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With the captain sidelined by a bad back, Tom and Gary stage a friendly mutiny — then hand the mic to guest Michelle Steiner for a genuinely warm, eye-opening chat about traveling with a hidden disability, sandwiched between $37 lobster rolls and a very stormy Carnival Pride. Proof the Golden Crew can sail just fine, even a hand short.
What they covered
Topics on deck
Traveling with a hidden disability
The Hidden Sunflower Lanyard
Airport flight ambassadors
Advocacy & asking for help
Maine lobster vacation
Carnival absorbing P&O Australia
Stormy Carnival Pride
Two Truths and a Lie
Don’t miss
Moments worth the wait
- The friendly coup — Tom and Gary open the show by joking they've seized control while Trevor's away.
“we are here celebrating because Trevor is not here… We've kicked them out of the cult.”
- Maine lobster sticker shock — Tom recaps his lobster vacation and the eye-watering prices.
“the cheapest lobster roll we found was $26… The most expensive one that we found was 37.”
- The airport tool that helped — Michelle explains the Hidden Sunflower Lanyard and the flight ambassador at Pittsburgh who walked her through TSA and pre-boarding.
“that importance of advocacy, asking for help when you need it.”
- An honest self-portrait — Michelle shares how her disability shapes everyday life with grace and candor.
“I confuse my right for my left. I can't tell time on the face of a clock… if you give me a credit card or a debit card, it's so abstract that I spend more. But if you give me $20, I can visualize the money.”
- Big-Carnival consolidation — Tom breaks down the fleet news, including the P&O Australia absorption.
“boosted by eight ships.”
- A storm, and gratitude — The Carnival Pride couldn't make a single port, yet the passenger who wrote John Heald was praising the crew, not complaining, with winds gusting
“25 to 30 miles an hour.”
- Cruising will work — Tom and Gary reassure Michelle that the Hub App and her husband have her covered, since
“the cruise is a lot about timing.”
In the guest chair
Special guest
🎤
Michelle Steiner — writer, speaker & photographer — a parent educator from Pennsylvania who travels with dyscalculia, visual-perception, and hand-dexterity challenges. Author of Rediscovering Your Story and blogger at Michelle's Mission (michellesmission.net), she shares her disability-travel journey with warmth and candor — from the Hidden Sunflower Lanyard and airport flight ambassadors to her core message about the importance of advocacy and asking for help when you need it.
Golden nuggets
Running bits & lore born here
- Is a hot dog a sandwich? — The show's original first-episode debate gets revived for Michelle (Tom: “I think a hot dog is a sandwich”; Trevor's on-record team-taco).
- Penguins that are actually seals — A callback to Trevor's Alaska cruise keeps the wildlife-misidentification gag alive.
- The past 700 episodes — The absurdly inflated episode-count bit rolls on.
- Burrito countdown by proxy — Trevor's breakfast-burrito sign-off is delivered in his absence — “in 52 days… I will have a Carnival Blue Iguana Cantina breakfast burrito in my hands.”
- Gary the reliable co-pilot — Warmly framed throughout as the steady hand keeping the whole show afloat without Trevor.