This week's podcast episode comes a few weeks after I said that I would broadcast it. I was going to let you know about places I visited in Chicago and Los Angeles in the last month. But I've had a lot of personal issues going on with my family, which has prevented me from recording and producing this episode, as well as others. So, I've decided to focus on my visit to Chicago, which involved seeing a baseball game at Wrigley Field and eating some ballpark food. I'll also let you...

In this episode of the Sansei Traveler podcast, I have a conversation with Kathy Waldorf, travel advisor with Cruise Planners. Kathy and I attended a training in Las Vegas, and while I went home afterwards, she and our fellow advisor and friend Carla stayed on at the Venetian Resort. In addition, they toured the new Virgin Resort, went on the Secret Food Tour and spent time at the Mob Museum. As many of you may know, I'm not the biggest Vegas fan because I'm not a gambler of part...

This week’s Sansei Traveler podcast episode is about the three things my kids and I did in Maui back in May of this year. I didn’t discuss anything about COVID-19 protocols or restrictions, because what my family and I went through didn’t apply to travel to Hawaii until recently. Instead, I mentioned the state’s Safe Travels site, which gives you the most updated information on the virus and how to travel to the islands. Rather, my focus was on two things we did and one plac...

This week's episode of The Sansei Traveler Podcast details culinary travel, with my conversation with travel advisor Rhonda Macier Lathen of Culinary Latitudes Travel. Rhonda is an expert in this travel niche, where you can discover a destination's culture through food discovery. What does that mean? While people people thing that culinary travel just involves going to local markets or restaurants (and not American fast food chains), it's evolved beyond that initial concept...

Episode 22 of The Sansei Traveler Podcast focuses on beer and the best ways to appreciate it. I spoke with Natalie Jones, the owner and founder of two businesses, Rocky Mountain Brew Runs and Beer Feelings. Natalie is based in the Denver area and has owned Rocky Mountain Brew Runs since 2020. She also started beer Beer Feelings shortly afterward. Both focus on enjoying beer, especially for those who feel somewhere intimidated by trying it. Rocky Mountain Beer Ru...

I'm back with a new season of The Sansei Traveler podcast! In this episode I talk with fellow Cruise Planners travel advisor Carla Woolstrum, who owns All Who Wander Travel (https://www.allwhowander.biz) in Dunwoody, Georgia. It's the first episode in a series of conversations with fellow travel advisors, friends and acquaintances who specialize or have exclusive knowledge in a certain aspect of travel. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Carla has been to the Cancun/Riviera Maya area...

In this week’s Sansei Traveler Podcast, I chat with Julie Quarry, business development manager with UnCruise. Since I’ve started working as a travel advisor, UnCruise has always been on my radar as a good example of the kind of travel I’d like to recommend to clients. They provide a memorable active adventure travel experience, sail to destinations that I’d like to see, have unparalleled enrichment opportunities and have great cuisine. Since 1996, they’ve been pioneers in small-s...

In this week’s Sansei Traveler podcast episode, I had a conversation with Mary Grimes, business development manager with American Cruise Lines. This New England- based company started in 1991, and has grown its business since then. Their primary destinations are the Mississippi, Columbia and Snake Rivers, the southeastern United States coast, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska and New England. Their 13 ships fall into five different classes, either as coastal ships or riverboats,...

In this week’s episode of The Sansei Traveler podcast, I talk with Alicia Kjeldgaard, business development and travel industry manager with Backroads. They are a California-base company that pioneered active adventure travel, where you can bike, hike, walk and other activities while you see the world. If there is anything that typifies the ideal trip that I enjoy, a vacation with Backroads is essentially what I would do. I love to be active and enjoy a bit of culinary explor...

For this 17th episode of The Sansei Traveler Podcast, I talked with Strategic Account Manager Dan Iacobelli for Royal Caribbean. One of the more well-known cruise lines, Royal Caribbean is known for its large ships and amazing innovations in the cruising experience. As a travel advisor, I’ve recommended them more than any other to first-time cruisers because of all the awesome things you can do while you’re on the ship, not to mention the various ports of call around the world.&nb...

For this week’s episode of the Sansei Traveler podcast, I talked with Jeff Caesar, business development manager with Rocky Mountaineer, which is a Canadian-based company specializing in luxury rail travel. Since 1990, they’ve taken travelers from all around the world between the Vancouver and the beautiful Canadian Rockies. Unlike other rail travel, guests don’t stay on the train but in luxury hotels at points along the way. The newest destination for Rocky Mountaineer and the fir...

This week's Sansei Traveler podcast episode is with Brandon Oscarson, business development manager at AmaWaterways. Ama is one of the leading river cruise lines in the travel industry, and its popularity grows every year. River cruising in general offers a very different experience than an ocean cruise. It's more intimate, with only a few hundred passengers maximum. Accommodations are more luxurious. The ship staff gets to know you more personally. You'll see ...

My second podcast interview is with Amanda Ward, business development manager with Globus. The company consists of Globus, Cosmos and Monograms, which provide land vacations of different types and budgets. I talked with Amanda because in this time of COVID-19, land travel has become a more viable option for people versus cruising, which hasn’t started yet. She offered some great reasons why you should consider going on a guided land vacation, even if youj’ve never considered one b...

I'm back! After taking about two months off - and this is the beginning of Season 2 - I'll be bringing you a series of interviews with travel professionals from around the industry. I start this off with Karin Tompkins, travel consultant with InsideJapan Tours in Boulder, Colorado. InsideJapan develops and leads small group guided, customized and independent tours of the Japan. I went on one of their tours (J-Pop and Go) with my family, which was a whirlwind t...

Los Angeles is almost a second home to me. I've visited many times since my siblings went to college there and one of my sisters still lives there. I went to college myself east of LA, then lived there for six years after graduation Admittedly, I have a love-hate relationship with LA, because I like it for everything that’s appealing (sunshine, beach, diversity, activity) but hate it for everything that most people also detest (traffic, superficiality, the Dodgers and other sports...

Episode 11 of The Sansei Traveler podcast is about the second area of my niche or specialty, culinary travel. According to Food Travel Monitor, a global study from the World Food Travel Association, 95% of Americans would like to have some kind of unique culinary experience during their travel. It’s a major factor that influences decisions, and especially strong with millennial travelers. Anthony Bourdain’s various shows have definitely influenced travelers to think of food as a major f...

River cruising and ocean cruising is like comparing apples and bananas – they are two totally separate things. But it's been gaining in popularity over the past few years, for these reasons: It’s a far more intimate experience, with only several hundred passenger total, rather than thousands.You don’t get seasick, because you’re not on a rough ocean, and you’ll see land every day of your tripThere’s more included, from drinks to food to excursionsSome are more for adults, and some are...

With episode 9 of The Sansei Traveler podcast, I return to letting you know about my favorites in a particular destination. I have to say that one of my favorite cities in the US happens to be Seattle, Washington. Probably one of my kids will eventually end up in Seattle, either for school or work or bothWe’ve been going there for nearly 10 years, because my husband’s sister lives nearby, east of the city. My older daughter loves it there - so much that she's become a devoted Seahawks ...

Adventure travel is one of the fastest growing niches in the market. I think that's because people want to be at least somewhat active as they would at home. People also want to be more immersed in local cultures when they travel, rather than have an experience they could easily have in their own hometown. Active adventure travel is a subset of adventure, and often involves either "soft" or "hard" adventure Soft adventure involves activities that most people do on a regular basis:...

Have you wanted to go on a cruise but haven't tried it yet? Let me help you figure out what to do when you want to try cruising for the first time. In this episode of The Sansei Traveler Podcast, I talk about why the vast majority of people haven't tried cruising, and why (even in this era of COVID-19) it's a great time for you to try it, especially if you haven't been on one before Even with the COVID pandemic, cruise lines have already seen increased bookings for both 2021 and 2...