Welcome And Today’s Lineup

Todd Carlson 0:16

Explore your world. It's the Inside Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show. Presented by Blue Planet Vacations.com. Call or text the show now. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsidetravelTalk.com. And now, here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe 0:51

Welcome to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show. Hello there. I'm Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Faldmo will be here in the studio here in just a moment. And if you are brand new to this show, the entire purpose of this radio show and podcast is to help you plan and book your next vacation and give you some ideas of where you may want to consider going on vacation next. And we are presented by Mark's company, Blue PlanetVacations.com. And just a sincere thank you for taking the time to stop and listen. Around the country, each and every weekend, Saturday and Sunday morning at 11 o'clock. This week we are talking about bowling pen-sized penguins that you can visit. Mark, is that in Australia? I think it is.

Mark Faldmo 1:42

Yes, that is in Australia.

Patrick Wiscombe 1:44

Free air fair to Ireland, stinky fruit, which doesn't sound interesting on the surface. India's link to the Boston Tea Party. Three cruise deals of the week, and there is a possibility, and Mark's got the details on this. I don't know if these are exclusive details, but there is talk of a fifth Disney park in Florida. I think there are so many people going to Florida right now that they could probably build it, Mark. What would you say? I would say they definitely can build that.

Travel Marketplace Supplier Finds

Patrick Wiscombe 2:16

You are just getting back from Fort Lauderdale, where you spent an entire week going to the global travel marketplace, the GTM meeting. What are some of the suppliers that you came across?

Mark Faldmo 2:31

I have a list of about 125 partners around the world that I work with, but this event really introduces me to new suppliers, to new experiences that I can help pass on to travelers. I met five suppliers that I've never even heard of before, but would probably sell them.

Patrick Wiscombe 2:52

Where do you want to start? Australia? Yeah, let's go there. Start in Australia. Okay, let's

Phillip Island Penguin Parade

Patrick Wiscombe 2:56

go with the Penguin Parade on Phillips Island, which is how far from Melbourne?

Mark Faldmo 3:03

Yeah, so it's about two hours south of Melbourne. And you know, this is something I've never even heard of before. Um, but it sounds like it's a pretty popular thing to do. And it is called the Penguin Parade. What it is is every night the penguins go from the sea to their nests or burrows, and they have bleachers set up where you can watch the penguin parade. So the penguins don't have the bleachers set up. No, no, the the the little park does has. Well, I'm sure the penguins like it too.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:33

Oh, I'm sure they do.

Mark Faldmo 3:34

Um you know, and so every night there's between a hundred and five thousand penguins that you can watch do this penguin parade. Oh, wow. And these are called small penguins. They're about the size of um bowling pins, eight inches to twelve inches, and it's a very popular thing to do. And it is kind of in a conservation area. They also do have a koala conservation center, and so it's just a great new activity that I learned about for Australia.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:04

I don't think I'd get past the koalas and them just sitting there eating eucalyptus. Yeah, I'd probably pause right there going, you know, that's pretty cute. What other new suppliers did you find?

Mark Faldmo 4:16

You

Luxury Day Train Through Laos

Mark Faldmo 4:16

know, we're always talking about rail on this program. I learned about a brand new option for rail, and this is actually a new tourist line, and it's in Layos. So it's a rail system that runs north to south. It's a five-star train. It is a day train, so you travel during the day, see the scenery, it has some stops for excursions, and then you spend the night in hotels. There are some parts of it where you'll get off the train and do parts of the tour by car or some other vehicle, and then meet up with the train later in the day or the next day. But it's pretty good pricing. It's a 12-day tour and it starts at about $2,000 per person.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:59

Where's Laos? Isn't that near Vietnam, Thailand area? Yes, I think it is.

Mark Faldmo 5:03

So yeah, Laos in that is in between Cambodia and Thailand.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:08

What an interesting part of the world. One thing that I find myself doing much more than I have ever done in the past is I love staying in hotels. I might be weird that way, but I really do like nice hotels. But one thing that I've been doing lately is I've been going to Airbnbs, just seeing what unique properties are around. Didn't you run across somebody that actually has access to villas that would be very similar to Airbnb?

Mark Faldmo 5:33

Yes, I

Villas That Make Groups Affordable

Mark Faldmo 5:33

did get actually a new partner that I am registered to sell that has access to 50,000 villas around the world. Ooh, these are very nice. Most of them are, you know, five-star accommodations. The one thing they said, when you're looking at a villa, don't look at the total cost, look at the per room cost.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:54

Yeah.

Mark Faldmo 5:55

For instance, they have a villa in Junta Cana in the Dominican Republic. It's a fully staffed, so it has a full-time maid, a full-time cook, full-time gardener, just to keep up with the place, five bedrooms, and that villa right on the beach, its own pool, starts at $275 per room per night. Holds up to uh 14 people. And so when you break that on a per room, to have your own private space, big lounge, a game room, that actually works out to about the same or a little bit less than some of the hotels in the area. But it's a private residence just for you.

Patrick Wiscombe 6:34

I'm actually starting to go that direction, unless it's a really nice hotel. I'm really kind of digging these, staying in unique properties. I like this idea.

Mark Faldmo 6:43

Another one. Now, this is larger, but this is a villa on the Amalfi coast in Italy. It is a nine-bedroom villa that starts for $200 per room per night. Oh, wow. It comes with a housekeeper, so it doesn't have a chef, all of that. But you get 20 people there to spread out that cost. And this one was perched up on a hill, overlooking the water, just a very beautiful setting. And this company has all sorts of villas around the world. And the guy that I talked to was the guy that does their buying, and he says everything we have has to be a great location with a great view. So that's kind of their philosophy. If there's a group of you, renting a villa is not unaffordable. You know, you may look at the the total price and say, Oh, that's a lot, but if you break it down per room, it's not that much more than staying in a hotel.

Patrick Wiscombe 7:31

We've already talked about Australia, but let's stay kind of close. Let's go to New Zealand. What's available there, assuming that there is something?

Chasing Southern Lights In New Zealand

Mark Faldmo 7:37

We talk a lot about the northern lights and Aurora Borealis. Oh, yeah. But I met a company that in New Zealand, what they do are Southern Lights, which are called Aurora Australias. They do tours that are based around the southern lights in New Zealand. Right now is the best time to see the southern lights. So optimal time is between April and September, which is their winter. Um, July and August are the best two months in southern New Zealand for the Southern Lights.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:09

Let's work our way back to the United States, Florida, which is where you spent all of last week meeting all of these suppliers. Any new suppliers in Florida?

Mark Faldmo 8:18

One thing

Florida All-Inclusive In Port St. Lucie

Mark Faldmo 8:18

I learned about was a resort called the Sampiper Bay Resort. It's in Port St. Lucie, just halfway between Orlando and Miami on the East Coast. And this is a family-friendly, fully all-inclusive resort. In the U.S., we don't talk much about all-inclusive resorts because there just aren't any. But this is a hotel that includes all your drinks, meals, non-motorized water sports right on the east coast of Florida. And what's the airport that's closest to St. Lucie? The closest airport would be West Palm Beach. But you could really fly into Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando. That's about two hours away. They do have Bright Line Stop that's about 20 minutes away from their resort. So you could take the train to that as well.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:06

You know what? You and I are huge Brightline fans. Brightline train fans. It is such an easy way to get up and down that east coast.

Mark Faldmo 9:14

It is.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:14

Yeah. Very affordable, too. It is. One thing that I thought was kind of funny is India's link to the Boston Tea Party. Tell listeners what that's about.

Mark Faldmo 9:24

Yeah.

India River Cruises And Tea History

Mark Faldmo 9:24

This is a supplier that actually does river cruises in India. And it's India's 200-year independence celebration this year. Same with the US's 250th year. So they were trying to make that link. They have an independence sale that kind of celebrates India's independence and US independence. The link is the tea that was thrown into the harbor at the Boston Tea Party came from India. There we go. And so that's the link they were making. But this company has seven to 19 day cruises in India. The river cruises are mainly in the eastern part of the country. And so they also do some land tours to the Golden Triangle, which is where most tourists visit. Delhi, Agra, Japur, where you'll see the Taj Mahal. And then you can go do one of their seven to 19 day river cruises in the other part of the country. They're all five-star super deluxe. Almost everything that I met with in India is really deluxe, but also really good prices.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:44

Now, one of the things that was on the rundown was stinky fruit. And I talked about it at the top of the show. What's this stinky fruit about?

Mark Faldmo 10:50

So the name of the fruit is durian. It's mainly in Indonesia. Borneo. Where I was talking about this was a person that did tours in Borneo. And it was kind of like glamping

Durian The Fruit That Offends

Mark Faldmo 11:01

things like that. But they they brought up the durian. The durian is a fruit that in Indonesia it is banned from public markets because it smells so bad. It often smells like raw sewage. It just smells really bad. It's in the same family as breadfruit. But if you can get your brain around actually eating it, it is actually a very sweet and delicious fruit. I don't know if my brain would allow me to eat it if it smells that way. That's just what I was thinking. Here, I have some poo. Yeah. So, you know, I've I've seen that on like the Food Network, like food challenges where they try and eat that. It does taste very good if you can get past the smell from what people say. So, so you know, that's kind of more of a trivia thing. But if you're ever in Indonesia, Borneo, kind of in that area of the world, it's a unique thing to do.

Patrick Wiscombe 11:57

Last thing before we go to break, of course, the hot travel deal of the week, which is free airfare to Ireland. Everyone's ears just went, What? I just heard

Free Airfare Tours To Ireland

Patrick Wiscombe 12:06

free airfare to Ireland. What are the details? This is with Globus.

Mark Faldmo 12:11

And a few weeks ago we talked about these escape deals, um, which were off season, you know, jet December through February dates. They have just come out with a new promotion, and we've sold several of them at Blue Planet Vacation. So I'm not sure how long this is going to last, but they have two tours that are offered: Northern Ireland Escape, which is round trip Dublin, and it goes up to Northern Ireland, and then they have an Irish Escapes, which is also seven days starts from Dublin, but does the southern part of Ireland. These tours start at $12.99, including airfare and the seven-day tour. Now, this is from major gateways like Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, to add on from Salt Lake. I think it's another $200 or $300 to add on from Salt Lake, but that is still a great deal. Oh, yeah, that's what I was just gonna say. And actually, and I have not looked at this, I'm just looking at my inbox right now. I just got an email from Globus that they also do have a Scotland tour. Now, this one does not include airfare, but for January and February Scotland tours, that tour starts at $699 plus airfare. Okay. So they have some of those British Isle tours that are just great prices right now for off-season. And as we talked about, off season, less crowds, it is a little bit cooler weather, but it's a great time to visit these destinations.

Patrick Wiscombe 13:36

See, this is what this show is good at. We give people ideas of where to go that they hadn't even considered. If you have heard anything that has piqued your interest, call Mark in his office at the break. I know that we're on the air right now, but call him. He will return your call, or someone in his office will return your call immediately. 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. And you can also find Mark at BluePlanetVacations.com. When we come back, the very segment that we are famous for, it is the infamous Just Cruising segment. We've got three cruise deals of the week going out of Port Canaveral, Barcelona, and Miami. And of course, we've got the cruise news of the week. That is next. When the Inside Travel Talk podcast or radio show continues, alongside my good friend Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for listening. We will be right back.

Todd Carlson 14:42

Taking you to destinations around the world. The Inside Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show is presented by Blue Planet Vacations.com. America's best travel advisors. Call or text the show now. 801 649 3700. 801 649 30700. Thanks for listening. We'll be right back.

Patrick Wiscombe 16:16

Whether you are listening to us Saturday or Sunday around the country at 11 o'clock a.m. mountain time, thank you so much for

Just Cruising Segment Kicks Off

Patrick Wiscombe 16:25

allowing us to be part of your weekend coming up in this segment of the show. The segment of the show that has made us famous worldwide, well, definitely here in US, the infamous just cruising segment, where it's only about the cruise news headlines and the cruise deals of the week, of which we have three. But let's first get back to the cruise news headlines. This was kind of a jarring headline, Mark, when Norwegian cruise line has cancelled, that's the jarring word, cancels 40 plus cruises on two ships. What are the details?

Mark Faldmo 17:01

This is for November 2026 and Mar through March 2027. They canceled Norwegian breakaway out of San Juan and Norwegian Prima

Norwegian Cruise Ship Switch Explained

Mark Faldmo 17:10

out of New Orleans. But here's the catch. They just switched the ships. So the Prima is going to San Juan and the breakaway is going to New Orleans. Same dates, same itineraries, just different size ships, but this far out, those ships aren't full. And so people will still get the cruise they want. Now, some people may have chosen New Orleans to go on the Norwegian Prima because it's one of the newest ships, but otherwise, you're not missing a whole lot if you are booked on one of those cruises and decide to stay on the sailing just on a new ship.

Patrick Wiscombe 17:43

This one kind of surprised me, though. When you got back and you were talking to me about Disney has a plan, or at least they're discussing plans to come up with a

Fifth Disney Park Talk In Florida

Patrick Wiscombe 17:52

fifth park theme park in Florida.

Mark Faldmo 17:55

So this was released a few weeks ago at the last planning meeting for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, which is what Disney World is governed under. They have land set aside for a possible fifth theme park as well as some other small parks. And I think Disney is feeling a little bit left behind with Epic Universe with all of the vacuum that that created, because it it had such a good release, kind of sucked the wind out of a lot of things Disney was trying to do. I think the last new park that Disney made was Animal Kingdom, which is pretty old 30 years ago. Yeah. And so so they're trying to come up with a uh a new option and and get some of that focus back on Disney.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:41

While we were at the break, we received a text from was this Jamie? Yeah. Jamie, yeah. She sent a text during the break that said, In the

Do River Cruises Need Balconies

Patrick Wiscombe 18:50

past, you and Mark have mentioned to always get a balcony cabin on a cruise ship. I want to take a river cruise, but many ships don't have a balcony. Should I only look at ships with a balcony? The answer is probably no, because I know that they there's French balconies, there's infinite verandas. So I'd probably say no. What's your opinion, Mark?

Mark Faldmo 19:11

You know, as we've talked about in the past, a lot of river cruise ships do not have a balcony, but they do have French balconies where the whole wall opens up, or they have, like on the MSC cruise ship, where the window goes down and it turns your whole room into a balcony. Yeah. The reason for that is is to give you more space. The room that that balcony takes out of your cabin makes your room smaller. So I would go with just even a large pitcher window. There are some older ships that don't have opening windows, which is probably fine. Although I do like the option to be able to open up the wall and turn it into a balcony. But I'll tell you what might be a problem. When you're in port, a lot of the river cruise ships dock side by side. Good point. So you might have to walk through three to five ships just to get ashore, uh, which is kind of interesting. But if you're one of those middle ships, you wouldn't be able to enjoy your balcony anyway. And also just a warning every night make sure your curtains are closed because you might wake up and have someone looking right into your room from the other cabin. So how you doing? Yeah. Yeah. You know, and then another reason why a balcony is not quite as important. There are a lot of places on the river. Let's take the Central Rhine, for instance. You'll want to have a 360-degree view, and you'll want to go through the scenic cruising, probably on the sun deck when you're doing the central Rhine. That stretch of river, I think it's about a 30-mile stretch of river, has the highest concentration of castles in the world. Oh, wow. And so you want to have a 360-degree view anyway. You might do that on your balcony and get half the castles, but you never know what's on the other side unless you're where you can see it.

Patrick Wiscombe 20:58

Always in this segment of the show is the cruise deal of the week, and we've got three that we need to talk about. Where do you want to start here, Mark?

Mark Faldmo 21:06

Well, let's start with what I

Three Cruise Deals Worth Booking

Mark Faldmo 21:07

think is the best overall value, which is a seven-day Caribbean cruise, December 14th from Galveston on MSC cruise lines. So this visits Costamaya, Roatan, and Cosmel begins and ends in Galveston. Probably one of the best prices in a while. Inside cabins start at $4.28 per person. Balcony cabins start at $6.19 per person. Wow. What ship is this on?

Patrick Wiscombe 21:36

What am I saying?

Mark Faldmo 21:37

This is on the Seascape. Oh, okay. So good. It's a newer ship. It's a newer ship. Yeah. Very good pricing. They're just before Christmas. If you want to get away when it's just starting to get cold here, great time to go.

Patrick Wiscombe 21:52

First two weeks of December, best time to travel. You're gonna find the best deals. What's the cruise deal of the week from NCL?

Mark Faldmo 21:58

This is a 12-day transatlantic cruise. It goes from Barcelona to Miami. It does have two ports of call. So Cadiz, which is Seville, Spain, and Ponta Delgada, which is in the Azores, and then with several days at sea. But what makes this a good deal is the price. The inside cabin starts at $5.99 per person for the 12 day cruise, and a balcony cabin starts at $12.99. ninety nine per person.

Patrick Wiscombe 22:30

Wow.

Mark Faldmo 22:31

So again, you know, transatlantic cruises. If you like cruising days at sea, just want to get from one place to another with some very interesting ports. The Azores are something that a lot of people probably would like to go to but don't go to a lot. This is a great way to do that.

Patrick Wiscombe 22:48

What ship is this on? The NCL ship. That is on the Norwegian Jewel. And then the last one is out of Miami, but that's the only the only detail I have.

Mark Faldmo 22:59

This is a 12-day cruise. And what I like about this, it's on CUNARD. So it goes to Miami. It visits the Eastern Caribbean cruise plus what you'd get on a lot of Southern Caribbean cruises. So you know San Juan, St. John, St. Thomas, but also gets down into Barbados, some of those other spots.

Patrick Wiscombe 23:22

Does this one get down to Phillipsburg, Maho Beach, where the planes fly in over your head?

Mark Faldmo 23:27

It does, yes. So this screws for 12 days starts at $1,215 for an inside cabin. So about $100 a day. And a balcony starts at $1880 per person. Oh about $160 per person per day.

Patrick Wiscombe 23:46

Is that a 12 day or a 21 day?

Mark Faldmo 23:49

That is a 12 day. So it is. That one is a January 8th departure. And CUNAR has 9, 12, and 21 days run in the uh wintertime. CUNARD is a good cruise line. It's considered more of a premium line. It's very British but a good way to go.

Patrick Wiscombe 24:10

Man, you really brought your A game this week with the cruise deals of the week. Take advantage of those offers. This is for uh January 2026

Final Travel Pep Talk And Contacts

Patrick Wiscombe 24:19

and uh MSC is December 14th and NCL is October 15th, 2025. Take advantage of those. Get out and see the world while you can call Mark in his office. Get the conversation started no obligation 888 718 7717 888717 take advantage of those offers. You can listen to this show again tomorrow morning Sunday at 11 a.m and around the country at 11 a.m right here on the radio station that you're listening to right now and you can stream download and subscribe to the podcast if you want an encore presentation of the show at insightraveltalk.com we are on all of the major podcast platforms and we have links to all of those podcast platforms on insightraveltalk.com well it's your turn now to get out and explore the world while you can because you never know what curveballs life is going to throw at you. And hopefully you haven't experienced any any of those curveballs lately. Live your life deliberately live your life intentionally thank you for listening we don't have a business we don't have a show without you have a great week we will talk to you again next week.

Todd Carlson 25:46

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 dot com book your adventure right now call 888 718 7717. That's 888 718 7717. Thanks for listening. Have a great week