Travel Best Bets with Claire Newell: September 30, 2026

0:00Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. The message for everyone paying big wireless way too much. Please for the love of everything goodness world stop. With Mint you can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course if you enjoy overpay no judgments but that's weird. Okay, one judgment. Anyway, give it a try at MintMobile.com slash switch. Up front payment of $45 for three month plan, equivalent to $15 per month required. Intro rate for three months only. Then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. Turn that MintMobile.com. It is Wednesday afternoon and that means it is time for us to check in with Claire Newell, the president and founder of travel best bets. Claire, good afternoon to you. Good afternoon Jill. I know I sent you some notes but I wanted to quickly talk about something that I read this morning and I'm just kind of shocked about and I really want people to get some of this advice before I continue on with the rest of the segment. The better business bureau has just come out with the numbers of the amount of money

1:05that Canadians have lost due to fraud in the first six months of the year. $351 million. Yikes. That's a lot. Yeah, that's a lot. It's a lot and we're sadly on track to roughly match last year's $704 million in losses according to the better business bureau. One of the biggest scams and I hear this scam, either someone sends me an email or our team here about it and then they relay the message to me. One of the biggest scams right now is called Reservation High Jacking. Reservation High Jacking is after you've actually made a legitimate reservation, whether a car rental, a hotel, an air, a cruise, you receive a message claiming that there's a problem with your payment and the scammer may know your actual reservation dates, even the price of your room and you're directed to click a link and make an urgent payment.

2:06It could be because something's wrong or they didn't quite get the amount or difficulty with your credit card. Whatever it is, the danger is that the booking itself may be real but the fraud part is the request for money. So if you receive a message like this, don't use the link or phone number provided. Visit the official website independently and contact them directly just to verify because more, well, there is a good chance it may not actually be a problem with your reservation. So this is a really scary one because the email or the text or whatever it may be may look so legitimate and they may have your name, they may have your reservation and know the price. So be very, very careful. This has just come, you know, it's come to light in the past couple of years. Again, it's reservation high jacking. So legitimate booking but the problem email is the actual fraud. Okay. That is good to know and yeah, it seems like that's good advice for everything.

3:09Now, never click the link. Always verify before you do anything. Yeah. And if you're using it and a travel agent, they're likely the ones who are going to be in contact with you. If there's an issue, what's happened is that some people are booking through a travel agent and then getting an email from a travel supplier that is part of their reservation and it's saying that there's a problem and then they call their travel agent after they've actually clicked the link and by that point, it's too late. So it's really, really frightening and people getting caught on this a lot lately. That is good advice. We are also talking about people cutting back. Yeah, a lot of us are cutting back but apparently people are still traveling. That's good news. Yeah, it is good news. This is a survey that was conducted by Terrace X and it found that 87% of Canadian travelers say the expenses associated with the trip feel worth it once they return home. I'm a believer. Okay. And 69% report getting more satisfaction from travel than buying material goods.

4:11I mean, the headlines in Wall Street Journal and in the economist last year and this year have been luxury good to row. Luchely travel is in. So this probably won't be news to anybody. But two thirds, 67% said that they would rather cut back on every day expenses in order to travel. I do that myself. And some are going way further. So according to the research 43% of Canadians have taken on additional work or like a side job to actually afford a trip. 35% have charged a trip to a credit card without knowing how they're going to pay it off. I mean, I'm not a fan of that. I don't want people to go into debt travel. But I understand how important travel is to people's life these days. All right. That's interesting. Yes. That one's a bit disturbing. The final one. But it's not surprising people want to travel and get those experiences. Yeah. They sure do. It used to be, you know, there's this pyramid of wants and needs, you know, when at the top

5:15would be in a shelter food at the of the needs. And travel used to be quite low on that pyramid and travel in the decades that I've been in the industry is way further at the top now. And I think part of that is people are who are younger are feeling like, you know, I'm maybe never going to be able to buy an afford out. So I'm going to enjoy all of these moments and these experiences. And I'm going to travel and I'm you talk to people who are, you know, mid 20s and a huge chunk have actually been to places like Mexico and big, been to Thailand and places that, you know, people my age, that took decades for them to afford and do. And we're seeing people do things younger. Very interesting. Yes. So what look at, yeah, interesting looking at those numbers. Well, let's talk about where people are going because I know air Canada vacations has put out a list of the top picks of travelers. And my guess is you're not going to be super surprised by what's on this list.

6:18I was not surprised at all. This is a second annual travelers top pick awards. And this has been done by like you say air Canada vacation. So we're talking about 1.3 million vote cast by Canadians in 10 categories. And it was really highlighting destinations and experiences that Canadians are wanting on their wish list. And the one that stood out to me the most was the bucket list destination. It was Chincatera in Italy. Italy is always on the top of so many lists. People go back to I'm in time again. There's so many parts of Italy that you can go to. For sure, the most common, the first time people go would be Rome, Florence, Venice. But then people are now going and doing a multi coast. Chincatera, they're going to the lake district. They're going to Puglia. I mean, there's just so many parts of Italy. Anyway, so not super surprising there. Beach destination. Any guesses? Oh, there's so many because we've talked about the big beaches, the best beaches in the world. There's so many of them. I know.

7:18And it's Riviera Maya in Mexico. And for Canadians, it's such an easy destination to get to. There are round trip around year round trips to Cancun, which is the airport that services the Riviera Maya. All the way from Costume, Harris, Islam, Harris, all the way down south to the Tulum area. So that huge stretch came out on top. And Rio de Janeiro claimed the adventure travel category, Prague, Arts and Culture, Harris, Ferro Mance and Santiago Chile with the foodie favorite. So there are others. I mean, obviously there's 10 different categories, but I just wanted to highlight some of those. Two, well, one shout out that I want to give is to the popular wellness for treatment with the name Canada's best resort based spa. Ooh, this is in the 12th annual World Spa Awards. So for the Whistler Spa at the four seasons and residents Whistler was crowned Canada's best resort spa for 2026.

8:24There were lots of other great spas in BC that were nominated, including the Spa Needle Lake Lodge, Pacific Miss Spa at Kingfisher Pacific Resort and the Spa, the Fairmont and Jasper Park Lodge. But we have quite a few here in BC, which is worth it. And one story we have to hit today is that air, air Canada has done a brand new partnership for expanded travel with BC based Pacific coastal airlines. This is really, really great news because there are the Pacific coastal airlines. Just it has a fantastic network and connects so many smaller airports in BC to YBR. And that's important because if you want to travel on air Canada, now you can buy, say you're in Cologne, or in an IMO, you can buy a single ticket for eligible trips that connect both of the networks. So you can check in once and then receive rewarding passes for all of their flights at the first point of departure.

9:28Really, really important for BC to get connected to the air Canada network. So you can go not just like within Canada, but really the rest of the world and a really, really busy month for Pacific coastal because the airline recently entered into an agreement with Harbor Air, the form this new regional airline group. And so I think they're going to have over, I think around 54, maybe 57 different aircraft, they fly hundreds of flights a day. So really good news for anyone here in BC who lives just outside. And it's been difficult for you to get connected to YBR to continue on to destinations around the world. All right. Let's pause there. My guest is Claire Newell, president and founder of Travel Best Bents. So we're talking about the latest travel news. When we come back, another expansion for air Canada, this is something I think Claire almost, well, how did an idea this was going to happen? We'll also get to the great deals of the day as well.

10:31Stick with us. That's coming up next. It's me, the price line, the we don't need the jingle twice. Stop it. This is about vacation inflation and how price line negotiates amazing deals on hotels, flights and rental cars. Yeah, but I didn't mention that you can save up to 60% off hotels in the price line app. Fine. No one deals more deals then. Please stop. Two Shay. Price line. Hey, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Now I don't know if you've heard, but Mint's premium wireless is $15 a month. But I'd like to offer one other perk. We have no stores. That means no small talk. Crazy weather we're having. No, it's not. It's just weather. It is an introverts dream. Give it a try at MintMobile.com slash Switch. Up from payment of $45 for three month plan $15 per month equivalent required. New customer offer for three months only then full price plan options available.

11:32Taxes and fees extra. SeammentMobile.com. I guess it's Claire Newell, the president and founder of TravelBest, but some Claire before the break, you were talking about air Canada and some things happening with that airline and you predicted that this was likely going to be happening that they are going to be expanding into Vietnam. And I remember you predicted that right on this show, didn't you? Yes, I did. I mentioned this. I think I did last week. And so they air Canada. The reason I thought that this may be on the table just was there was some rumors about Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and the route between Vancouver and Singapore is ending later this year. It's sometime in early January is the last flight between Vancouver and Singapore. So that aircraft had the opportunity to go to another destination. And I think Vietnam is the right place. And they are working to get the approvals, but the airline said it was going to work with

12:35authorities to obtain those approvals and complete the procedure needed to operate the service. And this actually followed a state visit by the general secretary and president of Vietnam. And a meeting between representatives of both countries in Ottawa on September 24th. So the timing was, you know, that's why all these rumors came out. So I didn't really have a crystal ball. There were lots of signs on this one, Jill. All right. Well, good to see that expansion for sure. A story about changes with the TSA and this could have an impact on carry on. What's happening there? Yeah. So I know that a lot of Canadians are not traveling to the US as much as they have in the past. But this is important. If people are traveling and going through some of the large US airports, they are getting some of the new CT machines that are the ones that we have at YVR. We've had them in the domestic terminal first and then we got them in the transporter

13:38and the international. It's those machines that allow you to keep your liquids and your laptops in because the new technology allows them to stay in the bags. We'll say this. Remember that the liquids rule to apply for now. It's still, you know, the one-liter bag with 100 mils or less. But what's changed in the US is that their machines will allow a standard carry on, you know, 20 by 14 by nine. But people who like to take larger ones and try to sneakily get through over stuff, expandable bags are not getting through when there's all sorts of co-fuzzles about this at the airport. So if you're following the rules and know the airlines restrictions and you're not over stuffing expandable bags, you're going to be fine. But there's just been people who've been caught. So just know that if you're going through some of the airports that have these new CT machines, you'll have no problem if you're following rules. All right. That is good to know on that note. Let's get people traveling. What deals do you have for us today?

14:40Okay. I know not everybody cruises, but I like some for people to try that we call them samplers. And I like it even more when they're right out of Vancouver and you don't need to have any airfare included. And so there's a crew. There's only one date on this April the 27th, but it's a four-night Alaska cruise sampler. So it sales ground trip from Vancouver. You can test the water if you want to maybe try cruising $389. The taxes of $252. And the last time I did Alaska was right at this time. It was for my anniversary and it was amazing. So it's a nice time of the year to go April and May are the driest months to go to Alaska. Perch of Ayarta. There are two little windows between December 3rd and December 10th. So right before the holiday rush. And then again, April 1st to 19th. If you can travel during those windows and seeing the best pricing, air and seven nights

15:41in a four star beach front all inclusive resort for $699. Taxes and these are more. There's 747. But that's a deal if you can go during those windows. I have a nine night cruise doing the mid. It's actually really focusing on Spain, Morocco and Portugal. I love those three countries together. But this one caught my eye because it's during my favorite times of the year for Europe. May 18th or September 25th. So this is a nine night cruise. And it will sail from Barcelona to Lisbon and you get up to a hundred US dollar on board credit 999. The taxes of 285 and listen to the itinerary. So there's they're both slightly different. But they basically do Barcelona, Malaga, Tangir and Casablanca, which are in Morocco, Madira, Porto and Lisbon.

16:41So really cool. I can't wait for that kind of money. And it's definitely one of those things you book early. You get the best deal because they, you know, spike up as you get closer. All right. That one does sound sounds amazing. You have one more for us as well. I love this. This is another one to Peru. Another one to Peru. Anytime I see it under three grand all in because this is one of those trips that include the flights you're going to need. So you don't just need, you know, a flight to Peru. You need an internal flight as well. It also includes accommodation. Partially, it's partially guided, which means for the tours where you need a guide, really to get the most out of things. It will be included. 11 meals are included. Train to Machu Picchu. You get to see Lake Tiddy Kaka. So it's and the transfers are included. A big window February 7th through until May 26th. Like I said, this includes the flight. The taxes, all of it. 27, 7, 9, keep it set.

17:42It's in an a while. So that's a nine-nighter. So when I went to Peru, I did a seven-nighter and I thought, oh, it was perfect amount of time. What I didn't get to see was Lake Tiddy Kaka on my trip and you do on this one. All right. So that sounds like a great trip as well. I know all of those details are on the website. Claire, thank you for this and we'll talk to you again soon. Thanks, Dale. Chatting a week. Hey, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Now I don't know if you've heard, but Mint's premium wireless is $15 a month. But I'd like to offer one other perk. We have no stores. That means no small talk. Crazy weather we're having. No, it's not. It's just weather. It is an introvert's dream. Give it a try at MintMobile.com slash switch up from payment of $45 for three month plan. $15 per month equivalent required. New customer offer for three months only. Then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See MintMobile.com.