Virtual Voyages: The Future of Travel Inspiration?

Join us as we bid a fond farewell to the iconic Tropicana hotel in Las Vegas and explore the hidden gems that still make the city shine. We'll take you on a journey to discover authentic experiences off the beaten path and share our insider tips for scoring unbelievable luxury travel deals that will make your dream vacation a reality. We also dive into the fascinating world of virtual travel and ponder its potential to inspire wanderlust in the 21st century.

Introduction to No Tourist Aloud

Welcome to No Tourist Aloud, a podcast where two recognized travel industry executives with a combined 71 years on the inside of travel and technology give up their secrets to the thing everyone wants to do: travel better, pay less, and see more of the world. Here are your hosts, Mike Putman and James Ferrara.

Mike Putman: Good day, everyone. I'm Mike Putman.

James Ferrara: And I'm James Ferrara. Mike, I think our total of years has gone up a little bit.

Mike Putman: I think that intro was maybe from a couple of years back, so it could probably be 71 years combined. The odd thing is somehow those extra two years are only you aging, not me. I don't know how that happened.

Well, I've been at this a long time and it feels like I've been at it 71 years. Welcome, everybody. Welcome to notouristaloud.com. You've got Mike and I here today and we've been musing on a couple of things, ruminating and thinking and debating on issues in the travel industry that can affect you and your fellow travelers and the way you see the world. Today's episode is really thoughtful, Mike.

The Historic Closing of the Tropicana Las Vegas

Mike Putman: Absolutely. We've got a lot of news to share with you guys and I am happy to be back on the microphone. Let's kick this off with a little bit of news. It is historically significant news that a very famous hotel in Las Vegas that has been around for 71 years—speaking of 71—is the Tropicana.

It has announced that it will be closing permanently, which is really unfortunate news. I've spent some time there and happened to know the general manager there many years back. This is also one of the hotels that is in a James Bond movie.

It's in the 1971 Diamonds are Forever, where Sean Connery was there and he stayed in a suite. It is an iconic hotel on the strip.

James Ferrara: Are they going to do one of those Las Vegas implosions when they blow this up?

Mike Putman: They have to. I'm not sure, but one of the interesting things about this hotel is that it cost 15 million dollars to build 300 rooms that had two wings. In the hotel building business, they call it keys. This would be 300 keys.

Today in Vegas, it would cost you around a third of that to build one key, just to put things in perspective. The Tropicana was known for its mob ties. They actually had a really cool mob museum there that spoke a lot about its ties, and I got to experience that as well.

It was also known for one of the longest-running acts in Vegas. Donny and Marie Osmond helmed the Tropicana for a decade or two there. That's what Las Vegas is losing.

Discovering the Authentic Side of Las Vegas

James Ferrara: I guess we should take a minute to say that Las Vegas still has quite a bit left and quite a lot of things to see. It has evolved through many different positionings in the world.

Most recently, it has become a sports capital of the world with Formula One racing and a new stadium going up where the Tropicana was. That'll be a new baseball stadium, and there's a football stadium there already.

Now there is Now there is the Sphere, this new big entertainment venue. There's a lot new in Las Vegas. There's also a lot authentic in Las Vegas. I think maybe that's a little odd to put those two terms together in the same sentence: Las Vegas and authentic.

But there are things to do outside the hotels and even off the strip. If you've been to Las Vegas a lot, you've probably done the hotels and seen a lot of that. It's fun to push beyond it and try to get a sense of another Las Vegas.

One way to do that is to get out of town completely and go to Red Rock Canyon or Bryce or one of the nearby natural features around Las Vegas, which are stunningly beautiful. They are really worth a day trip.

Another thing that I like to do is hunt for the hidden Las Vegas. One of my favorite restaurants in Las Vegas is a place called Lotus of Siam. It's actually located in a strip mall off the Las Vegas strip.

It's where a lot of the famous chefs who have restaurants in Las Vegas and their teams go to eat late at night. It's a very authentic, huge, almost cafeteria-style restaurant. They say it is the most authentic Thai food in the United States.

It's a famous place, but it's not glitzy and it's not on the strip. That's just one example of the kinds of things you can find and do if you push beyond the normal tourist stuff in Las Vegas.

Mike Putman: There's a lot of tourist stuff in Vegas for sure. There are a lot of new buildings and new properties, and it's a great place to visit for a couple of days. But yeah, sad to see the Tropicana go.

Strategies for Finding Discounted Business Class Airfare

One other thing I wanted to share is about business class airfare sales. From time to time, the airlines will dramatically drop prices of business class tickets to different parts of the world.

Right now there is a buying event where you can buy airfares. Typically, a round-trip business class ticket from the East Coast to Europe is about $8,000. Sometimes it's $12,000, but $8,000 is the norm.

Right now, if you can go to the right place and travel at the right time, there are airfares including taxes as low as 2,500 dollars for business class. That's less than coach tickets in a lot of instances.

The really interesting thing is when you look at that ticket for New York to Barcelona as an example, it is 2,540 dollars. The makeup of that ticket is an airfare of 500 dollars, and the rest are taxes and fuel surcharges, customs fees, APHIS fees. There are all these fees that really run the price up.

If you are interested in going to Europe, there are some key cities, and you have to know how to work the system to get these rates. The inexpensive destinations to fly into right now are Barcelona, Helsinki, Rome, Seville, Madrid, Lisbon, and Milan.

Even if you aren't traveling to one of those cities, it might make sense if you want to go business class and travel in style in a lay-flat seat with gourmet meals. I often fly into one of these cities and then find a train or an inexpensive low-cost carrier flight to my final destination.

These fares are from 2,500 up to probably 3,500 dollars. These are for travel in August through November typically, which is the tail end of their peak season. You need to fly from a major city.

I live in Greenville, South Carolina, and I might not be able to get this flight out of Greenville. But I can get a discount if I go out of New York or Washington, maybe even Charlotte or Atlanta. You might have to Uber there or pick up another one-way flight.

It's a great way to save a lot of money and really travel in style. For these fares, you have to purchase the ticket somewhere between 30 and 150 days in advance. You have to be able to stay a minimum of 14 days and the inventory has to be in I class.

This is on American Airlines or Air France, as an example, or Delta. You have to depart and return on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Have some fun with this. If you're thinking about going to Europe, this is an opportunity to save a lot of money.

It does require some advanced planning and you might have to do something you wouldn't normally do, like travel on a Tuesday when you want to travel on a Monday. But for some big savings, it is a great way to go.

James Ferrara: I always say to work with a professional travel advisor for this kind of stuff because they're keeping an eye on those sales and requirements.

The famous Michael White from Hickory Global Partners just scored me first-class tickets on Copa Airlines to hit a few events that we have to do in the Caribbean, Punta Cana, and in Cancun. He just scored me a big first-class sale from Copa Airlines.

Go to your travel professional, whoever it is. Someone who has their fingers on the pulse of this kind of stuff. It's a lot for you to try to keep abreast of yourself.

Mike Putman: Let me top this off too, because there's another opportunity with pricing a little bit higher, maybe another 500 or 700 dollars, to get the same type of deal to New Delhi, India; Johannesburg; and Nairobi.

These are three other great deals with prices as low as 1,700 dollars plus taxes, which would be around 2,800 or 2,900 dollars. These are on airlines like Etihad, United, Turkish, Qatar, and Air France for travel in September or later.

A little advanced planning helps. Going to Delhi—I go to India maybe once a year—is a very long flight. Going in business really is good for your body if you're going to be on a plane for basically 20 hours.

The World of Domestic River Cruising

James Ferrara: I agree with that completely. I had to come back on the red-eye from Portland last week, and it made all the difference in the world to upgrade to first class. At least I got to sleep, and I wasn't sleeping standing up the way you sleep in economy.

Speaking of which, I had quite an odyssey the last couple of weeks. We haven't had the opportunity to talk about exploring a market that might be new for our listeners. We often talk about ocean cruising and river cruising, which is incredibly popular in Europe, China, and Egypt.

I think what we haven't talked about here before is domestic river cruising here in the United States. There are only two or three real cruise lines to consider when you consider the opportunities to cruise in the United States.

In the last couple of weeks, I was involved with an investment opportunity with a company called American Queen. They used to be called American Queen Steamship Company, and before that, Majestic Cruise Lines, and before that, Delta Queen.

The American Queen herself is the name of their lead ship, and that ship is the largest authentic steam paddle wheeler ever built and probably ever to be built in the world. It carries over 450 passengers.

I got the opportunity to go visit her and walk her three sister ships: the Queen, the American Duchess, the American Countess, and finally the American Empress. The first three are on the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers.

They do these great Mark Twain-like river cruises. They call at New Orleans and Natchez and the Great Civil War battle location in Vicksburg. Then the Ohio River goes off into the Midwest and does itineraries like the Bourbon Trail, visiting distilleries.

The Empress is actually up on the Columbia and Snake Rivers in the Pacific Northwest. I flew up to Portland, Oregon, to go on board. That ship does great winery tours and natural beauty tours through the Columbia River Valley and the Snake River Valley.

It's just not something that I think a lot of travelers are aware of. The sad news is that the company ceased operations, and the reason why I was visiting was to see if we would make an investment to try to bring the company back.

It has a 40 or 50-year history in the United States. We decided not to go through with that investment, but someone else did, and those cruise opportunities will be available again in the United States.

It's such a celebratory Americana history kind of experience. Having gone on the ships, I was struck with how beautiful they are. It really is a luxury experience with incredible onboard dining rooms, theaters, and what they call saloons, which are like lobbies.

There is a chart room where you can learn from the onboard Riverlorian who tells you the stories of the river. It's a slow-moving, very intimate experience like all river cruises. Mike, you were on a European river cruise last year.

Even though I was looking at investments, to me it was a real eye-opener about this whole other kind of travel that maybe we don't think about so often.

All-Inclusive Family Vacation Deals

Mike Putman: It was quite popular years ago, and I can certainly see a place for it in the American tourism economy, especially for small groups and President's Club groups. People want to do something a little bit different off the beaten path.

I had a couple of other special deals I want to talk about as we go into the peak travel season for a lot of families. Club Med is one of our favorite brands to work with. There are a lot of good people at Club Med and a really interesting story about how that company got started.

They are offering a 50% off discount right now. It's 50% off the regular rates, and it's good for travel between April 27th and November 1st. It's good for Club Med resorts in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Canada.

For those of you who don't know, Club Med is all-inclusive. It includes all the dining, alcoholic, and non-alcoholic drinks. It's very family-friendly. They're even offering a second incentive: with two paying adults, one child under the age of 16 goes free.

You're getting half off for you and your spouse or partner, and then you get one child under the age of 16 that goes at no cost, which is a really good deal. If you are a single traveler, they're offering no single supplement.

Typically, when a single goes on vacation, they have to pay for the room themselves, and it's basically double the price. With this special pricing, there will probably be a lot of singles at these Club Meds. It's a heck of a deal.

To give you some sample pricing, the Club Med Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic is $162 per adult per night, which is normally 400 dollars. The Club Med in Cancun is 162 dollars.

The Club Med in Michès Playa Esmeralda in the Dominican Republic is 199 per adult, and that's normally 489. You have to book soon because this offer expires April 8th. Hopefully, you're listening before then. Call your travel advisor and book a fantastic vacation at a heck of a price.

James Ferrara: Absolutely. That's the granddaddy of all-inclusive resorts. Club Med was doing it before anybody else.

Mike Putman: They were the first. I've taken my family; it's a really enjoyable experience. It's very casual. If people want to just chill out and enjoy the outdoors and the setting, it's not dressy. It's very European laid back with a lot of Europeans there.

James Ferrara: It is an interesting place with a lot of fun and camaraderie. They've got their own special vibe at Club Med.

Cruising through Alaska

Mike Putman: Speaking of deals, I have one last one. This is a really interesting deal. James, you've been on an Alaska cruise, right?

James Ferrara: I have been. I was on Celebrity in Alaska. I went years ago and it was one of the most spectacular visual things I've ever encountered. It's kind of like going to see the Grand Canyon for the first time, except you have days and days of seeing these wonderful sights.

Mike Putman: Well, Holland America Line is offering a great deal. This is a nine-night vacation that includes a seven-night cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam or Noordam. You get a seven-night cruise, one night hotel in Fairbanks, and one night hotel in Denali.

There is a 125-dollar onboard credit per room and a 400-dollar airfare credit per person. There is motorcoach transportation between Fairbanks and Denali. This is a fantastic deal that runs through the summer.

Some of the departures are 999 dollars, others are 1,199. This would be for the least expensive inside cabin and you can upgrade, but the discounts are applied accordingly. If you've never been to Alaska, doing a cruise is the best way of doing it for your first time.

You get a couple of extra nights of land transportation on a motorcoach, and you'll get domed rail transportation from Denali to Whittier. These are departures every week from May through August. Definitely hop on this one if you get a chance.

James Ferrara: One of my favorite cruises ever. It is spectacular to look at everything with really cool ports to visit. If you're on a great ship like Holland America Line—who were one of the originals—the food is going to be terrific.

If you're traveling on your own in Alaska, it's very difficult to get around from port to port or town to town. Hotels and restaurants are difficult to find. Having your ship, food, and accommodations with you makes it much easier to visit that part of the world.

Mike Putman: You're packing and unpacking one time. There's a little difference with this because there are two nights on land, but the distances in Alaska are great if you have to use the roadway system. Some places are not even connected by roads. You drive a mile outside the town and the road just stops.

James Ferrara: Thank you, Mike. I took my kids when they were younger and we took a day excursion. This is my favorite cruise excursion: we took a little skiff out and went fishing. In a matter of about two and a half hours, we caught about 175 pounds of fish.

It was a young guy who asked what we wanted to catch. We caught tons of halibut, king salmon, and sockeye. I saw the salmon runs spawning up the river, saw whales, bears, and seals. It was really great.

The Future of Virtual Reality in Travel

The other thing I wanted to talk about is a different type of travel. Here we are in the 21st century, and travel means new things. One that's really edgy is this concept of virtual reality and augmented reality.

We have heard a lot about this for 10 years and seen the development. There was a recent Harris poll about the development of virtual reality and the increase in people using it. People use it largely for gaming, but you'd be surprised how close a second there is.

51% of users use virtual reality for gaming; 47% use it to simulate travel experiences. That is really interesting to me. Usage decreases with age, so Gen Z are the largest users, and then it backs up through Gen X and Boomers.

But the surveys say that Boomers are the most interested in trying it. Even these older generations—and I count myself amongst them just barely—are thinking about how they can use it.

The idea that people might be able to use technology to experience travel is interesting. We are all about traveling more authentically and having memorable travels. Now this technology says maybe you can travel without leaving your couch.

I don't know how I feel about that. Does that undercut our message at No Tourist Aloud, or does it support it? Does it become the portal for people to travel? Maybe people who are trepidatious about a cruise might do a virtual reality experience on a ship and then book the cruise.

Mike Putman: I'm going to back out the virtual reality part because I think that's a segment of this—the goofy headset part. I don't have anything to do with that. It's never been interesting to me.

But the same idea, instead of looking through a headset, looking at a TV screen or a computer monitor, really makes sense. There is the famous Italian tour company, Perillo Tours, and Susan Perillo has a virtual reality company that they own also.

What this company does is hire a local person and vet these local tour guides in London, Paris, and all over the world. These guys strap a GoPro on their head or chest and walk through the town doing a live tour.

She said it's really important that they do it live because the tour guide is interactive and can interact with the users. At five o'clock on Tuesday, you're going to do a tour of Paris. It's really interactive.

Think about a classroom in a world history class in tenth grade, and you get a chance to go through the Louvre or do one of these tours. That would be really exciting for a kid who is hungry for history or art.

The other thing she said is that for senior homes, there is a big marketplace for that because those people can't travel anymore, but they still want to have the experience. I'm really behind it.

I think it drives interest, just like the Travel Channel used to before it had ghost stories on all the time. I think the Travel Channel really did build demand and got people aware of things they might not have been. I'm a strong proponent of these virtual tools.

James Ferrara: I'm with you. The senior idea is a really nice idea. In general, the poll said that two-thirds of Americans either use virtual reality or are considering using it. I think that's good news for the future.

This becomes inspiration to travel for a lot of people, and then a way to travel for some people who aren't able to travel, whether it's seniors or because of some physical condition, or even because they can't afford it right now.

Travel Giveaways and Closing Remarks

Give it a try if you have an opportunity to get yourself the goofy glasses. Let us know what you think about it. Mike, we have a drawing going on for an exciting vacation for two, including air and hotel accommodations at a resort.

All you have to do to enter our drawing is go to our website at notouristaloud.com and sign up for our newsletter. If you do that, you get five entries into our drawing. Towards the beginning of the summer, we are going to draw our lucky winner.

Just like we gave away a Virgin Voyages luxury cruise for two last summer, we're giving away this great vacation package for two also.

Mike Putman: That Virgin Voyage was like a 6,000-dollar package. That'll give you guys an idea of what we've got. Thank you so much for tuning in today. It's been a pleasure speaking with you again.

I hope you continue to tune in and register for our drawing, as well as share the good word about No Tourist Aloud. If you like the podcast, please leave us a review. Apple reviews and Spotify reviews help us out a lot to spread the word.

James Ferrara: We want to spread the word about how to travel authentically and be a good traveler and not a tourist. Thank you, everybody.

Mike Putman: Bye-bye.

Thank you for listening to another episode of No Tourist Aloud. We'll see you next week for another episode. No Tourist Aloud is produced by Podcast Studio X.