Got that cabin fever? You're Not Alone! The World is Starting to Book Cruises and Trips to Paradise with Noam Meppen

Hi there!

Episode#11: Noam is fresh back from Cancun, touring over 13 properties, and he'll share his findings on safety protocol for those with cabin fever. Plus, the cruise industry has taken drastic measures to stay afloat and ready for the next cruise season, post vaccination. This may result in immediate deals, but 2022 may leave the industry with high demand and too few berths, driving the price of cruising up.

Some of this weeks episode highlights are:
5:10 2020 has taught us a lot. Many with 'bucket list' items are now planning future travel. They realize that time can be fleeting. It's now time to plan those bucket list experiences!
8:25 For people who are life long travelers, traveling breaks up the normal day to day routine. They like that diversity and variety of experiences. They use all their senses to build lifelong memories.
20:14 We experienced how well Mexico is handling COVID. Tourism is one of their biggest industries, and North Americans are their largest group of visitors.

--- Full Raw Transcription of Podcast Below ---

Introduction (00:00):
You know, I think it's an overall theme that life is short. You don't know what is going to happen next. Take advantage of the opportunities when they come up, live in the moment. Appreciate the things that you have when you have them. Life is beautiful. There's a lot of great things to see and do out there. So I urge everyone to take advantage of those opportunities.

Welcome (00:23):
Welcome to the SideHustle Lounge. If you're looking for flexible ways to earn income, grow your mindset, and live the lifestyle you've always dreamed of, you are in the right place. So lower the lights. Grab your favorite beverage and join your host. Founder of NotaryCoach.com and Amazon bestselling author of Sign and Thrive: How To Make Six Figures As A Mobile Notary And Loan Signing Agent, Bill Soroka.

Bill Soroka (00:57):
Hello everyone and cheers to my guest today. Noam Meppen, the franchise owner of Expedia Cruise Ship Centers in north Scottsdale, Arizona. Noam, thank you so much for being here with us today.

Noam Meppen (01:10):
Hi Bill. It's nice to talk to you.

Bill Soroka (01:12):
It's been too long now. It's been way too long. I'm so glad that we get to connect and we get to connect on something that's a passion for both of us and that's going to be travel. For all our listeners, we're going to talk about what travel and cruising might look like in 2021 and 2022 as the world starts to ""come back to normal"". First Noam, I mean, of all the industries to really take a hit in 2020 travel really took it in the shorts. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?

Noam Meppen (01:45):
Yeah, absolutely. And it, it not only affected our industry so drastically in the leisure side of travel, which is where I focus.

Noam Meppen (01:55):
My business cruising has been shut down now for 12 months. So we're still, we're still feeling the effects of the shutdown because a good portion of our industry is still in the freezer and we're not able to send clients on, on cruises and we're not able to send them overseas for that matter. Really the only aspect of leisure travel that's open is domestic land travel resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean Disney world, a few other places, but the at least half of our business is still not operating right now. So it has definitely been a challenge, but we're hopeful that later on this year, those other aspects that are closed now start to open up and we can start to send clients back on cruises and back overseas.

Bill Soroka (02:41):
Yeah. And I mean, talk about all the lives that have been impacted by that. And you know, all of the employees in those industries all the way down the chain, and then there's you a franchise owner of a very well-known travel agency. Can you talk a little bit about, I mean, it's been 12, 13 months now has, or has it just been a solid 12 months going on a year?

Noam Meppen (03:02):
Yeah, we, well, so the sailings started getting canceled on March 10th, March 11th, 2020. So we're literally just at the one year anniversary mark of when things really went into shut down. We had some rumblings and can kind of tell that things were getting very serious in February of last year, but it was really March when, when all the clampdown came, the cruises were all canceled. The travel was, was grounded or outside of the country. And, and really people just, you know, went into lockdown. Then, then, you know, travel has has recovered somewhat to certain destinations, certain forms of travel.

Noam Meppen (03:39):
So that's good for us. And we are sending customers on trips these days, but not nearly as many customers as we were sending out you know, before COVID hit us all.

Bill Soroka (03:49):
Yeah. And I want to talk about that, but I also want to, I mean, talk to me about being a franchise owner who has staff, that's relying on them and you're in a business that you're, I mean, you are so passionate about the work that you do. What has gotten you through these last 12 months?

Noam Meppen (04:09):
Well, I think it's probably a combination of, I love this business and I, even though this is a very rough patch and maybe financially, it doesn't make sense right now to keep this business afloat and alive. I love it and I know it's going to recover. So I hold that optimism up as a, as an inspiration for my team and for myself, because I know things are going to get back to travel.

Noam Meppen (04:36):
And I know people are customers who have been essentially locked up at home for almost a year and have been told. And for the most part have not gone anywhere when they get their vaccine. When, when governments start to permit cruises and overseas travel, our clients are going to be very anxious to get on that plane and take that big trip that they've been hoping to do their bucket list item that they've been putting off. And, and, you know, cause life was busy and maybe they just didn't have the time. And they said, oh, I'll do it next year. One of the interesting aspects of what the past year has done is our clients who have those bucket lists are now starting to call us and plan those bucket list items for end of this year 2022, 2023, because they know that time is limited time on the earth is limited and they want to make sure they take advantage of those trips that they've always wanted to do those places that they've always wanted to visit in their life, that they get those things planned and checked off their bucket list sooner rather than later.

Bill Soroka (05:39):
What an interesting side effect of the pandemic is that people realize how short life can be sometimes. So you're saying they're, they're coming to you now planning those trips that maybe had been a pipe dream or on a vision board somewhere. Now people are getting ready to take advantage of it.

Noam Meppen (06:00):
That's right. That's right. So we have some clients who are doing that, who are calling us and saying, okay, I want to do that 50 day cruise around south America, or I want to take that safari to Africa or wherever, whatever it is that they've been dreaming of doing, I wanna, you know, take my entire family to Hawaii for a week and have us all be together. And, and enjoy you know sun vacation together. They're starting to plan those things because they have, they've had to delay all of those travel activities and delays, spending time with their family and exploring the world for the better part of a year.

Bill Soroka (06:35):
Yeah. I was going to ask you about that. I mean, I would imagine that there's a lot of cabin fever going on on top of it. So is there an expectation in the industry that there's just going to be this surge of activities and travel? And I would imagine events as well. As soon as the the tipping point in this vaccine is reached.

Noam Meppen (06:57):
Yeah. In fact, the three major cruise lines sold off some of their older ships last year to generate cash. So they sold them for scrap. They sold them to secondary markets like India and other other cruise parts of the world. And what that meant was that they reduced the number of beds that they have to sell to north Americans. So they reduced the volume, which when demand picks up and if demand returns as strong as it was, or even better, it means two things there's going to be scarcity of product or is not going to be as much space to sell.

Noam Meppen (07:37):
And prices will be more expensive, especially because when the cruises do relaunch, initially we expect there's going to be some sort of reduced capacity. Like they're not going to be able to fill their ships up to a hundred percent. They may be forced to sail it only 50 or 70% occupancy initially. So with the fact that they've reduced number of ships fewer births sell and reduced capacity means stuff's going to sell out and stuff's going to get more expensive in the cruising side of travel.

Bill Soroka (08:07):
Yeah. I can totally see where that might be happening and I want to get into what we can expect there as well. But I also, you know, when people are, when travel means so much, what do you think that is? Why does travel matters so much to you? Or why does it matter so much to us? Why is it so important to get back in the air or on the ocean or on an island or somewhere else?

Noam Meppen (08:32):
I think for people who travel and become lifelong travelers, they don't just do it because they have to, they do it because they love it. It's because a few things, one, it takes them out of their normal day-to-day routine. It kind of disrupts where they're, where they're sleeping, where they're eating, what they're doing each day. And I think people like that, diversity and variety to have that, you know, a few times a year where they're totally taken out of their normal maybe mundane day in weekend, kind of a life, and they can go do something different for a short while. And the other reason is it, it helps you to generate so many memories. And because when you travel, like all of your senses are overtaken sight and smell and, and you hear different things. You maybe experienced the breeze on your face from the ocean that you don't get on a regular basis.

Noam Meppen (09:22):
And those form really positive memories for, for travelers. You know, it could be that they are spending time with family members. They don't see on a regular basis, it could be marking a life milestone, like retiring or hitting a, you know, whatever a 60th birthday or a 50th anniversary. So travel means different things to different people. It could be marking that great life event. It could be building those memories, it getting out of your routine or all three of those things at once.

Bill Soroka (09:52):
Absolutely. I know for me, you know, I, I, part of my reason for being here I think is experiencing novelty, experiencing those new things, and then having something interesting to talk about when you get back, I love that. And I'm, I'm right there. I can feel it in my bones. I am ready to get on the plane and go somewhere cool. Now, speaking of that, tell us like, when, when can we expect this and what can we expect when we get there?

Noam Meppen (10:22):
So are you asking about going forward? What does the cruise experience going to be like?

Bill Soroka (10:27):
Cruise travel? What do you think it's going to look like?

Noam Meppen (10:30):
I can tell you for a non cruise travel. I just went to Mexico last week with some of the agents from my office. We went to Cancun for, for four days, and we toured about a dozen different resort properties. They're all all-inclusives. And I can tell you, in some ways it's the same, it's the same beautiful beach. That's the same hot sun and same delicious food. Some of the differences are they're taking temperatures. When you go into certain venues into restaurants, they are making you wear masks in certain places like in the airport, some of the hotel lobbies require that you wear a mask when you're in the lobby.

Noam Meppen (11:06):
They are operating at a reduced capacity in that part of Mexico. And in this case, they're 60%. So 40% of the, the rooms are sitting empty right now. And the other thing is that they are regularly testing their staff and testing American clients who come there because it's now a requirement of the U S government. When you return back from any overseas trip Mexico or anywhere else, you have to present a negative COVID test to the airline before you can get on the plane. So the resorts are now offering testing some cases, it's free some cases they charge for it, but those resorts have adapted to traveling. Now, now with regards to cruises it's going to be something of a mixed experience about how they go back into service. There are some cruises currently operating out of Asia, out of Taiwan and Singapore, and also out of in the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, not many ships.

Noam Meppen (12:04):
But what most of those ships are doing is not requiring vaccinations just yet, but they are doing rigorous testing in some cases every day. But they are definitely testing all passengers before they get on board. They're testing all the crew regularly to help mitigate COVID. They are operating at a reduced capacity in the past week. We've seen several different cruise lines announced they're going to restart service in may, June, July, and require COVID vaccinations for everyone on board, all the staff and crew, as well as all the passengers. Now we don't know if that's going to become an industry standard, or if that's something that's sort of an interim step that a few specific cruise lines operating a few specific ships are just implementing now until there's that herd immunity out there, but you probably will hear more about vaccination requirements to do certain things traveled to certain places and, and perhaps take all cruises.

Noam Meppen (13:05):
We don't know yet the cruise lines have not figured that out in part, it's a discussion with the CDC and the other public health authorities around the world and governments around the world who sort of regulate usage of their ports and whether passengers can, can get on a cruise ship or not. So it's a fluid situation, and it might relaunch later this year and have one set of rules and regulations in play. And then that may change and evolve as we get further away from, you know, the, the high infection rates. And they're able to figure out how to contain things, but still allow customers to have the best possible vacation experience.

Bill Soroka (13:46):
Yeah, this is really interesting to me. So we have a little bit of history now. Maybe just even a couple of weeks of these new Mediterranean Northern Europe cruises with these new policies, do we have any type of feedback on how it's working? I have to assume that it must be working if they're scheduling future itineraries, but have you heard anything on that?

Noam Meppen (14:04):
Yeah, so they are, you know, they, they do have the occasional one or two or three, one or two or three people test positive for COVID on board. They get those people off the ship as soon as possible and get them the right level of treatment, whether they just need to go home and work through it, or they need to be hospitalized. But between the rigorous testing, the extra cleaning incentivization and the reduced capacity, they're able to continue to operate even when they have a, you know, a few cases here and there of positive, you know, positive results for passengers or for crew. So that it seems like they're normalizing or figuring out how to continue to operate and not have a small outbreak of COVID really disrupt and cancel the whole operation.

Bill Soroka (14:55):
Right. Right. I think this, honestly, this really speaks to how important travel is to people because there's still a slight element of risk, but they're still willing to get out there. And they're still willing to trust the the precautions from the cruise lines.

Noam Meppen (15:12):
Yeah, no, we have customers who say, you know, the first time I can get on a ship I've been vaccinated or, you know, I had COVID, I feel fine now, or I don't care. I want to go anyways. You know, it's, it's worth the risk to me. I've been locked up in my house for a year. You know, anything you do bill in life has an inherent risk to it. Driving to the grocery store has a risk going to work, you know, any, any form of travel or, you know, even, even getting in and out of the shower, you could slip and fall.

Noam Meppen (15:40):
So everything has risk attached to it. And I think a lot of people have said, I'm willing to take a little bit of risk so that I can have the, the spiritual and experiential benefits of traveling again.

Bill Soroka (15:53):
Yeah. That is, that is so important to so many. Now, I, it was interesting. I saw a it was a Facebook forum going on about travel. And I wonder if you can speak to this everybody.

Noam Meppen (16:06):
Well, the conversation is that here in the beginning, there's going to be some incredible deals. Can you talk about what your opinion is on deals and then maybe some of the adjustments the cruise industry in particular has made for inclusions in their fees now? Sure. I think there will come. There will be a S several amount of deals for very short term travel. Like you know, the, the resorts, the airlines, the cruise lines.

Noam Meppen (16:32):
They're very good at implementing dynamic pricing and seeing where they have excess capacity and what the price sensitivity is to get that extra room or extra space sold. So I think there will be deals here and there. If the traveler is very flexible there are certain times a year when prices peak, usually around the holidays, spring break in the summer and the cruise lines, maybe for this year spring break, like next week, there might be some deals if there's some space here and there, but if you're looking to book a peak season for say, December of this year or March of 20, 22, you're not going to find a lot of deals out there, but as the cruise line starts to operate, as the restrictions on capacity limits get raised, and there might be some very good short-term, oh, I can get a flight for really cheap, or I can book this hotel room at half off.

Noam Meppen (17:23):
You will see that type of promotion and offers come, come to bear. But I think once the world feels secure and everyone's gone back to kind of what their travel habits were, maybe at the end of this year or a year from now in the spring of 22, I think the deals are going to have been a memory and things will be more expensive because there's higher demand and less, less volume and less capacity to sell.

Bill Soroka (17:49):
Yeah. This is going to be an interesting time for travel. What, what do you hear on a vaccine cards? Should those be laminated and included with your passport?

Noam Meppen (17:59):
That's a great question. That's a great question. I don't know that you actually need to laminate and travel with it, but what I do and what I did when I went to Mexico is I just took a picture with my phone and stored it to my Google photo cloud storage account.

Noam Meppen (18:15):
I don't know if someone's going to want to look, look at it and want to see it, but it's a handwritten postcard. I don't think there's any need to actually have the physical card with you because it's not referenced to any digital database or system, which kind of baffles me that, that, that didn't take place when the vaccines were rolling out. But it didn't. So it's unclear if there's going to be a health passport or some sort of a digital record proving vaccination that you're going to need to show to someone it's unclear how, how that might work, because there is no worldwide or even US standard. I know some people who've been vaccinated recently and did not get a card because they were part of a trial or they, you know, someone I know who got the Johnson and Johnson vaccine a few days ago, they didn't get a vaccination card. Like I got when I got my vaccine a month ago. So there's been no standard practice. So I don't know that you need to carry the laminated card with you.

Bill Soroka (19:14):
Thank you. And you just got back from Mexico. How many resorts were you able to visit?

Noam Meppen (19:23):
13 actually, 13 different properties in a matter of three and a half days. And you felt safe. I felt safe. Yes. Amazing. Yeah. The, the resorts they, for us as travel agents, because we were sort of on a business trip, they wanted us to wear masks when we were walking around the resorts, which we did. They, I, I can't tell you how many squirts of hand sanitizer or how many times my temperature was taken during the time I was there, I lost count, but they're able to, you know, operate that way and keep the staff safe and keep the customer safe. And everyone's having a good time. So, yeah, so we, we visited a lot of different properties for different types of travelers. Some that are more geared towards families, others that are more honeymoon oriented, some that are more, more geared towards singles different price points.

Noam Meppen (20:15):
So it was, it was a really good education to see the variety of properties that we went to. And it was good to see how Mexico was handling COVID. With tourism, tourism is one of their biggest industries and Americans is their top, the top country that people come from to visit Mexico. So it's a real important industry to them. Was good to see how they're handling it.

Bill Soroka (20:37):
Yeah, I think that's important. And this firsthand knowledge, I think really speaks to the value of having a travel agent and boots on the ground to actually tour facilities and experienced that firsthand. Can you talk a little bit about like the value of a travel agent and why it's still a good idea to use one?

Noam Meppen (21:00):
Sure. So you hit it on the head. It's really expertise, advice, firsthand knowledge. When someone comes to us to arrange a trip, whether it's cruise or resort or Walt Disney world in almost every case, the consumer could book that on their own directly with the cruise line or at a, sort of a big consolidator, a website like expedia.com our sister company.

Noam Meppen (21:24):
But what they're not getting is the insight and expertise. And if they're, if they don't sell travel every day and they're not immersed in the industry, like we are, they're not going to know what they don't know. And typically almost in all cases, the consumer will pay the same amounts. And in some cases even get a better deal through us because of our scale and the size of Expedia than they would, if they booked on their own. So they're getting the same price, some cases, they may be getting a better price. They might be getting a better perk, like a resort credit or an onboard, a ship or credit. And they're getting a better level of service. They are maybe having their eyes opened up to something they've never experienced or never thought about as an alternative. They may think, oh, I want to go to Hawaii.

Noam Meppen (22:13):
And I, all I know, I know Honolulu and Waikiki are really popular. They are, but you may, if you've never been to Hawaii and you don't know about the other islands, you don't, you're not, maybe not considering and evaluating all the different experiences that you can have when you come to an agent, especially one who's trained on a destination and has been there themselves. They can make sure that you're considering all the different options so that you can maximize your experience and maybe have a better experience than if you just put it together on your own. Yeah, it's so true. It's just like you know, in real estate or finances, or even in health, the right advisor can change your entire experience by giving you a perspective and it's perspective that you don't have to pay for. It doesn't cost you anything out of your pocket.

Bill Soroka (23:04):
That's right. Noam - thank you so much for being here today and sharing your perspective over what's coming in the travel industry. I know I invited you here number one, that I had a chance to work with you at Expedia cruise ship centers. And I, I love that. I love to travel and it's, I've got that cabin fever. I've got that itch. I have got to get somewhere, and I love that you shared the the hope for the industry and what it's got. It sounds like it's right around the corner where we can get back to some amount of normalcy here. That's what we're hoping for. If you are interested in talking to Noam or his team, he's got over 25 travel consultants at his office in north Scottsdale Arizona which I would imagine are probably working virtually right now, right Noam?

Noam Meppen (23:55):
Some are coming to the office regularly. We have you know, I've reduced the number of consultants that we can have at one time I got plexiglass up and they wear masks and we do have customers coming into the store and booking, travel, booking cruises. But most of them are working from home and I've got about a half a dozen that are coming into the store pretty regularly. So it's sort of a hybrid hybrid model right now.

Bill Soroka (24:16):
Yeah. So anything that you guys are looking for, it sounds like no, one's going to be able to help you out here. If you go into the VIP room at side-hustle lounge.com, you can click a link and even find Noam's phone number in there for you. Noam, thank you so much for joining us today.

Noam Meppen (24:32):
Thank you so much for having me Bill. It was great to talk to you.

Important Announcement (24:36):
Please stay tuned for a brief update to this podcast episode.

Bill Soroka (24:41):
Cheers and welcome back to our guest Noam Meppen. Noam, thank you so much for agreeing to join us again for this little update on travel, because the world's a completely different place than it was when we originally recorded our original podcast. So thanks for being here again.

Noam Meppen (24:59):
Oh, I'm happy to be here. Thanks Bill.

Bill Soroka (25:02):
We got a chance to really talk about what I think consumers and travelers are going to be doing over the course of the next 12 to 18 months, but now that things have opened up, can you tell us how that, what that looks like now?

Noam Meppen (25:16):
Sure. Well, we're, we're now on June 11th, the day that we're recording this. And two weeks from Sunday, the first cruise ship out of a U S port is going to be leaving Fort Lauderdale.

Noam Meppen (25:27):
It's on celebrity cruises. They're doing a seven night Caribbean cruise, and that's sort of going to kick off the reboot of cruising from US waters. By the beginning of July, about a half dozen ships will we'll start going into operation. And by August approximately 2020 cruise ships, we'll be, we'll be sailing with us passengers out of us ports. They're going to be going to the Caribbean, The Bahamas out of Florida and out of Galveston, Texas, there's going to be one ship sailing out of the New York area. And then by August, there's going to be seven ships going out of Seattle, heading up to Alaska. So it's looking like our industry... the second half of the summer is actually going to have a pretty robust amount of business. And we're very thrilled to have that. We see the phone ringing a lot. Customers are planning trips for this summer, as well as for the early fall, September, October timing.

Noam Meppen (26:24):
There's a lot of demand out there. People are vaccinated and they feel confident and comfortable with traveling. We also are starting to arrange for people to go to Europe, specifically the Eastern Mediterranean. There's going to be about half a dozen ships sailing out of Athens starting next month, going to the Greek Isles and other points in the Eastern Mediterranean. And most of these cruises are predicated on at least 95% of the passengers and 98 to 100% of the crew being fully vaccinated. And that's how these cruise lines feel that they're safely able to operate. It's how the local governments that control the cruise line activities are, are feeling comfortable and allowing these cruise ships to, to start to sail again and have passengers visiting their cities.

Bill Soroka (27:16):
Yeah, I bet they're hungry for it. Do you think there's or do we know yet, is there enough availability to meet the demand?

Noam Meppen (27:23):
Are these things selling out super fast or what's going on? Yeah. Yeah. These things are selling out super fast at one cruise line. Royal Caribbean opened up a couple of sailings for July at the beginning of this week, and they've already completely sold every single cabin. So there is a lot of demand out there. And what we're seeing is that ships are filling up and that prices are going up because the cruise lines and, and all suppliers, hotels, rental car companies, airlines now see a lot of increase in demand. In some cases they've reduced the capacity. And there's a lot of people who have been sitting on the sidelines for a year and a half and they really want to get out there and travel.

Bill Soroka (28:03):
I think I'm one of them, you know, Noam, I booked my first flight in, in forever yesterday. And I didn't realize how bad I had been craving a trip because travel is just part of who I am. And I'm like, and I've been kind of cranky. And, you know, I feel like I want to go somewhere and I didn't, I didn't realize the impact of that. When I booked my plane ticket, I just felt this enormous sense of relief. And I, then I looked at my previous plane ticket and it was November, 2019 was the last time I'd been on a plane. I feel like I'm going from my first flight ever. I've got butterflies. I can't wait. So I th I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels that way. I think people are just ready.

Noam Meppen (28:43):
That's true. I have not been on a cruise since December of 19. And I, I have I'm planning to go with a friend of mine, to Athens Greece to get on a seven night Greek Isles cruise the first week of September. And so we were communicating and texting last night. I said, I have to apologize in advance. I may cry when we get onto that ship, I'll probably be pretty emotional. So just prepare yourself for that. And I think most people are in that same spot where they're not, they don't even realize how much they're craving that ability to get out and explore and be on the ocean. You know, we live here in Arizona, it's, it's kinda hot and dusty. But I think we're all really anxious to to get back to those experiences.

Bill Soroka (29:24):
I love it. So if if somebody wanted to jump on one of these cruises or even any of these other bucket list adventures that you had discussed in the previous episode how can they get ahold of you to do that?

Noam Meppen (29:37):
Yeah, so the best way is to call us at our store in Scottsdale. The phone number is (480) 378-3633. You can also find us on online and on Facebook, just search for Expedia Cruises, Scottsdale. We're the only Expedia cruises branch in Arizona. So it's pretty easy to find us. And like I said before, it's not just me. I've got two dozen travel advisors that are here to help plan and put together a perfect trip there. Some of them have specialties in certain areas of interests. One might be more well-versed with river cruises and other might be dialed in with Disney. Another may be an expert in all inclusive resorts. So when you call us, I'll try and pair you up with the person who can best suit suit your needs and help you the best was planning, planning a trip.

Bill Soroka (30:22):
Now do the, our listeners have to be based in Arizona to work with you.

Noam Meppen (30:26):
No, sir. We have customers all over the U S we have customers in Canada and in Europe, primarily our customers come from, from the Southwestern us, mostly Arizona, but we, we have customers and we help customers all over. So you don't have to live here to get great service and to, to have an excellent experience with us.

Bill Soroka (30:46):
Yeah. Awesome. Noam, thank you so much. Any last words or any, anything else you're noticing that you want to share?

Noam Meppen (30:52):
You know, I think it's an overall theme that life is short. You don't know what is going to happen next and take advantage of the opportunities when they come up, live in the moment. Appreciate the things that you have when you have them. Life is, life is beautiful. There's a lot of great things to see and do out there. So I urge everyone to take advantage of those opportunities.

Bill Soroka (31:13):
Yeah. Thank you. Well, I'm sold, you'll be hearing from me soon. I'm sure. Thanks so much for joining us again and anybody who's listening. If you'd like to get direct contact to Noam, I'll have his information, his phone number, his email address and his website for his travel center in Scottsdale, in our VIP room at www.sidehustlelounge.com/VIP. Thanks a lot and happy travels!

- Bill

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