do the whole show by himself. Yes, the thing is is I probably would have called you on WhatsApp while you were on the plane, because I'm assuming well, I'm assuming you had Wi-Fi in the sky, I would have had Wi-Fi, but I think they blocked the voice function.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Oh, okay. Well, that would have been a terrible show to just hear outgoing text going. Mark, I don't have any travel deals of the week. Yeah, outgoing text going, Mark, I don't have any out-traveled deals of the week Coming up in this segment. It is, of course, the infamous Just Cruising segment, where we only talk about the cruise news of the week and, of course, we have the cruise deal of the week. I thought we were going to Rome, but we're going to Turkey, so we'll get to that here. And, of course, if you want to book any of the vacations, let me just restate again, Just call Mark 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. Or you can just visit his website blueplanetvacations. com. Cruise news of the week. This was interesting. So Nikki and I were there in Nassau, the Bahamas, about a month ago. Right now you sent me this story that Nassau is thinking about adding a water park right at the cruise port.

Mark Faldmo:

Yeah, they're going to add a water park there to capture some of the revenue from the cruise passengers. A lot of the cruise lines have started building these beach clubs in the Bahamas. They also have their private islands in the Bahamas, but I think the port is trying to get in on this In 2024,. They saw traffic increase 24% compared to the same period last year, which that computes to just under a million more passengers than the same period in 2019, so pre-COVID. So Nassau is seeing a big tourist boom, especially in cruise ship passengers. Building this water park is going to be a way to capture some of those cruise passengers to enjoy.

Mark Faldmo:

Another thing in Nassau I like going to the straw market there. There's a pretty interesting pirate museum there that I like to go to. Most people just take that as another beach day, which I don't know why. Most of their cruise has been beach days if they're on the shorter cruises going to the private islands and stuff. But I like to do a little bit more of the culture and history part of that Nassau does have some.

Patrick Wiscombe:

While you were on the airplane, literally a few hours ago, you sent me this story that NCL, or Norwegian Cruise Line, is adding Philadelphia as a home port. The headline there is what you can take cruises out of Philadelphia? And the answer is yes.

Mark Faldmo:

What you can take cruises out of Philadelphia, and the answer is yes. Yes, you can In 2026, they are going to do a 7 to 9 cruise day trips to Bermuda and also Canada, New England. This will be a, you know, more of a spring, summer fall that they won't do this in the winter. Norwegian actually has sailed from Philadelphia before. Cruise lines are building so many ships, they need to find ports to home port them in.

Mark Faldmo:

So Norwegian is actually going back to Philadelphia after probably a 15, 20 year drought I have never heard anybody truly in my entire life talk about Istanbul, turkey, in negative terms.

Patrick Wiscombe:

It should be on everyone's bucket list and I think this goes into the cruise deal of the week.

Mark Faldmo:

It does so I've chosen a few cruise itineraries that include Istanbul, but first, just I want to go over a few reasons to visit Istanbul. The first one it spans two continents it's on Europe and it's on Asia. I didn't know that I've not been to Istanbul, but I have been to Turkey a few times and every time it's been a wonderful experience. Another reason it has some of the most historic mosques in the world, main one being the Blue Mosque. Another thing is phenomenal shopping. The bazaar is world famous in Istanbul. I did the bazaar in Kusadasi and it was a very interesting experience because that bazaar is so different from anything that we regularly see in the US.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I could also make the argument that Turkey could be a little intimidating, so a cruise could be a better way to experience the country, because then you go back to the boat instead of staying in the city At least for the first time or two visiting that.

Mark Faldmo:

It's a good way to dip your toes into that culture. Another thing Turkey is known for is fantastic food. I like Turkish delight myself.

Patrick Wiscombe:

What is that?

Mark Faldmo:

It's a dessert. I don't actually know what it is, but it's good. I'll cut it up.

Patrick Wiscombe:

It sounds delightful.

Mark Faldmo:

Another reason and you might like this, Patrick is because you like the thermal spa on your cruise ship the. Turkish baths. It's a very famous thing to do in Turkey is go to the Turkish baths.

Patrick Wiscombe:

If you've never done a thermal spa on a cruise ship. Amazing, NCL has a great, great thermal spa. On what is it? The Viva and the Prima? I think it's the Prima.

Mark Faldmo:

Yes, yeah, actually, on all of their ships, even their smaller ships, have pretty good thermal spas as well okay, let's talk about some of the cruise deals of the week.

Patrick Wiscombe:

What do we have for listeners this week?

Mark Faldmo:

so, since we're just talking about Istanbul, I've chosen two cruises that include Istanbul. One is on Cunard Cruise Line, it's May 19th of 2025, and it sells from Istanbul to.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Rome. Oh see, I would do this one in a second. What are some of the ports along the way? The ports?

Mark Faldmo:

are Istanbul, you know. So you go do a free cruise in Istanbul and then it's basically a Greek Isles cruise that goes to Santorini, Athens, Cataclon and then ends in Rome. So that's a seven-day cruise. Starts at $969 per person and that includes all taxes and fees.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Is that?

Mark Faldmo:

worth getting a balcony? That would be Okay. Taxes and fees Is that worth getting a balcony? That would be well, okay. Don't ask me that question because I'm biased and I'll say a balcony is always worth it.

Patrick Wiscombe:

I'm sorry that was a bad question yeah.

Mark Faldmo:

And then the next cruise that I chose was a seven day, and this one is Rome to Athens. This is actually a pretty interesting itinerary because Princess has seven or 14-day Mediterranean cruises. This is basically the second segment of that. You can also buy a Western Mediterranean, which is Barcelona to Rome, but they sell it in again either a Eastern Caribbean, a Western Caribbean or the full 14 days. So this is the Rome to Athens part, but it goes Rome, Naples to Crete and then to Istanbul, Mykonos, and ends in Athens. So you get some pretty historic cities there Rome, Athens and Istanbul all in one cruise.

Patrick Wiscombe:

This sounds like one of those cruises that you just can't go wrong. Just choose one and go, or do both while you're over there.

Mark Faldmo:

Choose one and go. And that cruise was May 3rd and it starts at $1258 per person, and again, that's for an inside cabin but includes all of the taxes and fees. And then I do have one more cruise to go over, and this one includes Turkey but does not include Istanbul. I chose it because it kind of popped out at me. It's a nine-day cruise, a round-trip to Athens, and it goes to some parts of Greece that I've never even thought of cruising to. It goes to northeastern Greece, so it goes from Athens to Santorini, to Kusadasi, so that's the port in Turkey.

Mark Faldmo:

Kusadasi is kind of the gateway to Ephesus, so go to Ephesus and learn all about that archaeological site. And then it goes to Mykonos, goes to and again, and then these are kind of the places I've never heard of Volos, I can't even say it. Tesla kalonki, kalonki However, you'd say that in Greek, kavala and then back to Athens. This cruise just captured my eye. Just looking at the map of it, I was like there's cruises that go into that area of Greece. So the nine-day cruise on Celebrity, and it starts at $1216 per person.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Wow, okay, so the tagline of the company, and, of course, this show, is Explore your World. So when I hear you go, hmm, I don't know how to say that, but it intrigues me. That's probably where you came up with the idea of explore your world, explore your world.

Mark Faldmo:

You know there's lots of places. I I've been to Greece several times and I was reading a little bit about some of these places and they just sound fascinating.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Yeah, I can't even say the name. I want to go there. Yes, there's something about going on a trip. You always have a magic moment for sure. Maybe magic moments when traveling. This sounds like it could be one of those things where it's like you know what, I have no idea where I'm going, but I'm staying in the security of a cruise ship and let's just go figure this out.

Mark Faldmo:

So many great places to visit in the world.

Patrick Wiscombe:

If you want to book any of those cruises, just call Mark. You know they're good if Mark can't pronounce it, but he wants to go and this is coming from the guy who has done 150 plus cruises. You've seen the world.

Mark Faldmo:

I have. But I just found a new itinerary that I want to go on.

Patrick Wiscombe:

We'll take our wives. Call Mark in his office. No-transcript. I'm going to assume that you need to take a nap as soon as we get off the air. Yes, it's good to talk to you. Happy anniversary, happy 12 years. Say hello to Heather. For me, the great Faldino is going to go have a nap now.

Mark Faldmo:

Yes.

Patrick Wiscombe:

Have a good weekend, Mark. We will be back for another episode of the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show next Saturday. Book your vacation the hot travel deal of the week by calling Mark 888-718-7717. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast. Go to InsideTravelTalk. com. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your Saturday morning. We'll talk to you next Saturday morning.

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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