The Bag Tag Travel Podcast

🍺 The First Beer of the United States (01:34) To kick off today’s show, we’re discussing the very first beer in America created by the very first president: George Washington. But it won’t be around for long so PLEASE try it if you happen to be in New York anytime soon and let us know how it is! Plus, we chat about how cool the World Cup watch party auditoriums are in Jordan. 🏞️ What’s Your Favor...

What if your city almost hosted the FIFA World Cup? We take a look at the American cities that made serious bids but ultimately missed out on becoming host cities for the 2026 tournament. From Washington, D.C. to Denver and the iconic Rose Bowl, we explore how close they came and how different the tournament could have looked. For the first time ever, the famous Times Square Ball won't just drop o...

⚽ FIFA World Cup in Seattle (01:29) Wyatt was lucky enough to be a +1 to a World Cup game here in Seattle and he’s excited to share that it was indeed all it was hyped up to be! Hear his experience and highlights from the Team USA vs Australia match, plus other World Cup stories. 📺 Attend IRL or Watch Party? (17:29) Today’s seat pocket debate leans more sports than travel, as we discuss if we’d...

Would you board a plane without knowing where you're going? That's exactly the question thousands of travelers ask themselves every year when Wizz Air launches its wildly popular "Let's Get Lost" campaign. In this episode of The Bag Tag, Wyatt and Chantel explore the mystery travel phenomenon that has turned spontaneous adventure into one of the travel industry's most fascinating marketing campaig...

🗽 News in New York City In the world of sports and travel, New York City is often a hot topic. But what we’re seeing now is like nothing NYC has ever seen before! They’ve got the NBA champs the Knicks and FIFA World Cup 2026 Games and we’re chatting about all the latest happenings in the city that never sleeps. 🏅 To Sport Watch or Not To Sport Watch From today’s seat pocket travel question, we d...

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has officially begun, and while the world will remember the goals, upsets, and championship moments, another story is unfolding beyond the stadium walls. From fans spending thousands of dollars chasing visas that never materialize to athletes navigating cross-country flights and unexpected entry complications, we'll explore what happens when the world's largest sporting eve...

Why do romance and travel seem so inseparable? Why do people propose on mountaintops, honeymoon on tropical islands, and dream of finding love in places like Paris and Santorini? In this episode, we explore the fascinating connection between romance and travel through the lenses of psychology, culture, and human behavior. From the science behind self-expansion theory and shared experiences to the...

You probably know about pet hotels. Maybe even luxury boarding for plants. But what if we told you there are hotels specifically designed for... sourdough? This week, we're traveling to Scandinavia to explore one of the world's most unusual hospitality concepts: sourdough hotels. In Sweden and Denmark, passionate bakers can check their beloved sourdough starters into specialized "hotels" while the...

📰 A Family of FAs, Public Transit, and Route 66 Our medley of travel news updates today brings you a debate of which airline you’d fly for vacation when every family member is a flight attendant for a different airline, all things in the world of public transportation including Boston’s commuter train and LA’s bus revamp, and a little update on Route 66’s 100th year celebration! 🍍 Is Bikini Bott...

What happens when one of the world’s biggest snack brands becomes a travel destination? This week we’re diving into one of the strangest — and most fascinating — new trends in tourism: people traveling for brands. From PepsiCo’s immersive Lay’s Potato Restaurant in Shanghai to Michelin-chef-powered tortilla concepts in Madrid, we explore why a potato chip restaurant might actually represent the fu...

As our Route 66 Centennial journey comes to an end, we’re wrapping things up with one final ride down the Mother Road. In this episode, we kick things off with some fun Route 66 trivia and a spirited debate over what the official airport-style bag tag code for Route 66 should actually be. Then, we sit down with legendary Route 66 historian, artist, and EZ66 Guide creator Jerry McClanahan&nbsp...

Paris is changing… and not everyone is happy about it. In this episode, we dive into the story behind Tour Triangle — the massive new glass skyscraper rising over the Paris skyline and becoming one of the city’s most controversial projects in decades. Designed by world-famous architects Herzog & de Meuron, the 590-foot tower is the first major skyscraper built in central Paris since the Tour M...

Hit the road with us as we cruise down Arizona’s legendary stretch of U.S. Route 66 alongside Katie Barthlow from The Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. In this episode, Katie shares how she found herself immersed in the world of Route 66 preservation and tourism, what makes Arizona’s section of the Mother Road so unique, and why towns like Seligman, Winslow, a...

What if your rideshare app became your travel agent? This week, we’re diving into one of the biggest travel industry shakeups of 2026: Uber is officially entering the hotel business. After years of taking us to airports, delivering late-night food, and replacing taxis, Uber now wants to book your hotel, reserve your dinner, deliver forgotten travel essentials, and maybe someday manage your entire...

Few highways in America carry the same mythology as the “Mother Road.” Stretching more than 2,400 miles from Chicago to California, U.S. Route 66 became more than pavement and painted lines…it became a symbol of freedom, reinvention, road trips, diners, neon signs, and the ever-present promise that adventure might be waiting just around the next curve. And while every state along Route 66 has its...

It is with great sadness that we are here to discuss the latest in travel news: the end of Spirit Airlines’ operations. Don’t get it twisted, Spirit was a pioneer in their own right–they didn’t just sell cheap tickets, they reinvented what “cheap” meant and disrupted the business model that had become standard in the aviation industry. Gone but never forgotten, we discuss what this means for the t...

🤳 The Travel Discourse Trio (01:22) There’s a lot of fun travel tidbits that have been making their rounds online. Today we’re discussing the latest travel privacy innovation in My Cocoon, a heartwarming statue built in Kazakhstan, and JetBlue’s top-secret booking hack. 👶 How Many Miles Should the Baby Get? (10:19) For this week’s seat pocket, we’re debating if a baby born mid-flight should be e...

🐱 Pilots Meowing + Fetty Wap References = Weird Air (01:25) It was a weird week in the air to say the least… Pilots were meowing, barking, and making Fetty Wap references to the ATCs. We run through all the latest news, if it qualifies as news, from the air in the past week. ✈️ How Do You Count Flights? (12:58) Every trip is a flight but not every flight is a trip…or is it? We debate how you coun...

🏅2028 Summer Olympics (01:21) It’s official, The Bag Tag will be the unofficial travel podcast of the LA 28 Summer Olympics. We were lucky enough to snag tickets in one of the early ticket drops and already counting down the days to the games. Plus we discuss the misdesign of airplane seat maps 🧛Team Jacob or Team Edward (08:43) The debate that will never die, are you Team Edward or Team Jacob....

🫨 Seating Chart Icons, Baggage Fees, and Disney Animatronics…Oh my! (01:30) There’s a lot going on in the world of travel, so we had to start today’s episode with some of the lighter, but still important, things we’ve been seeing in the news lately. 🌕 What Would the Moon’s Bag Tag Code Be? (11:00) For today’s seat pocket, we debate what we think the “spaceport” bag tag code (hypothetical, of cou...

👣 King Charles III, the path not the person + 100th Episode!!! (01:23)  There’s a new King Charles III in town but this one is a path, not a person! That’s right, there’s a newly opened walking path that takes you around the entire country of England. And, today is our 100th episode of The Bag Tag! 🚴 Would You Ever Walk or Bike Across the Country? (09:09) Today’s seat pocket is inspired by,...

🚗 TSA Wait Times, Rain Falls in Hawaii, and Buying vs Renting When Traveling Why rent a car on vacation when you can…buy one? That’s right, there’s people out there who may have finally cracked the code when it comes to rental cars on vacation. Plus, we chat about what’s happening with TSA wait times and the awful storms hitting the Hawaiian Islands right now. 🌺 What’s Your Favorite Flower? We’v...

🔥 Heated Rivalry, Chicago River, and Headphone Enforcement (01:27) It’s St. Patrick’s Day and we didn’t skimp out on the travel news this week! There’s lots going on in the world, from new set-jetting opportunities for all you HR loons, the juicy deets on turning Chicago’s river green, and United’s latest rules on headphones. 👙 What’s Your Favorite Spring Break Destination? (09:40) For this week...

🕑 Jet Lag & What Happens at Airport Chili’s (01:26) Daylight Savings weekend went by a little too fast, because we lost an hour! Springing forward always gives us the same feeling as jet lag, at least for a little while. Plus, there’s an airport Chili’s that saw probably the most romantic gesture in its entire existence: a proposal! That’s right, there’s a happy couple out there whose lives a...

🏴󠁡󠁦󠁷󠁡󠁲󠁿 Which Countries Change Their Flags When at War? (01:25) If you didn’t know, now you do! There are countries out there that change their flag to indicate when they’re at war. Do you know how many, or which ones? 🌀 Cyclone vs Hurricane vs Typhoon (05:20) There are many natural disasters, but of these three heavy hitters, which one sounds the coolest? Destruction aside, of course. We debate...