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
Magical Escapes: Europe Christmas Markets and Black Friday Vacations Deals
Can you imagine a world where your travel experience is completely transformed by technology? Join us as we uncover the latest trends in travel for 2025, from the serene beauty of off-the-beaten-path destinations to innovative advancements like American Airlines' touchless ID for A-advantage flyers. Together with my co-host Mark Faldmo, we explore how the post-pandemic world has reshaped travel behaviors, making unique destinations more appealing than ever. We also discuss the exciting travel news that promises to enhance your journey, including new flights to Italy and innovative airport processes.
Curious about airline loyalty programs and how they can maximize your travel perks? We'll guide you through the maze of programs, highlighting Air France and KLM's Flying Blue as the top contender. Our insights into recent changes in airline refund policies will prepare you for any flight disruptions, while our firsthand experience with Delta's Sky Club at Salt Lake Airport offers valuable tips for frequent flyers. Plus, we examine the potential impact of rising airfares and what that means for your travel plans.
Feeling adventurous? Explore the depths of the ocean with us as we share the thrilling discovery of a World War I shipwreck off the coast of Chile. Expedition cruises are rising in popularity and we discuss itineraries to remote gems like Easter Island. Reflecting on past Alaskan adventures, we share insights and challenges for future explorations, while teasing the upcoming Virgin Voyages itineraries. As a bonus, you'll hear some essential travel tips, like handling a lost passport, ensuring you're prepared for whatever your next trip throws your way.
Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. On today's show we're going to be talking about Black Friday vacation sales that are already starting with big savings, the best Christmas markets to visit and how to get a passport if it's been lost or stolen while you're out of the country. Let's start the show. 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:Helping you plan your next vacation. This is the inside travel talk podcast and radio show presented by blueplanetvacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call us now 801-649-3700 801-649-3700 and check out the podcast at insidetraveltalk. com. Here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:It is time for another Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show Another Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Faldmo will join me here in just a second and, if you're brand new to the show, thank you for tuning us in and taking us along wherever and however you're accessing the show. And if you're listening to us on Saturday and Sunday morning here in Salt Lake City on 860 KKAT, thank you for stopping right here. The entire purpose of this show is to help you plan and book your next vacation and help you create memories for you book a vacation yet then our job is very simple, is to give you ideas of where and when to go to go see this great planet of ours.
Patrick Wiscombe:You can get the podcast of this show at insidetraveltalk. com or wherever you get your podcasts. And, as I said, if you're in Salt Lake City, we're here every Saturday and Sunday morning starting at 11 am Mountain Time, and we are presented by BluePlanetVacations. com and my good friend, mark Faldmo, the owner of BluePlanetVacations. com. It's good to talk to you again. It's good to be here and talk travel. Before we come on the show, you and I always just kind of talk about what we're going to talk about a little bit, but in this particular case, you and I were talking about planning my next vacation, a year from now.
Mark Faldmo:Yep, You've got some good ones planned. That one's going to be fun too.
Patrick Wiscombe:Here in this first segment of the show we've got the destination spotlight and Sharon sent you a text a little bit earlier this week. We'll get to her question. I think it has something to do with the European Christmas markets. It does.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, this is an exciting topic to talk about.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, you do like your Christmas markets. But before we talk about that, let's get to the travel news headlines. There was a couple of reports that is predicting a big shift in travel behavior in 2025.
Mark Faldmo:Ever since the pandemic so basically probably 2022 and onward the trend has been go big, spend big. People doing bucket list trips like African safaris, Egypt going to Bali, these big bucket list type trips. This report is predicting that in 2025, that sediment is going to shift and there were two separate studies done by some travel sites trying to predict kind of what the next best thing is, and both reports came up with about the same result 63% of travelers said they were more likely to visit an off-the-beaten-path destination. They wanted fewer crowds, more relaxing and a less expensive vacation than what they've done in the last few years.
Patrick Wiscombe:So COVID drove us to go do the things that we've always talked about, and now we're regressing. Let's be alone a little more.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, a little bit more relaxed, for instance that would be. Rather than, say, visiting Jamaica and Nassau, people might pick one of the smaller Caribbean islands to visit. Or in Mexico, they may choose. Rather than Cancun, they may choose a place like going to Isla Majeures, which is close to Cancun but still a little bit less busy. In this report it says Cozumel falls in that. I think Cozumel is still pretty busy, but that's one that the report named. Rather than Mexico, you might go to Belize instead, just a more, I'll say, gentle vacation.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get away, but let's not kill ourselves. Yes, American Airlines is adding flights to Italy for summer 2025. That's a new development.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, and we've kind of talked about Italy the last few weeks. United and Delta both added flights to Italy. Now American is adding flights to Italy. They're adding a new flight between Dallas and Venice, between Chicago and Naples, so that's the second time we've mentioned an additional flight to Naples and they're boosting flights from Miami and Philadelphia to Rome. So Italy looks like it's going to be one of those high-demand hot destinations next summer.
Patrick Wiscombe:American is going to start offering what they call touchless ID for A-advantage flyers. Now, if I'm understanding this correctly, this is basically Delta's digital ID, but this is American's version of digital ID. Yeah.
Mark Faldmo:Of the big three airlines. American is the last to get on board with this. Delta's had it for a while, United's had it for a few months and American is starting to get into this. This works similar to what we talked about. I think it was actually last week with Delta that was expanding the locations that it's available at. You need to be an American Advantage member, which is their frequent flyer member, and you have to have TSA free check in order to qualify for this. American has not yet revealed the airports that this is going to be at, but I'd assume it's going to start at their main hubs. Dallas and Chicago probably would be the two. Do you think Miami will be in there? They're a big American hub. Yeah, Miami will probably be in there as well, and possibly one of the New York area airports. So it moves you quicker through the lines 60% faster compared to just a regular pre-check. I have experienced these digital ID lines with Delta and it is really quite smooth and quick to get through.
Patrick Wiscombe:In this first segment of the show, we always have the destination of the week and you received a text from Sharon a little bit earlier this week, in fact. Let me just give out the studio and the text number while we're here, so people can get in touch with us. It's 801-649-3700, area code 801-649-3700. That's where we got the text. Sharon is asking if it's not too late to book a trip to a European Christmas market. Which Christmas markets are the best to visit?
Mark Faldmo:I've come up with a list of what I think are the top 10. Probably the best way to see European Christmas markets is on a river cruise. This way, you get to see multiple Christmas markets. However, if you're looking to go this year, it may be too late to book a river cruise. I did a quick look for this yesterday and I found some very limited availability. So there was some, but it was pretty small.
Mark Faldmo:There was some very limited. You know. Viking was all sold out, Ama had a couple of departures with a few cabins. So it might be too late to that, but there still is time to book a last minute trip. Several of these cities are within a, you know, one to three hour train ride, so you could do two or three cities and see a couple of Christmas markets, plus spend some additional time there and you get to get on a train and you get to get on a train.
Patrick Wiscombe:When do Christmas markets typically run?
Mark Faldmo:Most cities' Christmas markets run from mid-November to the end of December. There were a few I noticed this year that started the first week of November and go into that first week of January, but most of them run at least from about the 15th of November to at least Christmas Eve.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, Basically a 45-day run there.
Mark Faldmo:Yes.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, okay, all right, let's talk about your favorite markets. Let's just start at the top of the list.
Mark Faldmo:Number one on my list is Nuremberg, Germany markets. Let's just start at the top of the list. Number one on my list is Nuremberg, Germany. In Germany it's the Christkindlmarket and it's located right in the old town of Nuremberg and this is one of the world's oldest Christmas markets, or Christkindlmarket. They've been doing it a long time. It dates back to the 16th century. Oh wow, a couple of hundred years that they've been doing this Christmas market in Nuremberg, Germany.
Patrick Wiscombe:Just think about what you just said. This has been going on for over 400 years.
Ad Voice:That's incredible.
Patrick Wiscombe:Ever since we started doing this show. One of your favorite places that you've mentioned is Prague. I'm going to assume that that's on this list.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, I would rank it as the number two Christmas market and it's in the old town and right in the main square which is Wenceslas Square there in Prague.
Mark Faldmo:I love the food there the Prague ham is served out of the street carts there and the I never can say it right, but the trindelnik, which is the chimney bread, it's dough rolled around a rolling pin and then roasted over a fire. I just love the setting of Prague and that main square. I think it makes for a great Christmas market. What's number three on your list? Vienna, Austria. And I actually have not been to Vienna, Austria, in the wintertime, but you have been there. Actually have not been to Vienna, Austria, in the wintertime, but you have been there. But I have been to Vienna. The Christmas market again is in there, like most of these, in the main square, city hall, which is quite an amazing building in Vienna as the backdrop. One thing that's unique about Vienna's Christmas market it has reindeer rides, an ice skating rink, it has a Ferris wheel and an old-fashioned merry-go-round. They have some of the interesting Viennese food sausages stuffed with cheese. They have a vanilla crescent cookie.
Mark Faldmo:That's one of the things that I think is fascinating about these Christmas markets are the foods that only come out around Christmas time.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, what's your number?
Mark Faldmo:four choice. My number four choice is Budapest, Hungary. Budapest is one of my favorite European cities to visit. The Budapest one is set in front of the St Stephen's Basilica, which is Hungary's largest church, and this is the one that runs into that first week of January. So if you're there a little bit later, you get to experience the Christmas market a little bit longer. Number five this is a place I have not been to in the wintertime again, but it's Strasbourg, France. Now Strasbourg, France, is one of those fairy tale towns I can just imagine, lightly covered with snow. It would just be a magical experience to be at the Christmas market in Strasbourg, France.
Patrick Wiscombe:But you have been to Strasbourg. I have been to Strasbourg, just not, just, not during Christmas. Just because we're short on time, let's just uh by name. Only you know city and country. What are six through 10?
Mark Faldmo:So six through 10 would be Tallinn, Estonia, Number seven would be Cologne, Germany, number eight would be Copenhagen, Denmark, number nine is Frankfurt, Germany, and number 10 is Salzburg, Austria.
Patrick Wiscombe:You just can't go wrong going to Europe. What a magical time of year, going to magical places where you just don't live. And I guess that's the whole purpose of travel is getting out and seeing the world, exploring the world, experiencing different cultures. Just see what it's like in other parts of the world. That's why we love doing this show. If you are interested in talking more about a river cruise to see one of the Christmas markets, or you just want to go to Europe, call Mark in his office Monday through Friday, Friday, normal business hours 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. When we come back, more travel news headlines. And in segment number two, we always, always, always have the hot travel deal of the week. We're going to help you save up to $650. We'll tell you when we come back where we're going. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast, our radio show, continues Alongside Mark Faldmo. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for listening. We will be right back.
Show Voice:If you have travel questions, they have the answers. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. Call or text the show right now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
Ad Voice:We'll be right back remarkable sites and cities To set out on your own river cruise journey. Contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or blueplanetvacations. com.
Show Voice:You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by blueplanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700, and check out the podcast at InsideTravelTalk. com. Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe:You know, one of the favorite things that I do all week long and I know that I speak for Mark when I say this is we get to do this radio show for listeners each and every Saturday and Sunday mornings right here on 860 KKAT here in Salt Lake City. On 860 KKAT here in Salt Lake City, and you can also pick up the podcast of this show at insidetraveltalk. com. We are on all of the major podcast platforms and I just want to say thank you for allowing this to be part of your Saturday and Sunday mornings. This really is one of my favorite times of the week because we get to talk travel, we get to talk travel, we get to talk about fun stuff. It's so serious. All week long we're just bombarded with serious stuff and we need to take that stuff seriously. But there's something so amazing and so relaxing about travel. It allows, if you really stop and think about it, it allows your mind to expand and dream a little bit, and that's why we do this show is because we want you to get out and explore the world and just see different parts of the world, Because sometimes we paint our world so small and it's just not Coming up.
Patrick Wiscombe:In this segment. We've got the travel news headlines and we've also got the hot travel deal of the week and we're going to help you save up to $650 off in this segment and we're going to give you a few options of how to take advantage of saving that money. But first let's get to the quick hit travel news headlines. There was a story I forgot where it came from, but basically it said airlines are now required to issue automatic customer refunds. What are the criteria to get an automatic refund?
Mark Faldmo:This is for canceled or severely delayed flights. So if your flight is canceled, or for a domestic flight, if it's delayed more than three hours, or for an international flight, if it's delayed more than six hours, the airline is responsible to give you back a refund in the form of payment that you paid. So it's not a future credit, it's just not a future credit. In the past, the airlines would give you a future credit rather than refunding that, and so some of the early versions of this give you back a cash refund, but it's really. If you paid by credit card, they refund you back by credit card. If you paid by cash, then they'll refund you back by cash.
Mark Faldmo:Now airlines can still offer, if you want, a future credit for a future flight, but they do have to offer first a cash refund. Now there are some pros and cons of this. If you're going somewhere and your flight is delayed or canceled, if you opt for that refund, you then have to go to another airline and buy another flight, which is probably significantly more expensive on the day of travel than what you purchased. Don't automatically always take the refund. Look at all of your options before you take a refund if it meets these situations.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, so three hours for domestic flights, six hours for international flights. Generally speaking, those are the criteria. That's correct. One of the questions that I had earlier was who has the best loyalty program, and then I saw this story Air France and KLM have the world's best airline loyalty program. Have you ever been on Air France?
Mark Faldmo:or KLM. Yeah, I've flown both many times. Air France was based in France, obviously, and KLM is based in Amsterdam, but their frequent flyer program is called Flying Blue and they have the same ownership. So they're pretty much the same airline, particularly when it comes to the airline loyalty program. Particularly when it comes to the airline loyalty program. In this survey that they did, the second was Air Canada and the third was the United Mileage Plus program. So how they ranked this was the ease of earning miles, ease of redeeming miles, availability of using miles on partner airlines and the ease of booking. So, taking that all into account, air France KLM was number one. Air Canada was number two. United's Mileage Plus was number three. Have you flown Air Canada? I've flown on Air Canada one time.
Mark Faldmo:Your overall impression it's an airline. The thing is, I would count myself kind of spoiled by being able to fly Delta so often. Delta kind of looks at themselves as a premium airline, which I think they do have that in their perks, although that is why Delta was pretty far down the list on this survey. Delta typically has a little bit higher redemption and they've put a lot of their time into being more of a premium airline, focusing on programs like the Sky Club, things like that, which typically make a lot of those criteria that they looked at just moved Delta down the list to not being as good.
Patrick Wiscombe:By the way, I really do like Salt Lake Airports. Delta Sky Club.
Mark Faldmo:Fantastic, I do Amazing. If you're looking at the North American airlines, which would include also Canada, the best frequent flyer programs came in in this order Air Canada, United, American, Alaska, JetBlue were the top five and then the second five Southwest Hawaiian Delta, allegiant and Spirit. Personally, I think I might move Southwest up a little bit. I find Southwest redemption rates to be very good, yeah, although there's not as many earning opportunities with Southwest.
Patrick Wiscombe:I saw a story that higher airfares are going to make all-inclusive vacations more expensive. First of all, let's just define quickly what an all-inclusive vacation is. So an all-inclusive?
Mark Faldmo:vacation is where you choose a hotel that includes all your meals, drinks, gratuities, non-motorized water, sports. All-inclusive are typically in places like Mexico and the Caribbean, but getting to those hotels that are all-inclusive is becoming a little bit more expensive Because of the airfares. Because of the airfares.
Patrick Wiscombe:We mentioned that. What was it two or three weeks ago that airfares are starting to climb?
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, and particularly to these places like Mexico. Delta Airlines, in their recent quarter three air range report, recorded that quarter three had an overcapacity to destinations like Mexico and the Caribbean. For instance, in July airlines had about 6% more capacity compared to the same time a year earlier, and now the planes aren't going out as full.
Mark Faldmo:So a lot of airlines are starting to cut back, which cutting back capacity, cutting back that availability, is going to drive demand higher because there's fewer seats For instance, spirit to these destinations, and Spirit has a few other issues with that, but they're cutting 20% of their flights to these destinations, so that's a big chunk out of the available seats.
Patrick Wiscombe:Always in segment number two of the show is the hot travel deal of the week. Regardless of the destination and Mark, you found a Funjet sale where our listeners can save up to $650 off already discounted prices. This is basically the Black Friday sale for travel. Let's give listeners the details.
Mark Faldmo:I think this is interesting because these Black Friday sales are now pretty much the whole month of November and then this year I heard they're starting a new thing called Travel Tuesday, which is going to be the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. They're going to have sales as well. This save up to $650 is good for pretty much any destination worldwide On Funjet. Most people would go to Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean or Europe, but anywhere you can get a vacation package this is valid for. So it's save up to $650 if you book by December 5th. So we have about a month of this promo code and it's valid for travel February 1st to December 15th 2025. And you have to pay in full at the time of booking.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's talk about that for a second. When you book vacations, generally speaking and maybe a lot of listeners don't know that so you're saying that all of this has to be paid for at the time of booking. So you're going Correct, but what a lot of people don't know is that you can reserve a spot, basically put some kind of deposit down and then pay in the future. That's not the case with what we're talking about, but I would argue that most people think they have to pay for everything up front when they just need to put a deposit.
Mark Faldmo:Yep. So, depending on how these all-inclusive work, you may have to pay all of the airfare portion and then a small deposit on the hotel portion, and then you can pay off the rest later. Now they do have another promo code, that is just save up to $300 that you don't have to pay in full. Oh really. So the travel window is a little bit better. It's just anytime now through December 15th of 2025. So you could use this save 300, say in January, or that pay in full one. You have to start your travel in February and it does have a three night minimum stay Save up to $300.
Patrick Wiscombe:OK. Is there anything else, then, that we need to discuss?
Mark Faldmo:There's actually one more promotion that I'd like to bring up, and this is an interesting promotion. It was worked out with an airline and a tourism board, so this is save up to $100 instantly on any flight plus hotel vacation package to the Dominican Republic. Four-night stay is required, and this one you do have to fly on Southwest Airlines. I love Dominican Republic. It's a great place to visit. You know, if you stay at the right hotel, it's just a fantastic vacation, or if you do it like you're doing it on a shore excursion, there's some fascinating things to do in the Dominican Republic.
Patrick Wiscombe:Nicest people in the world, truly, yes, I really enjoy breaking bread with them. Well, in this case, breaking rice and beans. They have the best rice and beans I've ever tasted in my life. That culture knows rice and beans. You should go to Costa Rica.
Mark Faldmo:Oh, okay.
Patrick Wiscombe:That will have to be a different cruise. Then Take advantage of these offers. Black Friday, let's just call it Black November. Yes, take advantage of it, whether you pay in full or you just put a deposit. Call Mark in his office. He is the best at booking vacations and I'm not saying that because I do the show, because he truly just books my vacations as well. Call him in his office Monday through Friday 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. When we come back, we have got the cruise deal of the week Princesses having their cyber sale again. More Black Friday sale. Black November sale. We'll give you the details when we come back. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Alongside, alongside Mark Faldmo, I am Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be right back.
Show Voice:They've literally traveled millions of miles to answer your travel-related questions. Yeah, they really have. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. America's best travel advisors, Patrick and Mark, will be back after these messages Presented by BluePlanetVacations. com. America's best travel advisors, Patrick and Mark, will be back after these messages.
Patrick Wiscombe:Well, we're back Now that the radio station disclaimer has been played. Since we are a recorded show, let me welcome you back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show coming up. In the next 30 minutes, Mark and I will be talking about the Princess Cruises cyber sale, the busiest travel days of the year and what to do if your passport is lost or stolen while you're on vacation. Let's continue the show.
Show Voice:Now back to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com America's best travel advisors. Hit us up right now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at insidetraveltalk. com. Here's Patrick and Mark.
Patrick Wiscombe:That is your signal that it is the Just Cruising segment right here on the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe, Ahoy mateys Coming up in this segment. We've got the cruise deal of the week always in segment number three of the show. Or, if you're listening to us live on the radio, in the bottom deal of the week, always in segment number three of the show. Or if you're listening to us live on the radio, in the bottom half of the hour.
Patrick Wiscombe:We're going to be talking about Royal Caribbean's cruises to Vanuatu. That is not something we talk about very often, but Royal Caribbean man, they are slaying on their itineraries and we'll also tell you where the Princess Cyber Sail on their itineraries and we'll also tell you where the uh, the princess cyber sale the itineraries well, maybe not the itineraries specifically, but we'll talk about the ports that they're headed to during the cyber sale, as always. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your Saturday and Sunday mornings mark. Let's continue with the quick hit travel news headlines. Let's just start with the Vanuatu plans. Royal Caribbean has revealed what those plans are. Let's give listeners details.
Mark Faldmo:Royal Caribbean has announced a beach club in Vanuatu. This is continuing cruise line trends, particularly Royal Caribbean trends, of having the private ports and beach clubs that they're building. I think it was last week, maybe the week before, about the announcement of Perfect Day Mexico. Oh yeah, where they're building that private port. I think this is an interesting trend. The very first cruise line to do this was Norwegian, when they started going to Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas, and then other cruise lines have started getting their own island in the Bahamas that they visited, but now they're building these all over the world. Royal Caribbean has one in Haiti, which is a wonderful place. It has Dragon's Breath Zipline, which is probably one of the most amazing ziplines. It's really long.
Patrick Wiscombe:Well, with a name like Dragon's Breath.
Mark Faldmo:Dragon's Breath. Yeah, Norwegian came back and built one in Belize. And now, just the last year, we've probably talked about these private destinations or beach clubs. Probably every two or three weeks someone is announcing a new one. This is kind of the first one that is in the South Pacific Islands.
Patrick Wiscombe:If people don't know where Vanuatu is, let's just geographically tell them where it is.
Mark Faldmo:Vanuatu is an island chain, kind of north-northwest of Australia, so way south, way south, yeah, so the cruises that would go here would probably leave from Australia New Zealand or they'd be some type of repositioning cruise going to Australia New Zealand area.
Patrick Wiscombe:A seaborne submersible trip discovered a century-old shipwreck. I would do this in a second. I would love to go under the water. I'm fascinated. It's a whole other world under there.
Mark Faldmo:So, anyway, they found an old shipwreck. You remember, a few weeks ago we talked about expedition cruising and how fascinating expedition cruising and the experiences that they offer. Oh, yeah, well, Seabourn has, which is a luxury cruise line, but they also have some expedition ships, and one of their expedition ships, on select voyages, has a submersible that you can do for an additional cost, and one of their submersibles discovered a World War I shipwreck. Oh wow, the ship actually was sunk in World War I off the coast of Chile on November 19th 1914. So that is how long, 110 years ago, almost exactly 110 years ago from this, the airing of this show. That is one of the fascinating things that you can do on these expedition cruises that Seabourn has. This wreck was located about five miles off the coast and about 95 meters of water.
Patrick Wiscombe:While we're talking about shipwrecks, I realized that that this is way, way closer to home was Lake Mead. As the lake receded, some of these old World War I, World War II boats. All of a sudden they were appearing. If you're going through the wreck, probably not so exciting, but as an observer, I would love to know the backstory of why it wrecked. Yes, the seaborne submersible.
Mark Faldmo:I said I would do it, but I didn't ask you would you do it? Oh, I would do it. I did a in Cozumel, I did there. There are some actual submersible excursions activities you can do. They don't go quite as low as this, but they do dive off of that great reef in Cozumel to see that and and so I would absolutely do this. And then you know, especially going back to the Seabourn, these expedition ships I would do them. Some of the itineraries that this ship does is Easter Islands, the Pitcairn Island Group, which, if you don't know, that's where the crew of the Mutiny on the Bounty fled to. It's so remote that nobody found them there Goes to some remote islands in Fiji. So there are some fascinating expedition cruises that you can do.
Patrick Wiscombe:Virgin Voyages, which you are a fan of, virgin the company. They are planning an Alaska cruise on the ship Brilliant Lady in 2026.
Mark Faldmo:I think this is really interesting, particularly for Alaska. You know I've said many times on this show I love Virgin Voyages. I've mentioned my wife has some food allergies, has some issues eating when we're on vacation. The only vacation where we've never had any issues at all is on Virgin Voyages. They do such a great job with food allergies and just the different type of eating styles that people have. They've really catered to that. They've announced they're going to Alaska in 2026. We talked about MSC last week announced they are also going to Alaska and I think this is interesting on the heels of some of the other stories that we've had where places like Juneau have limited the number of ships in per day. Now both of these MSC and Virgin are going to Juneau standard seven-day rotation, like most cruise lines. Virgin Voyages is going to do seven to 12-night itineraries that depart from both Seattle and Vancouver.
Patrick Wiscombe:So that's how they're going to slot them in then.
Mark Faldmo:Interesting. They've probably had to do different lengths to find days where their ship can be in certain ports, but they've found a way to do it. You did Alaska about a year ago.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, it was. Seven days is not enough in Alaska.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, I would much rather have a longer sailing and see more of Alaska. Yeah, agreed.
Patrick Wiscombe:It was almost too short. Yeah, you just don't get tired of the scenery. It's truly amazing. If you've never been to Alaska, go. It feels like Alaska is starting to see a surge in other ships coming into port.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, there are more cruise lines than ever going to Alaska. I never thought I would see MSC or Virgin Voyages in that market because it is harder to get a slot, you know, especially going into some of those places like Glacier Bay. Some of these newer cruise lines can't do that. Both MSC and Virgin, I think, go to Tracy Arm for their glacier viewing. So some of those places are still a little bit more locked out for new entrants. But Virgin Voyages is going to some new ports. They're going to Prince Rupert, which is interesting. Norwegian tried to go to Prince Rupert a few years ago but they really didn't plan out. The city itself didn't plan out, so they basically parked the ship, dropped people off and there was nothing to do. But from what I hear they've really increased that infrastructure to attract more cruise ships to Prince Rupert. I did actually a fascinating cannery tour when I was in Prince Rupert, went out to one of their salmon canning, which I hate fish, I don't eat fish.
Patrick Wiscombe:I don't either, and especially salmon.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, in fact, a couple of years ago on Alaska cruise it was during COVID I went with one of my Norwegian cruise sales reps in Kachikan. They were from Canada and they couldn't ship their fish back during COVID, and so I came home with like 35 salmon. I gave them all away. I didn't eat any of it.
Patrick Wiscombe:I'm sorry but that's funny. I went on a cannery tour, but you know what? I just don't like fish, but it was fascinating to watch them. Yeah, as promised, this segment is always the cruise deal of the week and let's talk about the Princess Cyber Sail, where they're going and some of the ports Not the itineraries, just some of the week. And let's talk about the princess cyber sale, where they're going and some of the ports not the itineraries, just some of the places you can visit this is an exciting sale.
Mark Faldmo:It's up to 50 off cruise fares and this is a worldwide sale. So, anywhere they sail, 50 off deposits and third and fourth guests in the cabin sell for free. Wow, that's. That's a promotion. You do have to book by November 25th. They got about two weeks. They have some pretty exciting itineraries Now. Again, like I said, this is a worldwide sale, but some I'll just quickly pull out what I think are six of the top sailings that they have. They have a seven-day Western Caribbean November 9th of 2025, that starts at $559 per person, so a year from now. They have a seven-day Inside Passage, which is Alaska. This is round-trip. Vancouver on June 10th of 2025, starts at $929 per person. Next one, I think, is probably one of the best deals out there. It's a seven-day Mediterranean, so it's France and Italy, on March 4th 2025.
Mark Faldmo:Starts at $949 per person An 11-day Mexican Riviera cruise on October 19th 2025. Starts at $979. So if you look at that one, that's less than $100 per person per day. 12-day Panama Canal cruise, so that would visit Costa Rica and the Caribbean. And that's less than $100 per person per day. 12-day Panama Canal cruise. So that would visit Costa Rica and the Caribbean November 29th, starting at $1189.
Patrick Wiscombe:So we can go do the rice and beans.
Mark Faldmo:Go do the rice and beans yeah.
Patrick Wiscombe:By the way, I do want to do that. The Panama Canal, that for me personally, that would be a great cruise.
Mark Faldmo:That's one of the great cruise experiences I've had. I love going through the Panama Canal.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, what?
Mark Faldmo:else. And then there's one more sailing on this sail 16-day Iceland and Greenland, July 31st, and this one, also surprisingly for being a July date, is right around that $100 per person per day starts at $1749. Really, I've not been to Greenland. I've been to Iceland several times, as we've talked about, but I'd love to do one of these cruises that goes to Greenland.
Patrick Wiscombe:So let's recap that 50% off the normal cruise fare. Third and fourth guests go free. And what was the other thing that you mentioned? The other one is 50% off deposit. That is a sale. Seriously, as someone who cruises a lot and you've been on over 150 cruises is that one of the best deals you've ever seen?
Mark Faldmo:That is that's a really good sale and then again a lot of those prices we mentioned I think are tremendous.
Patrick Wiscombe:Wow, all right, take advantage of that offer. Princess's Cyber cyber sale call mark in his office. That is the cruise deal of the week. That is a phenomenal offer 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. And you can also go to blueplanetvacations. com. Seriously, if you've wanted to try cruising or you want to go to blueplanetvacations. com Seriously, if you've wanted to try cruising, or you want to go to one of these places, just go. Phenomenal value on that one and a great price. When we come back, we've got Mark's travel tips. We've got some additional travel news headlines that we need to get to, and if you are traveling for the holidays, we're going to tell you how to get the best fare and when not to travel. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues. I'm Patrick Wiscombe, he is Mark Faldmo. We'll be right back.
Show Voice:Explore your world. You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700.
Ad Voice:We'll be right back El Dorado Spa Resort To book your romantic beach getaway. Contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or blueplanetvacations. com.
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:They'll help you plan and book your next vacation. Yeah, really, you're listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show presented by BluePlanetVacations. com, America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now 801-649-3700, 801-649-3700. And now here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe:Serving travelers around the world. You have found the right radio show If you are interested in travel or if you need ideas of where to go. You have absolutely found the right radio show and podcast. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your Saturday and Sunday mornings or if you are podcasting the show later, insidetraveltalk. com is where you find the podcast, and we are on all of the major podcast platforms Coming up in this segment, the final segment of this week's show.
Patrick Wiscombe:We've got the travel news headlines and we are going to talk about the busiest days of the year to travel that, according to TSA. We're going to do our best to save you some money. You might be kind of hosed at this point, but you don't have to travel on the busiest day of the year, so we're going to help you navigate that, and we're also going to talk about how to get a new passport if you lose yours while you're out traveling or it's stolen. We'll tell you how to get around that whole mess. That would be a mess if you lose your passport. Mark. I think we should help listeners navigate the busiest travel days of the year. According to TSA. When is the busiest days of the year to travel?
Mark Faldmo:This report is the 15 busiest travel days in the past 12 months. There are some days on here that I would not have considered, and actually the busiest day is here that I would not have considered, and actually the busiest day is not one I would have even thought of. So in the past 12 months, the busiest day was July 7th 2024. By far more passengers, by almost 300,000 passengers, compared to the next closest day, which was June 23rd 2024.
Patrick Wiscombe:Really.
Mark Faldmo:And then July 18th and then May 24th and June 24th round out the top five busiest days in the past 12 months. That is genuinely surprising. Yeah, that's surprising for those summer months. I guess there's one May 24th. There is around Memorial Day. I'm surprised that something around Labor Day did not pop up there. November 26th of 2023 did show up in the past 12 months, but that was clear down. That was number 14 on the list.
Patrick Wiscombe:I'm just looking at the calendar. July 4th was a Thursday, so everyone stayed through the weekend and then they traveled on Sunday.
Ad Voice:So, yeah, okay, I can buy that.
Patrick Wiscombe:A passenger on an American Airlines flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles attempted to steal an upgraded seat, meaning probably Comfort Plus or First Class, and it created quite a stir.
Mark Faldmo:This goes back to some of our discussions on airplane etiquette and some of these I'll say, tiktok hacks that people are putting out there. That really don't work and you really shouldn't try. And so what this person did was booked her mother in an aisle seat and upgraded like Comfort Plus and then booked herself back in coach. And then when she got on the plane, she sat next to her mother and asked the person who was seated in seat 8D, which is an aisle seat, to change back to row 35B, which is a middle seat, and, as you can imagine, that did not go over well in this case, especially trying to go up to an upgraded seat from a regular coach seat to a premium coach seat. No one's going to trade for that and that person paid a lot more money for that seat in most cases. Just be cordial. If you do want a seat, you can lightly ask someone if they'll change, but don't just sit in it and expect that it's yours.
Patrick Wiscombe:There's a new rule at one international airport that you have max three minutes, which actually I thought was kind of long. Three minutes for farewells, say your goodbyes in three minutes, or less.
Mark Faldmo:This is an airport in New Zealand. I think it's interesting. They have a sign that says kiss and goodbye, no kisses above three minutes. And that is a problem at airports Cars kind of lingering long, loading and unloading. They are kind of making light of that by kind of making it funny no kisses above three minutes. But they really are trying to keep the traffic moving through there because especially at busy times that front of the airport can be a mess. It's pretty chaotic and can also be dangerous if cars don't find a place to park. So that's one way they're trying to move that along.
Patrick Wiscombe:One thing that is a big deal when you're on vacation is if you lose your passport or it's stolen. Let's tell listeners what to do if they lose or their passport is stolen.
Mark Faldmo:The first thing to help with this is make sure you're prepared before you leave home. On the State Department's webpage, which is travel. state. gov, they have a traveler's checklist. You can also find this if you go to blueplanetvacations. com and click on our resources tab. This checklist is there, and so here is. We'll first give the traveler's checklist and then we'll say how to get a new passport if yours is lost or stolen while you're traveling. So the first thing is make copies of all of your travel documents. Leave a copy with a trusted friend or relative, carry the other copy separate from your original documents. You should have a copy with a friend or family member at home, a copy in your bag and then your original, which is not in that same bag as the photocopy. You can also take a photograph of your travel documents. Have one on your phone. I personally have a secure folder on my phone that's encrypted, that has a copy of passport, driver's license and any important information that I may need while traveling.
Mark Faldmo:I hadn't even thought about that the next thing is to check your passport expiration date. A lot of people don't even think of this. The passport should expire at least six months after your return date, so you should have a validity at least six months after you come back. A lot of countries, just out of experience, say they won't admit you into a country if your passport is not valid at least six months.
Patrick Wiscombe:I would have never thought of that one.
Mark Faldmo:My passport, for instance, is expiring a year from now, so I'm going to start getting it renewed here this year.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's talk about that. Where do you go personally?
Mark Faldmo:to renew your passport. Well, now the State Department passport renewal page. It's a real simple process online nowadays.
Show Voice:So, travelstategov.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, then click on the passports. No, you don't even have to go get a passport photo at a passport place anymore. They now allow you, as long as it meets the requirements, to take it with your own phone. I just want to quickly mention two things. One is travel insurance. The State Department urges that you have travel insurance. The government will not pay for your medical needs outside of the country, so make sure you have travel insurance that includes medical benefits. The next thing they recommend is enrolling in the STEP program, the Smart Travel Enrollment Program, and this is something where you list your contact information, where you're staying, where you'll be, so if anything happens in that country, they know where you are and help with any needed evacuations.
Patrick Wiscombe:One last question before we take off where do you go to get a passport?
Mark Faldmo:So there are a few steps. The first step is if your passport is lost, the first thing you need to do is locate the nearest embassy or consulate and to that. Step two is to report your passport to the embassy or consulate with a phone call. If you're able to go to the consulate in person, that's even better. Sometimes it's a little harder to do that. Step three is that embassy or consulate will give you advice on what the next steps to do are. They will ask you to send in a copy of your passport, which is why we talked about that first thing on the traveler's list to do have a copy. If you have a copy of it, if you have your driver's license, or again a copy of your driver's license. That'll make it a lot easier.
Mark Faldmo:There are two forms that you need to fill out to get a replacement passport like that, and then they'll either issue a replacement passport or a limited validity passport which will get you home If you do believe your passport is stolen. There's one additional step, which is to make sure and report that to the local police authority to have a police report to help with that. It can take a day or two to get your replacement passport. Oh, this was a long time ago. I've had several customers on trips with me that have lost their passport and we just drove to the embassy and they replaced it right there. I think it's a little bit harder to just show up and get it done, but they will help you with it and again, if you can, it's best to show up to the embassy or consulate in person to help with that.
Patrick Wiscombe:Those are great tips. Talk about something you don't think of, but when you need it, you really need it. Yes, wow, okay, but when you need it, you really need it. Yes, wow, okay. You know what? We could probably just record this segment and play it over and over. You know, play once a year just to help people.
Patrick Wiscombe:Maybe we should just post this on the website what to do if your passport is stolen or lost. Well, that's going to do it for this week's edition of the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. If you would like to book any of the vacations that we've talked about, call Mark in his office, Monday through Friday 888-718 7717. 888-718 7717. Or you can just go to blueplanetvacation. com. You can listen to this show again tomorrow morning on 860 KKAT, Sunday morning at 11 am Mountain Time, and if you want or need to listen to the show again, you can download and subscribe to the podcast at insidetraveltalk. com. We're on all of the major podcast platforms. And while you're at it, may I ask you to subscribe and leave us a five-star review, because it really does help us get traction with the podcast platforms and with listeners.
Patrick Wiscombe:Well, that's it. Now it's your turn. Get out and explore the world while you can, because you never know what curveballs life is going to throw at you. Today is a good day for a good day. Live your life deliberately, live your life intentionally and remember what you're not changing, you're choosing. Thanks for listening. Have a great week. We'll talk to you next Saturday and Sunday mornings.
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.