Show Open And Travel Kickoff

Todd Carlson 0:18

Explore your world. It's The InsideTravelTalk Podcast and Radio Show. Presented by BluePlanetVacations.com. Call or text The show now. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And check out The podcast at Insidetravel Talk.com. And now, here are your hosts, Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe 0:52

It is The weekend, which means that it is time to talk about travel. Hello there. I'm Patrick Wiscombe. You are listening to The InsideTravelTalk podcast and radio show. Thank you for taking The time to stop and listen. And if you are brand new to The show, or even if you're a longtime listener for The last year and a half, The entire purpose of this radio and podcast is to help you plan and book your next vacation, or just give you ideas of where you want to go on vacation next. And we are presented by BluePlanetVacations.com. I always love talking travel. Mark Faldmo joins me in The Wiscom Faldmo radio studio. How are you? I haven't seen you all week. I haven't even talked to you. Yep, I'm good.

Mark Faldmo 1:41

Kind of recovering from earlier this week when we were in The The mid-60s, but we're back down to The mid to low 30s now.

Patrick Wiscombe 1:48

Even if it was just a few days, four or five days in The uh 50s and 60s, that was nice. I went out and did some yard cleanup. So I did yard work last week. Coming up in this first segment of The show, we've got The travel news, and of course, we always have The destination highlight. And this week we're talking about The U.S. Virgin Islands. Nikki and I will be there next month. Very, very excited to go. Nikki and I are going there, right? You are going there, yes. Okay. Make sure that that's one of The Virgin Islands.

Mark Faldmo 2:17

Yes, it is.

Celebrity Cruises Enters River Cruising

Patrick Wiscombe 2:18

Let's first get to The travel news headlines. I thought that this story was significant in The travel world. Celebrity Cruises has announced that they're going to launch river cruising.

Mark Faldmo 2:31

That is a big deal. That is. And I was very surprised when I saw this. I've been thinking about this over The last few days when this news was announced. I think Celebrity is probably The best ocean cruise line. It was The best positioned to go into river cruising. I've often wondered why there's not a little bit more of The ocean cruise lines that do river cruise lines. We've had Viking start as a river cruise line and now they do ocean cruises, but it hasn't ever gone The other way. Celebrity has put in an order for 10 river ships, and they're going to start sailing in 2027. So that's not too far off. Those will probably be for sale in The next little while here, once they get a little bit more down The road on this. 10 ships, they're serious. They are. They're going to take The inspiration from those ships from The celebrity edge class ship. And they're obviously not going to have some of The features that don't work on a river, but they are taking their inspiration from those ships.

Patrick Wiscombe 3:32

So Nikki and I will be on The celebrity ascent next month. It will be my first time getting on an edge class ship. And I gotta be honest, I think I'm gonna spend some time just hanging out on The flying carpet. Yes. Which is something that won't be on The river cruise. A nine-story elevator on a river cruise.

Mark Faldmo 3:52

On a river cruise.

United Brings Back Status Match

Patrick Wiscombe 3:53

United Airlines is bringing back their elite status match program. This is good news because I think that they're starting to kind of lose ground to some of The other airlines. I'm assuming that's why they're bringing it back, or at least a reason. Yeah.

Mark Faldmo 4:08

So they've brought this in for 2025 where they'll match status with most other airlines. And all you have to do if you want to match The status is there's a form to fill out at United.com. And after approval, you have to take a United flight within 90 days. And then after that flight, you'll be granted your matching elite status.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:33

Are you gonna sign up for this? You're a Delta guy mostly, but I know that you've flown United and who's The other one? American.

Mark Faldmo 4:39

American. If I have an opportunity to take a United flight, if it works out, I'll do it. So if I have something coming up, I'll do it just to get The status for a year. I probably wouldn't fly a whole lot on United, but it is nice to have that status.

Patrick Wiscombe 4:54

If United is bringing back their status match program, do any other airlines do that?

Mark Faldmo 4:59

In The past, American has done it and Delta has done it, but that was two years ago when both of those airlines had a status match. I've not seen anything on status match on at least American or Delta.

Patrick Wiscombe 5:14

Okay, so nothing really.

Mark Faldmo 5:16

Nothing really.

U.S. Virgin Islands Set Records

Patrick Wiscombe 5:17

US Virgin Islands set a new tourism record in 2024. As I mentioned, Nikki and I are headed there next month. What kind of numbers were they seeing last year?

Mark Faldmo 5:27

So they had an increase of almost six percent over The previous record. It doesn't say when that record was, possibly 2019. Oh, pre-COVID. Pre-COVID, but over their best year ever, they had a six percent increase in 2024. This kind of goes to The trend, and we've talked about this in The past where people want to go to a tropical beach destination, but don't have a passport. So The Virgin Islands is a place you can go without a passport, and The Virgin Islands is kind of a whole new world, and we'll talk about that in just a minute.

Patrick Wiscombe 6:05

Other than a cruise line, how do we get to The Virgin Islands?

Mark Faldmo 6:08

First of all, there are kind of three main islands in The U.S. Virgin Islands. There's St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John. You can get there by flight to St. Thomas and St. Croix. St. John, you can only get there by ferry from The island of St. Thomas. St. Thomas is The most visited of those, followed by St. Croix, and then St. John. St. John, most of The island is a national park, so there's not a lot of development there. Quick question.

Patrick Wiscombe 6:37

Maho Beach, where planes fly in literally just feet over your head. Uh-huh. Which island is that on?

Mark Faldmo 6:44

That's not in The US Virgin Islands. That's in St. Martin. Oh, okay. There we go. Which is a French or Dutch island, depending on what side of The island you're on. If you are going to St. Thomas as one of The ports on your cruise, okay. You'll be in St. Thomas.

Patrick Wiscombe 7:00

A lot of saints in there.

Mark Faldmo 7:01

Yes.

unknown 7:02

St.

Mark Faldmo 7:03

Thomas, St. Croix, St. John, The British Virgin Islands, and they're all saints too.

St Thomas St John St Croix

Mark Faldmo 7:07

Well, let's let's talk about St. Thomas first, some of The things to do there. St. Thomas is known for its shopping and also its pirate history. As on all of these islands, there's good beaches. You can go to Megan's Bay. What I like about St. Thomas, and this was kind of my very first impression when I stepped off, and that's actually on all of The U.S. Virgin Islands, is they drive on The left side of The road. Oh boy. It's The only US territory that drives on The left side of The road. And so you really can feel like you're in a foreign country, but you don't need a passport to get there. What about St. John? So St. John, and this is probably my favorite island of all of these. Again, you get there by taking a ferry from St. Thomas, but it's known for its beaches and hiking. Most of The island is a national park. There are a few hotels, a few things that were kind of grandfathered in. Most of The island is a national park, but one of The best beaches, probably in The world, which is Trunk Bay. Snorkeling, just a beautiful beach uh there in St. John.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:15

Let me ask you about snorkeling. Do you snorkel with one of those pool noodles, or do you like going underneath The water?

Mark Faldmo 8:22

I like to snorkle with some type of flotation device. Oh, okay. All right. So you just so I don't have to work, I just don't have to work as hard.

Patrick Wiscombe 8:30

So you can just look around. Yeah. Without swimming. Okay.

Mark Faldmo 8:33

You know, and The one thing at Trunk Bay on St. John is they kind of have a little circuit that you snorkle. There's a little island that you snorkle around, which is a very interesting place to snorkle because it goes through different depths of The bay there. That's a very popular thing to do. There's also a little drink shack up on top of The hill in St. John where you can look over and see The British Virgin Islands. They're all fairly close.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:01

One if by land, two if by sea. Yes. Yeah. St. Croix. What do you like doing there?

Mark Faldmo 9:07

This island has a lot of history. the thing I think that's interesting about it is how many different countries have ruled this little piece of land. It's flown The flags of Netherlands, England, France, The Knights of Malta, and Denmark in its history. It was once The capital of The Danish West Indies, and it's known for its 18th-century buttercolored red roofed buildings. You know, this would be a place for beaches, water sports, if you like sailing. It's a little bit more laid-back than St. Thomas.

Patrick Wiscombe 9:41

Off-air, you had mentioned something about St. Thomas that you didn't mention during this show. Let's go back to St. Thomas for a second.

Mark Faldmo 9:48

One particular activity that I like, it's a tram, kind of a skyride thing. Oh, I know what you're talking about. A viewpoint on top of The mountain. This is located kind of right by The cruise port, so it's a pretty popular thing to do if you're taking a cruise. But you get up there and you have a whole view of The city of Charles de Mille, which is The capital city there in St. Thomas.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:12

I remember seeing pictures of that, going, Ooh, we have to do that.

Mark Faldmo 10:16

It's a great experience. If you're on St. Thomas, you can just take a day trip to St. John. Very easy thing to do. Go out, hike some of those trails on St. John, visit The beaches. I love The U.S. Virgin Islands, and you don't need a passport to get

Cruise Day Trips And Booking Tips

Mark Faldmo 10:30

there.

Patrick Wiscombe 10:31

If you're coming in port on a cruise, do you have enough time to do a day trip to St. John?

Mark Faldmo 10:36

Yes, you do. In fact, if you purchase The excursion through The cruise line, The ferry boat comes and picks you up right at The pier of The cruise terminal. You just get on kind of The expedition safari trucks. It'll take you either to Trunk Bay or The Circle Island tour. That's something I highly recommend for cruise passengers is to do The St. John tours when they're in St. Thomas. Otherwise, if you're on a cruise, you have to go to The other side of The island, which is where The main ferry terminal is at.

Patrick Wiscombe 11:05

So you can do it then. You can do it. Oh, good. Okay. Well, I am excited to go. Nikki and I will be there next month. And I am excited to go do all of this stuff. And I owe it all to Mark, honestly. He's The one that booked it for us. If you want to head to The U.S. Virgin Islands, whether it's cruise or you just want to go straight there, call Mark in his office during The break just to get The conversation started. Phone number is 888-718-7717-888-718-7717. Or you can also go to BluePlanet Vacations.com. Coming up in The next segment, we've got The Hot Travel Deal of The Week. Regardless of The destination, but this time we are headed to The land down under. That is next when The InsideTravelTalk Podcast and Radio Show continues. Thank you so much for listening. We will be right back.

Todd Carlson 12:11

Taking you to destinations around The world.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. Now, back to The Insight Travel Talk Podcast and Radio Show. Presented by BluePlanetVacations.com. America's Best Travel Advisors. Call or text The show right now. 801-649-3700. 801-649-3700. And check out The podcast at InsightTravel Talk.com. Here's Patrick Wiscombe and Mark Faldmo.

Patrick Wiscombe 13:24

Welcome back inside of The Insight Travel Talk Podcast and radio show. Hello there. Hope you're having a terrific weekend. My name is Patrick Wiscombe with my co-host, Mark Faldmo. We love talking travel each and every weekend. And we are immensely grateful to all of you who subscribe to The show, listen to us on The uh The radio network, and subscribe to The podcast at InsideTravelTalk.com. Coming up in this segment, we have The hot travel deal of The week. And this time we're going down under. But let's first get to The travel news headlines

Los Angeles Tourism Plea And Updates

Patrick Wiscombe 14:06

for this week. In light of everything, I kind of get it. There is a plea from Los Angeles hotels, please come, please come to LA. We need you.

Mark Faldmo 14:15

So Los Angeles is kind of experiencing The same issues that Hawaii faced after The Maui fires. What they're saying is less than one percent of The area of Los Angeles was affected by The fires. And so they're asking people not to cancel their trips. Things are still open. Travel industry is, I guess, kind of really fickle. Big newsmakers seem to affect people's travel decisions, even though it probably really shouldn't in some cases. What Los Angeles is faced with is they have over 540,000 people working just in Los Angeles County in The tourism sector. So if people don't travel, those people don't have jobs.

Patrick Wiscombe 14:59

What happened was absolutely significant, but I think The Maui comparison is good, where it made sound like The entire island of Maui had burned down when it really, from a geographical standpoint, Maui was kind of small.

Mark Faldmo 15:13

Yes. And then you know, even Hawaii other islands, so Oahu, Kauai, The big island, all faced downturns in tourism because of The Maui fire.

Patrick Wiscombe 15:24

All of California. Beautiful. I love LA. I just won't live there.

unknown 15:28

Yep.

Patrick Wiscombe 15:30

Delta Airlines is set to launch a new LA to Melbourne flight. What details do we have on that?

Mark Faldmo 15:37

This is going to be three days a week. It's going to fly Los Angeles to Melbourne Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on its new Airbus A350 flight. And that is set to start later this year, I think in May. That is really opening up Australia. Right now, United and Qantas are The only airlines that fly to Melbourne. And now Delta will become another option.

Patrick Wiscombe 16:05

Yet another reason referencing what we talked about in segment one United Airlines bringing back their status match program. Southwest has postponed The start date for installing extra leg room seats.

Mark Faldmo 16:18

Yeah, so this is a story we talked about, oh, maybe two months ago, where Southwest announced they're going to put in extra leg room seats and start their assigned seating policy. And they were going to start that The middle of 2025, but they have delayed that now until first half of 2026.

Sydney Flight Deal Plus Top Sights

Patrick Wiscombe 16:39

Let's get to our hot travel deal of The week, always in this second segment of The show. And this week we are going down under.

Mark Faldmo 16:47

This is a great price to get to Sydney. From Los Angeles, it's $848. Oh really? And it does connect through New Zealand to get to Sydney, but for that price, that connection is probably worth it. Oh, yeah. That's probably five to even $700 lower than The normal price to get to Sydney. There are blackout dates. You can add a stopover in New Zealand if you would like to. There's a fee, I think it's $75 to add a stopover in New Zealand.

Patrick Wiscombe 17:20

So let's talk about some of The things to do in Sydney. Where would you start?

Mark Faldmo 17:24

Sydney. I visited twice Sydney. Both of them have been relatively short, and they've been less than six days. A lot of people say that's a long flight for just such a short time. But I actually enjoyed that. Things to do in Sydney. the first thing I would get is The Sydney Explorer Pass. With The Explorer Pass, you get to choose a few different things, attractions you can do. You can choose three of 12 of The main attractions in Sydney to do. Included in that pass is The Sydney Zoo, The hop on, hop off tour, and The Sydney Aquarium. Those are probably The three I would choose. Um, but there are other options in The Sydney Explorer Pass.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:08

You mentioned there was about 12. What are The other nine, just so listeners can know what they can choose?

Mark Faldmo 18:14

So The other things you can choose within that pass are The Sydney Tower I, which is The radio tower building that you go up that has there's a revolving restaurant up there. Okay. National Maritime Museum. You can take a lunch cruise. There is an option for The Sydney Opera House tour. You can take a jet boat ride in The bay. I know what Patrick's doing.

Patrick Wiscombe 18:37

I didn't realize how much I like being on boats. That's kind of a new thing that I've found about myself.

Mark Faldmo 18:43

Yeah, I love being out on The water, out on The ocean. What are some of The other things to do? Probably one of The most exciting things I think is The Sydney Bridge climb. Ooh. And so this is where you get hooked up in harnesses and you walk up to The top of one of The stanchions of The Sydney Bridge. Oh great views. Oh, I bet. That's a very popular thing to do. One of The things I enjoyed most was taking a ferry over to Manley Island. It's kind of a beachy, touristy area. Luna Park, which is kind of a theme park. It's inspired by Coney Island in New York City. the entrance is a big happy clown face, Luna Park, there. Bondi Beach, which is one of The famous beaches there. One thing I really enjoyed was taking a Sydney Harbor cruise at nighttime. See The skyline at night. Kind of took a dinner cruise to

Blue Mountains Finale And Wrap

Mark Faldmo 19:39

do that. Probably The thing I enjoyed The most was a day trip to The Blue Mountains. the Blue Mountains is a scenic area. It's a full day trip, but a scenic area near Sydney. Along The way, you stop at a kangaroo kind of sanctuary place where you get to feed The kangaroos and kind of play with The kangaroos. the most favorite part of The stay for me was The scenic world railway. It's an old mining railway and it's The world's steepest railway at 52 degrees incline.

Patrick Wiscombe 20:10

I'm actually kind of impressed that it can go up that steep of an incline.

Mark Faldmo 20:15

Yes. So it's actually hooked to a cable. So it's I would hope so. Wow. So yeah, it's pulled up. There's great views at The top. And then when you get down at The bottom of The railway, there's hiking trails, kind of a nature preserve. It was a wonderful day. Even though I've only been to Sydney on short trips, I think it's well worth that. And you know, if you want to extend your trip, you can go up to The Great Barrier Reef, you can go up to Port Stanley, which is rainforest, you can go out to The desert air's rock. You know, there's lots you can do in Australia from Sydney.

Patrick Wiscombe 20:54

What do you call a lazy kangaroo? I don't know what. A pouch potato. A pouch potato. That's great. Sorry for The bad humor.

Mark Faldmo 21:07

No humor is always good, even if it's bad.

Patrick Wiscombe 21:11

Okay, I had that coming. You know what's funny is that uh Nikki and I have actually been talking about Australia, but we didn't know if we wanted to fly or do a cruise, and honestly, I don't know what we're gonna do now.

Mark Faldmo 21:26

Yeah, either way is a great way to visit.

Patrick Wiscombe 21:29

Go to Australia. If you've always had desires to go to Australia, call Mark. Call him during The break, just get The conversation started, no obligation. 888-718-7717, 888-718-7717. And you can also see The Australian Vacation Options on BluePlanet Vacations.com. When we come back, it is The infamous Just Cruising segment. This week we literally have five great cruise deals. Do not miss this next segment of The show coming up after The news update. Thank you so much for allowing us to be part of your weekend. We will be right back.

Todd Carlson 22:17

You're listening to The InsideTravelTalk 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 Inside Travel Talk.com. We'll be right back.