THE TODAY Show viewers are thrilled that a fan-favorite host has returned to the show after his long absence.
Many feared he retired after took many weeks off for vacation.
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Al Roker returned to The TODAY Show on Tuesday after he spent some time in Europe.
The anchor went on vacation with his wife and documented the journey on his Instagram page.
Savannah Guthrie and Jenna Bush Hager also returned this week, but from a different assignment.
While Al was actually off and on vacation, Savannah was in the U.K. covering Queen Elizabeth II‘s passing and Jenna was set to interview Queen consort Camila.
The 68-year-old was joined on the show by Craig Melvin, Savannah, and Hoda Kotb.
Many fans thought Al retired, due to him being out for so long.
However, the meteorologist has put those rumors to rest as he returned to the show this week.
His return comes after her dissed his co-anchor Craig on live TV.
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AL’S TIME OFF
Before returning this week, the last time Al was on the show was Labor Day.
Then, the next day he jetted off to Europe.
On Tuesday, he and his wife, Deborah, went to Istanbul, where they visited the Four Seasons Hotel at Sultanahmet.
He posted a photo of the outside of the hotel and one of him and Deborah standing outside of it.
The 68-year-old captioned the post: “We were in #istanbul at the @fssultanahmet which was a former prison. We had great cell service.
The same day, the couple traveled to Italy on the Venice Simplon-Orient Express.
Al posted pictures of them getting on the train and photos of the inside- which included a full cabin to themselves, with a dining table, lamps, luggage storage, and more.
“A #bucketlist trip to ride the @vsoetrain,” the TODAY Show host captioned the post.
During their time in Venice, Al ran into one of his favorite authors, Amor Towles and his wife.
They ate a meal together and appeared to get along really well.
The next day, Al and Deborah spent “24 hours in Budapest,” where they saw a couple getting married, ate delicious food, visited landmarks, explored an art museum, and saw the sunset.
They then got back onto the Orient Express to continue their adventures.
On Thursday, Al and his wife spent some time on the train before visiting Paris.
They once again enjoyed a meal, got dressed up, listened to live music, and snapped selfies with friends.
‘DID YOU RETIRE?’
Some fans were worried that he might have retired from the morning show, as he has been absent for a while.
While most of his followers said that they were jealous of him being on the trip or told him how beautiful the pictures were, others feared for him.
On one of his Instagram posts, a fan asked: “Did you retire? Haven’t seen you on The TODAY Show for several weeks now.”
To that another fan replied: “He and his wife are just enjoying some R&R.”
“How wonderful— can’t wait to see you on Today to hear more about this adventure! Missing you!” said a third.
“Al have a great vacation but I miss my fav weather person,” commented one follower.
“Come back. We miss you!” wrote a TODAY Show viewer.
Another added: “Spectacular trip of a lifetime -well deserved!!! Enjoy every minute! We miss you on The Today Show.”
ROASTED BY ROKER
Before Al joined some time off, he made a diss to his co-host Craig, who didn’t follow the teleprompter.
Al, Craig, Sheinelle Jones, and Dylan Dreyer all sat behind the hosts’ desk.
The TODAY Show presenters all ate pizza and laughed as Sheinelle started off the segment.
“So, here’s the thing, we all wanted to share the highlights of our summer because it’s the end of the summer,” she said.
“We’ve talked about this before. Sometimes you have pictures on your phone and you say ‘Oh, I’m going to print them out or put them in a book’ and you don’t do anything with them, but let’s talk about the highlights or maybe one highlight.”
“Why don’t we start with you?” Craig interrupted.
Sheinelle responded: “No the prompter says Dylan.”
Al spoke up and said: “No, no. We’ve got our graphics kind of lined up.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Craig said, holding onto a mug.
Al dissed his co-anchor by saying with a serious face: “Have you just started this show?”
“No. I just thought it would be whimsical,” Craig said with a shrug.
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