The Travel Show: Best of Worst Airports; International Travel Advice

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Good morning American and welcome to the Travel Show. I'm
Larry Gelwicks, the Getaway Guru. The Travel Show is sponsored
by Norwegian Cruise Line, the home of freestyle cruising, and
Morris Columbus Travel, where you always travel more and pay less.
We got a great show lined up today. Among the
many things that we'll be talking about and the sales

(00:38):
and promotions, how to save money. It's the last call
for Viking cruises. Twenty five dollars deposit with free or
reduced airfare. And the Department of Transportation has a new
addition to their website. It's like a dashboard where if
your flight is delayed or canceled, you can go to

(00:59):
this dashboard website and find out what your federally protected
rights are. And you know cruise lines are always promoting
their drink package. Is it really worth it? What are
the worst US airports if you're caught in a delay
or cancelation? International travel advice today, and how to get

(01:22):
twenty five hundred free Delta sky miles. And for you
romantics out there, a recent survey just identified the most
romantic place on Earth. Might surprise you. I was just
there a few weeks ago. Myself. Well, listen, you know,

(01:42):
Viking Cruises is unique among cruise companies because they're the
only major cruise line that offers both ocean and river cruises.
Now they cruise Europe where most of the river cruises
are also in Africa and Southeast Asia, and of course
ocean cruises all over the world. Well, our show's sponsor,

(02:05):
Morris Columbus Travel, the largest seller, the largest travel agency
seller of Viking cruises in the entire Western United States,
has come up with this very special promotion. Yes, it's
Morris Columbus Travel and Viking Cruises called the Spring Sale,
where it's a twenty five dollar deposit. I mean that's

(02:28):
usually it can be a couple hundred bucks to five
hundred bucks or more per person. Here we have twenty
five dollar deposits and free or reduced airfare. Now, whether
it's free or whether it's reduced depends on what cruise
it's they're selling or promoting. And some of the one
week cruises, which are eight calendar days, seven nights on

(02:52):
board in Europe, the rates start at just one thousand,
nine hundred and ninety nine dollars. That's nineteen nine. Now,
usually you look at three thousand plus for a europe
River cruise. Is that nineteen ninety nine available on every cruise? No,
it's on select cruises. So what you have is freeer

(03:13):
reduced airfare. We're talking international rates starting at nineteen ninety
nine and just a twenty five dollars deposit. Now, the
devil's always in the details. How do you get this?
You got to book it with Morris Columbus Travel. No
later than the end of the month. Yeah, that's just
next week, April thirtieth. You want to book this with

(03:35):
Morris Columbus Travel. You know last week I told you,
and this is so important, I've got to repeat it
this year that the real ID is required to fly domestically,
of course, of passports required to fly international. But the
real ID Act was passed by Congress in two thousand

(03:57):
and five, implementing a recommendation from the nine to eleven
Commission to set minimum security standards for state issued driver's
licenses and state ID cards. The real ID Act also
forbids federal agencies, including the TSA, from accepting any state

(04:20):
issued driver's license or ID cards that do not meet
these standards. Now you can tell your driver's license if
it's real ID. There's a gold star up in the corner.
The purpose of real ID is to enhance the reliability
and accuracy of driver's license and ID cards while preventing

(04:42):
terrorists and others using fraudulent identification trying to evade detection.
So when does this take effect? When do you have
to have a real ID or other acceptable forms? It's
May seventh, So what is that like? Couple of weeks
the real ID compliant licenses or other acceptable forms of

(05:05):
identification will be required now right now, it's estimated that
eighty one percent of US residents have a real ID card,
But that still leaves nineteen twenty percent. That's one in
five of millions of people who travel every day that
are not compliant and could get turned away. Can you

(05:28):
imagine showing up at the airport with your family and
you're head at the Disneyland or somewhere, or a cruise
or that fabulous European trip you've been dreaming of, and
they say, sorry, you can't fly. Now. This is applicable
for adults defined as eighteen years of age or older.
Are there other acceptable forms of ID at the airport

(05:51):
other than real ID? Yeah, there really are In fact,
there's fourteen of them with real ID. It's fifteen forms
your US passport, a foreign passport, a US Department of
Defense ID, permanent resident card, and these they're all on

(06:12):
the You can see that TSA dot gov. That's the
security TSA Transportation Security TSA dot gov. And then in
the search bar, just put real ID. You want to
make sure that you are not going to be disappointed
and turned away from the airport. Now, you know, the

(06:33):
dot or Department of Transportation has also come up with
a dashboard, an online dashboard that's absolutely fantastic and what
it does. This dashboard will ensure that the traveling public,
that's you and me, have easy access to information about
services that US airlines provide to mitigate passenger inconveniences when

(06:59):
the pause of a cancelation or delay was due to
circumstances within the airlines control. Okay, a snowstorm, a weather
storm that shuts down the airport, that's not their fault,
so what they may do for you doesn't count. So
on this dashboard you see, you know, they have one

(07:21):
of these long URLs, but the easiest way to do
it is dot dot gov dot dot gov. And then
in the upper right hand corner is a search engine
bar and just put in there dot dashboard and the
whole thing will come up. And then you'll see the
ten major airlines and it has what they will do

(07:46):
or won't do with a green or red check mark.
Now the ten large US airlines and their regional operating
partners like SkyWest flies for United and It flies for
Delta Airlines. These ten airlines account for approximately ninety six
percent of domestic scheduled passenger air traffic. So if you

(08:10):
have a delay or a cancelation that is called controllable
in other words, it's the airline's fault that you are delayed,
use the dashboard to learn about the amenities that US
airlines that you're flying on have promised to provide should
there be a controllable flight, cancelation of delay. You can

(08:34):
also use the dashboard to compare amenities that the airlines
commit to provide in the event of a controllable flight
cancelation or delay when deciding which airline you want to
fly now, airlines are required to adhere to these promises
that they make in their customer service plan, including commitments

(08:59):
to care for customers in the event of controllable delays
or cancelations, and the Department of Transportation will hold them accountable.
What I have found, you know, most airline employees I
find professional and friendly, but every now and then you
meet at a horse's rear end. And what I found

(09:22):
is that since they may have to pay you in
cash for a delay or cancelation, they may have to
put you up at a hotel or feed you that
they don't want to do it because it's money out
of the pocket. Well, you are the protector of your rights.
You're the one that has to make sure you know

(09:43):
and with this dashboard dot dot governed in the search barges,
put dashboard and your passenger rights will be there. Hey,
here's a great story. The Marriott family is donating twenty
five million dollar to launch a hospitality institute at the

(10:05):
University of Utah and the JW. Merriott Institute that'll be
the name of it. Will emphasize how hospitality is important
and what they want is to train people who are
going to go into the hotel and hospitality business. And
who better to do that than Marriot. So a big

(10:27):
kudos to the Marriott family and their donation of twenty
five million dollars. See, I'm not a greedy man. I
only want a couple percentage of that, and I'm not
going to get it. Hey, listen, when we come back.
Is a cruise drink package really worth it? And we've

(10:47):
got the ultimate spring break family excitement activity for next year.
Here on the Travel Show. You're listening to the Travel Show.

(11:13):
I'm Larry Gelwicks, that get away guru. The Travel Show
is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel. We always travel more
and pay less. Check out Morris Columbus Travel at their
website Morriscolumbus dot com. That's Morriscolumbus dot com. And if
you're interested in any of the escorted tours, scroll down
on the homepage and click on Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours.

(11:38):
That's the brand name for escorted tours of Morris Columbus Travels,
kind of like General Motors and Chevrolet. Chevrolet is one
of their brands in the parent company of General Motors,
and so Morris Murdock Escorted Tours is the brand in
the Morris Columbus Travel family. Or you can always if

(11:59):
you have a favorite Morris Columbus travel advisor, you have
their direct line skip all of the recordings, but if
you don't, you can call Morris Columbus Travel at eight
hundred triple nine forty six forty six. That's one eight
hundred triple nine forty six forty six. Now, if you've

(12:20):
been on a cruise or planning to go on a cruise,
you'll see offers for a drink package, and what they
do is it's unlimited drinks, usually plus gratuity or tax
or something like that, and it really is. So the
question is how many drinks do you have to have

(12:43):
to make it worthwhile? Well, first let's talk about those
who enjoy an adult beverage, an alcoholic beverage. You're going
to have to have about seven drinks a day to
break even if you were to buy them. If you
were to buy that many, you're not an alcohol drinker,
and you overload on diet coke, the official drink of

(13:05):
the state of Utah, I think is you're going to
have to drink a truckload of diet coke. So that
is the dynamics. For example, Princess Cruises they charge sixty
four to ninety nine for a drink package per day.
With the taxes. It's seventy four dollars and seventy cents.

(13:27):
Can we just call that seventy five bucks? You know,
well that's a lot of money, seventy five dollars a
day for your drink package. Well, Princesses come out with
a really fantastic plan called Princess Plus and it's only
sixty dollars. Then here's what's included. First of all, you

(13:49):
get Wi Fi free WiFi, or maybe I should call
it included Wi Fi for one device per guest, not
one device per cabin, one device per guess. So if
both of you have a cell phone or a laptop.
Let's assume two people are traveling, well, you each get

(14:10):
the Wi Fi service and it's pretty good. It's called
Medallion Net Max and it allows you to text, share,
even stream and video chat. That's a real upgrade. Now
your drinks at sixty bucks a day, wide selection of
non alcoholic soft drinks, premium Levaza coffees, cocktails, wine and beer.

(14:32):
The crew appreciation or the gratuity, which is seventeen dollars
a day for standard rooms nineteen dollars a day for
suites and penthouses. That crew appreciation is included. Now they
do have some restaurants that have a charge from there's

(14:53):
plenty of complement yourre included dining options, but they have
some that have a charge. Now I'm not talking about
the special dining. I'm talking about casual dining. You get
two casual meals that normally you would pay for, you
get two premium desserts. Man, i make a confession here.
I love cruising, but I've got to tell you most

(15:17):
of the dessert served in the main dining room and
the buffet to me are boring, just flat out boring.
But the specialty or premium desserts are fantastic. Unlimited room service, delivery,
and there's some other things like fitness classes and things. Anyway,

(15:38):
you could pay seventy five bucks for drinks only, or
you could pay sixty dollars on the premium plus. This
is with Princess Cruises, and get the WiFi, the beverage package,
the casual meals that you normally would pay for, and
other things. Also. Now it does not include the top

(15:59):
shelf spirits and craft cocktails. They do have a Princess
Premiere for ninety bucks a day per person, and you
decide whether you want there. You get some specialty meals
with that unlimited, so if you want specialty meals, that's
not a bad deal anyway. That is what the drink packages.

(16:22):
And I really like what Princess has done with this. Well.
I promise to tell you about the Ultimate Spring Break. Now.
We have nineteen stations that carry this show. We blanket
the Inner Mountain West, also Texas and Florida. But let
me talk to those in Utah now. It may also

(16:44):
be for Idaho, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, wherever. But next year
in Utah. The spring Break, which is a Monday through Friday,
so basically you have the two weekends and then Monday
through Friday with no school is April sixth to the tenth,

(17:05):
twenty twenty six April. It's a Monday through Friday, April
sixth to the tenth. Here is the Ultimate Spring Break Escape,
and I'll be on it with my family and grandkids.
It is a Royal Caribbean cruise five days, four nights,
Monday through Friday, and we'll visit a course southern California,

(17:27):
Catalina Island, relaxing days at sea Mexico. Are you ready
for this? They have a special on this with our
group so for a five day cruise, let's take a
family of four, two adults, two kids, three hundred and
excuse me, three hundred and seventy three dollars per person,

(17:49):
and that includes all of the taxes and fees. Where
are you going to get a five day vacation with
all your meals, all your entertainment included? See Mexico. By
the way, no passport is required, always recommended, but not required.
Proof of citizenship is And you may be thinking, Wow,
we don't want to plan spring break next year. We

(18:11):
just got through it. But I promise you these rates
are going to go up now if it's just the
two of you that want to get away, how about
three ninety nine all taxes and fees included, Royal Caribbean
on a fabulous ship, Navigator of the Seas. I've sailed
on it three or four times. April sixth to the tenth,
twenty twenty six Spring Break Escape crewise for four in

(18:34):
a room, a family three seventy three, two in a
room three ninety nine. You can't beat that one more.
When we come back on the travel show. You're listening

(19:04):
to the travel show. I'm Larry Gelwicks. That get away Guru,
and the travel show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel
Morriscolumbus dot com. That's Morriscolumbus dot com. And may I
just express very sincerely thank you for joining us. You know,
we have a lot of fun in our travel show family,
able to many of you join me on these adventures.

(19:27):
Next month, I'll be in Japan with a wonderful group
of Travel show listeners. We'll spend three days in Tokyo
seeing all the sights there and then bored a Princess cruise,
which is a wonderful way to see Japan, you know,
and we'll see the major sites in the islands of
Honshu and Kshu. Then we'll jump over to South Korea.

(19:51):
It's just going to be wonderful. I love I love
getting to know our travel show family. Well, I've got
a sad tale for you and because love you guys,
and I want to warn you about problems out there. Sadly,
there are so many scams, including travel scams out there.

(20:12):
Here's one that just happened a couple of days ago,
a long island couple. Now this is in New York,
but it happens here in Utah. And I've got examples
of it. Happened in Utah and Idaho and Colorado. A
Long Island couple booked a European dream cruise to celebrate
a medical milestone recovering from cancer, but the travel agency

(20:36):
took the twenty three thousand dollars that they had paid
in full and disappeared. Their grandparents, Pat Policostro and Valpolicostro.
It's their dream vacation and never done anything big like this,
always wanted but catch the name of this travel agency.
This would be a red flag to me. Crafty getaways

(21:00):
that just doesn't pass the smell test, does it. Anyway?
Last October of twenty twenty four, they paid in full
twenty three thousand dollars for their European crews, and then
phone calls asking questions got unanswered. So they drive down

(21:21):
to Crafty Getaways and the office is empty. What do
they do? Nobody knows where they go and they paid
in full. They've reported it to the police. I hope
they catch these boundaries. But you know that happened right
here in Utah. One of the big radio stations did

(21:42):
a whole and television stations did a whole investigation. When
a Utah based travel company abruptly canceled overseas tours and
without offering refunds. Thousands of dollars were paid, which also
got get gepart involved. But now the company well. Then

(22:06):
the company filed for bankruptcy. Lynn Clark Lynnette Clark was
one of the victims. Said they won't email us, they
won't call us back. The tour operator's company name was
Ladder Day Travel Ladder Day Travel, and Clark had paid
six thousand dollars for a tour she booked, according to

(22:28):
the report, with Ladder Day Travel, but six months before departure,
she got an email saying they were canceling her tour
because of inflation and higher costs. No refund was offered
for that well. The investigators from the TV and radio
station tried by phone, email, even stopping by the business address,

(22:53):
but were never able to get answers from the company
about what had happened to the money paid. In The
bankruptcy filing was done by under a name of Project Neptune,
also known according to the report as Latter Day Travel,
Cruise Builder, Vacation Builder, just LDS, Jungle Reef Tours, renew

(23:20):
Come sail Away, and costacruisepack dot Com, and it is
reported that some of the principles were involved in all
or many of these companies. It appears that it's just
one company after another after another. The bankruptcy filing here

(23:43):
in Utah lists two two hundred and thirty two people
who could have a claim because of the council trip,
but unfortunately they are listed in the bankruptcy filing of
Latter Day Travel as non priority unsecure creditors. According to
the reports in the bankruptcy filing, the radio station Television

(24:08):
station found that Project Neptune listed one hundred thousand and
fifteen dollars in assets, but o's over two point six
million dollars towards unsecured claims. Basically, I don't know how
this finally sorted itself out. But I've also heard talk

(24:28):
that some of these folks have resurfaced in another Utah
based company. I don't know that I've heard that rumor,
and I'm not going to look into that. So here's
what I'm saying, be careful who you deal with. Deal
with a reputable company. One of the big scams I
see is you get an email or something you've won

(24:49):
a free trip fifty dollars registration fee will not only
will you lose fifty bucks, you'll probably lose thousands more
because they have your credit card information. You've I want
a free trip, or you've got this, You've got that.
It's just one thing over another. There's also bogus online
travel agents. I told you the story months ago about

(25:13):
this company that was offering two hundred and ninety three
dollars round trip USA Bangkok fares, of course, but going
to Thailand. It caught my attention, didn't it. And I
talked to them and talked to them. They were in Ubekistan,
that's where their company was. Now that was a huge
red flag. They wouldn't tell me what airline, They wouldn't

(25:36):
tell me what routing. They wanted my credit card and
I could go to Thailand, which I love, for two
hundred and ninety three dollars. I'm telling you there's no way,
there's no airline that's going to sell you a ticket
from the United States to Thailand for two hundred and
ninety three dollars. If it's sounds too good to be true,
it probably is. Be careful who you deal with. Too

(25:59):
many scams out there taking advantage of just really good people.
You know, what I'd look for in travel are experiences.
That's what makes travel exciting for me. I think of
Letty sai Eli. My friend passed away a little bit
ago in Samoa, western samo and in the true Samoan

(26:22):
tradition is buried in the front yard and they have
a headstone there. Worked for the government for two tala
an hour, tala being the Samoan currency, about a buck
and a half an hour, and that was a great job.
We'd go out to his house, our family, my wife

(26:42):
and I. We'd always stay at Aggie Gray's hotel there
in a pia, but we would go out. I would
rent usually a pickup truck for a few days to visit.
We're on the island of Upolu, the two main islands
in western summer, Upolu and Savati. And I'd go to
the store Maya oak Koi and get some gifts for

(27:07):
the Saili family, you know, fifty pound bags of rice.
They love corned beef and they get the quality stuff
Coco Samoa. But these are experience and then you know,
sit there and we'd sleep out there at night or
two and sleep on the floor where they'd have you know,
mats or woven blankets. And they were near the road,

(27:30):
so they had one light bulb, no plumbing, just well,
you know a little outhouse there. All the meals cooked
over an open fire of coconut husks. A humble people,
great people, and that was their life and they were happy.
And these were the experiences that we had. Well, I

(27:54):
want you to join me for experiences. One of the
you know, I love Southeast Asia, so I've made so
many friends there. In fact, when they had the earthquake
in Burma now called May and Mare, and it also
was felt and the building collapsed in Bangkok, I called
my friends in Thailand and fortunately God be willing, they

(28:17):
were all safe. I have so many I have a love.
I feel different when I'm in Southeast Asia. I'd like
you to join me in November of twenty twenty sixth
November ninth to the sixteenth where with Almah Waterways, the
Ultimate Deluxe River Cruise Company on the Mighty Maykong. We'll
be sailing from Cien Reap, Cambodia, that's the home of

(28:41):
Anchor Watt and board the ship. We have to drive
from San Reap anyway from Cien Reap to Saigon or
Ho Chi Minh city and we are going to have
experiences Deluxe River Cruise Company. One of my favoritess I've
done this before is Tanchoo in Vietnam and it's a

(29:03):
small Maykong river town that is completely unspoiled by tourism.
I think sailing down the river the only tourists they
ever see because nobody else gets there. And we will
be treated to an authentic experience on a traditional Trisha'll
call a zeilao and we'll ride around town, will make

(29:24):
stop where they make silk, you'll see that and retan
mat shops. You know. One of my favorites is PanAm Pen.
Will visit the central market, the Royal Palace and you
know that was a French colonial city and the architecture,
the boulevards, tree line, the coffee shops are just fantastic.

(29:45):
But I had a great experience there with a group.
They have what they call a cyclo and it's a
three wheel vehicle, two wheels in the back, one in
the front, kind of like a rickshaw, but the man
who is peddling it is behind you and you sit
in a seat in front and then it extends it.

(30:08):
You can extend your feet out because there's one wheel
in the front, two in the back. So we get
there and we're going to go through the French Quarter
and you can do this on the Makong with me.
We're going to go through the French Quarter. They're going
to peddle us through. It's you know, it's just fabulous.
And so I say to the man in charge, we

(30:28):
got a group there, and I said, one or two
people per cyclo. And he looks at our group and
he looks at the cyclones. Then he looks turns back
and looks at our group, turns and looks at the cyclones,
turns back to me and says one Cambodian, two American.
Excuse me, one American, two Cambodians. Well, that says a

(30:55):
lot about us. Anyway, we eat well on the cruise ship.
The dates are novel number ninth to the sixteenth with
Alma Water Rays Deluxe Over the Top River Cruise. I'll
be on board as your personal host and tour guide.
Now we're going to offer some pre and post tours.
The cruise itself is November ninth to the sixteenth. We

(31:17):
actually bored the cruise in Kampong Cham, which is Cambodi.
It's several hours drive from Cienra. We'll have an option
in Thailand for three or four days, an option in
Anchor Watt, one of the great wonders of the world,
for a few days, and then a two night option
in Saigon. You can go straight from the cruise ship

(31:38):
to the airport, but you'll miss Ho Chi Minh City
in Saigon and the Maykong Delta. Love to have you
join me, Morriscolumbus dot com Escorted Tours, Welcome back to

(32:02):
the travel show. I'm Larry Gelwicks, the getaway Guru, and
we are having so much fun. Hey, in that last segment,
I talked about the riches of the Maykong inviting you
to join Kathy and I. November twenty twenty six. The
actual cruise dates are the ninth through the sixteenth, eight
calendar days, a full week cruise from Cambodia, seeing the

(32:26):
site out of the way, places you could never see
on your own, ending up in what we know is Saigon,
now called Ho Chi Minh City. I mentioned we'll have
a pre cruise option in Bangkok for three days and
then up to cn Reap. Now you can just fly
in and take the cruise, but you won't see Anchor
what Anchor Tom. You know, they are over eight hundred

(32:49):
of the Khmer temples in the cn Reap area. About
two hundred of them have been cleared away and restored
to Anchor what never needed to be restored because it
was built in the twelfth to the fourteenth century, and
during that period of time it was the most enlightened,

(33:11):
educated temple anywhere and about a million people were living
in the close proximity. So if you take the pre
cruise Cambodia Anchor Watt option, you'll see all of these
incredible months and there really are wonders of the world.
Then we get down to Saigon and we'll spend a

(33:31):
couple of nights there on the post cruise option and
the Bentan Market, the Kuchi tunnels, those were the called
the rat tunnels that the Vietcong. It's absolutely fascinating, will
be in the Mekong Delta and all of the sites
of Saigon. So a lot of fun. Love to have
you join me. Simply go to Morriscolumbus dot com. On

(33:54):
the homepage scroll down to Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours. Click
on that and then click on Then you can pick
cruises or a geographic destination for this one. Of course,
you click on Asia and then just find it by
date November ninth, the sixteenth, that's the cruise. You know

(34:16):
what we did on this one. We bought half the ship.
And the discounted price that we have runs anywhere from
several hundred dollars to over one thousand dollars per person,
less than if you buy this directly from Almah Waterways
or any other travel company in the country. Why because

(34:37):
we bought the cabins. We own half the ship and
it's going to be absolutely exciting. Well, you know, one
of the questions I get is people are concerned, you know,
after the COVID scare and all of that is about
we seem very conscious of what we touch and cleanl

(35:00):
wipe down, you know, antiseptic wipes and things like that.
Do you know that nearly three million people a day
fly in the US domestically, according to the FAA. In course,
millions more travel around the globe. Now, airlines want to
turn the plane quickly. Turn a plane means, let's say,

(35:20):
at the Salt Lake airport. A flight comes in from
Denver and they want to turn it around and get
it out because it's not making any money for them
once it's on the ground, So the airline wants to
turn it quickly, and they have dedicated cleaning crews that
I think do their best to scrub down every seat
before the next passionser sits there. But sometimes things get

(35:45):
missed and maybe stay a little dirty from flight to flight. Well,
according to flight Attendance, here are the five dirtiest parts
of an airplane, in no particular order. The card you
know that card that is the safety card in case
of an emergency, that's in the seat pocket in front

(36:06):
of you. They don't get wiped down. I mean people
are grabbing them, touching them. Who knows what's on their fingers.
It's I mean, it's dirty. So if you have a
wipe and you're gonna look at it, clean it off.
The overhead bin. The key is either to wipe it

(36:28):
down or use a cloth to open that is touched
by a lot of people and rarely clean the handle
the bin. All of that and trade tables now passengers
generally no airplanes are riddled with grime, but the tray
tables go beyond general germs. Now, many airlines will wipe

(36:49):
it down, but others do not. So watch out for
those trade tables, seat covers. You know they're rarely replaced
or clean, and you just want to be aware of them.
And then here's one that makes sense. Stay away from
bathroom handles. You know the door, the door to get

(37:11):
out the bolt, I always take a tissue and open it.
Sometimes you have to touch the outer handle. Well, then
you wash your hands. But once you've washed your hands,
don't grab that inside handle in the toilet the restroom,
use a tissue to open it. So instruction cards, overhead bin,

(37:31):
trade tables, seat covers, and bathroom handles are the five
dirtiest places on an airplane, according to flight attendance. Now,
what are the worst airports in the US based upon
delays and cancelations. I'll give you the top five very quickly.

(37:51):
Number five Newark twenty seven percent of flights are disrupted
that means delayed or canceled. Number four JFK twenty seven percent.
Also number three Detroit twenty eight percent of flights are disrupted,
and the Boston Logan Airport thirty two percent, and the

(38:13):
winner with the worst record is Washington DC National Airport.
Forty percent of flights are delayed or canceled. Fortunately, Salt
Lake does not appear on the top ten list. Stay
tuned for our number two of the Travel Show with
some great travel advice. Welcome to our number two of

(38:58):
the Travel Show, the Best two Hours in Radio. I'm
Larry Gelwicks, the get Away Guru, and thank you for
joining us. Do you have a teacher or military man
or woman, you know, active duty or retired military, Because
if you do, Norwegian Cruise Line has extended a very
special discount to teachers and qualifying military and what you

(39:23):
get is five percent off all cruise fares. Now this
is on top of any other discounts that reduce the cost,
so you get the get your best deal out there,
then drop it another five percent. And by the way,
this five percent off all cruise fares, the discount extends

(39:43):
to the entire stateroom, not just the school teacher, not
just the military man or woman. And you get a
fifty dollars on board credit that you can use for
just about anything on board I think except the casino. Well,
and that's a fifty dollars per cabin discount there and

(40:04):
this is combinable with all of their other promotions. So
Norwegian Cruise Line and Morris Columbus Travel. Thank you teachers,
and thank you men and women who keep us safe
in the military. Okay, let's talk about a wonderful destination

(40:25):
if you're on a Danube river cruise is Passau. Now, Passau,
Germany was founded over two thousand years ago. In fact,
it's one of the oldest cities in Bavaria and an
important point in Roman history, and it's very popular cruise stop.
I love going there. It's located on the border with Austria,

(40:48):
and Passau is known as the city of three Rivers
because the Inn, the Ills and the Danube all meet
together here. Now, Passau was an important medieval train and
shipping center. Fires in sixteen sixty two and sixteen eighty
caused great damage, but the subsequent rebuilding gave Passeu a

(41:10):
Baroque character. Now, I don't know about you. I love
organ music pipe organs. Located in Passeau's old city is
Saint Stephen's Cathedral. It's very Baroque style, which is common
for this part of Germany, but for it is beautiful
on the outside. A real star of the show is

(41:34):
located just inside. Now, in the quiet and unassuming small
town of Passeu, rests the largest pipe organ outside of
the United States and the largest cathedral organ in the world.
This organ at Saint Stephen's in Posseu has seventeen thousand,

(41:56):
seven hundred and forty four pipes, and the altars and
decorations I just marvel at some of the most intricate
and impressive I've ever seen. Now, let's compare the Saint
Stephens organ in this small, unassuming town seventeen thousand, seven
hundred and four pipes. Many of you know the LDS

(42:18):
Conference Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
day Saints here in Salt Lake City. That's a massive organ,
seven thousand, seven hundred and eight pipes, which means that
Saint Stephens has ten thousand more pipes than the LDS
Conference Center. The Tabernaculate Temple Square, the iconic organ there

(42:42):
has eleven thousand, six hundred and twenty three Although you
know the organ was first built in sixteen excuse me,
in eighteen sixty seven with just two thousand pipes, and
over the years another nine thousand has been added, so
eleven thousand and six twenty three at the Tabernacle at
Temple Square in Salt Lake City. The biggest organ in

(43:05):
the world is the Middler Losh Pipe organ at Boardwalk
Hall in none other than Atlantic City, New Jersey. Catch
this thirty three thousand, one hundred and ten pipes. The
other you know, something else I really love about Passau

(43:26):
is the gingerbread. Gingerbread tradition now what we call gingerbread
and the German equivalent, Lebkuchen couldn't be more different from
each other. Lebkuchan differs from baker to baker and can
include a variety of you know, very different ingredients. They're

(43:48):
popular year round, of course, but a staple snack during
the Christmas season. I've told you about the Christmas markets
on the Rhine in dece third to the tenth of
twenty twenty six for the excuse me twenty seven for

(44:10):
the Christmas markets on the Rhine, And that's when you
don't want to miss. You see all the sight seeing
in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Switzerland, but you have
the Christmas markets and you will see leib kuchen everywhere. Well,
trust me, if you haven't enjoyed these holiday treats, you've

(44:31):
really missed something. I'll just say this. You know. One
thing I love about Passeu is it's a great city
just to meander through on you. It's a small city
and it's easy to explore and navigate the older sections
without really knowing where you're going. But you can't get
lost because it's not a big town. I love old

(44:52):
German towns like Passeu. No clear organization in the city plans,
just streets and buildings and alley ways. I love spending
time here at Christmas, which I did last December, nibbling
on snacks and listening to local music in this beautiful town.
I do hope that you will join me on the

(45:14):
Christmas markets. Excuse me, that's twenty twenty six. I told
you twenty seven, the Christmas markets of Europe. Moving on,
I'm often asked about international travel. Here's just a couple
of things you want to keep in mind. Review all

(45:35):
your travel documents, air crews, hotel transportation, and note on
your passport the validity countries have a different requirement of
how long your passport has to be valid. After you
leave them, and in most countries, they require your passport

(45:56):
to enter their country to be valid for at least
six months beyond your return date. Beyond the date you
leave the country. Now some countries are three months. Mexico,
it's got to be valid on the day you enter.
But you can check out the validity requirements at travel

(46:17):
dot State dot gov. Travel dot State dot gov. Click
on international travel and then in the box type in
the country or countries that you'll be visiting in A
whole list of information will come up, including passport validities.
You want to call your cell phone provider and find

(46:39):
out what your plan is because some you may have
an international data plan. Most of the major cell phone
providers have a international calling plan, usually for about ten
or twelve bucks a day. I have AT and T.
It's twelve bucks a day. They just raised it from
ten bucks. I get unlimited calls and texts to a

(47:04):
USA area code. Now Kathy can be with me and
we're both in Thailand, or in Italy or in Africa,
wherever in the applicable countries, and I can call her
even though she's not in the US because it's a
USA area code. Now you can also use WhatsApp or

(47:25):
things like that. When I'm talking to someone in a
foreign country, I always use WhatsApp or something like that
to avoid a international charge, which can run you three
to five dollars a minute or more. So find out
what your cell phone provider is doing, and also let
your credit card company know where you're going. This will

(47:47):
help not get tossed to the fraud department, which could
cut off spending on that. And thoroughly research your destination
and book activities is advance. Well, what is your top
USA casual dining restaurant? For the last seven years, the

(48:08):
Olive Garden has been America's top casual dining chain according
to National surveys, But a change has happened this year.
The Olive Garden has lost their top spot to Texas
Roadhouse Steakhouse. So what you've got is Texas Roadhouse is
number one the number one favorite casual dining across the country,

(48:31):
followed by Olive Garden, then followed by Chili's, Applebee's, Buffalo
Wild Wings. Anyway, so congrats to Texas Roadhouse for that advice.
There Where do you like to dine? And for those
of you here in Utah, which we have a lot

(48:52):
of stations. What are your favorite restaurants. I'll tell you
there are two restaurants that I love for Chinese food.
It's the Ho Ho Restaurant fifteen oh four South State
Street in Salt Lake City and in our family. I've
been dining there for thirty years. They greet me by name.

(49:12):
We just call it It's Ho Ho, but we call
it the Hoe. We'll meet you at the Hoe. The
other restaurant I really love, it's in Aero Press Square,
is the Blue Iguana Mexican Restaurant. Now those two are
home runs you can't miss. When we come back, we
are going to be traveling to Tahiti and I got
an interesting story about ancient Polynesian temples. Welcome back to

(49:52):
the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwick's the Getaway Guru. The
Travel Show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel. We always
travel more and pay less. Give the good folks at
Morris Columbus a call one eight hundred triple nine forty
six forty six. One eight hundred triple nine forty six
forty six, or if you have the direct line of

(50:13):
your favorite Morris Columbus travel advisor, call him or her directly.
You can also check out all these offerings at Morriscolumbus
dot com. Now you know, folks, know that the great
love of my life is Thailand. We talked about the
Riches of the Maykong Cruise, which is next year. The

(50:36):
actual cruise as I mentioned, November ninth to the sixteenth,
twenty twenty six, with options to Anchor Watt and Bangkok
and Saigon pre and post the Christmas markets of the
Rhine River next year December third to the tenth, and
that will be Switzerland, France, Germany and the Netherlands, sailing

(50:57):
from Basel, Switzerland to Amstrong And what's nice when you
come home. We have NonStop flights with Delta Airlines Amsterdam
to Salt Lake City and those non stops are so nice. Well.
Another great love of mine is the South Pacific. I
have spent so much time in the South Seas. Dear

(51:18):
friends that we stay with in their grass covered hut
or in their home in the islands of Polynesia, and
one of the most exciting cruises. You know, this is
a part of the world that you've always wanted to visit,
The South Seas, Polynesia, the riches of the South Pacific. Well,

(51:42):
you can do that next year May fifteen to twenty seven,
twenty twenty six. It's a twelve day cruise from Tahiti
to Honolulu and the itinerary is fantastic. We'll visit to
French Polynesia, the Society Islands, will cruise, pass the Tuamotu

(52:06):
Archipelago of Islands, cross the equator, which is really kind
of exciting, and then visit the islands of Hawaii, Hilo, Kawaii, Kona,
and of course Oahu and Honolulu. Here's what's nice is
this particular offer includes free airfare promotion. It's really what

(52:29):
we call a bogo bog o buy one, get one,
and what they've done Norwegian Cruise Lines and Morris Columbus
Travel is the first person pays a discounted airfare, the
second person flies absolutely free. And I'm telling you the
discounted airfare is less than if you bought it on

(52:51):
your own. For the first person. Second person goes absolutely free.
It's a way to see Polynesia. You pack an unpack
one time. You can extend your stay in Honolulu if
you want, which we're certainly going to do. Kathy and
I will be on this particular cruise. Catch this rate
start for a twelve day cruise, including the free air promotion.

(53:16):
It's just one thousand, nine hundred and fifty nine dollars
including all taxes and fees nineteen fifty nine. That's your
free air promotion. Again a Bogo Buy one, get one
and with that Norwegian Cruise Line will issue your ticket
and they decide what major airline they're going to put
you on flying to Tahiti. You have Air France, you

(53:39):
have United, you have Delta and other airlines. They will
put you on a major airline and of course bring
you home from Honolulu and again extend your stay. I
want to tell you about one of the places we'll
be visiting. It's the beautiful island of re Yetea, and
it's a smaller island, but that is the site of

(54:03):
an ancient temple. I've actually gone up to it in
a small boat on a river through a mangrove forest
found and we found and visited the ruins of an
ancient Polynesian temple. You see, Hawaii is believe really came
in two waves about nine hundred AD, and then several

(54:26):
hundred years later the two primary immigration waves. Now what's
interesting about the temple, this ancient temple and right Yetea
is the name of the temple was Hawaiki. Now you
put it together, did those coming from the temple and
see the ocean going vessels could navigate that river. It's

(54:51):
now you couldn't do it, But hundreds and hundreds of
years ago, millenniums ago, you could navigate the river up
to the temple of Hawaiki, and there the priest would
bless the ocean going crew, the people who and then
sailing out into the vast stretches of the Pacific Ocean,
some never to return. But they would navigate by the

(55:16):
temperature of the water, the birds, the marine life, the currents,
the wind, everything, the stars. They would navigate. And they
didn't know that the Hawaiian islands were actually there, did they?
But maybe something in the marine life seeing birds got

(55:39):
them there. And we don't know how many of these
ocean going voyages sailed into the sunset with it. But
I have wondered if those early inhabitants of Hawaii named
Hawaii after the temple of Hawaiki. And I've been to
this ancient temple. The island of right Yeta is also

(56:03):
the site of a temple announced to be built by
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. Now
there's a temple already on the island of Tahiti, in
the capital city of Papiete. And why on this small
island only has a couple thousand people a few thousand

(56:24):
people living there well those in the outlying islands. You
see in French Polynesia there are five island groups, the Australs,
the Gambier, the Tuomotus of the Marquesas Islands, the Society
Islands and Rightieta is kind of strategically in the middle

(56:46):
of many of these islands where people cannot get to
the main island of Tahiti, but they can get by
boat their own or somebody else's to the island of
right Yetia. You can visit that site. There's an Elias
Steak center there now, but there's ground where the new
Elias temple will be built. I love going to the
ancient temple of Hawaiki. I want you to join me.

(57:09):
Come on, folks, you know you want to visit Polynesia
in the South Seas. That will be May fifteenth to
the twenty seventh, twenty twenty six all the details. Yeah
you nowhere Morriscolumbus dot com or one eight hundred triple
nine forty six forty six more when we come back.

(57:43):
Welcome back to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwicks, the
Getaway Guru, and did you know that you can now
renew your passport online? The US State Department has fully
rolled out its online passport renewal system, allowing you to
apply for the documents from the comfort of your home now.

(58:04):
The system was first introduced by the government in twenty
twenty two as a pilot program, but it's now fully
up and running. According to the State Department. The online
application system it eliminates for you the need to print
and mail a renewal application. So here's what you got
to do to renew online. You've got to be at

(58:26):
least twenty five years old, currently living in a US
state or territory, have a passport that was issued between
nine and fifteen years ago, and have the old passport
with you now. Applicants must not currently plan to change

(58:46):
their name, gender, date of birth, or place of birth,
and the State Department said applicants should not plan to
travel for at least eight weeks after submitting their application.
Expedited service, which you can get if you mail it in,
is not offered on online renewals now. Currently the processing

(59:08):
time for passports is six to eight weeks for routine
service and two to three weeks for expedited service. But
again that the expedise you got to mail all the
documents in an expedited service does cost an additional sixty bucks.
So here's what you do. If you want to renew

(59:30):
it online. Go to the US State Department travel site
travel dot State dot gov. That's travel dot State dot gov,
and then click on on that homepage. You'll see an
area and click on get a US Passport. Then click

(59:51):
on the option I'm an adult renewing online and follow
the instructions. You know, that's just a great thing. Now.
Senator Romney, when he was a US Senator from the
great state of Utah, worked with the administration and State
Department and got a commitment for a passport issuing office

(01:00:16):
to be opened here in Salt Lake City, date yet
to be determined. I'm hoping the State Department hasn't forgotten
about that, because do you know what a great blessing
that would be where you could just walk right in,
make with an appointment and get it issued even that
same day. That would be a lot of fun, okay.

(01:00:39):
I mentioned earlier in the show that the number one
international visitor destination for US travelers is the UK. I say,
number one in transoceanic. We're not going to Canada, Mexico,
the Caribbean, or South America where you're going to cross

(01:00:59):
either the Pacific or the Atlantic Ocean. It's the United Kingdom,
which is England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Well, what
are some of your favorite UK foods? What are they?
I'll tell you some of mine. Fish and chips is
right at the top of the list. One thing that's
totally bummed me out is they no longer allow fish

(01:01:24):
and chips to be wrapped in newspaper. They said the
ink can be toxic. I thought the ink gave it flavor.
But I love the fish and chips. And what about
Shepherd's pie and cottage pie? Now they're very similar. Shepherd's
pie will have minced lamb with vegetables and you know,
like mashed potatoes on the top. Where are cottage pies

(01:01:47):
the same except it's minced beef. Personally, I prefer the
Cottage pie. Kathy prefers the Shepherd's pie. How about this one?
Have you ever had bangers and mash? I love bangers
and mass. It's sausages with mashed potatoes, peas and gravy.
This is the ultimate pub food, bangers and mash. Now

(01:02:08):
here's a funny one. I've had this one. It's very
good called toad in the hole. Now, it's a sausage
in Yorkshire pudding batter. Now, Yorkshire pudding isn't like your
chocolate pudding or vanilla pudding as a dessert. Yorkshire pudding
is a batter that is cooked and you can have
like roast beef. They call it a carvery with Yorkshire

(01:02:31):
pudding and it's a puffed up almost pastry like that
you eat with it. But one of my favorites, and
I eat this all the time in New Zealand and
Australia and it's a big hit in the UK, are
hot pies. You've got a filling wrapped in pastry. My
favorites are steak and cheese, steak and mushroom. They have

(01:02:54):
steak and kidney. I'm just not a kidney guy, but
you know they've gotten kind of crazy. Those are the
traditional steak and cheese, steak and mushroom. Now they have
like butter chicken, one of my favorite Indian dishes, or
a curry chicken, or a vegetarian pie with it, a
lot of fun, lot of fun. And you know, Samuel Johnson,

(01:03:18):
perhaps England's greatest man of letters, made a statement about
London that is often attributed to Sir Winston Churchill, but
he didn't say it. Samuel Johnson said it. He said
when a man, and I would add a woman, when
a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.

(01:03:40):
I love London. It's a very diverse city. Do you
know that over three hundred languages are spoken by residents
of London. And London is a small city within what
we is a greater city Westminster and different things of London.
The number one most widely spoken language, of course is English.

(01:04:02):
But you know what number two is Mandarin Chinese, Number
three is Hindi that's as in India, number four Spanish,
and number five is French. Now what about big Ben.
Big Ben is not the clock at Parliament, it's the
clock tower. Big Ben is the bell of the clock tire,

(01:04:26):
a clock Tower. It's also interesting now Traditionally taxis in
London must be we're always black. Now you see him
red and white and different colors. But the taxi drivers
must pass a rigorous test called the Knowledge including they

(01:04:47):
have to memorize every street in the city of London,
and so part of the test will be, Okay, you're
going to pick up someone at Westminster Abbey and they
want to go to West End, how would you drive
them there? What streets would you take? You know, no offense,
but you know you go to New York or some

(01:05:09):
of these places. I think the test for a taxi
drivers you don't bathe, and you don't speak English. No
offense intended. But that's been my experience with that, and
they're protected like you're going to rob them or something. Anyway,
I love London, you know. Kathy and I gave to

(01:05:30):
our adult children and their spouses last year a Rhine
River cruise with Almah Waterways. But we went to London
for about four days, then down to Amsterdam for a
couple of days and picked up the Rhine River and
Amsterdam and sailed ourselves down to Switzerland again. Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland.

(01:05:54):
Absolutely fact, it was so much fun having our kids,
our adult children and their spouse is with us and
exploring in. One of the highlights of the whole trip
was going inside Buckingham Palace, which of course is the
official residence of the Monarch of the United Kingdom. To me,

(01:06:16):
it is a absolute must see and it's open for
a couple of months every year. You have to buy
a ticket usually runs about thirty pounds, it's about thirty
six thirty seven dollars and they sell out. They have
X number that they sell for every date. Now this
year Buckingham Palace and you really are seeing the state

(01:06:39):
rooms will be open to the public from July tenth
of this year to September twenty eighth. And guess what.
We have a tour going to the UK, Scotland, Wales
and England that you can include a ticket to the

(01:07:03):
Buckingham Palace. And you know this is a magnificent tour.
We start in Edinburgh and then make our way through
the lake country through Wales. Did you see what was it?
Nineteen forty one? The movie How Green was My Valley?
And that shows the miners' row of houses. It really

(01:07:24):
has remained unchanged it's a classic movie How Green Was
My Valley? Will be in York. York is the the
kind of the essential UK has everything basically that London
has been on the smaller scale. I enjoy walking the ramparts.
Will go to Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace and burial

(01:07:45):
of William Shakespeare. And then of course in Scotland. One
of the highlights is the are you ready for this
the Tattoo Festival. No, it's not body art. Everybody thinks
I'm going to a body art convey No, tattoo is
a four hundred year kind of like tradition. What it

(01:08:06):
is it's the world's largest celebration of bagpipe and drum corps,
militaries and private groups. They come from all over the world.
Go on YouTube and just type in Scotland Tattoo Festival
and they were right there in the grounds of the
Edinburgh Castle, which dominates the city of Edinburgh, and it's

(01:08:33):
overlooking the city but they set up just for the festival.
It's only in August for a couple of weeks, viewed
by over one hundred million people worldwide, and they have
these massive bagpipe musicians, performers, drum corps, now where did
the name tattoo come from. Well in the sixteen hundreds

(01:08:55):
a drummer from the Army Corps and the town crier
or the sergeant would come out and visit all the
pubs and inns and would shout out tattoo tattoo, which
meant to the innkeeper or the pub keeper, turn off
the taps, send the men to their homes, and the
soldiers back to the barracks. Well, over four hundred years

(01:09:18):
tattoo tattoo became tattoo. It was very funny when we
first put this tour out and I'll be your personal
host and tour guide, it said the Tattoo Festival. Nobody
bought any of it because they think I'm going to
a body art convention, you know. And I said, no, no, no,
to our marketing people, it's got to be Scotland, Whales

(01:09:40):
in England, including the Scotland Bagpipe Festival. That's one day
we are going to see Scotland, Wales and England. With
an optional extension into Paris. You can also extend your
visit into England, go to the Buckingham Palace. You know
what I really love is the war rooms. It's right there.

(01:10:02):
Near Parliament. The Government Office is rather and it's where
Churchill directed the efforts during World War Two. All the
details Morriscolumbus dot com. Click on Morris Murdoch Escorted tourist
and click on Europe More when we come back, Yeah,
right here on the Travel Show. Welcome back to the

(01:10:44):
Travel Show. I don't know where two hours go so quickly,
but you know I look forward to every Saturday and
spending this time with you because you know you're here
because you love travel, and I love sharing a lifetime
of travel. I've been in the travel business forty seven years,
visited one hundred and fifteen countries. They got a couple

(01:11:05):
of new ones coming up this year, and most of
that one hundred and fifteen I have visited many times.
And you know, Kathy and I took our kids traveling
a lot around the world as they were growing up,
and now we are taking our grandchildren. I mentioned that
spring break April sixth to the tenth next year where

(01:11:26):
most not all, but most of the Utah school districts.
That is the spring break with a five day cruise
starting in just three hundred and seventy three dollars for
two adults two kids. But if you just want like
two people, you and your favorite spouse or partner, favorite one.

(01:11:46):
That's kind of weird. Three hundred ninety nine dollars that
includes all taxes and fees for a five day cruise
Monday through Friday. Well, if you use the Salt Lake
International Airport, I recommend you park with Parkinjet, we can
give you twenty percent discount. Go to Morriscolumbus dot com,
click on resources and then click on the Salt Lake

(01:12:10):
parkin Jet discount twenty percent. And what I recommend you
do is print four or five copies, just keep them
in your car, give them to your family and friends.
Twenty percent can save you a ton of dough. Do
you know how to get twenty five hundred free sky
miles from Delta Airlines? I do, and I get a
lot of those freebies. They have a really good program

(01:12:33):
called Delta's twenty minute Bag Grule that for a domestic flight,
if your bag doesn't turn up on the carousel within
twenty minutes of when they open the door on the
plane when it lands, not when it's taxing, but when
it pulls up the gate and opens the door, they'll
give you twenty five hundred free sky miles. Now I

(01:12:54):
always watch the clock on that and at Salt Lake
if I land during a busy time, or at Terminal B,
which is halfway to Ogden halfway to Idaho. I would
say at least a third or forty percent of the time,
my bag doesn't show up in twenty minutes, and I

(01:13:16):
have the priority tag on it because of my medallion status.
So here's what you do. They don't automatically give it
to You have to apply for it. You don't talk
to anyone, it's all automated. Go to Delta dot com.
That's their website, Delta dot com, and in the search
bar in the upper right hand corner, just click in
twenty minute bag rule and then you fill in your name,

(01:13:39):
your confirmation number that's the six alpha digit alpha numeric
digital reservation number it's on your boarding pass, and type
it in the date and you have to do it
within three days of landing where you started, the city
you originated in the city of land and they'll tell
you if it's twenty within the twenty minutes. Now, if

(01:14:02):
it's twenty five, it's obvious, but sometimes it's like twenty
minutes almost on the button and sometimes it'll get well,
it's twenty five hundred free sky miles now'll that will
help you out. I did mention earlier one of my
favorite activities is the Christmas markets. I mentioned that early

(01:14:23):
in the Lebkuchen. We Morris Columbus Travel. I'll be your
personal host and tour guide. Along with Kathy have chartered.
We have bought half a river boat with Alma Waterways
for next year twenty twenty six. The cruise dates or
December third to the tenth, and you see all the

(01:14:45):
sight seeing in Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands that
you normally would see any time of the year. And
then they add the Christmas markets, a six hundred year
tradition where every city, big or small, hamlet or village
completely lose their mind at Christmas. And I'm not a shopper.

(01:15:06):
I don't even like shop for socks, okay, but the
first time I did this, I had to go buy
an extra suitcase because I was buying everything under the
sun for my grandkids. You know, I don't spend a
lot of money on myself, but grandkids they get everything.
Everything Again, the dates of December third to the tenth.
The discounts that Morris Columbus can offer range from several

(01:15:32):
hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars per person. Most
of them are in that category per person, you know,
two to three thousand dollars per couple. Why because we
bought half the ship and it's going to be absolutely marvelous.
We'll have a pre cruise option in Switzerland because we
start in Basel, Switzerland and sale on the Rhine to Amsterdam.

(01:15:56):
You can extend your stay if you want, or just
come home straight from the cruise. Again, we have NonStop
flights out of Amsterdam to Salt Lake City. But Germany, France, Netherlands, Switzerland,
Christmas time and you know the times that we have gone,
the weather has always been quite comfortable. Yeah it's winter time,

(01:16:18):
but we've never been in sub zero or anything like that. Anyway,
i'd love to have you join me now. For information
on all of these tours, go to Morriscolumbus dot com.
That's Morriscolumbus dot com. Click on Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours
and then click on cruises. That's where you'd find this one,

(01:16:40):
and then just look for the date for land tours
you check on the geographic era maybe Asia, maybe Africa, Europe,
South America or wherever. Well, that wraps it for April
twenty twenty five, doesn't it? Where has Where has the
month gone? Next week will be in May, the IDEs

(01:17:04):
of May. I can't believe it. Well then May thank
you for tuning in love you guys, look forward to
talk to the every Saturday. Morriscolumbus dot com eight hundred
triple nine forty six forty six