The Travel Show: Coming at you from Vietnam!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
You're listening to the Travel Show. Welcome, it's great to
have you here. I'm Larry Gelwicks, that get Away Guru
and the Travel Show Today. Well you know where I am.
I told you last week, guess in Saigon Ho Chi
Minh City, Vietnam. It's actually Sunday morning at about one
am in the morning, eleven o'clock back in good old

(00:36):
USA in Salt Lake City. We are concluding we're actually
flying home today Sunday from the most incredible trip. It's
the first time we'd ever done all of this together
with a wonderful group of Travel Show listeners. Thailand and Vietnam. Now,

(00:57):
two weeks ago I was in Thailand and you heard
me here on the show. Last week I was in
cheng Mai, Thailand and headed to Vietnam. And we've been
in Vietnam. We've had an just a wonderful trip. In fact,
it's been so good I just may do this one again. Now,
I said, we haven't done this particular tre I've been

(01:20):
all over Thailand, you know, I get there two three
four times a year every year. I've been all over Vietnam,
but we haven't done a Thailand Vietnam. Now The centerpiece
for us was the Loi Kretong festival. You remember that
it's celebrated all over the country of Thailand, but the epicenter,

(01:42):
it's like going to Bethlehem for Christmas, kind of the
epicenter of the birth of Christ. Well, the epicenter for
the Loi Kratong Festival, the most colorful, the most exciting
festival in all of the Kingdom of Thailand is in
Suko Thai. So flew into Bangkok, did everything that you

(02:05):
could possibly do. The city, the canals. You know, there's
over one thousand canals in Bangkok. It's called the Venice
of the East, but Venice has what a couple hundred
canals here in Bangkok. It's kind of interesting. There's four
type of taxis. There's your traditional taxi with a meter.
There's a tuktuk, which is a three wheeled vehicle, open

(02:28):
sided but covered, no meter. You just negotiate the price
before you go. Then there's the back of a motorcycle.
If you have a death wish, yeah, there's these motorcycles.
They got a helmet. They have a vest identifying them.
You don't have a helmet unless you bring it. How
many visitors and tourists bring helmets, motorcycle helmets. But the

(02:50):
fourth is really interesting. In Bangkok, it's a water taxi. Yeah,
you step in and through the thousand plus canals. They'll
take you into the business district, into the residential district,
anywhere you want to go. You know, also, as you
travel the country and around the world, you have the
hop on, hop off bus. In cities, they have a

(03:14):
hop on, hop off boat that goes to all the
major sites there in Bangkok. Well, and then the shopping,
don't even get me started. The night markets, the shopping
you know, Asia, Tique Mall, the Paragon, Siam Mall, the
biggest food court I've ever seen, with both lots of

(03:37):
Western and Asian delicacies is in Bangkok. Well. From Bangkok,
we went north in the Midlands to Sukotai and there
at the Ancient Temple, a sound and light show, a program,
and the Loi Kretong festival, where we put a kretong,
which is a banana leaf filled with all of our

(03:57):
bad vibes, unpleasant memories, disappointments, our sins are mistakes, everything
that has gone wrong in our life. We put them
on the kratong and push it out on a body
of water, and it's a release. It's a day of renewal,
and you know it works. From Suko time, we went

(04:19):
to one of my favorite places up in the foothills
of the Himalayas, which is cheng Mai and the world
famous and I mean world famous night market Nightmas. You
can't even comprehend There are not words for me to
describe how big this night market it is. It goes

(04:41):
on for blocks and blocks and blocks and it comes
to life only at nighttime. Well, we then went out.
I remember last week I talked about the cheng Dao
valley and the elephant experience, the rafting on a bamboo
raft with guides down a lazy river. We then flew
to Hanoi in Vietnam, the capital city. You know, Hanoi

(05:06):
is a French city. Saigon is a French city, centuries
old architecture with very cultural influences from Southeast Asia, China
and France. And what I'd love is going to the
old quarter, narrow streets, shops, boutiques, restaurants, these alleyways lined
with merchants, very very different feeling and vibe in Hanoi

(05:31):
as opposed to Saigon. You know, the Vietnamese call it
ho Chi Minh City after their uncle Hoe, and that's
not a disrespectful term. We know it as Saigon. They
have the lively Dong Suan Market very similar to Benan
Market in Saigon. Everything you could possibly want to see.

(05:54):
And then the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum now Ho Chi
Minh there is preserved in a glass casket much like
Lenin and King Amun or Tuton common as we call
it preserve. You can see President Hoe, uncle Hoe there

(06:14):
at the mausoleum, reverenced by the Vietnamese people. The Hanoi
Opera House, and the serene Ho Km Lake, the Temple
of Literature. One of the most moving places is the
notorious Holau Prison, named by the American POWs as the
Hanoi Hilton, where John McCain spent almost some five years,

(06:39):
and you can actually walk into his cell. This is
where John McCain, later the Senator from Arizona and Republican
candidate for the presidency lived and endured torture. Did you
know that his father was a high ranking government and
military man. When the Vietnamese found out about that, they

(07:03):
offered to release him, but he said no, if his
comrades we're going to have to stay, he would stay
the other So it's a great experience. Now the peak
for us is I chartered a boat out on Hollong
Bay UNESCO World Heritage Side. If I showed you pictures

(07:24):
of Hollong Bay, you'd immediately recognize it. It's like gun drops.
There are literally thousands of limestone carts and islands. Carts
is a type of landscape that's formed by the dissolution
of soluble bedrock, most commonly limestone, creating features like well sinkholes, caves,

(07:50):
underground streams. It is absolutely fascinating. So we spent three
days on the houseboat and we go is that these
villages remote island villages there in Hollong Bay and its
ultra deluxe everything about it. I call it a house,
but it has twenty guest cabins on it, you know,

(08:12):
forty people. And then we flew down to Saigon or
Ho Chi Minh city. It's a French city, cafes, it's
very cosmopolitan, very very different than Hanoi. There's a vibe
to it. There's an activity level and tree lined streets, boulevards, cafes, restaurants, boutiques.

(08:34):
Some of the highlights there in Saigon would be the
Reunification Palace. Now, this was the presidential palace before North
Vietnam took over South and as they call it, reunified
the country. It was like the Vietnamese white House where
their president lived. Well, now they call it the Reunification

(08:57):
because that's where the North Vietnamese signed the reunification papers.
And you can tour that. The Notre Dame Cathedral is
just magnificent and a very interesting stop that may surprise
you is the post office because of inside, well, it's

(09:17):
a very French building. It's not just some slabs of cementthrum.
You'd think you're in Paris, but you walk in and
these beautiful tile mosaics on the walls surrounding this massive
post office. Going down to the Maekong Delta, we went
to the Kuchi Tunnels. Now the Kuci tunnels were called

(09:38):
the rat tunnels where the Viet Kong, who are stature
in size, much smaller than most Americans, they would carry
out their military exploits and then hide in the tones.
That hospital's barracks. Everything people lived underground, and this network
was all over Not just the city of Saigon, but

(10:02):
the whole area. Now one place that I always take
the groups too, and the local guide say you don't
want to go there. It's called the War Memorial Museum,
and I always give them a talk. Remember this was
written by the Vietnamese. It shows the French and the Americans,
as you know, the great Satan what they did to

(10:23):
the people, doesn't show the atrocities of the Vietcong War
is a horrible thing. Terrible things happen on both sides. Well,
we've had a wonderful time. It's Sunday morning here and
we'll be headed home shortly. I'll be back live in
studio next week. When we come back, I want to

(10:44):
talk about food, some of my favorite foods in Thailand
and Vietnam. And then who invented pizza? Yeah, we're gonna
talk about that here on the Travel Show. Welcome back

(11:12):
to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwicks to get Away Guru,
and so look forward to spending this time with you
every weekend. Well today, as I mentioned in our last segment,
I am in Saigon, Vietnam, known locally as Ho Chi
Minh City, and we've had a wonderful group of travel
show listeners for the Loi Kratong Festival in Thailand. We

(11:37):
made our way to Vietnam. I just can't tell you know,
I'd love Southeast Asia. Well, I'm a foodie. I absolutely
I remember Kathy tells me, I can't remember anything she's
asked me to do around house, but I can remember
that details literally of a meal we had thirty years ago,
where it was, what time, what we ate, what we

(11:59):
liked about it. I love Asian food, particularly Thai and
Vietnamese food. Some of my favorite dishes I've eaten here
in Vietnam is FA now it's spelled pH oh. No,
it's not pronounced pooh. We don't eat pooh. We eat

(12:20):
fa pH oh. It's a noodle soup, a broth based
with noodles and a meat. I like to get the beef,
maybe a brisket beef for something, and then with some
bakchoi and other vegetables. It is absolutely delicious. Bond Me

(12:41):
is the baget sandwich, very very famous. You know what
makes that bagette sandwich? So it's the bread. Now, because
of the French influence, the Vietnamese have wonderful French bakeries.
You know all over the country, and you've got to
have the right bread on that. The bun Buncha is

(13:01):
grilled pork with noodles with some lettuce and vegetables and
some sauce. You can also get it with some crispy
spring rolls on it, or with shrimp or chicken. It's wonderful,
of course, steam drice, fish, pork, chicken, beef, a lot
of stir fry things, but it's fresh. I really like

(13:24):
their fresh spring rolls. It's in a rice paper. It's
not deep fried, but you'll have some vegetables in it.
And the ones that I get have a thin slice
of pork and a shrimp that's kind of butterflied out
with a dipping sauce, a peanut dipping sauce. Oh my gosh,
shut the front door. I've gone to Nirvana now in Thailand,

(13:49):
where you know I would live if it weren't for
my kids and grandkids. Pad Thai pad Thai is a
noodle dish, and I often struggle to find a really
good one here at home. I've had some okay ones,
but you can get the pad thaie vegetarian with shrimp,

(14:10):
with beef, with chicken and it's it's cooked and in
a walk and it is. It's kind of the signatureedition.
You want to put ground chopped peanuts on top with
lime juice. Caupole Capa is interesting. It's usually with a
minced chicken or minced pork with that sweet hot Basiley

(14:34):
leaf in it. You can get it hot or mild,
with a scoop of rice. They usually put the rice
in a cup so it has a shape and form
and put it on your plate. Now, if you know
it's authentic, there's a fried egg. Always get the fried
egg onto it, and then you have curries. Now, the
Thai curries are so different they don't even resemble Indian curries.

(14:56):
The Thai curries have a coconut milk base and you
can get them very mild. I don't recommend that you
go native hot because that will that's just kind of crazy.
But I love it, you know what, Kathy likes it mild.
I like it medium, So we of course have to
order everything mild. But I asked them to bring me

(15:17):
the ground chilies and some of the hot stuff on
the side, and I just doctor it up. Tom Young
Goon is a kind of a hot and sour soup
with shrimp. It's I mean, it's just then you have
tom young Guy, which is goon is shrimp guy is
chicken somtum somtom is. It's a spicy dish. It's a

(15:41):
green papaya salad. And then one of my absolute favorites
is cawsoy. It's kind of a curried noodle soup. Doesn't
have to be spicy. You can get it spicy if
you want, but it's with chicken and some crispy noodles
and other goodies and veggies on it. And you know
what's really popular and time? Are you ready for this? Pizza?

(16:03):
Steak and hamburgers. You can find Western You could even
find Burger King of McDonald's and seven eleven's all over
the country. Now I'm a pizza guy. I absolutely love pizza.
And the question is who and where was pizza invented? Well,
by the mid eighteen hundreds, flat breads topped with cheese

(16:26):
and herbs were common street food in Naples, Italy, and
as the story goes, on June eleventh, eighteen eighty nine,
to honor the Queen Consort of Italy, Margherita of Savoy,
the Napoleon excuse me. Neapolitan pizza maker Rafael Esposito created

(16:47):
a margarita pizza, a pizza garnet, tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil
basil to represent the national colors of Italy as on
the flag of Italy. Flat beds with toppings are actually
traced to Egypt, Greece and Rome. Pizza in America really
began in the late nineteenth century with large numbers of

(17:10):
Italians immigrating to the US. They brought foods with them. Lombardies,
the first pizzeri in North America, was opened in nineteen
oh five by Gennaro Lombardi on Spring Street in New
York's Little Italy. You can still dine there today, opened
nineteen oh five. Well, obviously, pizza spread across the country,

(17:33):
and you know we've all had frozen pizza. Frozen pizza
was invented in the nineteen fifties by a Minneapolis pizzeria owner,
Rose Totino. Now that is kind of on the budget pizza.
Give it to your kids, don't eat it yourself. Totino's pizza,
but it's cheap. Pizza Ut opened their first restaurant in

(17:56):
which of Ta Kansas in nineteen fifty eight, Caesar's followed
a year later, and Dominoes came in nineteen sixty. When
we come back in the next segment, we're going to
focus in on Hawaii. But I'm going to tell you
my favorite Pizza Rea restaurants here in the Salt Lake area.
I'd like to hear from you of where you have

(18:19):
had a great pizza right here on the Travel Show.
And so we're going to go to Hawaii. I want
you to be thinking about why, why does Hawaii have
such a call a hold on to this? Why do
we go back again and again? All that and more

(18:42):
on today's Travel Show. Welcome back to the Travel Show.

(19:04):
I'm Larry Gelwick's the Getaway Guru, your humble host of
the Travel Show for thirty four years. Can you believe
that thirty four years? Here behind the microphone? And I
love you all. I love this show. Want to remind
you that the Travel Show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel,

(19:27):
where you always travel more and pay less. Be sure
and check out their website Morriscolumbus dot com. That's Morriscolumbus
dot com. If you have a favorite travel advisor, you
can call him or her direct on the direct line.
If you don't have one, call eight hundred triple nine
forty six forty six. That's eight hundred triple nine forty

(19:49):
six forty six. I want to remind you that every
year Morris Columbus Travel sponsors the biggest, the best travel
expo anywhere in the inner Mountain area, maybe in the
entire Western United States. But the dates will be January

(20:10):
twenty one in Saint George it's a one day event,
and Friday and Saturday January twenty third twenty fourth at
the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy, now the Sandy
Event because we have more space. Brings in over a
hundred travel vendors. These are airlines, cruise lines, safari companies,

(20:31):
travel companies, resorts, hotels, all things connected with travel, and
great prizes are given away round trip airline tickets to Europe, vacations, cruises,
hotel stays, special discounts, and by the way, that the
expo always have exclusive expo discounts. So mark those dates

(20:53):
in your calendar. For our listeners in southern Utah, it's
January twenty one in Saint George, and for the rest
of US Friday Saturday January twenty third and twenty fourth
at the Mountain America Expo Center and Sandy, And as
I do every year, I'll be broadcasting the Travel Show live.

(21:15):
I promise to tell you some of my favorite pizza
places in the Salt Lake are. And I know we're
syndicated at nineteen stations, but I don't know necessarily pizza
places in your hometown. So here in Salt Lake, in
no particular order, A set to Bellows Downtown as a
wood fired brick oven. They do an incredible pizza right there.

(21:40):
And their capreasy salad is an absolute must. That's fresh
mozzarella tomatoes. You can get it with some bisolmc and
some olive oil. Absolutely fantastic. One of my favorites is
the Big Apple Pizzeria on thirty third South and about
thirtieth East. It's been there a long time. Not only

(22:02):
are their pizzas great, but they're Calsoni's now. It's not
a calzone, it's a calsone properly pronounced. Then. You know
some others that I've heard that are pretty good is
you know the Pie pizzeria I've eaten there. That is
the it's a very big pizza you know what I
think is the best value. Now, this may surprise you.

(22:26):
Costco for ten bucks. It's not that it's not set
to Bello, it's not Big Apple, it's not Pie Pizza
Rea or any of these others. But it's for ten bucks.
I think it is absolutely the best value that you
can get. Well, if you have a favorite pizza, send
me a note. Gelwick's at Morriscolumbus dot com. Gelwicks at

(22:48):
Morriscolumbus dot com. And you know what you can do
with my website too, is send me questions, send me
suggested topics here for the travel show. Well, let's head
to Hawaii. You know this is a real number. And
I don't say this to brag, just it ain't bragging
if it's true. I've been to Hawaii one hundred and

(23:12):
seventy times. I've kept track. My very first was in
nineteen sixty six. I was I just turned sixteen years old.
I grew up as a surfer boy in California, and
I went surfing in Hawaii, spent a week or so
there on the island of Oahu. And you know, in

(23:33):
my surfer jam shorts and with some beach boys haircut
playing the guitar sitting on the beach. I haven't picturing
myself playing the guitar. Someone snapped a photo of me.
It was a great time of my life. It was
so much fun, and I just fell in love with Hawaii.

(23:55):
Well you think, how could you possibly go one hundred
and seventy times. Well, you know, there was several years
where I was commuting once or twice every month. We
were doing so much business in Hawaii. Well, you can
rack up a lot of trips year after year. Some
of the trivia that's kind of fun about Hawaii is,

(24:19):
you know, there's one hundred and fifty two islands in
the state of Hawaii. And did you know that east
to west Hawaii is the second largest state in the
Union now Alaska, east to west is about twenty five
hundred miles. It's about fourteen hundred miles north south, But

(24:42):
east to west, you know, you get out to the
Bearing Straits and all of that, it's about twenty five
hundred miles. Well, if you look at the archipelago of
one hundred and fifty two islands and islets, then east
to west in Hawaii is one thousand, five hundred and

(25:04):
twenty three miles. Yeah. Well, on August twentieth, nineteen fifty nine,
Hawaii became the fiftieth stage. I remember that. I remember
as a kid when Alaska and Hawaii became states. The
very first European to I won't say discover because there

(25:28):
are people living there, but to visit the Hawaiian Islands
was Captain James Cook on January eighteenth, seventeen seventy eight. No,
he made three voyages into the Pacific. Well, on June eighteenth,
he sails past Owahu and continues on two days later,
January twentieth, seventeen seventy eight, lands at wai Maya, Kawaii,

(25:53):
and he named the islands. You know, this is so
arrogant of European explorers. They had their own hawaiki, which
probably came from the island of Raieta and what is
today French Polynesia and the Marquis. But he named it
the Sandwich Islands. I actually have an original map from

(26:15):
the eighteen hundreds showing the Sandwich Islands. Anyway, he did
that in honor of John Montague, the fourth Earl of Sandwich.
Did you also know that pineapple is not native to Hawaii? No,
it's not probably came around eighteen thirteen from South America

(26:36):
by the Spanish. What I love about Hawaii is there
are no snakes there. The Hawaiian alphabet has only twelve letters.
The other thing, there are no private beaches, and if
you get even an exclusive neighborhoods, there has to be
a walkway, a right of way down to the beach.

(27:00):
There are no private beaches. I understand that. You know,
some of the billionaires about land and tried to fight that,
and of course they lost. No billboards there in Hawaii either.
You know. One of my favorite places is over on
the Big Island, the sleepy village of Kailua Kona. It's

(27:23):
on the west coast of the Big Island, very historic town.
When you're there, you'll be strolling along the waterfront in
historic Kailua Kona, many restaurant shops, boutiques, galleries, historic landmarks.
Two of my favorite places to visit is the Hulihi Palace,

(27:45):
former royal vacation home dating back to eighteen thirty eight
and also dates back to King Kamehamea. The moku i
Ua Church from a eighteen thirty five was Hawaii's first
and oldest Christian church. And you know, as I said,

(28:08):
King Kameha Mayor, the first lived here on Kailua Bay.
I love Kailoacona. A lot of cruise ships will stop there,
but you can fly there. When you land at the
Kona airport, you think you have landed on the Moon.
It's lava rock. Yes, they have active volcanoes. One of
the most exciting things I ever did. I I picked

(28:29):
up a helicopter ride in on the ConA side on
the west side of the island, and you can do
the short ride the long I like the long ride
because you get over to the Heilo side. The Kona
side is dry. The Hilo side is dense jungle vegetation.
And we flew right over the active volcano was active

(28:50):
at that time, and we are way high up there,
but the pilot said, put your hand out the window.
You could feel the heat coming up from the molten lava.
And what's really exciting is that lava flows down to
the ocean. That you see the steam, but at night

(29:11):
it glows. It's just absolutely magnificent. And then you go
to the jungles on the on the Heilo side of
that now very near Kailua Kona is the city of
refuge pu Hu ho unua o ho now now, and
that is the Hawaiian name of it, I'll call it

(29:33):
the city of refuge. In the time of ancient Hawaii,
it was possessed with extraordinary mana or spiritual power. It
came in part because twenty three Alie chiefs, their bones
were buried and protected at the heal, which is the temple.
The royal grounds were a center of power open only

(29:56):
to the Alie and those serving them. Now, what was nice?
Why is it the city of refuge? Because their law
was called Copu ka p u, and if you broke copu,
very harsh penalties, even the death penalty. For example, if

(30:18):
the elite shadow fell on you, you can't look them
in the face. Men cannot eat with women and women
cannot eat with men. They have had these very strict
Copuu laws. If you broke coppu, they would grab you
and they may either beat you or put you to death. Well,

(30:41):
if you could get to the City of Refuge, you
were forgiven. It's like it had never happened. It was
their own forgiveness of sin breaking Copu. How about in
a wartime with the warriors from invading tribes or the enemy.
They would be taken as slaves or slain. What would

(31:02):
happen that warrior gets to the city of refuge and
he all is forgiven for that? Well, it's a national
his historic part. And there's a tradition that if you
take a stone from the city of Refuge from Puohu
ho oh how now, now you'll have bad luck. And

(31:23):
they have this whole display case of people have taken
rocks with letters, mailing the rock back and describing all
these bad things that had happened to him. Be sure
to visit Kailua, Kona and Puohu houah how now now
on your next visit to Hawaii and the Big Island.

(32:03):
Welcome back to the Travel Show. I'm so glad that
you're here. You know, I think about you guys all
the time and listening in the Inner Mountain States Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Florida,
Idaho and the six people who live in Western Wyoming.
Welcome back to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwick's the

(32:25):
Getaway Guru. The Travel Show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel,
where you always travel more and pay less. Be sure
to give them a call and talk to the experts
and check out their website, morriscolumbus dot com. That's morriscolumbus
dot com. Well, I'm often asked, Larry, where are you

(32:45):
going next? It is so flattering. It happens all the time.
Our travel advisors tell me. Someone will walk in and say,
give me a list of Larry's tours. They want to
go with me. And you know, I don't take that lightly.
It doesn't give me a big head, actually quite humbling.
Because I love people. I love being out with people.

(33:07):
You know. I continue to host tours because I love travel,
I love people. I'm going to give you a rundown
of some of the tours that are already planned now.
I'll be adding to them for next year. In twenty
twenty six, I'll be in Thailand and Cambodia in January,
sold out. I'll be at the expo the end of January.

(33:31):
In February, I'll be taking another group back to Thailand
and Cambodia. That one is also sold out. By the way,
those both sold out literally in one week. And I
tell people, once it's announced it has become so popular
it sells out quickly. Well, then my next tour will

(33:56):
be in February. We have a sold out group sailing
Travel Show listeners. We're going to be sailing from Sydney,
Australia to Auckland, New Zealand. We're gonna see Australian We're
going to see New Zealand, will be down to Tasmania,
the Island of Tasmania, the Milford Sound. You know, it's

(34:17):
just just a wonderful group. We do our own shore excursions,
we have our own onboard private exclusive activities and it's
going to be a good one. One of the one
that I am so looking forward to is in April
April sixth to the tenth of five days Monday through Friday.

(34:38):
Now for most of the Utah school districts that is
spring break, and it's the spring Break escape Creuse where
I mean the prices are so cheap, particularly if you
want to you have kids or grandkids in the in
the same cabin, and I mean you're can go for

(35:00):
four hundred and something dollars including all tax, feast a
five day cruise. We sail from the Port of la
which is really San Pedro. It's close to the Long
Beach Airport and we'll have some exciting days at sea.
We'll visit Catalina Island. We'll stop in Mexico and then
back to La So it's a five day, four night cruise.

(35:22):
You know, two adults two kids is four hundred and
something dollars including all tax. Where can you do that?
Net for spring break? You'll have the weekends on both
side of it. You can break it up in Saint
George or Las Vegas, spend some time at Disneyland or
Newport Beach or San Diego or whatever you might want
to do. Well, then later in April we'll be doing

(35:47):
the Pearls of Asia. I'm sorry sold out and well
put yourself on the wait list because some people will
cancel before we go on all of these tours. But
catch this. We will visit at Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, and
four stops in Japan. I mean, think about you really

(36:10):
get to see Asia now. That is in April. We
all board the ship April seventeenth. In May, I'm so excited.
This is one of my favorites. It's we board the
ship in Tahiti May fifteenth. You've heard me talk about
the Tahiti to Hawaii. We will sail Tahiti Morea right

(36:31):
Yetea Bora Bora, the Society Islands, then cruise the Tomotu
Archipelago of islands in French Polynesia, crossing the equator, and
then visit the islands of Hawaii. There's still room on
that and that has a legitimate free airfare off. It's
really a buy one, get one free. In July, I

(36:53):
will be in Alaska, sailing round from Seattle. We do
our own show excursions on that one. Also in the
end of July, I'll be headed back to the Great
Migration there in Kenya. That's just I mean, you've heard
me talk about. It's just over the top. Then in

(37:15):
November it'll be with Almah Waterways, a deluxe river cruise
to the Maykong. We'll be in Cambodia and Vietnam, with
an option to visit Thailand. Before that, people say, well, Larry,
all your Thailand tours are sold out and are you
going to do another. Well next year, I've got to

(37:37):
Thailand Cambodi, but I'm going to do the Maykong on
a deluxe river boat where we can visit Cambodia and
Vietnam with an option to visit Bangkok. Thailand and finally
in December of this one you don't want to miss
it is the Christmas Markets of the Rhine. Visit Switzerland, Germany,

(38:02):
the Netherlands and France and the Christmas Market. It's a
six hundred year tradition where every town, village, big city,
small city completely loses their mind at Christmas time. Well listen,
in our number two, we're going to focus on cruising
questions to ask before you book your next cruise and

(38:25):
first time cruise tips right here on the Travel Show.

(38:52):
Welcome back to our number two of the Travel Show
in the best two hours in radio. I'm Larry Gelwick's
The Getaway Go. The Travel Show is sponsored by Morris
Columbus Travel, the experts where you always travel more and
pay less. Be sure to check out their website Morriscolumbus
dot com Morriscolumbus dot com and if you want to

(39:14):
look at any of the escorted tours, including the tours
that I will be taking, go to the homepage Morriscolumbus
dot com. Scroll down. I think it's the third item
on the homepage called Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours, and there
you click on a geographic destination and or if it's

(39:37):
a cruise, a cruise. I want to remind you, you know,
a couple weeks ago we had Dan Hone who is
one of our expert Holy Land guides Egypt and the
Holy Land, along with many many others. But Dan was
on the show and we were talking about now is
the time to go. We have a group, We had

(39:59):
a group over there in late October early November. We
have a sold out group over just after the Christmas Holids.
They leave on the twenty sixth, and we still have
some space available for the spring. What's really really nice
about going now is nothing is crowded. It is a

(40:21):
great time to go to the Holy Land. Well, I
want to focus on cruising, and you know I love cruising.
I pack and unpack one time. All of my meals
and entertainment are included in one very affordable price. Cruising
absolutely is the best travel value out there. And there

(40:44):
are some questions, And of course we have ocean and
river cruising and they're very different. I love them both,
but there are some questions that one should ask before
booking your next cruise. The first question is really what
are you looking for? Is it a destination? Cruise or

(41:05):
an experienced cruise. Let me explain the difference. A destination
cruise is I want to see this is my driving criteria.
I want to see a particular geographic area. I want
to see Alaska. I want to see the Mediterranean, the
South Pacific, Hawaii, the Caribbean, Mexico. I mean wherever, and

(41:28):
so you're only looking. Let's say I want to see Hawaii. Well, no,
we were talking about Hawaii. Let's say I want to
see the Caribbean. Well, I am only gonna look at Caribbean.
I'm not gonna look at the Mediterranean. I'm not gonna
look at South America or Hawaii. I'm only looking at now.
I want a good ship, I want a good dietinerary,

(41:49):
I want a good price. But I am focused on
the destination. Whereas an experienced cruise is I want a
good destination. But what is really driving me is a
great cruise experience. I could be happy going to the Caribbean.
I could be happy going to the Mexican River. I

(42:09):
could be happy going to Alaska. I want a great experience.
And yes, I wanted to be a good destination, a
good ship, a good price, I'll give you an example
for Kathy and I some years ago, we celebrated our
fortieth wedding anniversary and we wanted to go on a cruise.

(42:32):
We're travel junkies and so we didn't care where we go. Hawaii, Mexico, Alaska.
We wanted a one week cruise, the Caribbean, New England,
Pacific Coastal Cruise. We looked at them all. I found
a fantastic deal with Norwegian Cruise Lines. By the way,

(42:52):
Morris Columbus Travel has a free air promotion on most
NCL Norwegian Cruise Line cruises free airfare. It's really the
first person pays a discounted fare, the second person fly
sales absolutely free. It's legitimate. They didn't jack the first
price up to make the second one free. And so

(43:15):
we flew to Miami, spent the night there and did
a Eastern Caribbean because I like some you know, some
days at sea, and we just had a marvelous time.
It was kind of weird though, because you know, I
usually travel with groups. I kept having this feeling I
had to go around and organize people. But about the

(43:36):
second or third day, I started to sink and thinking, man,
are we having a wonderful time. So first question, what
am I looking for a private first and foremost a
destination cruise or do I just want a good experience?
You want to find out is your cruise adults only?
Which some ocean and some river cruises are adults own

(44:00):
or family friendly? And what are the port times? Now
this is critically important, the port times, because how long
am I in? I'll give you an example. This is
I don't think this is on our website yet, so
don't even call, wait to hear me announce it. I'll
probably announce it next week when I get home. I

(44:22):
am planning a late September early October the gems of
Southeast Europe. We're going to start in Hungary and end
in Bucharest, Romania. We will visit catch this Hungary, Croatia, Serbia,

(44:42):
Bulgaria and Romania. This is a part of the world
most of you have never seen. A lot of you
been on river cruises. You've done the Rhine, You've done
the Danube. I've done with groups, the Nile, the Maykong,
all of this. How many have really Eastern Europe? Not many,

(45:04):
and so this is a great opportunity to get Please
don't call Morris Columbus. They don't even know about it.
They get so mad at me when I talk about
one of my tours that we haven't loaded on the
website and the advisors know nothing. They're about to take
my head. So please don't call. I'm going to announce it.
I think next week can give you all the details.

(45:26):
It's going to be. We're going to board in Budapest
and we'll offer a pre cruise Budapest option in late September.
So you want to know the port time as well.
One direction on the Eastern Danube, we are sailing downstream
and we have more port time than sailing east to west.

(45:47):
We're coming upstream because we're sailing against the current and
it cuts several hours off most of the ports. I
remember an Alaska cruise, you know at the national parks
that have you know, the different glaciers, only one cruise
ship at a time, and some Alaska cruises do not

(46:10):
get up close and personal to the glaciers anymore. There's
too many ships and you have to have a special permit. Well,
I remember this one cruise, great itiner and it said
viewing this glacier, but check the port times. It was
six am. That's the only time they could get a permit. Well,

(46:32):
who's up at six am on a cruise on vacation,
So of course I didn't book that. You want to
look at the age of the ship. Now, the newer
ships have a lot more amenities, dining options, a lot
more excitement. The older ships they've been refurbished, they tend
to do more of the exotic, unique itineraries. But I

(46:54):
like the age of the ship. And then the size
of the ship. Yes, size does matter when it comes
to cruise ships. And is it one of these megaships
that is over three football fields in length? I mean
you got to stop at the beffet just to refuel
getting from one end to the other. Now, there's nothing
wrong with the mega ships, but the more medium sized

(47:16):
ships are usually twenty five hundred to three thousand, maybe
thirty five hundred. You get some small ships that are
eight hundred to one thousand, and you know, there's no
right or wrong. It's a matter of personal preference. And
then find out what is really included, what do I
have to pay extra for? And then this is critically important.

(47:39):
Who is the target audience of this cruise line? And
let me give you an example. I love Crystal Cruises.
It's an ultra deluxe cruise line. And you look at Disney.
Who's Disney's target audit? Families? It's young kids, it's teenagers,

(48:02):
but it's families. And so what if you want to
know who they're really trying to appeal to, look at
the photos on their website and in their brochure. Now,
Crystal will take families, but that's not who they're after.
You're going to see pictures of people, you know, probably
fifty to fifty five and older, in a relaxed country

(48:25):
club atmosphere. I love Crystal Cruises. They have on their
cruise ship. It's you know, I have a big ocean liner.
It's about a thousand people, not five thousand people. Lots
of rooms, staterooms are bigger, that dining is off the charts.
Then you look at Disney. They are targeting families. Now

(48:45):
will they take a senior couple with no kids? Of
course they will, But you got to ask yourself, after
looking at their target audience, who who it is? And
am I comfortable with this group of people? A question
that's often asked is the drink package worth it? Both
the soda only and the alcohol. My answer is you

(49:08):
have to drink seven or eight drinks to make it
worth it, as opposed to buying them only. If it's alcohol,
that's eight or more drinks every day just to break even.
So it's about the same. Personally, I don't think they're
worth it, but it is a convenient, that's what a
lot of it. I just don't want to be signed

(49:30):
in checks. When we come back, I'm going to take
you on a special France river with me. You're listening

(49:54):
to the travel show. I'm Larry Gelwicks the Getaway Google,
and I've gotten away with the group of them wonderful
travel show listeners in Thailand. And that's where I am
today in Ho Chi Minh City, better known as Saigon,
and we'll be coming home very shortly. In fact, well,

(50:16):
it's Sunday morning here and it's about oh gosh, to
twenty five to twenty in the morning. That should translate
to about twelve twenty mountain time in Salt Lake City.
We've had such a wonderful trip. I want to share
with you a new program. It's now on our website.

(50:38):
So the travel advisors aren't going to get angry with me.
I want you to think very seriously about this one.
You know, this summer, this past summer, in the month
of July, I was with a group of travel show
listeners on a British Isles cruise and my goodness, did
we have a good time. One of our stops was Lejave, France,

(51:00):
which is the gateway to Normandy and the D Day Beaches.
The D Day landing June sixth, nineteen forty four, there
were four landing beaches. The Americans landed on two, which
was Omaha Beach and Utah Beach. The Brits took two
beaches and the Canadians took one. This was the turning

(51:21):
point of the war, and the Germans were ready for them.
They had their bunkers, their gun silos, machine guns just
mowing these people down as they hit the beaches in
their landing craft. I was standing there on Omaha Beach
and it's a sacred moment. I felt something. I absolutely

(51:42):
felt something thinking that on June sixth, thirty four thousand
Allied troops, mostly young men, many teenagers, landed on that
beach as they pushed the war to you know, a
really turning point. And what I always like to do

(52:05):
is go on YouTube for more contemporary historical events and
watch actual video, actual film of an event. I've seen
the attack on Pearl Harbor, the actual video the bofin
submarine World War two attack submarine that operate in the Pacific.

(52:27):
They have a camera in the periscope and you can
see it operating and torpedo torpedoing, Japanese merchant ships and
battleships and other military air not aircraft but ships. And
then the signing in by the Japanese on the decks

(52:48):
of the USS Missouri, presided by General MacArthur, the Japanese
on film surrendering. Then you can course see a lot
of World War Two in the Uuropean theater, and you
can watch the Americans landing on Omaha Beach, and you know,
it just breaks my heart to see these young men

(53:09):
just taken out at the prime of their life fighting
a war that was not theirs, but in the defense
of freedom and liberty around the world. Well, you know,
you go to the American Cemetery, you want to be
there at four o'clock because at four o'clock everything comes

(53:30):
to a standstill and they play taps and there's over
nine thousand Americans buried there, I said, mostly young men,
many of them just teenage boys that were killed in
the landing, and the flag is lowered, it is solemn.

(53:53):
They have a great visitors center there. I'd like to
take you to D Day to LaHave To and in
June of twenty twenty seven, I have a cruise with
Alma Waterways. It's a river cruise sailing round trip from Paris. Yes,
we will have a pre cruise Paris option, or you
can do your own thing. You can go early, you

(54:14):
can stay late. The actual cruise dates are June seventeen
to twenty four, twenty twenty seven. So yeah, we got
some time, a good year and a half plus to
plan for this. But we'll sail, as I said, round
trip from Paris. A couple of the stops that are
my favorite, well, first of all Normandy, the D Day Landing, Beaches,

(54:37):
han Flour, Ruenn, Vernon, Los Angeles, the Hob I mentioned,
But let me talk about Ruins. It's one of my
favorite in France. It's a medieval town and it's like
walking back in time with a magnificent cathedral and its
famous astronomical clock that day back to the fourteenth century

(55:02):
there at the place du Villo Marseille, the old marketplace.
The Saint Joan of Our Church has also been built
on the very spot of her execution in fourteen thirty one. Now,
when I say you think you've stepped back in time,
you have no concept unless you've been there of what

(55:25):
this town with the arches and half timbered buildings, cobblestone streets.
It's a very charming medieval city, medieval streets filled with
half timber houses. Also, the Palace of Justice is an
architectural wonder, Gothic architecturally, by the way, this area was

(55:46):
famously painted by Monet. The tomb of Richard the Lionheart
is there, and of course the famous stained glass windows.
The Palace of Justice, formerly the Courthouse, was a great
example of Gothic arc texture. That is just one stop.
But what we did, because French river cruises are more

(56:07):
expensive than the Danube and the Rine they just are,
we bought half the ship. We flat out bought it.
And let me give you an example of the lead
cabin fixed upper windows. The published rate if you go
this is right off the Almah Waterways website, is five thousand,

(56:27):
five hundred and seventy nine dollars plus some taxes per
person based upon two in a room. So we're talking
about fifty six hundred bucks, but the very same cabin,
because we bought these cabins, the very same cabin the
very same date June seventeen to twenty four is just

(56:48):
thirty eight sixty nine. That is a savings of one thousand,
seven hundred and ten dollars per person for two two
thousand and four hundred and twenty bucks twenty four hundred
bucks savings. Some of these savings are over three thousand
dollars per person for the upper echelon cabins. This is

(57:12):
called Adventures on the River. Signe sin Paris and Normandy.
Check it out on the Morris Columbus website more when
we come back. I'm Larry Gelwicks that get Away Google,

(57:45):
and you're listening to the travel show. Thank you for
joining us every week. If you have questions that you'd
like me to answer on the air, or if you
have a suggestion of a topic that you'd like me
to address on there, would you send me an email
at Gelwick's gel Wix at Morriscolumbus dot com. You know

(58:10):
I mentioned earlier that this tour. November of twenty twenty five,
which was Thailand and Vietnam sold out quickly. My January
twenty twenty six Thailand and Cambodia sold out literally in
one week. The February twenty twenty six Thailand and Cambodia

(58:34):
sold out literally in one week. It's kind of an
interesting one there. I usually just do one. And Vicki Frakia,
who was actually with us last week, she was, of
course in Salt Lake City. I was in Chengmai, Thailand.
She had really wanted to add a secondment so popular,

(58:58):
so many disappointed people, so we added a February twenty
twenty six to the January twenty twenty six, with just
the travel expo in between, and it literally sold out
in one week. We keep the group to thirty six
people plus myself and maybe my wife comes with me,

(59:19):
so thirty eight. And it is the tour that I
am the most proud of, the most you know, I've
been doing. I put the tour together myself, with some
input from my friends in Thailand, and then look it over.
You know. It was interesting. Last January we had a
tour member whose brother had lived kind of like the

(59:43):
Peace Corps in Thailand for fourteen years, travel everywhere. And
she told him, well, I'm going to your old stomping
ground time. He says, let me see the itinerary. He
looked at it, and this is a direct quote. This
is the finest Thailand tour itinerary I've ever seen. And
he'd lived there for fourteen years. So twenty twenty six

(01:00:06):
is gone. And so at Expo, the Fall Travel Expo,
which was October eighteenth, I announced at a seminar that
I'm going to do a January It's late January, after
the expo, my Thailand and Cambodia. But I say, don't

(01:00:27):
call yet, wait till it's up on the website. That
was on a Saturday, October eighteenth, and by Wednesday the
following week sold out. It went that fast. Even when
people couldn't see it. They said, well, I know he's
going to do it because he gave us the dates.
He told us not to call, but just put us

(01:00:48):
on the list. So I'm not trying to say that
to brag. I'm just saying that's a reality. Please sign
up for these programs, not only with me, but with
other great tour host as soon as possible, so you
avoid disappointment. Now, I won't saying a you're going to
do another twenty twenty six, I told you kind of that.

(01:01:10):
November of next year, I will be doing the riches
of the may Kong a River cruise with Ama Waterways,
the Deluxe River Cruise Company, and we will sail in
the backwaters of Cambodi and Vietnam, with an option to
visit Thailand with me because I'll be your host. Before that,

(01:01:32):
we'll have an opportunity to see Anchor Wat, one of
the great wonders of the world. In Sea and Reap, Cambodia.
From the twelfth to fourth century, Anchor Wat was the
most enlightened, educated community. And what's nice is that temple
was never overgrown by jungle. Why because from the twelfth

(01:01:52):
century to this very day it has been a working temple.
The pridge it's a temple today. But we will spend
one week on the Mighty man Cong. Of course, we'll
visit PanAm Penn, the capital of Cambodia, will get to
Ho Chi Minh City better known to us as Saigon,

(01:02:13):
but we will be visiting the backwaters towns that are
local people still walking the fields plowed by a water
buffalo pulling a plow. It's a step back in time.
Most everything done by hand of farmers, fishermen, out of

(01:02:35):
the lake. Everything. What I look forward to is ou Doong.
It's a how do I describe this because it's Cambodia's
former royal capital from the seventeenth century until eighteen sixty six.
But today Odong is a place of pilgrimage for the Cambodians.

(01:02:59):
And we will be treated to a special Buddhist blessing
ceremony at the monastery. Yeah, we're going in as their
private guest, right into the monastery, not outside where everybody
else has to be. But we'll have a ceremony there.
And you know, I like to just do a walking

(01:03:22):
tour Oudong. You can get one escorted, you can go yourself.
We visit, then sail down to ten Chow, which it's
a small Maykong rivertown, absolutely unspoiled by tourism. This is
where you get an authentic traditional trishaw, not rickshaw, trishaw

(01:03:45):
right around town. And they're famous for this silk making. Well,
we have all these stops places you've never heard of.
But how much do you trust me? How much do
you trust when I say this is one not to
be missed. I had some people sign up for my
time island Cambodinism. Larry, you said, trust us, so we
did it. It was one of the greatest experiences of

(01:04:06):
our life. I have done this Maykong before. I'd love
to hear from some of you who have been with me.
But the Maykong, the riches of the Maykong. The actual
cruise dates are November nine to sixteen. We will have
some pre cruise option to anchor Wat, Cambodia, Bangkok, Thailand,
and then post cruise options to Saigon. See the ship

(01:04:33):
disembarks about an hour outside the city. You can go
straight to the airport, or you can extend your stay.
I mean, when are you ever going to get back
to that part of the world. Of course you're going
to extend it. And here again, we bought half the ship. Now,
the Maekong ships are smaller than the European river ships,

(01:04:54):
but it's a great value when you consider we bought
half the ship and your price is will be anywhere
from five to six seven eight hundred dollars per person,
less than booking direct up to one thousand and fifteen
hundred less than booking directly the same date November nine
to sixteen, twenty twenty six, or with any other travel

(01:05:19):
agency or company. Why because we bought have to We
are willing to take inventory risks because we bought them.
We can't give them back. We have bought the cabins
and they belong to us. Well, will there be another
Thailand tour? Yeah, I've got it with the Maykong in November. Well, Alaska,

(01:05:42):
it's interesting. Alaska is one of the most popular destinations.
It just goes so fast. And one thing to remember
about hotel prices, air prices, cruise prices is they do
not remain static, meaning they never move. As the airplane
fills up, as the hotel fills up, as the cruise

(01:06:04):
ship fills up, the prices go up. You know, I
mentioned that Tahiti Hawaii cruise the price is still pretty good.
But last year when I took this particular tour, the
price is literally doubled by the end when they still

(01:06:25):
had Cabinsville, but just a few literally doubled from what
we were selling it for. You know, five six months
in advantage. You want to come to Tahiti and Hawaii,
French Polynesia, the Society Islands, the tour Motu Archipelago. You
want to see Polynesia, the South Seas. Sign up today

(01:06:46):
with Morris Columbus travel by the way those crew. Actual
cruise dates are May fifteenth to twenty seven of twenty
twenty six. Alaska. You know, Alaska is such a popular cruise.
It has a shorter season. Most of them are, oh, say,

(01:07:06):
May to September. Every now and then you'll see a
late early October or late April cruise. The weather's a
little bit different at that time. You know. Really the
peak of peak season would be mid June to mid August.
You get into August, you start it's a lovely time

(01:07:29):
for whale watching. You know, later in the year you're
going to get some great views of fall foliage there
in Alaska. But Alaska, they have a state sport. You
want to guess what it is, not fishing, it's dog mushing.
And Alaska has the lowest population density in the nation.

(01:07:53):
There are two hundred and twenty four federally recognized tribes
in twenty indigenous language spoken in the state. One third
of Alaska is in the Arctic Circle and of the
twenty highest peaks in the United States, seventeen are in Alaska,

(01:08:17):
and including the highest speak in North America is Mount
Denali or I think it's been renamed Mount McKinley is
twenty thousand, three hundred and twenty feet. I would love
to have you join me next summer in Alaska. I
will be sailing now, you can go anytime. I will

(01:08:38):
be sailing July twelve to nineteen twelve to nineteen twenty
twenty six with Princess Cruises, who kind of owns Alaska.
They do it like nobody's business, sailing round trip from Seattle.
We still have some wonderful prices because we're holding group
space and we locked in some group discounts. Here's what

(01:08:59):
makes coming with me different. We have onboard private and
exclusive activities and get togethers. Off the boat. We do
our own shore excursions. We include more and you're going
to pay less. Let me mention a couple. One is

(01:09:19):
whale watching now in Juneo. Whale watching is really the
best thing that you can do. And we charter our
own boat and we go where we want. Who else
charters their own boat? We do, and of course we
like to visit Mendenhall Glacier. We'll take you to some
areas where the bear viewing is pretty good. There's no

(01:09:41):
guarantee on bears. They're wild animals, but we see them often.
How about Ketcha Can Totem Parks, the finest totem parks
in all of North America. We take you there. We'll
explore Creek Street, a little tour of catcha Can and
there's a pl there called Herring Cove that also is

(01:10:03):
one of the finest bear viewing sites. We go there
and again July twelve to nineteen. It's on the website.
Go to Morriscolumbus dot com, click on Morris Murdoch Escorted
Tours and click on Cruise. From July twelve to the nineteen,
I will be your personal host of tour Guide in
Alaska More Travel when we come back. Welcome back to

(01:10:44):
the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwicks, the Getaway Guru, and
I am so grateful and so excited that you join
me every week right here on the Travel Show, where
we live, breathe, drink and everything travel. And whether you're
an active traveler or what we call an armchair traveler,

(01:11:06):
We're glad to have you here with us. I park
at the Salt Lake International Airport and I only park
at parking Jet. Now there's two major off airport parking opportunities,
Parking Jet and another. Why do I pick parking Jet.

(01:11:26):
It's smaller, the drop off is quicker, and you can
get a twenty percent discount. Go to the Morris Columbus
website Morriscolumbus dot com. Click on resources and then click
on Salt Lake Airport discount. Then print a half a
dozen of them. You want to save some money at Christmas,

(01:11:47):
make that your Christmas gift to your friends. I'm saving
your twenty percent. But when you drive in, ask for
a free car wash coupon and they pick you up
right there. They even offer detailing. Now that's at an
additional cost, of course, but they have open economy parking,

(01:12:09):
preferred premium parking. But what I also like is they
are locally owned. Don't you believe in shopping local? Now?
You know the other place called the parking Spot. It's
a good parking lot, but they're corporately owned out of state.
The money goes out of state. I want my shopping

(01:12:29):
dollars wherever I go whenever I can to stay local,
and I get a twenty percent discount with the Morris
Columbus Coupon again Morriscolumbus dot com click on resources, click
on Salt Lake Airport discount. Hey. Earlier in the show,
I mentioned the spring break escape crews most of the

(01:12:51):
school districts in Utah. The spring break for next year
is Monday to Friday, April six to ten, and of
course you have the weekends on both ends. I mentioned
a five day, four night cruise as the ultimate family vacation.
It's great for couples too, But catch this two adults,

(01:13:12):
two kids. Royal Caribbean defines kids is twelve and under,
two adults, two kids, including the cruise fair, including the taxes,
including the fees. Are you sitting down for this one?
Four hundred and twelve bucks? Now? I got to tell
you that's what the price is as of this moment.
All prices, promotions and discounts are subject to change and

(01:13:35):
availability at the time of booking. Give Morris Columbus a
call on Monday. It may or may not still be
the same. It may even go down, it may go up.
But right now, can you imagine a five day cruise
with your family, grandkids, your children, four hundred and twelve bucks.
You're going to spend that per person at Disneyland every day.

(01:14:00):
It's just one of the great, great opportunities. I'll tell
you something else. It's really exciting. Last month, on October
the twenty eighth, two days before I left on October thirtieth,
Delta Airlines at the Salt Lake Airport opened a second
sky Club lounge on the Terminal two. And you know,

(01:14:25):
they have the one right there on Terminal one as
you come around Starbucks and the other restaurants right there,
and it's a good one. But I got to tell you,
in all of my travels, and I am a sky
Club member so all around the world, this one is
the most elegant, beautiful, distinguished, wonderful sky club anywhere. Now.

(01:14:53):
They don't have a Delta one at this point, but
rumor has it they will sometime in the future. That's
for the Delta one Perer. You have Delta one just
opening in Seattle, lax, JFK, and Boston, and I think
at some point they the rumor is they'll have one

(01:15:13):
here in Salt Lake. But as it is, you've got
to go so you know what Kathy and I did.
I actually was in the club the day before it opened.
I had a special invitation to look it over and
I was just I was absolutely starstruck. So then it
opened to the public on Tuesday, October twenty eighth. I

(01:15:33):
was there. Monday the twenty seventh, Kathy and I and
our group flew out of Salt Lake on Delta on
the new non stop to Seoul and then sold down
to Bangkok. We're coming home saigone to sold non stop
to Salt Lake. We skipped the West coast. How cool
is that? But I said, listen, our flight leaves from

(01:15:56):
terminal one. But we're not going to this star Are
sky Club. We're gonna walk over to terminal two. I
want you to experience. And she was blown away. So
if you're if you're a sky Club member or have
access to it, you gotta go check it out and
terminal number two. And by the way, there's a new

(01:16:16):
Amex Centurion Lounge in terminal number two. Yeah. Hey, there
is a little bit of trivia. Currently out of Salt Lake,
Delta Airlines has sixty eight percent of the departures Southwest,
eleven percent United an American both five percent, Frontier five percent,

(01:16:37):
Alaska at three percent. I don't know what Spirit Airlines has,
but you know, Salt Lake is growing. We're going to
see more and more flights destinations, particularly international flights. Now
I'm going to make a prediction we're going to see
some non stops to South America. Well, Delta has announced

(01:16:59):
a NonStop Salt Lake to Lima that's breaking all sorts
of booking records. I'm expecting at some point perhaps with Laton,
Buenos Aires and other countries. Well, good night from Vietnam.
I'll see in studio next week