The Travel Show: Live from Phuket Thailand

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Saudi Kopp and welcome to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwicks,
the Getaway Guru, and I've gotten away. You know, last
week I was in cheng Mai, Thailand, the week before
in Bangkok, and I've gotten away to the southern island
of Puquette sometimes called Po Cuquette. Co is the Thai
word for island, so you could hear it as Co, Pouquette,

(00:36):
or just Puquette. Of course, the Getaway Guru fluent in
Thai and all languages. I'm joined today back in studio
in Salt Lake City through the miracle of technology. Two
of the great people at Morris Columbus Travel, Kathy Hurst,
who is the director of Black Pearl Luxury Services at

(00:57):
Morris Murdoch Travel and more Columbus Travel. Yeah, we merged
two years ago and I'm still struggling with the name
and the lovely and talent. And Emily States, the marketing
director for Morris Columbus Travel. Emily and Kathy, Welcome to
the Travel Show.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Thank you, Larry.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
You're holding the fort down back home.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
You know, we know our responsibilities to work while you're
away traveling.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, if you understand your role, Okay, is that you
are to work so that I can travel. Now, I
like this relationship. I'd like you to put in a
few more hours so that I can even expand my travels.
I'm sure Kathy's about to pass out. Listen, We've got

(01:44):
a wonderful show. I'm here in Thailand. It is just
after one o'clock in the morning Sunday. Well, well, we're
fourteen hours ahead. You know. I have this routine that
works well for me on the transoceanic flights, being a
car us the Atlantic, across the Pacific or into the
South Pacific where I'll be next month. I take a

(02:07):
sleeping pill that would would put down one of the
Thai elephants. But then the worst thing that you can
do is sleep all day, because we arrive here in
the morning, all right, and then if you sleep all day,
you'll be up all night. So then I have in
my routine. I overdose on diet coke, The caffeine the

(02:30):
breakfast of champions keeps me awake all day and I
can sleep all night.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
But where do you get it if you're not going
to McDonald's While you're the.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
McDonald's in Thailand, and I go to the corner store.
Do you know what's interesting about Thailand. There's almost two
seven eleven's on every block. They go nuts, so, but
a bunch of kamis over here because they don't very
few of them do the big gulp. He has got
to buy the bottle and they and they don't have the.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Slurpie, you know, a big goal of anywhere with the US.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, you want gourmet, you get the coke slurpie and
then you put it under the fountain for with diet coke.
It blends itself. I think it's a health drink system.

Speaker 2 (03:15):
Well.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
The travel show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel, where
you always travel More and pay Less, and Norwegian Cruise Line,
the home of freestyle cruising. I'll be giving you some
of the highlights of Puquette as we go through the show.
My favorite excursion, my favorite tour, is down here in
Puquette in Pongong Bay, and that is an incredible experience.

(03:39):
People tell me all the time it's one of the
highlights of their trip here, this particular trip which is
called Thailand and the Legends of Siam. And in two
days we'll be flying to Cambodia. Anchor Watt that's an
option with it. I consider the trip I'm the most
proud of, and it's an annual trump I like to

(04:01):
come in January. The best time to visit Thailand is
November through February. But I will be back in town
to harass you, Emily, and I know you've missed that.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
I thank you very much because of what's coming up.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
As the director of marketing for Morris Columbus Travel, you
are kind of the queen of the Utah Travel Expo,
which is the biggest, the best travel ex well, bringing
together over one hundred travel vendors, which are airlines, cruise lines, hotels, resorts,
safari companies, travel companies, and about fifty vendors in southern Utah.

(04:39):
Tell us what's happening on the Utah Travel Expo.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Oh my goodness, It's going to be such a crazy
fun event. We'll have vendors giving out brochures and talking
about their products, so please come with your questions for them.
They are the experts in their field. All of our
travel advisors will be there putting travel right on the spot,
so you can walk away with your crews already booked.
We're giving away crazy great prizes, including some free cruises

(05:04):
and travel vouchers, I guess, and it's really it's going
to be a fantastic event.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
When and where.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
So up here in Salt Lake, it's January twenty fourth
and twenty fifth.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
It's a Friday Saturday at the.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Mountain America Expo Center. And this year down in the
Saint George area, we are at the new Black Desert
Resort in Ivans. We're very excited about that. That's on Wednesday,
the twenty second of January.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Now the we'll call it the Saint George Event or
Southern Utah event there in Ivans, which is just up
the road from Saint George on the way to Santa Clara.
That is, as you mentioned, at the brand new, luxurious
Black Desert Resort. There is no pre advanced tickets required

(05:48):
for that event, but Salt Lake is a ticketed event.
It's only six bucks. And by the way, everyone attending's
going to get a fifty dollars gift card. And there
are some terms in conditions, like you can't use it
just for airline tickets, but for qualifying trips fifty bucks.

(06:09):
But for travel show listeners. I may lose my job.
Brent's gonna probably fire me for this. We have set
up a website for travel show listeners where you can
get in absolutely free, no six bucks. I mean, come on,
that's a cheeseburger and diet coke at McDonald's. And you

(06:30):
simply go to morriscolumbus dot com, forward slash Free, morriscolumbus
dot com forward slash free and you can print off
all the free tickets for your neighborhood, your family. I
told people, instead of buying gifts for Christmas, you could
have gone off the phone or the event. Holiday easy.

(06:50):
Just give everyone a free ticket. That's what you get there.
But here's the deal. You cannot print the tickets on
day of the event. You've got to get them in advance.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, that's the promotion. If you want to get the
free ticket, you've got to get your tickets, the free
tickets before the event. And if you if you wait,
then you got to pay on this day.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
That's right morriscolumbus dot com Forward slash Free now. One
of the highlights, Kathy are the free awards that are
given away airline tickets, cruises, tours. Emily, tell me about
the hourly prize giveaways.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
Oh, baby, will I pull up my list here, because
really I want to make sure I don't miss any
We've got some crazy great cruises like a seven night
Mexico or Caribbean cruise on Princess Viking is giving away
a cruise certificate.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
Norwegian is giving away a seven night Caribbean cruise. We've
got celebrity in there, Disney stays as well.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
You've got hotels, resorts. What is that ice cream company
that comes every year?

Speaker 2 (08:00):
Sub Zero? Oh my god, they will given away free zample.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
Free samples, and they keep saying, didn't I just see
you in the line as I've got chocolate all over
my lips. No, No, that sub zero ice cream is
great stuff.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
You know.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
My wife Kathy and I I've been in the travel
business now forty six years and I've visited one hundred
and fifteen countries, most of them many many times over.
I'm a hopeless travel junkie. But Kathy and I have
developed this philosophy of life. I'd like Kathy Hurst to
comment on this. Whatever it is you want to do

(08:39):
in life, go while you can, and do it while
you can.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Absolutely. I mean, we we have seen so many times
clients that have these bucket list things to do, and
they're gonna wait to do it, and they're gonna wait
till we retire. We're gonna wait till we, you know,
have enough to do it the nice way that we
want to do it. And for some reason, life might
get in the way there, it's help or other things
going on. You know, they suddenly decide they can't do it,

(09:04):
and so I'm totally for that do it while you can.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
And it's not just when you're the retirement age. I
mean families with young children, whatever, and it's not just travel,
but whatever you want to do, Emily, do it while
you can. Because we all know people who maybe it's themselves,
their spouse, their partner, their family, their income, their business.
Something happens, there's an event that changes everything right overnight

(09:33):
and suddenly, be it a young family, a young person,
a family of many, or a family of one, suddenly
you can't do all those things because be it you,
your family, your spouse, your partner, something has happened.

Speaker 3 (09:47):
And you bring up family travel too, I mean you've
got to remember your family is with you for you know,
they're at home for a certain amount of time and
they're able to travel only a little bit of you know,
a small window of time, and so we get so
many people that are just like, oh, we should had
done this when our kids were younger and all at home.

Speaker 1 (10:02):
Yeah, you know, seventy five percent of a parent's time
with their children is spent up to age twelve, seventy
five percent of personal interaction. We are seeing at Morris
Columbus travel a huge interest in family travel, generational travel,
very true.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
You know, we get grandpa who decides to take the
kids and the grandkids on you know, some trip and
it is just an amazing experience to get everybody together
and just having a great time and something to look
forward to all year.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Well, when we come back, I want to tell you
about a Christmas gift that Kathy and I gave to
our family, our five children, our twelve and a half grandchildren.
That is exactly what we're talking about. When they opened
this gift at Christmas last month, they went nuts. More
of that when we come back on the Travel show.

(11:13):
You're listening to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwick's the
Getaway Guru, and I've gotten away to the Kingdom of
Thailand and Cambodia. The neighboring country, the home of Anchor Watt,
one of the great Wonders of the world, with a
group of wonderful travel show listeners. And I will be
doing this very tour next year January of twenty twenty six.

(11:36):
It is over half sold out already and would love
to have you join me now. I'm joined today, not
in Thailand, that's where I am today, but back in
studio in Salt Lake City holding the fort down. Emily States,
director of Marketing for Morris Columbus Travel, and Kathy Hirst,
the director of Black Pearl Luxury Services with Morris Columbus Travel.

(12:00):
I mentioned a Christmas gift that I think is perfect
for families. It is April sixth to the tenth next year,
twenty twenty six. It's a five day, four night cruise
with Royal Caribbean round trip out of La to Catalina
Island and Mexico. And this is a perfect time because

(12:21):
most of Utah and southern Idaho is on spring break.
I know the Granite School District, the Salt Lake School District,
that is their week for spring break. How about this, Emily,
A five day cruise two adults, two kids and Royal
Caribbean defines kids as twelve and under three hundred and

(12:41):
twenty six dollars per person, including all taxes and fees,
not only a few dollars more. You can get an
ocean view with a pitcher window or a balcony. With
the younger kids, I'm a little nervous about balcony because
they like to climb.

Speaker 3 (12:54):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
You know, well, last we saw him, he was swimming
off Catalina. I get Kathy, and I gave it to
our family, all of our kids, all of our twelve
and a half grand chield and a half because one
is on the way and she will be here in
time to go. We're getting a balcony cabin, putting them
in inside cabins right across the hallway and so they

(13:16):
can come in any of them give me trouble off
the side they go, or maybe they're going to throw
Grandpa off. Kathy, you are the director of Black Pearl
Luxury Services. How is that differentiated from mainstream Morris Columbus travel.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
Well, our department really specializes in customize and bespoke itinerary.
So if you wanted to do something kind of off
the beaten path, say a safari or something we make
that happen. We you know, we we have the knowledge
and need to make the logistics happen for certain you know,
trips that might be a little more difficult for most
people to plan on their own. So we have you know,

(13:57):
four advisors and we've got over probably each advisor has
over twenty year experience planning customized travel. So that's kind
of our Forte is customized a little more on the
luxury side, river cruising, luxury cruising, and like I say,
bespoken experience.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
You trend towards upscale and luxury. This is not the
three twenties six Spring Break Escape cruise. You know, it
is a luxury and of course luxury, once experienced becomes
a necessity.

Speaker 3 (14:29):
It's hard to go backwards.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
It really is. One of the trends I'm seeing now
is called expedition travel. What's that.

Speaker 3 (14:37):
Well, it's just it's travel to places that were inaccessible
until just recently by the general public. So for instance,
you know, Antarctica, the Arctic Greenland. Really you had to
be a scientist or a researcher to go there. Now
people can go there and experience the amazing you know,
scenery and the wildlife and things that may not be

(15:00):
around for another twenty thirty forty years.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Why are you looking at me when you say.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
Maybe, I'm not saying that I've sang animals.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
Oh she's got a spyglass on me here in Thailand.
You know, we're seeing a trend in travel. You know, Europe, Hawaii, Mexico,
the Caribbean are wonderful and they'll always be there, but
I'm seeing more and more and people want safe, but
exotic international destinations.

Speaker 3 (15:29):
It's so true. I mean, one of the more recent
ones I've done for family is Galopagos, and it was
a learning fantastic for this this family they went down,
they had kids and had older kids. I mean, I
wouldn't take real young kids on that one, but I
mean it was just an amazing learning experience, a scientific experience.
The kids came home with tons of knowledge, and what
a great way to expand your kids education. They give

(15:52):
those hands on experiences with nature.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
You know, I love the Galapagos Islands. It must be
with the Garden of Eden would have been like because
as the animals have never learned to fear, they will
walk right after you. A bird will come and just
land on your literally on your shoe. I've had that.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
Happen seal, same thing, you know, you know, stay away
from the seals and they come up to you.

Speaker 1 (16:15):
Well, on one of my trips, we were on a boat,
a liver aboard, yeah, about eighteen people, and we were
sheltered in this cove one night and I go out
swimming and I got my goggles on, my snorkel mask,
and this baby seal comes up and about three feet
away is just looking at me. And wherever I went,

(16:36):
I was glad. I didn't try to nurse or anything,
but wherever I went, the baby seal would follow. It
had trouble keeping up with me when I started swimming fast.
But hey, what are some of the myths about expedition travel.

Speaker 2 (16:51):
Well, a lot of.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
People think that when you go on an expedition, you're
kind of good spartan conditions. Okay. I had a neighbor saying, gosh,
my brother did that years ago, and he was on
this freighter and bad food and bunk beds, and that
couldn't be further from the truth. Now, there are some
luxury products and really deluxe products that will make a
cruising to an Antarctica expedition or Arctic or Greenland, just

(17:14):
I mean all the comforts of home and more and
just an amazing experience. You know, So not only are
you you seeing the amazing parts of the world, but
you're doing it in a luxury situation. You're not giving
up any of the comforts of home or and you're
getting you know, wonderful food and you know, small ship experience,
which is always my favorite.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
So yeah, it realized what are some of the most
popular expedition destinations that you're getting phone calls about.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
Well, we get a lot for Antarctica, and a lot
more companies are doing Antarctica now, so we're getting a
lot for Antarctica. Probably second is the Glopagus, probably third
the Arctic, and then Greenland is another big.

Speaker 1 (17:54):
You know, it's interesting in Antarctica. There's two ways to
actually three ways, but the third is you check a
plane and land and come back. Okay, but most people
do it on a cruise. You can do like an
ocean liner that sails around the islands, but you never
get off. Would I like the smaller ships like Quark
or Hertegruten or some of these companies where you actually

(18:17):
have boots on the ground you get off and some
of the activities that they have might include kayaking, but
my favorite is you. Some of them will offer an opportunity.
They'll set up a base camp and it's a luxurious
base camp with great meals. You actually camp overnight on Antarctica. Well,

(18:39):
when we come back, we're going to be talking about
my favorite subject, food and my favorite foods in Thailand
and the UK. Welcome back to the Travel Show. I'm

(19:05):
Larry Gelwicks, the getaway Guru and a very sincere note.
You know, we have a lot of fun, but I
want to thank you, as I do every week, for
joining us here on the Travel Show. This my thirty
fourth year hosting the Travel Show, and you know, I
just look forward to it every weekend and I'm grateful.
We'll be working with Morris Columbus Travel, the largest seller

(19:27):
of leisure and incentive travel in the entire Inner Mountain
area and as a result, there's some fantastic bargains. I'm
in Thailand and Cambodia with a group of Travel Show listeners,
but back in studio, I'm pleased to welcome Kathy Hurst,
director of Black Pearl Luxury Travel Services, a division the

(19:49):
Upscale division of Morris Columbus Travel and Emily States, director
of Marketing. Ladies, Welcome to the Travel Show. Thank you,
nice to have you. Now it is gosh about what
eleven thirty eleven forty back in Saturday it is one

(20:11):
forty am or thereabouts here in Asia. What are some
of your favorite travel destinations?

Speaker 3 (20:20):
Wow, gosh, one of my favorite. Yeah, I love Switzerland,
I love Portugal, but I really love the UK one
of my favorites, for sure. You're a European lady, Yes,
I mean I've got a lot of others around the world,
but those are my favorite European Emily.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
You know, I went to Fiji for the first time
last year and just absolutely loved it. What a magical place. Bulah, Yeah,
there it is Banoka. But I you know, I love
the UK too. It's those green rolling hills and the history,
and you know, I love Fiji.

Speaker 1 (20:51):
Those the Fijian people are so polite and so nice.
So some years ago I took two of my daughters, Sarah,
who was oh she probably was in college or maybe
senior in high school, and her sister Jenny, and we

(21:12):
went to Fiji. And now the native greeting is Bulavinaka
or bullah for short. She got her words mixed up
and thought it was band too. There is no Fijian
band two, and so she was trying to be Everyone
was so nice at the resort and in town. She
would greet everyone band to band to, and they were

(21:37):
so polite. They would look at it and I could
tell they were like, what dialect is this? What planet
is this girl? But they were so polite they never
corrected her, nor did I. For three days. I was
laughing my fool head up band to into this day.
We joke about that. Now, Kathy, you mentioned the UK.

(21:59):
I love the UK. They speak a form of English.

Speaker 3 (22:02):
There sometimes hard to understand.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
It really is. Now when you're in the UK, what
are some of your favorite foods?

Speaker 3 (22:11):
Well, I love the ethnic food there. That's that's my ace.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
Indian and Italian.

Speaker 3 (22:16):
Well, I was gonna say Indian food there is amazing.
I've been to India, so I've had good Indian food,
but some of the best Indian food I've had has
been in the UK. Chinese food there's all Chinatown district
close to Soho that has just some amazing, amazing food.
If you get a chance to do any walking tour
that involves food. I highly recommend it because that is

(22:37):
the way to not only see the city, but to
taste some of the local food and to understand, you know,
the local culture through food.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
Well, you mentioned some of the ethnic foods. You mentioned
Indian and Chinese. They're over three hundred languages spoken in
London as a first language. Obviously English is the first one,
but the second most widely spoken language in London is
Mandarin Chinese, and the third is Hindi as in India.

(23:08):
Fourth Espanoli, and then fifth is La Ference. Okay, how
about some favorite foods, some English foods.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
You know, I'm pretty traditional and I love a good
fish and chips. I really do.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
Okay, a bunch of they have ruined the fish and
chips in London. They're still very good, but no longer
will they wrap it in newspaper. They think that there's
a carcinogen in the ink. I thought it gave it flavor.
I love the taste of the headlines on my fish
and chips. You know. Some other popular English foods are

(23:45):
shepherd's pie and cottage pie, which can be minced lamb
or minced beef fixed with vegetables. And usually mashed potatoes
on the top. How about this one? Would you cite unseen? Emily?
You walk in and the special of the day is bangers.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
And mash See, I know the secret. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
I would go for bangers, sausages and mashed potatoes with
peas and gravy. That's puff food. How about this one, Kathy?
Would you order this one as the special today? Sight unseen?
Toad in the hole? This is a very popular British food.

Speaker 3 (24:21):
Yeah, I actually know what that is well, but you're right,
toe in the hole does not sound appetizing. I would
say it's a frog.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
No, it's a sausage. In Yorkshire pudding battery they say
Yorkshire pudding, it doesn't. It's not like chocolate pudding. It's
really it's a battery. It's like a think of a
corn dog. It's a different batter than the corner. But
the dogs dipped in batter and they'll make a almost
like a little puff pastry out of the batter. Then

(24:51):
one of my favorites is the hot pies. You know,
they're wrapped in a pastry. Steak and cheese, steak and mushrooms.
Don't go for the steak and kidney, but that's very,
very popular. And the other thing is, you know, some
people are hesitant to walk into a pub. It's not
like some sleazy bar in Las Vegas. Okay, it's a

(25:13):
family restaurant. Yes, they serve alcohol, as most restaurants around
the world do, but it's pub food.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
Well where you can get some of the best entertainment too.
So they have live entertainment usually and it's probably the
most economical way to eat, and.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
It's a great way to eat. Now. One of the
favorite games here on the travel show is stumped the Dummy.
Oh okay, so I have some questions about London. Uh,
there's a big clock tower at Parliament.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
What's the name of it, Queen Elizabeth?

Speaker 1 (25:46):
How did you know that it's called the listeners of
the show Elizabeth Tower.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
Everybody thinks it's Big Ben.

Speaker 1 (25:54):
Inside Big Ben is the bell referred to as the
Great Bell inside the clock tower, which is the Elizabeth Tower.
Now you couldn't do it. Now, I've actually been on
the floor of the House of Lords and the House
of Commons. I stood right where Winston Churchill stood. We
will fight them on the beaches, we will fight them

(26:15):
in the land. We will never surrender. I actually did
I actually you? Yeah. You know what's interesting too is
the taxis. Now there's an abomination in the minds of
many people because a traditional taxi is black. The color
of the taxi now you'll see red ones and white

(26:37):
ones and pink ones. An absolute abomination. But to get
a taxi driver's license, you have to pass a rigorous
written test. You basically have to know every street in London.
Then the verbal test is this. They will say, you're
going to pick up a passenger on point A and

(26:58):
drive him to point B. What is the route? And
you have to do it for memory. I mean, that's pretty.
And the taxis are clean. They don't smell like a
toilet like someone you know what The requirements are in
New York to be a taxi driver. Don't bathe and
don't speak English. That's those are the requirements. And anyway,

(27:22):
a lot of fun. I just love the British isles.
You know Piccadilly Circus, you've been there now it's not
Barnum and Bailey. Piccadilly Circus dates back to sixteen twelve.
Robert Baker was a very wealthy man. He sold Piccadil's
Those were those starch fluffy fufu collars that the men

(27:42):
would wear. And the cold of Piccadial A circus is
a roundabout and he sold them at this roundabout, and
Piccadill became Piccadilly. That's where all the piccadial shops were,
hence the name Piccadilly Circus. If you're looking for lions,
tigers and bears, you won't find it.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
Well, I can't find those roughly callers anymore. Yeah, correct,
Maybe I should start. We should absolutely.

Speaker 1 (28:08):
Larry's kind of fu fou today. I don't know. Maybe
you buy a new one every time you wor them.
Morris Columbus Travel has some great escorted group tours. You
can find a list of some eighty tours offered every year.
Go to the website Morriscolumbus dot com. That's Morriscolumbus dot com.

(28:29):
And on the home page the third item downs it
just kind of scrolled down. It says Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours.
And it's the brand name. It's like General Motors is
the company, Chevrolet is the brand name, and so the
company we are Morris Columbus Travel. But the brand name

(28:51):
for the Escorted Tours is Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours, and
then you click on a geographic destination Asia, Africa, Europe,
the Holy Land, South America or wherever. If it's a cruise,
you click on a cruise. Now, ladies, I'd like you
to comment on a couple of the group escorted tours.

(29:15):
We usually offer a pre and post land tour with it,
but about how about this one in June Iceland to
London and listen to this The dates are June twelve
to twenty two, and we start in rekuvic Iceland. We
have three stops in Iceland and then on to Norway

(29:35):
and to Bergen and Ulissen beautiful cities and then the
Norwegian Fjords, then on then on to the Netherlands, stopping
in well, I'll be Amsterdam, and then on to Bruges, Belgium.
Either of you been to Brucees famous for lace, famous

(29:55):
for lace, I say the Belgian chop. Well, I think
bruce rivals old town Prague in Paris as one of
the most beautiful cities in all of Europe. Then across
the channel to Southampton. Tell me what you love about Iceland? Oh?

Speaker 3 (30:15):
I the scenery for sure. That's my favorite thing. I mean,
the waterfalls and the greenery and the amazing mountains and
volcanoes and glaciers. We did a really neat glacier kind
of cruise up the mountain in a big vehicle and
then we got to go through a great glacier in
the middle.

Speaker 1 (30:30):
Of it and snowmobiles.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
No, this was just actually you you're walking. You went
up in this giant vehicle with these huge wheels, and
you got up to the top and you went through
this glacier. You took a tour through the glacier and
then you went back down. And this isn't you know, summer,
so of course all it's still beautiful and snowy there
and gorgeous, and that was one of my favorite things.
And then of course you know the Northern lights, for sure, a.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Lot of fun. Kathy and I've enjoyed our travels there.
In Iceland, we did the same glacier but on a snowmobile.
A lot of fun. Here's another one that you'll love, Emily.
It's the British Isles in France July seven to twenty.
Of these, of course are this summer. It's England, Scotland,
Ireland Northern Ireland which is separate from Ireland and France.

(31:18):
And in France we dock at LaHave. You can get
to Paris that day. But what I recommend is we'll
be offering an excursion to Normandy the d Day Beaches,
very moving experience. Hey, when we come back here on
the Travel Show, Emily's going to introduce us to the
Utah Travel Expo and how to get some free tickets.

(32:03):
Swodi Cup and welcome to the Travel Show. I'm Larry
Gelwicks to get Away Guru. It's almost two am in
the morning. Yes, I'm in Thailand and Cambodia with a
wonderful group of travel show listeners. I'd love to have
you join me on my next Thailand Cambodi adventure, which
will be January of twenty twenty six. Yeah, it's a

(32:25):
year away, but I do one a year. I keep
it to just thirty six people. It's a deep dive
in culture, in food, most of your meals are included,
and adventure and first class hotels. I'm joined today back
in studio in Salt Lake City by Emily States, marketing
director for Morris Columbus Travel, and Kathy Hurst, the director

(32:47):
of Black Pearl Luxury Services, which really caters to individual
and families on an upscale luxury basis. Emily, we have
coming up this week and I'll be back can time
for it.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
You better.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
Thank you very much the Utah travelers, so both in
Southern Utah and in Salt Lake City, Yes, we.

Speaker 2 (33:08):
Are so excited. So on Wednesday, on the twenty second,
we are going to be at the Black Desert Resort
in Saint George from eleven am to six pm. And
then Friday and Saturday we'll be at the Mountain America
Expo Center up in Sandy. And this is our twenty
ninth year of doing this travel show.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
That's crazy. Now you mentioned down in Saint George. It's
really the Saint George area because it's up in Ivans, right,
which is a suburb of Saint George. And I understand
this Black Desert inn Or Resort is absolutely over the top.
It's new and I haven't even seen it. I'm looking
forward to seeing it now. There are no tickets required

(33:51):
for the Wednesday, January twenty second event in Southern Utah
at the Black Desert Resort in Ivans, which just up
the road on your way to Santa Clair. They're outside
of Saint George, but tickets are required. Tickets are required
for Salt Lake City, which is Friday Saturday, as you
pointed out January twenty fourth and twenty fifth. However, we

(34:13):
have a secret website, Emily how to get all the
free tickets you want. The tickets are only six bucks.
But if you want free tickets.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
Then you have to go on before the day of
the show. Before Friday. You can go to morriscolumbus dot
com slash free and you print out as many tickets
as you want. We'll be scanning tickets at the door,
so you do have to have it either on your
phone or in hand, but yeah, you can.

Speaker 1 (34:39):
You can get as many as many as you want. Now,
there's going to be over one hundred fact at Salt
like one hundred and seven travel vendors which are airlines,
cruise lines, Delta Vacations will be there, the vacation on
Delta Airlines, Royal Caribbean, Princess Cruises NC. I mean, there
are Alma Waterways, Viking, Safari companies, resorts, national tourist boards.

(35:05):
We have people from Thailand, the National Tourist Board of Thailand.

Speaker 2 (35:10):
Will be there in Taiwan, the Philippines.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
They're all coming in. And you know, it's very interesting
the vendors. They go around the country doing these shows,
and I've asked them because they've said, you know, this
show here in Utah is different. It's just different. I said, how,
and they said, it's the people. The people come, many

(35:34):
of them with written questions. See, you can sit down,
Kathy with a resort. Is this the right resort for
my wife and I my spouse, and I my partner
and I are for my family and get the load down?
Is this the right cruise for my family to go on?

(35:55):
You can ask questions and there are some special exclusive discount.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yes, So everybody who walks through the door is going
to get fifty dollars off their travel package when they
book with Morris Columbus. You know, we've got some parameters.
You can't book air only or hotel only, but I
mean if you're there to book.

Speaker 1 (36:11):
A crubinimum purchase, but hey, fifty bucks off.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
And that's that's for anything you book within the parameters
of the show. And then we've got some crazy fun
other prizes I talked about. We've got a bunch of
seven night cruises and travel certificates from vendors like Viking
and Globis and Delta Vacations. And we're also doing something
a little different this year. We're throwing out a social

(36:37):
media aspect where if you go and take a couple
of pictures and post it to your social media and
tag us, you'll be entered into a drawing fort two
hundred and fifty dollars Amazon gift cards. So that's just
you know, we're really there.

Speaker 1 (36:52):
You know, we all travel a lot, flying a lot.
I was just reading a report on the busiest airline
routes in the world and I have not preview do this.
So we're gonna play stump the dummy again. I'm going
to put you on the spot worldwide the number one
busiest airline route. I will tell you it's in Asia,

(37:14):
in one of my favorite cities.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
I know your favorite city, and that's Hong Kong, Larry,
So I'm guessing Hong Kong. Someone who told you you know,
I've been in this business a while, so you know.
I but Hong Kong is a busy, busy airport.

Speaker 1 (37:30):
It's to an island type. Oh my goodness, Hong Kong
to Typeei is the number one busiest airline route in
the world. The second one kind of surprised me. Cairo
to Jetta, not Provo. How you know what? You can
fly from Provo to a lot of places now American

(37:50):
Airlines is Serby. They fly to Dallas and from there
all over the world. The third busiest in the world
is sole to Tokyo in the Naurito to airport. Now
in the United States for domestic flights, the number one
busiest route in the term of passengers is Atlanta to Orlando.

(38:12):
We're talking Disney World. Number two Honolulu Tomawi, Number three
Las Vegas or Lost Wages to La and number four
Denver to Phoenix. And I'll give you one more number
five La to San Francisco. You're more when we come

(38:32):
back in our number two of the Travel Show. Welcome

(38:57):
back to our number two of the Travel Show. I'm
Larry Gelwick to get Away Guru, the best two hours
in Radio and I am in with a group of
travel show listeners in Thailand and Cambodia joined in studio
back in Salt Lake City, the Lovely and Talented Ladies
of Morris Columbus Travel. Kathy Hurst, director of Black Pearl

(39:19):
Luxury Services and Emily State's director of marketing. And Emily's
been telling us about the Utah Travel Expo, which comes
up next week. It's just I love the expo. And
you know, everybody is in shirts with Morris Columbus travel
on them except one employee. One person that would be me.

(39:43):
And I'm wearing one of my Aloha shirts.

Speaker 2 (39:46):
You can't miss it, and you.

Speaker 1 (39:47):
Can't miss me. And you know what, I love people
constantly coming and saying, oh, hello, good to see. I
listened to the radio show. Yeah, you know. I had
one woman come up to me and say, oh, Larry,
love listening. It's the best show on radio. And all
these ego strokes. But she says, this is the first

(40:11):
time I've ever met you in person, and I got
to tell you, Larry, you don't look anything like I
thought you would. Well, what's my natural response? What did
you think I looked like? This was her exact response,
word for word, and her exact tone, you know her

(40:32):
how she expressed it. She goes, quote, well, your voice
is younger and thinner, that is. How do you answer that? Well,
by the way, I'm here in Thailand. There is a
test over here. Of when you need to go on
a diet, it really is because the food is wonderful,

(40:54):
but it's quite healthy. You know, you don't see a
lot of burgers. I mean, you can get burgers over here,
but it's very healthy. But the test of what you
lose weight is on the elephant's safari. If the elephant's
knees begin to buckle, it's time to go on a dive.
That's right. Hey, here's a new program out that I

(41:17):
think is one of the best I've seen. It's called
Latin America Adventures. It's a program March of next year,
twenty twenty six. Catch this itinerary, Kathy, I want you
to grade this one. This is a cruise. Now we'll
have a we start in Lima, Peru, and we will
have a pre cruise option to go to Cusco and

(41:38):
Machu Pichi. But we'll board the ship with Norwegian Cruise Lines,
which Emily has that free airfare offer. It's really a
bogo bog o buy one, get one free airfare where
the first person pays a heavily discounted fair second person
flies absolutely free. I'm just going to mention the countries
that we visit so we start in Peru, will visit Peru, Ecuador, Panama,

(42:04):
Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico and then
on to San Diego. It's really Lima to San Diego.
March eleven to twenty eight, twenty twenty six. Kathy, what
type of an Latin American adventure is this?

Speaker 3 (42:23):
I mean, I think that's going to cover so much
amazing territory. I mean that, you know, Costa Rica one
of my favorite places. Peru is too, and I hope
everyone takes advantage of the Machu Picu experience because that
is a.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
Really important You know, the ship stops in Waltuco, Mexico,
which is right down there on the border on the
Pacific side. It is one of my favorite areas and
very few people get down there. It's also an oxymorn
because they say it is Mexican plant urban planned, urban planning. Now,
thing about that in Mexico urban planning, you don't really

(42:58):
see that. It's a beautiful and the central Mercado and
plaza is just breathtaking. You know, when you travel, one
of the areas that we pay attention to is the
hotel and you know, you go with the you know,
the Highatt Regency or the JW. Marriott. You have a

(43:18):
pretty good idea things are going to be okay, but
you know you can you kind of wonder, and even
within a brand name, things are not always the same. Okay.
Here are some of the biggest mistakes we make when
booking a hotel reservation, checking in and checking out. What

(43:39):
comes to mind, ladies, Well.

Speaker 3 (43:41):
The complaints I get a lot of times are people
aren't aware of the resort fees and all evil fee
resort fee that come with the booking. And now just
about anywhere in Hawaii will have that. Actually, really just
about every resort has those, and I mean not knowing
about those beforehand, and when you check out, suddenly having
a bit that's an extra five hundred dollars on what

(44:02):
you thought you would be paying is a unpleasant surprise
for most and you know, it could be a it
could damp on a trip.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
Now, a resort fee, sometimes called a destination fee, is
simply and it's called an ancillary feest like an extra
fee on top of your hotel rate, and typically they
run anywhere from thirty to sixty dollars at the more
upscale hotels. You can count on fifty sixty bucks plus tax.

(44:31):
What do you get for it? Almost nothing. It's nothing
more than an excuse to pick our pocket. Now, mister
Biden has two days to rectify this, he promised over
a year ago. He calls them junk fees, or who's
ever speaking for him calls them junk fees. He says

(44:51):
they're going to get rid of him. You know, the
airlines did this some years ago with all non mandatory
charges out. In other words, all mandatory charges had to
be included. Airlines used to say, well, our airfare is X,
but the taxes and fees are y. Cruise lines are

(45:12):
still doing that, although they're changing because California said we
got to have one price included for a cruise, including
all taxes and fees. So I wish hotels would do that,
give us one price. And there's several lawsuits out there
from state attorneys general about deceptive pricing because it usually

(45:33):
pops up in font size one at the very end,
the evil resort fees. Now, I say, mister Biden, President
Biden has two days because at about noon East coast time,
there'll be a new president. Mister Trump hasn't come in.
But Biden always said his administration was going to force

(45:54):
hotels to bundle it together. He's got two days to remember. Okay,
what are some of the other mistakes we're seeing in
making reservations or check in?

Speaker 2 (46:05):
I think just in general not getting all of the facts.
We were in a hotel last year and we just
didn't ask all the right questions and they put us
in a bed situation that we were looking forward to.
We had an eighty a room, which wasn't terrible, but
you know, you just kind of really be careful about
the questions you ask, and when you're booking your trip,
you have to be careful to.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
What are some of those uh, Kathy and Emily, what
are some of those questions you should ask?

Speaker 3 (46:32):
Well, I think you should ask like what's the proximity
to major landmarks, especially if you're going there to see
one particular thing. You know, if you're stuck, you know,
in a long ways away from what you're trying to
see and you're spending all the time getting from the
outskirts of town into the center of Paris or into
the center of London, as we talked about earlier, that's
going to ruin your trip too, So you want to

(46:53):
find out how far away. It may be a really
great deal on the hotel, but it may be a
long ways away from what you're trying to say.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
Last summer in July, I had the unbelievable honor all
joking aside and being inducted into the Rugby Hall of Fame.
We took the whole family back there, by adult kids.
We all went back. We wanted to spend a few days.
Was in Washington, DC and we wanted to spend a
few days there, So I booked a hotel out by

(47:21):
the Reagan Airport that had a free shuttle and a
Metro stop a half a block away. We used Uber
and the Metro to see all of the sites, even
to get to the ceremony, because it was I mean,
have you ever tried to park in Washington.

Speaker 4 (47:39):
D C.

Speaker 1 (47:40):
If you just lived through the experience, that's a miracle.
But we did that very thing. I researched the hotel
and parking was a fifty dollars charge a night, and
then the rental, So some of those what's the proximity
to public transportation, shopping and restaurants? Is there a resort fee?
What about room amenities. Is there a little refrigerator, a

(48:01):
microwave oven. Is it a refundable or non refundable rate?
Usually the difference isn't that much. And if unless you're
booking at last minute and you're gonna go next week,
you can take the non refundable rate. But I'm often
booking months in advance. I take the refundable rate, even
though it's going to cost me sometimes another fifteen or

(48:23):
twenty bucks to do it. Strict Yeah, always ask about
a free early check in or late checkout, and you
got it, and I sat complementary because somebody share We
can give you a late checkout, but then you find
they've charged you a half a day's rent. Asking for
a specific room, particularly if you're a light sleeper, I

(48:45):
don't like to be opposite the elevator, but I'd like
to be a few doors away. I don't want to
walk along hallway to do that. Always take a final
sweep of the room, make sure you've got all of
your stuff there, and take a look at the itemized bill.
On more than one occasion, something has been missed posted

(49:09):
to my account. It might be something from the restaurant
or the gift shop or whatever, and if you just
do the quick checkout by then it's much too late.
When we come back, I want to tell you how
to process a passport renewal online right here on the

(49:31):
Travel Show.

Speaker 5 (49:39):
We didn't get to it.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
You're listening to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwick's the
Getaway Guru, joined today by Kathy Hr, director of Black
Pearl Luxuries Travel Services at Morris Columbus Travel, and Emily States,
director of Marketing for Morris Columbus Travel, and glad to
have you here. I'm still in the Far East in

(50:16):
Thailand and Cambodia, and you know I would live here
if it weren't for my kids and grandkids. My grandkids
currently are bankrupting me, they really are. But I am
a willing participant. And you know what my kids say,
because my grandkids get anything they want, stay up late.
You know what's funny is our parents will drop them

(50:38):
off and they'll say, okay, no sugar, no ice cream,
and it's nod in my head. Soon as the parents
are gone, we crank out the ice cream. That's what
they for. I'm a very very willing participant, and my
kids say, Dad, where was all this generosity? When we
were growing up. I saved it for your kids. That's true. Listen,

(51:01):
a passport. Everybody should have a passport. Just the other day,
I was talking to a friend and a travel special
came up. He did not have a passport, couldn't take
advantage of it. You know, they're good for ten years
for adults, you may as well just have one and

(51:22):
when something comes up, bam, off you go. Now right now.
It's taking on average six to eight weeks and you
have to mail it out. What we're very happy is
that June of last year, a lot of thanks to
Senator Romney for spear hitting this. Here in Salt Lake City,
where the show originates, will be a passport office that

(51:45):
will issue passports. But Kathy, I've not heard a tentative
opening date, have you.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
I have not. We're really excited for it because it's
going to be a lot of fun. You can go
right in and get your passport.

Speaker 1 (52:00):
Well, one of the things that's changed with the US
State Department is for adults, you can now renew your
passport online. It's very very simple. You go to the
State department website travel dot state dot gov. That's travel
dot State dot gov and then on the the home

(52:21):
page that comes up kind of in the center on
the upper left, it says get a US passport. You
click on that, and then the the item up the
top on the left says get or replace a passport.
It gives you instructions how to replace one, but you'll
simply click on I'm an adult. Some people would question

(52:43):
that with me mentally, I'm an adult renewing online and
follow the instructions. Now, Kathy, how simple is that?

Speaker 3 (52:50):
Very very simple? Yeah, And you know, and they can
they can walk it through it too. You can call
the Passport office.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
Sure, and get help in travel dot state dot gov.
Yet a US passport, I'm an adult renewing online.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
And this only works if you don't need to make
any changes, like if you have to change your legal
name on your passport, you can't.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
That's correct, that's correct. And it's still still takes you know,
the average now is six to eight weeks, Kathy. In
the first segment of the show, we were talking about
expedition travel, which is not going with Doc Tari with
a machete, hacking your way through the jungles of the congo.
But it is fun stuff. Talk to us about booking

(53:35):
expedition travel.

Speaker 3 (53:37):
Well, I think it's really important to book a travel
travel with a knowledgeable travel advisor. For expedition travel, it's
there are so many different companies out there. First of all,
I think we talked about the fact that you know,
your your ship can only be so big to be
able to step foot on the conton event Arctica or
even certain places and go to certain ports. So if

(53:57):
you're on a you know, a bigger line, you're going
to bait maybe disappointed. Another thing too is booking your
shore excursions. There's a lot of different timelines that when
you can book the shore excursions, it's nice to have
a travel advisor to give you that direction. And also
getting there. I mean there's a lot of I just
recently returned from Antarctica and I realized it was a

(54:19):
little complicated to get to Antarctica, and you know, they
they do make it easy for you, the cruise line does.
But there was a lot of ins and outs and
suggestions I could give people that I was I didn't
know until I did it myself. So that's why you know,
booking through a travel advisor is really important because we
can help you through all those little secrets or you know,
this is what this is what you want to sign

(54:40):
up for right now. You know the camping you mentioned
that has to be done way, way, way in advance
because you only take like fifteen people on that from
small group. Yeah, and so that you have to do
that the minute you sign up for the cruise for instance.
So it's just a lot of little things like that
that we can help you as travel advisors.

Speaker 5 (54:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:03):
What are some of the most requested expedition travel destinations
or itineraries?

Speaker 3 (55:10):
Yeah, I would say Antarctica is for for sure, That's
probably the one I get the most, Galophagus being the second.
The Arctic is very very popular, especially I believe believe
it or not in the winter months. But people want
to go up to the Arctic. They want to go up,
they want to be able to see, you know, the
Northern Lights, they want to take the dog sluid ride,
they want to stay in igloo. That's all really fun.

(55:32):
And you can do expedition travel up there as well
in a cruise and seeing polar bears. So you can
do that either in Canada or in Greenland.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
You know, that last one is something I've not done
in all of my travels is I've done some expedition
travel and I absolutely love it. I was hiking the
Inca Trail. Yeah, uh, you know, I was riding. I
bicycled through India. That's all. That's not for everyone, but
it was fabulous for me. I've been sailing in Polynesia

(56:02):
in the South Seas, but one I have really really
wanted to do is go up north. You get to
Hudson Bay and that area and it's the Polar Bear Expedition.

Speaker 3 (56:13):
Yes, yeah, and that that is an amazing experience to
you I've had. I have not done it myself, but
I had many clients do that and just say it
was a you know, life changing experience to be up
there and they were able to see Polar Bear.

Speaker 1 (56:25):
Now I introduced you Kathy Hurst as the director of
Black Pearl Luxury Services at Morris Columbus Travel. I mean,
what does you and your department do. It's more upscale
and luxury we do.

Speaker 3 (56:41):
We do a lot of upscale and luxury but we
do a lot of customized itineraries. So you know, you
can take a tour as Larry's does with his groups,
or you can, let's say you want to go somewhere
and you want to just go with your family or
you and your spouse. We can customize an entire right
tea can are based on your likes, your needs, your dreams,

(57:03):
and how make it happen for you.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
And it tends to be more upscale and luxury. If
you'd like to talk directly to Kathy eight oh one
four eight three sixty five thirty seven. That's eighth one
four eight three sixty five thirty seven more when we
come back, because I'm going to tell you about Thailand
and Cambodia. Where I am now Saudi kupp and greetings

(57:45):
from Thailand and Cambodia. I'm here with a group of
travel show listeners and we have visited Anchor Watt, one
of the great runners of the world. From the twelfth
to the fourteenth century, anger Wat, with a population over
one million, was the most enlightened, educated society on Earth.

(58:07):
What's interesting about this temple. There are over eight hundred
Khmer temples here in the area, maybe twenty twenty five
percent of them have been unearthed and restored, but Anchor
Watt has been a working temple since the twelfth century,
nine hundred years so it was never covered. It never

(58:27):
had to be restored in it's a working temple today,
I say working the monks. They're using it for religious rituals. Now,
I've told you that I grew up in San Francisco
and I love San Francisco. You know it's they got
to clean it up a bit. But I'm joined by

(58:50):
Emily States, director of marketing at Morris Columbus Travel, and
Kathy Hirst, director of black Pro Luxury Services. Ladies, you've
been to San Francis, go, haven't you?

Speaker 2 (59:01):
No, Emily, I know, I know, I need to make
my way up there. Sometimes I'm not gonna lie. Sometimes
you scare me talking about now it's not safe anymore.

Speaker 1 (59:11):
Well, I mean, you want to be careful anywhere you
want to go. But one of the things Kathy, my
wife Kathy, and I'd love to do is go out
to eat. And we have some favorite restaurants. We all
actually fly down to San Francisco for a four day
weekend just to eat, you know. And I tell you,
probably my favorite restaurant is Tatish Grill. It dates back.

(59:34):
It's there on California Street in the Financial District. It's
a seafood grill and they have non seafood too, but
it's high ceilings, burly waiters, you know, it really is.
It's just kind of a fun experience. And chiappino is
my absolute favorite dish. So they're known for their petrolley

(59:57):
soul and sand dabs. It's fantastic. But in San Francisco
there are four thousand, four hundred and fifteen restaurants, fifty
four with a Michelin star. Now, Emily, when you go
to San Francisco, if you were to dine at one
restaurant every day, it would take you twelve years to

(01:00:19):
eat at every restaurant there in the city.

Speaker 2 (01:00:22):
What a great problem to have.

Speaker 1 (01:00:24):
Now, did you did you know that the fortunes promised
in a Chinese fortune cookie always come true?

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
Definitely?

Speaker 1 (01:00:31):
Definitely do. The Chinese fortune cookies was actually invented in
San Francisco by a Japanese immigrant, Makoto Hungawa, in the
late eighteen nineties. He served it at the Tea Garden
in Golden Gate Park. A lot of fun there. And
did you know the Golden Gate Bridge was originally intended

(01:00:54):
to be black and gold.

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:00:58):
Well, Irving Morrow, the Bridge, which is chief consultant Architects,
said that a reddish orange primer coat would complement the
gray fog, green hills and blue water below the Golden
Gate bridge it's really called the color is called international orange.
It should be the Orange Bridge, not the Golden Bridge.

(01:01:21):
But when John Fremont sailed into San Francisco, you know,
I remember as a kid, all of the hills in
San Francisco were covered, I mean literally like a carpet
with golden poppies. Now you see some poppies, but pollution
and everything else and the commies that are run in

(01:01:42):
the state really have destroyed the poppies. But it was
also the gateway for the gold rush. Hence, as people
would sail into San Francisco, which had the deep water harbor,
not Los Angeles and LA was too far from the motherload,

(01:02:04):
they would sail into San Francisco and this was the
Golden Gate coming through the gate with the golden poppies
in the springtime, but year round they would plan their
fortunes to be made in mining for gold, hence the
name the Golden Gate. Fun fun times. Now the question,

(01:02:25):
I've told you that I love Southeast Asia. There's something
that attracts me to it, and I've said publicly on
this show. If it weren't for my kids and grandkids,
I would live in Thailand. There's a different vibe, a
different feeling. It's the food, the culture, the safety, first
class medical care same. You can get the same quality care,

(01:02:46):
say in Bangkok, that you can get in Salt Lake
City or any big city in the United States. It's
world class.

Speaker 3 (01:02:53):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
An interesting aspect of tourism that we at Morris Columbus
have never in gauged in, and I don't think we
ever will's called medical tourism. You know, you can go
there for some of the medical treatment, but Thailand has
everything from tropical islands to rice paddies to white sand

(01:03:14):
beaches and the foothills of the Himalayas. There's a hospitality
right there. Bangkok is known as the Venice of the East,
with over three hundred canals. Anchor Wat the largest religious
monument on earth, again dating back to the twelfth of
the fourteenth century. I got to tell you about Bhu

(01:03:35):
Tin now. Bhu Tin is my guide, my local guide
in Cambodia in anchor Wat and cian Reap, which is
the city of anchor Wat, Pole pot made the Nazis
look like choir boys. It was the kimur Rous nineteen
seventy five nineteen seventy nine, where they were trying to

(01:03:57):
take Cambodia back to the Stone Age agrarian society. Anyone
with an education was killed. Well, the kime Rous came
to Bhutin's village one day and in his presence shot
his parents, who were school teachers. They shot most of
the adults in the and then they put a gun.

(01:04:19):
He's twelve years old. They put a gun to his
head and say, you join our gorilla movement or we
will kill you will He had no choice and for
four years he was a gorilla age twelve thirteen, fourteen fifteen.
And I asked him once how many firefights gun by?

(01:04:41):
I said, oh, I don't know, at least fifty. He
was forced with the threat of being shot, of planting
the anti personnel minds out, you know, to prevent people
from escaping. In fact, if you tried to escape from
the Kimra rouge, and if you were caught, they would

(01:05:03):
kill you, but it wouldn't be a quick death in
front of others. It could take a week or longer.
They would torture you to death. That was their threat
to keep you well. Finally, at age sixteen, he and
another boy who had been kidnapped, they knew they were
near the Thai border. They decided to take the chance

(01:05:24):
and make a run for it, and they did, and
they had to cross land mines, not ones that they
put there, and just hoping and praying they didn't step
on one which would kill them and blow their leg off.
For six months, Boutin lived in the jungle. He said
they ate snakes, they ate anything they could find. He

(01:05:44):
said there were days they were so hungry they would
chew the bark off trees just to chew on something.
And finally, one day they made it across the border
into Tyler and they had the Kimeri Rouge chasing them
and searching for them. For six months, these two boys

(01:06:05):
lived out in the jungle. There is a serenity about Bhutin.
He's the guide that we have. He leads all of
my tours. I've been to his house and it's about
the size of one room in your house, no air conditioning,
and that's hotter than Haiti's over there during some months,

(01:06:28):
not when we go, but some of the summer months.
And my wife Kathy asked him once, how is it
that you have such a piece about you. He said,
it's a choice. It's a choice that he had to make.
He has two daughters, one is a pharmacist, one is

(01:06:49):
a banker, and he is saved for years to put
them through school. I was talking to Bhutin once and
asked him if he'd ever seen snow. He says, only
on the television, which he doesn't have. But he's only
been in Cambodia and Thailand, and once the Kimrooge was expelled.
He later he met his wife to be, also a

(01:07:11):
Cambodian refugee in the refugee camp, and they were expatriated
back to Cambodia and they've raised their family. But he said, no,
I've only seen on the television. So on my next trip,
I went to one of the stores in Salt Lake
and I bought a snow globe. You know, you shake
it and the snow is going everywhere. And I got
one with Utah mountains in Salt Lake City and I

(01:07:34):
gave it to him. And every time I see Bhutin,
he says, Larry. He calls me Kun. Larry Kun is
mister Kun Larry, it is snowing at my house. He
doesn't tell this his story to many people because it
is so emotional for him, But because we're such good friends,

(01:07:57):
I always tell them, if you feel up to it,
share your experience with our tour group, which he has
done with every tour group. And he weep, He openly
weeps as he recounts the horrors. And I often think,
for so many people, you know what, what's a bad day? Well,

(01:08:20):
Netflix is down, the Internet is down, and I'm having
a bad day. What was a bad day for a
twelve year old? For a sixteen year old living in
the jungle, catching snakes and all of that. That's who
you will meet. That's why, that's why my Thailand and
Cambodia trip is so very, very different. I'll be doing

(01:08:40):
it again January of twenty twenty six. You can go
online to Morriscolumbus dot com, scroll down to Morris Murdoch,
escort of Tourist, click on Asia. I'd love to have
you join me. Now, you too are professionals. I want
to ask how would you respond? These are actual comments

(01:09:01):
and complaints, not Tomorrow's Columbus Travel, but have been made
to tour companies, airlines and cruise lines. How would you
respond to this? Why do airplanes fly at night when
it's so dark and I can't see anything? Emily, how
would you respond?

Speaker 2 (01:09:20):
I would tell them to take a good long nap
and enjoy the ride.

Speaker 1 (01:09:24):
Okay, here's one. Can you please book the honeymoon suite
for us in another couple?

Speaker 3 (01:09:34):
I would probably say, you got it, we can book
another couplet. I don't question a lot of things that
people have.

Speaker 1 (01:09:40):
I would like to go somewhere where there are not
a lot of men. All right, Now, here's a real
request made to a wedding consultant. Can you set it
up so the whales jump in the background. At the
same time, I'm proposing to my girlfriend.

Speaker 2 (01:09:59):
Yes, go to Sea World.

Speaker 1 (01:10:02):
You can do that. Here. Here is one of my
absolute favorites. Is my girlfriend and I requested a room,
a hotel room with two double beds. We got a
queen bed. She's now pregnant. I want you to pay

(01:10:23):
the medical expenses. Hey more when we come back. Welcome

(01:10:44):
back to the travel show. I'm Larry Gelwicks to get
Away Guru, and it's almost three o'clock in the morning.
Here in Thailand and Cambodia with a wonderful group. Again.
I'd love to have you join me next year. I
keep it to just thirty six people. It's a deep
dive into culture and sight seeing and activities. And oh,

(01:11:07):
the meals are fantastic. Most of your meals are included.
We've handpicked restaurants that we go to, fabulous hotels. I'm
joined back in the good old us of A and
studio by Emily States, director of Marketing for Morris Columbus Travel,
and Kathy Hurst, director of Black Pearl Luxury Services, a

(01:11:27):
division of Morris Columbus Travel. And one more time, Kathy,
give us your direct line if people want to talk
about upscale luxury travel.

Speaker 3 (01:11:35):
Yeah, my direct line is eight oh one for a
three six five three seven. Love to help you with
a customized experience.

Speaker 1 (01:11:41):
Six five three seven. I love my job. I mean,
everybody says, Larry, when are you going to retire? I
have the same answer. What do people do when they retire?
They travel? Oh wait a minute, I'm doing that now
and I'm getting paid to travel around the world. Here's

(01:12:04):
another one of the programs that I'll be hosting next
year in twenty twenty six, April seventeen to May one.
I call it the Pearls of Asia. We start in Singapore, Kathy,
that's a great city.

Speaker 3 (01:12:16):
I love Singapore, and we'll have a.

Speaker 1 (01:12:18):
Pre cruise option to Singapore. But here are the countries
that we visit. Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea,
and Japan. In Japan, we'll visit Nagasaki, Kobe, which is

(01:12:38):
the ultimate traditional Japanese city, Shimizou, which is Mount Fuji
and the Japanese Alps, and then Tokyo. We'll have a
post cruise if you want to see a Tokyo. Now again,
that's Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korean, Japan with
Royal Caribbean. I'll be your personal host and tour guide.

(01:12:59):
The RUSE dates are April seventeen to May one. Well,
Miss States, Miss Emily States. The biggest news of the
day is the Utah Travel Expo.

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
Yes, sir, it is this week and we hope you'll
come and join us Wednesday in the Saint George area
the Black Desert Resort, and up here in Salt Lake
at the Mountain America Extra Center in Sandy Friday and Saturday.

Speaker 1 (01:13:26):
And now the Desert, the Black Desert in in Ivans,
Southern Utah, just outside of Saint George, Wednesday, January second.
No ticket is required for that, but tickets are required
in Salt Lake.

Speaker 2 (01:13:39):
Yes, and you I'm going to give away the secret here.
You can get free tickets before the show starts, so
get them today or in the next three days at
Morriscolumbus dot com slash free. Make sure you have your
printed tickets either on your well, in your hand, or
you can have a QR code on your phone.

Speaker 1 (01:13:56):
And there are one hundred and seven travel vendors, Kathy,
which are airlines, cruise lines, resorts, safari companies, travel support countries.
And what's that ice cream company again?

Speaker 2 (01:14:08):
Sub zero?

Speaker 1 (01:14:09):
Sub zero? I love sub zero. They'll be given there.
I always say, I'll have a large sample. Please, I'd
like it to be my lunch. There you go. It
is such good stuff. What are the benefits, Kathy of
attending the Utah Travel Expo.

Speaker 3 (01:14:25):
Well, the first thing I can think of is we
have people that come to get ideas for their next vacation.
So they're they're looking around, they can talk to travel advisors.
They can talk to the you know, the vendors directly.
They can talk to travel boards get an idea for
their next you know, vacation, and they can you know again,
talk to a travel advisor, have them help them plan

(01:14:47):
the next travel and get you know, get with any
of those vendors there and they can tell you know,
the ins and outs of booking the travel with them
and what they can expect from the And so we
have a lot of people that just come to get
ideas well.

Speaker 1 (01:15:03):
We'll be broadcasting the travel show live from the Salt
Lake event, and as I've always wanted to do, folks,
I'm going to tell you where to go and how
to get there. Emily, aren't you giving away some gift
certificates to everybody who attends.

Speaker 2 (01:15:21):
Yes, fifty dollars off every travel package that you book
within the.

Speaker 1 (01:15:26):
There are some parameters, some minimum purchase.

Speaker 2 (01:15:29):
But fifty dollars off is fifty dollars off, and we're
getting away fantastic travel prizes, including including multiple seven day cruises.
The travel The participating travel vendors are also offering discounts
and free spending money on board ship. All of the
travel advisors have some kind of special that they're offering.

Speaker 1 (01:15:48):
They are an exclusive discount.

Speaker 2 (01:15:51):
Yes, specific to the show.

Speaker 1 (01:15:52):
Specific to the show. So those dates again are Wednesday,
January twenty second in southern Utah, just outside out of
Saint George in Ivans at the Black Desert Resort. That's
a brand new one. And I've heard nothing but Rave
reviewed Chulair.

Speaker 2 (01:16:10):
I mean I was there. Well, it was still under
construction and it looked fantastic and it's going to be
the largest resort in Utah.

Speaker 1 (01:16:14):
In the Salt Lake area. It's Friday and Saturday, January
twenty fourth and twenty fifth at the Mountain America expos
Center in Sandy. And this does require tickets, but Emily
told us you can get free tickets at Morriscolumbus dot
com forward slash free, but you have to do it
no later than Thursday. You got to do it at
least the day before. That's for your otherwis at six Bucks,

(01:16:38):
that's at Coke and the cheeseburger at McDonald's. Yes these days. Well,
that brings our travel show to an end. And I'm
going to go to bed now. As I said, it's
almost three o'clock in the morning. And we have a
full day ahead of us here in Thailand and Cambodi.
I'll have some pad thaie that's my favorite dish, favorite

(01:17:00):
dish in the kurris kosao, all of these things kawshoi anyway,
all that and more. Hey, God bless you have a
great week. We'll see you at the Utah Travel Expo.
Signing off from Thailand,