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TAKE ACTION: Quit talking about going on vacation, just do it. If you want more information about any of the destinations we discuss during the show, or have your own custom vacation in mind, I can help you. Please call, text, or email me.
Episode 196: No Sitting. No Loitering. Toss Your Coin. Move Along
•Patrick Wiscombe•Season 4•Episode 196
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Episode 196 is all about skipping the obvious and chasing the trips that feel a little more memorable. Instead of defaulting to London and Paris, Patrick and Mark build a European adventure through Budapest, Vienna, and Prague—three cities connected by train, packed with castles, cathedrals, thermal baths, riverside views, old-town streets, and just enough Mission: Impossible trivia to make Prague feel even more cinematic. It’s the kind of trip that sounds complicated at first, but once Mark breaks it down, it suddenly feels very doable.
Bali is considering a much higher tourist fee, while Rome is tightening access around the Trevi Fountain in an effort to control crowds and improve the experience. Patrick and Mark have some fun with the new rules, but there’s a real takeaway underneath the jokes: popular destinations are starting to manage overtourism more aggressively, and travelers may need to plan differently—and sometimes pay more—to visit the places that have lived on their bucket lists for years.
Interest in Egypt is climbing, and Patrick admits the pyramids have been calling his name, while Mark explains why a mix of land touring and Nile cruising may be the best way to experience Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, the Valley of the Kings, and the ancient sites in between. Some trips stick with you long after you get home—and Egypt, Eastern Europe, and the Nile are very much in that category.
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Thank you for taking the time to listen to the show. There are literally thousands of podcasts from which you can choose, yet you listened to this show.
The entire purpose of this podcast is to help people plan and book their next vacation or give listeners ideas of where they might consider going on vacation next. Our goal is to help our listeners live their lives deliberately and intentionally. You only get one shot at life so you might as well make it count. Make memories with those that matter most to you.
TAKE ACTION: Quit talking about going on vacation, just do it. If you want more information about any of the destinations we discussed during the show, or have your own custom vacation in mind, I can help you. Please call, text, or email me.
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 InsightTravelTalk.com. And now, here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe
It's the weekend, which means it is time to talk travel. Hello there. My name is Patrick Wiscombe. Mark Faldmo will be in the studio here in just a moment. The entire purpose of this podcast and radio show is to help you plan and book your next vacation. And if you have no idea where to go, Mark and I will be giving you some ideas of where you may want to consider next. And we are presented by BluePlanetVacations.com. And we want to thank you for taking the time to stop and listen. And coming up on today's show, we've got the Eastern Europe Vacation Ideas Bucket List, Egypt Vacations, as well as Baltic and Alaska cruises. And let me bring in the co-host of this award-nominated radio show. Hello, Mark Faldmo. Hey Patrick. Let's get to the travel news headlines. American Airlines is going to start testing complementary in-flight Wi-Fi. I thought that was one of those things that was just included.
Mark Faldmo
We're spoiled because we live in a Delta market and Delta has had free Wi-Fi for a few years now. American has not had that. They still charge $10 a device per flight, or you can buy membership. So they are testing this out. To get that free Wi-Fi, you have to be a SkyMiles member. So this just seems like it'd be a great way to increase people in their Frequent Flyer programs. Yeah. But they are testing it out to see how it does. In part, American Airlines kind of had a rough year last year. They made some changes that really alienated some of their corporate clients with who they could book with and a couple things in the Frequent Flyer program, which really gave them a downturn in bookings. They quickly changed course on that, but they're trying these ways to get people back to American Airlines. They struggled last year. I think they should just go all complimentary Wi-Fi. All Airlines should offer a similar program to what Delta offers. Hotels used to be that way. Now all hotels offer free Wi-Fi in one form or another.
Patrick Wiscombe
But if you have travel-related questions for the show while we are on the air, 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700 is the uh studio on the text line. Delta adds Morocco in a three-route expansion. We don't talk about Morocco very often.
Mark Faldmo
Delta is adding a flight from Atlanta to Marrakesh. Along with this announcement, they announced two other routes. One to another African destination to Accra, Ghana. And then the other route that they offered was from Austin, Texas to Cancun, Mexico. So not quite as exotic as those other uh two, but Morocco, that I think is a great ad for the Delta to route system, makes that destination a one-stop for us here in Salt Lake City and for many travelers that are in uh Delta airline cities.
Patrick Wiscombe
It wouldn't be a show if we didn't talk about London. So Gatwick is expanding their airport and they could add a hundred thousand more flights. That's a lot of flights.
Mark Faldmo
That is so yeah, that's a hundred thousand more flights annually if this proposal goes through. And what it would take is they need to relocate one of the runways because right now they can't operate the runways simultaneously. So one needs to be moved so that they can operate one for takeoff, one for landing, which would enable more flights, and then they're going to renovate and update all of their terminals at Gatwick.
Patrick Wiscombe
Always in this first segment, it is always the destination spotlight. We received a text from Debbie. Did you see that text come in?
Mark Faldmo
I did see it. I started pulling up some information and putting some thoughts together on it.
Patrick Wiscombe
So Debbie says that she wants to go to Europe, but does not want the regular London, Paris, etc. She wants more of a custom trip, and she's asking for your recommendation somewhere between eight and nine days. But what do you recommend?
Mark Faldmo
A couple things come to mind. I would recommend doing a three-city tour, which would be Budapest, Vienna, and Prague.
Patrick Wiscombe
Well, that's a pretty good one, too.
Mark Faldmo
You can do those easily in anywhere from seven to nine days, depending on how long you wanted to stay in each city. Looking at airfare, looking for a custom trip where you'd fly into Budapest and home from Prague. For this fall, I found flights as low as $749. And that was two connection flights. So you'd connect somewhere in the US and somewhere in Europe to get there. If you wanted one connection flight, that price is $1,100, which is still a pretty good price. Yeah. Right now for hotels, there's uh a Europe sale uh through the end of March for 20% off select hotels in Europe. How I would perform this uh vacation, I'd recommend flying into Budapest, spending about three nights in Budapest, spending two or three nights in Vienna, and spending three nights or so in Prague. These cities are easy to get between. Take a train. I just do train travel to get to those. Budapest is about a two and a half, three hour train ride from Vienna, and Vienna to Prague is about a four-hour train ride.
Patrick Wiscombe
We're so used to having cars here in Salt Lake that the idea of taking train is just a little bit foreign to us.
Mark Faldmo
Yes, yeah, yeah, it is. It's a train is a great way to get around Europe.
Patrick Wiscombe
So let's talk about Budapest first. What would you recommend that Debbie does in Budapest? We'll start there.
Mark Faldmo
I'll take each of those three cities and just give some highlights. There's a lot more to do than this. In Budapest, the main thing is explore Budapestle and the fisherman's bastion. Castle Hill, where this is at, up on a hill, overlooks Parliament, overlooks the Danube River. It's the main thing I would visit there. The next thing is Market Hall, which is their local market. It's your classic typical European market. There's food, there's a fish section, a meat section, there's souvenirs. Just a great place where you can go and shop for things and watch local shop as well.
Patrick Wiscombe
Not to mention just take in the scenery while you're doing all that.
Mark Faldmo
Yes. Budapest is probably one of the most scenic towns along that line, Patrick. It's such a great thing, you know, just walking along the Danube. I love to do that in the evening time when the parliament buildings lit up and the castle hills all lit up. It's just an ideal location, I think. Moving on to Vienna, you should visit Schoenburn Palace. It's comparable to Versailles in Paris in France. Vienna is known for its musical heritage. Go to a classical concert in one of the many venues in Vienna. And then also in Vienna, I like going to Saint Stephen's Cathedral. You can actually climb to the top of this cathedral and have great views of the whole city of Vienna.
Patrick Wiscombe
You know, there's something for me personally about being in an elevated position, and I'm literal elevation and just looking over things. I don't know what that is inside of my brain that just lights up and makes me happy. That's Vienna. By the way, I thought of something that you may have forgotten to do in Budapest. The thermal baths.
Mark Faldmo
Thermal baths. Yep. Yeah. Budapest is famous for that. And those thermal baths, there's lots of places you can do that. Definitely that should be on your list to do in Budapest.
Patrick Wiscombe
All right. So we've got Budapest, we've got Vienna. Let's go to Prague. What do you like doing there?
Mark Faldmo
It's known for its castles and spires. Prague Castle up on a hill. When you get up there, look across the city of Prague and see all of the church steeples and spires, and it's quite the site. And then also walking across the Charles Bridge, which is an iconic bridge in Prague from the very first Mission Impossible. Oh, yeah. That's the bridge where one of the important scenes of Mission Impossible happens. It's a must-see when you go to Prague. My favorite thing to do there is just explore the old town square. When you think of a European town square, I think Prague Town Square is exactly what I envision. They're street vendors. My most favorite travel foods are there. One is the Trundlenck, which is a roasted bread. They wrap it around a wooden dowel, and it kind of is a rotisserie on the fire. And so they're kind of cone-shaped bread, usually cinnamon and sugar, and then Prague ham. It's a great experience in Prague.
Patrick Wiscombe
Because you brought up Mission Impossible, just let listeners know that Mission Impossible, Dead Reckoning Part 2. Okay. Called The Final Reckoning, coming out May 23rd.
Mark Faldmo
Yeah. Looking forward to it. I am too. I've always liked that Mission Impossible franchise.
Patrick Wiscombe
I think Tom Cruise has done an amazing job with it. Yeah. Debbie, you are in for a treat by going to any of those cities and going to all three, especially by the train. An amazing experience. You will not be disappointed. Call Mark at his office. Get the conversation rolling. No obligation, of course. Call him at 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. And you will post this on Blue Planet Vacations, right, Mark? I will. Yep. Blue PlanetVacations.com. When we come back, it is time for the hot travel deal of the week, regardless of the destination. And this week we are talking about Egypt and will also have more travel news headlines. That is next with the Inside Travel Talk Podcast, a radio show continues. Block side Mark Faldmo, my name is Patrick Wiscombe. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be right back.
Todd Carlson
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. We'll be right back. And check out the podcast at insight travel talk.com. Here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.
Patrick Wiscombe
Welcome back inside of the Insight Travel Talk podcast and radio show. My name is Patrick Wiscombe alongside Mark Faldmo. You can listen to this show each and every Saturday and Sunday morning at 11 o'clock right here on this radio station and around the country and also on insight travel talk.com. Coming up in this segment of the show, we've got the hot travel deal of the week, and this week we are going to Egypt. Mark, I saw on the rundown. Man, you've got a really a pretty great promotion to go see Egypt on this one.
Mark Faldmo
Yeah, there's some really great ways to see Egypt and some good promotions as well.
Patrick Wiscombe
Before we get there, let's get to the travel news headlines and let's start in Bali this time. They, Bali, are considering a hefty new daily tourist tax. That's not something I want to hear. What are the details?
Mark Faldmo
Bali is on many travelers' bucket list. Last year, Bali instituted a $10 mandatory fee for all tourists entering, and they are considering upping that fee to $100 per person per day, which is a huge increase. Wow.
Patrick Wiscombe
Normally when we talk about tourist taxes, it's $10 to $20, not $10 to $100.
Mark Faldmo
You know, the reason why they're doing this is because they kind of want to pick and choose who visits the country. That unfortunately will price a lot of people out.
Patrick Wiscombe
Yeah, it will.
Mark Faldmo
But there are some places in Bali where it's almost like spring break all the time. Tourists behaving badly, I guess. And so they're really trying to cut that out. I hope the fee does not go that high. It's a destination they feel they almost have to because of some of the trends in tourism that are happening in Bali.
Patrick Wiscombe
Trevi Fountain, how many times have you been there?
Mark Faldmo
Several times. Okay. Probably 20 or 30 times.
Patrick Wiscombe
Well, here's one thing I didn't know. Trevi Fountain is reopening, but there's also a whole bunch of rules.
Mark Faldmo
It was closed for renovations. They're now limiting access to the fountain itself. If you've not been to Trevi Fountain, it's set in a small square. The square is open, but they've kind of gated off. There's almost like stadium seating, kind of like three terraces where you could sit, look at the fountain, and they're now limiting that area to 400 visitors simultaneously.
Patrick Wiscombe
Whoa. Wow, they're really cutting down.
Mark Faldmo
So when one leave when one person leaves, another person can come in.
Patrick Wiscombe
Isn't Trevi Fountain the fountain that was in Angels and Demons with Tom Hanks?
Mark Faldmo
Yes, it was.
Patrick Wiscombe
Okay. All right. That's where they dump the priest.
Mark Faldmo
Yeah, another thing which I like is there's no sitting on the basin edge. People used to just sit there and eat their gelato, which would really ruin the view. You know, me being a photographer, I've always wanted to get a good shot of that, but you almost never could because someone was always sitting at the base of the fountain. I think these changes are good and will enhance the overall quality of visiting that monument in Rome. And these are in effect every day from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Mondays and Fridays. It won't open till 11 a.m. Because they have to go in and collect all the coins that are thrown into Trevi Fountain twice a week. Some of the local lore around Trevi Fountain is if you toss a coin into the fountain, it means you'll come back to Rome again. They collect lots of money. People that want to come back to Rome. They get thousands of euros each week. Do they really? It's that much into Trevy Fountain. Wow.
Patrick Wiscombe
I would like to know if you put your hand in there to collect a few coins if you're gonna get yelled at.
Mark Faldmo
You probably will. Yes, you probably will. Okay.
Patrick Wiscombe
I saw a story that tourism in Egypt is really, really starting to take off. What kind of stats are we seeing on it?
Mark Faldmo
Egypt is up about six percent 2024 versus 2023 and 2025 and 2026. Some things are already sold out. There are some companies that sell Egypt that have seen 300% increases in their sales to that destination.
Patrick Wiscombe
I was talking with Nikki last weekend about going to Egypt to go see the pyramids. It's kind of funny that we're talking about this.
Mark Faldmo
Going to see the pyramids in Egypt is on probably most people's bucket list. It is still on my bucket list. I have not been to Egypt. I usually would get one to two requests a year to Egypt. I've already had four requests this year.
Patrick Wiscombe
Really?
Mark Faldmo
Um of people wanting to go to Egypt. So even at Blue Planet Vacations, we've seen that increase in interest to Egypt.
Patrick Wiscombe
Let's talk about this week's hot travel deal of the week, which just happens to be Egypt. When's the best time to visit Egypt?
Mark Faldmo
The best time to visit Egypt is October through April. It's cooler. In fact, a lot of the companies that do Egypt don't even go in June and July. The best way to see Egypt, I would say, is either through an escorted tour or a Nile River cruise. That's a little bit misleading because the Nile River cruises include quite a bit of land, and the escorted tours also include a Nile River cruise. So uh, you know, it's just it's different experiences because Nile River is important, and some of those places on the Nile River you can see best when visiting them by a river cruise. So all of the ways to do this include a component of a river cruise and a land tour.
Patrick Wiscombe
Either way, you you're probably gonna be okay.
Mark Faldmo
Yes, yeah.
Patrick Wiscombe
Well, which promotion do we have for listeners this week?
Mark Faldmo
I've got two promotions. One is with Globus Journeys, which is one of the really good hosted vacation providers that I use. Right now they have save a thousand dollars per tour, and they have a a nine-day tour that starts from $24.99 per person. This tour includes a few days in Cairo, and then you fly to Luxor and see a few places there, and then you do take a river cruise on the Nile, and then you fly back to Cairo for a night to fly home. This is a fairly economical way to see Egypt and the Nile River. So nine days. Nine days. Wow, okay. You're right, that is economical. So that price would be for the end of August. It goes up a little bit from there. It's still in the hot season, but kind of at the beginning of the season when it starts to cool a little bit.
Patrick Wiscombe
Well, that explains the $24.99 then. Yeah. Still hot, but we still want you to go if if you can endure the heat. Correct. What if you want to do the cruise option?
Mark Faldmo
They're similar tours, but AMA Waterways, which would be my pick to do Egypt and the Nile. Their program starts at 11 nights and it starts at $54.99 per person. What are the ports on that? This one you get compared to what we talked about with Globus, has a few more days, a few more experiences. So it has three days in Cairo visiting the various museums, the pyramids at Giza. Then from Cairo, you go to Luxor, the city formerly known as Thebes. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. From there, you have the Valley of the Kings, Valley of the Queens. This tour also goes to Aswan, which is an area where uh Ramses II was one of the most active pharaohs in Egypt. And then a few other places comes back to Luxor, where you'll see some more sites in that area, and then go back to Cairo.
Patrick Wiscombe
That's a part of the world that is always featured in films that has always grabbed my imagination.
Mark Faldmo
Yeah, it would be fascinating, I think, to visit. You look at these itineraries, both the Globus and AMA waterways, what they offer, just fascinating sites to see. And we did mention that price of $54.99. Those are for uh September dates for AMA waterways.
Patrick Wiscombe
Okay, so September of this year, 2025. So not next year.
Mark Faldmo
Correct.
Patrick Wiscombe
Okay, all right. So you still can go if you can get there.
Mark Faldmo
Yeah, right now AMA Waterways has up to $2,000 off select departure dates. They have some that are $500, some that are $1,500, some that are $2,000, just depending on the date that you want to go.
Patrick Wiscombe
So the $54.99 that includes that savings of $2,000 per stateroom for those 11 nights.
Mark Faldmo
On select dates. On select dates. Okay, correct.
Patrick Wiscombe
Yeah. That's just one of those trips that you just you'll remember for the rest of your life. It's that part of the world that doesn't get a lot of press, but when you see it, it it absolutely is stunning. Take advantage of those two offers, go to Egypt, call Mark at his office during the break just to get the conversation started. 888-718-7717. 888-718-7717, and he will also post this on BluePlanetVacations.com. When we come back, it is almost time for the infamous Just Cruising segment. We've also got some cruise news of the week, and we're taking a Baltic cruise on NCL. That is next. When the Inside Travel Talk podcast radio show continues, oh, as well as Alaska, that is next. We'll be right back.
Todd Carlson
You're listening to the Inside Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show with Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo, presented by BluePlanetVacations.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 InsidetTravelTalk.com. We'll be right back.
