The Jason Show: Flight prices and 2027 travel trends with Thrifty Traveler

I just cannot believe that it's November. I know. Can you believe it's November? You're going to be on Jimmy Kimmel now. Why are you laughing? Talk in the microphone. I can't believe it's November. Well, I just mean, I really do mean it though. It went very fast. I get it that the late night shows put together a montage of all people in TV saying, I can't believe it's whatever month. But I honestly can't believe it's November. I love November. Why? Closer to December. That's not a reason. Roll the open. Here we go. I appreciate it. Thank you. Where have I seen this audience before? More and more, that is. They're regulars now. It's a little joke for us. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the show. Happy Friday. Happy Friday. It's Friday. Well, first up today, look, Halloween's over, Thanksgiving and Christmas are knocking at our door, so when do you decorate for the holidays? I've already done it. I already decorated. Yep. I did it. No, it's not too soon. You be quiet over there, Negative Nelly. Anyway, a survey by Today's Homeowner found, I've never heard of that magazine. Anyway, found most people, 40% wait until after Thanksgiving to put up lights. Erin, 34% plan to do it before Thanksgiving. That's me. Yeah. Wow, I'm the old. I'm with you. I'm going to get you back, Erin. Anyway, 4% admit to just leaving them up year-round. That's right. That got a bigger clap. What? That got a bigger clap. Well, Erin's controlling the audience. So when Erin likes my opinion, she has the audience clap. If she doesn't like my opinion, she goes like this. Don't clap. Don't clap. Yeah. I know what you do. Thank you. Thank you. Today is a day to celebrate. It's not just because it's a Friday. Ladies and gentlemen, especially if you love queso. Right, Falun? That's right. Well, I love it. I love it. I know. Nobody likes queso on our team like Falun. Anyway, November 6th is National Nachos Day. That's right. Get this, they were first created, oh, we're doing nacho fun facts now on the show, yeah. Audience, hold on to your wigs and keys for this one. Here's a fun fact, they were created around 1943. I'm going to be three. That's right, oh, Aaron, stop. By a restaurant worker in Mexico. That restaurant worker had the nickname Nacho. That's right. A group of U.S. Army wives came to the restaurant one night and asked for a snack. And Mr. Nacho cut up tostadas, made them with cheese and a little jalapenos, and the rest is history. That's right. If I may, if I may, I say this a lot. May speak to all the restaurant owners out there that serve nachos. Hi, my name is Jason. That's Falun. You can call her Queso. So, now remember... Just remember, restaurant owners, I say this all the time, you've got to layer your nachos. Layer them, because we, the public, don't want to end up with a bunch of dry chips. Layer your nachos, yes. Thank you. See, Aaron agrees with that. That's why the audience clapped. Yeah. Today on the show, we don't we don't do theme days a lot. We don't. That's not what we do. But today we do have a theme. It's dedicated to travel. That's right. As we head into the holiday travel season, we're joined by Kyle and Gunnar from Thrifty Traveler. They're going to talk about flight prices, travel in the new year, and some of the best and worst places they've been. So, you are going to learn so much. So, get a cup of coffee or a vodka soda. Let's start by saying hello to Falun, my friend. Hello. Hello beautiful. Hello. You know it's a long day. You know it's a Friday when photographer Eric brings a shot of espresso to me. I know. That's right. I did ask him where the vodka was to go with it and Bjorn said you have Everclear upstairs. I said what am I in college? Yeah right. Everclear. You know we have the under desk Frigidaire. That's right. We keep cocktails in this for nice audience members. That was Hillary Duff's refrigerator. That's right. It was Hillary Duff's. Yeah, we keep. Yeah. Anyway, how you doing? I'm good. I'm like you. I think we like moved up our Christmas decorating. Like, I don't know if it's been the past two years, maybe since like we had Olive, my daughter, because it's like we love. Like the ambiance of like the soft lights in our house. You know what I mean? Like in the evening. And so we started decorating earlier and earlier. And then this year, my stepson was like, hey, can we decorate early? And we're like, we do anyway. But he is leaving because he graduated this year. He leaves on the 9th. So we're like, yeah, we're decorating for Christmas before he leaves because he'll be gone not coming back for Christmas. I'm doing, I did it on November 1st. We did Halloween and the next day we woke up. I had Dar over. Yep. My mom, let me tell you, hi. Do you hate gift wrapping? Hire my mom. Because my mom worked, Dar worked at a department store called Carson Pirie Scott. And she worked, oh, thank you for clapping it. Yeah. And, yeah, we had some here in Minneapolis. If you're watching from Chicago, first of all, hi, Chicago. She worked at the Michigan City, Indiana one at Marquette Mall. Anyway, my mom worked in customer service. And one of the things you do at that desk is you wrap. At fancy department stores, they have the gift wrapping department. And my mom, my mom can wrap better than any human I've ever seen in my life. So one of the cheap decorating tips that I tell people when you're decorating for the holidays, you know how you have artwork or you have framed pictures up around your house? Wrap them. Gift wrap your pictures you have hanging up, and it makes for a very cheap way of decorating your house even more. Yeah. I have Dar, I pump her full of Kahlua and cream. I brought her over, and my mom just wraps all of our artwork. I've been to your house for, like, a holiday party before. You have. And it's beautiful. Like, it looks like presents with a bow hanging on the walls. It's so nice. And it's incredibly cheap. You just get a roll of, I mean, my mom is expensive. You know what I mean? If you have her do it. But have Dar come over, give her some Kahlúa and cream, and let her go. And she'll wrap all your stuff for you. Perfect. I, uh, Jeff was wondering, did I ask if I inherited my mom's gift wrapping skills? Kind of, sorta. Are you a good gift wrapper? No. Um, and it's wow. You got real blunt on that one. Growing up, my mom and my sister are like your mom. Like they can wrap, they can sew, they can decorate cakes. I didn't get that skill set. I am like the way my mind works is I'm very creative, but I don't like the detail portion of things. So I'm like, how fast can we get something done? Yes. So I move quickly, not. I'm not a perfectionist, so I don't think I'm good at it at all. It's pretty bad. Are you? I'm pretty good. Yeah, I'm decent. I'm right in the middle. As I said, today is, we don't do theme shows, not often. We're doing one today all about travel because every so often our show is helpful. It's not just ridiculous. Today is one of those days. Well, our show is built to be, well, no, our show is built to be ridiculous. I mean, you know, anyway. I'm just going to quickly tell you to set the stage here. If you want to get me going in a good way, if you want to make me happy, ask me about Disney. I'll give you travel tips. I love to talk about travel, and I'm not kidding. Our guest today, and Falun knows this because Falun's been the recipient of this. We have gotten more good deals and have learned more travel tips from Thrifty Traveler than anything. We've saved probably thousands of dollars between the two of us on our trips. I mean, sometimes you do have to be flexible. I think that's part of it. Like, that's what happened when I booked, like, my insane deal through them. And this was not sponsored, by the way. I mean, I paid my own money, you know what I mean? Right. For a trip to Iceland. Yeah, Thrifty Traveler ain't paying us. No, no. Let's be very clear. Jake and I, this was, like, right before we got married, we went. I got to Iceland and the tickets were $250 round trip on Delta each. So, and it was, we weren't first class, but it was like great. And to be on Delta for that. Now, once we got to Iceland, things turned up expensive as it turned out. Iceland is very expensive. It's expensive, it is. But it was cheap getting there due to the deal we found with them. Yeah. I will end with this just to set the table before well-dressed Kyle and well-dressed Gunnar comes out. Gunner was very worried about what to wear on the show. Yeah, I said he matches the couch perfectly. He had a little bit. No, I'll keep this brief. We have about a minute. I am going to Europe for the very first time. I get three weeks off in the holidays. Excited for you. I am doing. Thank you. I am doing, I'll keep this very brief, I could go on and on about this and maybe I'll expand when the boys are out here, but I'm doing, I'm flying into Paris on Christmas Day, I'm in Paris and London for about 10 days, and then the rest of my three weeks I'm going to Hawaii, my beloved Hawaii. No, audience, you're going to pass out, you're going to pass out. I'm staying at really nice hotels, I'm not bragging, I'm just telling you this for a reason. Because of the credit card tricks and the points that I accumulate, tricks that I've learned from Thrifty Traveler, I'm going to London, Paris, and Hawaii. Three weeks. Each leg of that trip, I'm on Delta One. So the lie-flat seats? Fancy. Out of pocket, how much do you think I paid? $20,000. That's probably. No, that's probably what the trip is. Out of pocket. $1,800. $100. That's insane. Okay. Yeah. Three weeks, two human beings, Delta One and nice hotels, $1,800. All because of crap I learned from well-dressed Gunnar and well-dressed Kyle. That's right, yeah. Nice. When we come back, those gentlemen will be out here with all the tips that you need for the holiday travel season. We'll be right back. Back in a moment, everyone. Pack your bags, fasten your seatbelt, and let's go. Today's show is all about travel. The team from Thrifty Traveler is here to talk flight prices as we head into the busy holiday season. Find out where to find the cheap flights as everything goes up in price. Plus, the travel experts reveal their best and worst when it comes to travel spots, airports, and more. Stay with us. Welcome back, friends. Well... As I said right before the break, we have a little travel theme today. Now that November is here, many people are thinking about the holidays. And with Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's headed our way, a lot of us will be traveling. Today's show is all about travel. And when we talk travel, we turn to the experts at Thrifty Traveler. Besides talking travel news and offering daily deals and travel steals, Kyle Potter and Gunnar Olsson host a hugely popular weekly travel podcast called Well, you guessed it, the weekly, or the Thrifty Traveler podcast, the weekly, what the hell. Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Kyle and Gunnar, everybody. Thanks, Jason. Hello, friends. Hello. Hi. Okay, let's get right into it. There's so much to cover. We have plenty of time. Let's start with holiday travel and a 37,000 feet question. We are in the beginning of November. So is it too late? People are watching. In Chicago, in Orlando, in Nashville, in Detroit, is it too late to snag some good holiday travel deals? I'm starting with you, Negative Nelly, because I'm going to go to him for positivity. Creativity, yes. It's too late for Thanksgiving. That ship has really sailed. Whatever prices you see, they are 99.9% certain to only get worse, not better, if you're waiting for Thanksgiving. So I would book whatever you see, if you can stomach it right now. Grab it now. Christmas. New Year's, there's a little bit of time, but time is running out. I would say it's still a little bit more likely that prices are going to go up, not down. But that's why we talk about the biggest thing that you can do, especially when you don't love the price you see, book a main cabin economy ticket, not the cheapest basic economy ticket, because then if prices do in fact drop, you can rebook that flight, pocket the difference as a voucher, and then put that towards a trip in 2027. Did you guys know that? Yeah, yeah. Don't get the cheapest because you can't do that, right? That's their new little trickery. Yeah, it is one of the biggest wins, one of the few wins airlines have given us in the last 5-10 years is that kind of flexibility to rebook and capitalize if prices do in fact drop. My favorite new thing with you two, and I love you both very much, is you get negative or you kind of are like... And watching Gunner try to smile through it and trying to find a sliver of positivity that you're not focusing on. Do you agree with everything your boss said? I do agree with everything my boss said because I have to, Jason. He's paying you, yeah. Good answer. No, but he is right. I just did this. I booked a main cabin flight home for Christmas like a week ago, and I got an alert that the price went down. I went back in, and I rebooked it. We only saved like $30 on each flight, but that's not nothing. That's just going towards another flight that I'm going to book later on. And I'm really happy to have that e-credit sitting there. And we actually just rolled out a free tool called Fair Tracker that does all of this for you. You enter the details of the dates, the route, the flight number that you booked, the price that you paid, and then we're going to check it every single day. Whenever the prices do, in fact, drop, we'll send you an email and instructions for how you can do all of this. Oh, you all signed up for that. We started this less than a month ago. We've already saved people more than $35,000 on airfare. And it's completely free. That is fantastic. That's why I love you. Okay, let's talk. I mentioned in the intro with Falcon, I'm going to Europe for the first time. I'm probably like a lot of people. I've gotten a lot of DMs when I've talked about it on the radio show or here. Off the top of your head, you guys have traveled everywhere. Off the top of your head, if you're like me and people watching, first time going to Europe, maybe this holiday season, best tips. For first timers. Is saying have fun, is that too simple? Yeah, we have an hour to fill, Kyle. A little bit more, buddy. No, you're up. Europe is, I think there's a tendency to think about Europe as like this big homogenous place and not just from country to country from, you know, certainly from France to England, but from city to city within France, if you're traveling around France, or if you're going to get outside of London, when you go to England, it is just so intensely different no matter where you go. And that's what I'm going to say. Get out of the big city for at least a day trip if you can, because there is so much to see in these countries and so many different types of people to meet. And that is the point of travel is to meet people, connect with new people, experience new things. And you're going to experience new things if you get outside of those big cities. I poked good fun at you, but I'm so glad that you said that, because other than listening to you, Colin and I have watched about one million YouTube videos of tips because we're doing both Paris and London. And every... Every single YouTube person, content creator has said, have a day trip. If you're going to Paris, get outside of the city and go to X, Y, and Z. And the same thing with London. Gunnar, what would you say for first timers? I think, you know, one would be pack your walking shoes because just getting lost in these cities is really special. You know, just walking around, finding that restaurant that's kind of in the alley or something. That's part of the best part of all these European cities. But along Kyle's point, You know, getting around is so different in Europe. Their trains are beautiful and cheap and easy to use. You know, jump on the train and take a day trip from there. Don't think about it from the American perspective of I need to jump in my car and drive somewhere. It's really fun to travel the way they do and get around the way they do there in Europe. I've heard about for London. The Uber boat, the Uber ships in the Thames, people rave. I have gotten so many emails about that. People are like, you've got to go on the Uber boat. I'm like, the Uber boat? That's crazy. Okay, let's balance it out, though. I do not enjoy fear-mongering. I do not. I don't like when people, I lived in Minneapolis, and oh, my God, it's so dangerous. I'm like, it's a city. Every city has problems. I will say, though, that every one of these videos talks about pickpocketing in London or Paris. Is this a real thing? Of course it's a real thing. It's a real thing here. You know, it's a real thing everywhere. It's certainly more pronounced around major tourist areas where people know that, you know, the tourists who are going to be there aren't maybe quite as aware as they should be. And there are some easy marks. The way not to be an easy mark is to keep your head on a swivel a little bit. And keep your wallet in your front pocket instead of the back. And your phone, I've heard, don't have your phone just hanging out there. Exactly. There are some easy things to do that don't detract from the experience of exploring a new country. I mean, not that this negates the fact that pickpocketing certainly exists, but for as much as we travel to Europe, to Southeast Asia, to Australia, wherever, I have never been pickpocketed. Not once, and I've been to, I don't know, 40-plus countries now, and I think the same is true for you. Yeah, exactly, and I think just keeping your wits about you when you're traveling anywhere is important. You know, I love to have a cocktail or two when I travel. Just one or two. Just one or two. Just one or two. Gunnar, I'm with you. I have a two-drink limit. Yeah, I wouldn't overdo it. All right. A stumbling Jason Matheson around the streets of Paris is an obvious mark. It's going to be happening in about four months, three months. Yeah, yeah. Okay, before we have to take a break in this segment, let's talk about, for first timers, going to Europe, currency exchange. When should we do it? When should I get the money? I mean, the worst time to get the money is at home. And carrying, you know, potentially thousands of dollars in foreign currency with you. There's one thing that's going to make you an easy mark. It's having like a big wallet full of cash that somebody can just lift from you, right? So don't do that. How much do you think I'm getting paid at this job? I'm not walking around with no money. Well, we heard how much you saved on your flights. Right, exactly. You clearly got money to spend. No, so don't do that. Do not pay to exchange currency either at the airport or on the ground in either Paris or England. The best thing to do, what we both do is we both Both have an ATM card, a debit card, a checking account that we can use to withdraw money from anywhere in the world without ATM fees or foreign transaction fees. So there's a couple of banks that allow this. The one that I think we both use is called Charles Schwab from the major bank. It's the most important card in my wallet. Forget any other credit card. Having a debit card that you can use to just withdraw the amount of money as you need it and then go back two days later Later, if you run out of cash that you need, that's the best thing to do. Real, okay, that's actually, that is not actually, you guys are full of great tips. So Charles Schwab is the one that you use. Yeah, there's a couple of others. I think a bank called Betterment has some product like this. There's probably three or four, but I've had a Charles Schwab account open for the last eight years. That's the only thing I use it for. ...is international travel. When my wife and I are getting ready to take a trip... You put some money in there? ...we transfer some money from our primary checking account into that Charles Schwab account, we're good to go. Shiver me timbers. I'm going to do that right after the show today. That is great. Okay, let's talk about, I think, and I love your podcast. You guys were nice enough to invite me to intro one of your live shows. I think, as someone that does creation of abroad, this is one of the best things you guys do. Will you explain the Starter Kit series? Well, the Starter Kit series is really just your starting point for getting into points and miles and all these travel tips that we're talking about. And honestly, I kind of made it, we kind of did it selfishly because we get people asking us all the time, how do I get started in points and miles? What credit card should I pick up? What airline should I fly? Basically, I made this podcast for my mom. So she would stop asking me questions, but it's really just the entry point. Like if you're, if you're curious about all these things or, you know, maybe somebody's talking about points and miles on a high level that you're not quite sure about, you can get caught up to speed in five quick episodes that we have out now. Kyle, we're looking at a little bit of the podcast here. Kyle, what are some of the things you cover? Gunnar listed a couple of them. Anything else? You know, we do everything from breakdowns of the latest news in airlines and airfare and credit cards and loyalty programs every week on Thursdays on the podcast in the starter kit. I mean, it's really, like Gunnar said, trying to get back to basics and give people a starting Because the hardest thing about this, This is everything in travel, whether you're talking about booking flights or redeeming miles or just where to go. It's so personal. What you want out of your trip with Colin this winter is going to be very different than what we would want to do or the points that we have to redeem or what kind of points we can earn. And so the point is to get everybody up to a good base level so that they can go deeper down their own rabbit hole and learn what's going to work best for them. If I may, and these guys aren't paying me, I brag about them all the time. I am not joking. What you guys have taught me and the big guy, Jared. He used to be on our show, but he's very busy now. He has no time for us. But anyway, what Jared taught me many years ago that I'm not joking, audience. I'm not. No sarcasm here is the credit card that's right for you and the proper use of credit card points. Because when I go to book a trip with your with your help, we look at it as buckets. I have the I use like let me give you an example. You guys taught me. The American Express gold card has four times points on food and restaurants. Colin and I eat out a good amount. So whenever I go out, I use that card because I'm going to accrue points. So I have my bucket of American Express points. I'm a Marriott Bonvoy member. You guys have taught me, you know, try to stick to a loyalty program for a hotel company. We pick Marriott. So I have Marriott points to play with. I have Amex points to play with, and then I have Delta SkyMiles. So when we go to book a trip, we look at all those buckets and go, how can we use them to their maximum potential? Am I right on that? Oh, absolutely. And you can take that just as simple as having two buckets to pull from. Maybe you've got your bucket of Delta SkyMiles because you live here in Minneapolis or Detroit or Salt Lake City or wherever, and you kind of need those. And then you need one other thing. And then the more buckets you add to pull from, The more flexibility you have, the more versatility you have to jump on other deals as they pop up. So as you start to kind of scale this and do more of it, you just give yourself more opportunity to do more things that we're talking about. But again, it all comes back to understanding kind of the foundation of all of this. And that's what our starter kit does. Yeah. The starter kit series is available on the Thrifty Travel podcast, wherever you get your podcast and on YouTube. Right there it is. Look for them on Apple, Spotify, wherever. We're going to take a break. More with Kyle and Gunnar when we return, back in a moment, everyone. Well, that was great. You were just out here and you put sunglasses on, out. Sir, she can have my seat, okay? Everyone should experience first class at least once in their lives, and Annie shouldn't miss out just because she can't afford it. No, ma'am, I'm afraid that's not allowed. Help me, I'm poor. No, listen, we're a whole wedding party. I'm the bride, I'm getting married, the seat's empty, she's obviously nervous. We'll calm her down a bit. You know what, I understand, but Claire is right. Everybody go back to your seats. Okay, you especially. That is a look at the last trip I took with executive producer Jeff. No, that is a classic clip from the comedy Bridesmaids. Travel is the theme of our show today. Welcome back. I'm joined by my buddies Kyle and Gunnar from ThriftyTraveler.com and the Thrifty Traveler podcast. Well, we're going to have some fun for a few minutes. We're going to stop learning for a second. We all have our preferences when traveling, and that's the inspiration for a little game. We're calling it Trump. Travel, this or that. I'm going to ask the guys a series of questions about flying, vacations, and more, and they have to reveal what they like best. And we'll probably learn a thing or two about them and about travel as we do it. Are you ready, guys? Let's do it. Okay, first one. Window or aisle? Aisle. I unfortunately am the person that gets up two if not three times throughout the course of a flight. Are you? And I don't want to have to climb over people. You go to the restroom a lot. Okay. A lot of coffee. Gunner. Yeah, I'm also aisle. Asking another adult to go to the bathroom is humiliating, so I gotta sit on the aisle. You are absolutely right. Especially if the person is sleeping. Yeah. You feel bad waking them up. Okay, oh, this is a good one. Checked bag or carry-on? Carry on on the way, sometimes checked bag back. So then you have the freedom to move around a little bit faster in your final destination, especially somewhere like Europe. But then if you buy a lot of souvenirs or you buy a bottle of wine or something like that, or a case on the way back, or a case or several cases, a full box. Gunner? Kyle's exactly right. Carry on on the way there because you need all your stuff and check it on the way back because if they lose your bag, they've got to ship it to your house anyway. Who cares? You're heading home. And let me say, and you guys have to remain professional and I don't, I think people that have a backpack that could easily fit under their seat and they put it in the overhead, I think those animals should be on a no-fly list. I think they should never be able to fly again. I really do. I think they should be immediately removed from the aircraft. Yep. Throw them in Guantanamo Bay with the people who take off their shoes on the planes. Oh, the people that take their shoes off and put their feet on the wall of planes? On the aircraft? Again, Guantanamo. Okay, let's do this next one. Weekend trips or week-plus trips? My favorite thing about going on any trip, any vacation, is the day when it eventually happens where I look at my wife and I say, what day of the week is it? And you can't do that on a weekend trip. No. So it's always a week or longer is my preference. That's nothing better. Or you don't even know what day it is. What day is it? Oh, I don't know. It could be Wednesday. I don't care. Gunner? I don't mind a sprint. I'm fine doing a weekend trip or a really short trip. I also have a kid at home, so sometimes we need to get back quickly. But I don't mind going someplace and kind of sprinting through all the sights and sounds and getting back quickly. It helps you save money a little bit, too. Let the record show, he's been to Chicago like 18 times this year. Really? He's a little bit. There's some recency bias going on here. Oh, I get it. I mean, in the kid thing, I mean, that's a, yeah, another reason I don't have them. Anyway, sorry, mom, I mean Daddy and Daddy staying at Disney kid. Yeah. Okay, here we go. Oh, this is hotel or Airbnb. You could flip a coin for me. Really? Some of my favorite trips that we've ever taken have been stays at Airbnbs, in large part because the locations are always better. You can get into the heart of a neighborhood with an Airbnb. Hotels, 99 times out of 100, it's in a commercial area surrounded by other hotels and maybe a shopping mall, and it's just not the same to me. Gunner, you know... Being treated really luxuriously at a nice hotel is one of the best feelings in travel, I think. When somebody calls you Mr. Olsen when you're checking in, I mean... Right? There's nothing better. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what you're... You could not be more wrong. No chores before checkout. I was just at Airbnb with executive producer Jeff and photographer Eric and Colin, and I felt like I was in the Civil War. I just, I did not enjoy it. When I'm on vacation, I want someone making my bed. I don't want to make waffles. I don't want to make... And I want to check in. Second at a desk. No, no, I hate them. Okay, next. Planned itinerary or see what happens? Both. This is also cheating, but both. I think a planned itinerary with one, maybe two major things in a day with space to explore. Again, the best experiences I've ever had in my travels have come not from, you know, a tour or a special dinner reservation. I don't mind those either. You know, just time to walk around and go where your eye or your nose takes you. Those are the best experiences. Gunnar? I've shifted towards Kyle on this. I used to be an amazing race traveler. I'd plan every second and there was no time to breathe or think or take in the sights. It was just... Thing to thing to thing, and that's partially maybe because my trips were too short, like we mentioned before. Yeah. But now I've left a little more room to breathe and just a little more time to get lost somewhere and have fun that way, too. I allow Colin to plan, like, one thing a day. I don't want it. And no tours. I don't want to be stuck on a bus with a whole bunch of people for 18 hours. No. I don't need to see another mind ruin. Still to come, travel predictions for the next year, and Kyle and Gunnar reveal their best and worst. Travel experiences ever. Where are they? You're going to find out when we return. Back in a moment, everyone. Welcome back to our special travel show. Hope you're having a good Friday, y'all. I know I am. We're back with Kyle and Gunnar from ThriftyTraveler.com with November here. The new year is approaching and we got, you know, there's all these lists. New travel trends always pop up each year. So I want to talk about some of those for 2027. This is a list from Expedia. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so let's go through some of these, okay? Go ahead and make fun of them if you want to. Expedia says... One of them, one of the trends, short and quick getaways over long vacations. Is that really a trend? This is just kind of what people do. Yeah. Are they doing more of it? Sure. Maybe. I don't know. Show me the data, Jason. Right. Thank you. I know. I think it might just be like a little belt tightening, you know, saving a little bit of money. But yeah, this just seems like something that people are already doing all the time. Another trend that they're saying for 2027, they're calling it unadulting, carefree vacations with mindless fun like Vegas and Disney. Mindless, huh? There's a word for this. I've been called worst. Worse. Worse, yeah. There's a word for this, and it's called relaxing. Yeah. Yeah. Marketers are out of control. Yeah. People need to stop paying these marketing firms. It's just called relaxing. We all do this. This is why we go on vacation. Unadulting. I don't get it. Vegas is down. What are they talking about? What's Expedia talking about? I mean, I love Vegas, but the occupancy is up. It's there. They're having problems in Disney. I mean, come on, man. It's just, it's, it's. Okay, they lost me on this one. They did, yeah. Okay, another trend, allegedly. Travel inspired by TV show and movies. They're using the example of White Lotus. Your thoughts? I think this is definitely true, I think we've seen, we've heard and seen people who are targeting the exact hotels that the White Lotus filmed at, we saw, I mean they say, they cited a big spike in people visiting Monaco after Emily in Paris said they were filming in Monaco, I mean people are chasing these sets around the world because these shows make them look really beautiful and fun. Okay, so he says people, people are doing this, he went to Sicily. Where they filmed The White Lotus Season 2. So he is people. He is people. I love this. I feel like I'm in the middle of an HR meeting. Gunner is cool, yeah. It's more of a performance review. Well, I'm going to pull a Letterman. Forget this list. When it was your... Add the sound effect later. Do a Letterman. Okay, you two. Forget Expedia. Is there a trend that you're seeing for 2027? I think people are going to places that they've never thought of going before. I mean, especially because fares are looking so high to the places that people are used to going all the time, that maybe they're going to follow the deal in 2027. I just think people are so curious about more parts of the world now. And we see airlines like United who are adding nonstop routes to places like Luxembourg and Slovenia, and people are all of a sudden thinking bigger and the airlines are reacting to it. It's a cool trend. It's a really exciting trend. I hope people are... Do you agree with your employee? I do. He gets an A plus on this particular statement. No, you know- You're safe for another day, Gunnar. He's right. And I think a piece of this is that for as ugly as airfare seems right now, it's most ugly domestically. And that's just another reason to look abroad. And when I look back- Why? That seems counter to what it should be. They're using more gas going to Slovenia. A phrase I've never said before in my life. Here we go. Airfare, honestly, it has nothing to do with the cost. It's all about supply and demand, and it's all about competition. And especially when you talk about these brand new routes to Slovenia, and there are like Santiago de Compostela in Spain, and a handful of others over in Europe. They're brand new. They have a ton of seats to fill, and what's the best way to fill a bunch of seats? Give people a good deal. So that's where you've got to look right now. We have like 30 seconds. You know another trend that started, I think, in the pandemic, because we couldn't really go a lot of places and we could only go outside. Falcon does this all the time. Young people love national parks, man. There is just such a push. Am I right on that? Absolutely. Absolutely. I love national parks. I love Glacier. It's one of my favorite places. I love Glacier. Yeah. Yeah. And Gunnar's young-ish. Ish. I mean, you know, young adjacent. He'll be with us for at least another five years, we hope. I hope. Congratulations, Gunnar. We're going to take a break more when we return. Back in a moment, friends. You got another couple years in you, Gunner. How soon can you land? I can't tell. You can tell me, I'm a doctor. No, I mean, I'm just not sure. Why can't you take a guess? Not for another two hours. You can't take a guess for another two hours? No, no, no, I mean, we can't land for another two hours. Fog has closed down everything this side of the mountains. We've got to get through to Chicago. Welcome back. That is a scene from the classic comedy Airplane. Today's show is dedicated to travel. Joining me again, my buddy, is the host of the Thrifty Traveler podcast, Kyle and Gunner. Gunner's going to be with us for about another five years. That's about it. Congrats. You've both been all around the world, so we want to hear from you. I love this. We're going to play best and worst, okay? Because you guys, these are the experts. Are you ready? I want to get through as many of these as I can. Gunnar, let's start with you. Okay. Best place you've ever been. Best place I've ever been, I think Mürren, Switzerland. It is this tiny Swiss village, no cars in it at all. You have to take a cable car to get up there. It is the most peaceful place I've ever been. We went in the middle of winter and skied. It was amazing. Kyle Potter. The least peaceful place I've ever been is also still the best, Hanoi, Vietnam. That city got into my bloodstream. It changed my life. It's literally the reason why I'm working for Thrifty Traveler. It is the reason why I'm sitting on this couch with you and Gunnar. I would not be doing travel if I didn't go to Vietnam almost 10 years ago. I want to get to the next question, but I got to ask you, why? It's intoxicating. It's challenging. It is so chaotic. But the thing to me about travel, what I seek out is two things. I want to be challenged. I want to learn new things. And you are so challenged going to a place like Vietnam, which just feels like a completely different planet. And two is the food. That is the food that I want to eat. If I were put on death row, which there's no reason for that, I'll be fine. I'll live at least six years. Thanks for letting us know, Kyle. Yeah, yeah. But I would want a bowl of pho, or I would want some noodles from Vietnam, or I would want bun cha, the dish that they serve in Hanoi, the dish that President Obama ate with Anthony Bourdain when they went to Vietnam together. That's what I want in my travels. Not an egg sandwich from Japan? That's a close number, too. If I got a private joke, if you watch his social media, he went on for about a half hour about egg salad sandwiches in Japan. We can do another hour-long episode about eggs. Okay, the opposite of this one. Kyle, we'll start with you. The worst place that you would never go back to, or maybe let me rephrase that, most disappointed? I would say it's Cartagena, Colombia. And I liked it, but I just, I expected more. And I, you know, my wife and I were there for three nights before going off further into the coast of Colombia, which we loved. And when we left Cartagena, I said, I'm good. I don't need to go back there again. Yeah, I felt that way. There was an episode of The Real Housewives of New York shot there, and I was good after that. Yeah. For you, Gunnar? Kyle hates this answer, but for me, it's Singapore. But there are a few caveats. I went there alone. It was on a work trip, and I was there for about... 40 hours total because I was flying. I flew the longest flight in the world. I did. Okay. Okay. Yeah, he financed it too It's a it is an extremely expensive city when I was there. It was about 110 degrees out every day. I Rinsed all three of my shirts that I brought I was doing hand laundry in the sink at my hotel It was not my favorite couple of days on the ground, but I think I could do it better in the future I wouldn't not go back I love that your company can finance a trip to Singapore, and we went to Milwaukee, and photographer Eric had to have a bake sale to pay for our Airbnb. That's the difference in the budgeting situation. Okay, you kind of already, let me go to the next one. Underrated travel spot that people should visit. Hmm. Underrated. I think Finland is very underrated. People love Norway and Iceland and some of those Scandinavian countries. But Finland has all that. The Finnish people are so demure, but they're all very, very happy. And the landscapes there are amazing. And I would say go in winter when they those are when their people are really their most selves. And you see the northern lights like almost every night. It's an amazing place. Kyle Potter. I'm going to go with Utah, but specifically the Big Five national parks in Utah. The Mighty Five, that's a trip that my wife and I did more than a decade ago, and it's still one of the most memorable trips ever. Even if you're not a big hiker, just being in the car and seeing some of these landscapes is incredible. I'll take your word for that one. Let's do best and worst airports in the world. I love this topic. All right. Gunner, let's start with you. Best airport. Singapore is probably the best airport in the world. It is, it's truly stunning. You, it's like eat off the floor clean and the whole thing is beautiful. It's full of art and I was stunned by going through that airport. In your opinion, the worst, Gunner? The worst airport, that is a really hard one. I really don't like Newark. That is not my favorite place to transit through, so I'll have to go with that. Also, if you catch Orlando on a bad day, that's a tough place to be. MCO is, yeah, Orlando, and I love it. I basically get mail delivered there, but it is not, yeah, it leaves a lot to be desired, and I love you, Orlando, and you know I do. Kyle Best. I mean, I would echo Singapore. There is a butterfly garden, a movie theater, like four shopping malls, and it's just, it's not even an airport. It's just an experience. Settle down, Samantha. Now, give me another answer, though, other than say, give me your next favorite one. Doha in Qatar is on that level. It's a great airport to connect through whether you're going to the Middle East or really anywhere in the world. Worst? I got to look at Gunner for this one. Look at me in the eyes. It's Chicago, O'Hare. It's a terrible airport. It's an abomination. It needs to be so much better. It has not changed a day since they filmed Home Alone 1 in 1989. It's a bad airport. It's Gunner's home airport. We battle about this all the time. I'm from the Chicagoland. All of you watching from Chicago, Kyle.Potter at Thrifty Traveler. Email him. Don't email me. I love O'Hare. No, no, no. My email address is Gunner at Thrifty Traveler. There we go. There was a mistake in the setup, and yeah, we just lived with it. Okay, we have 30 seconds. This is really last. We'll be right back. Which one did you want me to do, Jeff? Oh, a place you want to go, but you haven't gone yet. Kyle. Oh. Ooh. Actually, we talked about it before. Slovenia. It's been on me and my wife's list for a long time. We're going to get there. Okay. Gunnar? Vietnam. The way he talks about it, intoxicating. I'm in. Yeah, you got real. Look at your face. Yeah, I know. It's like you have an egg salad sandwich in front of it. Yeah. We talked about Vietnam when we did our live show, when you introduced us. Yes. And I literally cried on stage telling the story of why I fell in love with this country. There's something about it. You both, you take a group trip to Vietnam. Deal. Give it up for Kyle and Gunnar, everyone, for Travel News, Flight Deals, and more at thriftytraveler.com. And wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe to the Thrifty Traveler podcast. We will be right back. Welcome back, everyone. We're so glad you're here. Thanks to Kyle and Gunnar again. We have all new shows coming your way in November and December. We want to see you in our studio audience. Tickets are free. Head to eventbrite.com and search The Jason Show. Pick a date and join the fun. We'll be right back. episodes of our show available on YouTube, Roku. Tubi and the Fox local app. If you get our show a day late, don't worry about that. You can always watch our show live on the Fox local app. All you have to do is pick Fox nine as your home station and watch the Jason show live every day. Thanks to this audience. Thanks to our guests today, Kyle and Gunner. If you're watching and you're a kid that's being bullied, go out there and be yourself because nobody can tell you you're doing it wrong. Bye, everybody. We'll see you on Monday.