Tess Vigeland
Appearances
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Megan, how many weddings are you going to again this year? Eight. Wait, who are you and where's Sally? I'm Tess, your producer. And Sally donned a red and white knit cap and left to travel the world and tell us about it. And from now on, the show is going to be called Where's Sally? I'm kidding, of course.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
And when they say largest, they are not kidding. This four-level terminal spans nearly half a million square feet and can check in 36,000 passengers a day for their cruises.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
We'll be doing an episode on cruises, and I'm sure she'll tell us about this once she's back.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Yeah, creepy and convenient. I do have to say, though, if airports are stress-inducing, this specific cruise terminal sounds like the exact opposite. A calm, tech-powered welcome to your vacation. I do have to say, though, that our new airport here in Portland, Oregon is pretty calming, too.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
It is, you know, and it's this new crown jewel here in the arboreal Pacific Northwest, and they did design it to sort of feel like a forest, and it does.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Yeah, Delta Airlines is pulling back on its growth plans for the second half of 2025, citing, quote, broad economic uncertainty. What? Translation, bookings aren't coming in quite as strong as expected, especially from cost-conscious travelers and cautious corporations.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Right?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
So the airline is withdrawing its financial forecast for 2025, lowering revenue projections for this quarter. and reducing some of the capacity growth they had planned in the second half of 2025.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Interesting. And we'll have to keep an eye on whether other airlines follow Delta's lead. But for now, it is a reminder that the skies aren't just shaped by jet fuel and weather. They're shaped by Wall Street, Washington, and global confidence, too.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Probably at a wedding. Yeah. So, oh my goodness, eight weddings. That's a lot of travel to figure out, Megan, especially if it involves flight and what's likely to be at least two nights in a hotel, maybe a rental car, all to celebrate someone else's love story. And you're doing it eight times.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Good news is the best news.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Jeez, in this economy where we're usually watching grocery bills balloon, tip screens pop up literally everywhere, it's kind of wild to think that travel of all things is the one category that's actually becoming slightly more affordable.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Now, what about the listeners who are thinking, wait, flying still feels expensive? You know, I get that base fares are down, but airlines are really leaning into those ancillary fees. You know, the bag fees, the seat selection charges, the boarding zone upgrades, all those extras that are not factored into the sticker price.
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Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
All right, well, Megan, I'm packing my own free checked bags to go back behind the scenes so you and Sally can talk weddings and how to pay for them, both as the happy couple and as friends and family celebrating the big day. Yeah, Tess, are you going to any weddings this year? No, but I am heading this week, in fact, to one of the most romantic places on the planet, Paris. Does that count?
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
If I do, I'll let you know so you can talk me out of it. I think the extent of my relationships in and with Paris should be limited to, let's say, cheese, baguettes, and fashion.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
And I'm Tess Vigeland, in for Sally French. And we're the travel nerds, ready to help you plan your next big trip. At least, we're one half of the travel nerds.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Thank you, thank you. Yeah, Sally will be joining you for the back half of the show to talk wedding travel. But right now, she's on a giant boat sailing away. And I mean, you know, it is a travel show after all. You both should be hosting from parts near and far every week.
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
Oh, I can't wait to hear what the trees had to say. Yeah.