The Travel Show: Hawaii & Mexico highlights; 12 days till Christmas; New train service

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Putin tagunvil komen in the Rice Show. Good day and
welcome to the Travel Show. Yes, I'm Larry Gelwicks, the
Getaway Guru, and I just returned from Germany, Austria and
Hungary and practically fluent in German because I had to
be to order my obligatory daily what.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Fratwurst of course.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Hey, I'm joined today by one of my favorite people,
Donnie Rasmussen with Morris Columbus Travel, one of the expert
travel advisors, and we've got an exciting show planned today.
We'll be talking about the Utah Travel Expo, some new
Hawaii and Mexico specials, some free prepaid gratuities with Norwegian

(00:53):
Cruise Line Christmas tradition, and the worst hotel mistakes that
you can possibly make, along with holiday travel advice. If
you're headed to the UK on or after January the eighth,
which you probably are, there's a new ETA Electronic Travel
Authorization that you must fill out before you even board

(01:15):
the plane, and we'll be talking about a special twenty
percent discount out at the Salt Lake Airport. I joined today,
as I mentioned by Donnie Rasmussen with Morris Columbus Travel.
Donnie welcome back to the travel show.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
I haven't seen you in two or three days.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
Pleasure to be here, Hey, listeners.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
We've got the Utah Travel Expo, the biggest, the best
travel expo anywhere in the Inner Mountain West. And there's
two shows. The first is Wednesday, January twenty second in
Southern Utah in Ivans, that's just a little northwest of
Saint George on your way to Santa Clara. That will

(01:57):
be at the brand new Black Desert Resort. And I
haven't been to this resort. I've been to this area, Donnie,
but and it's gorgeous Ivans, Utah. It's a beautiful kind
of a suburb bedroom community.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
It's kind of the upscale version down there.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
But this Black Desert Resort, oh my gosh. In the
Salt Lake area on Friday and Saturday, January twenty fourth
and twenty fifth at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy. Now,
no tickets are required for the Southern Utah January twenty
second on a Wednesday, but tickets are required for the

(02:39):
Salt Lake Area two day Friday and Saturday, January twenty fourth,
twenty fifth. Now tickets are only six bucks apiece. However,
for travel show listeners, we have a secret website where
you can get all the free tickets you want. Get
your family, they're your neighbors, your church or synego, bring

(03:00):
everybody to the Utah Travel Expo and here's how you
get free tickets morriscolumbus dot com forward slash free, Morriscolumbus
dot com forward slash free. Now, I will tell you
can get those tickets anytime, but if you wait to
write before the show, that website will be shut off.

(03:21):
So you want to get your free tickets, and you
want to do it now. Now, Donnie, you and your
husband joined Kathy and I and seventy six travel show
listeners on the most amazing experience, a Danube River cruise
through the Christmas Market. Now, on this river cruise you

(03:43):
see all the normal sight seeing that you'd see any
time of the year, but a six hundred year tradition
where every town, big and small, hamlets and we villages
completely lose their mind at Christmas time at outdoor Christmas festival. Now,
you've traveled a lot, you've traveled your lot, but this

(04:04):
was your first Christmas market experience. How did it grab
you do.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
You know what, it was a thrill to go with
Larry and his group because you are never alone. Every
time you turn around there he is in his red PARKA.
We've got people that you recognize on those complimentary shore excursions.
So we had people with us, and you know what
I have. We've been privileged to go to Europe multiple
multiple times, but they pull out all the stops for Christmas.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
So what are your favorite memories?

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Maybe one or two experiences, places that you went that
are just like a world apart.

Speaker 3 (04:38):
I will tell you one that stands out in my mind.
We were in Salzburg for the day, which I had
been to but it's a lovely walkable city. And on
the way back to our ship, we went through a
little town called Munsee and we stopped there for a
very old Christmas market and there's the basilica of Saint
Michael there, which is where they filmed the wedding scene.
Its sound a music, it's sound.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
A music because it was the old They had a
chapel in Salzburg, but it wasn't big enough to handle
the actors and the audience and all the lights and
cameras and actions, so they went to a monthsey and
that chapel is something else.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
It's over the top, it's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Do you remember what was happening.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
We went to a few and during Christmas. They must
have a lot of practices, just like churches around here,
because we walked in to see the interior and the
choir was practicing, and to stand in that cathedral that
was hundreds of years old with the opulent decorations, and
you can picture that organist Maria walks down that center

(05:43):
aisle without miles long train. Their choir was so good
and that organ is hundreds of years old, and it
peeled out so clearly. I mean, it was it was
something I'll ever forget.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
And of course they had their Christmas market right in
the plaza in front of the chapel and.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Around inside the cloisters, which was really fun.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
Really fun. You know.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
Before the one week cruise, we had most of our
traveling companions. Our group joined me in Bavaria for three
days and we flew into Munich. Now, the cruise left
from Nuremberg, which is actually my favorite. I think, I

(06:23):
think I think I have three real big favorite Christmas
markets in no particular or maybe Nuremberg is first. But
Salzburg was, oh my gosh, and up on the Rhine
is in France the Christmas markets of strasburgerg Yes. Anyway,
so we went to Bavaria. We flew into Munich. We

(06:47):
saw all of Munich, the Ratskeller and the Maritz Platza
and you know, I mean everything Christmas markets of Germany.
But we spent a day down in Bavaria and visited Neuschwanstein.
Now that's the fairytale castle built by King Ludwig the

(07:07):
second built in eighteen sixty nine, took three years to build,
and it's in Schwangau, which is very near Fusen, Germany
and southern Germany and Bavaria.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
But here's the cool part.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
Walt Disney was so taken by the Neuschwanstein castle that
he used it as the inspiration for the Cinderella Castle
in Disneyland.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
It sits up on that cliff and you wonder how
they could possibly have hauled all that stuff up there
and built it. And it's remarkable. You're a king, well,
a mad king called.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Mad King Urie. Then we also visited ober Amagau, which
is the site of the Passenspiel or Passion play, which.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Dates back to sixteen thirty three.

Speaker 1 (07:58):
The start of it, the play was running and ravishing
through Europe, and it was coming up the valley from
under Amagau to ober Amagau, and people are dying right
and left. So the townspeople got together. A few people
had already died in ober Amagau, and they prayed, dear God,

(08:19):
if you will spare our village, we will remember you
in a presentation forever. And miraculously, it's like a hard
right rudder. The plague bypassed their village after that prayer.
That was sixteen thirty three, when Carlos Feta was just

(08:40):
a young man, of course, but true to their word,
the next year, in sixteen thirty four, sixty members of
the village got together and did the Passion Play or
the Passion Spill, the last week of the Savior's life
on his triumphal entry through the Golden Gates of Jerusalem,

(09:03):
and when you know what we call Paul Sunday, and
it goes through his entire life in that last week.
It is magnificent. Now it is, oh my gosh, about
a five hour place. You get half in the morning,
you take a lunch break and come back for the
second half. It's all in German, but you have a

(09:24):
book that gives you the translation whatever language you want,
in English or whatever, and you know the storyline, so
you know what's going on.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
It is.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
It is incredible. You know ober Amagau itself. You remember
all the buildings and homes that are painted in fairy tales.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
It's going to say biblical.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
Signs worth going to if you're not there time.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
My favorite is Little Red Riding Hood. You remember that one?

Speaker 3 (09:54):
Do you remember that one? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (09:56):
Since sixteen thirty four, there's only been twice the A
Passion Play has been canceled, one during World War Two
by Uncle Adolph and then the other during COVID. The
next performance is in twenty thirty and it's.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
Plan ahead heads and I bet Larry'll still be taking
groups over there.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
Well, of course I will listen. When we come back.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
We're gonna be talking about some Hawaii and Mexico highlights
and some specials, including all inclusive Mexico, and some cruise promotion.
One cruise line is offering an annual pass as many
cruises as you want. Another'll give you free prepaid gratuities

(10:40):
even more with another one kids, sail free and sixty
percent off. All that and more on today's Travel Show
after my last row of Guten Tagunville, Cooma, and I

(11:02):
guess I should say now we're going to start this
because we're headed to Mexico and Theloja. We're headed to
the Magic Islands of Hawaii. I'm Larry Gelwick's the Getaway Guru,
just back two days ago from Germany, Austria and Hungary
on that incredible Christmas Markets cruise. And you know I'm

(11:22):
already planning to do another one in twenty twenty six. Now,
don't be bugging your travel advisor because they don't even
know I'm planning. But I've already looked at some dates.
I think I'm going to do the Rhine River and
go through Amsterdam or Netherlands, France, Germany and Switzerland.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
I'm joined today by Donnie Rasmussen, the travel Advisor Extraordinaire
with Morris Columbus Travel, and the Travel Show is sponsored
by Morris Columbus Travel and Norwegian Cruise Line. Well, Donnie,
your front law travel advisor, you get a lot of
calls for Hawaii and Mexico. This is going to be

(12:08):
a silly question. But when people call, what are they
looking for? Say, when they head to Mexico.

Speaker 3 (12:14):
You know what's interesting is sometimes they don't know, And
a good travel advisor needs to really ask, because are
you looking for a party atmosphere? Are you looking to
just sit there and twirl your finger and have them
bring you little umbrella drinks?

Speaker 2 (12:28):
You want a last taco?

Speaker 3 (12:31):
Yeah? So I ask, I ask, is this just you?
Is it romantic?

Speaker 2 (12:37):
Is it you know?

Speaker 3 (12:38):
Because some of the beaches are better than others. Are
you a diver or a snorkeler. That makes a difference.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Also the time of year. For example, I love Cancun,
but I tend to stay away from it, say August
to October, July to October, because of the sargassum seaweed.
It covers much of the care Abbean, where it can
be literally three feet high. Seaweed piled up on the

(13:07):
beach at the crack of dawn.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
And it has a smell, and it has a smell
And now.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
The nice resorts clear it off, but out in the
water there's still a lot of seaweed.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
Now is that at every beach?

Speaker 3 (13:20):
No?

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Is it at many beaches? Yes?

Speaker 1 (13:22):
Is that Mexico only know the other Caribbean islands too,
and it's just an annual thing. I tend to stay away.
I love Puerto Vayarta. And you know what's so nice,
Donnie about an all inclusive holiday in Mexico.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
It includes what Well, that's the way you can actually
figure out in advance what your trip's going to cost
you because it's all your food, all your drinks, alcoholic,
non alcoholic. My granddaughter loves to order non alcoholic virgin
dackeries as if they're going to serve one the other way.
But it includes entertainment. Some of them have great andertainment,

(14:00):
bands and dancers and programs. Non motorized water sports.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Yeah, now what that means.

Speaker 1 (14:06):
Non motorized water sports is any activity offered by the
resort that does not have a motor You want a
jet ski, you want a speedboat, Yeah, you're going to
pay for that, but you can get boogie boards, little sunfish, sailboats,
things like that.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
Have catamarans.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Some of them have the caunterist. So it's round trip
airfare transfers round trip the airport to the resort, your resort,
your meals, your drinks, your entertainment, most activities, taxes, and
gratuities are also included.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
You won't have that moment of crisis. Shit. I really
tip the guy a whole course. It takes the guesswork out,
It really really does.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
Now, let me give you some specials now. Rates do
vary by departure dating a subject to change and availability
at the time of booking. I've talked before about what
I call secret airfares. These are airfares that are heavily
discounted because airlines know how many seats are going to sell,
and once that door closes, there's no revenue opportunity for

(15:09):
an empty seat. So they come to a handful and
I mean a handful of travel companies across the US
and say we will give you these deals, but you
can't sell it air only because that disrupts their distribution system.
It disrupts the people who are paying a lot more So,

(15:31):
the price of the airfare has to be buried in
a package. It has to be bundled with something. In
some places it can be a car rental, in some
places it's a hotel.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
It's something that it's bundled together.

Speaker 1 (15:45):
So I was looking at a great first class hotel
four Star in Cancun. I was looking at late March,
specifically March twenty eighth, for six days, five nights at
a hotel resort that I've been to, the Occidental Costa, Cancoon,
all inclusive. Now I broke this out, is if I

(16:07):
were to buy every component food, drink, activities, tips, gratuities,
transfers to if I bought everything separately and individually, it
came to one thousand, six hundred and fifty five dollars
per person for almost a week in CanCon.

Speaker 2 (16:25):
That's not a bad deal.

Speaker 3 (16:26):
No, it's not, because it's everything.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
If you buy it as a package, one thousand and
thirty nine dollars, I mean that's like six hundred dollars
per person, twelve hundred dollars a couple, that's less.

Speaker 2 (16:40):
So.

Speaker 1 (16:41):
By the way, secret airfares is my phraseology. The industry
term or legal name is a tour operator fair. It's
an airfare used exclusively by appointed tour operators. I've also
got a great one down at the Malia Porto Ayarta.
Malia is a great hotel.

Speaker 3 (17:00):
They're a Spanish company all over and they have great products.

Speaker 1 (17:03):
I was looking at the first week of April, from
just one thoy seventeen in Wykiki end of January early April. Again,
rates very by departure date one Thy twenty eight at
a five star deluxe hotel in Waikiki, the Romar Wyki

(17:23):
Keen at the Ambassador. It's it's about a ten minute
walk from the beach itself, but it's five star. And
these are Morris Columbus specials. By the way, Royal Caribbean
has come out with a really good promotion for cruises
where sixty percent off the second guests and on select

(17:48):
cruises kids twelve and under sail free. And on this
one you have to book it between now and January
the second.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
There's terms and conditions.

Speaker 1 (18:00):
If you'll call your Morris Columbus Travel advisor.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
You can get the details. Correction, you have to book.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
It by January the tenth, and it's good on three
to eight night Caribbean and Bahamas and West Coast itineraries
departing between May one and December thirty first next year.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
That's a that's a good deal, sixty percent.

Speaker 3 (18:27):
Good time to take the kids, good family crew.

Speaker 1 (18:31):
They have so many of those promotions out there. Norwegian
Cruise Line also has come out with an exclusive. This
is a Morris Columbus Travel exclusive with free prepaid gratuities.
Now you have to book this by next Friday, November twentieth.

Speaker 2 (18:51):
And I'll give you the details when we come back.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
Free pre paid gratuities with Norwegian Cruise Line.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
You're listening to the travel show.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
I'm Larry Gelwicks, the getaway Guru, joined today in studio
Donnie Rasmussen, one of the travel experts at Morris Columbus Travel.
If you'd like to talk to Donnie direct, note this
number eight oh one four eight three sixty five sixty three.
Again eight oh one four eight three sixty five sixty three.

(19:37):
We were talking about Donnie. A new promotion by NCL.
It happens to be an exclusive of Morris Columbus Travel
in the in this whole area. You can't get it
at any other travel agency. You can't even get it
direct from Norwegian Cruise Line.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
Now the booking window.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
You must book not travel book by this coming Friday,
December the twentieth, and it's free prepaid service charges or
gratuities for guests one and two who book in a
balcony or above. It does not apply to the sail
away categories, which is the stripped down version, and it

(20:21):
also applies to singles who are paying you know, basically
double two hundred percent to get it now. One of
the devil in the details is it's applicable to NCL Miami,
not the International Australia, Brazil, Asia, UK offices. It's for
the United States sailing out of Miami again. Book by

(20:47):
December twentieth, which is just this Friday again the Morris
Columbus Travel Exclusive. Well, Donnie, there are twelve days till Christmas.
We ought to write a song or something. You were
telling me that the twelve days of Christmas actually has
a tie to the Catholic Church.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
When Henry D eighth pulled his Shenanigans and the church
excommunicated him so nobody could practice Catholicism rituals and rights
in England for quite a long time. Apparently, each of
those numbers in the twelve days is a way for
the Catholic children to relearn and memorize their catechisms.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
Well, for example, the partridge in a pear tree. The
partridge is a bird that's known to sacrifice its life
for its babies. So the bird in the poem and
the song represents Jesus who was willing to give his
life for us, and the pear tree symbolizes the cross.

(21:49):
So it's true that the twelve Days of Christmas were
a series of religious feast days celebrated as part of
the Roman Catholic religion in medieval and Tudor times. And
Henry the Eighth did not squash that tradition.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
He did not.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
You know, it's interesting too.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
Is one of my favorite Christmas carols is Joy to
the World.

Speaker 2 (22:14):
Now.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
I mentioned a few weeks ago that it was written
in seventeen nineteen by an English minister and hymnist, Isaac Watts.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Now we know Isaac Watts.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
He's put a lot of songs together, and the song
or the poem is usually sung to the American composal
Lowell Mason's eighteen forty eight arrangement of a tune. He
arranged it, but the tune is attributed to Handel. So

(22:47):
Joy to the World was not written as a Christmas hymn.
It was written for an Easter service, and if you
look at it carefully, Watts did not right Joy to
the World as a Christmas carol, as the lyrics do
not reflect the birth the Virgin birth of Jesus, but

(23:09):
rather the words refer to his second coming. Take a
look at Stanza three and interlude that alludes to Genesis
chapter three, verses seventeen to nineteen, and it really talk
speaks of Christ's blessings in extending victoriously over the realm

(23:31):
of sin. So when you we really should be singing
this in the springtime at Easter. Wouldn't that be funny
in your church congregation to sing joy to the world?

Speaker 3 (23:42):
It would throw everybody for a loop.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
But you like to do that.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
I do like to do that. Listen twelve days till Christmas.
The perfect Christmas gift has to be a Morris Columbus
travel gift certificate or card. It actually comes as a
beautifully designed gift certificate.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
What can one do with that? Search?

Speaker 3 (24:03):
You know, I couldn't believe in this more. You just
you spend money and you want people to remember the
love and the thought behind it. And this is buying memories.
So you can use that as towards a cruise. You
can put it towards a hotel. You can call us
and have us get you on another river cruise. You
could go on the Christmas market next year. But You

(24:24):
can pretty much use it for any type of travel.
We can help you find a way to create memories
with your loved ones with a gift card.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
Contact any Morris Columbus office for that travel certificate and
then you know what you shouldn't. It's a beautifully designed
gift certificate.

Speaker 3 (24:41):
And anticipation is the fun of it.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
Include a world map with that and sit down and
plan and dream. Let's turn our attention to Christmas just
twelve days away. What is it, Donnie about Christmas that
just captures our heart and soul.

Speaker 3 (25:01):
I think we yearned for that time in our childhood
when we believed. Don't you want to believe like that?
That wholehearted optimism and faith. And we try to pass
that on to our children and grandchildren and the traditions
we have.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
You know, in the Gelwick's family, we have two Christmas, Trude, Well,
we have many traditions, but two that I will highlight
amongst the gifts in giving. The most precious gift that
I give each of our children, now our grandchildren is
one orange.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
One orange.

Speaker 1 (25:37):
My mother grew up in out in Canada, in southern Alberta,
and they were poor, I mean poor. I remember even
visiting my grandparents, and water came out of a pump
in the kitchen. You had to prime the pump. And
there was an outhouse. They had no indoor plumbing.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
My grandparents too, you know.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
And in the winter time, you'd all want to go
out to the authouse after Grandpa had visited because the
seat would be warm. Yeah, he spent some time out there.
But they were poor, they were faithful, they were good people.
And there was one Christmas where my mother, she was

(26:20):
about nine years old, and all she wanted was a
Shirley Temple doll, you know, and she just hoped and prayed.
But money was tight that year, as it was every year,
and the only gift that Grandma and Grandpa, her mother

(26:41):
and father could give each of the five children was
one orange. One orange. Of course, in those days we
didn't have year round farming. That was a real treasure
and she savored every segment of it. But I tell
that story to my children and grand and children. They
know it well, and I present each of them with

(27:04):
a single orange to remind them of their heritage and
where they came from.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
You know. It reminds me.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
My grandfather was a grain elevator operator in Barnwell, Alberta, Canada,
near Tabor, between Tabor and Lethbridge. The trains would come in.
He'd fill the cars, but it was seasonal work. And
again they were poor, and we didn't call them homeless
back then. They called them hoboes that would ride the rails.

(27:36):
And the hobos in every town where the train would stop,
knew who would feed them. And they always came to
my grandparents' house because my grandmother would feed them and
they were grateful. And it was a different era back then,
because now it's pretty dangerous to invite strangers into your home.

(27:56):
But it was a different era, and they were getting
getting ready for Christmas dinner, you know, and it was
meager rationings, no big turkey, no big ham. You scraped
together a few things, some potatoes, maybe a small piece
of meat, some homemade bread rolls. That was their Christmas dinner.
And my grandfather brought home two or three hoboes on

(28:24):
Christmas Day that were there. You know, they had nothing,
they were hungry, and my mother told me the story
how she and her siblings kind of resented them coming
and interrupting their Christmas. And after the guests, the hoboes
had left with a full belly of a Christmas meal.

(28:48):
The kids kind of complained to my grandfather and he
just said to them, he said, look how much we have,
they have nothing. What a blessing to share what we
have and they didn't have much. Yeah, you know, this

(29:10):
makes me so grateful. And I think of that story
of the hoboes and a single orange, and I'm trying
to keep that tradition going in my family. What about
a tradition from your family.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
Well, I'm going to butcher this. In Iceland, it's called
the Yula book a flu that's probably not right.

Speaker 2 (29:29):
If you could watch your language. This is a faction.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
It's the Christmas book flood. And they give books every
Christmas Eve. That's Iceland, Iceland, and they spend Christmas Eve
reading their books together with hot chocolate or so on.
And we have a variety of that. We started buying
Christmas picture books when the children were little, and we
have a basket we get out every year and every
night we'd pick a book, and we now have two basketsful.

(29:56):
We have a lot of books now, but beautiful illustrations
and wonderful you know what.

Speaker 2 (30:02):
I love Iceland. I've been there many times.

Speaker 1 (30:04):
And a couple of things that I just love is
approximately half the population absolutely believes in trolls and elves,
and you can talk to people who've seen them.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
In fact, when.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
You're going to build a new building in Iceland, you
have to have like a survey or ground testing to
make sure that you're not building in to the habitat
of trolls and elves. So you mentioned books. One of
the most important books in Iceland is the Marriage Book.
Where there's only what about three hundred and fifty thousand

(30:39):
people in Iceland, not a lot, and you can go
in if you're thinking of garretting married. You can see
if you're marrying a cousin, you know, which is fine
in West Virginia jazz kidding West Virginians. But you can
go see if there's a relation which could prove some
problem with your DNA. Well, there's a lot of great

(31:04):
Christmas traditions and what I'd like you to do the
gift of travel. We talked about a gift certificate. I'd
like you to look over the Morris Columbus Escorted Tours
go to Morriscolumbus dot com. Morriscolumbus dot com and on
the home page just scroll down a little bit you'll
see Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours. That's the brand name of

(31:28):
our escorted tours. We have some I know seventy or
eighty or more escorted tours. Look them over you can
see who the tour guide is. My programs are there,
and uh, it would just be great to have you
as that as a gift, have to have you come
with me. Hey, when we come back, I want to

(31:49):
talk about the worst hotel mistakes you could possibly make
right here on the Travel Show. You're listening to the
Travel Show thirty three years behind this golden microphone of

(32:13):
the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwicks, the Getaway Guru. May
I wish you a very merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, happy Hanukkah,
happy whatever you're celebrating. You know, I never take for
granted you the audience, because without you, I don't have
a radio show.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
I don't even have a job.

Speaker 1 (32:33):
And one of the things I appreciate it happens, I know, three, four, five,
six times a week I'll be somewhere to store other
location and some people say, oh, I recognize you, because
I do. I have a weekly report on KUTV. Did
you know that, Donnie, I've heard it and watched it.

Speaker 2 (32:53):
Yes, I did.

Speaker 1 (32:55):
For about the last fifteen years, I've served as a reporter.
I'm a commercial I mean I do commercials on television,
but just a reporter on the Monday neon News. It's travel.
It's a travel report, you know. Pre pandemic. I would
come into the studio, sit with the anchors on the set.
They're in their beautiful suits and dresses. I wore a

(33:18):
very loud Aloha shirt. It's branding.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
It's you.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
Then during COVID they said, we want to reduce foot
traffic in the studio, so film it wherever you want
and just email it to us, which I did. After
the pandemic KUTV channel who said, okay, Larry can come
back to the student I said, no, no, thank you.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
I like this.

Speaker 1 (33:42):
I can be anywhere in the world and film it.
The one and it appears on the new News usually
between twelve forty and twelve fifty. That can come in
any time between twelve and one. But the one that
you'll see Monday in just two days, was filmed in Salzburg, Austria,

(34:04):
at the Christmas.

Speaker 2 (34:05):
Market that's great.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
I'm talking about Christmas travel gifts. Again, it's not a commercial,
it's a straight news Maybe I'm talking about passport requirements,
new visa requires, anything to do with travel. I give
a report. I hope you'll join me on the Monday
Noon News. Now every other week I appear as a
guest on usually on Tuesdays, of the Fresh Living program.

(34:30):
It's an afternoon talk show. And that we talked more
about Morris Columbus escorted tours and programs. But Monday Noon
News twelve forty between that and twelve fifty, I'd.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
Love to just just watch it.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
It's a lot of fun and uh yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
Great insight. There's nobody quite like Larric.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
A few weeks ago we filmed it at the taj
Mahall in India.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
See and I say that, and I can be anywhere
in the world. Okay.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
You know, an important part of travel is the hotel.
And there are some really misses that people have, mistakes
that they make. Let me talk about some of them,
and Donnie you chime in. I think one of the
most important things is not getting mistake, not getting all

(35:22):
the information on your room. Is there a parking fee?
Is there a resort fee. What are the amenities? Is
there a microwave? Is there construction going on near the hotel?
Is some of the hotel itself under refurbishment? What's the
proximity to public transportation, restaurants and shopping? That can make

(35:47):
or break it? And you know, sometimes the non refundable
fee is twenty or thirty bucks cheaper. I don't like
non refundable hotel rooms unless I'm booking at the day before,
because life changes and what once they get that hotel

(36:08):
rate and if something happens you have to change or cancel,
you're completely.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Out of luck for that.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
Do you ever request an early check in, complimentary early
check in or late checkout?

Speaker 3 (36:23):
I have, and if they can accommodate me, they do,
and always ask.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
And stipulate complimentary because some will give you a late checkout,
but they'll charge you a significant amount.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
For that.

Speaker 1 (36:38):
Do you ever do you ever request a specific room set,
not like room one, two three, but like I want
it close to the elevator, I want it off the street.

Speaker 3 (36:48):
You know, depending for me personally, not so much, but
for my clients. I have people with the same mobility
issues or they want to make sure their rooms are together.
That's a big one. The hotel accommodate you and guarantee
that you can have adjoining rooms. Some of them can,
some of them can't.

Speaker 1 (37:05):
You know, an important thing in hotels and cruises is
before you leave, when there's still time to act, take
a look at your itemized bill. Sometimes erroneous charges appear.
They post someone else's bar tab or meal to the
wrong room. Take a look at that and have a

(37:28):
written confirmation. I've had it where I've had a written
confirmation with the rate, but when that rate appears on
my itemized bill, it's different and I've had to correct that.
The other thing, if you're in crunch time, don't stand
there in line waiting to check out. Use the express checkout.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
One of the other mistakes I think people sometimes make
is trying to save a little bit of money and
not being where they really want to be. If you're
there and you've spent a lot of money to get there,
and you're in some place for two or three days,
do you really want to spend your time on public
transportation or eat away your savings on a cab getting
to where you really want to be? Could you save
forty dollars staying in the suburbs.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
No, it doesn't make any sense. A lot of that
has to do with public transportation. When we attended the
Hall of Fame, the Rugby Hall of Fame induction where
I was inducted into the Hall of Fame this July,
we stayed at a hotel that was across the street
from the Metro and we used Uber.

Speaker 2 (38:32):
I never rented a car.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
Hey, when we come back at our number two, we've
got a new requirement to go to England. Welcome back
to our number two of the Travel Show, the Best
two Hours in Radio. I'm Larry Gelwicks, They get Away Guru,

(38:55):
joined today by Donnie Rasmussen, one of the travel experts
at more R Columbus Travel where you always travel more
and pay less. If you'd like to talk to Donnie
direct Monday through Friday, four excuse me eight oh one
four eight three sixty five sixty three eight oh one
four eight three sixty five sixty three. We'd like to

(39:19):
open up the phone lines and invite you to talk
to us here on the air. You really are the
best part of the show, your recommendations, your experiences, what
to see and what not to see in a special
invitation to any of our fellow travelers who joined Donnie
and myself on the incredible Christmas markets along the Danube,

(39:44):
would you just call in and give us one brief
brief highlight of your trip triple eight five seven oh
eighth one. Oh that's eight eight eight five seventy eighty ten,
and just give us one highlight and something that you
particularly enjoyed. Donnie Utah Travel expos coming up next month.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
That is such a great time to go. Everybody ought
to put it on their calendar because not only are
we excited as travel advisors to meet you and help
you make your dreams come true, but there's so many
vendors there. You get a chance to meet straight forward
with people who have hotels all over the world, and
cruise representatives and airline representatives, and they're just eager to

(40:31):
share their country with you, to share their products with
you and answer any of your questions. So you get
a really great, unbiased expert there to help you one
on one.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
You know, it.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
Really is a lot of fun because say you can
sit down with airline officials, cruise lines, resorts, safari companies,
everything imaginable.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
Now the date in.

Speaker 1 (40:54):
Southern Utah is Wednesday, January twenty second at the Black
Desert Resort in Iba, no ticket is necessary. And in
the Salt Lake area at the Mountain America Expo Center
in Sandy Friday and Saturday, January twenty fourth and twenty fifth.
Now this is a ticketed event. However, for our travel

(41:16):
shoal listeners, Donnie, we have a secret website.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
Absolutely get on Morriscolumbus dot com backslash free and get
those tickets.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
Print as many as you want. Let's flood the pace again.
In Salt Lake. You'll have over one hundred travel vendors,
meaning the Hoveler Booth, tourist boards from around the world.
We have people traveling from Europe, South America, Central America,
Asia come.

Speaker 3 (41:42):
You know, they stand in line to get in this.
It's hard to get in because there's so many people
that go, and so we get the best of the
best coming there.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
We really do, and we're looking forward to it now.
The US population is estimated to be three hundred and
forty five million. Triple A estimates that one hundred and
nineteen million. That's about one third of the US population.

(42:12):
One hundred and nineteen million people will travel fifty miles
or more, not across the street, not across town. One
third of the US population will be in the air
or on the road or on the river, fifty miles
or more from home. So with that in mind, Donnie,

(42:34):
what what is some really practical travel advice?

Speaker 3 (42:39):
Number one, It's a little too late this year, but
if you think you want to go over the holidays
right now, when Christmas wrappings are put up, call your
travel advisor and you look at something for next year.
Because the further out you book, the better the availability,
the more your options, and the better pricing. The other
thing I would tell you is book the earliest flight.
I hate getting up for those early flights, but you

(43:00):
know what, less likely to be delayed, less likely to
be canceled. It's worth it, really is.

Speaker 1 (43:07):
Usually that first flight out has what we called slept
at the airport, or it's oh, it's gotten in the
evening before you know. Some other things to keep in
mind is the day before if you're taking a flight,
reconfirm everything. Flight numbers change, departure times change, everything changes

(43:31):
that you want, really want to be on top of it.
You know an app that is really good that you
want to download. It's called my TSA, that's Transportation Safety Administration,
that's just security at the airport. My TSA app, and
what it will do is give you the estimated checkpoint

(43:53):
wait times in real time and it'll help you estimate
how long am I gonna have to be waiting in
line to go through to TSA.

Speaker 3 (44:03):
That is great information because you know what. Nobody wants
to get there and set but you don't want to
miss your flight.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
Yeah, I would say get there early.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
And the other thing for carry ons, do if you're
taking presents, maybe it's something fragile, do not wrap it
because as that goes through the X ray, TSA may
want to look at it and if it's in this
beautiful Christmas wrapping, they have to unwrap it and that

(44:31):
just messes everything up. So if you've got a carry
on with gifts, wrap it when you get to the
other side.

Speaker 2 (44:40):
You know.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
Also the airport parking and I like off airport parking
at parkin Jet for those using the Salt Lake Airport,
you can get a twenty percent discount. Go to Morriscolumbus
dot com, Morriscolumbus dot com and on the toolbar at
the top, click on resources and you print as many
certain eificates as you want. Let that be your Christmas gift.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
But it is a good idea. In your glove box.

Speaker 1 (45:08):
Several of them, just keep them in your car. But
you can reserve a parking spot in advance, because even
the off airport parking and the on airport parking will
fill up. What are you going to do if you've
got a flight and suddenly the parking lots are full.

(45:29):
Book one in advance and double check the date and
time of your flight. Now, one of the things I
do suggest to do if you're traveling internationally is if
you Global Entry, but that takes months to get. There's
a free app called Mobile Passport Control. It will whizz

(45:51):
you right through US customs and Immigration on your way home.
I mean just whizz you through and it will save
you amount of time. When you get off the air
plane coming in from an international destination, you'll see four signs.
One will and I'm not talking about crew or diplomats.

(46:13):
I'm talking about for US normal people. One says Global Entry.
Now that's a paid program. It's one hundred and twenty
bucks for five years. You have to go through an
interview at the airport, which is just routine, but you
can't get it immediately.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
But can I tell you kids are now free.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
Yeah, traveling within adult.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
They can get a Global Entry card for free. So
if you travel with your family, I think it's money
well spent.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
And same with TSA pre check. If you have minor children,
they can walk through with you even if they don't
have TSA pre check. But the one that's free is
Mobile Passport Control. So these four signs says Global Entry,
Mobile Passport Control, US citizens on US citizens. The latter

(47:02):
two can be halfway to China. The lines you just
zip through. Now what I want you to be careful
of is well to me, they're scams. There's all these
companies out there that say apply here for Mobile Passport Control.
You want the official government app because there's no charge

(47:22):
to apply, But all these third parties say pay ten bucks,
pay twenty bucks to apply, and all they do is
link you to the official government site. And I also
suggest that you always make three copies of your passport.
One is like a printed photo copy. The second is

(47:43):
a picture this of the information page as your photo
and personal information. The second is just a photo that
you keep on your cell phone in your gallery of photos.
The third is you download that cell phone photo and
put it to your server or whatever. Now, why three copies.
In the unlikely event that your passport is lost or stolen,

(48:07):
you cannot return home without a new passport, which you
can only get from a US embassy or an appointed
US consulate office that issues passports. Now, if you have
a photo copy, you can show them the photocopy print
and you can usually get it in one or two days.

(48:28):
But what if the it was in your suitcase and
the photocopy is going well, you have your cell phone,
you have the infra. What if your cell phone is stolen,
You can go to any PC or laptop anywhere in
the world and go to your service, download and print
a copy of it. You can get your passport back,

(48:49):
usually in one or two days. Otherwise you could take
a week, two weeks even longer.

Speaker 2 (48:55):
You're trapped overseas.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
You go into an embassy and say, well, I'm Larry,
I need a new passport. I have to prove who
I am, and everything's been stolen and I can't call
at myrtle back home and say, you know, send me
a copy of my birth certificate. If I have that copy,

(49:17):
that's why we have three copies.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
I can get it in one or two days.

Speaker 3 (49:21):
Yup, take a picture, email it to yourself.

Speaker 1 (49:23):
Hey, when we come back, new requirement to go to
England and the UK.

Speaker 2 (49:38):
You're listening to the travel show.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
I'm Larry Gelwicks, They Get Away Guru joined today in
studio with Donnie Rasmusen, one of the travel experts at
Morris Columbus Travel. You can talk directly to Donnie at
eight oh one four eight three sixty five sixty three.
And be sure to check out the Morris Columbus website.
It's easy to remember Morris co Umbus dot com. That's

(50:01):
Morris Coolumbus dot com. And if you'd like to check
out any of the escorted tours, well there it is
on the homepage. Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours. That's the brand
name for escorted programs offered by Morris Columbus Travel.

Speaker 3 (50:18):
Can I chime in here for just a minute you
Maybe nothing makes me happier than when I get calls
from kids who are saying it's a fiftieth anniversary. The
whole family's going to go and we're going to take
my parents. I think, how blessed are you that everybody
thinks that's a priority. It may not be something they
can afford every year, but it warms my heart to
think that they're going to honor their parents and do that.

(50:38):
So I think people ought to look at those big
events and say, can we do this? Can we you know,
on a small scale or a big scale.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
That's a great suggestion, Donnie. And when you give Morris
Columbus Travel a call, speaking to any of our great
travel advisors, have a couple of things in mind. One
is available dates, when can you go? And also a
target budget. That doesn't mean it's a straight jacket, but

(51:10):
you know, if you want to buy a laptop, a car,
a house, anything, you have kind of an idea of
what can we afford. And it's the same with travel.
I don't know why people sometimes are hesitant to give
a budget. I remember a young man that called me
years ago and he was planning a.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
Honeymoon.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
And he said, and I said, do you have a
target budget? Goes yes, fifteen hundred dollars. I said, okay,
but something just told me that wasn't the truth. And
I said, listen, you're going to get my full attention
whether you tell me it's fifteen hundred or fifteen thousand.
But if fifteen hundred is really your budget, I will

(51:58):
only look at things that fit into that budget. But
if if it's really more, let me know. That doesn't
mean we'll top it off. It just lets me know
what the range is. And they said, well, it's actually
about three thousand. But I thought if I told you
a low amount, you'd work harder, And I said, you're

(52:18):
going to get the same out of me if you
tell me fifteen hundred or fifteen thousand.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
It gives us more leeway to search for you as.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
Well, It really does. You know.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
One of my favorite destinations is the UK, England, Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland. Then of course you have Ireland
there too, which is part of the EU, the UK
is not. The UK government is introducing an ETA electronic
travel authorizations for visitors who passed through the UK border

(52:52):
every year.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
Starting January the eighth.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
Now, the website's long, so what I'm going to tell
you to do It's very easy. You just fill it
out online and you get your authorization. It's like New Zealand,
Australian other countries. Have you want to go to Australia,
you got to fill out an online ETA Electronic Travel Authorization.
You can't even board the flight to Sydney without the

(53:19):
ET and starting January eighth, you cannot board the flight
to London or Manchester, Edinburgh or wherever.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
Glass.

Speaker 3 (53:29):
I think it's even if you're transitting through. So if
your final destination is let's say Croatia, but your flight
chains is in London, you.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
Gotta have the ETA.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
So just google UK ETA Government something like that and
find the official site.

Speaker 2 (53:46):
Not some of these hustlers do.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
They want you to pay twenty bucks to transfer you
to the government site.

Speaker 2 (53:53):
Now I told you I love the UK.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
I've got the most fantastic tour that I am hosting
my wife Cathy, and I'll be hosting next summer July
seven to twenty. It is the British Isles. We sail
round trip from Southampton, England, with just about an hour
hour and a half south of London. We will have

(54:16):
a pre cruise option to London. I think we spend
two or three days there and have a great time
and listen to this itinerary. We will see various ports
in England Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and France. Wow, and

(54:38):
we call it British Isles. The French may not like that,
but we do stop in LaHave on the English Channel.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
But Lahove is the port for the d Day beaches
of Normandy.

Speaker 3 (54:52):
You know what, that has got to be on people's
bucket list. I just have to tell you it is
such a sobering, spiritual experience that as an American, you
will leave changed forever.

Speaker 1 (55:04):
We'll visit the American Cemetery, We'll go view the beaches.
You know, It's just it's overwhelming. It is a very emotional.

Speaker 2 (55:15):
Now.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
One thing that I enjoyed doing with places of history
is going on YouTube and looking at actual video. I mean,
you can only go back to about World War One,
you know, but actual video of historical events. I've watched

(55:36):
the attack on Pearl Harbor. I've watched the Japanese surrender
on the on the Missouri USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
You watch the blitz Kreeg of London, and I have
watched over and over. Well, just last night I was
watching actual video from the Battle of Midway in the

(55:58):
Pacific and World War Two. But one of the sobering
moments is watching the D Day landing actual video and
you know, you look at that cemetery and it's mostly
young men and women, Mostly young men, teenagers, early twenties,
college age kids who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the

(56:22):
defense of freedom. You will leave a changed person. Well,
we do all of our own short excursions and including
the beaches of D Day, Normandy the cemetery, and also England, Scotland, Ireland,
Northern Ireland and France including Normandy the dates again July
seven to twenty. We're gonna have a lot of fun

(56:45):
with that. Go to Morriscolumbus dot com Morriscolumbus dot com
and on the homepage click on Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours.
If it's a cruise like this one is, click cruise.
If it's a land tour, click Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, wherever.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
That land tour is.

Speaker 1 (57:06):
Well, when we come back, it's what would you do
if here on the Travel Show?

Speaker 2 (57:18):
Welcome back to the Travel Show.

Speaker 1 (57:20):
Thank you for joining us in a very merry Christmas,
happy Hanukkah and Kwanza and everything else that's out there.
We hope you have a great holiday season. If you're
looking for a great gift, you remember our old friend
Dan Hone who's been a regular on the show, and
as far as I concern, he's the smartest man that

(57:42):
I know of on all things the Middle East, the
Holy Land and Israel. He's got an eight volume set
of books coming out. Volume one is out now, Volumes
two and three will be out this spring. The Perfect
Christmas Gift, Volume one, The Foundations of Scriptural Undershot. I'm
already reading it and it just I can't put it down.

(58:04):
What it is is the footnotes remind you of Hugh Niby,
but the text is written in a way that is
easy to understand.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
He's going through the.

Speaker 1 (58:19):
Cultural setting, the time, everything of real people in real
life situations, and it sets a foundation that is This
book is like nothing I've ever had before. And so
if you'd like to get a copy, it's the perfect
Christmas gift. It's only thirty dollars and ninety nine cents

(58:41):
for what you're getting. I was expecting something twice that amount.
Go to You can go to let's see Barnes and
Noble website and Amazon website. You can also go to
Dan's website Travel Studies. That's Plural Studies, Travel Studies Institute

(59:03):
dot org. Travel Studies Institute dot org and then click
on shop or Amazon or Barnes and Noble website. The
Foundations of Scriptural Understanding by Dan Hun Okay, what would
you do? You get on a plane, Donnie, and you

(59:25):
have your boarding pass with a sign seat and some
stranger is sitting there. Now this has happened to me,
and I say, excuse me, I believe that's my say oh,
I'm sorry, sorry, you know it said Row thirty. I
had seat C and he sat in seat D an
AISLEC just got the sides mixed up. But what do

(59:48):
you do, Donnie? If you say to the total stranger
on the plane, excuse me, I believe this is my
seat and they say, well, you can sit in mind
I'm not moving, or go sitting wherever you want.

Speaker 2 (01:00:01):
I'm what do you do.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
If that person refuses to Because we're reading about this
all the time now.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
Larry, this is such a hot button issue and it
seems like travel has become less polite. I guess is
the way to put it. Once you've made the polite request,
I wouldn't go any further I'd get a stewardess or
a steward I would, I'd get a flight attendant.

Speaker 1 (01:00:23):
Yeah, don't take it in here, and whatever you do,
don't get in an argument, a shouting match or physical altercation.
And I know of cases where the people has refused
a flight attendant and captain and then the police come
and arrest them.

Speaker 2 (01:00:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:00:39):
I just wouldn't get involved. We had on the flight
home from Europe. We had a family behind us, and
this little kid was playing on a handheld device and
he had his trade table down and every time he'd
do something on it, he'd slam it down. And I
put up with that for two hours, and finally, on
an eight hour flight, I turned around. I said, do
you think you could raise your trade table please? And

(01:00:59):
as other got really sharp, Oh, we're doing the best
we can. And I said, I know, I've got kids.
It would just barely be helpful. And he did, you know,
but he you get so excited, and every time he'd
slam that tray table, my whole seat would just reverberate.
So they were nice about it, but I would go
to a flight attendant.

Speaker 1 (01:01:19):
Have you had absolutely now, have you had the occasion
where you know all, they serve on most flights in
the US now or even internationally, except for the long
intercontinental flights, where you get a meal which is really
an or derv that is hard to recognize what it is.

(01:01:40):
My goodness, I mean, do you know what the I
think they should insist at every board meeting, every management
meeting of every airline they should not cater their lunch.
They should serve coach class meals to the executive.

Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
That's a great idea. I do want to say. When
they have if you want ice, tell him no, that's
the germiest thing on the plane. I never get ice
in my drinks on a flight.

Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
Oh that's good advice. Now has this happened to you?

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
So right now they offer you a delicious meal of
a filet of peanut or rack of pretzel.

Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
All right?

Speaker 1 (01:02:19):
And people bring on their own food, you know, fast
food that they've grabbed at the airport, or food that
they've made at home and just brought with them, sandwiches
and things. Have you read someone bring on some really
smelly food.

Speaker 2 (01:02:36):
Maybe.

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
Egg salad, sandwich or just recently, a Florida passenger complained
that the guy sitting right next to him had a
tuna melt and it just reaped.

Speaker 2 (01:02:50):
What do you do with smelly food?

Speaker 3 (01:02:53):
You know, I don't like confrontations. I unfortunately, would probably
just my nose and put up with it. I don't
know what you can do because airlines have gotten so
chinsey on the food. I'm just not sure. Because if
the flight's not full, you can again call a flight
attendant and ask to be moved. If it is, That's what.

Speaker 2 (01:03:13):
I would do it asked to be moved.

Speaker 1 (01:03:15):
You know, airlines have their own rules, and that includes
offensive clothing or non absence of clothing, you know, body
odor and different things. I there's a few cases where
a passenger has been removed because of body odor. They

(01:03:36):
smell so bad that people are going to vomit sitting
around them.

Speaker 3 (01:03:42):
We used to have jazz season tickets next to that person,
and oh my gosh, it was a fight over who
had to.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
Sit on that in seat.

Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
Yeah, and then you have the flatulating. Seriously, you went there,
I seriously, you know, I had that occasion. I was
flying from Los Angeles to Taipei. I was in premium economy.

Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
That's a long flight, but that's what it is.

Speaker 1 (01:04:07):
And this guy was just letting loose one after another,
silent bombs. I mean, come on, it's real. I'm not
trying to gross anybody else. He no speaking to English.
I turned on the air jet and finally, after a
few atomic bombs, I kind of got up, turned and

(01:04:28):
faced him head on, about six inches from his nose.
And he didn't speak English. Because I tried talking to
him and he understood this. I plugged my nose and
I said no, no, no. And I don't know if
he put up cork in it or not, but the

(01:04:51):
you know, the death trap was removed. He must have
held it in or something.

Speaker 3 (01:04:59):
You know, their shoes offils.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
Oh please, that's true. I saw.

Speaker 1 (01:05:06):
Oh my gosh, you know what. Okay, here's what you
never do. Never go to the restroom in bare feet
or socks.

Speaker 2 (01:05:14):
No. And I want to say this very politely.

Speaker 3 (01:05:18):
Because can I just say you guys aren't good aims?
Is that the polite way?

Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
Yeah, guys aren't good aims. And they tend to mark
their territory of the floor. All right, you just don't
go in your socks. Oh it's the grossest thing. Yeah, absolutely, Anyway,
get the flight attendant involved. Hey, listen, you you love
to ride the rails on the train.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
I do.

Speaker 3 (01:05:44):
We talked about that on this trip. Because European trains
are clean, they're efficient, they're right on time, and American
trains are kind of making a resurgence, those beautiful trains
sight seeing ones up over the rocky mountains into Canada,
big big resurgence.

Speaker 1 (01:06:00):
Well, you've got some information on some new trains that
you may want to consider.

Speaker 3 (01:06:05):
Yeah, you know what, the train era I think is
going to see a resurgence. For those of you who
are of a certain age who did Europe on ten
dollars a day, let's say that sort of dates you.
But trains sort of went a different direction when they
started offering those cheap, inner European flights. But nowadays you
can't take on anything bigger than a shoe box. So

(01:06:27):
what starts out is cheap ends up costing you as
much as a regular flight by the time you pay
for your seat, pay for your drink, pay.

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
Have you ever ridden on a sleeper train where you
get like a berth, a couchette or something.

Speaker 3 (01:06:38):
I have great memories. I did that from Munich to
Florence as a teenager in college, and I loved it.
And they're coming back. They now have. They're starting up
from Amsterdam and Brussels to Berlin. And you know, you
say it now, it's not for everybody. It's not a
five star hotel, but you've got privacy, you can lock it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:57):
Yeah, exactly. And we're seeing sleepers here in the United States.

Speaker 2 (01:07:02):
Also.

Speaker 1 (01:07:02):
One of the things, there's a growing demand online bookings
for sleeper trains in the last about four years have
increased one hundred and forty seven percent.

Speaker 3 (01:07:14):
Because it's like river cruising. You get to your destination
the next morning. You save that time, so you maximize
your time there. And for those people who are worried
about the environment, much smaller carbon footprint. That's part of
the reason the governments over there are really pushing these
new trains routes.

Speaker 1 (01:07:31):
You know, will this just dates me and my kids
to shake their heads. At age nineteen, I served as
a young LDS missionary Elder Gelwick's. I was had the
mission training at a dilapidated old hotel where the LDS
conference center is now. We went in on a Saturday

(01:07:54):
afternoon and they tried to beat the devil out of us.
They failed with me, and then Tuesday afternoon, we were
let go. And what was interesting is those who were
going to study Scandinavian language went up to Rexburg, Idaho
to what was then Rick's College. The Western European languages

(01:08:16):
and a lot of others was down at BYU called
an LTM.

Speaker 2 (01:08:21):
Mission, Language Language Training Mission.

Speaker 1 (01:08:25):
And the Asian languages were out at what was called
Church College of Hawaii now BYU Hawaii. But for the
rest of us, we were on our own. So I
got dismissed. After being set apart Tuesday afternoon, I was
on my own to find my accommodation. And here's where

(01:08:48):
it gets interesting. I was called to the Central States
Mission and we went by train.

Speaker 2 (01:08:57):
We went by.

Speaker 1 (01:08:58):
Train, and I had a six thirty am train from
the station here in Salt Lake City, and I had
to find my way out there, had to find a
place to stay.

Speaker 2 (01:09:08):
On my own. And then it was like a twenty
hour ride or more all the way.

Speaker 1 (01:09:15):
To Kansas City. That was my train ride. And I
tell you, yes, I went to a missionary by train.
Oh did you know, Brigham Young? A lot of that good.

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
Stuff train travel is going to make a resurgence. You
skip those long lines at the airport They don't care
how many bags you take on. So if you want
to pack, you know, your whole wardrobe, you can do
it on a train.

Speaker 2 (01:09:38):
There. Well, lots to talk about.

Speaker 1 (01:09:39):
Listen when we come back, I've got some advice if
you're planning a road trip this holiday season. And also
a very insightful personal question for Donnie. Okay, you're listening

(01:10:11):
to the travel show. I'm Larry Gelwicks to get Away Guru,
joined today by Donnie Rasmussen, one of the travel experts
at Morris Columbus Travel. And you can talk to Donnie
eight oh one four eight three sixty five sixty three.
That's eight oh one four eight three sixty five sixty three.
Give her a call starting Monday. And with her jet lags,

(01:10:34):
she may be somewhat loopy, but you know, after a.

Speaker 3 (01:10:39):
Good days is better than I do.

Speaker 2 (01:10:42):
I think.

Speaker 1 (01:10:43):
Hey, listen, I've got a personal question I want to
ask you.

Speaker 2 (01:10:47):
I hope that's okay.

Speaker 3 (01:10:48):
Well, I don't know, because you said you were gonna
throw me a loop and I'm home.

Speaker 1 (01:10:51):
Yeah, and I haven't told you. Now your husband Tom
is here a romantic man.

Speaker 3 (01:10:59):
Oh god, you're doing this on public greed? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:11:02):
Is he just this romantic Romeo.

Speaker 3 (01:11:06):
You know he's not a Romeo.

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:11:08):
He's great at gift giving. He has never forgotten a birthday, anniversary, Valentine's.
He's a good gift giver, but I would definitely not
call him a Romeo.

Speaker 1 (01:11:17):
Okay, well, Tom, I know you're listening because your wife
is joining me on this show. So Tom, if you've
been thinking about taking a romantic getaway with your sweetheart Donnie,
odds are that you've at least considered a trip to Paris,
where you were changing planes or visiting just earlier this week.

Speaker 2 (01:11:40):
Weren't you in Paris?

Speaker 3 (01:11:41):
Well, we changed planes, but we spent two weeks over
there this spring.

Speaker 1 (01:11:44):
Okay, well, you know Paris is known as the official
city of love. But what if I told you there
is one place that is just as, if not more, romantic,
and you can go there without a passport?

Speaker 2 (01:12:00):
I'm ready, Tom? Are you listening? Are you getting excited? Tom?

Speaker 1 (01:12:06):
A survey was taken by the Talker Research Institute this year,
in fact, in July, looking into the most romantic destinations
in the world.

Speaker 2 (01:12:17):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:12:17):
To come to its conclusion, the research center pulled two
thousand quote general population Americans not travel experts, not the
high mightiest, ordinary working class Americans to find out their
preferred spots for romance.

Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:12:36):
According to the findings, the number one response thirty four
percent of the respondents listed this as their preferred romantic
destination was the.

Speaker 2 (01:12:49):
Island of Maui.

Speaker 1 (01:12:53):
I can buy that, and Tom, it's surpassed Paris by
one full percentage point. Well, Maui and Paris took the
top spots, but they were chased by Rome in third place,
and Rome was followed by number four Venice, number five

(01:13:14):
can Kuhn.

Speaker 2 (01:13:14):
So we have the most romantic.

Speaker 1 (01:13:16):
Places as Maui, Paris, Rome, Venice and can Kuhn. And
you know, it's not just about the location, Tom, Romantic
getaways are finding that spot that will set your soul
on fire. Vacationing together isn't just discovering new places, Tom,

(01:13:37):
It's igniting, deepening, rekindling the romance, escaping the ordinary, and
celebrate the love that binds you and Donnie together. All right, Tom,
do you need any more instruction from me?

Speaker 3 (01:13:50):
I'll give it to him when we get home.

Speaker 2 (01:13:53):
It sounds good to me.

Speaker 1 (01:13:54):
Hey, you know, one of the most interesting tours that
we have is we used to call it the tattoo.
But we're not calling it the tattoo.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:14:07):
We put this out and we said the military tattoo England,
Scotland and Wales. Nobody was buying it. They thought it
was some convention for body art.

Speaker 3 (01:14:18):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:14:19):
Well, this Scotland tattoo has a very different meaning.

Speaker 2 (01:14:23):
It goes back to the sixteen hundreds.

Speaker 1 (01:14:26):
Where the a Drum Corps would go through town beating
their drums to call attention and like the town car,
who's really with the military would yell out tattoo tattoo.
This was a signal to the innkeepers, the pub owners
to turn off the taps, send people home. But it

(01:14:47):
was always filled with soldiers. Send the soldiers back to
the barrack. It was the tattoo. Well, tattoo became tattoo,
no relation to body art whatso and so they have
the biggest military bagpipe and Drum Corps festival in the world,

(01:15:10):
with participants and teams and troops coming literally from all
over the world, with over one hundred million people viewing
this on television. Now, Donnie, tickets are almost impossible to get.
It's only held for a short period in the month
of August, which is delightful in Scotland because you don't

(01:15:33):
have the summer heat up there.

Speaker 2 (01:15:34):
I mean a hot day is in is about seventy.

Speaker 3 (01:15:36):
We have a lot of sunlight. It's still daylight.

Speaker 1 (01:15:39):
You really have a lot of sunlight. Well, we got
some tickets and we put together a tour. We had
to change the name from Military Tattoo because people thought
they're going to get you know, some angel moroni across
their back or something. And so now we call it England,
Scotland and Wales including the Military Bagpipe Festival and Drum Corps.

Speaker 3 (01:16:04):
Better marketing.

Speaker 2 (01:16:05):
It's over half sold out.

Speaker 3 (01:16:07):
It's a real experience. Keep in mind that what did
they call it the land? The sun never set on
the British Empire.

Speaker 2 (01:16:15):
And the Brits still think that they do.

Speaker 3 (01:16:17):
And so it's it's Indians, Australians, it's all over the world.
These people have come to do this.

Speaker 1 (01:16:24):
The dates are August eleven to twenty one. There's an
optional extension to Paris August eleven to twenty one. We
will see Scotland including the festival, Wales.

Speaker 2 (01:16:35):
And England to the extension.

Speaker 1 (01:16:38):
Hey, thank you for joining us here on the travel show,
talk to you next week.

Speaker 2 (01:16:42):
God bless