Eye on Travel — Terranea Resort — March 28, 2026

0:00We've reporting from around the world. It's time for Ion Travel with America's number one frontline travel news journalist Peter Greenberg. And now the man who travels over 400,000 miles each year. Peter Greenberg. Hi everybody. Peter Greenberg here with another edition of Ion Travel for this last weekend of March, 2026. Of course you know the drill. You want to find me? You email me. Peter at Peter Greenberg.com with your name, phone number. Question of problem. We will solve it right here on the air. I hope you're having a great weekend where you happen to be. Let me tell you where we happen to be. Get out those maps, boys and girls. 33 degrees, 44 minutes north, 108 degrees, 23 minutes west. We are in Rancho, Palos Verde, California on the shores of the Pacific at an amazing place called the Terranayah Resort, which I remember fondly from my childhood days as the former site of marine land of the Pacific. For those people

1:07old enough to remember, back in 1954 when when marine land opened up, it was the largest oceanarium in the world. And it had some amazing sea life. And I remember my mom a couple of years later bringing me out from New York on my first big airplane flight to take me to see it. I'll never forget it. It was just amazing. And then about four years later, there was a TV show in the air that I would watch with my dad every weekend. And it was called Seahunt, starring Lloyd Bridges, playing the diver, Mike Nelson, and love that show. And so I go all the way back to that. But what happened to marine land? Well, it opened in 1954 and it stuck around until 1987. At one point it was sold. You'll not believe this to Hannah Barbera. Remember the creators of Yogi Bear, Yabba Dabba Do, but in 1987 it closed. It was bought by SeaWorld. They moved all the

2:16animals down south in Southern California and abruptly closed closed marine land where it basically sat abandoned from 1987 until surprise, surprise in 2009. They built Teranayah, the most amazing resort in the same location as marine land, overlooking the Pacific. We'll be talking about that a little bit later on the show. But first and foremost, let's get to the news and there is so much of it. Let's start with a continuing investigation into the aftermath of that terrible tragedy at LaGuardia Airport, about 1137 at night earlier this week, when a CRJ 900 operated by our Canada collided with a fire truck from the Port Authority of New York on runway 4 at LaGuardia. So many different things to unpack here. We're immediately reminded of the mid-air collision over Reagan Airport in January of 25, where the military helicopter flew into the American Eagle plane.

3:17You know, a lot of similar circumstances here in terms of how they're going to investigate this and how they're going to resolve it so it doesn't happen again. You know, no airplane crash happens for any one reason. I've been covering these incidents since 1975 and I can tell you it's never one real reason. It's a combination of two or three reasons that in concert creates a situation where the pilots can't recover. And as they're going to determine in this particular incident, they had those reasons. Number one, we're back to the FAA again, an air traffic control staffing. We are still stuck with a situation of 313 air traffic control facilities in America. 311 are understaffed. So hold on to that thought. Number two, communication. What frequencies were they on? Were they the ground frequency for pilots? Were the ground frequency for the vehicles? And did everybody hear the call from the controller to the Port Authority of fire truck to stop?

4:23Not once, but twice. Stop, stop, stop, stop. No acknowledgement from the truck. And we know what happened next because the air Canada flight, which had already landed, was traveling too fast to stop, but too slow to do a go-around. He was already on the ground and didn't have enough speed to get back airborne again. And then we saw that terrible collision in which both pilots died instantaneously. And then they've got to talk about runway capacity and physical airport capacity. We've seen the number of incidents of what we call runway incursions where a plane hits a vehicle or another plane taps into another plane simply because the space that they're given is so narrow and the margins are so thin that all you have to do is add speed to that and you have a disaster. It also gets down to airline scheduling. You know, now not at 11.37 at night. One of the controllers may have

5:24been distracted because they were responding to another incident on the other side of the airport. And he got distracted maybe. We're going to find out all of this and in relatively short order. But that's not the real problem. The real problem is when the NTSB does their investigation and by the way, they're the heroes. NTSB investigators, I am in awe of them. I've worked with so many of them. They operate under the most adverse conditions and what is their job to determine the probable cause. And in doing so, we're applicable to come up with solutions so that that accident, that disaster, that tragedy never happens again. Well, in the Washington collision, they knew exactly what the probable cause was. The military helicopter was not transponding on the proper frequencies and didn't have an advanced system on board to give the controller and the tower an exact position altitude speed direction so he could communicate with them and other aircraft.

6:28Also, the number of near misses that were having been reported at Reagan between commercial and military aircraft. One estimate was over 10,000 near misses that had been reported over 15 years. And what did the FAA do about it? Apparently nothing. So what's going to happen now when the NTSB does their report on this terrible situation that just happened at LaGuardia? What will the FAA do? That's the key. And by the way, that fire truck was not carrying a transponder that would have alerted the ground systems of a possible collision. You know, it's not that the technology doesn't exist. It's the implementation of that technology based on common sense and speed. I've always argued this and I will continue to argue it. If you know there's a problem and you don't know what happened, you investigate fair enough. And if you investigate and you find out what the problem was, that's good. Now you know what happened. But in the process of doing that, if you also discover

7:29there's a solution of that problem and you can implement that solution and you make that urgent safety recommendation to the FAA. And then the FAA does nothing. Now we have a problem. I'm not a lawyer. I don't play one on TV. But when you have situations like that where there's a problem, there's a solution. It's available. You can implement it and you make the conscious choice, not to do so. Isn't that criminal negligence? So I'm speaking to the FAA. You know exactly who I'm talking to and talking about. They have an opportunity at Washington Reagan to stop the possibility of more collisions in the air. And they now are going to have the possibility and the investigation that's starting now by the NTSP to figure out how it could be resolved so that it never happens again in the air or on the ground at airports like LaGuardia. Obviously we're going to be monitoring that in the days and weeks and months ahead. And while I'll report back to you when we find out

8:29the full findings of the NTSP. But stick with me because for the moment and it's a very nice moment, we're returning to the Terranayan. Of course the former home of Marine Land, Mike Nelson. Don't forget Lloyd Bridges as I on travel returns right after this. Your flight might be late, but we're on time. I on travel will be right back. Once again, here's Peter Greenberg. Peter Greenberg back with you as I on travel continues from the Terranayan resort in Rancho Pallas, Verde's, California. Of course, you know, the drill. You email me when you want to find me. It's Peter at PeterGreenberg.com. Just give me your name, phone number, question or problem. We will solve it right here on the air. Of course, boy are there problems right now when it comes to worldwide travel. Who better to talk about that?

9:33Then our good friend from the independent in London. Simon, call her. Hello, Simon. Peter, good to talk to you. My goodness. What a tough time it has been for everybody. Here we are. I was talking to a very senior figure in the aviation industry just a couple of days ago and he said, yeah, the thing is in the travel business, when everything's going smoothly, you're just thinking what is the next crisis going to be and here it is. And causing, of course, immense distress and causing all kinds of problems for many, many travelers with, of course, a humanitarian disaster at the heart of it. So, tough time. And a lot of people, of course, anxious about traveling, being stuck in all kinds of locations and, personally, just back from Indonesia to London, which required to go through the Gulf. And I tell you what, you and I talked, of course,

10:36five years ago, during the COVID pandemic, it reminded me very much of that. You're touching down as an airport in this case, Abu Dhabi, which should be a place where you've got thousands of people arriving and departing every hour, it felt ghostly. And goodness, a 5% approximately is the aviation market taken out by the Gulf Airlines, not being able to function normally. And yeah, we don't know what the new normal will look like. In fact, you know, you mentioned COVID. This is the worst flight and travel disruption since the pandemic, although this looks like it may last longer in terms of having a financial impact, because it truly is global, even though it's centered in one region of the world, because of connectivity and airport hubs. I mean, you know, you mentioned Abu Dhabi. If you take Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha, in a given year, 182 million people are going through those airports,

11:39and they're not going through them today. No, exactly right. That's half a million people every day. I was interested in talking to the boss of Dubai Airport, Paul Griffiths, just about six weeks or so ago. And we were talking about whether or not his airport would hit the magic 100 million international passengers figure at the end of this year. He was sounding very optimistic, of course, he's not anymore. And we have this extraordinary site of the world's biggest global hub, which Dubai International Airport definitely is. Suddenly, becoming somewhere where, yes, they are trying as you've been reporting intermittently, Emirates, that the main airline they're trying to run an operation. But every so often, there's more missiles, drones coming in and they have to close the airport down and you get yet more diversions. So I've been

12:41reporting on 11 hours flights to nowhere where the aircraft takes off, flies almost to Dubai, can't land and returns for five, six hours to its starting point. So a dismal situation for international aviation to begin. And of course, all kinds of repercussions in terms of what's happening to the oil crisis as well. And of course, that factors into something else that was going on before the United States attacked Iran. And that's the number of foreign travelers not coming to the US because of visa or immigration programs and rules or the perception that the US is being either inhospitable or unwelcoming. You had that already in place. And then you had the basic economics of travel. You know, one of the reports that we just saw this morning is a little bit disturbing. Actually, in my book it would be a lot disturbing. 40% nearly, 41% of Americans do not pay their credit card bills in full every month. But here's the wild one.

13:41Over 12.7% that's nearly 13% have been delinquent for more than 90 days. No payments to their credit cards in 90 days, which means they're technically in default. That's a huge indication of what's going on in terms of the economy and what can be triggering even a worse situation if any of those numbers increase. Most definitely. And that's something which none to being all of this, which is the extent to which if people's pocketbooks are really hurting as a result of the increases in prices everywhere, whether that's just going to stop them traveling. And of course, it's the most enriching thing that any officer privileged enough to do. And that's why you do what you do to inspire and inform people about travel. But at the moment, it looks difficult, it looks expensive, it looks complicated, it looks possibly risky. And so therefore,

14:46people I think will be cutting back and such a sad thing, not least because of course so much of the world depends on traveling tourism. It does. But you know what? I've talked about this in the show so many times. I got to keep talking about it. If you're listening to this show right now and you do not own an atlas, I want you to give yourself an early Christmas present and go out and buy one. It doesn't have to be the $200 coffee table model. It can be the $16 paperback that's published by National Geographic. Put it on your bedside table and every night before you go to bed, open it to a page at random and understand the world in which we live because look, I just came back from Istanbul 10 days ago and everybody said to me, oh my god, it's not safe. You shouldn't go. I said, get a map. It was perfectly safe. And I flew through Istanbul because it was the way to come home as opposed to coming through the Gulf, which I couldn't get a flight because of the fallout from the Iran situation. There's so many airports like that Simon that are not threatened

15:51with any kind of safety issue or any terrorism issue or any Iran firing missiles and drones issue. And you know, it's about situational awareness and a little bit of geography. Most definitely, I completely applaud your idea of getting an atlas. But the other aspect of course is that Istanbul Port, which is capable, I think, of handling 250 million people a year and to give you some idea that's nearly twice what an airport like Atlanta does at the moment. And it's standing there ready to, I guess, take over from the Gulf airports. Things do get tricky. But we must have just missed each other by a number of days I was there as well. Absolutely safe, beautiful, incredible location, which if you've not been lucky enough to go there,

16:54you really should. I would say I probably put it in my I was going to say top 10 list of issues worldwide. I think you probably probably make the top five. Well, you know, it's interesting because if you take a look at the map, it goes back to the atlas again. Those three airports in the Gulf and the airport in Istanbul are perfectly positioned geographically to fly just about anywhere in the world non-stop. It's not a coincidence that Turkish Airlines flies to more destinations in the world than any other airline and they do so from that airport. And so it's well worth looking at, yeah. Very, very much so. I think the figure from Dubai, which is you know, a thousand miles or two hours or so to the east, is that one third of the world's population is within four hours flying time and two thirds of the world's population is within eight hours flying time. So this is very much the center of gravity. We get used to the idea, well,

17:59surely it must be New York or London or something, but no, it's all moved very much to the east. Well, as we emerge and try to navigate the brave new world of the post-Iranian war situation, which will be with us obviously for most of this year, if not even into next year, there, you know, everybody's talking about short term effects. No, we had to talk about long term effects. That's why you have to figure out how to navigate and travel with safety and with security and with confidence. I have a flight that's leaving in like what two or three weeks for Egypt, I haven't canceled it. That air space is open and I have a flight that's going to Jordan right before that. I haven't canceled that either. Now, I'm not being a daredevil here. I'm not being irresponsible. I'm being situationally aware. I'm checking in on as much as I can through the actual news of the day from those locations to trust and verify I'm getting accurate

18:59information. And based on that, I'm going. And I think that's what you're going to see this summer for the smart travelers. For everybody else, they'll probably stay on and celebrate America's 250th birthday. Simon Calder from the independent in London, always a pleasure, sir. And obviously, we'll continue to monitor the situation and I'll call upon you for more updates in the not too distant future. Thanks again, sir. Oh, Peter, thank you. And I'm going to actually put on my Christmas list. I'm going to give everybody I know. And there we go. I love it. Thanks, man. And we'll be back with more of I own travel from the Terran Air Resort in Rancho Palace for this California right after this. Have a travel question or problem? Just email Peter at PeterGreenberg.com and we'll solve it on the air.

20:00Need more information on what you've heard? Have a travel question or comment? Just log on to PeterGreenBert.com. Now here's Peter. And we're back. Peter Greenberg here with you as I own travel continues from Rancho Palace, British California and the amazing Terran Air Resort. Of course, you could always reach me. You know the drill by now. Just email me, Peter at PeterGreenberg.com with your name, phone number, question or problem. We will solve it right here on the air. Let's go out to the phones in Cupertino, California. I got Robert on the on the phone. Hello, Robert. Hello. How can I help you? I emailed you about the 2027 price increases. I thought they had already gone up, but I may have been wrong. As I told my wife, I may not always be right, but I'm never wrong. That's a good thing for us to live by. Yeah, that's good. Samuel Goldwyn. So assuming that the prices have already gone up, do you expect them to come down by next spring?

21:10Or should I jump on something right now? Well, there's two things that are at work here. One is protecting your deposit, whatever that is. And two, hedging your bets. So let's first of all talk about protecting your deposit. I'm assuming you're going to be paying with a credit card. Yes. Okay. Well, under federal credit law, anytime you buy something or you contract for a good or service, if you don't get that good or service, you're entitled to dispute the charge and the credit card company will issue you an interim credit, investigate it, and then issue a refund. Well, the problem with most travel deposits is they want them six to nine months in advance. And under federal credit law, it's got to be stuff that you contract for within 60 days. So if you're going to put down a deposit and we'll get to the idea of the deposit in a second, but if you're going to put one down, you need to go one step further and have a conversation with that travel provider saying, will my deposit be put in a third party escrow account so that you

22:16can't touch it until I actually take the cruise or take the fly or take the tour. That's to prevent people from paying heater and robbing Paul. And then all of a sudden they're under capitalized that if there's a hiccup in the system, they go chapter 11 and you have no protection. And the credit card won't protect you because it's outside of 60 days. So there are number of states that have a travel sellers law that requires operators to put deposits in an escrow account. So that's one question you want to ask. Now, let's get into the other area of your questioning, which was price. Yeah, tour prices are going up. They're all fuel related. And there's no reason to think they're not going to go further up next year. But have you talked to, do you have an idea where you want to go? Just a river cruise and I don't have an area yet. Okay. So you need to have a conversation with that river cruise line saying, if I give you the deposit now, does that lock in the fair for when

23:21you're requiring the full payment at the same amount? That's an important question to ask. And make sure you got an answer to that in writing, not just a phone call. And then the second thing is, go ahead and do it. However, and this is a big however, and we're seeing this happen as we speak now, as we get closer and closer to your departure date, if the loads don't hold up or there are other issues that are happening in the world, you may see them start to seriously discount that cruise. That doesn't happen all the time, but it's happened. So what's your recourse there to get a little bit more credit or some other credits like short excursion credits or onboard shopping credits to make up for that differential? So that's the other thing you want to do. All right. See? Yeah. That's good advice. And last but not least, keep in mind that every cruise line in their contractive carriage and you need to be aware of this, reserves the right based on

24:27situations happening outside of their control to change the itinerary or to substitute ports. And your recourse in that area is not great because they're still operating the cruise. That they may just not be going to 4 a that you had your heart set on. Even now, as we speak, a number of companies are changing their itineraries for the rest of this year so that they're not going to be doing Middle Eastern Gulf. They'll do like maybe Northern Africa or you know Eastern Europe, but they're not doing the Middle East of the Gulf. Now, if you had a cruise book to them that you wanted to take on that particular itinerary, they're offering discounts and on the other new itinerary that they're offering. So there's always a recourse there once they make that decision. But just be aware of the fact that they're fully entitled to based on the contractive carriage that they displayed on your contract, maybe in fine print, but it's there to which you

25:29sign your name. So be aware of that as well, right? Okay. Yeah. So I hope that was helpful. And in the meantime, based on where fuel is going and the volatility of the of the world, I would say pay the deposit. But once again, don't forget, Robert, don't do it without making sure they confirmed you in writing that that money is in a third party escrow account. You have to have it. Sounds good. Thank you. Anytime Robert, we appreciate the call. Okay. And once again, Robert's case is not an isolated one. So many people are now confronting the somewhat confusing idea of, you know, should we put down a deposit now, you know, given all the uncertainty in the world, and prices may be going up, the one thing that's certain, prices are always going to go up. But if the load factors don't materialize, guess what happens? Prices come down. So be prepared to jump at those moments. You just got to be, you know, situationally aware, but don't wait.

26:32Back with more as Ion travel continues from the Terran air resort right here in Rancho Palace, British California, right after this. Please remain seated with your seatbelt fastened. Ion travel will be right back. Now back to Ion travel. Peter Greenberg back with you as Ion travel continues from Rancho Palace, where it is in California at the Terran air resort. Of course, you can always reach me to know the drill. Email me. Peter at Peter Greenberg.com with your name, phone number, question or problem. We will solve it right here on the air throughout every show we do. As I said at the beginning of the show, my history of this hotel goes way back to before it was a hotel. When my mom brought me here when I was seven years old, it's something called marine land of the Pacific. Someone who knows that history very well is the president of Terran air resort. And he's back with me again. Ralph Grippo, how are you, sir?

27:33Great. Peter, great to see you again. So two things I remember vividly about what this used to be, right? Was marine land of the Pacific. It was the first time I'd seen the Pacific Ocean because I came in from New York at seven years old to see my grandparents and I was brought down here. And then the second and it was wonderful to see it. And you know, I'd never seen a dolphin before. And then the second thing I remember so vividly was on television. All those years, Lloyd Bridges series called Seahunt playing Mike Nelson, right? Always fighting and cutting the guy's air hose underwater in every episode. That's right. That was about it. Well, you've come a long way from that. I mean, this is now, how old is Terran air now? We're coming on 17 years. Wow. And I remember the day you opened. Same great view of the Pacific Ocean. Still. Yeah. You've got the history here as well. I mean, you still celebrate Mike Nelson. We do. Absolutely. At Nelson's come down and join us. Do I get to cut the air hose? Well, we took out the air hoses. Exactly. Well, you can ring the bell. Oh, there's a bell. There's a bell when you see the whales or the dolphins pass by. Everybody's down there ringing the bell. I love that. Yeah. Well, because

28:36remember, the reason why they built marine land at the beginning is because of proximity to the ocean and the marine life. So it's still here. It's magical. I mean, it's a magical location to be this close and to be literally on top of the ocean. Whales passing by, especially this time of year dolphins here every day. So we're we're blessed to be here and we're very committed to the coast and doing all the right things for the marine life. When this hotel was built, obviously, it took a while. I mean, because marine land itself had been abandoned for many years, literally abandoned, right? Then you had to deal with all the environmental issues, all the design issues, coastal commission, you name it. But you had to build it so that it was basically in compliance with the environment. Correct. Yeah, we're blessed to have been built to period just to think that you could build a place like this on the California coast. I don't know if it ever would be built again, anything like this on the coast. But what the beauty of that was we protected a lot of the environment both on land and the water. So we have a lot of open space here.

29:38A tremendous amount of open space. You know, a lot of green space, a lot of natural space that is meant to be the natural habitat, whether in and around the golf course, just looking out this window and along the coast where there are walking trails that are take you up and up and down the coast, up to the lighthouse and all the way down closer to San Pedro Long Beach. Which lighthouse? The Bellsverted Lighthouse. Okay, cool. Just truly half mile up the street. And if you're sailing from, let's say, Marina Del Rey and you're heading down to San Diego, you pass right by the hotel. We wave to you every day. We queue up the sailboats and you sailboat from right to left and it just passes by and the guests just love it. I love it. And of course, you have the proximity of the water. You get in the water from here too. Absolutely. We have a beach cove that we have paddling and kayaking that takes place right here on property and views of Catalina in the background. Of course, one cautionary note. Where what's it? It's cold. It's a little chilly. It's a little chilly, especially this time of year. Yeah, but still worth it. Absolutely. So let's talk about what's

30:40changing here at the hotel. What are you doing now? For guests that you never did before in terms of special services? Yeah, well, one thing that we're excited about is what took place in October that we're now in a complete independent luxury resort. So we were part of Keraltree managed by Keraltree, but we are we're self-managed. So it's myself and our leadership team. So basically what you're telling me is you get to do what you want to do. I have to talk to myself a lot. Yeah. And do you lose the arguments with yourself? I win a few. I lose a few, but we do it as a team in a collaborative way where we can do again, Peter, the beauty of all that is we can do what the chains and the brands are sometimes not allowed to do because of the bureaucracy that exists in some of the larger organizations. So it's really up to us to what we do to personalize experiences, create emotional engagement, connect with the customer, build relationships. I'm not worried about a a ternare brand around the world, around the globe. I only think about the guests that come here to our part of the world. I know this may be a little inside baseball for my audience, but I'm going to give you I'm going to give you two words that usually drives most hotel general managers nuts. You ready? I'm ready. Asset manager. And the reason for that. Oh, you didn't want

31:42it. You didn't want it. You just nodded. You just nodded. We we have a great ownership team. Same people that have owned ternare since the day it was built. But you know what I'm saying. All of a sudden somebody says, you know, this cost too much. Let's not do it without realizing what it's worth. We think of those in our ownership group. You know, I'm part of that ownership team as investments in in our future, rather than, you know, saving a few nickels and dimes to save a PNL today. So I think about every experience that happens today, I could save some things. I could take some flowers away. I can take some staff away to save a few dollars today. But that that guest experience for the guests coming today may impede them in the future. And the guests know it. 100% and that's the key. We're talking about the president of the ternare resort right here in Rancho Palace. Where does California when we come back? We're going to talk about the business in general and what you need to know as travelers, especially in this crazy world we're living in right now, back with more from the ternare resort in Rancho Palace. Where this is Ion Travel continues right after this. Your flight might be late, but we're on time. Ion Travel will be right back.

32:56You've been listening to Ion Travel with Peter Greenberg. Visit our website at www.PeterGreenberg.com for more information and sign up for our newsletter. Ion Travel is a CBS audio network production. Peter Greenberg back with Ralph Grip, both the president of ternare resort. Ralph, right before the break, we were sort of talking about hotels that have asset managers and are managed based on cost versus value, which to me is I think, you know, self-defeating in the long run. It's actually self-defeating in the short run. But when I see in the industry itself these days, and by the way, it's not just hotels, it's airlines, it's rental car companies, it's anybody in the travel service industry, it's all being run by CFO mentality. And that to me is a little scary. I would agree. Because at one point they're pushing loyalty programs, which aren't loyalty programs at all. They're spend programs. And whatever loyalty there is is transactional, which means transactional loyalty is not loyalty. You know, it reminds you of the line with the multi-being

33:58or lying on the beach with this 26 year old gold digger girlfriend. And he says to her, honey, if I told you tomorrow, all my companies went belly up. I had no money. I was penniless. We had to get rid of the house in San Trope. There was no beach house in Malibu. There was no vacation home in Hawaii. All the Bentley's and the Rolls Royces were gone. We had to move out of Beverly Hills to a small assassins apartment in the desert. We just still love me. And she sits up on the beach and goes, oh, yes, darling, but I'd miss you terribly. And you know, and that's what transactional loyalty is. Agreed. Right. So how do you build loyalty? Yeah, we're in a long term hospitality business. We're not in the transactional business. We're all going to cook clean park cars just like everybody else, but we're not run by Wall Street. We're not run by the big organizations. There's no VC capital for. There's nothing. So it's just us. It's our own, we're privately held. And as a true independent, then we can do what we need to do for our associates first. We take care of our people, whether it's rates of pay and the in the events that we have. We have employee appreciation on Friday for all of our associates, but all these types of activities events that create their loyalty make them happy. They smile. They come back tomorrow and do great things for our guests. They then they're happier. They come back more often. We personalize. We engage,

35:01we build a relationship through the experience, not the points. And so that's what we believe drives our customers to come back for loyalty because of hospitality and service, not the transactional experience. I actually believe we've reached an inflection point when you talk about points and frequent flyer miles where people are obsessively and perhaps delusually pursuing miles or points in the hope of redemption. And the redemption levels continue to rise stratosphereically. So it's the impossible dream, right? The hotels that make the most sense to me are the ones that have given that up and are going to something called meaningful recognition. I'd rather invest in what you would like personally as an individual than just points that you may use somewhere on the planet. And then it also blurries the experience for others because I could be accumulating points and always be staying at a courtyard. And the next thing I know I show up at a luxury rich culture and other brand. And I'm blurring my customers that maybe don't all seek to be together all the time where the customers that come here look for an experience that we create again, a connection more than just a through points. It's through how we make them feel.

36:06Now you see when you blur the customers, it reminds you of NOKD. You know what NOKD is? Tell me. No, not our kind. Not our kind. It's true. But it's a, you know, it's a reality. If you wanted to go buy a car or if you want to go to Tiffany's, if you go to Tiffany's, you're looking to buy something that's special. It's not meant to be combined with target. Just because it may be drool or it just may be a car. But if I'm going to buy a Bentley, I'm not going to the used Toyota dealer. And the other Tiffany's ever shows up with target. Tiffany's is in trouble. They're gone. And that brings up my next point. Anytime the travel industry seems to be having a crisis or in trouble, and we see things happening now with a number of foreign visitors dropping precipitously in the United States, now with a situation in the Middle East and the Gulf, similar situations, I don't think the travel industry has learned a lesson yet because they think that when it's something like that happens, they can discount their way out of it. I don't think you can. No, we're not, again, we're not into discounting. We're into, you know, finding those, look for a luxury experience in an environment like this, that is unique. And again, not transactional

37:13experiential. And it's a different. I go back to what it used to be, Peter. Back in the old days, when I, you know, we used to see each other with Rich Carlton. Back then, that's what it was about a culture of excellence, not just a transactional. I think about, you know, what you can't buy. We can all go to Amazon and push the button and have things show up at our doorstep. But how does it make you feel? And those are still memories. Those are still experiences. Those are still things that we, you create for people that can't be bought online. Right. So basically, we move away from what used to be done just as experience and we have a conversation. I mean, that's the difference. Absolutely. Because it touches you in a way that isn't just transactional. And you build a relationship, next thing you know, you say, I want to come back because of Julie at the front desk. And I like coming here because of Amanda at Nelson's. And it, it, it, it becomes, creates more of like an, uh, an environment of family than it is of just a stay with a room and a bed and all the transactional things. What you're really doing is you're going back, you're going back to the future and old school hospital. It still works. We're still human until we're all AI

38:15and robots. Then that day may be, you know, maybe a different day, but today, uh, well, that's actually your sweetest fish and ginger ale. Then I'm happy. Don't bust me. Just the ginger ale. I'm still busted. Don't worry. But you mentioned AI. That day is already here. Right. So how do you manage that? I think it becomes a resource, a tool to help us, especially back office, back office or to reach customers and the like that those that may use it to do so, but it's still, you know, AI is not cooking food. AI is not parking a car. AI is not making your bed. That's still a human being that still does that with, with heart and to create those moments along the way while they're doing it, whether recognizing you and saying your name and escoring you and or finding that you, you know, you read your book and it's on the left side of your bedside and we put the little book marker in there and it's a little note saying have a great evening. That's, that's meaningful. Ralph Grippo, the president of Terranair Resort, that music means you're out of time for this hour. Stick around and got a whole lot more coming, but I only

39:17have one question for you. Do I get any points for this interview? Uh, more ginger ale. Oh, you busted me again. Back with more right after this. With reporting from around the world, it's time for I on travel with America's number one frontline travel news journalist Peter Greenberg. And now the man who travels over 400,000 miles each year, Peter Greenberg. Peter Greenberg back with you as I on travel continues for this last weekend of March, 2026. If you're just joining us, I hope you're having a great weekend where you happen to be. Let me tell you where we happen to be. Get out those maps, 33 degrees, 44

40:19minutes north, 108 degrees, 23 minutes, west. We are in Rancho, Palas Verde, California, with a great location at the site of the Terranair Resort, which has been around for the last 17 years. What a delightful, wonderful and special location. Of course, you can always reach me. You know the drill. Just email me. Peter at Peter Greenberg.com with your name, phone number, question or problem. We will solve it right here on the air. In the first hour, we talked about, you know, the investigation continuing into the terrible disaster that happened earlier this week at New York's LaGuardia airport. But speaking of airports, talk about chaos. It's the TSA on parade or not with so many quitting, so many more calling and sick. And airports grinding into an excruciating halt at security checkpoints with wait times at some airports exceeding five hours. That's just not acceptable. It's also not appropriate. And what we're seeing is absentee rates

41:19that go way above with the DHS is saying. The DHS, the Department of Homeland Security is saying that the absentee rates among TSA agents is about 10%. No, it's not. And Atlanta, it's 22%. At at Houston's Intercontinental, that's George Bush Intercontinental. It's 41% and across town at Hobby. That's where Southwest, Southwest flies. It was 55% early this week. Unsustainable numbers. What just a mess. And the economic impact alone is staggering. I was on a plane coming from Houston this week. And yes, it took me a while to get through security. But I got to the plane. I was one of a few got to the plane. Most people didn't. And when my plane took off, there were 62 empty seats. So think about that. What that means for revenue for the airlines. What it means for lost, lost job performance and job productivity and meetings that got canceled,

42:24they're delayed. I mean, it's terrible. And it's happening all across the country. Now at the same time, the Trump administration announces they're sending an ICE agents to help the TSA. Really? ICE agents aren't trained as TSA agents. They can't handle the ID verifying process. They can't handle the baggage screening with the conveyor belt that security checkpoints for carrying on bags. They can't handle the inspection of the check-in bags or any of the other functions that TSA does. ICE isn't trained for that. But they were sent out there ostensibly to help alleviate the crowding and help the TSA. They can't help alleviate the crowding with there's nobody reporting to work at the TSA. And they're not going to make the lines move any faster. What I saw at two airports this week were ICE agents either A standing around doing nothing or B directing passengers to stand in the lines they would have stood in anyway for four and a half to five hours. Now

43:27there were some reports that ICE agents were checking ID and documents. But wait a minute. Were they doing that for the TSA or were they doing that for customs enforcement? And here we go again. Nobody wants to answer that question. And now President Trump has announced he may even send in the National Guard. They'll be as useless as ICE. Maybe they can direct traffic but the traffic is not going to move any faster or move any better. We've got to solve this problem. And early of this week the chairman of Delta did something I thought was pretty bold but got my attention. And by the way other airlines like American and United have similar secret programs that they use for members of the House of Representatives and the Senate basically saying if you're flying out of a Washington airport whether it's Delas, Baltimore or Reagan will whisk you through security because you're a special person. Well what did Ed Bastion do at Delta this week? He announced they're ending that program. The members of Congress, House of Representatives

44:35and the Senate are going to get no more special treatment. They're going to have to stand in line just like everybody else. Maybe that will be the incentive to solve this problem. I'm reminded of the story that was told to me personally by Colin Powell many many years ago when he left his job as Secretary of State. The next day, the very next day he had to fly from Washington up to to LaGuardia in New York. So he goes out to Reagan and he's no longer flying on military aircraft. He's no longer flying on Air Force One. He's not going out of Andrew's Air Force space. He's going out of Reagan like everybody else. And he gets a security checkpoint and they take about a line because he alarmed the system and they had to do secondary screening and he said, wait a second, I'm Colin Powell. I said we don't care who you are. Today you're a commercial passenger and you're getting treated the same way as everybody else. I happen to think that's a pretty good idea. And when I asked Colin Powell what was the one thing he missed the most about working in the government? He had a very fast answer. He didn't hesitate. The answer was Air Force One

45:41because no security there. You just get out on the plane and you roll. But in all seriousness, you've got a big crisis unless they can solve this problem and get the TSA agents paid. And the irony here, and I'll mention it now, it's sort of sad, is that the average salary of a TSA agents 35,000 a year, the ICE agents they sent to help them who provided no help whatsoever, their average salary 52,000 dollars a year. Boy, that's a morale booster, isn't it? It's a mess. It's a mess any way you look at it. And if you think you're going to get through on TSA pre-check, not necessarily. The staffing issues enforce the TSA to close those lines in many airports at the highest crunch times possible. So here's my advice for the short term. If you're going to fly, if you've got to fly between seven in the morning or even six in the morning and nine in the morning, get out to the airport two in the morning. If you're flying between three in the afternoon and

46:44seven at night, get out there at 11 in the morning. However, if you're flying between let's say nine thirty in the morning and three in the afternoon, just go to the airport as you normally would two hours ahead because that is not a crunch time. Whether without the TSA, it's simply not a crunch time. Now, how fast can this get resolved? Anybody's guessed. And even if it was resolved today, it would take at least ten days for the TSA to get back on track and reduce some of those lines. And of course, right after spring break, you know what we've got? We've got Easter. So the problem is not going to go away. The loss of revenues has been staggering. It's compounded, of course, by other factors, but guess what? It's still very much with us. So we will be monitoring this story very carefully because nobody flies more than I do. And nobody wants to stay in the line for four hours when it's completely, you know, avoidable and unnecessary. We should look at TSA agents as

47:47essential government workers, just as we look at air traffic controllers as essential government workers and FBI agents as essential government workers. It's not a political issue. It's not a red state issue or a blue state issue. It just is obvious. You know, if a plane is delayed or cancelled, you're pissing off both Republicans and Democrats. Can't we all be pissed off together now and fix this? Hopefully we will. For the meantime, Ion Travel is going to come back right after this message to the Terranero Resort in Rancho Palace, where it is California. What a cool place this is. And we'll come back with more right after this. Your flight might be late, but we're on time. Ion Travel will be right back. Once again, here's Peter Greenberg. Peter Greenberg back with you as Ion Travel continues

48:56from the Terranero Resort right here in Rancho Palace, where it is California. You can always reach in. You know that drill. Just email me, peteratpetergreenberg.com with your name, phone number, question or problem. We will solve it right here in the air. I said, do every week at this time, I encourage you to go to our imaginatively named website. That would be petergreenberg.com for our comprehensive list of all the aid and relief organizations. Do all that hard in the central work all over the world, but most importantly to you, opportunities just about everywhere and every time you travel to get up close and personal and give back to the people who need it the most. We always like to localize those opportunities in Rancho Palace, where it is certainly there's no exception. Check out this place has been around for 60 years. It's the California Native Plant Society. These guys preserve the natural agriculture within the state of California, and of course they always raise awareness about making environmentally safe choices. Don't we need those every single day, but here's the cool part. You get to volunteer in all their programs, including monitoring the land, helping it plant sales, participating in hikes, and of course,

50:01identifying exactly what you're saving. You'll learn a lot in the process. If you want more information on how you can volunteer anytime you come down here, that's easy. Just go to CNPS, that stands for California Native Plant Society, dot org slash volunteer, or go right to our website petergreenberg.com for the comprehensive list on a global scale. My next guest, I'm happy to have him back on the show. We always love having him, because when you come down here to the Teranaya, you're looking at what he does. It's the ocean, and he's the marine biologist, but the chief operations and education officer at the Marine Mammal Care Center, none other than Dave Bader. Welcome back, sir. Hey, thank you for having me. You know, I always have to ask you, what are you saving today? Yeah, so the Marine Mammal Care Center is always out there ready to take care of our local marine life, in particular our local marine mammals, of course. So right now, we're seeing mostly malnourished California sea lion pups, with we're expecting to see some

51:05northern elephant seal pups coming in as well. Why are they malnourished? Every year, we have pups that wean. So, you know, moms will have their babies in June, they'll nurse them for six to nine months, and then it's time for them to be wild animals to get out there in the sea and try to make a living. I'm so do better than others. Some do better than others. Some of that is natural. Some of that is going to be influenced by, you know, fishing. You know, we catch the same fish that they eat, but novice animals, it's a hard, it's a hard life for those first animals that first year. Now, I got to tell you something, because I live not that far from here in Marine Dore, and the seals on my dock are not undernourished. They're humongous. So, mixed in amongst them, you're going to find some that are not so humongous, and we actually just rescued a pup in Rudana Beach, not too far, that was rescued off a dock malnourished. So, they'll kind of go out to sea, and they'll find

52:09their way back into their communities. They like to hang out together, you're rare to see one on its own, and they'll, you know, be in there amongst them. So, it takes a sharp eye to look at the ones, and notice the ones that are a bit skinnier. Is it safe to say that the malnourished ones are the ones that haven't figured out how to get the fish? You know, we don't know why, but you always say you help them, and you save them, and you release them back in, and they do it all over again. Yeah, you know, I like to think California sea lions a little bit more like a cat than a dog, right? They're kind of going to be figuring things out on their own and have that instinct to catch fish, but they're also learning from each other. And, you know, if you follow, let's say you follow a bunch of adult female animals that are robust and have a good energy reserve, and they decide, hey, we're going to go swim to Monterey today. If you're a pup that joins them, maybe you don't have

53:09the stamina to keep up with them. So, you made the right choice. You went with a bunch of animals that know what they're doing, but maybe you just didn't have the stamina or energy to keep up with them. So, something like that could happen. Now, before you got to the Green Mammal Care Center, you worked at a place that I love, the aquarium of the Pacific. Oh, yeah. In Long Beach. Yeah, it was one of my favorite places. No, not at all. I mean, that's an amazing place. Yeah, it's a wonderful place to see the amazing biodiversity we have in our ocean, especially what we have right here in Southern California, which I don't think people realize is a place of great abundance and biodiversity of marine life. We don't think about that when we think about LA or Palas Verdes or, you know, this Southern California, we're thinking about entertainment. We're thinking about, you know, sports. But when you step your toes on the sand, you're stepping into the wild. And you should expect to see wildlife. And it should be teaming. Unfortunately, we don't always get to see that. But when you do, it makes people really excited,

54:13right? So, Great White Sharks are a great example. We have done a great job in California of establishing some really wonderful regulations that have allowed that species to come back. And we're seeing them more and more. Baby Great White Sharks spend their time in Southern California because it's a nursery for them. And when their babies, they eat stingrays. So, we should find them right off of our beaches and we often do. People get scared, but they're really just they're eating stingrays, not really bothering anybody else. And of course, where we're sitting right now looking at over the Pacific Ocean, it's whale migration too. Yeah. So, we get a chance to see gray whales. I think when people think about whales, they typically think about migration and gray whales do a tremendous migration from Alaska to Baja, but we're also a destination. That abundance and biodiversity of life means we're not just a pass-through for marine life. We're a place they're coming to. If you want to see a blue whale,

55:14coming to California, Southern California, Central California, has the biggest largest population of blue whales anywhere else in the world. So, and they eat a lot. Four tons of krill a day. And that lets you know how much food there is out there. Blue whales want to hang here. That means there's a lot to eat, but blue whales, humpback whales, minkey whales, fin whales, almost ename it, and you can find it right off of our coast. When you look at the ocean right now, what's out there? What's the most threatened species that you have to deal with that now? You know, right here locally, we would think maybe coastal bottlenose dolphins, something we don't want to pay attention to, like definitely not an endangered species, bottlenose dolphins are ubiquitous. However, the ones that live right here, we want to keep a close eye on. A little bit further south, we have the most endangered marine mammal, most endangered mammal, maybe at all, is the faquita

56:16porpoise. They're only six to eight of those animals alive. They're found in six to eight. Only six to eight. They're found in something in the world. Yeah. And how do you protect them? It's difficult. So, faquita get entangled in gilnets that are set for other animals. So, they're caught as bycatch. Right now, the Mexican government is doing some things that's working pretty well to help protect those animals in a small corner or refuge. But this idea about gilnets is they entangle lots of marine life. We see gilnet entanglements in our sea lions as well here locally. So, it's an indiscriminate type of fishery. It catches whatever runs into the net. It can be well regulated, but it's one of those things that is going to entangle non-target species. And we see that in entanglements in California sea lions quite frequently. We think about animals getting tangled up in plastic. We think of trash or debris, but oftentimes more often

57:19than not. It's a gilnet. So, it's a ubiquitous problem for marine mammals. And you've got to educate the people. First of all, why they're doing it? And then what to do to save them once that happens? Yeah. And what people can do is a couple things. You know, they can always let us know when they see an animal that needs some help, right? With an entanglement, you can see it. They'd call us at 800-39 whale and we'll be able to respond. Now, that's one of our most difficult rescues to make because the animals that are entangled aren't necessarily unhealthy. They're healthy, they're out there, they're feeding, they're eating, but they have this thing attached to them that's cutting into them, causing them injury, but they're maybe not so sick yet that they're easy to catch. Most of our patients are sick and with malnourishment or diseases that will slow them down considerably, allow us to get to them a little bit easier. The entanglements are harder. Now, do you have a volunteer program? We do. Yeah. If you're 15 years old or older,

58:20you can't qualify. Yeah, you can. Okay. You can participate as a as a teen greeter. So, we have that program. We have volunteer programs for educators, 18, and up can help us with talking to the public, engaging in that way. And then, 18 and up, you can also volunteer as an animal care volunteer. So, if I'm staying here at Taranay, I can come hang with you. Absolutely. The place is open Friday through Monday from 10 to 4. You can come see the sea lions, see the patients that we have, and talk to some really wonderful people who are just as passionate as we are about marine life. And you have a website. We do. MarineMammalCare.org. Very, very cool. Day beta. Marine biologist and chief operations and education officer at the Marine Mammal Day Care Center and evening care center. I love the new day care center. Did I get all the time shows, right? I think you did. All right, Dave. Thanks for always joining us. Happy to see you again. Appreciate being here. And when we come back more from the Taranay Resort right here in Rancho Palace, vertus, right after this. Have a travel question or problem? Just email Peter

59:24at peteratpetergreenberg.com and we'll solve it on the air. Need more information on what you've heard? Have a travel question or comment? Just log on to petergreenberg.com. Now here's Peter. Peter Greenberg, back with you as I on travel continues from the Taranay Resort right here in Rancho Palace, vertus, California. You know exactly what to do if you want to talk to him and you just email me. Peter at petergreenberg.com with your name, phone number, question or problem? We will solve it right here on the air. Earlier in the show, we were talking about the marine wildlife here, the marine sea life here, the perfect views that you get here looking out at the ocean. But they also have an unusual hotel service here for guests. And it's not about looking out at the ocean, it's about looking up. And my next guest has the great title of being the

1:00:26resident astronomer at Taranay Merkomey or how are you, sir? Great. Thank you. Thank you for having me. I mean, you're an astrophotographer. Yes. What does that mean? Well, I like to take pictures of the night sky and it involves telescope equipment, professional equipment, optics, cameras. And I take photographs of celestial objects of the night sky and I create pictures and images digitally and as well as works of art that you can put on the wall. And by the way, if the night sky is cooperative and it's clear, it's absolutely amazing what you can see even with an naked eye as not counting all the different lenses that you use. I remember we were doing one of our television specials in the Canary Islands in Tenerife out in sort of like a desert landscape at night with no, no light pollution. And we looked up and the astronomer who was with us said, he looks at his watch and he goes, when I tell you to look up, look up and we look up and we saw

1:01:28the space station go by. We could actually see it. I mean, that was that, that blew me away. I never thought in a million years I could see that. And here we are, you know, on the Pacific ocean here in Rancho Palace, where it is, if the weather cooperates, what do you see? Well, yeah, if that pesky marine layer, it doesn't show up. We're, we have a lot of stars in the sky. It's an area of Los Angeles that is on the, I would consider the darker sides of the sky, which helps us out. You want to get away from light pollution. The places I usually go from my photography are about an hour and a half away. But here at Teranaya, we are somewhat blessed with being away from the, you know, the heart of the city. And so we do get certain, you know, we could see many stars and a lot of constellations because of it. Yeah, everyone's well, you know, I'm like the worst amateur astronomer in the world. So everyone's well, I can, I pride myself by saying, oh, look, I can see the big dipper, you know, or I can see the little dipper. That's about as far, if you

1:02:33said me point out Venus, I couldn't do it. Or, or, you know, but you can. And you can see it right from here. Yes, we can. In fact, just last Monday, we had an event for a corporate event where we set up two telescopes and we saw Jupiter. We saw Nebulas. We could see galaxies. We're, I do mostly observing during these events, which what I mean, observing, I mean, you're looking through a telescope and you're using your eye to see what is being focused on a photon of light from a star or from a Nebula 1500 light years away. So we're literally looking back in time because it takes light that long to travel. But I also mix in photography elements. So our guests here are able to walk not only view with their own eyes, but they're actually able to take away some photographs for keepsake and whatnot. And we saw Jupiter and Jupiter looked amazing. We saw the great storm on Jupiter. You could see these things. You could see it. What about Saturn?

1:03:35You could see the rings of Saturn. You could see the division in the ring of Saturn on a very clear, clear evening. All right. How about shooting stars? I haven't seen too many shooting stars here, but we have seen missile. I would say missile launches. I mean, but from Elon Musk to SpaceX launches. And even from the end, those are quite exciting. Yeah, I'm sure. Wow. But can we be honest about something? Sure. Those people aren't going into space. They're going to space adjacent. Can we talk about that? I mean, yeah, they're not going into space. Yeah. The Russian monkey and Sputnik had a better deal. Yeah. They're just going, they're getting a $250,000 uniform they get to keep. Call themselves an astronaut and 20 minutes later, they kiss the god going, I'm an astronaut. Yeah. No, they just spent a lot of money to say they were an astronaut. That's the, if you're referring to the like the blue origin. Yeah, I am sorry Jeff Bezos. Yes, that in fact, I think that's just a straight elevator. And you know, it's basically a very tall elevator trip. You know, there's a famous lesson that I've learned from the movie Saving Private Ryan, which is not a good idea to be in the

1:04:39first wave. You know, so I'm going to wait for the next generation of those launch vehicles so they actually go to space. Then count me in. That's what I want to do. I'm with you. I'm right behind that. Right. But for the moment, you want to see the stars. You can do it right from here. That's right. Yep. And we have telescopes. We have some photography equipment. And any, basically, what we see depends on the season right now. During winter, we see a Ryan, which is amazing. It has an amazing nebula. You can see the birth of stars in progress. Something that takes the course of millennia millions and millions of years and see the see what is happening during that process. I love it. And who would have guessed you have a resident astronomer right here at the Terran Air Resort? Yep. It's been a pleasure. Merkle Mayor, thank you for joining us. And if I spot the Milky Way, do I get extra points? You would. Yes. I'm going to do it. You know, it's one thing to think about dark sky tourism, which is so great down here, looking up at the sky at night. But how do you do a crystal ball deal? How do you figure out

1:05:42what's going to happen for the rest of 2026 when so many things get in the way of making an intelligent projection, right? Going to be the economy, going to be visa and immigration policies, the war and Iran, the purported violence in Mexico. No, just hotel rates, cruise ship rates, airline tickets, fuel, it's a mess. When we come back, we're going to talk to one of the leading tour operators to see what's in their crystal ball and try to get a handle on this. It's Ion Travel Return to the Terran Air Resort right here in Rancho Palace, Verdes, California, right after this. Please remain seated with your seatbelt fastened. Ion Travel will be right back. Now back to Ion Travel. Peter Greenberg back with you as Ion Travel continues from the Terran Air

1:06:46Resort in Rancho Palace, Verdes, California. And of course, you can always reach me. You know that drill by heart. You just email me. Peter at PeterGreenberg.com with your name, phone number, question or problem. We will solve it right here on the air. Obviously, news about travel is front page these days. As the world seems to want to implode, whether it's foreign visitors to the US, economic issues. And of course, the continuing reactions about the war in Iran and the region and the Gulf and the Middle East, where are you going to go? What you're going to do? Will you be stranded? Will you not be stranded? What's going to cancel? Who's going to cancel? Will you cancel? And I thought I'd check in with probably the people who know this the best from another side of the coin. They're probably the best family-owned tour company in the world. Collette Tours back in Rhode Island and joining me now from Collette, Diana Ditto. So, Diana, you know, you're watching this as closely as I am. You're looking at it from a customer perspective. I'm looking at as a reporter's perspective. What are you seeing out there in terms of immediate trends or perhaps even long-term trends about where people are going or even where they're canceling?

1:07:52Hi, Peter. Great question. We are seeing a lot of travel domestically in the United States. I think that happens to coincide with some of the things going on in the world that you mentioned, but also are 250th anniversary as a country. So, people getting out exploring their backyard. That's been a significant trend for 2026. In terms of the aftermath of what we're seeing from the war in Iran, looking just still strong. They're up year over year, which is extremely exciting. Full disclosure, we were a little bit nervous when initial activities started happening. But bookings are still strong. Travelers want to get out there and see the world. So, whether it's at home in the United States or further afield, they're still getting on planes. They're still going out to explore. And overall, the sentiment is hopeful, at least for now. You know, this is the time, and I say this with all due respect to situational awareness and

1:08:53intelligence for smart travel. You know, I don't say this to be elitist or to be condescending. But if you're listening to this program right now and you do not own an atlas, it's time to buy yourself one as an early Christmas present. Please do that. And look at it. You'll be astounded by what you think is distant, which isn't, or what you think is close but is distant. And you can learn so much about the intersections of the world, not just different countries, to realize what is and what isn't possible at a time like this. And out of that comes intelligent decision making and some smart travels. And I think you'd agree. Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, I have a trip coming to Egypt. I'm taking it. I just came back from Istanbul, not a problem. I had so many friends and I said, oh, is it safe? I said, get a map. Yes, it's fine. Now, there are certain places right now. I probably wouldn't go right

1:09:53away right this minute. I probably wouldn't go for the moment. And I emphasize the words for the moment to Bahrain only because it's our largest navy base in the region and it's a target of the of the Iranians. I get it. I probably wouldn't go for a sailing vacation in the States of Hormuz, right? For the moment. I've been swimming with the dolphins there for years in the Moussen-Dom Peninsula, but maybe right now and not this minute. But if you start making a list of all the places that you shouldn't go to, it's still a very small list. Absolutely. And our travelers would agree. We're seeing bookings to exciting and far-flung destinations like the African-African Safari product, Southern Africa, Eastern Africa, continues to be top sellers. People are flying down under South Pacific New Zealand, Australia, top destinations that we're seeing booked. And Europe, there is still an interest in

1:10:55desire to go to Europe. In a Peter, I think people recognize that life short and time is valuable. And the world, unfortunately, doesn't seem to be turning into a less chaotic place. So, you know, Carpathian, they are travelers want to get out there and explore. Not to recognize that, you know, to your point, you know, most places people are so excited to have you. They're so excited to see you. I can tell you my husband and I went to Egypt almost immediately after the Arab Spring and we never felt safer and never felt more welcome. So, it really, it really can be an interesting time to travel in, you know, particular places like Egypt and Turkey at this point in time. Often the safest time to go as well. I have to tell you, Diana, I was actually in Cairo during aerostring. During it, I was in Terrier Square. And two blocks away, the Falucas were floating down the Nile and no problemo.

1:11:59They're just powerful video images that have an impact on us if we don't do our homework. We're talking to Diana Ditto from Collette. And when we come back, I want to talk to Diana about, you know, you mentioned the 250th anniversary of our nation plus the 100th anniversary of Route 66. What's going to be happening domestically this summer? And can we afford it? We'll be back right after this. Your flight might be late, but we're on time. Ion Travel will be right back. You've been listening to Ion Travel with Peter Greenberg. Visit our website at www.PeterGreenberg.com for more information. And sign up for our newsletter. Ion Travel is a CBS audio network production. Peter Greenberg, back with you as Ion Travel continues with Diana Ditto from Collette Tours. And of course, coming to you from the Terran Air Resort in Rancho Palace,

1:13:01where it is California. You can always reach me. Just email me, peterpetergreenberg.com, with your name, phone number, question or problem. We'll solve it right here on the air. Diana, right before the break, I said we want to talk about domestic travel because a lot of people already made the decision way before the invasion and the attack on Iran to spend this summer month in this country because it's basically a huge celebration. In fact, we're doing a five-part series on television on Route 66 because of that as well. And this is before, of course, gas prices soared. Right now, the average gas price in America is about $3.91 a gallon, but in many cases, it's $5, maybe $5.5 a gallon. Energy surcharge is coming in because of the disruption of the supply lanes and the supply chain for oil coming out of the Straits of Hormuz and other locations, meaning that the cost of energy at hotels is going up. You run a number of tour buses and that's diesel, the cost of diesel is going up. So how do you adjust to all this? Our prices are contracted

1:14:06well in advance and they're set. So we have no plans of going back to our travelers and saying, hey, the price of the gas we're putting in the motor coaches has gone up and so you need to fork over more money. Those prices have been contracted and set. So we're ready to go and Peter, you mentioned driving Route 66 and getting out and exploring the United States. We hear from our travelers that one of the best ways to do that is on a guided tour. You're driving through these these parks, these incredible landscapes. You don't want to be driving the car. You know if it were me, I'd be driving off the road. They're so beautiful. You want to be looking out the window. And so, you know, getting out exploring your backyard and being able to do it with a guided operator, you just sit back, relax and take it all in and there's so much to see right here at home. And by the way, you forgot one other thing which I think is crucial. Local knowledge is key. You know, your guides become storytellers and that's something that's important to everybody.

1:15:09Because you're just looking out the window and you see an old filling station that goes back to the 1940s from Route 66, but there's not so many telling you the history of that filling station, it doesn't have meaning. And so, you know, that part of a guided tour I think is essential. Absolutely. It's something our tour managers, our greatest asset. They all live in the destinations that they guide and their local knowledge is unparalleled. And increasingly what we've been doing, Peter, well, we've been doing it for years, but really doubling down now is bringing on even more local knowledge in the cities and the different regions that we're going to. We were actually just out in Navajo country and had a Navajo guide joining our group, taking them around. And so, hearing the perspective or hearing, you know, the history of that place from their perspective, it's just another added layer of richness that is, you know, that is the tapestry of of our country. And you know, when we talk about Route 66, we're talking about Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona,

1:16:14in California. I think that I get them all. I think I did. And I think so. I think so. And my goodness, I can't begin to tell you how many people I know and I never thought I'd hear this are telling me they're going to drive it. They're going to drive the whole thing this year. So, you know, I'll give them three or four states and they're going to probably end up hopping on one of your buses. Good day, good day. But in given that just the Route 66 opportunities, is there one state that comes to mind to you that shines in that tour? California, it's a great, it's a great place to visit. I don't know what their gas crisis if I'd want to live out there, but a beautiful place to visit and so much to see so diverse, you know, from from Northern California and the, you know, the Redwood National Forest, all the way down to Pizmo Beach and in Joshua Tree and the National Parks that are down there. Just such an incredible state. And I mean, you could spend endless amount of time there

1:17:15and still not see it all. And in fact, if you're just talking about Route 66, the minute you cross over the border, you're in needles and barstow and San Bernardino and let's not forget Rancho Cucamanga. I always want to say that. Rancho Cucamanga and of course Pasadena and then, of course, all the way through to Santa Monica, which where the actual road ends, sort of unofficially, but it still does on the Santa Monica Pier. It's truly amazing. Is there a surprise destination for you this summer that you never thought people were going to book that they are? Great question. We are, I said it earlier in our conversation. We are seeing people going on safari like we've never seen it before. Travelers who have come on one safari with us are now taking a second. Sometimes a third. So Southern and Eastern Africa is absolutely exploding. And we're continuing to see travel to, you know, to the east coast here. I'm based in Providence, Rhode Island.

1:18:15And I think with the 250th anniversary, you're seeing people wanting to explore those 13 original colonies. So, you know, starting in Boston or even farther north in Maine, all the way down to the Carolina. We're seeing tons of travelers booking the itineraries that we have in those states. I mean, considering it's a 250th anniversary, you could do an entire fireworks tour going from east to west. Absolutely. You could. And you probably will because on July 4th, that's what we're going to see without it out. Not to mention the Boston pops not too far from you playing all the old favorites. Diana Ditto from Collette Tours. Thank you for the update in the report. And that means you're out of time for this hour. Stick around everybody. We got a whole lot more coming from the Terran Air Resort right here in Rancho Palace, Verde, California. As Ion Travel continues right after this. You've been listening to Ion Travel with Peter Greenberg. Visit our website at www.PeterGreenberg.com for more information and sign up for our newsletter. Ion Travel is a

1:19:17CBS audio network production. We've reporting from around the world. It's time for Ion Travel with America's number one frontline travel news journalist Peter Greenberg. And now the man who travels over 400,000 miles each year. Peter Greenberg. Peter Greenberg here is Ion Travel continues to the last weekend in March. And if you're just joining us, I'm going to tell you where we are. Get out those maps. 33 degrees, 44 minutes north, 108 degrees, 23 minutes west. We are at the Terran Air Resort in Rancho Palace, Verde, California. What a lovely location this is. I wish I could stay longer, but I can't, but long enough to do the show and talk to you. Of course, you can always reach me. You know the drill. Email me. Peter at PeterGreenberg.com with your name, phone number, question a problem. We will solve it

1:20:18right here on the air. In fact, let's go to the phones right now. I didn't fill it off you. I got Larry on the phone. Hey, Larry. Hi, how are you? Good. How can I help you? So how to question about non-refundable hotels during weather emergencies? Had plans to go to New York in January during one of those major snowstorms. The Amtrak tickets I had, I was able to get refunded. The theater tickets I had, they were able to get rescheduled, but the hotel was impossible not to crack first in terms of communicating with them. But second, I guess I don't understand why in the event of a weather emergency, when elected officials are telling people not to travel, why they wouldn't be at least willing to give a credit if not a refund. Well, by the way, I agree with you on that, but let's back up for a second. In weather situations, the airlines have done a relatively responsible job

1:21:21in offering what they call their travel waivers, which allow you to rebook at a later date with no difference in fare and no penalty. That's pretty good. And you already had that experience with Amtrak, so that's good. I was surprised that you were able to get your theater tickets rescheduled. The only way I could understand that would have happened is that the theater closed during the weather emergency. They did not, but there were a number of shows because of the forecast that allowed people to, and it was up to each individual show to allow people to reschedule for another available performance. Well, then consider yourself lucky on that one. Now let's get to the hotel area. This is where we deal with the idea of travel insurance. It's called trip interruption and cancellation insurance, because hotels, I'll put on my hotel hat for a second and try to take their side for a second. That, you know, an unsold hotel room is revenue they'll never get once the sun rises. So they look at this as revenue that's been committed to them that they would otherwise

1:22:28lose. And since there's no law or regulation or mandate requiring them to refund or credit, it's really up to the individual hotel manager or ownership to determine if they're going to do the right thing or not. So that's where that's where travel insurance comes in, because in a situation like that, if you were unable to fly, or in this case, unable to take the train, or they issued a proclamation, if you will, not to travel, then your insurance would have most likely covered it. You know, the ironic thing is when I'm remembering booking the room directly through the hotel's website, I do not remember an option of buying travel insurance with that book. The way that I know that there was with Amtrak. Yeah, but let me let me back up on the whole idea of insurance. You never want to buy travel insurance from the travel provider, whether it's Amtrak or anybody else. For most airline reservations, you can't even complete the transaction of your ticket

1:23:33without having the force to either opt in or opt out of insurance that you don't even understand what it covers or what it doesn't cover. So in a situation like this, if you want to ensure the hotel room, go to any travel agent or any travel advisor and buy that insurance from them, because they will know, first of all, to be able to translate the hieroglyphics of the policy language to make sure you're even covered for that eventuality. And then, you know, figure out if there are any pre-existing exclusions that would otherwise void the policy in your case. Everybody's different, in terms of age, pre-existing medical conditions, the location of the hotel, right? Very difficult to get trip cancellation and interruption insurance in Tehran right now, you know? So you get the idea. So that's really where the insurance kicks in. Okay. I will definitely consider that next time I decide to travel especially during the

1:24:33middle of the winter. Or even in the middle of the summer. Don't forget, there's lightning storms and huge thunderstorms as well, but Larry, thanks for the call. Thank you. You got it. You know, Larry's case is certainly not an unusual one or an isolated one. It all gets down to the communication you have with the hotel directly. I'm always a fan, and I hope you will be too, that whether you make your reservation online as he did, which by the way, I don't necessarily recommend, or you make it through a travel agent or anybody else, it's almost incumbent upon you, because you don't lose anything for it to pick up the phone, call the hotel, and talk to the M.O.D., the manager on duty, introduce yourself, and let them know that you just made a reservation there. You're looking forward to coming there. You're looking for, and you've given the dates that you're arriving, get there first in the last name, maybe their email address, and then you're in the process of establishing what? A relationship. And then you can send them a confirming email saying,

1:25:37thanks so much for the call, looking forward to seeing you on such and such a date. I should be arriving at such and such a time. And the reason why you want to do that, even in the best of times, is that if you're running late, you can let them know, so that they don't sell the room to somebody else. But the other reason why you want to do that is for the situation that Larry just discussed, snow emergency, everything shut down, blizzard conditions, the mayor tells everybody not to travel. You're never going to get to your hotel. Would not be a great time to talk to your new best friend, the manager on duty, just met the other day, and explain the situation, say, listen, there's no way I can get there. Hold on to my money. Is there another day we can tell a book for me to come back to the hotel? And you know what? It's about a display of good will in their part. You have a 95% chance they'd say, yeah, no problem. Because they want you to come and stay with them, but most importantly, what they want you to do. They want you to return and

1:26:39tell all your friends. It's all about establishing a relationship. Booking online may be expedient, but it's also denying you the opportunity of other options. And when something goes wrong, who are you going to call? Ghostbusters. That's why you need a travel agent, a travel advisor, or the travel provider themselves as long as you know who you're talking to, not some reservations agent in the Philippines on a call center, but somebody who actually works at the hotel with a first and a last name who's reachable. Time and time again, it was those names and those numbers that saved the day because you took the opportunity to do what your mother always told you to do. Write a thank you letter after that, that initial conversation. And then guess what happens. Your new best friend is in the position now to what? Extend good will in your direction and not just it's our policy or following some guideline that has no relationship

1:27:46to the reality that you're experiencing. It's a win-win. So again, have those conversations. Speaking of that, we'll be back with more conversations from the Terran air resort right here at Rancho Palace, Rudy's, California, as Ion Travel continues right after this. Your flight might be late, but we're on time. Ion Travel will be right back. Once again, here's Peter Greenberg. Peter Greenberg back with you as Ion Travel continues from the Terran air resort in Rancho Palace, Rudy's, California. Of course, you know the drill you can always reach me. I think some of you could even recite this. Peter at PeterGreenberg.com with your name, phone number, question or problem. We'll solve it right here in the air. And of course,

1:28:48I at every time this week, I talk about what? Our website, PeterGreenberg.com, because on that, you'll find our comprehensive list of all the aid and relief organizations, not only just doing all the hard and essential work around the world, but opportunities for you to get involved, up close and personal, and changing the lives of the people who need it the most every time, and just about everywhere you travel. So be sure to check that out. But in the meantime, here's another website you need to know from thetraetable.com. It's written by our good pal, Zach Griffwood joins us now. Hello, Zach. Hey Peter, good to hear from you. I mean, so much stuff to talk about. So let's start with the obvious, the continuing chaos, even if they solve everything. It's continuing chaos at the TSA because people have quit, people have called in sick, people may not be coming to work right away. A lot of these guys and women are holding down second jobs and third jobs. And even if the Congress meets and votes to basically refund and reallocate funds for the DHS, it's not going to be solved overnight. What are you hearing? Yeah, I mean, I think that's one of the things that a lot of folks forget, right? Like these

1:29:49issues at the TSA, Trekpoints Nationwide, they're not just a moment in time. This has been something that's been brewing happening around the holidays. Remember Christmas and New Year's and Thanksgiving and area I was spring break time. None of this is necessarily new. There are a lot of strategies that folks actually need reminding of. And so that's things like making sure you have your pre-check number in every reservation. Have you enrolled in Touchless ID, which is a three program that the TSA offers in partnership with many major airlines that allows you to just present your face for identity verification. You get to go into a different line. It's fast, it's easier, it's seamless. It's an opt-in program. So you do have to actually go into your frequent flyer profile and check the box. But, you know, those are the types of things that it is experienced to me. Really brings to mind is the importance of kind of knowing the tips and tricks to actually, you know, getting through security faster more efficiently every time, whether or not

1:30:52we're in a partial government shutdown. Now, let's go to the the brighter side of things that the shutdown gets finished, get solved, everybody's back to work. We still have issues with the TSA simply because there's still behind the eight wall when it comes to moving quickly about innovation and technology. For example, absolutely. Yeah, no, sure, you have pumping examples. Oh, I got a big one. It's happening already at Heathrow and London. They've already thrown out the 3-1-1 rule. You're allowed to bring your lotions, your potions, your diet sodas, your waters through security with only one exception. You can't bring them in a metal container. Other than that, everything's thrown out, you get to do it. Now, what does that mean? That means they have the technology with advanced CT scanning machines. They've already trained their agents and those lines are moving very quickly and people are not getting abused by exorbitant prices beyond retail with airport vendors. It's a win-win-win. What happened in the US? Has the TSA ordered these machines? No.

1:31:53Have they put in for a requisition for them? No. Have they trained any agents on them? No. So let's get out the calendar. By the time they ordered the machines, by the time the machines are built, by the time the machines are delivered, by the time the agents are trained on them, and by the time it's all implemented and ready to roll, we're in 2028, my friend. This is ridiculous. Yeah, and I mean, listen, the one comparison to Nate, right, is London Heathrow is obviously major airport, but that's one airport. That's like, you know, the size of an Atlanta. So potentially we could see sooner than then some trial runs in some airports, obviously, the interesting to see. But the general just obviously stands where the folks in London that they've kind of, it's easy. It makes sense. They have the technology. We're in 2026. It's like, come on, just install the new machines. For ever the TSA has talked about the existing machines, the new ones that they've had, the ones that are blue, kind of LED lighting, look all super cool

1:32:57and fancy, supposed to help and make it faster. And in my mind, they're slower than the old machine. They are. And now let's assume everything's back to normal. Everybody's working. When is the TSA going to understand passenger flow times? For example, why do you train new agents at eight in the morning or at five in the afternoon? That's the biggest push time at the airport. Train them at like one in the afternoon on a Saturday or three in the afternoon on a Sunday. But not during crunch times where every bag is stopped for five minutes while they try to show the agent with a difference between a knife and a ballpoint pen. And by the way, I'm all in favor of the training. Don't get me wrong. But there's a time and a place for it. And doing that during the crunch time disadvantages everybody. No question. And I think that that is, you know, it's just it's wild to me that the TSA is not only training folks, but they are closing lanes. I was passing through

1:34:03Newark the other day. It was a Thursday afternoon at four in the afternoon. And they had just decided that they're going to close two of the precheck lanes because there weren't that many folks in line. And then I worked around just to kind of see what was happening. In 15 minutes later, there was a huge crush because there's this new wave of flights that are going out. And you know, they're wrapped all around. And you know, the agents are still kind of there. They're just not operating the line. It's like some of it is absolutely structural. And some of it just seems to me like, you know, areas of very easy opportunity. All right. So here's my stupid question of the day. Didn't we pay for precheck? Didn't we pay for TSA in the beginning? Aren't we paying for clear and all those other services? Don't we pay for global entry when we come back to customs and border protection? We already paid for the service. Are we getting it or not? Yeah. I mean, the answer is what is definitely as you said, it's not, it was especially talked

1:35:07with global entry for those last few weeks when it was out. And, you know, we're paying for the service so that the service exists. And then you take it away. It's left a lot, a fabrication a lot of people's mouths, but thankfully it's back in saving time again. And, you know, here one quick thing that I actually did over the past week is I decided that, you know, there is no central repository of data on live wait times at airports, but I went ahead and I took all the big airports, all the big checkpoints, the TSA, the pre, the clear, the standard priorities. I put them on a dashboard. I've got them up on my site. I actually have it out. I gave it out to all of folks through my newsletter. So you can get that from the traytable.com. There's a newsletter button. And it's, this is the type of thing that the PSA should have done. But, you know, it doesn't, it's not that hard to get all the data from your airports. Put it out there. Make it front and center. So folks are making decisions that are informed

1:36:11in a way right now where it's like, hey, everything I see is just crazy viral videos of long line. You know, it's interesting. We have great apps out there. There's FlightRadar24. There's FlightOware. There's FlightE. All these great apps that contract individual planes by tail number to let you know exactly where they are. If they're ever going to make it to the airport, where you're waiting for that plane to become your flight. Why can't we do the same thing with TSA wait times? I don't get it. I come to completely. And, you know, it's funny because they use the same monitoring that like airport lounge is due. And you can go into an app now with Delta or, you know, American Express. And it'll tell you how many people are ahead of you and align and you can join a wait list. And it's live and it's refreshed and all these things. And, you know, the TSA should implement the exact same technology. Except for one thing, Zach, and I don't think you'll agree with me. Or maybe you will. And that is, if I'm joining a lounge and I pay that money, I don't want any app to tell me how long my wait is. I need to go into the club. Well, that's a whole, no, I mean, it's amazing. It's funny. It's like, you go

1:37:18to the airport, you wait in a really long line for TSA, you get through security. And then everyone somehow ends up in the line for the Amics lounge or the Chase Lounge or the Catholic one or Delta, whatever. And it's like, you know, you're kind of line hopping all together. By the way, the whole point of a lounge is to have maybe a 35 to 40 minute, you know, escape from the maddening crowds before you walk to the gate and get on your plane. You're not, you're not staying at the lounge to move into the airport. That's number one. So if you get to the lounge and there's a 40 minute wait time, it's defeated the purpose of why you joined it in the first place. They have to figure this out. They've oversold the program. So not only do we have long lines at TSA, we have meaningless lounge opportunities because we have to get on our flight, assuming it's on time, which we can track on those flight apps. You see, we've come full circle. But the bottom line is, you got to check out Zack's website. It's called FromTheTrayTable.com and sometimes it's under the tray table. Sometimes it's on the tray table, but the one you got to

1:38:22read is FromTheTrayTable.com, Zack Griff is the guy and Zack, thank you as always for joining us. Of course. And then it's very, very, very, you're here at petergreenberg.com. I'm Zack at ZackRus.com. So anytime anyone, you know, questions, thoughts, feedback, you know, if peter doesn't give you the satisfying answer, I'm always around to. On that note, you're finished, Zack. I'm hanging up. Thank you, man. We'll talk to you soon. Always a pleasure. Good to speak. That's Zack Griff from FromTheTrayTable.com. We'll be back with more from the Terranay Resort in Rancho Palace, British, California. And you don't have to wait in line for this club right after this. Have a travel question or problem? Just email peter at petergreenberg.com and we'll solve it on the air. Need more information on what you've heard? Have a travel question or comment? Just log on to

1:39:25petergreenberg.com. Now here's peter. And we're back as Ion Travel continues from the Terranay Resort right here in Rancho Palace, British, California. Of course, I'm happy to talk to you at any time. You know, the droid just email me with your name, phone number, question or problem. And we'll get right to it right here on the air. As we're going to do right now, let's go to the phones. At to Rockport, Illinois, rumor has it. It's near Joliet and I've got Karen on the phone. Hello, Karen. Hi. How can I help you? Well, I have a cruise coming up in the very end of August and it starts in Bilbao, Spain. And I've been looking at flights and they just seem to be going up like crazy. And I would you book it like right now? Well, let me ask you a couple of silly questions. Ready? When you say you're looking at flights, what's the routing that you're looking at? I think Chicago to most of them are going like into Dublin or they're all over, but there is a connection. I don't care what

1:40:26it is just to show. Okay, boy. And what's your report in Spain? Bilbao? Yep, we know it. Okay. So I'm going to make a suggestion. It's really old school, but it might work. There are so many great ads that you'll find for other carriers that you don't even know about that fly out of Europe, meaning out of London. So instead of going from where you are, which would be Chicago, Chicago to X to Bilbao or Chicago to Madrid to Bilbao, you might be pleasantly surprised to find out you can go Chicago, London, and then a separate flight. So you'll book one round trip Chicago to London and you'll buy a second round trip, London Bilbao London. And you find that by looking at the ads in the Sunday editions of a lot of the British newspapers, the times of London, the observer, the mail, the evening standard, and you'll see ads there for

1:41:31flights that are very inexpensive that'll get you from London to Bilbao. The other one to do is to look at a website called Mobissimo. They are very European based and they scour all the websites of airlines over there on fares that are never advertised in the US that might also get you to Bilbao. Okay. So now let's go back to your original question. When should you buy your tickets? Well, look, it's now the last weekend in March. You're going to go in August. There's no reason why it's still high season in August, why you wouldn't buy those tickets right now. Okay. Because they're not going to go down. Now the irony is, the reason why they're not going to go down, it's not because of American tourists. It's so many foreign travelers have decided not to come to the United States this year because of either administration visa policies or immigration

1:42:32or the perception that we're not an opening community that they're not coming to the US, not even for the World Cup, not even for FIFA. So that doesn't mean they're staying home. You know what they're doing? They're going to go within Europe to places like Bilbao. So that's why the airfares are not going to go down, at least over there, and neither with the hotel rooms. So do you have a place you have a place to stay already? Not yet. No. I've been looking. All right. Because you only need a place to stay the day before the cruise and maybe the day gets back, right? I'm going to go like probably two or three days before. Okay. So you need hotels for that. They're good. And by the way, you're doing the smart thing. So many people make the classic era of fly to that location where their cruise ship was leaving on the very day that the cruise ship was leaving. And if the plane is late or God forbid they lose your bags, you're in trouble.

1:43:32Right. So to go to two to three days in advance, very smart way to go. Thank you. Congratulations on that. Thank you. Get out now. Let me give you one of their caveat. If you book the trip, the airline ticket on a US carrier and the airfinger between now and August goes down substantially, guess what you got to do? Cancel that flight. Get a credit for that full amount and rebook it immediately at the lower fare. And the difference in fares gives you another credit. How about that? That'll work. So you know, Google flights does a good job of that. They monitor the fluctuations in price and can help you out. All right. All right. And on the you know, one more thing like on the connection, how much time would you say is the minimum you wouldn't for a connection? I mean, say you landed in Dublin or something. Well, Dublin's pretty good because it's not a big airport. And the actual connect times can be as little as two hours.

1:44:36Okay. But I wouldn't do anything less than two hours in Dublin or anything less than four hours in London. Okay. All right. Now would you like to know why about the four hours? Sure. This is what they don't tell you. The minimum connect time that they recommend for you in London is three hours. Sounds reasonable. Here's what they don't tell you. You know what they're internal minimum connect time is for your bags in London. It's four hours. So there's a reason for that. Otherwise, they're going to lose the bags. So that's why you want to give yourself four hours in London. So you can actually keep your bags with you on the same plane. Get it? Got it. All right. Have a great time and have a great cruise. Thank you. Thanks God. Bye. Now for those of you who book an air sea package, which I don't think Karen did, where you're buying your airline tickets or they're included in the package from the cruise line itself. And you want to roll the dice. Okay. You can go the day before. And then if they lose

1:45:42your bags or the flights delayed, it's it's incumbent then upon the air upon the cruise line to let you play catch up and try to follow the ship and get on at another port. But why do that to yourselves? They'll give yourself two to three days ahead of time. You'll be much better off. Back with more. Right after this. Please remain seated with your seatbelt fastened. Ion Travel will be right back. Now back to Ion Travel. Peter Greenberg back with you as Ion Travel continues from the Terran Air Resort right here in Rancho Palace, for his California. You know the drill you can always reach me. Just email me. Peter at Peter Greenberg.com with your name, phone number, question or problem. We'll solve it right here on the air. When I first came to this resort, which is when it first opened, that's like 17 years ago. So I'm not feeling old or anything.

1:46:44I went to dinner at the restaurant. And if you go to enough restaurants and you owe them a lot, meaning more than once to each restaurant, you if you're lucky, you discover what their signature dishes. If it happens to be when you want. And you had something on the menu there. That was a cornbisc. And it blew me away. And here we are 17 years later. And I just ordered it. And it was the same. I have to say thank you for keeping it on the menu and who am I saying thank you to the executive chef here at Terran Air? And Ruvon, how are you sir? Good, how are you? I'm good. I mean, you know, that's really probably one of the challenges that any chef has. You always want to keep the menu relevant and you want to keep it current. But at the same time, you don't want to take something off that will cause a revolution. That's the beauty of food. It's truly timeless. And there's some great things that we can always incorporate and have that really tell the entire story of where you're from. And of course, you're originally from New Orleans, which means you grew up with food. Absolutely. Right. And you're cooking back there. Definitely. Yes, sir. This is different cuisine than New Orleans cuisine.

1:47:48California itself, truly, it changed the way I cooked in the way I approached food as a chef with what we have access to here. The fresh ingredients direct relationships for the farmers. And then, you know, being right on the ocean with some of the best seafood that you can find. Okay, let me take a wild guess. You don't have a single dish that's blackened. Correct. Oh, I got it. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. That's a change. Yeah, definitely. And truly seasoning, the way you season things, the way you layer flavors, truly keeping it simple and fresh is really what's best in California. And of course, there's been a revolution in how you source food because it's so much easier now. Yeah, absolutely. And it sort of takes away even from seasonality. You can get blueberries at the wrong time of the year. If you want it, you can get it. Yeah, totally. Mostly like eight to nine months out of the year now. So it's fantastic. So seasonality is sort of like going away. Correct. Yeah.

1:48:50So I always ask this for chefs and you're no exception. What's the one thing when you got to Teranella that you wanted to put on your menu, thinking, everybody's gonna love this. Can't get enough of it. I can't wait to get more and nobody ordered it. We thought we would do good serving rabbit, but who told you that? It was just, you know, the landscape and the area lends itself to that. California is known for rabbit. Truly. Yeah. You know, yeah. I think they're just best to be looked at and watched running around on our grounds. Let them hop everywhere except onto the menu. Exactly. Okay. So no longer on the menu. No longer on the menu. They got 86. Yeah. Definitely. Okay. How just out of curiosity, how is it prepared? The rabbit. Yeah. You can, there's so many applications. We were doing it. We were brazing it with tomato and some spices and finishing it with like a little arugula salad. Right. Now you just took a photograph of it because nobody ordered it. Yeah. Side of carrots. We're good now. Yeah. Well, bye bye. Okay. So that's the dish that didn't make it.

1:49:51Absolutely. What about the dish that you say, do I really have to put this on the menu and and everybody wants it? You know, truly it's lobster. It's just one of those dishes that you see everywhere and it's not really done well, but you know, if you keep it simple and unique and super fresh, it just can't stay off, you know, it can't stay out of the kitchen like we sell plates and plates and plates. But of course, there's lobster and then there's lobster. What kind of lobster? Uh, spiny lobster. Right. Yeah. It's fantastic. So we're getting it right out of the ocean right in California. Now spiny lobster is not necessarily a large lobster, right? No. No. There's various different sizes, but it has a really unique texture and sweetness that a main lobster is a little bit more has a different flavor profile, which makes it super unique. Yeah. Of course, you go to a main lobster. It's it's butter. Right. Followed by butter. Exactly. You use a little more butter. Right. Yeah. How do you do it differently here? Truly. Um, we incorporate it into a beautiful pasta. Um, a little bit of lemon,

1:50:56some nice olive oil and it's excellent succulent. Not bad. No. Is that seasonal too? Uh, we can do it year round. We're we're very, very lucky. Okay. So now I always judge a restaurant. You're going to laugh me when I tell you this, by how they make a grilled cheese sandwich. How do they make something simple? Right. And you'll always find the grilled cheese sandwich where on the kids menu. Right. I found it on your kids menu. Uh huh. Right. Yeah. And I always like to order a grilled cheese sandwich with grilled onions. Okay. Right. And you know what chef, you didn't know this, but I ordered it today and you did a great job. That's awesome. Thank you. So you passed the grilled cheese test. Simple ingredients done right. You can't go wrong. But there's always something on the kids menu that go, why is it still on the menu? Chicken fingers. Yeah. You still have them. Yeah. We do. See? There you go. The chicken, the kids love the chicken fingers. We're talking to Andrew Vaughan, who does a whole lot better than just chicken fingers. He's the executive chef here at the Terranayles Court. And we come back more with both of us

1:51:58as Ion Travel continues right after. Your flight might be late, but we're on time. Ion Travel will be right back. You've been listening to Ion Travel with Peter Greenberg. Visit our website at www.PeterGreenberg.com for more information. And sign up for our newsletter. Ion Travel is a CBS audio network production. Peter Greenberg, back with you talking to Andrew Vaughan, the executive chef here at Terranayles. So as you develop the menu, right, you develop relationships with your farmers, with your purveyors, if you will, is there anything that's particular to where we are in California that you never got in New Orleans, that you never got anywhere else that you say, I have to have this. Truly what I think about most is the quality of an avocado and the flavor of an avocado.

1:53:00My mother was a California native. She moved to New York and she used to joke all the time that in New York, when you get to the grocery store, you just had to get an estimate for an avocado. Yeah. And it was never good. Yeah, it's either as hard as a baseball or they taste like mud, because they haven't been picked when they're ready right off of the vine. And we have the ability to have that access. We have an avocado orchard not even a mile away from the resort that the were able to serve some of the best avocados. Okay, so that's avocados. Yeah, tomatoes. Tomatoes, same idea. You know, coming from Louisiana, like our tomato season was basically one month and that was the best time you get a tomato. That was it, but you've also heard of fried green tomatoes, right? Oh yeah. Because we can't grow a good tomato. We're getting green tomatoes from California because they're shipping them to Louisiana and they're still hard as a rock. So we had to figure out what to do with them. Whereas now being in California, you know, we've got a remarkable tomato growing season. We can get some great product year-round and truly they're

1:54:03at their peak, you know, in the in the height of summer, which is fantastic for us. Now you mentioned the spiny lobster, but what about the other seafood, which is so prevalent out here? Tuna. Tuna. There's also some amazing yellowtail that goes right on the outside of Catalina Island. That's some of the best yellowtail you will ever find. So are you getting us from the J-boats? Yeah, absolutely. Wow. Who knew there was, now there was Abelone out there. Abelone as well. Can you still get that? You can. We also, we work with a team outside of Santa Barbara that gives us some beautiful baby Abelone and also some really unique, you know, sea urchin is fantastic as well. Some great oysters also. Okay, so now I got to ask the elephant in the room question, which I'm seeing all over the country. I'll see if you see it as well. People were eating less. It's an ozemic mentality now where whether they're coming and they can't even finish the portions. So so many people are sharing the meals now or they're boxing and taking it home. Are you seeing it? Yeah, absolutely. It is. It's something that we see. I think people eat differently now. It's just a new way of life and it helps us look at food in a different way as

1:55:07well from a sustainability aspect using more vegetables, using more of those great local flavors that really enhance dishes where you can have a smaller portion of a protein or a seafood. But the thing is I see couples now going out to dinner, right? And everybody knows the minute they walk in, they're boxing everything and taking it home because they can't finish it. Yeah, definitely. Now what end are drinking less alcohol? Yeah. Who would have thought? Right? Yeah, absolutely. So that changes how you have to structure your restaurant because in F&B and food and beverage, I mean restaurants and restaurants at hotels make a substantial part of their profit on alcohol sales. Right. Absolutely. So, you know, we have to be really creative with what those beverage programs look like, especially for communities that don't drink alcohol. So, you know, offering something that's really fresh and unique. But then also it catches the eye. People love everything that's on Instagram now. So, it's like capturing what visually looks stunning and has great flavor.

1:56:09You know what I hate. I have to tell you. When I go to a restaurant, I don't want anybody at that restaurant taking pictures of their food. Stop it and eat the food. It's an epidemic. It is. Seriously. I mean, really you have to take a picture of what you ate. Yeah, you know, I think that's how people identify with food now as well. It's part of the it's part of the overall experience. Well, I guarantee it. Look, you're putting on a show. Yes. A great restaurant is also forgetting the quality of the food. It's also theatrical. Definitely. It's an entertainment. Definitely. You're paying for that experience. I get that. But taking pictures of the food is like, I'm sorry. Sure. Okay. Let me go back to the alcohol for a second. Okay. Is there now the coolest drink, Dujura? There was a year, a couple of years, everybody had to have a Cosmo or everybody had to have a Vesper Martini. Right. What is it now? It's apparel spreads. That's the the drink of the, you know, the drink of the season, you know, and it's summer all year round in California.

1:57:12And that's an easy one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's just like fresh flavors, you know, really light. Sweet. Yeah. And that's it. Definitely. Right. But you're doing a lot of mocktails too. Yes. Yeah. I mean, you utilizing like, you know, like you mentioned California citrus, you know, it's a it's a drink in itself. They're so wonderful and unique. And then Stonefruit, that's about to, you know, about to come into season as well. You know, we always have some things to look forward to that really offer those like ranges where you can do some really unique drinks. Stonefruit. Yeah. Would you please explain that to me? Apricots, nectarines, peaches, you know, anything that has a pit. Now I understand. Okay. I was thinking of star fruit, which I hate. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Dragonfruit is another, another big one, you know, really. And for those people who've ever been to Asia, you want to stay away from the durians. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Not a great drink. Ooh. Ooh. You know, there was a rumor around at one point that in in Bangkok and in Hong Kong, they were at McDonald's that were doing durian

1:58:12shakes. And people actually believed it. Yeah. Ooh. Interesting. Ooh. Don't stay in your big mat. No. No, no, no, no. Andrew Vaughn, the executive chef right here at Taranayah. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you very much. I'll see you with an apparel spritz. All right. And that music means you're out of time for the entire show. Lots of people to thank. Of course, Anthony Produced doing the producing here. Amanda Morris, all the guys in New York, Jeff Ryder doing the boards, Ralph Gryppo, and the entire staff of the Taranayah Resort. And we cannot forget Marguerite Clark. So she gets to mention as well. We'll see you next week everybody for another location somewhere around the world. You've been listening to Ion Travel with Peter Greenberg. Visit our website at www.PeterGreenberg.com for more information and sign up for our newsletter. Ion Travel is a CBS audio network production.