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On the Sunday, January 9th, 2022 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, the CDC announced EVERY ship sailing in US waters as of last Wednesday had COVID cases on board. With Sex and The City's reboot on TV, the tour of its hotspots in the Big Apple has also returned. A group of partying Canadians, who whooped it up on the plane on the way to Mexico, find themselves without a way home. Airlines play a lot of games with seat selection. In recent years, they have figured out a way to monetize almost every desirable seat on the plane, and even some undesirable ones. In our Smarter Traveler segment, we talk about different strategies for avoiding the up charges. If you are a traveler, you have a friend at Travelers United. The consumer group works to try and make airlines, cruise lines and the like behave themselves. Director Charlie Leocha joins us to discuss his disappointment in the lack of consumer friendly directives coming from the White House. Everything from family seating on planes to timely refunds are on Charlie's plate. Carol Pucci is one of the writers for Joe Sent Me, a great pay-to-read web site Mark subscribes to. Carol is one of our "Travel Gals," and recently she wrote about the idea of having all domestic airline travelers COVID-vaccinated.

On the Sunday, April 25th, 2021 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, airlines are expanding summer flight schedules to meet growing travel demand and Hawaii reports hotel numbers are going up each month. Sadly, the Hotel Pennsylvania, the New York Hotel whose phone number, Pennsylvania 6-5,000, became a hit for Glenn Miller, is likely to stay closed. It shut down during the pandemic and its owner wants to demolish the hotel and turn it into a mixed-use tower, something it has been trying to do for nearly 20 years. In our Smarter Traveler segment, we introduce you to CLEAR, a better way to get through security lines at airports. CLEAR arrived in Sacramento in March and we have Mitch Nadler from the company with us to explain how it works, how much is costs and how you can join. In Mark's Just One Man's Opinion piece, he warns us that fuel surcharges are coming to travel very soon, and why on some level, the charges are legit. The second half of the show is for your input on the restart of travel. We open the phone lines, bribe you with an offer of possibly winning a See's Candy Gift Card, and give you the opportunity to share your opinions. Are you ready to travel now? Still waiting for a while? Where are you on vaccines for getting into theaters and events? It's always interesting to hear our audience's take. If you are reading this after the show is broadcast, you can hear the comments on the podcast. The link can be found on this page.

On the Sunday, February 28th, 2021 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, formal complaints to airlines jumped by over 500% last year. Not surprising, considering all the fuss over refunds and vouchers. California tourism destinations are hoping for spring openings, at least on a limited basis. In our Smarter Traveler segment, we talk about how both Americans and Canadians are trying to make sure the closing of Canadian ports to cruise ships and a little known US law don't kill the Alaska cruise season. Work is going on to fix the situation north and south of the border. Which poses the question, will cruise ships be safe this summer? We'll tell you about how the cruise industry is preparing to resume sailing the world's oceans. Chris Elliott, who used to have a weekly column in The Bee when the paper had a travel section, makes one of his regular guest appearances on our program to talk about those airlines vouchers you've got. Guess what, they could be expiring soon. What do you do? Chris has some wisdom. In the final segment, Mark answers some mailbag questions on overseas travel this summer, making reservations for a cruise and bringing food on the plane.

On the Sunday, January 3rd, 2021 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, Uber is telling riders wear a mask, properly, or you aren't riding again. Alaska Airlines is tightening which animals are allowed on its planes, and its bad news for those with "emotional support animals." Norwegian Cruise Lines is waiting until at least April to sail again and the island of Kauai is trying to find its way with tourism. Many people have flight credits on a variety of airlines for trips they couldn't take in 2020. You need to watch the expirations dates and a few other things so your "asset" doesn't lose its value. We help in our Smarter Traveler segment. Click here for a list of things you should know about your flight credits. Our friend and Consumer Advocate Chris Elliott opined about travel, covid and vaccines last week. We asked him on to talk about how the vaccines might help travel and how that could impact you. The late song writer and vocalist Dan Fogelberg has a tune which is played a lot this time of year. Same Old Lang Syne is about meeting an old flame by chance on New Year's Eve. It's a longtime holiday standard. Bet you didn't know it's a true story! Our entertainment segment gives you the rest of the story.