← Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
Smart Travel: Upgrade Your Getaways
2025 Travel Trends and 2026 Predictions: Where to Go Next and How to Pay for It
00:42:28
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- [00:02]
Meagan Coyle
Ford BlueCruise Hands Free highway driving takes.
- [00:05]
Sally French
The work out of being behind the.
- [00:07]
Meagan Coyle
Wheel, allowing you to relax and reconnect while also staying in control. Enjoy the drive in BlueCruise enabled vehicles.
- [00:17]
Sally French
Like the F150 Explorer and Mustang Mach E available feature on equipped vehicles.
- [00:23]
Meagan Coyle
Terms apply.
- [00:24]
Sally French
Does not replace safe driving. See Ford.com BlueCruise for more details. Happy New Year's friends. That is a wrap on 2025 New Year.
- [00:34]
Meagan Coyle
New Places to go. I'm excited and I'm a little tired from the last year.
- [00:39]
Sally French
Oh no, I will say 2025 was a whirlwind year, especially for travel and credit cards.
- [00:45]
Meagan Coyle
Today we're reflecting on the trends we saw in 2025 and we're making some predictions for 2026.
- [00:51]
Sally French
Yes, wait for us to talk about the destinations we think are going to be hot this year, and I can think of no better way to ring in 2026.
- [01:02]
Meagan Coyle
Welcome to Smart Travel, a deep dive into the tips, tools and tactics to maximize your travel dollars. I'm Meagan Coyle.
- [01:08]
Sally French
And I'm Sally French and we're the.
- [01:10]
Meagan Coyle
Travel nerds ready to help you plan your next big trip.
- [01:13]
Sally French
And I do hope you have some sort of fun trip to look forward to in 2026.
- [01:17]
Meagan Coyle
Me too. If you don't yet, maybe this episode will provide some inspiration.
- [01:20]
Sally French
Oh, hopefully. But first, our disclaimer. And that is that we will talk about a few credit card companies that are nerdwallet partners in this episode does not influence how we discuss them. The benefits, terms and fees mentioned were accurate at the time of posting, but things can't change. Some offers may have expired by the time you're listening. So for the latest details, follow the links in the episode description.
- [01:39]
Meagan Coyle
Now, before we dive into today's episode, I just wanted to thank all of our listeners for joining us this year. It's been such a wild ride bringing this podcast to life and weirdly, we couldn't have imagined how it turned out. And also, we perfectly made the show we set out to make. I remember we got some comment a while ago and it was like this show sounds like two besties chatting. And I was like that's exactly what we were trying to do.
- [02:00]
Sally French
So I love that. You know, our first episode launched in February 2025, so it has almost been a year of us doing this. This could not be possible without you guys, the listeners. So thank you so much for listening to our show. Truly the best job ever. I love podcasting with you, Megan, and I love having you all as truly the best listeners out there. I love it.
- [02:23]
Meagan Coyle
This is a dream job. So thank you so much. Stay with us in 2026. This is gonna be really fun.
- [02:29]
Sally French
But before we move to 2026, we do have to talk about what the top travel trends we saw in 2025 were. Honestly, I will start by saying the energy that set the tone for the whole year was when travel companies just came out and said, what if, Hear me out, everything was fancy and then they just went for it. Yes.
- [02:48]
Meagan Coyle
It felt like every week there was like a new announcement about a luxury hotel opening or airlines rebuilding their premium cabins, adding more lie flat seats. Yes, even Southwest made changes.
- [03:00]
Sally French
Even Southwest.
- [03:01]
Meagan Coyle
They added extra legroom seats on their planes. They announced maybe an airline lounge coming soon.
- [03:08]
Sally French
That airline lounge is really, really interesting. For context, Southwest has confirmed they are pursuing an airport lounge network and they're saying it will include one at Honolulu Airport. So how's that for a nice little tropical vacation?
- [03:20]
Meagan Coyle
The weird thing is though, they added all these nice things, but they also took away things that people love, which is open seating, free checked bags. Yeah, Southwest is not the budget airline that people will remember flying with and loving in years past.
- [03:34]
Sally French
They were budget, but in a really good way. I'm calling this the Southwest glow down of 2025. I am looking forward to seeing their Southwest lounge, but I am not that excited about all of their changes. The two free checked bags was such a nice one. And honestly, I gotta say it, I love the chaos of the open seating. And that is ending on January 27, 2026.
- [03:58]
Meagan Coyle
You are literally the only person who likes the chaos of the open seating. I am so glad it's going away. Honestly, it just doesn't feel efficient. Even if it maybe is scientifically more efficient to do open seating, it didn't feel that way.
- [04:11]
Sally French
On the bright side for Southwest, one thing I like that they did do is they added many international partners. That doesn't necessarily mean Southwest itself itself flies internationally outside of a few destinations like Mexico and the Caribbean. But it means if you are going someplace like Asia or Europe, you can fly to another airport from your home airport on Southwest and then go onwards on another air carrier. And that makes your flying so much more seamless. So I do have to thank Southwest for adding that option.
- [04:41]
Meagan Coyle
They came with a lot of different restrictions though. Like you couldn't book them through the Southwest website. You sometimes couldn't use rapid rewards points for them. So even though they are adding more international partners, I think this part of the business still Has a lot of room to grow in 2026, maybe so.
- [04:58]
Sally French
It sounds like overall Southwest, we are a little boo on it. Let's talk about hotel chains because I am seeing lots and lots of luxury and lifestyle properties coming up. It seems like every quarter in the.
- [05:10]
Meagan Coyle
Hotel space, they are trying to attract more customers that are willing to spend a lot either in points or in cash for more boutique properties, more luxury properties. And I think we'll continue to see a lot of openings like this in 2026 and beyond, but definitely started this year.
- [05:27]
Sally French
You said boutique and luxury, but I'm also seeing lots of all inclusive properties as well. These big sprawling resorts with tons to do that seemed to be the big trend in 2025 and more of that coming forward in 2026.
- [05:40]
Meagan Coyle
Sally, your favorite cruises. The best kind of all inclusive if you like being on the sea.
- [05:45]
Sally French
I became a Cruise Girl in 2025 in lots of cruise news, especially in.
- [05:48]
Meagan Coyle
The L. The Ritz Carlton launched their Luminara ship. It was literally all over my feed when it got sale this year. It's $1,000 a night per person, not for a budget traveler. But I think just because so many of these companies are launching more and more ships like this luxury, all inclusive experiences that is just getting more and more popular. We saw that in 2025.
- [06:12]
Sally French
And luxury hotels are getting into cruises. One that I'm thinking of is Four Seasons is opening its own luxury yacht.
- [06:20]
Meagan Coyle
I'm excited about all of this. I think the luxury yacht space is a smart play for hotels which are already so well known for the hospitality they provide and the food. They already know how to do a lot of elements of what I think makes a good cruise.
- [06:32]
Sally French
So the yacht is interesting because you're obviously on a very small ship. That means you see the same people over and over again. And there isn't as much variety in terms of what to do because the vessel is so small. So another trend that I'm seeing that I'm very intrigued by for people who love luxury is what's called a ship within a ship concept. You see, see this with big brands like MSC or Norwegian Cruise Line or Princess Cruise. They offer this private area. So MSC calls it their yacht club. NCL calls it their haven. And this is an area that is only limited to people who pay extra to be in what are fancier rooms. But really the benefits are better customer service. So you have perhaps your own personal butler. You have your own private space like a private pool, hot tub, sometimes a dining area that nobody else can go to so you don't have the chaos of kids running around in the main buffet. If the Jacuzzi is packed, which it always is on a cruise, you have your own cruise Jacuzzi limited to people in that ship within a ship. You sometimes get the best of both worlds with this because you get that sort of small yacht experience. But then you're also on a big ship with 4,000 people, so you're not trapped with the same people the whole time. And then you also get the benefits of more shows, more attractions. If you're on an NCL ship and they've got the big water slides and the racetrack, you can still participate in that. That's something that we still saw popping up. 2024 got bigger in 2025 and it's only going to get bigger in 2026.
- [07:59]
Meagan Coyle
It also kind of reminds me of hotel club level rooms, where if you book a club level room, then you get access to some sort of lounge, usually within the hotel, that offers sometimes complimentary snacks or food or cocktail hour, or even just the concept of an airport lounge having exclusive access that you usually have to pay for in some way or get in with your travel credit card. Which brings us to our next trend. For 2026. We saw a lot of changes in the travel credit card space. But I think the biggest trend is we are in the coupon book era of premium travel credit cards.
- [08:37]
Sally French
I know we millennials, we love our coupon books, we're not clipping paper coupons, but we love our Amex Platinums and our Chase Sapphire reserves. Coupon books are hot this year. With these cards you are getting not just the ability to earn bonus points on your spending, but these cards offer other benefits like lounge access, hotel status, statement credits for not just travel at specific airlines or hotels, but we saw statement credits for Lululemon, we're seeing statement credits at restaurants, we're seeing TSA PreCheck credits, other benefits like travel insurance. As always, you can go to NerdWallet's website to find the specific benefits for the specific cards. But we saw quite a proliferation of coupon book style benefits on cards this year.
- [09:19]
Meagan Coyle
And these credits could add up to thousands of dollars if you used every single one of them. And because of that, the credit card companies were also raising annual fees because they are giving you, in theory, more value for having this credit card. But you know, it can get really overwhelming. Just because there are tons of credits doesn't mean that everyone is getting that top dollar value for all of those credits. So I am Just a little bit over like needing to track every single purchase. I literally was in my car yesterday. One of my friends was in town, I was like, oh, let's use my resi credit, got in the car, realized I didn't even have my Amex Platinum on me to be able to pay for the razzie credit. So I repart the car and made her come back up to the apartment with me to go get my Amex Platinum. And I'm like, this is just getting so difficult to remember which card I'm supposed to be carrying around for which purchase.
- [10:13]
Sally French
Luckily some of the waiters now have the digital payment system so you can do Apple pay. But I agree it's way too stressful and just tracking some of these benefits. So I'm thinking about a card like the City Strata Elite they released in earnings structure. Fascinating. Six points per dollar spent at restaurants on city nights purchases. But only Friday and Saturday from 6pm to 6am so you're like I gotta wait. I can't, I can't check out until after 6pm to get my six bonus points. It's kind of stressful.
- [10:42]
Meagan Coyle
Sally, I don't know why you hate on this card so much. I really don't think that one is that difficult to use. You just like pay for it whenever you know, like you're going out to eat on Friday or Saturday. I thought the City Strata Elite it doesn't have as many of those coupon book like credits to keep track of. So if that's kind of your main spending card, I was like oh this is great. You'll probably just use it anyways on the weekends for dining and then you'll get the extra points like if you think that one I think is not that hard to use.
- [11:08]
Sally French
Okay, but we should talk about some that are less reasonable to use. The Chase Sapphire Reserve added so many credits, hiked their annual fee. They are really stressing me out, I gotta say. Megan, My husband and I spent the past week just trying to find tickets on StubHub that were anywhere close to $150 so we could use our credit without being out a bunch of money. So I wanted to see Cirque, but all the tickets were 170 each and I'm not going to circ solo. So I was like this is going to put us out of pocket way too much. We did find tickets to Corey Wong. He's from vulc.
- [11:36]
Meagan Coyle
Nice. I've seen Corey Wong. Oh, it's going to be such a fun show.
- [11:39]
Sally French
Oh okay. So we are going and we got a good deal on that. So thank you, StubHub. But it can be so stressful to use these credits. And I kept telling my husband, you got to book something, you got to book something. And I was stressing him out. So just some of these credits can be challenging to use.
- [11:54]
Meagan Coyle
And then this brings us to our next trend from 2025, which was higher spending. Just like the example you just used, it is hard to figure out how to use these credits without spending even more. Right. And even if you don't have these expensive credit cards, I think everything in travel has just been going up because inflation has hit so many of the things we buy. Dynamic pricing is everywhere and even some companies are using AI to charge us the absolute max that we'd be willing to pay. We did an episode about that a couple of weeks ago. So I think people were just spending more on Travel overall in 2025.
- [12:30]
Sally French
Yes. And I will say I don't hate dynamic pricing on the surface. I remember back in the day, something like a Disneyland ticket price was the same every single day of the year. So what happened is everyone packed the parks on Christmas when everyone wants to go, and then that Tuesday in February was completely empty. So a lot of these travel brands have done dynamic pricing where high demand days are more expensive and that's how it should be. However, some of it has gotten so granular that it is very stressful. So for example, at the Empire State Building in New York, ticket prices are different even based on 15 minute intervals. I don't know at what time I'm going to be there. So it then makes it very difficult to understand if you're someone who budgets down to the dollar, what your price is going to be. Because we're seeing dynamic pricing to a point that maybe has gone a little bit too far.
- [13:22]
Meagan Coyle
Oh yeah, I think it's way overboard.
- [13:24]
Sally French
It is interesting the way that travelers are trying to save money, but I'm actually surprised by how little people are willing to stretch themselves to spend money. So NerdWallet puts out this survey every year. According to NerdWallet's survey, we found 30% of people say that they are willing to fly on a non peak travel day to save money. Which sounds nice until you figure 70% of people are unwilling to to adjust their travel days just to save some money. That means people really just want to travel on the way they want to travel and not necessarily adjust it because they could save money on airfare. Similarly, we're seeing 22% of people are willing to fly on a budget airline, but that means the rest of the people are saying nah, we are not flying on a budget airline. Maybe that goes to what we were talking about with luxury. People just don't want to have that budget nickel and dime experience.
- [14:19]
Meagan Coyle
Well, or they might not have the flexibility, right? Like maybe their work doesn't let them travel on a non peak travel day so they might not have the option. And I think that's kind of what's scary about travel getting more expensive and more luxury options coming onto the market is that I think people with smaller budgets really have fewer and fewer options to make travel affordable. By the way, we'll put a link to the full report in the episode description so people can see everything people said about their holiday travel plans this year and how it turned out.
- [14:50]
Sally French
That was our look back at 2025, but it is time to look ahead to 2026. After the break we will talk about the top trends around traveling and the actual best places to go in 2026. So stay with us.
- [15:08]
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- [15:59]
Meagan Coyle
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- [16:08]
Sally French
Megan looking ahead to 2026 and the first trend I am predicting is people actively skipping the algorithm.
- [16:15]
Meagan Coyle
Ooh, I'm so here for this. Explain what this is.
- [16:18]
Sally French
Sally, you know I knew you would be here for this. What I am thinking is because a lot of people hear algorithm and they think we are being anti technology but that is not at all what this is about.
- [16:28]
Meagan Coyle
This is about social media. So for the past few years a Lot of travel has been inspired and driven by what goes viral on TikTok or Instagram.
- [16:38]
Sally French
Right.
- [16:39]
Meagan Coyle
The algorithm shows you this beautiful hike or a really cool restaurant, and you save it. And when you go there, you must visit that destination.
- [16:49]
Sally French
You get to that, quote, hidden gem, and then it's you and 500 of your closest friends all trying to take the same photo in the same spot.
- [16:55]
Meagan Coyle
Exactly. And I think people are getting really tired of that. That spot so rarely lives up to the expectations. Like, it doesn't look anything like you saw on social media.
- [17:05]
Sally French
And nobody wants to have the same pictures as everybody else anyways. So what we're gonna see in 2026 is people listening to what our advice has been over the past year. That's looking to where the locals go. Asking the locals. Ask your Uber driver. I did that in San Antonio and at the best hotel of all time. Ask Uber driver where to go instead of just checking what the TikTok influencers.
- [17:26]
Meagan Coyle
Are saying and maybe actively avoiding the ones that the TikTok influencers are recommending. But I think it's a really great way to be more intentional about the trip you want to have and not just following the crowd and going to the exact same places as everyone else.
- [17:41]
Sally French
Yeah. And we are not saying that social media is bad for travel inspiration. In fact, both of us have active social media accounts. Follow me. Save a Sally and Megan Miles and Megan company. We do love social media for that inspiration. But if you really want to find your own place and your hidden gem, TikTok is probably not the place to do it.
- [17:59]
Meagan Coyle
That's good advice. Okay, let's go to our second trend. This one I'm calling easy travel. I think there are a lot of different terms that are kind of in the same vein. Things like slow travel. But, you know, the whole idea is that people are going to go on trips and they're not going to need to go to those really popular destinations. They're not going to check things off of a list. I think people are going to really find value in pampering themselves and taking it easy on vacation.
- [18:26]
Sally French
Interesting. So you're saying this is more about saying, I don't need to feel like I need to go every single museum in Rome. I'm just gonna go chill. I might spend five days in Rome, go to the ones I want to, but not feel like I need to jam everything in.
- [18:38]
Meagan Coyle
Exactly. And maybe even going back to a place you've already been and experiencing it without this pressure of, like, this might be the only time you Ever visit this country, this city, and I need to do everything. I think it's going to be a lot more about staying in one place, maybe even trying to live like a local for a week or two, and just going to coffee shops, going shopping, like, really taking it easy for the length of your vacation.
- [19:06]
Sally French
I think so many people made travel so exhausting trying to hit all those bucket list destinations. Even I'm a little dubious of people who say, I need to visit every single country or every single state or every single everything, and then you just end up rushing through to check it off. I like the idea of just slowing down and enjoying what you have and saying, I love a country or I love a city, so I just want to go back and experience it with even more knowledge of how I'm going to make the most of that destination.
- [19:32]
Meagan Coyle
I'm also really enjoying not packing my stuff so much. I just took some big trips in 2025, and there was one trip where I was changing hotels every two days, and it just gets exhausting. I'm like, how did this suitcase even z. I didn't buy anything else.
- [19:51]
Sally French
Yeah.
- [19:51]
Meagan Coyle
It just is really difficult to keep changing locations like that. The travel takes a lot of time to go in between all of those places. I hate when you're in that weird middle zone between hotels or something and you can't check in and you're, like, stuck with your bag and you're like, what do I do? Oh, the worst.
- [20:09]
Sally French
You know what? I'm gonna tell you. I became a Cruise girly in 2025. I went on the Norwegian Aqua in the Mediterranean, and I did quickly see 10 different cities. However, cruise lines are a floating hotel room. And so if you do want the best of both worlds and you want to jam around and see all 10 different places, you can do that if you stay on a cruise, because you don't need to unpack. I think that's why people love cruises, as do I. I do, too.
- [20:33]
Meagan Coyle
I've also done a cruise in the Mediterranean. Seen so many different countries and cities, and that is the best part of traveling in a cruise.
- [20:41]
Sally French
Easy travel. That's really the definition of easy travel right there.
- [20:45]
Meagan Coyle
All right, and last trend for 2026. I think this one is really interesting. It's. Travelers are expected to take less trips than they did in 2025, but they want to make them count.
- [20:56]
Sally French
Ah, okay. You're gonna have to explain this one.
- [20:58]
Meagan Coyle
So Going released some data that the average number of international trips that travelers plan to take in 2026 has dropped below 2 per traveler for the first time since 2023.
- [21:10]
Sally French
So really, just one big international trip next year for most travelers.
- [21:14]
Meagan Coyle
Yeah, and they'll probably sprinkle in a few domestic trips as well. But the international trips specifically, I think that's where people are going to combine all these trends we've just talked about. So they will be spending more to make sure it's worth it. They're not going to be corralled with hundreds of sweaty people in the Vatican museum because they saw it on social media. You know what I mean? Like, they are going to be doing the things that they want to do that are easy for them, and they might be willing to spend more money to do it.
- [21:43]
Sally French
Okay, I like that. That sounds nice and relaxing.
- [21:46]
Meagan Coyle
So should we talk about top travel destinations for 2026?
- [21:50]
Sally French
Let's do it.
- [21:51]
Meagan Coyle
Okay. I'll start with some international destinations just to get the ball rolling.
- [21:55]
Sally French
Okay.
- [21:56]
Meagan Coyle
The first one I have is South Korea.
- [21:59]
Sally French
Ooh, I love that you just went. Are you biased?
- [22:02]
Meagan Coyle
I'm a little biased because I just went. But I'll give you a couple reasons why I think this. Number one, I think the exchange rate is pretty favorable for Americans right now. Nothing crazy. It's not like everything's on sale, but I found the food to be really affordable, the shopping to be pretty affordable, and most importantly, the skin care and beauty treatments that people get in South Korea. I don't know if you know this, Sally, but you can actually haggle the price of your, like, lasers, your facials.
- [22:33]
Sally French
Interesting.
- [22:33]
Meagan Coyle
Botox, even. Like, you don't actually have to pay whatever price they tell you you can haggle. And I think that's just such a great way to save on your beauty.
- [22:43]
Sally French
I've heard people go to South Korea specifically just to get Botox.
- [22:46]
Meagan Coyle
Oh, for sure. It's so much cheaper. There it. I was.
- [22:49]
Sally French
I've never. I've never done Botox.
- [22:51]
Meagan Coyle
I've never done Botox either, but I.
- [22:53]
Sally French
Was like, let's go. Let's do a research trip.
- [22:55]
Meagan Coyle
I love this.
- [22:56]
Sally French
You don't need Botox, Megan.
- [22:59]
Meagan Coyle
We're on a podcast. Okay. And then my number two reason I think South Korea is going to be super popular is K Pop Demon Hunters. Have you heard of this movie, Sally?
- [23:09]
Sally French
Okay, I've obviously heard of it because that song is jamming all the time. But I embarrassed to say I've never seen it.
- [23:15]
Meagan Coyle
Oh, my gosh, it is so cute. You need to watch it. I will. It's adorable. And I actually thought they did a really good job Incorporating elements of Korean culture. Like they go to a traditional like bath house and they go to all these different places in Seoul that are real. So I thought it was so fun. I think there's gonna be a White Lotus effect with K Pop Demon Hunters. That's gon make Korea a top destination in 2026.
- [23:41]
Sally French
We always see whatever the hot show or movie is people want to go. There is Croatia after Game of Thrones, but that is a good one. South Korea, we will see you there in 2026.
- [23:49]
Meagan Coyle
Let's go.
- [23:50]
Sally French
Now moving over to Eastern Europe, seven of Kayak's ten fastest growing destinations. This is based on how frequently people search for these destinations on their website. So seven of the 10 are in Eastern Europe. That includes Prague which has seen an 180% year over year increase in flight searches to their as well as Sofia, Bulgaria, Krakow, Poland and Budapest, Hungary. I have been to two of these for Prague and Budapest and I highly recommend them. They are very affordable. So if you are someone who is fed up with how expensive particularly Western Europe is, if you've been to Italy, you've been to France and you say it's too expensive or maybe you haven't been because it's too expensive, you can get a much lower price in these places. And then going back to the idea of you've seen the Eiffel Tower already on Instagram, go to Prague, go to Budapest and see something a little different for that lesser known gem.
- [24:47]
Meagan Coyle
I love this one. I think that's such a good alternative to going to Western Europe because a lot of these cities in Eastern Europe are just as historic, just as beautiful, have just as blue water, you know what I mean?
- [24:58]
Sally French
Right.
- [24:58]
Meagan Coyle
And you can get it for a fraction of a price, right?
- [25:01]
Sally French
So you don't need to drink wine in France or Italy. Just get that palinka or that tokai in Budapest and you'll be good to go.
- [25:08]
Meagan Coyle
My next one is also international, it's New Zealand, another one I just went to. Very familiar with. Yes. I studied abroad there in college so I spent four months in New Zealand. I am always biased. I love it.
- [25:22]
Sally French
Well, I think New Zealand is going to be really hot this year because I told you I have not seen K Pop Demon Hunters but there is another movie that I recently saw for the first time ever that is Lord of the Rings and Megan. It is their 2020 fifth anniversary this year. So I think a lot of people are going to make the pilgrimage to New Zealand to see Middle Earth irl.
- [25:43]
Meagan Coyle
Sally, you are literally so late on the rings.
- [25:46]
Sally French
It is 25.
- [25:48]
Meagan Coyle
25. Almost 25 years.
- [25:50]
Sally French
Yeah.
- [25:50]
Meagan Coyle
I personally don't think that the anniversary is going to be a huge driver. Like Lord of the Rings has been popular for years.
- [25:57]
Sally French
I know they are doing screenings in San Francisco, maybe because all the nerds live in San Francisco. But this is going to be a big deal and I think people are going to want to go to New Zealand to go check it out for themselves. And there is a great way to fly to New Zealand this year. I have not done this, but have you seen them, Megan? The Sky Nest pods.
- [26:18]
Meagan Coyle
Yes. This is like the bunk bed thing on Air New Zealand. Yes, yes.
- [26:22]
Sally French
So everyone wants to lie flat seat, but you need to fly first class or business class to get that typically. And that's also going to be close to a million dollars or whatever it is. I'm not paying for that. So you can do the Skynest pod. This is available on Air New Zealand. It is launching sometime in 2026 on their new Boeing 787 Dreamliners. But you can book a four hour rest block in one of six of these bunk beds on the aircraft.
- [26:51]
Meagan Coyle
I'm very curious actually. The photos look pretty nice, but I don't really know how much people are going to want to book a time for a nap, you know what I mean? Like I just fall asleep when sometime during the movie I get a little bored, you know what I mean?
- [27:05]
Sally French
Right. I am a little nervous if I have to nap when the schedule says I have to nap versus what if I'm already passed out and then I wake up to go use the bunk bed and then my sleep is disrupted. I'm not sure.
- [27:17]
Meagan Coyle
Yeah, I don't know how that's gonna work. But I will say here's some other reasons I think New Zealand will be really hot in 2026. It is getting easier to fly there and cheaper. So there's been a lot more flight deals in 2025. Almost all of the major US airlines now have flights there. So you don't have just have to fly on Air New Zealand anymore. It's also more accessible from other parts of the world. So if you want to add on New Zealand to an Asia trip or to an Australia trip, I think that is getting easier. And New Zealand is just beautiful. I. I highly recommend that if you are looking for a not crowded place to visit with great nature, great access to hiking, backpacking, camping, you name it, thrill rides.
- [28:01]
Sally French
Yeah.
- [28:02]
Meagan Coyle
Bungee jumping, skydiving, New Zealand is the place for that.
- [28:05]
Sally French
That so that is one of the farthest destinations you can go to. If you're coming from the US we should talk about one of the closest international destinations you can get to, and.
- [28:13]
Meagan Coyle
That would be Mexico. Always popular. Has been popular since the pandemic, and it's not stopping. So I want to pick two specific places in Mexico. Guadalajara and Monterrey. These are two cities that are going to be World cup host cities.
- [28:30]
Sally French
Oh, yes.
- [28:31]
Meagan Coyle
So there's going to be massive investment in the infrastructure, meaning new hotels, improved transit. I've been to Guadalajara and I loved it. It has a very young energy. There's a university there. It's also close to Tequila Mexico. So if you're interested in a little tequila tour, not like a wine tasting tour, but tequila tasting. It was rowdy. It was so fun. I loved it. And weirdly, one of my friends meant, like, the love of their life in Tequila Mexico and find love.
- [28:57]
Sally French
Okay.
- [28:58]
Meagan Coyle
So, yeah, weirder things have happened on tequila tours, apparently.
- [29:02]
Sally French
Amazing. And you mentioned World Cup Cup. Very smart to get to Mexico ahead of the World Cup. That's going to be huge this year, not only in Mexico, but also the US And Canada because these three countries are hosting the World cup this summer. It's a big tourism win for all sorts of cities. I know you mentioned these ones in Mexico, but also in North America. I gotta give a shout out. SOFI Stadium in Los Angeles. Other cities including Dallas, Houston, Miami, Seattle, all hosting the World Cup. So that's going to be big for really, all of these cities.
- [29:30]
Meagan Coyle
Good luck getting parking, though, near SoFi Stadium. I have not figured out a good way to get to that stadium in LA yet. Every time it's taken me an hour to get out of the parking lot.
- [29:40]
Sally French
Good luck, friends. All right, speaking of driving, let's talk about domestic spots. And our very first domestic spot to visit in 2026 involves quite a lot of driving. That is Route 66. For those of you who do not know, this is going to be the 100th anniversary of Route 66.
- [29:59]
Meagan Coyle
Whoa. Okay. You love an anniversary, Sally. I don't know that anyone else knows that these things are happening.
- [30:04]
Sally French
Well, now they do. If you've never done Route 66, it is 2,000 miles. It passes through eight states. Those are Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. It starts in Chicago, so most people are going to start there. I will say I hate driving, but the nice thing about Chicago is you do not need a car in downtown Chicago. And. And even though we are seeing people wanting to do this road trip, you could Stay in Chicago. Rental car prices are rising year over year. That adds stress. So if you spend your time just in Chicago, they've got an excellent train from the airport to downtown. And then once you're downtown, it is all so walkable.
- [30:43]
Meagan Coyle
Okay, so your real recommendation is Chicago, not Route 66. You don't want to drive.
- [30:47]
Sally French
Okay, I don't want to drive. But for people who want to do this, there are some really good specific routes if you don't want to do the whole thing. The stretch between St. Louis to Joplin, Missouri is excellent. If you are flying into St. Louis, you could do that even if you're coming international. British Airways is launching a non stop flight in April 2026 from Heathrow to St. Louis. St. Louis itself is a super affordable destination with lots of free or cheap attractions. You could pay to ride the arch, but the grounds and the museum are free of the St. Louis architecture. They have Forest park, which has the zoo and the art museum which is free. And then I said that route from St. Louis to Joplin, Missouri do make a stop in Springfield, Missouri that is home of the original and largest bass pro shops. I don't care if you don't like fishing or hunting, you gotta go. It is like Disneyland for outdoors. So cool.
- [31:36]
Meagan Coyle
It does have a giant aquarium. Okay. My favorite part of Route 66 though is actually in the Southwest.
- [31:42]
Sally French
Okay.
- [31:42]
Meagan Coyle
Like the New Mexico Flagstaff area where you can go through areas that are close to the Grand Canyon.
- [31:49]
Sally French
Yes.
- [31:50]
Meagan Coyle
They have like beautiful landscapes. It's kind of like Cars land.
- [31:53]
Sally French
Yes.
- [31:54]
Meagan Coyle
From the Disney Cars movie. And then there are also a lot of great places to go stargazing out there because it's just so remote. There's not a lot of light pollution.
- [32:04]
Sally French
Well, did you know Flagstaff is officially the world's first international dark sky city? That means that they intentionally have low light pollution, they have high elevation, and the city makes sure that they adhere to this. So they have very, very strict outdoor lighting ordinances. They've done this since 1958, where you cannot have lights on at certain times specifically to preserve the city's pristine night skies.
- [32:27]
Meagan Coyle
Yeah, a lot of cities in Arizona have been really good about this. I remember Sedona also has a dark sky city kind of policy. So great place to go if you want to go stargazing.
- [32:37]
Sally French
And then you might want to consider making a side trip to Las Vegas. We saw in the news that Vegas saw a massive slowdown in 2025. And I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that Vegas was add all these aggravating little fees, especially resort FEES. However, in May 2025, this rule came into effect by the Federal Trade Commission where they require hotels to disclose all mandatory fees up front in the primary advertised price. So if you are fed up with the nickel and diming that goes into traveling and especially in places like Vegas, I do think Vegas is much more enjoyable now because you're not seeing that nickel and dime experience and there are so many low prices. I was browsing what you can get and I know that this is not the nicest hotel in Vegas. However, the Luxor Hotel, including resort fees, many nights in 2026 for $60 a night. That's unbelievable.
- [33:35]
Meagan Coyle
You could not pay me $60 to stay at the Luxor though.
- [33:38]
Sally French
Do you hate. Do you hate the Luxor that much? Yeah.
- [33:42]
Meagan Coyle
No thanks.
- [33:43]
Sally French
Here's the thing. When I'm in Vegas, I'm barely spending any time in my room. I am out and about, I am dining, I am looking at all the shows. I would ra $60 on a cheap hotel room and then go see Cirque du Soleil, then spend a bunch of money on my hotel room that I'm not going to spend time in anyway.
- [33:59]
Meagan Coyle
My real prediction for 2026 is that Sally will get to see her Cirque du Soleil show one way or another. Not with her stuff of credit, but maybe some other way. Yeah, I think Vegas, they just had such a slowdown, especially with international travelers, that a lot of prices are a lot lower. So like you said, a lot of hotels are more affordable and shows, attractions, entertainment, all of that. I think people will see a lot lower prices. So next year might be a good year to revisit Vegas if you haven't been in a while.
- [34:29]
Sally French
Yes. And we will wrap up this little piece on Route 66 with talking about where it ends, which is Santa Monica. I know that's close to your neck of the woods, Megan. And LA really seems like the place to be in 2026.
- [34:41]
Meagan Coyle
Does it seem like the place to be?
- [34:42]
Sally French
They're getting the World cup again.
- [34:44]
Meagan Coyle
Yeah, I'm not excited for that, but Santa Monica is 15 minutes away from where I live. LA has great weather all year round. There's the beach, there's the mountains. I love it.
- [34:56]
Sally French
And they just added the connector so you can take public transit from lax. Your girl who loves public transit is very excited that it is now easier to get downtown from flying into la.
- [35:07]
Meagan Coyle
Just get ready. It might take you two hours.
- [35:09]
Sally French
No, I did see a TikTok about that.
- [35:12]
Meagan Coyle
Yeah.
- [35:14]
Sally French
All right. Moving right along to my favorite surprise city that I went to this year was San Antonio, Texas. This is one of the most walkable cities I have ever been to. Now there is no train from the airport, but that's because the airport is very, very close to downtown. You can take an Uber in 10 minutes and the traffic is generally quite minimal. But once you are there, there is so much to do that you can walk particularly along their Riverwalk. Now, many tourists stay in the official Riverwalk tourist zone. This is where you got your Rainforest Cafe and your Hard Rock Cafe. That is fine and dandy. But there are many neighborhoods of San Antonio where if you go out just a little further, you can stay walking along the river and get to some fantastic gems. One of my favorite spots in San Antonio is what's called Pearl. This is a neighborhood that is in a former brewery and it continues to grow with, with more restaurants, more things to do. And in fact, San Antonio is one of the country's only two UNESCO deemed creative cities of gastronomy. That means that they basically have the best food ever.
- [36:18]
Meagan Coyle
Incredible. I love that the Pearl also has Hotel Emma. It's one of the coolest hotels I think in the US it's like in an old brewery and I love it. Also, I loved your video about the library at Hotel Emma, which I didn't know existed.
- [36:33]
Sally French
I also want to circle back to the food in the Pearl area. They have this place called the Nicosi Dessert bar. It just got a Michelin star in 2025. And when I went and the prices as of today I checked are still here. $120 for a 90 minute multi course seating that includes eight courses and four cocktails. I thought that was a deal and I think you should go before prices go up.
- [36:58]
Meagan Coyle
Wow. And it's eight courses of desserts.
- [37:00]
Sally French
Well, okay, so this is what I thought was a little odd. They say it's a dessert restaurant and I was like, I don't want to eat eight courses of desserts. That is way too much sugar, my friends. But they have a savory course and they have a bitter course and all of it is really excellent. Like they literally had a bread with a chicken jus on it. I don't really know how that was dessert, but they, I asked them about it and they said it was dessert. Inspired. Take that with a grain of salt. It was just an excellent meal. Other things that you can do in San Antonio for great deals. Historic Market Square is free to walk around hundred locally owned businesses. They've got the Miterra Cafe, which I know is kind of touristy, but really, really good Tex Mex food.
- [37:41]
Meagan Coyle
Yeah, you can't go to Texas without eating Tex Mex food.
- [37:44]
Sally French
So I agree.
- [37:45]
Meagan Coyle
That's a must. All right, so my last recommendation for a US Destination is Salt Lake City. Okay, Ali, I know you also flew through Salt Lake City recently. I think they've done such a good job investing in the infrastructure, particularly in the airport. There's a brand new Delta Sky Club there, a brand new Amex Centurion Lounge. And I'm not saying you just go to Salt Lake City to go to the airport lounges, but I think it's evidence that they know that their city has so much to offer in terms of attractions for travelers. And also in all seasons, I think of Salt Lake City as a place that's great during the winter because they have world class skiing, snowboarding, and all of these things are really close to the center of town. They're about like 30 minutes from downtown Salt Lake City. So you can very reasonably stay in the city and drive to the slide slopes. But also during the summer, they have great hiking. The food has gotten a lot better in recent years in Salt Lake City and just more diverse. I really love the city as a place to go all year round. Now.
- [38:49]
Sally French
You know what my favorite thing in Salt Lake City is?
- [38:50]
Meagan Coyle
What?
- [38:51]
Sally French
All those little soda restaurants. There's not a ton of alcohol in Salt Lake City. Yeah, there is some for sure, but they have all these fancy soda restaurants where you can make flavor combinations. Your girl loves a Coke Zero and a Coke Zero with fancy flavors added to it. Heck yeah. Yes.
- [39:07]
Meagan Coyle
I believe they're called dirty sodas. Dirty sodas.
- [39:09]
Sally French
That's right.
- [39:10]
Meagan Coyle
That's so fun. Especially if you don't drink a lot. There's just a lot of variety, a lot of drinks to try.
- [39:15]
Sally French
And wrapping up our places to visit. In 2026, I'm going to give a shout out to San Francisco. I know I live here. I know I love it. But I am telling you, 2026 is San Francisco's year. Now I have to say, every time I tell people I'm from San Francisco, guaranteed there's someone who's like, the crime in San Francisco is that safe to live there. But Crime is down 40% in Union Square. Car break ins are at a 22 year low. That did not happen by accident. San Francisco had a little bit of a rough go during the pandemic, but it is back. Some of the big things coming to San Francisco. Its historic Castro Theater just underwent a $41 million renovation. It will reopen in February. Japantown is one of only three Romanian US Japantowns. They are undergoing a major renovation. Its Peace Plaza is opening in 2026. Amazing. If you love Japan, but you don't want to go across the ocean. They are getting the super bowl, they are getting World cup. And really the great pitch for San Francisco is even though it is coming back, the AI boom is making it super expensive. Average daily rates at hotels are forecasted at $241 per night, which is up 4% year over year. However, it is down from the record high of $274 in 2019. So if you want to see San Francisco, I think this is your last chance before it hits record highs again.
- [40:32]
Meagan Coyle
San Francisco, it is in 2026.
- [40:34]
Sally French
Yes.
- [40:35]
Meagan Coyle
Let's wrap this up. I have a hot takeoff for 2026. Sally, you want to hear it?
- [40:38]
Sally French
Okay.
- [40:39]
Meagan Coyle
I think people should embrace a day tour. We just talked about how you should not do what everyone else does. But I think those tours where you have a little driver and you go around in a little van are gonna have a comeback moment because that is easy travel, my friends. That is the easiest. If you don't have a car, you don't want to drive in an unfamiliar place place you want to see some things but you know, you don't want to deal with all the logistics of getting there, getting the save the line tickets, you know what I mean? So I think people will embrace day.
- [41:10]
Sally French
Tours and you have a local really telling you the best spots. I love that.
- [41:14]
Meagan Coyle
Well, that's it for today, everyone. Thank you so much for listening in 2025 and follow us on social media for 2026. I'm Miles with Megan Company. Sally is Save with Sally. And make sure to follow Smart travel on your favorite podcast app including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and iHeartRadio to autom directly download new episodes. If you're listening on Spotify, drop us a comment right in the app.
- [41:36]
Sally French
And if you are looking for a new credit card, check out the NerdWallet website. You can apply right from there.
- [41:41]
Meagan Coyle
This episode was produced by Tess Viglin and edited by Nick Karisimi. Claire Soci and Hilary. Georgie helped with fact checking and our disclaimer.
- [41:48]
Sally French
We are not financial nor investment advisors. This info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes. It may not apply to your specific circumstances.
- [41:56]
Meagan Coyle
We hope you're inspired to keep keep your passport full and your wallet even fuller. Happy New Year, everyone.
- [42:14]
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