On the Sunday, January 13th, 2019 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, a man is caught trying to smuggle kittens in his pants at the Singapore airport. Four of them in fact. Air Traffic controllers are suing the federal government over the shutdown that has them working without pay checks. Chris Elliott joins Tom and Mark to share an update on the "ding and dent" scam which appeared to be happening at certain car rental franchises. But Chris reports the complaints have slowed to a trickle after a change in the way the company calculates damage. He talks about this new transparency at Enterprise Car Rental. Mark is joining the broadcast live from the Big Island of Hawaii. He continues the second of a two part series on the islands and what some of the hot spots might be for visitors in the coming months. Speculation is that a fare war with the coming of Southwest will bring a number of brand new visitors to the islands. The Broadway hit Come From Away has begun its limited run in San Francisco. Kevin Carolan, one of the show's leads, joins us to talk about this remarkable piece of theater. Tickets are still available here.
On the Sunday, January 6th, 2019 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, the city of Venice is fighting overcrowding by charging visitors a fee, even "day trippers"; and the partial government shutdown may be about to hit airports in a big way, starting next week, as more TSA screeners are starting to look for other employment to pay the bills.
Herb Kelleher, the man who helped build Southwest Airlines into a low fare carrier with integrity, has died at the age of 87. Kelleher was the airlines Executive Chairman from 1978-2008, and president and CEO from 1981-2001, according to the company. He revolutionized the industry making travel a little less of a hassle. Read more about one of the true revolutionaries of the travel industry here.
In the Smarter Traveler segment, Mark talks about the importance of checking your frequent traveler miles and points accounts on a regular basis, and reminds us that the sharing economy may not work out well in every instance, like car sharing.
Hawaii is on many travelers' radar, in part because of the anticipation of new service from Southwest Airlines to the islands. Mark has just returned from his first of two trips to the islands this month, and offers some updates from Kauai and Oahu. He talks about the islands being crowded for the holidays and how that impacts the quality of the experience. He talks about where the true Hawaiian experiences can be found and shares his favorite place to eat in Honolulu. (Hint: It is related to a former popular Sacramento restaurant. Find the website here.)
Gwen Duncan is a guest Sunday and talks about the spread of voluntourism around the planet.
On the Sunday, December 29th edition of The Travel Guys, Tom hosts a very special show. Listen on Spotify
We call ourselves the Travel and Entertainment Guys on occasion, because we sometimes are able to set up an interview with a celebrity in the entertainment world. Since folks often include entertainment, festivals and shows in their itineraries when they travel, we love incorporating that element into our program.
On this special holiday edition, Tom reprises some of our best entertainment interviews. This isn't a goofy "best of," it's a special program featuring the likes of:
Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills & Nash) Richie Furay (The Eagles, Buffalo Springfield, Poco) Barry Manilow Wayne Newton Special short appearance by the Rutabaga Boogie Band (who were live in our studio that day)
As we finish another year of Travel Guys broadcasts, we want to thank our guests, Luis Aquino (our board operator at the station who engineers the show), everyone who contributes big and small, and especially our loyal listeners. Without you, there wouldn't be a Travel Guys program. Thank you.
Posted Sunday, December 23rd, 2018 On the Sunday, December 22nd Christmas edition of The Travel Guys:
In the Travel News, Google Assistant can now predict flight delays with 85% per cent accuracy, and will notify you of any predicted delays. Alaska Airlines has begun the first-ever flights from Sacramento to the Big Island of Hawaii. They depart 3x weekly. Southwest Airlines has finally gotten the ETOPS certificate needed to fly to Hawaii and will schedule test flights very soon, with passenger flights expected within 60 days. Watch for some incredible start up fares. In the Smarter Traveler segment, we dedicated our time to last minute gift ideas for the travelers on your list. Jeff from Best of Hawaii joined the guys to talk about Southwest's arrival in the islands (BREAKING NEWS: Southwest has received their ETOPS Certificate - allowing them to fly to the islands - test flights should be happening within days, passengers should follow quickly). He also shares wisdom on renting a car (book early during heavy periods because of limited availability and high pricing) and navigating the island roads, which are more rural and require you to pay attention and try to avoid u-turns out of nowhere.... Gwen Duncan from Cordially Yours Travel talks about the need for a Passenger Bill of Rights for River Cruises in Europe, in part due to the different policies employed by the cruise lines operating there. Gwen (and others) feel standardization would help both travel advisors and their clients. We also asked Gwen about the recent change of name at ASTA, from American Association of Travel Agents to American Association of Travel Advisors. Gwen endorsed the change and said, "if your travel advisor is doing nothing more than booking your travel, time to get someone who knows their stuff." Mark also suggested that if you are taking the "bucket list trip," you might want to invest a couple hundred dollars in the wisdom of an expert.