Room Blocks, Rental Cars, and a Plus-One: Smarter Wedding Travel for Savvy Guests
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Who are the hosts and what is the episode about?
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.
I kind of love the idea, though.
Right?
Why does she get to have all the fun? I'd like a spinoff called Where's Megan?
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.
Certainly makes me qualified to talk about how to budget and plan travel specifically for weddings. Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools, and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Megan Coyle.
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.
Welcome to the front of the microphone test, out from behind that virtual production booth.
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.
I did just bring my mic to Sequoia National Park this weekend to check out the new Auto Camp Sequoia location.
Oh, I can't wait to hear what the trees had to say. Yeah.
we'll have to do a follow-up episode to the National Parks one. But first, a bit of news. For our cruisers out there, MSC Cruises just cut the ribbon on the world's largest cruise terminal at Port Miami.
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.
In fact, that's why Sally's not here. She went to check out this new terminal for herself.
We'll be doing an episode on cruises, and I'm sure she'll tell us about this once she's back.
Some dispatches she sent me from the cruise, though. This new terminal is high tech. It's the first cruise terminal in the world to get you through security using all biometrics. You check in online, you drop your bags right from the parking garage, and breeze through security and boarding just by scanning your face at the face scan pods. And you only need to show your passport once.
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.
It's gorgeous. It's like being in a forest. There's so many real trees. Speaking of trees, I love the trees.
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.
Well, they did a great job. And speaking of air travel, we've got some turbulence ahead.
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.
That's according to Delta's earnings report released last week. Consumer and corporate confidence is dipping. In the March quarter, the airline reported $13 billion in adjusted revenue. That's up 3.3% from last year, but that's less growth than the airline previously projected.
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.
Delta says demand for international bookings and tickets in premium cabins are doing all right, but the domestic cabin demand is meh. So what's a smart traveler to do, Megan? Well, if you're planning to fly Delta later this year, book sooner rather than later, especially for fall and holiday travel.
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