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
Opulent Explorations: Ireland Ideas, Round the World Vacations & Disneyland's 70th
Are you ready for a journey that promises to transform your travel bucket list? Discover the extraordinary allure of luxury travel with Inside Travel Talk, where we explore enticing vacation ideas that redefine the art of exploration. From the chance to sail away on a Holland America cruise to embarking on a 59-day train journey across 12 countries, this episode is your passport to a world of opulent experiences and unforgettable adventures. Like a tantalizing teaser, we touch on Disneyland's preparations for their monumental 70th anniversary, offering a peek behind the magic curtain.
Travel enthusiasts will relish our curated selection of exciting destinations and smart travel tips, featuring Fromers' top places to visit in 2025, like the music-filled streets of Nashville and the enchanting landscapes of Slovenia. We share insights into the latest transportation updates, including Las Vegas's new zone taxi fares and Hawaii's booming visitor numbers. Imagine yourself wandering through Greenland's icy vistas or experiencing the thrill of Universal's Epic Universe, promising to rival even the most magical of Disney dreams.
Stay aboard as we cruise through the latest trends in the travel industry, with a humorous detour into the quirky role of a "wiggist" on Norwegian Cruise Line voyages. From river cruising's expansion into exciting new regions to the surprising impact of airline fees, this episode is packed with insights that will elevate your travel experiences. As we cap off with a discussion on must-have travel gadgets, you'll be equipped with the finest tools and ideas to enhance your journeys.
It is the weekend, so it's time for the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. On today's show, mark and I will be talking about how to win a cruise around the world, a luxury train ride around the world. We'll be talking about Hawaii, Ireland, and it wouldn't be an episode of the show if we didn't talk about Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet. 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 must be the weekend. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Hello there, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Faldmo will be in the studio here in just a couple of moments and, if you are brand new to the show, the entire purpose of this show is to help you plan and book your next vacation, or simply give you ideas of where you want to go on your next vacation, and we are presented each and every Saturday and Sunday by BluePlanetVacations. com. Mark Faldmo is walking into the studio. I'm here. Are you ready to do this?
Mark Faldmo:I am. I am sorry I'm running a little bit late. I'm headed back. Stayed up in the park city area last night for my birthday so happy birthday, just uh, barely made it in time where'd you stay last night?
Patrick Wiscombe:did you go to Heber?
Mark Faldmo:went to Heber and stayed at the Zermatt resort so you did.
Patrick Wiscombe:You ended up going yep, how was the? Uh accommodations? I haven't been up to Zermatt for quite a while it was nice.
Mark Faldmo:I wanted something a little bit quieter, not really in park city, just to go relax for a day, be compressed. Then I had to wake up early and hurry back to do the show let's start the show off with the travel news headlines.
Patrick Wiscombe:I mentioned at the very top of the show that we are going to give the details about how to win a Holland America cruise around the world. Let's just start there.
Mark Faldmo:Holland America is doing a kind of a 12 days of Christmas giveaway. This has been going for a few days. It goes until the 17th of December, so you have a few days here to enter. You can enter every day and at the end of it they are going to give away around the world cruise on Holland America. They also have other prizes they're giving away, so they'll be giving away an Alaska cruise, a Caribbean cruise, a Mediterranean cruise, as well as other daily prizes. How you can enter this is you can go to HollandAmerica. com or just Google Great HALiday Giveaway. Holiday is spelled H-A-L-I-D-A-Y, so H-A-L for Holland America line. So Great Holiday Giveaway. You just put in your email address and your name and contact information and then you'll be entered to win the daily prize and to win the grand prize. You'll also get deposit credit for a deposit towards a future cruise which you can use that and book through Blue Planet Vacations.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's keep the world theme going here. There is an around the world vacation on a luxury train. What details do we have?
Mark Faldmo:This is by a company called Rail Bookers. It's a company we work with and they've put together an around the world journey by train. It's 59 days long, visits 12 countries, 20 iconic cities and rides seven of the world's most popular rail routes. Oh, wow, I'll try and go through the itinerary quickly. It's very exciting. So the journey begins in Vancouver, Canada. From there, you take the Rocky Mountaineer route. When you're done with the Rocky Mountaineer route, you fly from Calgary to Edinburgh, Scotland. You board the Royal Scotsman train, which goes around Scotland, and that's a train that you actually sleep on board. And then from Edinburgh, you go to Rome and take the La Doce Vita train from Rome to Venice, and then from Venice and this is the one I would be excited about you take the Simpleton Orient Express, so it goes Venice to Paris.
Patrick Wiscombe:Wow.
Mark Faldmo:And then from Paris you go Paris to Budapest. You eventually end up in Istanbul, turkey. From there you fly from Turkey to Delhi. In India, you take the Indian Panorama train for a few days and then, when you're done with that, you can fly to Johannesburg, south Africa. You could get some safaris. You take the Rovos Rail, which is overnight train, through to Victoria Falls Just an amazing journey there in Southern Africa and then end in Cape Town. From Cape Town you fly to Singapore.
Ad Voice:Wow.
Mark Faldmo:And you take the Eastern Oriental Express in Malaysia and then you end in Singapore.
Patrick Wiscombe:How many days is the journey?
Mark Faldmo:It's 59 days. Oh wow. Now I will say it's fairly expensive. Some of these are very high end luxury trains, but on this show we're always trying to find some of those unique vacation options, and this is definitely one of the unique options. You get everything from glaciers to safari on this and everything in between I would do that in a second.
Patrick Wiscombe:I didn't even know such a thing existed. Was it the book or a movie? Or maybe, yes to both, around the world in 80 days, but this one's 59 days In 59 days? Wow, we'll see in two months. Yeah, talk about jet lag or, in this case, train lag, train lag. Yeah, I saw this story that Disneyland in Anaheim, California, is preparing to celebrate its 70th anniversary. First of all, it's amazing that it's been 70 years.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, and for their 70-year anniversary, the park is offering up to 30% off select hotel stays of four nights or longer at Disneyland Resort Hotels, and they're also offering $50 kid tickets. Oh wow, to kick it off, they have a new attraction, which is in the Main Street Opera House Theater. It's called Walt Disney A Magical Life and it's a featured cinematic presentation of Walt Disney's journey, and it also has the first audio animatronic of Walt Disney himself.
Patrick Wiscombe:So they're turning him into a character now.
Mark Faldmo:They're turning him into a character. So that's one of the new things that they're adding, and they're bringing back some new parades, some old parades, lots of fun things at Disneyland Park this year for their 70th anniversary.
Patrick Wiscombe:Anyone who's interested in Disney can call Mark in his office, especially the $50 tickets, and then 30% off. What is it? Disneyland Hotel? Obviously that would be the West End, and then Grand Californian, and then 30% off.
Mark Faldmo:what is it? Disneyland Hotel? Obviously that would be the West End.
Patrick Wiscombe:And then Grand Californian and then Paradise Pier would be their hotels. Yes, do they have more hotels, or is it just those three?
Mark Faldmo:still Just those three, because they were going to build a Star Wars one, but that one got nixed.
Patrick Wiscombe:That's dreadful. Don't nix the Star Wars, by the way. I have a joke for you. This is a Star Wars joke. What did Yoda say when he first saw himself in 4K? What?
Show Voice:HDMI.
Patrick Wiscombe:Thank you.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, good dad joke, was it?
Patrick Wiscombe:We're running a little short on time. Let's get to the destination of the week, which is always in this first segment, and we're going to be talking about Ireland. Was this a call that you took a little bit earlier this week from Jessica? This was a call. Okay, Jessica wants to go to Ireland. She says that she has seven to eight days and she's asking what would you recommend, mark, and when is the best time to go, and where would you stay and what would you do? What would you see?
Mark Faldmo:I think the best time to go to Ireland is, in the fall, Ireland in seven to eight days. You can see that, and here's what I'd recommend to do. You fly to Dublin, obviously, and spend two to three nights in Dublin and then go to Killarney, which is down in the southwest area, and then spend two to three nights. My favorite place is in Drummond Castle. Its roots first started in about 1015-ish or so, the year 1015. The actual castle part that you see today was built in the 1500s, so you can stay in that old part of the castle and then there's a newer wing of it that was built in the 80s, I believe. But it's just an amazing castle to stay in.
Patrick Wiscombe:I like how they say. The newer wing was built in the 80s.
Mark Faldmo:It's already 40 plus years old Yep, and there's lots of interesting things you can do in Ireland. We don't have enough time to go through that. We can go to blarney castle. Kiss the blarney stone, which when you kiss that, it's said to give you the gift of gab. I probably need to do that again because I was probably making out with it.
Mark Faldmo:yes, yeah, you know you can go Waterford Crystal, go to the Woolen Mills. One of my favorite places is the Dingle Peninsula Cliffs of Moher. There's so much to do and see. But what I like about Ireland is that medieval love. Dromolund Castle, it's a five-star place that you stay at. It's got a golf course. They have all sorts of things you'd kind of associate with castles like archery and things like that. So Ireland is a wonderful vacation. You can also look at a little bit longer vacation for Jessica. You know we looked at a Globus tour that was 10 days long, so it's a little bit too long for what she wanted, but you can do it in seven days seven to eight days if you want to do that.
Patrick Wiscombe:Are you a U2 fan?
Mark Faldmo:Yes, I am.
Patrick Wiscombe:You can go see where Bono grew up Is Slane Castle in Ireland, I think it is.
Mark Faldmo:I think so Okay.
Patrick Wiscombe:Take a picture in front of Bono's old place, I guess, post it and put at U2 and say, hey, I'm at your house. Yeah, Jessica is going. Right, she is going. Yes, okay, she says seven to eight days, but really, if you're going to go to that part of the world, you better, better make it. You know, worth your while Jessica. Has she booked it yet, or does she still need to call you back? It's?
Mark Faldmo:booked, not on deposit yet. Okay, well, Jessica, or anyone else who?
Patrick Wiscombe:wants to go to Ireland, Jessica, or anyone else who wants to go to Ireland? Call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. And you can also go to blueplanetvacations. com. When we come back, it is time for the hot travel deal of the week, and this week we are going to Hawaii. Yep, you can never go wrong going to Hawaii. And we're also going to be talking about Las Vegas, combating Uber and Lyft price surging. It is real and, yes, you will get absolutely hammered if you just try and book when you get off the plane or wherever you are. Las Vegas is taking it to the Ubers and the lifters, which is a good idea. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. 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. We'll be right back.
Ad Voice:This segment of Inside Travel Talk is sponsored by Star Clippers. For over 30 years, star Clippers has offered unique, authentic tall ship sailing experiences featuring creative itineraries throughout the Mediterranean Caribbean and Central America. To book your unique Star Clipper sailing adventure, contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or blue or blue planet vacations dot com.
Show Voice:You're listening to the inside travel talk podcast and radio show presented by blue planet vacations dot 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:We hope that you are enjoying your weekend, whether you're listening to us on Saturday or Sunday. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend and hopefully we can just entertain you a little bit while you're driving to and from wherever you're going. If you're at the gym, bless you Working out on the treadmill. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. Coming up in this segment, we are going to be talking about Fromers Best places to go in 2025. And Las Vegas is taking it to Lyft and Uber, and we'll also be talking about Hawaii. We're going to Oahu specifically, and, in fact, let's just start with the Fromers' best places to go in 2025. What is on their list?
Mark Faldmo:Mark. This is an annual list they usually put out. There's 21 destinations. I'm not going to cover all of them today, just a couple that kind of stick out to me as ones that are interesting, in no particular order. It's just there are 21 destinations to visit in 2025. Nashville, Tennessee, is on there. It's probably not on a lot of people's radar. I've been to Nashville a few times. Going to the country music's iconic Grand Old Opry is amazing. I'm not really a country music fan, but I absolutely loved going to the Grand Old Opry you can go to.
Patrick Wiscombe:Morgan Wallen's bar and watch him throw a chair off the top of his bar.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, yeah, great food Nashville hot chicken so good. One of my favorite things there was the Dukes of Hazzard Museum that's right there and Daisy Duke's gift shop.
Mark Faldmo:Oh, boy so a lot of great things in Nashville Good food. What else is on the list? Next thing on the list is Universal's Epic Universe, which is their new park we've talked about before. I think it's going to be a game-changing theme part. In my opinion it'll well. I guess if you're a Disney fan, you're a Disney fan, but from what I've seen, I think that's going to be far and above anything that Disney has put out, which is saying a lot, because Disney does really good with what they do.
Mark Faldmo:Another thing on the list is Greenland. This one is on the list because Greenland was once a very hard place to reach. Now there are several cruises that go there and, as we talked about, there's now direct flights, united Airlines, from the US to Greenland. And then we'll just talk about one more destination, because this one is really.
Mark Faldmo:When I saw on the list list, it's kind of out there in left field, but it's Slovenia. A lot of people probably don't even know where Slovenia is. On its western border is Italy, on its southern border is Croatia, on its eastern border is Hungary and on its northern border is Austria. It is kind of the Alps. It's known for its mountains and ski resorts, but it has some of the most beautiful scenery in all of Europe. Have you been there? I have been there just on a day trip off of a cruise. MSC is about the only cruise line now that I've seen that actually makes stops in Slovenia.
Mark Faldmo:A few weeks ago we talked about the Adriatic Sea, so this is at the northern part of that and they do have a small part of their border that is on the Adriatic Sea, but some of the castles you see that are built up on cliffs. That's in Slovenia. Just amazing scenery and beauty. And then history. You know a lot of people really want to go to Croatia. This is kind of a less touristy version of Croatia. I would want to go back and spend more time there. Other places on the list Bolivia, bath and Stonehenge, Tucson, Arizona and Ohio's Cuyahoga Valley National Park rounded out the top few on the list.
Patrick Wiscombe:I saw this news story that Las Vegas is this is my term going to war with Uber and Lyft because of price surges, so they are introducing zone taxi fares. This is good news for consumers because it feels like Uber and Lyft can really just hammer you.
Mark Faldmo:This has actually been going on for a while in Las Vegas. I was just at a presentation by Las Vegas and they brought this up, and so I thought it was a good thing to bring up the show today. I don't understand. I arrived to an airport and I see hundreds of people waiting for Uber and Lyft and then look over at the taxi queue and no one's there. People will wait 20 to 40 minutes for an Uber left when they could go, get in a taxi and go. So what Las Vegas has done is they've introduced zone fares. So no matter the time of day, if the airport's involved, if you're going to or from the airport, it's a set price and they have South Strip, center Strip, north Strip, downtown or kind of the zones there of the taxis. If you arrive at the airport at a very busy time, Uber or Lyft is going to cost you three to four more times what the taxi fare is.
Patrick Wiscombe:My only argument why people wait that long is taxis have kind of done this to themselves, historically speaking. They used to charge outrageous amounts of money.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, yeah, now, getting around town if you're going hotel to hotel, Uber or Lyft is probably the best, unless it's in that kind of surge timeframe when there's a high demand for Uber and Lyft. I still use Uber and Lyft to get around town, but from any airport, I almost always now go to a taxi.
Patrick Wiscombe:You can ask what the fare is up front and you can see what the fare is on the Uber and Lyft apps, so you can just quickly compare.
Mark Faldmo:And if you're a fan of Uber and Lyft I found Lyft is much less expensive than Uber these days and if you're a Delta Airlines fan, you get a Lyft credit- oh, that's part of the Delta app, isn't? It. It's part of the Delta app. Yeah, okay.
Patrick Wiscombe:Yeah, one of their partners. I saw that Hawaii just had one of their busiest Octobers since the pandemic.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, which is probably ever, because 2019 was a banner year. This October, Hawaii had 97.3% visitors when compared to October of 2019. So they are almost back to that pre-pandemic level, with the exception of Maui. Maui was down 24% compared to October 2019. Maui has continued to struggle since the fires, which has really hampered their recovery. Hawaii as a whole is almost back to what they were pre-pandemic.
Patrick Wiscombe:Well, that leads us into the hot travel deal of the week. So let's start off in Oahu.
Mark Faldmo:I looked for fairly close in. So this is Oahu, January 23rd, for five nights, includes round trip air from Salt Lake City on United Airlines. Four star hotels, hotels for less than $1,000 a person with the package, and it includes airfare yeah, airfare. Five nights hotel a four-star at the Romer Hotel starts at $879 per person. This is a hotel that's recently been renovated and they changed their name to Romer. I'm not sure what it was before, but it's about three blocks from the beach, kind of near the Fort D'Ursay area, which you'd have to cut across that park to get to the beach. Oh, that's not terrible $879 for that. Another four-star is the Twin Fin Hotel a four-star hotel, $1129 per person. And this one is right across the street from the beach. Some people might recognize the name Aston Waikiki Beach that's what this hotel is. So it became the Twin Fin Hotel. And then my favorite hotel is the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Oh yeah, four and a half star hotel, $1229 per person.
Patrick Wiscombe:That's amazing. And, by the way, what is that? Is that about five weeks from now?
Mark Faldmo:It's about five weeks from now. I'm finding right now the sweet spot for, like Hawaii and Mexico, is right about six weeks for the best airfare and prices.
Patrick Wiscombe:What are some of the things to do on Oahu?
Mark Faldmo:One of the things that I want to do that I have not done, and that's why I'm bringing this up, is the Hollywood movie set tour. This is at Kalua Ranch Jurassic Park Lost, filmed in this Kalua Ranch area on the North Shore of Hawaii. And then there's also a really great zipline Kiana Farms zipline on the North.
Mark Faldmo:Shore. Yeah, I was going to say that's the North Shore. Yeah, it's right by, just down the street from the courtyard by Marriott North Shore. And then I guess, while we're there at the courtyard talking about the best luau, right across the street, the Polynesian Cultural Center, I think, has the best luau on the island of Oahu. I've done several but I really like the Polynesian Cultural Center because one you get a full day of seeing all the villages, you get a luau show, and then you get after dinner after luau show, and it's about the same cost as just going to just a luau of the other guys okay, this is your five-week warning.
Patrick Wiscombe:To get to Hawaii, go to wahoo. I was just there in march with my wife, Nicki awesome place. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian village at mark's recommendation. Totally recommend it, awesome place to stay. Call mark in his office, 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. And he'll also post those deals on blueplanetvacations. com. When we come back after the bottom of the hour news break we've got the infamous Just Cruising segment, so we'll have the cruise news of the week and we'll also talk about going to Alaska on Holland America. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. He is Mark Faldmo, we will be right back. He is Mark Faldmo, we will 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.
Ad Voice:Travel insurance plans can help protect you and your vacation. Travelex is known for their award-winning customer service and high claims paid rate. Contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or blueplanetvacations. com for more information.
Patrick Wiscombe:Okay, we're back. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show Coming up. In the remaining 28 minutes of this hour, mark and I will be talking about Alaska cruises. Now's the time to book. Broadway-style shows are making an appearance on Norwegian Cruise Line and a very special guest makes a four-second appearance on the show. Let's get back to 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: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:All aboard For the Just Cruising segment. The infamous Just Cruising segment as part of the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show heard each and every weekend right here on this radio station at this very time, coming up in this final segment of the show, Eric Stonestreet, modern Family's Eric Stonestreet, is going to make a four-second appearance on the show. Why We'll tell you. During this segment, Norwegian Cruise Lines is doing Broadway-style shows, but they're going to start parring them back. And of course, we have the Cruise Deal of the Week always in this segment. But let's start this segment off with the Cruise News of the Week. Where should we start here? Segment off with the cruise news of the week. Where should we start here? Should we go river cruising? On this one, let's do this. This is interesting, all right. So river cruising keeps getting bigger. They're expanding on new rivers and new regions.
Mark Faldmo:River cruising started pretty much in Europe. Most people know river cruising in Europe and this last year and into next year and the following year there's really a lot of new options for river cruising around the world. There is a river cruise starting on the Kochi River in India. It's a small 20-passenger boat but it goes to towns, villages, Hindu temples. Amawater ways is starting cruising in Colombia and that's kind of the real first South America river cruise that's been out there on kind of a mainline river cruise. So Ama is pioneering this. More and more river cruise companies are going into Asia and the Amazon. So in Peru, the upper Amazon, there's lots of river cruise options now. And then Asia along the Mekong and we've talked about that before, but again there's more and more options. And then in the United States the American Cruise Line has an eight-day Great Rivers of Florida voyage and it it's on one of their new 130 passenger ships that sails around Florida.
Patrick Wiscombe:Mexico has approved a $42 cruise passenger tax. That's not what I want to hear.
Mark Faldmo:This is pretty interesting because a lot of cruise lines do go to Mexico, whether it's on the West Coast Puerto Vallarta, Cabo Mazatlán or on the East Coast, particularly Cozumel. Almost every Western Caribbean itinerary stops in Cozumel. This really drew some criticism from cruise lines. Some cruise lines said they were going to stop going to Mexico and actually those threats did pay off a little bit. This was supposed to start right away and they've delayed it for further discussion. Most people probably won't notice it because it'll be buried in the cost of the cruise fare, but hopefully they decide not to do that. That's $42 a person more that it's going to cost you to take a cruise that stops in Mexico. Most of the taxes are $5 to $12. One thing that a lot of the cruise lines and tourism boards are kind of complaining about is that $42 is not even going to help the tourism infrastructure or the cruise infrastructure. Most of it is going to the military.
Patrick Wiscombe:Norwegian Cruise Line, NCL, says that they're going to be doing fewer Broadway-style shows. Now I will say that the shows that were on there were excellent. This one kind of surprises me, but I'm thinking that it probably has to do with licensing it actually has to do with logistics.
Mark Faldmo:They were the first one to bring on kind of a Broadway-style show with the Blue man Group, and then Royal Caribbean, followed with several Broadway shows. And what Norwegian has found in their passenger surveys is that people don't want to spend an hour and a half at a Broadway show. They want a 45-minute show and then go on and do other things. Norwegian, for instance, has said just the staffing of the shows. Some of those Broadway shows require a full-time wiggist person that does the wigs for the you know, and they're like it's kind of a waste of a crew personnel for someone that just sits there and does wigs all day for the shows. And so you know they are going to keep some of the shows on board but they are going to cut back because logistically and production wise they're a little bit too expensive and they're also too long for the passenger.
Patrick Wiscombe:I would do like that in your resume I'm a wiggist. I'm a wiggist. Yes, I think we might even have a podcast title the Wiggist, yes, the Wiggist. Are you a fan of Modern Family, the TV?
Mark Faldmo:show.
Patrick Wiscombe:And I know it's been off the air for a few years now, but who was your favorite character?
Mark Faldmo:I probably like the dad the best.
Patrick Wiscombe:Oh, yeah, yeah Okay.
Mark Faldmo:Manny.
Patrick Wiscombe:One of my favorite characters was Eric Stonestreet, who is also a huge Kansas City Chiefs fan. I've always been a Chiefs fan. He's been named Some of the refs, apparently Stop. If you don't know who Eric Stonestreet is, here's a four-second clip. Here's his four-second appearance. Sort of like Costco. I'm big, I'm not fancy and I dare you to not like me. His character, cam, absolutely made me laugh every single week. So why do I bring Eric Stonestreet into this? He's been named the godfather for the Norwegian Aqua, which is the brand new ship. Is it coming out?
Mark Faldmo:2025? Yeah, it'll be April 13th of 2025.
Patrick Wiscombe:Is there a media preview that you and I will be taking?
Mark Faldmo:in April sometime, we'll see if we can get ourselves invited to that.
Patrick Wiscombe:I'd be just fine with that. Do we know where they're sailing out of? Or the not the inaugural, but the media preview? Wouldn't that be New York City, Miami? Oh, that's where that's at.
Mark Faldmo:I always love those preview cruises, especially the naming ones. I've been lucky enough to be on a few of those. One I remember with Pitbull and he actually had a special presentation just for the cruise ship. It was pretty cool, and then him being part of the naming ceremony.
Patrick Wiscombe:So what is the significance of a godfather when it comes to naming the ship?
Mark Faldmo:Well, it's interesting because it's usually a godmother.
Ad Voice:Yeah, that's what.
Mark Faldmo:I thought More and more. There's been a few godfathers of cruise ships. A lot of them are. They're people that are important to the industry or celebrities. With a new ship they want to try and generate as much bang for the buck as they can get. You know, like I was talking about Pitbull just a minute ago, right, he was really big at that time. His nickname Mr. Worldwide. They really try and choose that to try and get promotional value and interest for the new ship.
Patrick Wiscombe:Let's get to the cruise deal of the week. Always at this segment of the show, we're talking about Alaska on Holland America Cruises. Let's talk waterfalls and spirit bears. I don't know where you're going with this, but let's start there.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, this is a very interesting itinerary by Holland America. They're doing some really unique itineraries. This one particular is September of 2026. Now some people might say why are you talking about it so early? But this is a very unique itinerary. It's an 18-day cruise round trip from Vancouver. It's an 18-day cruise round trip from Vancouver where they say spirit bears there's actually a type of bear called spirit bear. You can find it on Prince Royal Island, which is one of the islands that the cruise ship sells by, and it is basically an albino bear. It's kind of honey-colored, tan, yellowish. So you do some scenic cruising at the first part of the cruise around some of those islands that are in the panhandle of Alaska and Canada area goes to Sika, Alaska. Goes to Hubbard glacier which, if you can see it, is one of the most spectacular glaciers. I think it's like seven miles long a tidewater glacier. That's like seven miles long whoa.
Patrick Wiscombe:And then it goes to the glaciers.
Mark Faldmo:That long the glacier. Is that long?
Patrick Wiscombe:yes, so this makes of the uh glacier national park look kind of small.
Mark Faldmo:Yes, oh, my word, this is actually the other side of glacier national park, just to the north of it. So this glacier feeds from the same ice field as glacier national park or glacier bay. Sorry, glacier bay, glacier bay, yeah, and then.
Patrick Wiscombe:It was Glacier National Park or Glacier.
Ad Voice:Bay Sorry.
Mark Faldmo:I'm sorry, yeah, glacier Bay, glacier Bay, yeah, and then from Hubbard, glacier, you go to Valdez, Alaska, then to Kodiak, Alaska. So there's another bear related the Kodiak Grizzlies Goes to Homer, Alaska. An interesting stop is Anchorage, Alaska, because most cruise ships don't go to Anchorage because you have to sail clear around the peninsula to get to Anchorage Right. So they end in Whittier or Seward, but this one does go to Anchorage and then it does also stop in Glacier Bay, Juneau, Wrangell, Alaska, Ketchikan, prince Rupert, and then some more scenic cruising and ends in Vancouver.
Mark Faldmo:So, it is 18 day cruise inside cabins at $3,079 per person and again, that includes all of the taxes and fees on that. Just a very unique itinerary, probably the most unique Alaska itinerary that I've seen. That is a great itinerary Two years away, September 16th through October 4th of 2026. But it is selling fast. I was just looking at some of the stats on that and it's already almost halfway full.
Mark Faldmo:So for something unique that is a great deal to go to Alaska starts at $3,429 per person, and this ship is a smaller ship so it doesn't really have balconies per se. They're all suites that have balconies, so the suites start at $6,129 per person. Per person.
Patrick Wiscombe:I'm not joking when I say this. 18 days in Alaska would be for me. Seven days was way too fast, and it was beautiful. I truly wish that I had more time in Alaska. So, this might be the answer for me, Nicky.
Mark Faldmo:And it is later in the year, so there's a good chance of seeing the Northern Lights. Oh yes, it's about the same time of year that you went, yep, and you're getting a.
Patrick Wiscombe:To book that vacation. Call Mark in his office, just get the conversation rolling 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. And he'll also post this particular cruise deal of the week on blueplanetvacations. com when we come back. Final segment we've got Mark's travel tips, we've got the little bit more travel news and we're going to give you some tech gadgets that you should really consider just putting in your stash to travel. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show continues. My name is Patrick Wiscombe, he is Mark Faldmo. Thank you, really thank you, for allowing this to be part of your weekend. We will 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. We'll be right back.
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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 blue planet vacations. 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.
Patrick Wiscombe:Final segment of this week's Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Final segment of this week's Inside Travel Talk podcast and radio show. Thank you so much for listening this week and, if I may encourage you, if you want to re-listen to or just you can't listen to us live each Saturday or Sunday, go to InsideTravelTalk. com. Insidetraveltalk. com, go to the website. You can stream the show there if you just want to stream it directly, but you can also subscribe to the podcast on InsideTravelTalk. com so you don't miss an episode. All right, mark, coming up in this final segment we've got the travel news of the week. We're going to be talking about Congress pressing airlines on bag fees. I know that airlines just make a boatload of money off those change fees, the bag fees, in fact. Let's just start there. That happened, I think was it earlier this week.
Mark Faldmo:There was a hearing about airline bag fees. Congress had the major airlines in to ask them about their practices for airline fees. Basically, they said your fees are targeting suckers. I like that Congress is investigating this. Airlines made last year around the world $33 billion in baggage. That's just the baggage fees. Wow, between 100, that's 120 airlines in the world made $33 billion last year in baggage fees. But then I also kind of go back to this kind of, in a way, is Congress's fault. Congress has a 7.5% tax on airfares, but exempt from that airfares are fees, so baggage fees are exempt from that.
Mark Faldmo:Seat fees are exempt from that. A few years back there was the fuel surcharge fee. Oh yeah, that was exempt from that. So while Congress has passed laws where all of these fees, if it's mandatory, has to be included in the fare, this tax has just incentivized airlines to make more and more fees. I remember a few years back I was looking at an airfare round trip from New York to London. It was about $700. Was the fare Like? Oh, that's a great fare? And then when you actually break down the fare, the actual airfare part of that was $110. The rest of it was all some sort of taxes and fees. Now those taxes and fees go into the airline pocket, but they don't have to pay that tax on the airfare.
Mark Faldmo:And the tax system in this case. If they just taxed all parts of that, there probably still would be fees, but they would probably not be as prevalent as they are now. Now, in the end, the customer pays that tax anyway, so it doesn't necessarily matter to the airline, right, but it really has incentivized them to charge these fees, increase these fees, make them more and more part of the travel experience. That sounds like a lot of money, which it is a lot of money, but of all the airlines, that only accounts for about four and a half percent of their total revenue. Wow, that's the part that the customer feels the most, I think.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, it's the most visible, it is yeah.
Patrick Wiscombe:Mark had a great idea that we should talk about some of the best travel gadgets and presents to consider, and the list that you came up with I got to hand it to you. This is good stuff.
Mark Faldmo:Most of these, you can still get here for Christmas. So if you have an avid traveler or you are an avid traveler, these are some things I would recommend. Where do you want to start? For me, the most important thing is your noise canceling headsets. Oh yeah, there's all different kinds of noise canceling headsets. Oh yeah, there's all different kinds of noise canceling headsets. I'd make sure they're Bluetooth, and one that I really like is the JBL 660NC. It's $50 at Amazon. This is one I actually just purchased for Heather because she didn't have a Bluetooth headset, and there's nothing that bothers me more than having cords attached to me during a flight.
Patrick Wiscombe:My word yes.
Mark Faldmo:And you can get noise canceling headsets that start from $20 and go up into the hundreds of dollars. But this is a really good kind of midline and Heather really likes it. But along with that you have to get an AirFly, which is the.
Mark Faldmo:Bluetooth connector, so that's something you connect into the headphone jack in the seat back TV on the airplane and then it'll just broadcast the sound to your headphones. So no cable, and so that's $35 on Amazon. I actually have three of those, so including the one I just bought for Heather, so they're a really good thing to have. And then also, I think something that's important is a travel plug adapter, which we talked about this on a show and you went out and bought this one. The one I recommend is Ceptics C-E-P-T-I-C-S travel kit and it has like a full size plug, but then on the back of it you just slip in the adapter for whatever country you're in, and you have two US outlets and, depending on the model, two to four USB outlet. But I like this one because I think it's pretty versatile in what it offers.
Mark Faldmo:Yeah, the next thing is a good pair of compression socks. You know a lot of people don't think about this, but if you're on a flight for more than three hours, compression socks are really good for your health, especially like flights to Europe. If you don't get up and move, compression socks can really help with keeping your blood circulating and not clotting in your foot and causing medical issues. The next thing this is kind of interesting. It's called Alaska Bear Bluetooth Eye Mask, and so what it is? It's an eye mask like a headband. It covers your eyes and your ears, but it has little noise-canceling speakers in the ear part, oh really. And so it noise-cancels the sound from the airplane. What about?
Patrick Wiscombe:chargers.
Mark Faldmo:Chargers. The one I like is iWalk portable power. It's a small device that just plugs into the bottom of your phone so you don't have a whole other brick with a cord going to your phone like some of those. So I really like that. And then I actually saw one the other day that was magnetic. It was like the tablets, you know the charging pads, but it just sticks to the back of your phone. And then we talked about this last week Apple AirTags. Oh, I love AirTags $75 on Amazon. Or, if you have an Android, tile life 360 is a good version and those are $64.
Mark Faldmo:Both of those for a pack of four. I told the story maybe it was three weeks ago about someone big group in Cancun. Their bag somehow got loaded on another bus, but they were able to track it down. They followed the bus to the hotel. It went and they were able to find their bag because it had the air tags in the suitcase. And then the last thing on the list is a life straw. If you're traveling to certain countries that might not have the best water purification, this is a personal water filter and it's basically just a straw that you can put in the water and it'll filter it. When I was in the Amazon in Peru, we used the LifeStraws and also the water filtration bottles. I think it was also made by LifeStraw. So you do want something like that, especially if you're going to countries with not the best water standards.
Patrick Wiscombe:Before we take off, mark, I want to talk about your sister. She had her flight canceled, and let's just go over what to do if your flight is canceled.
Mark Faldmo:This actually just happened the other day, and so that's why I wanted to put it in here. The first thing is don't panic. There are lots of ways to take care of this. I know having a flight canceled or severely delayed. Their flight just kept getting delayed Push back, push back, push back. They ended up being in the airport for 10 hours until the flight was actually canceled, and this was in Minneapolis, so they were partway through their journey when this happened.
Mark Faldmo:The first thing is to always have the airlines app. The app will tell you if your flight's canceled or delayed and it'll also use, depending on the airline, most apps will give you rebooking options, so you can just rebook it right there. Usually at the airport, going to the ticket counter where your flight is supposed to leave is usually the busiest. There are other customer service centers around the airport that sometimes don't have quite as long line, unless it's a weather event where everything is delayed or canceled. And then the next thing is trying to figure out why your flight was canceled. This was my sister's hardest part, because the gate agent kept saying it's weather, it's weather, we're not going to give you a hotel voucher, which was confusing because I went on FlightAware, which is a great airplane tracking site. I looked at everywhere that plane had been. There's no weather along the way. There's no way it could have been weather. The airline won't necessarily tell you that. I think the gate agent was just saying it's weather because they didn't want to deal with all the passengers. Now, since they were told that they went and booked a hotel on their own that was non-refundable and then about half an hour after that, the hotel voucher came for them which they couldn't use. If it's mechanical, if it's crew-related, the airline has to provide meal vouchers and a hotel voucher for you if it's needed.
Mark Faldmo:And the next thing this is just a good time to plug travel insurance. Oh yeah, they did not have travel insurance. It probably would have cost them 30 bucks on just this flight. It would have covered the cost of the hotel. They have a during travel department at those travel policies that will just help you with everything and they have a lot more resources to deal with this than you waiting at the airport for a gate agent that may or may not want to talk to you. We've also talked about this before. Treat those gate agents nice and you can get a lot further. It's unfortunate, but people really don't treat those gate agents right, especially in a delay or cancellation, and they get so frustrated I think sometimes they just say it's weather, there's nothing I can do, and they just put up that wall. So be kind and nice and hopefully you'll get kind and nice back to you. You may not get what you want, but you'll get it politely.
Patrick Wiscombe:That information is really helpful. Mark has flown over 4 million miles, he's been on over 150 cruises, he knows what he's doing and he will help you book and plan your next vacation. And, of course, you know, if you're just looking for an idea and you want to bounce the idea off him, call Mark in his office. Want to bounce the idea off him? Call Mark in his office 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your Saturday and Sunday mornings here on 860 KKAT. And if you want or need to listen to the show again, you can download and subscribe to the podcast version of this show on insidetraveltalk. com and we are on all of the major podcast platforms.
Patrick Wiscombe:Well, our job is done and now it's your turn to get out and explore the world while you can, because you never know what curve balls life is going to throw at you. While you can, because you never know what curveballs life is going to throw at you. Live your life deliberately. Live your life intentionally. Thank you so much for listening. Have a great week. We'll talk to you again next Saturday and Sunday.
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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