FTCO Travel Podcast

Today, we have a special guest. We have Jackie Williams from NuVibe travel. She resides in Georgia and is a top travel advisor, been doing it for over nine years. 

In this 51st episode, the friends revisit Paris, France!  Tune in with Jim, Tony, and Brian to hear about some great food, cool spots you don't want to miss, and enjoy hearing about some of their favorite experiences.

Listeners, there is a lot of great information if you are in the travel industry or thinking about joining it, the future is bright and big things are on the horizon, so click play to listen to this episode.

Also, if you have not already done so, subscribe to the FTCO website, and get each episode and travel expert segments sent to you automatically.  Also, check out our new Friends with Benefits Fan Plan, be registered to win up to 4 to 5 trips a year, plus lots of other travel benefits.

Today’s podcast was our 50th Episode, quite a milestone for us here at FTCO. We had a special guest for this episode, it was Jenn Lee who is the VP of Sales and Marketing for Travel Planners International (TPI). TPI is a leading host travel agency with over 4000 Travel advisors, close to 400 suppliers and $20 million in commissions paid last year, they are a leader in the travel industry.

Jenn and the Friends discussed the value of travel advisors and why it makes sense for all travelers to use one. No cost, and it saves them money and the insider information that a would-be traveler gets is incredible. We also discussed the state of the travel industry due to COVID and optimism that 2021 is just around the corner and that the travel industry is set to take off.

Jenn and the Friends discussed the role travel content providers like podcasters and bloggers will play as the travel industry move forward. Podcasters like FTCO provide valuable first- hand accounts of what travelers can expect to experience on their journey’s, and that can be invaluable to a travel advisor who is guiding their customers to their dream vacations.

Listeners, there is a lot of great information if you are in the travel industry or thinking about joining it, the future is bright and big things are on the horizon, so click play to listen to this episode.

Also, if you have not already done so, click to subscribe to the FTCO website, and get each episode and travel expert segments sent to you automatically. Also check out our new Friends with Benefits Fan Plan, be registered to win up to 4 to 5 trips a year, plus lots of other travel benefits.

In today’s episode, Friends Brian, Jim S and Tony discuss their ever- evolving Bucket List for travel. “The Bucket List” dynamics is different for each traveler. A Bucket list regarding travel is a list of great places around the world that we can only dream of going to, and if we get that one opportunity, then that is where we would go. When we first began traveling, we had the normal bucket list items, like Paris (Eifel Tower, Versailles, The Louvre, Notre Dame, etc.) or London (Big Ben, Tower of London, etc.) once we were lucky enough to get to these iconic places, on numerous trips, our Bucket List did not disappear, it grew! We had become “Travel Addicts” and like any addict you are looking for the next “High” and because of that, the next great trip is always being planned, and with so many amazing places around the world, The Bucket List grows and can never be complete.

Past Bucket List Trips- The Friends have been very fortunate to have gone on numerous trips that have been considered Bucket List Trips. We discuss “Running with Bulls” in Pamplona Spain, Riding Camels in the Sahara Desert and then camping that night with a  Berber Tribe, Seeing the Northern Lights 200 miles above the Arctic Circle in Norway, visiting the sacred Angor Wat temples in Cambodia and attending Octoberfest in Munich.

In addition to visiting iconic cities and structures like we mentioned in Paris and London above, seeing the canals in Venice and Amsterdam, celebrating St. Paddy’s Day in Dublin or bringing in the New Year in Bangkok, the friends have been a lot of places.  Listen to the episode to hear of all the bucket list places the friends have travelled to.

Second Cities- Rick Steves mentions going to the second cities in a country….. for instance, in France Paris is the big draw, but going to Leon or the Boudreaux region can make for some fantastic trips. So, we discussed what places had we gone to, thinking one place was the “Bucket List” item and found something else just as amazing. In Pamplona, we did a day trip to San Sebastian, and would recommend it to anyone. Going to Greece and visiting the Acropolis in Athens, but then visiting the island of Santorini was incredible. Listen to the episode to hear the rest of the great places we discovered.

3 New Bucket Lists- each friend on today’s podcast made a new or updated list. Some items listed mentioned Outer Space, Visiting all The Wonders of the World and King’s Day. To hear the entire list’s download the podcast or read the transcript below.

In this episode Tony leads Friends Brian, Eric and Jim Scott on our adventures in Pamplona Spain, specifically talking about The San Fermin Festival, aka “Running with the Bulls”. Except for Brian, the rest of the friends on the episode have been to Pamplona multiple times and run with bulls’ numerous times.

We start off with a history of The San Fermin Festival. It was two festivals dating back to the 12th century, and the town combined the two together somewhere in the 15th century because the weather was better in July. One festival celebrated the Patron Saint Fermin and the other was the celebration of the herders bringing their livestock to market. The festival is always July 6-14, with bull runs everyday starting on the 7th.

The San Fermin Festival is like no other festival in the world. Everyone is clad in all white outfits with red trimmings, and it becomes a sea of white and red as over 2 million people roam the streets of Pamplona during this 8 -day period. This is a bucket list item for many people, and some do it and never need to comeback, others, like us, do it, meet a lot of people, and now try to make it an annual or at least bi-annual thing.

Accommodations range from campgrounds, to hostels, some hotels (hotel capacity can only cover 1-2 % of the festival goers) and renting of apartments. AirBnb, Heart of Pamplona apartments to name a few. We have stayed at a hostel, several apartments and a hotel once. Depending on your needs staying in the old quarter, where the main events of the festival take place is convenient but can be loud at all hours of the night. Quiet sleep time usually is from around 11 am- 4 or 5 pm.

The festival itself is the main day trip here, from the daily bull runs, to celebratory drinks and meals afterwards, meeting up with friends and a great nightly fireworks display, Pamplona has a lot to offer during the festival. But a Day trip north to the beautiful coastal town of San Sebastian is a very nice respite from the party. San Sebastian has great food and beaches and can be a destination all on its own with several Michelin rated restaurants in its limits.

Back in Pamplona there are lots of great restaurants and bar hangouts a few of our favorites are Bar Txoco, Bar Windsor, Café Iruna and an Italian restaurant called Latigellatia. All of these are on the main Plaza Castillo. Please click on the episode to get more details 

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This week the friends are joined by Matt Kondrup of Matty K Travel. They delve into sights to see along with food and drink not to miss out on while exploring these beautiful locations.