Gearing up for holiday shopping? Want to surprise your loved ones with a gift filled with memories and adventure? Today, Julie and I are discussing why travel should be at the top of your list this year.
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Gearing up for holiday shopping? Want to surprise your loved ones with a gift filled with memories and adventure? Today, Julie and I are discussing why travel should be at the top of your list this year.
~~~~~~~
Grab Ryan's free download for planning the ultimate family all-inclusive vacation: https://bit.ly/allinclusivevacationtoptips
Grab Julie's free download for a baby and toddler vacation packing list:
https://bit.ly/babytoddlerpackinglist
Ready to plan your vacation? Most families are confused and overwhelmed when planning a vacation. We work with you to plan a trip perfect for your family. Saving you time, money, and stress!
Join the travel conversations and the fun in the All Things Travel Show Facebook group!
Hello and welcome to All Things Travel. Gearing up for holiday shopping? Want to surprise your loved ones with a gift filled with memories and adventure? Today, Julie and I are discussing why travel should be at the top of your list this year.
Julie:Have you guys started thinking about what you're going to be giving your family for the holidays? This is like the prime time of year to start building up your Christmas gifts, stocking up for everyone and has travel come up for you? Ryan, do you guys ever do anything gifting travel?
Ryan:We have, yep. In fact, last year we had less physical gifts because we were going on a cruise. I've gotten travel and trips as surprises for birthdays or things like that. So a little bit, not much, but I could certainly see how it would be. And to be honest, I'm at the point in my life where I would rather have that as a gift than... Something from Amazon.
Julie:I agree. I totally agree. And the best part about kind of coming into the season that we're coming into is, you know, Amazon prime day is around this time. Black Friday, cyber Monday, all those deals can work together to make travel really affordable.
Ryan:That was one of the things I wanted to share with everybody is, pay attention and we as travel advisors pay attention to because there are Black Friday deals that come out that have to do with travel. There are Cyber Monday deals that have to do with travel. This is the time to look for that stuff, as well as physical gifts. And we'll talk about some physical gifts a little later. October actually is National Cruise Month. So you know, there's gonna be some deals left over from that. So if you saw stuff that you liked last month, and you want to see about a cruise, reach out. Because those things are there.
Julie:You know, going back to these Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals exist. I remember our inboxes being flooded with them, right? Like from nearly every travel partner that we have, they're sending us what their specials are, and sometimes we even get like a little preview in advance. So if there's something that you're thinking of, let us know. And that way we can keep an eye
Ryan:it's always helpful to kind of know who we're looking for as we're seeing those deals. So julie, I I have kind of a funny story About the gift of travel.
Julie:Right. Here we
Ryan:one of my roommates, many years ago he was in a long distance relationship with his girlfriend And she called me out of the blue one day and we'd met a couple times. So We were friendly. It wasn't weird that she called or anything. She said hey i've got kind of an issue when I go see my boyfriend at christmas his mom just called me, and they had never met, and they were in a serious relationship, like getting ready to get engaged several months down the road, that kind of thing. And, and his mom called me out of the blue, and, and said, hey, when you come for Christmas, you need to know the Christmas present is a trip to Disney, and we are leaving the day after Christmas, and you're not invited. So you're gonna have to change your flight plans because we're all leaving and you'll need to go back home And she and so she was like do I tell him about this like
Julie:what is like the general age, age of these
Ryan:well, and I'm trying to keep a little anonymity because I do know I have folks from my past that listen to this podcast
Julie:Okay. Okay.
Ryan:So these are these people will be in there in their late 20s this was like an adult relationship, I'm not saying the girlfriend had to be invited, but it's just kind of weird, because you know she's, she's flying in to meet the family for the first time, and this is a serious girlfriend, and, nope, we're all leaving, yeah.
Julie:I mean, I just want to throw it out there that if my parents would like to gift me a trip on Christmas, I would be okay
Ryan:Oh, totally, totally.
Julie:Be happy to send my husband and kids home. That's fine. Just kidding. I'll bring them with me.
Ryan:alright, so we're going to talk today about why travel makes the best gift. We're going to talk about some travel gift ideas, and if you don't want to gift travel, we've got some travel related items that would be a lot of fun to give that traveler in your life. But first... You want to plan a trip to an amazing destination but don't know how to get started? As your travel advisor we work with you to create a customized itinerary for your gift of travel and take the stress out of planning so you can focus on fun and creating all those wonderful holiday memories. You can reach me at ryan at creatingmagicvacations. com
Julie:And you can reach me at Julie at CreatingMagicVacations. com
Ryan:So Julie, we have several reasons why travel is a great gift. What's probably the top one for you?
Julie:The top thing for me is that I would so much rather collect experiences than things. Sometimes I look around the house and I'm like, I just want to throw out everything I own, but also I really just want to go on vacation. Just spend time together instead.
Ryan:absolutely. You know that I recently moved. And one of the ways that I decorated my living room was, I wanted to go through and surround myself with things that make me happy. And for me, that's my kids and travel. I have, and you can actually in the camera see behind, I have a bookshelf filled of pictures of places that I've traveled, pictures of me traveling, pictures of the kids traveling, I think I even have a picture of our group when we were in
Julie:Yeah, yeah, I will say that I am, I am in the bookcase.
Ryan:You are, you are in the bookcase. And It just is one of those things where that's what I want to have. I want to have those experiences. I want to have those memories because I will get those pictures and all of those pictures tell a different story of all these things that have happened to me. I love it.
Julie:Agreed. I agree. My kids are so little that it's kind of hard to explain to them like we're going to do this instead of opening a gift. So that's something we'll kind of talk about a little bit later of how you can incorporate those things together.
Ryan:Another thing I like about the gift of travel is it's unexpected. It's, not the standard thing, and that always makes the best gift, I think, because I think we get a little too Amazon wishlist y, it's kind of like, okay, who's gonna check this box, who's gonna check that box, and, and travel's just very different than that.
Julie:I agree. And I think sometimes when you're, quote unquote, making your Christmas wishlist, you're kind of just putting things on there to put something on there. And I mean, really that money can probably be better spent
Ryan:Yeah.
Julie:Make it go a little further, a
Ryan:use that money on a drink package on a cruise much better than I can for some random button up shirt that somebody found on sale.
Julie:Yes, I agree. That somebody found on sale. I'll find one and send it to
Ryan:Okay, thank you.
Julie:I also think it's really fun if you're going to give the gift of travel that it's going to get everyone excited. You can, you can plan together just anticipating that trip, that's kind of sometimes more fun than the trip itself. So either, if you're the one gifting the trip and you've been able to anticipate that surprise and do the planning. That can be really fun for you, of
Ryan:Yes.
Julie:Or if you want to say, hey, I booked this and now we all get to plan together. That's also a very cool thing. Imagine if you handed out kind of like brochures or pamphlets as a Christmas gift and said, circle what you want to
Ryan:Yeah
Julie:you know, something like that.
Ryan:When I think of giving the gift of travel, I kind of think of it two different ways. You can do the surprise trip, right? And I've had that happen I was gifted a trip to New York City and I was just told to pack a bag for this many days with these types of clothes. So that's one way, the family going to Disney the day after Christmas, or you can say, next summer, grandma's taking us to Italy, and then that time becomes that anticipation, that building, that excitement. So yeah, you can look at it, and, and I think the, the Last reason why travel makes a great gift is no matter the year that we've had, we can always have more positive in our lives. And I think memories, especially memories of travel and being with folks and being in special places. There's just, there's no physical gift that can top that in my mind.
Julie:I think so, too. I think so, too.
Ryan:So we've got some tips. So you're starting to think about this. You're thinking, who would I do this for? What might I do? Our first tip is do not wait. Okay, let's sit down. Let's talk about that trip. You don't have to have everything mapped out completely, but as we've always said, book early and you'll have the most availability, even if you're thinking 2025.
Julie:2026
Ryan:2026 we're seeing now, so don't wait. Julie, what's another tip?
Julie:So I, I would tell you to not plan that whole trip on your own and give it to someone completely Done. I would say let them have some say, maybe say, Hey we're going to go to this resort. These are the dates. I've booked this one thing for us to do, and then you can plan together and have them come up with what they're anticipating as well.
Ryan:Cruise lines even have gift cards, right? So you could say, Hey, here's a gift card for you to pick out two excursions. And I'll pay for them, but you get to decide what you wanna do because everybody has different tastes, right?
Julie:Yeah, I think that's pretty cool.
Ryan:One other way as you're planning the trip is if you've heard them talk about that special restaurant or that special musical or wanting to go see this sports team play live or concert. And you could even book that just by itself and other people can chip in for the travel. But I think, really thinking what would make this trip special? And we can help you with that, right? We can help you with how to do that. I booked a trip for a couple last winter and it was all based around a sleigh ride on her birthday. She's like, I do not care where I go. I want to be on a sleigh ride on my birthday. And that's how the whole trip started. And so, yeah, you can certainly do that.
Julie:That's really cool. That's something that's easier to do than you might
Ryan:Oh,
Julie:Maybe you've all planned the trip together, but you add on, you upgrade something and that is the gift, the upgrade is the gift. Like, Hey, you know, I upgraded up to club level. I upgraded us to concierge.
Ryan:that's a little more cost effective, or stress friendly, if you want to think of it that way, if somebody's not quite sure. I don't want to plan a whole trip, but I want to pay for everybody to have dinner at this special restaurant that I saw on this TV show.
Julie:I've definitely had people reach out to me before and say, my daughter is going on this sandals trip and I want to purchase an excursion for them. What are some of the options and I think that's a really great idea as well.
Ryan:So, Julie, what if I know I want to give somebody travel, but I really don't know where they want to go or what they've been thinking about? What could I do?
Julie:So a couple options and something that we've talked about before is, maybe booking something like a travel pass for them where it's applicable at multiple destinations. I would say, and this one we didn't talk about before, but I think it's a cool idea. You could reach out to one of us and say, Hey, I want to give so and so a gift card to book their trip and we could apply that gift card to their trip for them.
Ryan:We are going to talk about some physical travel gifts next, but first, I want to talk about where in the world does all things travel, Julie? As I looked at the last episode... A city that was new for, I think, I don't think we've talked about it on this show, I don't remember anyway, but the top new city was Atlanta, Georgia.
Julie:Ooh,
Ryan:Have you been to Atlanta?
Julie:I haven't.
Ryan:Atlanta is a cool tourist town. There is so much to do. I've done a lot of things in Atlanta, but, I think the one for me that sticks out the most, and this is pretty touristy, but it's pretty darn cool. It is the world of Coca Cola.
Julie:Oh, that sounds so
Ryan:So, you immerse yourself in the world of Coca Cola, the one and only place you can explore the story of the world's most popular beverage brand. It's a place where anyone can experience moments of happiness and wonder. At World of Coca Cola, inspiration is around every corner, from the vault where we secure our secret formula, to world class art and memorabilia, to the more than 100 beverages to taste from around the world. So, basically what this was, I remember this, like, the entire upper floor was just different stations of drinks.
Julie:Oh my gosh.
Ryan:such a caffeine sugar buzz by the time you were done. I remember, like, my friends and I were just, like, running around trying all these different drinks. And, and it's, and it's really cool. It's a much larger version of what's at Epcot, right?
Julie:Yeah, I was gonna ask if
Ryan:There's stuff from all over the world, and it's so cool to see the different flavors and to try the different things. And Beverly is a big joke there, just like it is at Epcot. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. It's kind of museum y. So, maybe not for little, little kids, but I think most everybody would find it really cool. Hey listener from Atlanta, I would love to meet you at the World of Coke and get a caffeine buzz with you there. So do us a favor, reach out to Julie or I either on Facebook or via email, and I would love to send you a nice little thank you gift for being featured on the show. Alright Julie, so, we can give... Travel gifts that are either just gifts on their own, I've actually gotten some of these things, or we can do it as part of maybe like a surprise package for we're giving you a trip, or just, part of getting people ready to travel. What's an example of something here?
Julie:So I love gift cards. I think that is the easiest thing to give. You can give them a Disney gift card, a Southwest gift card, a Royal Caribbean gift card. You can give them my in laws just went on this amazing trip to California and they were really looking forward to staying at the Hotel Del Coronado. So some of us got together and they, there was a gift card given for one of the great restaurants on
Ryan:Oh, that's cool.
Julie:Things like that, that they will use in their destination. You can look up in advance and try to. Get a gift card that goes with it. There's so many gift cards you can use and say, Hey, put this towards your trip. I know it's so popular for my clients to gift their kids Disney gift cards in that
Ryan:because it makes it easier Yeah,
Julie:And then that's kind of like the kids money to spend on the trip. And I think that's really fun.
Ryan:So two things for me to kind of go along with that It's don't just give like a visa gift card just kind of do something, either for the trip expense or for while on the trip and I like julie's idea from the From the resort for her in laws. And my parents did something like that when we lived far away, they actually had one of the times that they came out to visit while we were at work. They went to all of our favorite places and bought gift cards for those spots. So we could take them back and use them and you could do the same thing like so let's say somebody's going to San Diego You could get online and you could say, you know top coffee places in San Diego or you know best Children's activities and you get a gift card to the Children's Museum where it's specific for that trip That's really a thoughtful gift. I think mm
Julie:I agree. And even something simple that that can be used multiple places like what comes to mind for me is like a Starbucks gift card. Well, there's Starbucks in the Disney parks. So I even think sometimes that's a fun
Ryan:in every airport and yeah I
Julie:like to send that to just say, Hey, let me like buy you coffee on your vacation. You land from your flight and you're tired. Okay. Like the coffee's on me or you're walking down main street, the coffee's on me.
Ryan:I think for me, another gift that would be a good travel gift is a destination gift box. And this is something that you could create yourself or you could just find online. Maybe it's part of the surprise of the trip. Somebody's going to... Italy and they open up a box and it's got some pasta and maybe it has an Italian cookbook I think would be really cool And and again, you could create this yourself or you could you could find one online pretty easily.
Julie:Right. So it could be themed to the destination they're going to, or it could be filled with things that they can use. On their trip. Right. I think that that's great. I love that that can go either way. You're thinking of someone you know in your family that's traveling soon and you wanna do something like this and, but you don't know what to get them, you can always reach out to us. We are obviously experts at, the top things that you wanna take with you when you travel. So if you're a little lost on that, reach out to us and we will definitely be able to guide you towards. What they're going to need on their trip. I like to give little packets to my clients depending on what they're doing or where they're going may depend on what they get. My parents are getting ready to go on a cruise to, it's a river cruise through France. I had gifted them a passport holder so they could keep everything together, a doorstop, their cruise lanyards, a couple of things like that that I know are going to be specific for their cruise. And the cool thing was they were kind of like, Oh, these things were on my list. I was going to go buy them this week. And I'd kind of said, Oh, hold off. Hold off. Don't buy anything yet.
Ryan:I like that.
Julie:I had things ready to go, but that's something you would easily then, you know, gift for a birthday or gift for an anniversary, So another great option is if you tell someone you will cover their TSA pre check or global entry
Ryan:I think that's a great gift think about if you have a child or a grandkid that's going to do study abroad over the next couple years, or they're going away for college where they're going to be traveling more. TSA PreCheck and Global Entry, you're talking about a five years, 85 for PreCheck, 100 for Global Entry, it's such a cool gift.
Julie:It's such a time saver. You cannot describe how convenient it is to have those things until You don't have them
Ryan:I will never not have them. And it's not because I'm a travel snob, even if I travel internationally a handful of times over that five years, even once, to be honest, it would be worth that extra fifteen dollars with the pre check. Yeah.
Julie:I agree. I completely agree. I will say if you're thinking about gifting either of those things or getting them for yourself, make your appointment as soon as you can. As soon as you can. They fill up so quickly, especially global entry. You can only do that at a couple places. It's not available in every state. You might have to travel a little bit to get to it. That's a hard appointment to come by right now.
Ryan:The last one on the list is just those general travel items. I would say every Christmas I'm getting something. A new piece of luggage, or packing cubes, or an adapter, external batteries. Just kind of those things that we need. That, like you said, with your mom. Well, I've got to get it. It's on my shopping list. Last Christmas I got Apple AirTags that we
Julie:Oh, love that. Yeah.
Ryan:It's those little things that you know that the traveler in your life is going to appreciate as we wrap up, Julie, without divulging your holiday shopping, do you think there might be some travel related stuff this year?
Julie:Oh, there always is. There always is. And a lot of times, so to bring it back to the little kids, a lot of times what I do with them is like in their stocking will be things that maybe would occupy them on the plane. Little activity books, little interactive. Books of some sort you know, maybe like an Amazon fire type tablet would be there, not in the
Ryan:Wow. That's a good stocking.
Julie:not as a stocking, I do like to use the stocking for very practical things, not just like junkie things. So, you know, crayons, things like that, that in the back of my mind, I'm like, Oh, we're going to take this on this trip with us. I think that's a really great way to do that. Beyond giving them little things that they can use on the plane, I also We'll use Christmas or birthdays to be, you know, here's your outfits for your Disney trip, or here's some things that you can use on the beach trip, you know, goggles or, or something like that, trying to be practical with those kinds of things, too. I think it's,
Ryan:I like it.
Julie:to give them stuff that they're going to be able to use on a future trip.
Ryan:Yeah. No, I like it a lot. I like it a lot.
Julie:What about you, Ryan? Anything good on the list this year for travel?
Ryan:to be honest, I know it's the middle of November, but I haven't really sat down too much and thought about it, but I'm sure, I'm sure there'll be some travel items. I don't know if there'll be the gift of travel, but I've got some ideas percolating and if I can organize kids schedules in a certain way, who knows?
Julie:The vision of your kids especially my little ones on Christmas and opening up some sort big trip, I just think that sounds so cool. Just so cool. Have you planned anything like this for a client, right? And whether you knew that they were going to be surprising
Ryan:Yes, yes, I have several years ago A grandpa and I kind of came up with some different ways to tell the family that they were going to Disney I know that I shared one time an idea for a scavenger hunt We've seen those kind of things
Julie:Wow. I've had it kind of both ways. I had a very big group last year who went to Disney world over Christmas and that was their Christmas gift for everyone was taking them to travel during the holiday itself. I just had a client recently who he was surprising his wife with a trip to sandals for her birthday. It was like a honeymoon do over sort of trip cause they were married during the
Ryan:Yeah
Julie:but she didn't know about it. And he booked it with me. And I remember, we would be going back and forth. He's like, I can't keep the secret. And so now she knows it's okay. All is good. She knows now, and she's very excited, but that was a really fun
Ryan:It's always special when clients tell you it's a surprise.
Julie:So you want to plan a trip to an amazing destination to give your family for Christmas this year, but you don't know how to get started. As your travel advisor, we will work with you to create a customized itinerary for your surprise gift and take the stress of planning away so you can focus on fun and creating memories with your family. You can reach out to me at julie at creatingmagicvacations. com.
Ryan:You can reach out to me, Ryan, at CreatingMagicVacations. com. We look forward to talking to you next week on all things travel.