Welcome And Show Roadmap

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 Insidetrav.com. And now, here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe 0:51

Welcome to the weekend. You are listening to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast and radio show. Hello there, I'm Patrick Wiscombe alongside Mark Faldmo. And we are ready to talk travel with all of you, our radio and podcast listeners. And the entire purpose of this show, if you're brand new to it, is to help you plan and book your next vacation, or just give you ideas of where you should at least consider vacationing next. And we're going to give you the best deals available today. And we are proudly presented by BluePlanetVacations.com and just a sincere thank you for taking the time to stop and listen. Coming up in this edition of the show, we've got Eclipse Cruises. If you've always wanted to see an eclipse while you're in the middle of the ocean, we're going to tell you how. The temperatures are starting to heat really heat up here in Salt Lake City, which is where we do the show from. But now truly is the best time to start planning your winter vacation. And we're also going to tell you how to go see Alaska, but not on a cruise ship. And let me bring in the co-host of this award-nominated radio show. Hello, Mark Faldmo. Hey, Patrick. Let's save people some money and let's go traveling. Let's start with the travel news headlines. First, I saw a story that JetBlue is partnering with one of

JetBlue Teams Up With Brightline

Patrick Wiscombe 2:17

our favorite rail services. You and I have been on it a few times, Brightline in Florida. What are the details?

Mark Faldmo 2:25

They are partnering so that you can buy a rail ticket in conjunction with your airline ticket. So it'll all be one transaction. Brightline runs from Orlando to Miami. It actually starts at the Orlando Airport on its way to Miami. It has stops in uh West Palm Beach, Boca Ratan, Fort Lauderdale, and Aventura. And then they also run a bus to the airports there.

Patrick Wiscombe 2:51

If you've never gone to Florida in summer, first of all, just get ready to be hot. But if we if while we're talking about bright line service, if you know nothing about them, the terminals there are beautiful. They're well air conditioned and they're clean. They've got food in case you're hungry. It's just a genuinely great experience, and I'm hoping that they will truly expand here to the west. Star Clippers, one of our favorite companies, the Tall Sailing Ships is going to debut three new sailings from Antigua, which is delightful, in winter of 2026 and 27.

Mark Faldmo 3:32

They're adding an extra ship in the Caribbean during this time frame. And it's actually the ship's name is the Star Clipper. And it's going to start off in the fall doing Central America, so sailings from Costa Rica. And then it's going to do a Panama Canal sailing, where it will do new seven-night round trips from Antigua as well as new ten-night departures from Aruba.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:59

I'm going to put you on the spot here with regards to star clippers. If you had to say two or three things about what you like about star clippers, how would you explain that to listeners?

Mark Faldmo 4:11

The first thing is the sailing experience. There's nothing like being out on the open ocean under power of wind. With no engine sound, with no engine rumble. It's an amazing way to travel. Quiet.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:24

It's quiet. Except for the I guess the flapping of the sails, potentially. Potentially. That's consequential to wind power.

Mark Faldmo 4:32

To wind, yeah. And the other thing I'll say about Star Clippers is the food. The food was amazing on board. One of my favorite things is I just went up on deck and I'm a workaholic, so I worked at the bar. So I just sat at the bar with my laptop and worked. And it was I like to do that. I'll take pictures of myself on cruise ship balconies. And I think the Star Clippers was the favorite place I've ever worked.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:58

One of the things that you have not mentioned that I remember you telling me this would have been when we started doing the radio show and podcast when you laid in the net the very front of the ship. Yeah, the front of the ship.

Mark Faldmo 5:09

Yeah. What was that like? That's nice. You look down and see the water going beneath you. It's pretty relaxing. I wasn't expecting you to be face down. I was expecting you to be on your back looking up. Well, I was that too, but you kind of have to go face down to get out there. So that's right, yeah. Yeah. So now and then the other thing which I did not do, they do let you go climb up to the crow's nest up on the tallest mast of the ship, which I'd have liked to do that, but there was a long, long line to do that.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:37

Star Clippers is the name of the company. I think it's funny how they named the Clipper ship the Star Clipper.

Mark Faldmo 5:43

Star Clipper. A little on the nose there. Yeah, that was their first original ship. It was always Star Clippers, and then when they added other ships, they just kept the name for the company of Star Clippers.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:54

Always in the first segment of the show, right at the top of the hour, we have the destination of the week. And this week we're talking about Alaska, but we're going to talk about Alaska a little bit different. This is a

Why Tall Ships Feel Different

Patrick Wiscombe 6:07

text question, I think. Yeah, this is a text question from Kai. And let me just invite listeners, if you're listening to us right now, whether live on the radio or on the podcast, you can get in on this and we will answer your questions. 801 649 3700 for your travel related questions. 801-649-3700. Kai is asking, I want to go to Alaska, but not on a cruise. Are there any options for me? And the answer is yes.

Mark Faldmo 6:42

Yeah. The answer is definitely yes on that. So first of all, there are kind of two main areas of Alaska. The main one that people go to on cruises is southeast Alaska. That's the panhandle. There you can do fishing trips, things like that. You know, fly into Skagway or to some small fishing lodges or villages and do that. But I think something that's fascinating is to go do the interior of Alaska. And a great way to see the interior of Alaska is by railroad. We love talking about the railroad on this show. There's a company called Alaska Railroad that has trips ranging from one night up to ten nights.

Patrick Wiscombe 7:22

Sign me up for the ten nights, Mark. When I go to Alaska, it just feels like seven days is not enough. That's just my personal opinion. And especially if we're going on a train to see some of the scenery, for the ten night option, what can Kai do?

Mark Faldmo 7:36

I guess first of all, we we should talk about Alaska Railroad kind of has three different lines that they do. They have the Coastal Classic, Glacier Discovery, and the Nolly Star. The Ten Night covers all three of those lines. Oh. So you you start in Anchorage and uh you take the Coastal Classic train, which takes you down to Seward, where you'll take Resurrection Bay cruise, which there's glaciers, whales, sea life, all sorts of things there. And then you'll spend the night in Seward, and then you'll head back to Anchorage for an overnight, and then the next day you'll go to Telkeetna, which is on the way to Denali. So this one you're taking the Denali Star train. You'll overnight in Telkeetna, you'll spend two nights in Denali, take a Tundra Wilderness tour, take a Denali National Park tour, head up to Fairbanks, where you're overnight in Fairbanks. From Fairbanks, head back to Anchorage. It's kind of the grand tour of Alaska by rail. And then if you wanted to do shorter, they have three and four night tours.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:46

I'm saying go on the 10, but really, what's on the three and four? Because I I think I'm kind of an edge case scenario.

Mark Faldmo 8:53

The four days, three nights tour. They have one that goes to Denali and one that goes down to Seward and to the glaciers. So the Denali one leaves from Anchorage and spends two nights in Denali, where you'll have time to see the national park, do everything there is to do around Denali, and then head back to Anchorage. So you can kind of do everything on the Alaska Railroad from the shorter things. They have a one-night rail tour if you want to take the tour from Anchorage down to Seward, do a glacier and wildlife cruise, spend a night, and then take the railroad back to Alaska. So that's just a one-night tour if you wanted to do something like that. And you're getting a lot done in one day then. Yeah. Like a lot of trains, they do have two different types of service. They have Gold Star service and adventure class service. So kind of regular service and first class is what they have. And they do have domed cars for the sightseeing. That's something you'll need for Alaska.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:51

I'm glad they have the domed cars. Do you sleep on this train or do you go into a hotel at night?

Mark Faldmo 9:57

This train you will stay in hotels during the night, not on the train. It's all you know kind of similar to how we've talked about with Rocky Mountaineer before. This is all daylight train. So you're sightseeing. You're not missing anything, and then you spend the night in a hotel.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:12

Okay, that all of a sudden got way more interesting because I don't want to be missing anything on a train. So I'm glad it's just a daytime tour. Yeah. Kai, if you are interested, and it sounds like you are, call Mark in his office as soon as we get off the air or when you're ready to have that conversation. No obligation. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717 is how you get a hold of Mark. And you can also check out his website, blueplanetvacations.com. Mark, this sounds fantastic. I do want to do Alaska by train. Never done it before. I've only done it on a cruise ship, so I'm actually glad you brought this up. When we come back, we've got the hot travel deal of the week. We are going to help you save up to $200 to go to Mexico, Puerto Vallarta specifically. That is next. Plus, we've got the travel news headlines that we need to get to. JetBlue is not merging with United. JetBlue CEO made that very clear this past week. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk Podcast or radio show continues. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for listening. We will be back in about two minutes.

Alaska By Train Not By Cruise

Todd Carlson 11:36

Taking you to destinations around the world. The Inside Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show is presented by Blue PlanetVacations.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. 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 check out the podcast at InsightTravelTalk.com. Here's Patrick and Mark.

Patrick Wiscombe 12:41

Welcome back inside of the Inside Travel Talk Podcast and radio show. Alongside Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. We want to help you plan and book your next vacation coming up in this segment of the show. Always in segment number two, the hot travel deal of the week. This week we're going to Mexico, and we're going to help you save up to $200 per reservation. But before we talk Mexico, let's get back to the travel news headlines. We talked about this last week when JetBlue and United were forming some kind of business partnership or an alliance. I thought it was interesting that JetBlue CEO said the airline, JetBlue, that is, is not interested in merging with United. Eh, we'll see how it goes.

Mark Faldmo 13:30

Uh, you know, just a quick recap. They just have reciprocal benefits for their frequent flyer program. So JetBlue, you can fly in JetBlue and earn United Miles. You can fly in United and earn JetBlue Miles, which is the the basics of that. You can buy tickets on both airlines websites. Uh so it kind of really helps JetBlue, especially, reach out there in the Northeast. But one reason why they're coming out so strong about this, their alliance they had with American Airlines was terminated by a judge because there were rumors that JetBlue and American were going to merge.

Patrick Wiscombe 14:05

Oh, there we go.

Mark Faldmo 14:06

So that's kind of what killed it. All these steps were leading to a merger. And so JetBlue is really just trying to play it and say we're not interested in merging so that there's no legal hurdles, no additional legal hurdles to go through.

Patrick Wiscombe 14:21

I'm going to assume that this is the case, and it's in effect now, I assume, that if you go to JetBlue, that you can now start booking United flights, the departure city and then the arrival city. Is that how they're making this work? Yes, it is.

Mark Faldmo 14:35

They're mainly trying to get cities that United doesn't serve, but JetBlue does to feed into that, but you can just buy a United ticket on JetBlue.com.

Patrick Wiscombe 14:45

Let's talk Mexico here for a second. Nayarit is launching an international flight from Los Angeles starting this July. Now, if you don't know where Nayarit is, and I hope I'm saying that right, is uh near Puerto Vallarta.

Mark Faldmo 14:57

In Puerto Vallarta, the tourist destinations, you're actually in two different states in Mexico. You're in Jalisco, uh, which is where Puerto Vallarta is, and then just a few miles north of the Puerto Vallarta airport, you enter the state of Nayerit. Nayerit has started a new, it's not daily flight, but it's on Valeris Airlines, which is a Mexican airline from Los Angeles to the now new Nayeret International Airport.

Patrick Wiscombe 15:41

Got it. Okay. I didn't know that it was a new airport.

Mark Faldmo 15:44

Now to visit Puerto Vallarta, you probably wouldn't necessarily fly into this airport because it's pretty far north in the the state of Nayeret. But if you were going to destinations like Salulita, Sanblas, out actually on the Pacific coast there, this would be the airport that you could fly into.

JetBlue And United Alliance Update

Mark Faldmo 16:02

And I'm sure they'll get more and more international flights to that because that area it's about two hours away from the Puerto Vallarta airport. And so this airport brings those destinations a little bit closer.

Patrick Wiscombe 16:14

My perception is that Puerto Vallarta is really, I don't know, revitalizing. I don't know if that's the right word. That they're putting some real resources into their airport, meaning they're expanding it. Is that a right way to look at this?

Mark Faldmo 16:30

Yes, they are. Yeah. The Porto Vallarta airport is building a second terminal, so terminal two. It is on track to open by the end of this year. And it'll increase the yearly number of passengers the airport's able to hold by about two million passengers. That's a considerable expansion then. It is, and I think it's something that Porto Vallarta needs. You know, Port of Ayarta is one of my favorite destinations to fly into. But right now, depending on when your plane arrives, they just park out on the tarmac and bus you in, and then you have really long customs lines. I think this will help alleviate that where there'll be hopefully enough gates to handle all of the airplanes that come in.

Patrick Wiscombe 17:16

Well, that's the perfect way to segue into the hot travel deal of the week, which is of course Puerto Vallarta. What do we have for listeners this week?

Mark Faldmo 17:24

Puerto Vallarta, it's probably my favorite destination in all of Mexico. It keeps kind of a lot of its old world charm. Go down to the Molacon, which is a boardwalk that runs in downtown Puerto Vallarta at sunset time with street vendors, street performers. Wonderful experiences in Puerto Vallarta. Right now, for fall travel, we do have up to $200 off packages, and prices have really come down to Mexico. Right now we have four-star properties, four-star all-inclusive properties, uh starting at $1,049 per person.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:02

Whoa.

Mark Faldmo 18:03

Okay, and that's with that $200 savings as well. That's with that $200 uh savings already included in this particular date was a September 4th departure date from Salt Lake City to Puerto Vallarta. And whatever city you're coming from, we can price this out. That $200 still is good from any city in the U.S.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:24

What are some of your favorite things to do in Puerto Vallarta?

Mark Faldmo 18:28

In Puerto Vallarta, I really enjoy two things. One is the outdoor adventure,

New Nayarit Airport Near Vallarta

Mark Faldmo 18:32

which kind of combines a whole bunch of different activities. So you take an inflatable speedboat across the bay, and then you get on four-wheel drive vehicles and you go up the mountain as far as the vehicles can go, and then you switch to donkeys and go up even further. And then to get down, it's a zip line with a combination of repelling and water slides. Oh wow. And then when you complete that, you have homemade fresh quesadillas made with freshly made tortillas. Oh my gosh. Really good. So that's one of my favorite things to do. Another thing would be it's called Rhythms of the Night, and it's kind of a Mexican folkloric show where you take a boat across the bay, there's no electricity here, except the stage does is run by some lights and electricity, but the destination itself does not have electricity. So when you get there, there's just thousands of lit candles that light all of the paths. Oh wow. So you go have dinner and then a show. It's a wonderful option. If you're in Porto Vallarta in the wintertime, whale watching is something that's really fun to do there. You can actually see whales from a lot of the hotels and just sit at the hotels and watch whales, but to go out and actually do the whale watching, I've seen some of the best whale watching in Porto Vallarta.

Patrick Wiscombe 19:56

I was talking to uh Nathan and Kenzie, my son and daughter-in-law. They were talking about whale watching, and they said it was by far one of the greatest experiences of their life because they could not believe the sheer size of whales. They talked about it for probably 10 minutes straight. I just listened to them. If you've never gone whale watching, they loved it. And you probably will too.

Mark Faldmo 20:21

Probably one of my favorite things is when the whale gets too close, they shut down all of the engines, and so you're just floating out there. And the whales sometimes will play with the boats, and so you're close to the whales, and you can really experience how large they are and how majestic the whales are.

Patrick Wiscombe 20:39

If there's anyone named Jonah on your tour, just be careful. Just be careful. Yeah. This is save up to $200

Puerto Vallarta Deal And Adventures

Patrick Wiscombe 20:48

per reservation. Let's talk about some of the hotels that you would recommend staying.

Mark Faldmo 20:53

So the first one is kind of the lead-in. It's a four-star all-inclusive, starts at $1,049 per person. And that's a really good one right on the beach. It is in Niarete for a four-star hotel. That is a very good price. The next one is right in kind of what would be called the hotel zone of Porta Vallarta, and it's the Fiesta Americana Porto Vallarta. It's a four and a half star. And this would be probably one of my two picks there. And that one starts at $1,199 per person. My overall pick is five-star, all-inclusive Villa Premier Boutique Hotel. Oh, yeah. Which starts at $1,719 per person. Now this one is a little bit more expensive than the other hotels, but it's a small boutique hotel with very individualized and personalized service. All of the hotels face the ocean. And you know, in Porto Vallar, you have some of the best sunsets in the world there. And this hotel really highlights those sunsets. You've stayed in Villa Premier, correct? Yeah. I've stayed there probably five or six times. I'm hoping to get back again there this year, actually. So well, it wasn't that long ago that you were there.

Patrick Wiscombe 22:07

Yeah. Well, I love Puerto Vallarta. Yeah, you do. Take advantage of this offer. Call Mark in his office. Get the conversation started if you want to go to Puerto Vallarta. Save up to $200 per reservation. And that also included round trip airfare from whatever city you are coming from. If I got that right, that's correct. Okay. Call Mark in his office during the break. Just get the conversation started. No obligation. 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. And you can also go to BluePlanetVacations.com. When we come back after the bottom of the hour news break, it is time

Hotel Picks And How To Book

Patrick Wiscombe 22:52

for the infamous Just Cruising segment. We'll be talking about Margaritaville at Sea, Holland America adding a third ship for Northern Europe, and we've got the cruise deal of the week. And we're going to the Caribbean. Caribbean's always good. Nikki and I literally spent a month in the Caribbean in April. Awesome place to vacation. That is next when the Inside Travel Talk podcast or radio show continues. Alongside Mark Foldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you. A genuine thank you for listening to the show. We will be right back.

Todd Carlson 23:31

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 Blue Planet Vacations.com. America's Best Travel Advisors. Patrick and Mark will be back after these messages.