The Travel Show - Airlines Suing About Disclosing Fees; Update on the Middle East Travel w/ Dan Hone

Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Welcome to the Travel Show. I'mLarry Gelwicks. Then get away Guru,
and we have a great show plannedfor you today. We're going to be
traveling around the world and one ofthe most interesting stories is why airlines are
suing the United States Department of Transportationabout displaying and disclosing extra fees. That

(00:31):
is a hysterical put your seat belton. We welcome to the show.
The Argentinian gaucho himself, the Lovelyand Talented Carlos Feeda. Don't like that
intro? No, I don't.That's why, exactly why I use it.
Okay, you always do, youalways do. And of course Wendy

(00:51):
Fraki, a group department manager withMorris Columbus Travel. The Travel Show is
sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel, YouAlways Travel More and pay Less and Norwegian
Cruise Line, the home of freestylecruising. Wendy, welcome back to the
Travel Show. I am so Iwas just going to say I did not

(01:12):
get the lovely and talented this time, and I think you you wasted that
on. Carlos. All right,we welcome today to the Travel Show.
The exquisitely beautiful Wendy Frakia department manager. Okay, yes, and lovely.
Also, Hey, I just wantto brag about Morris Columbus Travel. You

(01:36):
know, it's a wonderful company.We've talked before about be careful who you
deal with, because we've highlighted somenews reports about some of these nefarious travel
companies. Most of us don't makethe news. Yeah, that just go
under. One of them we talkedabout, filed for bankruptcy, had I

(01:57):
mean just last year come based andtwo point one million dollars in liabilities one
hundred thousand dollars in assets. Thattwo point one million was customer deposits and
payments, and they interviewed people whohad given thousands of dollars for a trip,
and it's like, sorry, hitthe road, jack and don't let

(02:20):
the door hit you in the backsideas you exit. And these people allegedly
have done this over and over andover again, and they have resurfaced under
a new name. But is thesame people always it's my understanding that it
is, So folks, just becareful who's actually I was going to say.

(02:40):
The bottom line is is you justneed to know the company that you're
working with, and you should alwaysask a few qualifying questions, ask them
how long they've been in business,and ask them what their policies are.
Not only if you have to counsela tour or if they have to councel
a tour. There are situations ingroup travel where sometimes we do have to

(03:01):
cancel, whether it's for safety reasons, if it's for low booking numbers.
You know, there's there's there's multiplessthings happen. But there's several companies out
there who do not refund if theycancel the tour, and that is on
policy. So well, anyway,I we're great, so just be careful.

(03:22):
I want to brag up and forgiveme if that sounds boastful, but
you know it ain't bragging if it'strue. Best of Best of State Morris
Columbus Travel one for the fourth yearin a row the Best of State award
for the best travel agency, besttravel company in the great state of Utah.

(03:43):
So congratulations to all of the goodtravel advisors, support staff, everyone
at Morris Columbus Travel. I startedat Marris when I mean Murder Murder Travel
forty six years ago. Yeah,so you know, Iam again tied up.
This is my thirtieth year starting alsowith Murdoch Travel it shows well no,

(04:09):
no, no, it means itmeans our experience together, Carlos,
we have seven six years experience.Years of experience on this side meant well,
here is a great one. Youknow, many US excuse me,
major US airlines excluding not Southwest Airlines, they're not a part of this nefarious

(04:35):
activities. Major US airlines not Southwestare suing the Department of Transportations new fee
disclosure rules. You know, airlineshave never met a fee that they didn't
like that. These new rules requireprompt refund when an airline doesn't provide the

(05:00):
I'm a service American, Delta,United, Jet, Blue, Hawaiian and
Alaska Airlines of filed suit. NowSouthwest Airlines benefits where other airlines highlight their
fees. They do not check Southwestdoes not charge for check bags. You
can have up to two bags fiftypounds a peats thirty two linear inches,

(05:24):
and they currently do not charge separatelyfor seat assignments. So think about that
when you're figuring out the cost ofyour trip. Are you going to have
a check bag? Are you goingto normally with another airline have to pay
for that aisle seat or that exitrow. Under the new DOT Department Transportation

(05:47):
requirements, airlines and ticket agents willhave to fully disclose all fees for baggage
changes and cancelations. Oh, dearup front at the first instance of displaying
itineraries in fairs? What have wecome to that you have to tell the

(06:10):
customer what these fees are going tobe on the first first go round.
Airlines will also have to automatically andpromptly refund passengers in cash or original payment
methods such as a credit card whenservices like check baggage and WiFi are not

(06:31):
delivered as promise. The rule appliesto US catch this and foreign airlines selling
air travel in the United States.When passenger information is included in the search,
fee information will have to take accountof specifics like frequent flyer status,

(06:55):
military status, and fair class.Now, Wendy, this seems reasonable to
me. Tell the people up front, not hidden at the very end.
I absolutely agree that those fees needto be out there and people need to
be aware From the selling end oftravel, I can tell you it is
really hard when you're starting a conversationwith somebody talking about travel and flights to

(07:18):
know all the fees until you're actuallydone because you can buy a basic economy
ticket, and a lot of ourlisteners now understand what that means. You
are paying the very least the seaton the plane. You do not get
a seat assignment, you get noperks, you're the last one to board.
There are no frequent flyer miles,there's no refunds, there's no changes.

(07:41):
It is done. But you knowthat upfront, you know going in.
So sometimes when we're quoting somebody aflight, we can say, well,
you can get this ticket as lowas ninety nine dollars, but if
you're willing to pay one hundred andseventy eight dollars, and these prices are
ridiculous, but with that you willget one piece of check luggage and you
will get a seat assignment. Somake your choice at that point. But

(08:03):
it's an informed decision. It isan informant I hope the next thing that
the Biden administration does, and they'vepromised to do it. In the State
of the Union address, President Bidenreferred to these ancillary fees as junk fees.
For example, hotels Hawaii, Hawaii, just about everywhere hotels by and

(08:26):
large have a resort fee or destinationfee as they call it. It's an
additional charge, separate from the roomrate, separate from the taxes. And
it's just like in Hawaii, it'sforty to sixty dollars a day. They
add on and what do you get. It's absolutely hysterical. You get a

(08:48):
towel at the pool. You canuse the pool. I mean they're going
to deliver a newspaper to your door. That's always that you don't even want.
No, exactly, nobody wants it. And the internet. I had
a hard time in Las Vegas sayingI don't want any of these services.
Why do I have to pay thisresult, we'll let you out of it.

(09:09):
Exactly. They say it's not required, but you cannot check out of
that hotel till you've paid for it. I haven't run into a hotel that
said it was optional. Every placeI stay it's mandatory. But that's their
argument, is why it's not includedas part of the hotel. We have
another problem, for example, hotels, the five star hotels in South America,

(09:30):
they charge a fee, a dailyfee for the stay six dollars or
seven dollars, and the client goesthere, checks in. We cannot include
that in when we do the services. When we go there, they said,
okay, you have to pay sevendollars a day you stay five days,
and the client said, why sowe have real city taxes is a
very very prominent thing that happens ina lot of the major cities, and

(09:54):
they cannot be prepaid. I've runinto some hotels that have a mandatory housekeeping
b and you think, isn't thatincluded in my room rate. The big
thing now with hotels is that ifyou want daily service to clean up your
room, empty the trash, youhave to ask for it. Well,

(10:16):
it's a crazy world out there.These poor airlines are suing so they do
not have to tell you upfront allof the fees. When we come back,
I want to know, Wendy andCarlos, what is a favorite place
outside of the United States, kindof where do you like to go?
And Wendy, I want to talkabout misconceptions of group travel right here on

(10:41):
the Travel Show. You're listening tothe Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwiz,

(11:03):
the get Away Guru, in mythirty second year hosting the Travel Show.
I welcome in studio with me today, Wendy Frean excuse me, the lovely
and talented group department manager, Avery average looking Carlos feedo average anyway,

(11:24):
you know, folks, may wejust give you a sincere thank you for
joining us every week and here inthe Travel Show. I look forward to
being with you, coming into yourhomes, in your car, wherever you
may be listening. We love travel, and so do you. Now I
want to ask Wendy and Carlos,and then I'll give you my own answer

(11:45):
a question that I am asked allthe time every week. Larry, you've
been everywhere for me. It's onehundred and thirteen countries and I got three
new ones coming up this year.You've been everywhere, Larry, outside of
the United States. What's your favoriteplace, Wendy. So we talked about
this, and we have to qualifyit when we've been privileged to travel the

(12:09):
way we have. I'm going thistime with Barcelona, Spain. I've loved
being there. It really was justbeautiful and the people were amazing, and
I was there for just a shortperiod of time and I knew I had
to come back. I haven't beenback yet, but I know I'm going
back. You know. One ofthe things a couple of things I love
about Barcelona. First of all,it's a very beautiful city historically the architecture,

(12:35):
but walking up and down La Rambla, which is like the main boulevard,
and then into the Gothic quarter,which is you know right there.
Also then the food. I haveto be careful when I say I want
to go to a tapas bar,not tapas tapas. Did you go to
Flamico's show? I have previously,not on this last trip, but you

(13:00):
know, the dancing and the musicis just spectactic, passionate. Yeah,
yeah, Larry hangs out at thetapest bars where it's passionate. Well,
those are the small plates that youknow, you have finger food on Carlos
O. My mother's parents were bornthere and she was born there, so

(13:22):
I like to go. I havebeen there five times. Okay, so
let me get this straight. You'reyou're an Italian living in Argentina and now
living in America. Did I getthat right? Yes, you got it.
What's your favorite Italian food? Pasta? Well, I know there's a
lot of pastas well. I likepizza too, you know, the pizza

(13:43):
margarita one of my favorite kind ofcharge side, what's your favorite Argentinian food.
When people ask me my favorite place, I have to answer it a
question. What is the purpose ofthe trip? You see for absolute sheer,

(14:07):
physical beauty of the environment that overloadsthe census. Oh, that's an
easy one. French Polynesia, Tahiti, Bora, Bora, opennohube on Morea,
up to the up to the MarquesasIslands, Nukuheva, Heva. Oh,
you know in Nukuheva, the island, they have a one thousand foot
waterfall. One thousand feet that's likethree football fields. It's very, very

(14:33):
isolated up there in the Marquesas Islands. If I want something exotic, different,
exciting, wonderful people, so muchto see and do you know what's
coming? Yes, I know whatis coming. Provo nor Thailand, Larry
Lie I love Thailand. I seriously, I've been there already h three times

(14:56):
this year. I have another tripcoming up. But it's it's just everything
about it, the people, thefood, and it's good value and very
clean. The medical care is asgood as anything you'll get in the United
States. Now, if you ifyour purpose of your trip is history,

(15:18):
then it's tough to beat Europe.In the Middle East. You know,
very tough, but for adventure,it's a great migration safari in Kenya only
in the months of July, August, and September. I'll tell you one
quick story about Thailand. And Itypically go there, Wen do you know

(15:39):
this three, four or five timesa year. In twenty sixteen, I
made seven different trips to Thailand.Now that's I mean, that's all the
way across the Pacific Ocean. Andthe last one was in December of twenty
sixteen that particular year, and Cassie, my lovely wife, was driving me
up to the airport. I actuallywe had what's called incentive travel, where

(16:03):
companies use traveled as a motivation fortheir best clients or best advoys. Yeah,
and they were going to be takingtwo hundred and fifty people somewhere as
they did every other year, andthey wanted to go to Thailand. So
I was taking the president and hiswife, the vice president and his wife
on a site site inspection. Theywanted to visit the hotels, they wanted

(16:26):
to see the activity, So wewere going with them. Kathy's driving me
out to the Salt Lake Airport andshe says to me, see in the
Gelwick's family we never miss an opportunityfor cheap and shameless humor. All right,
it's a trademark of our clan.And thank you cheap and shameless.

(16:47):
You already know that, of course. So we're driving at the airport and
Kathy says to me, this isyour seventh trip this year, and I
go yep, and then with alittle smirk on her face, she goes,
Okay, what's her name? AndI just blurted out a restaurant that

(17:08):
I go to in Hong Kong called, Oh, her name's fong Ling.
And so this has become the familyjoke. I mean, the kids to
this day asked, Dad, how'sthe other family you know on these previous
trips I've made this year, Dad, did you see your other family?
And I always say, oh,yeah, the kids are growing up.
They're back in school, they're justgrowing like weeds. And Kathy just shakes

(17:32):
her head and said, I nevershould have said anything, right, Oh,
I just remember she started it.She did start. Hey, listen,
we just got about a minute left, and I want to extend this
also into the next segment. Whatare the benefits of group travel? People
are talking about all the time.Should I just go individually. Should I
join the group? There's some misconceptions. There's benefits to both very succinctly.

(17:56):
What are some of the benefits ofgoing with a group of Morris Columbus Travel
Group, not one of those crummycompanies that goes bankrupt? You know,
I think I just got back offof a wonderful group with where we went
cruising down the Amalfi Coast All StarClipper. It was amazing. We talked
about that before the best thing aboutthis trip was friendship, and that is

(18:21):
what I think I could sum upthe entire trip, renewing acquaintances with people
I've traveled with before and the onesthat will be planning to travel again more
when we come back here on thetravel shows, Good Morgan and welcome to

(18:56):
the Travel Show. What language wasthose that bien Benito's Travel show Espanol?
Or is that catching the Guten MorganGuten tog? Of course Germany? But
you know this one my loyla thatPacific? No, that's Rana's tong Yes,

(19:18):
very very good, my lol ismonI love Hey listen, you talked
about the benefits of group travel.You know, the nice thing about group
travel is you only have to rememberone thing. Show up on time,
Just show up on time. Igotta tell you about Steve, one of

(19:38):
my neighbors traveled the world, Imean the world traveler for decades in his
business. And I kept trying toget Steve and Susan to join me on
a tour. They wouldn't do it. I don't want to be herded like
cattle. I like to do myown thing, blah blah blah. And
finally I talked him into joining meon my Legends of Siam, Thailand and

(20:06):
Cambodia tour. And he says,Oh, I've been to Bangkok so many
times for business mess Well how long? Oh I'm in for two or three
days. What do you do?I'm in meetings all day. You haven't
seen Thailand. So they signed up, and he was so blown away at

(20:26):
this tour. How Morris Columbus putsit together that I actually brought him here
on the radio show to say,tell us your experience, he says.
I couldn't believe. He says,I wasn't hurted like cattle. I had
lots of freedom of choice at whatI would do. I didn't have to
buy any admission tickets. I justhad to show up on time, you

(20:48):
know, and that is the numberone rule. That is the number one
rule. And I was followed upwith have fun. Your attitude and what
you bring to the trip is allso going to really make or break your
experience. If you think you're goingto be herded like cattle every time we
say this is what time the busleaving, you're going to think you're being
hurted like him. I really don'tlike that comparison, because the first thing

(21:12):
I'll tell everybody is, this isyour trip. If you don't want to
go with us this day, youdon't have hid Unless we're moving on,
it's still your trip. But we'veplanned all these experiences for you. Let's
go and have fun. So whatare some of the big misconceptions about group
travel? I mentioned Steve that he'dbe cattling. What about other things?
I think that some people are wellwe'll talk about the friendship that they're not

(21:37):
going to like the people they're traveling. They don't want to be stuck with
the same people. Again, that'sI think. Why are you looking directly
when you say that? You know, I've traveled with you multiple times and
I've enjoyed every one of them,Wendy, But this this is interesting.
One person brings another another another becausethey have been friends traveling together. Some
they want to have a different experiencein a different country. So many many

(22:00):
people come on group I think becausethey don't want to travel by themselves.
So they've got some other comfort issues. Let's say that way security issue too.
You know, I think of Daleand Mary, two of our dear,
dear friends. You live up inthe Centerville area. We first met
them on a Hawaii Honolulu cruz andthey are I mean, I love these
guys. We socialize with them,we go out to dinner with them.

(22:22):
They still travel past the trip.Yeah, Dale, do you have a
corner in your pocket? We'll helpyou with another tour anyway. So Morris
Columbus Travel Best of State winner fouryears in a row, has an incredible
group department, wonderful group travel.Really feel like that is what sets us
apart from so many other travel agencies. It really is. Now, Wendy,

(22:47):
where in the world does Morris columberoffer group tours? Where do you
want to go? We go,We cover all the corners, we go
everywere I just assume I'm going tohave but I assume you don't have a
tour there. You don't need togo to Jamaica this week. Although I
did say once I have this truestatement. I have absolutely no fear of

(23:08):
going to Hell because I've been toHouston in July and August. Why can't
be anywhere that town? Yeah,mug or city. Anyway, Where do
you where do you take people,Wendy? This year, the most popular
thing is is Europe. People arecoming. We've we've just sold out our

(23:29):
Italy tour. We are selling spaceon Switzerland, Spain, Portugal. These
are several tours that we have thisfall. We've got Morocco, We've we've
got cruises that are going through themed Europe sound Fire. But you know
we're going South America, Carlos.We can talk more about the tours now
to the Galapagos, in Peru andLDS. Church history tours have been again

(23:53):
very popular. Now if you're ofthe faith, you know the come Follow
Me program and we are studying theareas that you can go and visit next
year in the Doctor and Covenant,So those tours are going to be really
popular. They're really heating up fornext year. But going in the fall,

(24:14):
it's just on fire. The colors, it's amazing. You know,
I have a great love for Asia. Yes, I like Toosha for you
to come. We had a justincredible tours throughout Southeast Asia and other parts
of Asia. One of my favoritecountries is I'm going to say, okay,
let's not talk about are we talkedabout ten that's number one? But

(24:38):
Japan. This country is spotlessly clean. The people are unfailingly polite. I
don't worry about getting mugged. Youdon't see homelessness there. You don't see
graffiti all over buildings. In fact, the only ones that seem to jaywalk

(24:59):
in Japan hand are foreigners, Europeansand Americans. Well, that's why it
is so incredibly popular right now,and it's been that way because it's exotic
and yet it's touchable. But it'salso a little more on the pricey side,
so be careful how you're going.We have found a way around that.

(25:19):
But first, you know, Ilove food. It shows do you
have a favorite Japanese food, becauseour tours focus on food, Carlos,
do you have a favorite Japanese foodor is it just one of your sergeant
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, just

(25:40):
a minute. The Japanese had aspecial steak. I have tried that and
is cooked with with steam and youcan cut it with them with a fork.
I mean, it's the most delicioussteaks. Everywhere you go you eat
steak. Of course, that's whyyou keep myself Yep, that's right,

(26:00):
that's right, Wendy. Your favoriteJapanese food? I love. I love
the dumplings. And every time Itry to say the gioza joza, it
sounds like Gozer from Ghostbusters. Butyes, the dumplings I just love.
Think of a potsticker but smaller andit is different. I remember on my

(26:23):
very first trip to Japan, whichwas almost fifty years ago, and I
had gyoza for the first time,and I fell in love. Her name
was Gioza and she was a dumpling. These are they taste different over there.

(26:44):
And you have yosa with ramen.When last year we did a tour
to Japan, We're going to dothe same one next year, and we
stayed at this beautiful hotel and acrossthe street where only the Americans Jaywalk was
a whole entertainment restaurant center and Ifound this little ramen shop and I knew

(27:04):
it was good because people were linedup. It only seats seventeen people.
That's it. And by the way, it's considered polite to slurp your noodles.
I can't bring myself to Bagerias.Oh I would do it any of
the vending machine places. Oh yes, yes, yes, you can get

(27:25):
anything. But at the ramen shop, I hate there. I think every
night when we were in Tokyo,and it just tastes I love ramen.
I've been to some good ramen shopshere in Salt Lake City and elsewhere in
the country. Nothing rivals but thegioza the dumplings just takes different. Of
course, everybody loves tempora, tempora, tempura, shrip ramen, yakatori,

(27:49):
which is grilled chicken skewers. Alot of people like sushi, you know
which I can do some sushi sushi. You mentioned that shoehy shoeshyshii. Yes,
you mentioned that Japan is expensive andflat out it is. So here's
how we tackle it. We havea cruise May six to the sixteenth.

(28:15):
It's an eleven day, ten nightcruise round trip from Yokohama, which is
the port city for Tokyo and wesee I think every just about everything except
the northern island of Hokkaido. Whereare you going? This is May six
to sixteen next year. Now it'sat the tail end of the cherry blossoms.

(28:37):
We may or may not see,but it's not the prime time,
which is early April. But wemay see some of those. But we
visit Toba and Kochi. We'll seeMount Fuji, the Japanese Alps, and
I will tell you that when wevisit both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there's a
peace park there and you can standright at the epicenter. It is a

(29:03):
moving experience with that. And thenwe go over to Busan, South Korea.
So you have Japan and South Korea. The nice thing about a princess
cruise here is you pack an unpackone time. You're not caught in traffic,
you're not running the rails everywhere ontrains. Your meals are included and

(29:25):
that's a big part of the expenses. Home hotel cost. Yeah, hotels
are not inexpensive in Japan, butwe see the breadth of the country.
We offer our own shore excursions andyou get it at it just an incredible
price. Now one of the thingsthat I really like about this Princess Cruise

(29:48):
is it's a great time of year. The itinerary is unparalleled, and we
take you out no offense to cruiselines, but most of their shore excursions
they a plan for the nearly dead, and we're not at breakneck speed,
but we include a lot more ata lower price. So May sixth to
the sixteenth, we do offer afour day, three night pre pre cruise

(30:17):
in Tokyo. We do a completecity tour. You'll have options to to
Tokyo Disneyland if you want, ordo other things. I like to go
down to ikey Habada, which isthe electrotronic district. Block after block after
block are nothing but electronics. AndI'm not talking about being stereo systems,
little hand gadgets. I bought apin that is also a radio that's seven

(30:41):
I know, and I have thispen and I'll put an ear piece in
plug it into my pen. AsI'm writing, I can be listening to
music. I mean, gadgets thatyou can't believe. Ikey Hobbita. It
is so folks, where can wefind details? Wendy on Jip and all
of the Morris Columbus group Tours,so we've made it really easy. It's

(31:04):
at Morriscolumbus dot com and you scrollabout halfway down the front page and there's
an area that says Morris Murdock EscortedTours. Click right there and you'll be
able to access everything. Did youknow that Japan consists of six thousand,
eight hundred and fifty two islands.The whole nation is islands. It's a

(31:26):
wonderful country. May sixth to thesixteenth next year, plus the pre cruise
Tokyo. I will be your personalhost and tour guide, the last Samurai.

(31:52):
Welcome back to the travel show.I'm Larry Gelwicks to get Away Guru
joined today in studio with Carlos feed, The director of American Sales and Wendy
Frakia, group department manager at theOne the Only Morris Columbus Travel Winning Beautiful,
the Lovely and beautiful and talented MorrisColumbus. You forgot about that?

(32:15):
Have you two been drinking again?Am I the only sober one here?
Hey? Listen, Carlos, youknow you and I have traveled the world
together, been the best of friendsfor almost forty years. We love to
kibbitz each other, which you actuallyget comments from your neighbors and those at
your church congregation who say you andLarry have so much fun together. Let

(32:38):
me tell you what they listened to. They listened to a travel show when
we talked about your award, yourRugby award. I remember that. That
was a couple of weeks ago.Carlos, with no prompting from me,
mentioned that I'm being inducted. Isin the paper, it's been on television,

(32:59):
in duc into the US Rugby Hallof Fame. You know, I
had my own playing career and thencoach the Highland rugby team for thirty six
years. It was the basis ofthe movie Forever Strong. Did you know
that a documentary was done Larry Gelwick'sNo Regrets that in twenty twelve won an
Emmy Award for Best Documentary of theYear, an Emmy Award, And I

(33:23):
mean it was about me, butit wasn't my idea. The studio came
to me and said we want todo that. And I always have to
say, you know, to beinducted into the Hall of Fame, which
will be a ceremony this summer inWashington, d C. And big gala
event is overwhelming because I consider ita shared event with over three thousand young

(33:49):
men who came through the program gradeseven through twelve. Some of them played
six years for me. I remembera fifth grade kid who came up one
time and said, Coach, I'mgoing to play for you one day.
And when he hit the seventh grade, he and I remembered it and he
said, coach, I'm here now. And he played six years and was
a standout. But you know,and the biggest shared you got the community

(34:15):
coaches, fifteen coaches, all ofus volunteers, the school officials, but
my family and number one my wifeKathy, the great facilitator. Without her
support, I couldn't have done itbecause it took so much time. We
practiced every day in the springtime.We would start with what I call because

(34:36):
we had over two hundred players,we'd start with what I called the possibles
and the probables to make the varsity, which was a squad of thirty.
We'd start with forty maybe fifty playersindoors three times a week in January and
February. I always said, youknow, the national championship has played in
May, end of May, andit's a you have thousands of teams playing

(34:59):
off the final eight. Then there'sa four day tournament somewhere around the US.
And I always said, and wewon twenty national championships. I always
said, the championship is not onein May, it's one in January,
in February, in March and April, where you know, their buddies are

(35:21):
out chasing girls are going to movies, and our players are in the weight
room, in the training room,you know, getting ready for the season,
getting bigger, faster and stronger.And there was such a commitment to
excellence on and off the field.We had a mentoring program where the older
players would look after and mentor theyounger players on the team say, come

(35:43):
on, you know, don't bestupid in your choices, get good grades,
you don't have to go drinking andstuff like that. Don't be an
idiot, and they would encourage themto lead good, clean lives. And
I will tell you it had asalient effect upon the team. And so
it took so much time. Jokingly, as I told you, in the

(36:05):
Gelwick's family, we never miss opportunitiesfor cheap and shameless humor. I said
at one time that you know,it took so much time, and Kathy
took care of everything at home.At the end of the season, if
Kathy and I were even speaking toone another, it was a good year.
That's not literally true anyway, Thankyou, now, Wendy. A

(36:29):
couple of weeks ago, when Carlosbrought this up about my induction, you
know, being from Guadalajara, hesometimes gets his words mixed up, and
so he announces on the radio.He says, now you're being indicted into
the US rugby for other things.I don't know. I didn't mention that.

(36:50):
Right Well, be indicted. I'mworking on a plea deal with several
charges right now. Hey, listen, we only got a about a minute
a half left. We'll continue Carlosinto the next segment. Also, but
something that you and I have talkedabout is the mystery and secrets of the

(37:13):
Amazon. Yes, it is true. You know, I'm reading a book
that is just on amaze. Ididn't know these that Theodore Roosevelt traveled to
South America after losing the election.You know, he was ready to depressed,
obviously, and he ended up inSouth America, starting in Argentina.
Gave him some talks, you know, there made a lot of money and
even those days, then he startedtraveling up the river, won the tribute

(37:37):
of the Amazon and ending up inthe Amazon. That was one of the
most mysterious expeditions that I have everseen or I have read about. Wonderful
place. When we come back,I believe the first Spanish conquistador, Francisco
da Oriana, Yes, was thefirst European to go up the river with
a paddle. And I you know, it's very interesting of how the Amazon

(38:01):
got named the Amazon, and Wendythis is a tribute to women. And
when we come back, Carlos willtell us how the Amazon River is a
monument to the women of Brazil.Year on the travel show Bien Meninos,

(38:39):
a travel show. Welcome to thetravel show. We're so glad to spend
the weekend with you. I'm LarryGelwiz, the Getaway Guru, joined by
Wendy Frakia and Carlos Feeda, bothwith Morris Columbus Travel, the good sponsor
of the show. Now, Carlos, we were talking about the Amazon River.
I've had so many incredible experiences goingup the river, actually going on

(39:04):
treks with Indigenous natives dressed as indigenousnatives and the things that they can see
and do at the convergence of therivers for that. But very interesting as
I understand that the first European wasthe Spanish conquistador Francisco de Oriana, who
actually navigated the Napo River in Ecuador, but following its course to what we

(39:31):
call the yes, the Amazon Rivertoday. But how did the Amazon River
be named and highlight the role ofwomen? Yes, I am, I
am waiting to hear this. Well, this is how happened. He started
descending the river, you know,on the Amazon River. I'm pretty soon

(39:52):
they have several several boats, rowingboats, you know, going down with
a bunch of conquisteloros. And sothey were attacked and the first thing,
they were attacked by women, notmen, women with spears and they kill
a lot of the soldiers, youknow, these small women. No,

(40:15):
they were taller women, the Amazonthe w NBA style tall. So and
that comes you know, he namedthat because of the warrior, the Amazon
warriors in the legend, you know, in the in the Greek Greek legend.
He called them Amazons. These arethe Amas women and that hence the

(40:37):
name. Now Carlos every you know, one of the big misconceptions about South
America is that it's all the same, it's all Mexico. And that's no
dis on Mexico. I love Mexico, the Mexican people especially that. Yeah,
but that is a misconception for that. I remember years ago when your

(40:59):
native country are Argentina tried to stealthe Falkland Islands from mother England, my
my ancestral I told you that queElizabeth no way anyway, and and there
was you remember that, what wasthat nineteen eighty three three the skirmish between

(41:20):
England and Argentina over the floods,And this is what happened. It was
more than a skirmish. Here's whathappened. Wendy travel to Mexico fell off
the cliff because people are are They'rejust seeing people speaking Spanish. It was
I don't know, five thousand milesaway. It's like saying, gee,

(41:42):
there was there was a problem inSydney, Australia, so let's not go
to London, you know. Butanyway, they people associate in South America
with one country. But you don'tknow the true history of this thing.
I probably don't. But that's whenthey are Gentians invaded the a the Folkland
Islands which are called the Marinas Steelthey didn't steal their land. What happened

(42:07):
Margaret Thatcher was desperate and he wasgoing down the hill, you know,
in the popularity, and so hedecided to said, okay, we're gonna
fight them. But they could notfight because they didn't know where the Argentine
ships were. So the best thingthat he could do is talk to Ronnie
run o' reagan, and Ronald Reaganfacilitated all the intelligence and the intelligence where

(42:30):
the ships, and so they sankone of the major ships that we Argentina
had, one of the few onesthat we have bought from England in nineteen
forty six forty seven anyway, Sothat's how they became the end of the
invasion. You know. One ofthe other interesting things, some amazing skills
were shown by Argentinian pilots. Andwhat they found is the radar on the

(42:55):
British ships didn't go down to thewater level. It was like one hundred
feet above it or some distance.And when the Argentinian pilots, that were
pretty skilled pilots, would fly underthe radar screen and the British never knew
they were coming, yes, andthey sunk a lot of the ships.
You know, if you go tothe Folkland Islands, which all these ships

(43:16):
that got to on Torontica, makea stop them, some of them,
I mean Stanley, Stanley Port Stanleyclose to for Stanley. That was a
terrible thing because thousands of young peopledied, British and Argentines. You know,
well, just remember Wendy rule multipletimes. Nobody. Okay, listen

(43:39):
back to the Monday, Hey listen. So I love South America and I
think one of the most popular countriesis Peru, Machu Picchu, Cusco,
the Sacred Valley. I love thevillage of Peasack up there in the Sacred
Valley Lima. Chile has its owncharm. But what we're seeing, Wendy

(44:02):
is a new serious interest in aplace called Rapanui, which is the indigenous
name for Easter Island. And Carloshas put together a tour that he and
I'll be hosting March of next yearthat has the highlights of Peru, Chile
and Rapanui, which by the way, is Polynesian. It's closer to Tahiti

(44:28):
than it is to Chile. Butsomehow Chile land grabbed it, yeah,
decades ago, years ago. Sotell me about this tour in March.
The tour is March eleven through thetwenty fourth, twenty twenty six, so
this is next year. So thetour starts in Lima, Peru, and
then we go to Cuzco, MachuPichu, the Sacred Valley. We see

(44:52):
the major highlights of Peru. Fromthere, we take a flight. It's
a short flight because you can flyfrom Cusco directly to Thiago, Chili.
We see Santiago. Chili is abeautiful city, Santiago, and it's just
it is just by the mount ofGonkawa, which is the tallest peak in
the Western Hemisphere. Then from therewe fly for five hours all the way

(45:15):
on Latin, on Latam, youknow, to Easter. It's about like
Los Angeles to New York City.Well, and I think that you also
have to know that this is oneof those exotic places that people would love
to go to. You've seen itin National geographics and on the Discovery Channel.
But it's limited access. There's nocrowds there. There's no crowds in

(45:39):
there trying to get there. Youhave to go there in very special organized
groups. Such as this. Well, you know, one of the things
that the government of the island doesis this, They strict the airline to
take a lot of tourists. Theycan have a small group of tourists on
the plane, it's a seven eightyseven plane. But the locals are they

(46:01):
can go and come with no problem. But for the tourist Verisa restriction they
restricted. So what are the datesagain, March March eleven through the four
eleven and twenty four. I betterput that on a calendar because I'm going
with you. I want to turnto moving north from Rapanui and the west

(46:22):
coast of South America to one ofour favorite places is the islands of Aloha,
Hawaii. No, of course,the getaway fluent in Hawaiian and all
languages, which means Hawaii is thebest. Now I'm gonna put you on
the spot, Okay, a littlebit of let's uh, let's stump the
dummy here. Okay, I'll beI'll be the dummy. You know,

(46:45):
there's one hundred and fifty two islandsand atolls in the state of Hawaii,
eight major islands. But of theeight, the big four are Oahu,
Maui, Kawaii, and the BigIsland. All right, Carlos, the
Big Island, the Big Island.You could put all the other islands in
the Big Island and still not fillthe one must see do thing on the

(47:08):
Big Island. I love the volcanoes. I like the pod That place is
an amazing place. You just startclimbing the volcano there, and the and
the historical facts about it, whathappened there in the Big Island, you
know, one of the things.And I love the bit. I love
walking up and down the boulevard andKailuacona, you know, right along the

(47:30):
water. That is a beautiful village. But one of the best things I
did. You can take a helicoptertour. Now have the short one that
only say out of the ConA side, that only goes over the volcanoes.
But the long one goes over thevolcanoes then over into the canyons of Hilo,
and it's it's I mean the ConAside, you think you're on the

(47:52):
Moon because it's lava rockever. Onthe Hilo side, you know you're in
the jungle and flying over the killaway a volcano while it was erupting,
and I remember putting my hand outthe window and I don't even know how
high we were, but we wereway up there and I could feel the
heat coming up off of it.All Right, Wendy, let's talk about

(48:15):
Maui. Maui is my favorite.So I will always always Snorkele go see
the turtles and the wells. Andyou know what the road to Hanna,
Oh my god, that is Jesse, Kathy and I went a couple of
days after a rainstorm. We countedninety eight waterfalls on the road to Hanna.

(48:38):
Now, if you have motion sickness, don't do it. There are
so many turns and bends in theroad. But it's a sleepy little village.
You know. I will take Iwill take a wahu. And you
know I love the North Shore.I love Waikiki. I call it the
Tiawan of the Pacific. But Ilove Waikiki. But I'm tell you about

(49:00):
a place most people don't go.It's called punch Bowl of the Pacific.
It is the cemetery in a punchBowl volcano. And it's all from World
War Two servicemen and women who died, most of them in combat. Hey,
when we come back, we're goingto be talking about what's up in
the Holy Land. Welcome back tothe Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwick's the

(49:36):
get Away Guru's Ruined by Carlos feetOn Wendy Frakia, two of the travel
experts at Morris Columbus Travel. Besure to check out the Morris Columbus website
morriscolumbus dot com morriscolumbus dot com.There's some search engines there for cruises,
for individual travel, family travel,and on the homepage, if you'll just

(49:58):
scroll down about half a page,is it scroll down to scroll up?
To me? I'm going down,but the screw the page is going up.
Well, whatever you do, scrolland you'll see a group travel.
We'd like to welcome back to theTravel Show our dear friend and scholar Dan
Hone. Dan, welcome back tothe Travel Show. Thank you, Harry.

(50:22):
It's great to be back on Riche. It really is. You know,
Dan and I sat next to eachother and graduate school and we've been
the best of friends for over fiftyyears. I was going to say,
add that together and you've been friendsfor one hundred years. Yes, we
have, and Carlos is about fortyyears. We've been a very very close

(50:43):
friend. So, Dan, yourecently returned from Israel. Now you didn't
go with the group, You wenton your own and there was some fact
finding. You had some business there, some really exciting things that we'll announce
in the future. But what youknow, it grabs the headlines and we
just see a lot of problems inRafa and Gaza Killa. Give us the

(51:09):
straight scoop of what's going on inIsrael well as far as personal safety goes.
While I was there, I hadno sense of danger either in Israel
Jordan, and I actually spent acouple of nights in Qatar as well in
Doha. There in the Middle East, but Israel and Jordan was pretty much

(51:32):
the same, just without tourism,which was great for those few tourists that
were there from the United States.Most of the tourism is going from Italy
and Europe areas, from the FarEast and even from Africa. Were groups
there that were ascending things, butthere are just no American groups that are

(51:55):
attending right now, which is kindof good for those that do go over
because we could be in the gardenagainst semone and we were the only ones
there. Wow. You know,one of the things when they and I
have talked extensively, and you andI've talked about when will Holy Land tours

(52:15):
really go back? And I thinkthere are two things Wendy and Dan that
have to take place. One isa cessation of hostilities, you know,
and the second is more than justa stop to the finance, even if
they sign peace accords, if theysign a cease fire being Hamas and Israel

(52:37):
and others involved, what has tohappen. And I'm talking about the American
public because Europeans, Africans and Asiansthey will go any time anywhere. Americans
don't do that, and so whathas to happen I think here in the
United States is the traveling public,after the East fire is signed, and

(53:00):
at some point it will be signed, has to have a confidence in the
safety of their travel. Wendy agreeor disagree with that, you know,
I agree, But I also wantto say this is going to be very
different for everybody. We have peopleright now who are booked for tourds this

(53:21):
fall that we've yet to cancel aswe've been watching the news and as things
that progressed, who are anxious andready to go, and they would go
right now if we had a groupthat we could go because they feel that
kind of confidence in travel. They'vebeen there before, but not a lot
of people might say the same,and I'm with Dan, I would go.
I would go today. The onething I saw over there was that

(53:45):
there were the adventure travelers were there. They're taking it. Then, yes,
you know, I've talked to alot of people say Larry, how
do you feel about going to theHoly Land, And I've simply said I
would go today. I really havethat confidence. If you do a deep
dive, you watch the major networksand the whole world is blowing up,

(54:07):
and that's just not the case.Do you remember years ago the floods in
Salt Lake City? What was thattwenty five years ago? You watched the
national news and the whole state wasfloating away. You go down to State
Street in Salt Lake City and therewas a couple of inches of water in
sandbags coming down the street. Therest of the city was fine. I

(54:28):
thought it was a really great statementthat Morris Columbus Travel is part of a
travel consortium called Signature Travel Network,and the president of Signature Travel and ASTA,
which is the American Society of TravelAgents and several other people went over
to Israel and they were just therelast week and his comment was that there
were groups there from all over thewell, all over the world besides Americans.

(54:52):
That was pretty that he said itwas getting populated again that way.
But his comment was that the peopleare anxious and they're ready for people to
be there. But again, peopledo need to have their safety, but
they he felt personally on his fourthor fifth time to being to Israel,
he felt as safe being in Israelon this tour this week last week as

(55:16):
he did two weeks ago in Johannesburg, South Africa. We're speaking with Dan
Hone, a scholar and world traveler, lived in Israel, got his graduate
degree over there, lived there someten years. We've got about a minute
left, Dan, and what isthe reception that American travelers will get from

(55:37):
the shopkeepers, the hotels and thelocal people in Israel when we return.
Shock and gratitude. You know,there is a depression going among the people
there, even though the safety's there, because we don't have the American tourists
there right now. But the expectationis that by the end of the summer

(56:00):
or even by after September. BySeptember the new announcement among those who are
evacuees in the north. And bythe way, everywhere was safe except along
the Lebanese border, and the thingsthat are happening there is something that's gone
on for years, nothing greater,but the media builds it up. And

(56:22):
they evacuated the people up there.But they're expected to return by the first
of September, was the word thatthey got while I was there, and
so by then we expect everything willbegin to open up again. Airlines have
already returned. Most of them havereturned, some will return in June by

(56:43):
Delta and stuff, and so we'llbegin to see more competitive prices on airfare.
Yeah, we will, Dan,I got to jump in here.
We're coming to the end of thesegment. Dan, I'd like to have
you back on in a few weeksand give us the assessment. Nobody knows
it better than you. I amanxious to get back to the Holy Land,
Dan Hodda, and thanks for joiningus on the travelshow. Din Menidos

(57:16):
a travel show. Welcome to thetravel show. We're so glad to spend
the weekend with you. I'm LarryGelwiz, the Getaway Guru, joined by
Wendy Frakia and Carlos Fieda, bothwith Morris Columbus Travel, the good sponsor
of the show. Now, Carlos, we were talking about the Amazon River.
I've had so many incredible experiences goingup the river, actually going on

(57:40):
treks with indigenous natives, dressed asindigenous natives, and the things that they
can see and do at the convergenceof the rivers for that, but very
interesting as I understand it. Thefirst European was the Spanish conquistador Franciso go
the Oriana, who actually navigated theNapo River in Ecuador, but following its

(58:06):
course going to what we call theYes, the Amazon River today. But
how did the Amazon River be namedand highlight the role of women? Yes,
I am, I am waiting tohear this. Well, this,
this is how happened. He starteddescending the river, you know, on

(58:27):
the Amazon River, and pretty soonthey have several several boats, rowing boats,
you know, going down with abunch of conquists. And so they
were attacked and the first thing,they were attacked by women, not men,
women with spears and they kill alot of the soldiers, you know,

(58:49):
remain small women. No, theywere older women, the Amazon,
the w n B a style tallwonder woman. So and that comes.
You know, he named that becauseof the warrior, the Amazon warriors in
the legend, you know, inthe in the Greek Greek legend. He
called them amazons the women, andthat hence the name. Now Carlos every

(59:19):
you know, one of the bigmisconceptions about South America is that it's all
the same, it's all Mexico.And that's no dis on Mexico. I
love Mexico, the Mexican people especially, that is yeah, but that is
a misconception for that. I rememberyears ago when your native country, Argentina
tried to steal the Falkland Islands fromMother England, my my ancestral, I

(59:43):
told you that Queen Elizabeth no wayanyway, and and there was you remember
that, what was that nineteen eightythree three the skirmish between England and Argentina
over the faults. And this iswhat happened. It was more than a
skirmish. Here's what happened. Wendytravel to Mexico fell off the cliff because

(01:00:09):
people are are they're just seeing peoplespeaking Spanish. It was I don't know,
five thousand miles away. It's likesaying, gee, there was there
was a problem in Sydney, Australia, so let's not go to London,
you know. But anyway, theypeople associate in North America with one country.

(01:00:30):
But you don't know the true historyof this thing. I probably don't.
But that's when when the Argentine invaded. They are the Folkland Islands which
are called the Marinas. Still theydidn't still they land. What happened?
Margaret Thatcher was desperate and he wasgoing down the hill, you know,
in the popularity, and so hedecided to said, Okay, we're going

(01:00:52):
to fight them. But they couldnot fight because they didn't know where the
Argentine ships were. So the bestthing that he could do is talked to
Ronnie run o'reagan, and ron OReagan facilitated all the intelligence and the intelligent
aware the ships and so they sankone of the major ships that we Argentina

(01:01:13):
had, one of the few onesthat we have bought from England in nineteen
forty six forty seven. Anyway,so that's how they became the end of
the invasion. You know. Oneof the other interesting things, some amazing
skills were shown by Argentinian pilots.And what they found is the radar on
the British ships didn't go down tothe water level. It was like one

(01:01:37):
hundred feet above it or some distance. And when the Argentinian pilots, that
were pretty skilled pilots would fly underthe radar screen and the British never knew
they were coming, yes, andthey sunk a lot of the ships.
You know, if you go tothe Falkland Islands, which all these ships
that got to Ontarctica, make astop that some of them, I mean

(01:01:57):
Stanley, Stanley Port Stanley close tofor that was a terrible thing because thousands
of young people died, British andArgentine. You know. Well just remember
Wendy rule this multiple times. Okay, listen back to the Monday. Hey

(01:02:20):
listen. So I love South Americaand I think one of the most popular
countries is Peru, Machu Picchu,Cusco, the Sacred Valley. I love
the village of peasac Up there inthe Sacred Valley. Lima, Chile has
its own charm. But what we'reseeing, Wendy is a new serious interest

(01:02:44):
in a place called Rapanui, whichis the indigenous name for Easter Island,
and Carlos has put together a tourthat he and I'll be hosting March of
next year that has the highlights ofPeru, Chile and Rappaanui, which by
the way, is Polynesian. It'scloser to Tahiti than it is to Chile,

(01:03:06):
but somehow Chili Land grabbed it.Yeah, decades ago, years ago,
So tell me about this tour inMarch. The tour is March eleven
through the twenty fourth, twenty twentysix, so this is next year.
So the tour starts in Lima,Peru, and then we go to Cuzco,
Machu Pichu, the Sacred Valley.We see the major highlights of Peru.

(01:03:30):
From there, we take a flight. It's a short flight because you
can fly from Cusco directly to Santiago, Chili. We see Santiago Chili is
a beautiful city. I love Santiagoand it's just it is just by the
mount of Gonkawa, which is thetallest peak in the Western Hemisphere. Then
from there we fly for five hoursall the way on Latin on the time

(01:03:53):
you know, to Easter. It'sabout like Los Angeles to New York City.
I think that you also have toknow that this is one of those
exotic places that people would love togo to. You've seen it in National
geographics and on the Discovery Channel.But it's limited access. There's no crowds

(01:04:15):
there. There's no crowds in there. Oh trying to get there. You
have to go there in very specialorganized groups such as this. Well,
you know, one of the thingsthat the government of the island does is
this, they strict the airline totake a lot of tourists. They can
have a small group of tourists onthe plane. It's a seven eighty seven,

(01:04:35):
it's a large plane. But thelocals they can go and come with
no problem. But for the touriststhat is a restriction. They restricted.
So what are the dates again,March March eleven through the twenty fourth,
eleven and twenty four. I betterput that on a calendar because I'm going
with you. I want to turnto moving north from Rapanui and the West

(01:04:59):
coast to South America to one ofour favorite places is the Islands of Aloha,
Hawaii. No, of course,the getaway fluent in Hawaiian and all
languages, which means Hawaii is thebest. I'm gonna put you on the
spot. Okay, a little bitof let's uh, let's stump the dummy
here. Okay, I'll be thedummy. You know, there's one hundred

(01:05:24):
and fifty two islands and atolls inthe state of Hawaii, eight major islands.
But of the eight, the bigfour are Oahu, Maui, Kawaii,
and the Big Island. All right, Carlos, the Big Island,
the Big Island. You could putall the other islands in the Big Island
and still not fill the I mean, one must see do thing on the

(01:05:45):
Big Island. I love the volcanoes. I like the that that place is
an amazing place. You just startclimbing the volcano there, and the and
the historical facts about it. Whathappened there in the Big Island, you
know, one of the things.And I love the bit. I love
walking up and down the boulevard andKailua Kona, you know, right along

(01:06:06):
the water. That is a beautifulvillage. One of the best things I
did. You can take a helicoptertour now have the short one that only
say out of the ConA side thatonly goes over the volcanoes. But the
long one goes over the volcanoes,then over into the canyons of Hilo,
and it's it's I mean the ConAside, you think you're on the moon

(01:06:30):
because it's lava rockever. On theHilo side. You know you're in the
jungle and flying over the killaway avolcano while it was erupting, and I
remember putting my hand out the windowand I don't even know how high we
were, but we're way up thereand I could feel the heat coming up
off of it. All right,Wendy, let's talk about Maui. Maui

(01:06:55):
is my favorite. So I willalways always snorkele go see the turtles and
the wells. And you know whatthe road to Hanna, Oh my god,
that is Jesse, Kathy and Iwent a couple of days after a
rainstorm. We counted ninety eight waterfallson the road to Hanta. Now,

(01:07:15):
if you have motion sickness, don'tdo it. There are so many turns
and bends in the road. Butit's a sleepy little village. You know.
I will take I will take awahu. And you know I love
the north shore. I love Waikiki. I call it the Tiawana of the
Pacific. But I love Waikiki.But I'm going to tell you about a

(01:07:36):
place most people don't go. It'scalled punch Bowl of the Pacific. It
is the cemetery in a punch Bowlvolcano and it's all from World War Two
servicemen and women who died, mostof them in combat. Hey, when
we come back, we're going tobe talking about what's up in the Holy

(01:07:57):
Land. Welcome back to the TravelShow. I'm Larry Gelwicks, the get
Away Guru's Ruined by Carlos feed OnWendy Frakia, two of the travel experts

(01:08:18):
at Morris Columbus Travel. Be sureto check out the Morris Columbus website morriscolumbus
dot com morriscolumbus dot com. There'ssome search engines there for cruises, for
individual travel, family travel, andon the home page, if you'll just
scroll down about half a page,is it scroll down to scroll up?

(01:08:40):
To me? I'm going down,but the screw the page is going up.
Well, whatever you do, scrolland you'll see a group travel.
We'd like to welcome back to theTravel Show our dear friend and scholar Dan
Hone. Dan, Welcome back tothe travel show. Thank you to be

(01:09:00):
back on Rick Ye. It reallyis. You know, Dan and I
sat next to each other and graduateschool and we've been the best of friends
for over fifty years. I'm justgoing to say add that together, and
you've been friends for one hundred years, Yes, we have, and Carlos
is about forty years. We've beenvery very close friends. So, Dan,

(01:09:23):
you recently returned from Israel. Nowyou didn't go with a group.
You went on your own, andthere was some fact finding. You had
some business there, some really excitingthings that we'll announce in the future.
But what you know, it grabsthe headlines and we just see a lot
of problems in Rafa and Gaza.Gill give us the straight scoop of what's

(01:09:49):
going on in Israel well as faras personal fafety goes. While I was
there, I had no sense ofdanger either in Israel, Jordan or I
actually spent a couple of nights inQatar as well in Doha. There in
the Middle East, but Israel andJordan was pretty much the same, just

(01:10:11):
without tourism, which was great forthose few tourists that were there from the
United States. Most of the tourismis going from Italy and Europe areas,
from the Far East and even fromAfrica. Were groups there that were asscending
things. But there are just noAmerican groups that are attending right now,

(01:10:34):
which is kind of good for thosethat do go over because we could be
in the garden againstsemone and we werethe only ones there. Wow. You
know. One of the things Wendyand I have talked extensively, and you
and I've talked about when will HolyLand tours really go back? And I
think there are two things Wendy andDan that have to take place. One

(01:10:59):
is a sation of hostilities, youknow, and the second is more than
just a stop to the finance.Even if they sign peace accords, if
they sign a ceasefire being Hamas andIsrael and others involved, what has to
happen. And I'm talking about theAmerican public because Europeans, Africans and Asians

(01:11:24):
they will go any time anywhere.Americans don't do that, and so what
has to happen I think here inthe United States is the traveling public,
after the ceasefire is signed, andat some point it will be signed,
has to have a confidence in thesafety of their travel Wendy, agree or

(01:11:46):
disagree with that? You know,I agree, but I also want to
say this is going to be verydifferent for everybody. We have people right
now who are booked for towards thisfall that we've yet to camp. So
as we've been watching the news andas things have progressed, who are anxious
and ready to go, and theywould go right now if we had a

(01:12:06):
group that we could go because theyfeel that kind of confidence in travel.
They've been there before. But nota lot of people would say the same.
And I'm with Dan, I wouldgo. I would today. The
one thing I saw over there wasthat there were the adventure travelers were there.

(01:12:27):
They're taking it then. Yes,you know, I've talked to a
lot of people say Larry, howdo you feel about going to the Holy
Land? And I've simply said Iwould go today. I really have that
confidence. If you do a deepdive, you watch the major networks and
the whole world is blowing up,and that's just not the case. Do
you remember years ago the floods inSalt Lake City? What was that twenty

(01:12:49):
five years ago? You watched thenational news and the whole state was floating
away. You go down the StateStreet in Salt Lake City and there's a
couple of inches of water in sandbagscoming down the street. The rest of
the city was fine. I thoughtit was a really great statement that Morris
Columbus Travel is part of a travelconsortium called Signature Travel Network, and the

(01:13:13):
president of Signature Travel and ASTA,which is the American Society of Travel Agents
and several other people went over toIsrael and they were just there last week
and his comment was that there weregroups there from all over the world,
well all over the world besides Americans. That was pretty that he said it
was getting populated again that way.But his comment was that the people are

(01:13:38):
anxious and they're ready for people tobe there, but again people do need
to have their safety, but theyhe felt personally on his fourth or fifth
time to being to Israel, hefelt as safe being in Israel on this
tour this week last week as hedid two weeks ago in Johannesburg, South
Africa. We're speaking with Dan Halleand World Traveler lived in Israel. God

(01:14:02):
has graduate degree over there, livedthere's some ten years. We've got about
a minute left, Dan, andwhat is the reception that American travelers will
get from the shopkeepers, the hotelsand the local people in Israel when we
return, shock and gratitude. Theyyou know, there is a depression going

(01:14:27):
among the people there, even thoughthe safety's there because we don't have the
American tourists there right now. Butthe expectation is that by the end of
the summer or even by after September. By September, the new announcement among
those who are evacuees in the north. And by the way, everywhere was
safe except along the Lebanese border,and the things that are happening there is

(01:14:54):
something that's gone on for years,nothing greater, but the media builds it
up. Evacuated the people up there, but they're expected to return by the
first of September was the word thatthey got while I was there, And
so by then we expect everything willbegin to open up again. Airlines have
already returned, most of them havereturned, some will return in June by

(01:15:19):
Delta and stuff, and so we'llbegin to see more competitive prices on airfare.
Yeah, we really will. Dan, I got to jump in here.
We're coming to the end of thesegment. Dan, I'd like to
have you back on in a fewweeks and give us the assessment. Nobody
knows it better than you. Iam anxious to get back to the Holy

(01:15:39):
Land, den Hodda and thanks forjoining us only Travels. Welcome back to

(01:16:00):
travel show. That was a fascinatingdiscussion with Dan Hone, who was as
smart on the things in the HolyLand as any man I know. Lived
there for ten years, got hisgraduate degree, was one of the founding
members of the BYU Jerusalem Center thereand to this day people political, religious
people contact him asking questions about theMiddle East. We'll have Dan back in

(01:16:26):
a couple of weeks to give usa return on that. You know,
one of the things that seems tosurprise people, It doesn't surprise you with
gasoline, the cost of milk orbread or groceries. You probably have to
take out a home equity loan togo to the grocery store. Any geting
ridiculous? Oma, I took myeight year old grandson to McDonald's. He

(01:16:51):
wanted a double cheeseburger, a largefry, and like a milkshake or something.
It was like eleven twelve bucks tax. I mean, this is McDonald's.
You know why am I paying this? So what surprises people, Carlos
and Wendy is that travel prices,airline tickets, cruises, hotel rates are

(01:17:12):
not static static meeting. They're notfixed. They move as the ship fills
up. What happens to the cruiseprices they go as the airline fills up.
What happens to those last remaining seatsthey double and triple. You know,
we had that wonderful cruise tour thatI took in. When was it
February? I think? Or wasit anyway? Was this spring? I

(01:17:39):
travel every month somewhere around the worldliterally you know where you are. No,
oh, it was April. Itwas April. We had the Tahiti
to Hawaii cruise. I was inApril April tenth to the twenty second.
And the prices from when we firstadvertised it about a year in advance to
the last few books kings literally doubled. I'm literally double, And that happens

(01:18:04):
on every tours And people say,well, I thought it was this,
No, it's not that. Sowhat I want to do is and we
won't get into the prices because CarlMorris, Columbus Travel Group Department, or
your favorite travel advisor in any ofour offices and get the best price.
Today. I'd like you to mentionone or two of the group tours,

(01:18:29):
and we have almost one hundred ofthem out there, but that maybe one
or two, Wendy, that absolutelyfascinates you. Fascinates is a big word,
so I use big words. Iknow, and you know what to
me that that's exotic, that's exciting, that's adventure. So I'm going to
go with Morocco that we have afabulous tour at a fabulous price in September.

(01:18:55):
Because it's exotic. It is somethingthat when you're there, you know
you're not in the United States city. If you feel it, you smell
it, it's in the air.I love to go down to the market,
the spice market absolutely and the fabulouspeople, the food and you know,
shopping all the things, and it'sa great value. It's one of

(01:19:17):
the places right now you can stillto give yourself. Absolutely. I feel
literally, I feel safer in MoroccoLake. One of our great adventure tour
guides. The man is up foranything, is taking that and then you
want to go fascinating. I'm goingto have to hand this over to Carlos
because I think Peru and the Galopagosto be as fascinating it is. You

(01:19:42):
know this this tour, this isone of the most amazing tours, not
just because we see the best ofthe very best in picture. The second
vardy is the price. The priceis only twenty a little bit over twenty
six hundred dollars. It's incredible andwe go there is that in August?
No this, yeah, this wouldbe August. That's the nine of the

(01:20:05):
Incas. Now, she mentioned specifically, in addition to Peru, the Galapagos
Islands that you and I have donethe Galapagos, we can take a whole
show with the stories. We won'tdo that. But aren't you taking a
group in October? Yes, livingon October and I'm taking a group.
There's nothing like it in the world, nothing, nothing, because the Galapagoes.

(01:20:28):
Whatever is there in the Galapa isnowe else in the world. Animals
and ambers, the giant tortoises.So that's that's why we're gonna see that.
You know, Wendy. What's interestingthere is the animals have not learned
to fear man. They will walkright up to a bird, will land
on your shoe. About the onlytime you'll hear a grunt or a bark

(01:20:51):
from say a sea lion is whenthey've had pups, and you get but
that my months and tell my experienceshere, so I don't get to go
until next year. But Carlos toldme he's going to personally take me and
make sure that I have the bestexperience. So you everybody gets that.

(01:21:12):
You will also do the inca trail, oh short in trail, the short
in contrail, because while I wantto go hiking, I need the short
trail. All right, now,we're gonna play stump to dummy again.
I want you to translate. We'llsee if you have the gift of revelation
you can get out. Put onyour thinking caps. I am going to

(01:21:34):
talk like an Aussie and I wantyou to translate it to what it means.
If I say, put another shrimpon the barbie, what am I
talking about? A barbecue? Abarbecue? And in the morning, we
start our morning meal as a breckybreak and that is breakfast. Very I

(01:21:58):
love that McDonald says break me,break the menu. And if I want
to express my appreciation instead of glaciasin Australia, I'd say ta, which
is thank you, thank you,very very much. Okay, Now we
are going to get a little morecrazy here. See I know that Wendy,

(01:22:19):
you went to Houston. Was itto see grandchildren? To Dallas?
Dallas? Okay? How many anklebiters do you have? I have four
to two in Dallas and two inSalt Lake. Now, an ankle biter
in Australia means a small child.Absolutely ankle biters. Now, Carlos age,

(01:22:39):
you and I have been best matesfor about forty years. When he's
my mate, what does that mean? That's free best friends. Now if
I would say that Carlos and Wendyare fair dicome and that would be just
very kind of you. Thank you. It's honest, true and genuine.

(01:23:00):
But sometimes I tell Carlos to dothe hairy. Listen, this is a
family show. Don't go there withyour Harry. Don't go there, Carlos.
Do the hairry means disappear, youdo the hairy. I was I
was in anywhere close to that one. Now. I love when I'm down

(01:23:20):
in Aussie to eat Barbie snags,which are barbecue sausages. You know,
some of this really will surprise youthat one of the favorite foods in Australia
is chicken parmesan. Yes it isItalian. All ethnic foods, fish and

(01:23:41):
chips, fish, crab, lobster. They love meat pies. Okay,
there is a very unique thing thatyou can get in Australia that you cannot
get any other place with Amazon,but you got to spend a fortune in
shipping. When my group fell inlove with these Mars candy called pods.
Pods the next time you're in Australia, go to any of the convenience store

(01:24:05):
to find a pod and it's likea candy bar in it, like a
Mars candy bar, but it's ina cookie form and they're fabulous. And
everybody in my group was eating themby the time we left, and we
all got addicted and we came homeand you if you can't find them anywhere
except on Amazon, but you paidsixty dollars in shipping. Humbessa, Yes,

(01:24:30):
do you guys like hamburgers? IfI make that? Okay? Now,
what toppings are your favorite to puton a hamburger? Besides cheese,
tomato, tomatoes, bacon, avocado, avocado, lettuce. Maybe I love
fresh onion, but perhaps the favoritetopping in Australia is a slice of beetroot

(01:24:57):
or beat that purple slice of beat. My goodness. Well, you know
in Japan we're talking about japan favoritepizza topping a squid. Give me my
pepperoni. Please. It's not vegemite. Oh, vegamite is disgusting, but
it's so popular. It's a brownspread with vegetables, spices and yeast.

(01:25:21):
Oh they have on the like onthe breakfast buffet next to the nutella.
You can get it in the hazelchocolate in convenience package. So listen,
folks, everybody wants to go tothe South Pacific. Australia and New Zealand
are highlights. And I'll be do. I have the perfect job. I

(01:25:45):
travel. I say it every day. I have the travel I travel bug.
I travel the world. And now, Wendy and Carlos, you understand
your role, don't you. Yourrole is to work so that I can
travel. Now, I don't seea problem them with this at all.
Anyway. Let me tell you aboutthis cruise tour that I'll be taking in

(01:26:05):
February. Now, Wendy, isn'tthat the middle of winter? Not here
or not not there? It ishere? It is here. Remember the
seasons are reversed south of the bordersaman South America, the seasons are reversed.
So we have we have a thirteenday cruise thirteen days, twelve nights

(01:26:28):
from Sydney to Auckland and this itinerarywith Princess Cruise is fantastic. We will
do our own shore excursions. Wewill do and we'll have onboard private exclusive
activities. We sail from Sydney.I got to tell you the ship's dock
right there at it's called the Rocks. It's an area that is so much
fun in circular k and it's youknow, Sydney Harbor is one of the

(01:26:54):
iconic harbor's Hong Kong, San Franciscoand the opera houses right there and not
hiding. We will go right pastthe opera house. We sail to Melbourne
and then on to Tasmania, theisland of we'll be looking for the devils.
Then across the Tasman Sea, namedafter Abel Tasman, a Dutch explorer,
the first European to see this partof the one. In fact,

(01:27:15):
he named New Zealand out de Roain the Indigenous language, which means land
of the long White Cloud. Whenthey first saw New Zealand, they thought
it was a white cloud dipping onthe horizon. We'll go to Fjordland National
Park on the south side. Thisis Lord of the Rings country and just

(01:27:36):
think of the scenery and mountains thatyou saw. Will continue on to Dunedin
and christ Church. I'm going totell you flat out, you go to
christ Church, you sure that youare in England. You know you've done
a really great job selling this becauseit's selling very well and availability and prices,
strices are growing up, availabilities gettingshort, especially on our exclusions and

(01:28:02):
pre and post, so don't waiton booking this. Then from the South
Island we head to the North Islandto the Bay of Islands, one of
the most scenic areas, Tahrong Ithink Santa Monica, Santa Cruz, San
Diego, and then into Auckland.We will be offering a three night pre
cruise Sydney option. We go intothe Opera House, we get outside of

(01:28:27):
the city up to the Blue Mountainsand the Three Sisters Mounts. We'll have
a complete tour of the city ofSydney. Also at the end post cruise
we have a two night Auckland,New Zealand extension including Hobbiton where the Hobbit
Movie was filmed. We got morewhen we come back. Welcome back to

(01:29:00):
the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwigs, the Getaway Guru, joined today in
studio by Carlos Fied, the directorof Latin American Sales for Morris Columbus Travel,
and Wendy Frakt excuse me, thelovely and talented Wendy Frakiet, Group
Department Manager at Morris Columbus Travel.Do check out all of the travel promotion,

(01:29:23):
sales and things going on with MorrisColumbus at the website Morriscolumbus dot com,
Morriscolumbus dot com, or contact anyof our great advisors eight hundred triple
nine forty six forty six eight hundredtriple nine forty six forty six. I

(01:29:44):
don't think you should forget the socialmedia because Morris Columbus and Morris murdoc Escorted
Tours both have Facebook pages and there'sa lot of information out onto aciow media.
You know, if you're a Facebookuser, Instagram user, you just
go search Morris Columbus Travel. Samething Morris Murdoch escorted tours and actually,

(01:30:04):
Larry, you have your own Facebookpage under the Getaway Guru. I found
read photos you have. So there'sthree social medias for anybody out there who
was interested in following. Because wedo post about special tours, new promotions.
Especially the Morris Columbus At blog postsso much information things that we touch

(01:30:29):
on during the radio show. Theycan read more on the blogs on the
website. Let me ask you aquestion that some people find confusing. We
are Morris Columbus Travel the merger ofMorris Murdoch Travel and Columbus Travel, and
the mergers worked out spectacularly. I'mso glad you're my friend now and not

(01:30:49):
my foe. Should we tell themthe story when you thought I was a
liar? That's a funny mament.Okay, so more Back before the merger,
Morris Murdoch had a travel expo usuallythe last weekend of January, and
it's spectacular. Columbus Travel always hada travel expo, usually two weeks before

(01:31:14):
the Morris Murdoch one county, yes, up in Davis County, and so
you know, we're friendly competitors,and it was friendly, but it's competitors,
and so I would be on myradio show. Here I'm now in
my thirty second year hosting the TravelShow on television radio commercials saying, come

(01:31:34):
to the Columbus Travel Utah Travel Expo, the biggest, the best, the
original Utah Travel Expo. Now Wendy'shearing this, and her reaction is how
can this man be lying through histeeth? And the funny thing is is
I know you, I know yourhistory and I might I know this man

(01:32:00):
has got a reputation for being honest, So I do not know how he
can be, how he can lie, how he can lie. And we
had to be really good friends forme to tell you that story, because
I really did not know how youcould sit there and lie the way.
I laughed my fool head off.And after the merger he asked me about
this, and this is how Iexplained it. Columbus Travel owned the name

(01:32:25):
and the rights to Utah Travel Expo, not Travel Expo because that's what Morris
Murdoch called theirs, but Utah TravelExpo. So I was very careful saying
that Columbus Travel is the the sponsorthe Utah Travel Expo, the Vegas the

(01:32:45):
best. I knew that the originalyou knew they had to tell you there
had to be some kind of workaround me. Now, no, I
didn't. That's one of the youknow again, we go back to the
conversation at the beginning. Make sureyou know, I know who you're working
with, and make sure you asktheir history. So let me ask you
a question. The company now isMorris Columbus Travel, one of the largest

(01:33:08):
travel companies in the entire country,the largest seller of cruises and tours Hawaii
and Mexico in the entire Inner Mountainarea, which has some real benefits because
we get promotions. We even getsome promotions, particularly with cruises. They
say, no, you can't advertisethis, but when people call, you
can tell them. So I say, hey, we've got a promotion with

(01:33:31):
Princess Cruises. I can't tell youwhat it is, but do call as
an example. So here's the questionI get. The company is Morris Columbus
Travel, but the group department isMorris Murdoch Tours. Why the two names.
So A lot of people who livein the state of Utah and around

(01:33:56):
are very familiar with the name Murdochwith Travel and the board with during the
merger felt that the Murdoch name heldenough respect and recognition that they did not
want to do away with that portionof it. Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours has
been doing escorted tours for you know, since the sixties, the Escorted Tour

(01:34:20):
division, and we had enough ofa reputation that we really felt like our
clients knew us and we needed tokeep the name and respect our reputation.
Yeah, so, Wendy, you'retelling me that you have a reputation.
I do have a reputation. Ourcompany has a reputation, and we're very
proud your reputation is great. Well, hey, very quickly, here's one

(01:34:43):
of the specials that you can getit Morris Columbus Travel for individual travel on
select European rivers with Alma Waterways andby the way, they're doing that Christmas
market grue. We can't not mentionthe chrystals mind eleven. It's over the
top. It's one of the greattravel experiences. But on individual travel they

(01:35:03):
are Morris Columbus Travel and Almah Waterwaysis offering a complementary land package on Select
twenty twenty four and twenty twenty fiveEurope Savings. These land packages typically cost
between fifteen hundred and twenty five hundreddollars per person. Call Morris Columbus Travel

(01:35:25):
for all the details. Well,we'll be back here next week. God
bless you. It's the Travel Show.