Welcome And How To Reach Us

Todd Carlson 0:15

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 0:49

It is the weekend, which means it is finally time to talk travel. Hello there. I'm Patrick Wiscombe. Alongside Mark Faldmo, you are listening to the best radio show and podcast for travel information. Coming up in this edition of the show, we are going to talk about airfares to and from Hawaii. This is Roundtrip Airfare for $399, and no, I'm not making that up. That's coming up here in just a few minutes. We're going to tell you how to save up to $2,000 on European river cruises, the world's southernmost hotel called the Cormorant. If you're the adventuresome kind, you're going to want to stick around for this particular story. Vacations in Tahiti, private beaches in Hawaii, and how traveling with an Apple, and I don't mean an Apple device, will get you an $800 fine. The entire purpose of this show is to help you book and plan your next vacation or give you ideas of where you should consider vacationing next. And we are presented by Blue Planet Vacations.com. And just a sincere thank you for taking the time to stop and listen. Mark Faldmo, you are back from your travels. Where were you this past week?

Mark Faldmo 2:03

Las Vegas, most recently. How was it? I was at a conference the whole time. So I spent four days in Caesars Palace. Didn't leave the hotel. It was nice except for the eight dollar soda that I had to get. And food is so expensive in Las Vegas these days. That's amazing.

Patrick Wiscombe 2:23

Do you remember when food was just cheap? It was the loss leader to get you into the casinos. Into the casino, yeah.

Mark Faldmo 2:29

So it really is that expensive. The casinos get you to the food. Really? Yeah, I I went to Starbucks and got chocolate croissant and a bottle of soda, and it cost $21. Holy cow. Very expensive. Yes. Wow.

Patrick Wiscombe 2:44

But always in the first segment of the show, we've got the destination of the week. And one of our listeners, Gina, wants to go to Tahiti. We'll get to that here in this segment. But let's start the show first with the travel news headlines. This

Southernmost Hotel For Antarctica Trips

Patrick Wiscombe 2:55

feels like an adventure story to me. Saw the press release or the news story that was introducing the world's southernmost hotel called the Cormorant at 55 South. This has Patrick written all over it.

Mark Faldmo 3:10

This is actually a hotel that is built by Silver Sea Cruise Line, which is a small ship luxury cruise line, but they do have two expedition ships. So this hotel is purpose built for their Antarctic expeditions. Oh, how fun is that? And all of the cruise lines go out of Ushuaia, Argentina, but Silver Sea want to do something different. So last year, maybe the year before, they moved where their Antarctic sailings depart from, and they moved it to Porto Williams in Chile, which is about 30 miles away. But what they've done with this, they have a really interesting and unique way to see Antarctica. So you do all the cruising around there, but for those that don't want to do the Drake Passage, Silver Sea is the cruise line for you. They have an airstrip next to the hotel. And so the Antarctica proportion is they fly you to the research station on Antarctica. So you see Antarctica by flying there, and you skip the two days of cruising to the Drake Passage, which sometimes can be like a lake and sometimes can be like the raging ocean that it is. Not good. Yeah. So that's why they've built this hotel to build that component in for Antarctica. So instead of cruising there, you fly there, but then you do all the other cruising things you would do by the expedition cruise ship.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:33

Minus the violent waves of the Drake Passage. Correct. Yeah. Okay, so while everyone is building beach clubs, talk about a completely different cruise experience. Yes. Magic Kingdom's new nighttime parade. They've announced a date that it will start on July 20th.

Mark Faldmo 4:51

The brand new nighttime parade, which uh is inspired after the original Main Street Electrical Parade. And they have some similar things but with a lot more technology. That parade starts on July 20th.

Tahiti Basics And Papeete Stays

Patrick Wiscombe 5:06

Always in the first segment of the show, we've got the destination of the week. So this is actually from one of our listeners. Her name is Gina. She wants to go to Tahiti. But before I get to her question, let me give the studio in the text line so you can ask your travel-related questions. 801 Area Code 649-3700. 801-649-3700. Gina is asking, where should I stay and what is there to do? I know what your favorite things to do, or at least uh a couple of the places. Papiette and Morea.

Mark Faldmo 5:39

That's exactly where I'm going. When people think of Tahiti or French Polynesia, they all want Bora Bora until they see the price. So our alternate to Bora Bora is Morea. It's a lot easier to get to. It's a short 30-minute ferry ride from Papiete, Tahiti. They do have some high-end, high-priced hotels. They also have some pretty reasonably priced hotels. If you're looking for that, not the island of Tahiti, but one of the outer islands. If you want to go to Bora Bora and it seems too expensive, try Morea. I thought we would start and just go over some of my recommended hotels that are in Papiete on that main island of Tahiti. And all of these hotels that we're going to talk about today, I've stayed at, and I enjoyed all of them. In Papiete, the two that I would recommend, one is the Manava Suites. It's a four-star hotel. You actually look across the bay to Morea. You can see it there because Morea is so close. And the other is the Intercontinental. It's a five-star. Again, a little bit more pricey, but it's it's a different experience. One thing that Heather and I did that I loved, we just ran out of car and drove all the way around the island.

Patrick Wiscombe 7:00

Oh wow.

Mark Faldmo 7:00

Um, there's so many waterfalls on one side of the island that it's amazing.

Patrick Wiscombe 7:07

How long did it take for you to get around the island?

Mark Faldmo 7:10

You can do it in a full day. Oh, it's that big. Well, with stops, and there's some little offshoots where you can go explore different things. There's not as much to do on the main island. There's a really neat cultural museum, a couple of nice restaurants on the other side of the island. One thing that I really like in Papieta is they have their market, which is just a market like you find in Europe with everything there, kind of an open-air market. It's well, it's in a building, but really interesting souvenirs. Plus, I also sell the food and fish. What hotels do you recommend on Morea?

Moorea Hotels For Every Budget

Mark Faldmo 7:44

So in Morea, and it's probably my favorite island, Morea is where I would go and stay. I would do it even over Bora Bora, just because I think there's a little bit more to do in Morea. Now, all of these hotels have garden rooms, beach rooms, and overwater bungalows. So you have three different choices. One is Manava Beach. It's kind of the lead-in hotel. And then my favorite hotel there is the Sophie Tell, Kia Ora Beach. That's where I've stayed the most when I go there. I was lucky enough during COVID when it wasn't busy, they put me in an overwater bungalow. And it was amazing. Yeah. And then just the next step up from there is the Hilton Morea Lagoon. And that's one I use a lot for groups.

Sharks Rays And Motu Day

Mark Faldmo 8:34

What are some of the things that you like to do when you are in Morea? They have like open-air roadsters. And so just little two or four passenger roadsters that you drive around the island. Wait, are we talking Teslas? Roadsters? No. Oh no. No, Tesla, like a doom buggy. Oh, okay. There we go. So yeah. To drive all the way around Morea is 40 miles. So you could do it like five times in a day if you wanted. But it's fun to drive around. You go up to Belvedere Point, which is a nice overlook where you can look down both on Cooks Bay and Oponohu Bay. You can stop in both of those bays, nice beaches, water activities. My favorite thing there is swim with the sharks and rays. So you go out and uh swim with the sharks and feed the sharks and rays. And then also a Motu beach experience. So a motu, there are the small islands that surround the French Polynesia. So you can go out just with a small group, usually 10 to 30 people, and just have this whole Motu island to yourself. They're usually out on the reefs.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:00

Well, that sounds delightful. Gina, call Mark in his office, just get the conversation started. No obligation, of course. His office number is 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. And you can also find some of this information on BluePlanetVacations.com. When we come back, it is time for the hot travel deal of the week, which is Hawaii. And we are talking about airfares to Hawaii from $399 starting this fall. And no, I'm not making that up. That is the real price. We'll talk about that next. When the Inside Travel Talk podcast or 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 back in about two minutes.

Todd Carlson 10:57

You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo. Presented by Blue Planet Vacations.com. America's Best Travel Advisors. Call or text the show now. 801-649-3700. That's 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at Inside Travel Talk.com. We'll be right back. This segment of Inside Travel Talk is sponsored by El Dorado Spa Resorts. Escape to Cancun's Riviera Mayer with authentic, all-inclusive luxury at an El Dorado Spa Resort. To book your romantic beach getaway, contact Blue Planet Vacations at 888-718-7717 or Blue Planet Vacations.com. Now, back to the Insight Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show. Presented by Blue Planet Vacations.com. America's best travel advisor. Call or text the show right now. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And check out the podcast at InsightTravelTalk.com. Here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe 12:19

Your attention, please. Your attention, please. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk podcast, a radio show.

$399 Hawaii Airfare Teaser

Patrick Wiscombe 12:28

That's not the Attention Please part I want you to listen to. This part I want you to listen to. Round Trip Airfare from Hawaii for $399 out of Salt Lake City starting this fall. No, I'm not joking. So if you've wanted to go to Hawaii, we're gonna give you the dates. We're gonna give Mark's recommendations of things to do and where to stay. That's coming up here in just a few minutes. Right here on the Inside Travel Talk Podcast or radio show, alongside Mark Faldmo, I am Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. Let's get back to the travel news headlines. You were at a conference in Las Vegas this past week, and you were able to, I was gonna say you were able to talk to Richard Branson. That's not true. You were

Richard Branson And Virgin Voyages

Patrick Wiscombe 13:17

in a conference where Richard Branson, who founded Virgin Airlines and Virgin Voyages, and he was talking to your group. Tell us what happened.

Mark Faldmo 13:26

One of the questions that he was asked was how did he get in travel and how did he get the idea for the airline? So Virgin Atlantic Airways. He was in San Juan trying to get to the British Virgin Islands. So he was meeting his girlfriend there, and the airline canceled his flight to the British Virgin Islands. They said, You're gonna have to spend the night and we'll come back in the morning and we'll see if we can get you there. We'll see. And so so Richard Branson said, told everyone in the terminal to hold on for just a minute. And this is when he was running by this time, Virgin Records. I forgot about Virgin Records. I didn't know he was the owner of that, but I guess it would make sense. Yeah. Yeah, he was. So he told everybody to stay, and he went out and he found an airplane to charter. He said, I hope my credit card was gonna work. But he went back and he got a chalkboard and wrote Virgin Air, $35 tickets to British Virgin Islands. Oh wow. And so after that experience, he said, Well, that wasn't too hard. And so he called Boeing. He didn't know anyone at Boeing, he just called the main number and says, I want to talk to whoever can help me rent or buy a used 747. And it went from there. Oh wow. I've never heard that. So Virgin Atlantic is a great airline. Virgin Voyages that we've talked about quite a bit on this show. I love Virgin Voyages, they're unique. When they started Virgin Voyages, and he said this is what he does with all of his companies. He says he likes to cruise, and he's not mocking any cruise lanes when he does this. But he sat down with his team and they said we need to come up with 30 things we don't like about cruising. And we need to change that. And so they had their list of 30 things and they built virgin voyages around those 30 things.

Patrick Wiscombe 15:15

I would imagine that one of those things was we need to change how ships look. Because I think Virgin Voyages has some of the most unique looking, well, beautiful, frankly, ships that I've ever seen.

Mark Faldmo 15:27

They do. Yeah, they they do. It's a great product. And they do things different, like their dining. They have five different restaurants, and you just rotate through all the restaurants each night on other cruise lines or specialty restaurants you can't get in, or there's an extra charge. They just rotate you through all the restaurants. So you eat at every restaurant on your voyage. Does Virgin Void just have a buffet? Sort of. They it's more like food trucks. So it's it's it's a food hall and it's all cooked to order when you order it. And you'll order at the PlayStation and they'll bring it out to your table where you're at in the food hall.

Patrick Wiscombe 16:04

So they were the originator of ordering from I'll just call them iPads, and there's multiple restaurants, but to use your term, food trucks on a ship. So if you want something Asian and then you want something Mexican, you can go to the iPad and hey, I want Asian and Mexican, and then they just bring it to your table. They that's started that.

Mark Faldmo 16:25

They started that, and a few other Norwegian in particular, has also now started that where they have kind of a food hall where you just order from a variety of different menus.

Patrick Wiscombe 16:37

Yeah, Norwegian Aqua, I forgot the name of the food hall. The food was good and it arrived within just minutes of tapping the iPad. It was a really great experience. Yes, it is a great experience. We want you to be part of the show. And while we were at break, we received a text from who was this? This is Amy, isn't it? She texted the show 801-649-3700,

Finding Quieter Beaches In Hawaii

Patrick Wiscombe 17:00

801-649-3700. She's asking about Hawaii. Her question is, are there any private beaches in Hawaii? Because I want a quiet beach. What are the options?

Mark Faldmo 17:12

All the beaches in Hawaii are public, so you can't block access to get to a beach. But in Hawaii, there are some places, some islands that are better than others if you want a quieter beach. The first place I would say is the island of Kauai, because the hotels are fairly well spread out. And with a few exceptions, you could stay at any hotel and get a relatively quiet beach experience. Yeah, agreed. So the hotels on Kauai that I would recommend are the Outrigger Waipuli Beach, which has a really nice beach, and there's not a lot around it. And so you can have a little bit quieter beach there. The same thing with a hotel called the Kiahana Plantation, and then probably my favorite hotel on the island. And this is actually my father's favorite hotel, probably in all the world. He loves this hotel, which is the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Kauai. Yeah. Great. This is kind of it is. It's kind of right at the end of Poipu Beach. The hotels might be spread out, but you still might get people to walk down the beach. But since this is at the end of Poipu Beach, you don't get a lot of that cross traffic. So you get kind of a little bit more secluded beach. Even though there is a parking lot with public access to the beach at the hotel, I've never found it to be too terribly crowded.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:34

So that's on Kawaii. What do you recommend for let's just say the Big Island?

Mark Faldmo 18:39

The Big Island is the next place I'd recommend. You know, on the other islands, everything's a little bit too close, and you get a lot of cross-mixing of people walking up and down the beach. So on the big island, there are two hotels. One is the Western Hapuna Beach. Hapuna Beach, there is a public side of that. And then there's kind of a little cove that the hotel is on. It does not get too crowded. And the Mauna Kea Resort is also on kind of its own little cove. Actually, it's quite close to the Hapuna Beach as well. But those two hotels kind of have a little bit quieter beaches on the big island.

Patrick Wiscombe 19:19

Amy, there you go. If you have any follow-up questions, call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717. Always in segment number two of the show, we've got the hot travel deal of the week. And we've been talking about it since the top of the show. Airfare

Hawaii Packages And Hotel Pricing

Patrick Wiscombe 19:38

to Hawaii, round trip airfare to Hawaii, $399 starting this fall. Let's give listeners an opportunity to book this deal. And what promotions do we have for listeners?

Mark Faldmo 19:53

Yeah, so there's the good airfare plus a promotion on top of that. So first of all, Salt Lake City to Hawaii, to Honolulu in particular. I've found several dates that have $3.99 airfare.

Patrick Wiscombe 20:06

Jeez.

Mark Faldmo 20:07

Now that is in basic economy. Sure. Um, but you know, that's still a great price to fly to Hawaii. Add about another $75 to that for the main cabin, if you want to seat assignment. But that's as low as I've seen Hawaii airfares in a while. There's a little bit less left to Hawaii, less demand, a little bit less demand for Hawaii. And so it's interesting because the airfares are coming down, but the hotels are going up slightly. But great airfare to Hawaii. And then on top of that, if you add a hotel, so if you do an air and hotel package, there's promotion to get an additional 200 up to an additional $250 off the package. Where are we staying on those? I'll just go over now. Since in that previous segment, we talked about Kauai and the Big Island. Yeah, we'll go over those. So we'll start in Kauai. This is a September 4th departure. And this is actually very close to that $399 airfare. It's a little bit higher than that to Kauai. But the lead-in hotel is the Hilton Garden Inn Wailua Bay, which is also on a good stretch of beach. It's $11.29 per person. And then one of the hotels that we talked about, the Outrigger Waipuli Beach, um, starts at $12.99 per person for an airfare five nights hotel. I didn't get the price at the Grand Hyatt, but then we'll go just one other, the Outrigger uh Kauai Beach Resort starts at $13.59. And all of those are four-star hotels. Outrigger has some great properties. They do. I I love Outrigger. And they're very Hawaiian. So you you you really get kind of immersed into the culture when you're at those properties.

Patrick Wiscombe 21:58

I was surprised how green Kawaii was. Truly. I cannot believe how much different each of the islands are. You wouldn't think they'd be that different, but they really are.

Mark Faldmo 22:08

Yeah, they are, and you know, so now we can move from Kauai, the garden island, because it's so green all over to the big island, to where when you land at the airport, you'll think you landed in Wendover. That's not really a great endorsement. Well, I know what you're talking about, though. Yeah. So it's all lava and grass. And so yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, it's interesting. So same date, September 4th, one of my favorite hotels, the Royal Kona. Yeah. Which is a three and a half star hotel, starts at 11 49 per person. Great sunsets, great sets, great sunset zone. Oh my goodness. Yeah, I like that Royal Kona just because of its location. It's kind of right at the end of the main shopping street, there in Kilauea Kona, right next to my favorite restaurant. It is an older hotel, but they've recently renovated it. The rooms are great. And then the other hotel that I'll just mention here is the Hilton Grand Vacation Club Wycloa Village. Um, this is part of the Hilton Wycloa Village complex. It's one of the towers, but it's a four and a half star, and it starts at $12.19 per person for airfare and five nights. Pretty good price. And you know, with that, $3.99 airfare and up to $250 off. Jeez. You can get a you know, pretty good rate to Hawaii.

Patrick Wiscombe 23:31

If you decide to go to the big island, hopefully you'll be lucky enough to still see the volcano shooting lava up to a thousand feet. It's volcano national park.

Mark Faldmo 23:41

It's still going on, Mark. Yeah, and that's still on my bucket list. Maybe I'll just make a trip this weekend to get over there. You know what? That's not that's not a terrible idea. Yeah.

Patrick Wiscombe 23:50

I've always wanted to see a live volcano. Obviously, from a distance, I don't want to be in the path, obviously. Yeah, but that just sounds awesome. Yeah. All right. We'll uh we'll meet on the what uh terminal A. Yep. I guess we'll coordinate later. Go to Hawaii for a day just to see the volcano. I would do that. Amy, I hope that answers your questions. You will probably have follow-up questions. Call Mark in his office, 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717, and he will also post this on BluePlanetVacations.com. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, it is time for the infamous Just Cruising segment. We will be comparing cabins on river cruise ships for each major

Volcano Hopes And River Cruise Tease

Patrick Wiscombe 24:36

cruise line, and we've got a promotion from AMA Waterways of saving up to $2,000 per cabin. When we return at the bottom of the hour newsbreak, thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. He is Mark Faldmo. We will be right back.

Todd Carlson 24:55

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 3700. Thanks for listening. We'll be right back.