The Travel Show - Larry's in Vienna; The Benefits of Group Travel; Cruise Itineraries; Larry's Best Travel Advice

Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Gouden Morgan and welcome to the TravelShow. Yeah, I'm Larry Gelwicks to
get Away Guru. I just gotback from Tahiti last week and I was
getting the travel it'ch again and nowtoday I'm in Vienna, Austria. So
Guten Morgan back in Salt Lake.Actually there's eight hours difference between salt Lake

(00:31):
and Vienna. So salt Lake andthe Rocky Mountain States where we broadcast it's
eleven am, Texas, you're noon, and our stations in Florida and the
East Coast it's one pm. Wellit's seven pm here in Vienna, and
I'm so glad to share this showwith you. I'd like to welcome in

(00:52):
studio back in salt Lake, throughthe miracle of technology, my dear friend,
Wendy Frakia, the group department managerfor Morris Columbus Travel v Gates.
Hello. Hello, I don't evenknow if you know if it's day night.
I don't even know to you ifit matters. Well, you know,

(01:14):
people ask me how do you dothis, and I say, well,
my body's perfectly jet lagged. ButI actually have a routine for you
doctors and nurses out there. Youwill be appalled, but this is what
I literally do. Yes, Ineed the secret. Not on a short
flight to the West Coast or something, or even the East coast, but

(01:34):
international to Europe, to Africa,trans Pacific, Asia, Australia. I
have a prescription sleeping pill that wouldput a horse down. Wow, okay,
So I take it, you know, maybe after the in flight meal,
which is really an or derv it'snot really a meal, it is

(01:59):
you know, and I fall asleepand I sleep for a long time.
But what's interesting, Like Los Angelesto Sydney, Australia is fifteen hours,
and you know, you have anice meal. I go to sleep.
I wake up and think, boy, I've slept a long time. Surely
we must be there. We've gotanother nine hours to go the marathon flight

(02:23):
it is. So here's I takethe sleeping pill, knock myself out.
But when I get to the otherside, oh that sounds like I've died.
Yea, Well, come to theother side. But when I get
to the other destination, I completelyoverdose on diet coke. And you do

(02:45):
that on a regular basis when you'rein Salt Lake as well. So now
I know what runs through your veins. That's right. Actually, I take
diet coke with an IV. ButI'll tell you this. My favorite is
the diet coke at McDonald's. Youknow, it's a different recipe, different
recipe. I mix it and theyclean out the jets so gunk doesn't come

(03:07):
out. But the diet coke,say in Asia Europe totally sucks. Excuse
me, uh, the Coca Colalight or the Coke zero, Well,
they have coke light. Yeah,you know a lot of them don't have
diet coke, and so I drinkCoke zero usually overseas, but I prefer
my McDonald's as kind of you know, when I'm back home. I actually

(03:30):
have a routine coming to the studio. We originate our broadcast on station k
NRS, part of the iHeartMedia groupand am thank you very much. So
if you hit this control panel,you can cut me off and take over
the show Windy, which I knowyou you haven't shown me the right button.
You think that's by accident. Anyway, My routine is I stop at

(03:53):
the McDonald's on thirty third south Overon the east side, and I get
my egg McMuffin and my diet coke, and I have that and then I
have to get the free refills.This serious. My daughter Emily said to
me, Dad, I can alwaystell when you've had or have not had

(04:13):
your diet coke before the show.And I said, really, it's just
done. Serious, listen, howdo you tell? This is her exact
answer quote Messafe. I agree.She says when you've when you have a
diet coke before the show, you'remore peppy. Okay, anyway, hey,
listen, As I mentioned, Iam in Vienna and I want to
talk about what a beautiful city Viennais. You know, it really grew

(04:39):
up out of a Roman settlement knownas Vindilubona, eleventh century Roman city that
was an important trading post. Well. Today Vienna has a population of two
million. The country of Austria isnine million. Of course, Vienna is
the capital. Twenty two perc ofthe population live here. And you know

(05:02):
there's some iconic places the Belvedere Palace, stunning Baroke architecture, gardens and an
art collection, I of course,being somewhat of an art aficiot, uh
the Spanish riding school. I wasgoing to ask you if you had seen
the stallions. Yes, are wetalking about the horses. Yes, the

(05:23):
horses, Larry Larry, the horsesLarry Yes, rather than Larry Larry the
horse Larry careful, careful. Webetter move on from that one. But
uh yeah, you can go toa performance. You can just go see
and practice. They are absolutely What'sinteresting is when they train and ride,

(05:47):
they do it to classical Viennase Viennaand these music and then the Choonbrew Palace
is the number one tourist attraction inthe whole city. Now here's some things
that Vienna in particular is known for. Did you know that Vienna invented the

(06:09):
snow the snow globe? Oh yeah. Irwin Pense, a fine instruments mechanic,
in nineteen hundred, was trying toimprove the brightness of light bulbs for
a surgical lamp, but instead heaccidentally trying to get the reflection off glitters.
To improve the brightness, he inventedthe snow snow globe. Do you

(06:32):
like Ferris Wheels? I love them. Ever have you been known the one
on the eye in London? Ihaven't been on it, but I wanted
to. I didn't have time.You don't give me your credit card,
I can solve that. You knowwhat next time we're there? Okay,
uh the oldest Ferris wheel eighteen ninetyseven in Vienna. Now, this is

(06:54):
when you think of French bread orFrench bread item. What is classic French
other than a baguette, crepe,crepe, a croissant. Of course,
how French is that? It's notFrench, that's right. The French pastry

(07:17):
originated in Vienna, and it wasbased upon the kip furl, the German
word for crescent. It originated there. Now, also, chocolate is everywhere.
Do you want to know my favoritesouvenir I brought back from Vienna.
Porcois a Sigmund Freud finger puppet,so I can have it talk Sigmund Freud

(07:43):
things to me. Well, youknow what's interesting. Sigmund Freud actually lived
in Vienna, and his philosophy,which is your family history, was developed
after six weeks in the Galapagos Islands. We've talked about in the show.
But Sigmund Freud's phala a you know, of psychotherapy had a great influence on

(08:05):
the city, and hence the cityhas a nickname based upon Sigmund Freud's theories
of the city of dreams. Becauseso much of his psychotherapy was about dreaming.
It's also the city of music.Now, Vienna was the home to
these masters Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Hayden, Mahler, Mozart, Schoenberg,

(08:30):
Schubert, Johann Strauss the first andJohann Strauss the second, and of
course of the famous female composer WendyFrakia. I thank you very much.
You know also now your husband Art, does he like to dance? No?

(08:52):
Us, I know, I know. The viennse ball season runs from
January to March, and some veryfamous balls, the Open Ball held at
the Vienna State Opera since eighteen seventyseven, the Philharmonic Ball, which also
features a performance by the Vienna PhilharmonicOrchestra. Can you imagine dancing to the

(09:16):
Philharmonic And the Blooming Ball, whichis famous for its flower arrangements. In
that period of time January March,there are over four hundred and fifty balls
in the city. It's incredible,that is it's a lot of balls.
You said that, well, thereare four hundred and fifty. That's what
I'm talking. Now. Here's here'swhat it's a city of music. It

(09:39):
is you can find just about everyalmost every block. A quartet, usually
in a church or a chapel,a small symphony or something. But as
singers, all you've got to dois walk around and they're they're amost always

(10:00):
a paid event, of course,yeah, but it is it is you're
going, Oh I do I do? I like? Usually a quartet with
classical music, and of course theGetaway Guru a classical music. Never I
hope you don't do opera with anyof them. You know what I talk
to my kids. I would singItalian opera to them. My favorite was

(10:24):
Nussen Dorma and uh, I wouldsing it to them, but I would
make up my own words mozll I. You know the kids are all adults
and married now and still talk aboutit. Well, listen more from Vienna.
We're going to talk about the etiquetteof a fellow passenger asking you to

(10:46):
move your tush to another seat.You're listening to the Travel Show on talk
Radio one oh five nine knrs.Just listen and you'll know Welcome back to
the Travel Show and I'm Larry Gelwicksto get Away Guru. I'm in Vienna,

(11:09):
Austria today, back home in studioin Salt Lake City, is Wendy
Frakie, our group department manager.Welcome to the show. Wendy, always
love having you on the show.Now I need your opinion on something that
is a hot topic in social media, and it's this. It's the etiquette

(11:31):
of switching seats on an airline,meaning a passenger ask you will you switch
seats with me? For whatever reason. Usually it's so that I can we
can sit here. Maybe there iswith I want to sit with my family

(11:54):
now. One of the dilemmas thatwe're seeing now is under the so called
Bay sick economy fairs, where youcan it's the lowest fare. You cannot
get a seat assignment until you checkin check in at the airport, and
so you have a family of four, five, six, and you may
be scattered all over the plane andyou're running around asking everybody to switch pay

(12:20):
a fare where you get to reserveit if you have a family. I
think it's it's an imposition to askfor three or four or five people to
switch their seats. Well, itis an imposition, and it we understand
that everybody's on a budget, andwith the new DOT REGs where people are

(12:41):
having to be more upfront with feesand things like that. You need to
know if you have to pay forthose seats up front, and if you're
not willing to pay for it,you have to be willing to sit with
what's available. Yet, now Ido have some sympathy. It's you know,
it's a last minute trip, there'sa few year old, there's an
event, and there are no seatstogether. I get that right. But

(13:03):
here's the situation that happened recently inCanada. It was a trans Canadian flight
from Montreal to Vancouver. It wasa Air Canada flight A seven eight seven,
which is a jumbo jet, andup in first class they have the
lie flat suites they call them.It's a life flat. I mean,

(13:24):
you really can completely live flat.It's even know, if you got to
go, it's a nice way togo anyway. So here's what we have.
We have a passenger who bought aticket for the business class up front
and was in her seat and awoman now is seated next to her.

(13:46):
Usually the configuration is one seat anaisle, two seats an aisle and one
so she was in that center sectionwhere it's two seats and you know there's
a lot of space. You canget privacy, but you're also as a
couple, you don't sit together.And what she said initially is and she

(14:07):
just had butter dripping out of hermouth. She was a sugar so nice.
I'm sorry, but would you mindswitching seats with my husband so that
we could sit together? And thewoman said, all that would be fine,
and she hands him her husband's boardingpass. He's in the back of

(14:28):
the plane in coach. That Nowthe story gets even better because this woman,
she and her husband were seated backin main cabin coach class economy class,
and she got bumped up because ofan airline status status, so she
got bumped up, he did not. And then once she said I know,

(14:52):
I don't want to go. Ipaid for this seat. Then the
woman got nasty and started name callingthe flight of ten and had to get
and moved. There's a Reddit websiteand they have a thing called It's called

(15:13):
uh A I A h am Ithe A A yes, yes I know
that. No, no people postsituations. Am I? Am I?
That? Am I wrong? AmI being a jerk? And it's kind

(15:35):
of fun to read and and everybody, I mean, it's just overwhelming.
No, this wanted to said,send this woman back and got nasty shoes.
Let me ask you this. Ihave switched seats with people when it's
like I have to sit on anaisle. I actually have a condition where
I have to get up and walkfrequently. You know, I'll trade for

(16:00):
equal. I've even offered to switch. I could see once I got bumped
up by Delta on a domestic flightto their first class and I was seated
in the seat and had a gentlemannext to me, and he was talking
to a woman same moreau in theaisle seat. And I said, excuse

(16:22):
me, are you too traveling?He said yes, And I said,
would you like me to switch withyour lady friend and then you can sit
together? He said yes. Idon't know what I would have said,
said no, I don't no.So what is the proper etiquette about switching
seats? Well, to me,it's equal for equal. It should be

(16:42):
equal for equal. And I wasgoing to tell you my story of when
I did this, thinking that Iwas a good person. I was on
an aisle seat. Gentleman came back. This was a flight from Rome to
Atlanta. He said, I'm upan economy comfort, but I'd rather sit
back here with my friend, Sowould you like to take my seat?
Move forward? And me thinking thatthis gentleman is aisle for ale kind of

(17:06):
a thing because eye equal, Idon't need an aisle seat, but it's
absolutely my preference. So I goup to econ to his seat. I
agreed to this without asking any questions. And I'm in a center seat in
economy comfort. But in economy comfort, I'm in a center you're not snucker

(17:26):
in the bulkhead. So I don'thave the screen right in front of me,
and I watch movies NonStop on aplane and my TV doesn't work.
And that is the last time Ihave let anybody switch my seat. And
I would, but I will askqualifying questions, Ask what their seat assignment?
What is the boarding pass? Here'smy rule on this. We don't

(17:48):
want to beat a dead horse.But is it equal for equal? Where
is it now? If I havea tight connection, I'm not going to
trade to go to the back ofthe bus. That's another ten minutes to
get You can't compromise yourself. Andhere's where I don't think you should ever
well shouldn't have to switch if youhave paid for a premium seat. I

(18:11):
want an aisle seat, I wanta bull kit seat, I want an
exit row. All of those.Unless you get equal for equal or an
upgrade, I wouldn't do it.Well, that's my I have every right
to deny them, and people knowthat. Please know you have every right
to deny. You are not theah right. Okay, when we come

(18:33):
back, Wendy's going to outline thebenefits of group travel right here on the
Travel show and welcome to the Travels. So I'm Larry Gelwiz that get away

(19:00):
guru, and I got away toVienna, Austria. You know I love
Austria, such a beautiful, beautifulcountry and lovely people. I'm joined today
back in studio. It'salt Lake City, just to make sure that I don't
blow the show. My dear friend, Wendy frackiea group department manager at Morris

(19:21):
Columbus Travel, Well, welcome backto the show. And they always love
having you on. Well, somebodyhas to be here to keep you in
line, Thank you very much.Carlos keeps wanting to take over the show,
and I guess he's on a siestatoday. But let's talk about travel
on a personal level. Why doyou travel? What do you get out

(19:41):
of travel? What do people getout of travel? Sometimes you need the
vacation when you get back to restfrom your vacation, absolutely, but what
are the benefits of travel to you? Normally? For me, it just
makes me come alive. It justreally makes me appreciate what I have,
and it makes me realize there's somuch more out there, and I am

(20:07):
just the small person and there's somany amazing places and people and food,
and it's just it's so sad,I think for me in my world,
in my life, to just notexperience that. You know, I agree
with that, Wendy, because Ithink, you know, I've been to
one hundred and thirteen countries, gotsome new ones coming up later this year,

(20:30):
but it broadens our understanding. Kathyand I took our kids. We
have five kids. They're all married, they're all travel junkies, but when
they were young and growing up inteenagers, we took them all over the
world and it's amazing the impact thatthey have. You know, in all

(20:51):
those countries, we have dear dearfriends of various ethnicities, various races,
various backgrounds. We've stayed in theirhomes, they've come to America and stayed
in our homes, and I think, how blessed I am to be able
to see the world. I thinkof my friend lettisai E l on the

(21:15):
island of Upolu in western Samoa,and he has a great job he works
for Actually he's passed away now,but he worked for the government for two
tala their currency hour. It's abouta buck fifty an hour. You know.
He had to move to California andget twenty dollars working at McDonald's.
But that's another story anyway. Butwhenever I go there, or Kathy goes

(21:38):
with me and my daughter Emily wasan exchange student in Samoa for six months.
What a great experience that was.But we always stay at Aggie Gray's
hotel there in Samo in Apia.But we'll go out to Letty out in
the Lefanga Matreva district of Upolu.That's the name of the island. I

(22:00):
have no idea what you just said. Never mind, I was joking.
I was joking, sorry, allright. Anyway, we always spend a
night at their house. Now it'sa typical open sided folly. He's near
the roads. Who has one lightbulb? No indoor plumbing, no indoor
kitchen. Everything is cooked over likecoconut husks, and you sleep on the

(22:22):
floor. It's rocks. And they'reso proud of it. Oh and they're
happy. Yeah, and you putmatts down in the mosquito net. And
that's we always spend at least onenight and I go to a particular store
in my rental. I used toget a pickup truck and I loaded up
fifty pound bags of rice and cornbeef, the quality stuff. But what's

(22:47):
interesting is the way they in Samoaand much of Polynesia. The elders or
the older folks eat first, andthe kids will serve them. You're sitting
on the floor of the there areno they don't need a table. You
sit on the floor, and thenthe kids get to eat whatever is left

(23:07):
over, and they can. Theysitting there with these big beautiful brown eyes
looking at you. Oh he's havinga second helping. You know. I
love to see some families here.That's why in Polynesia the young kids are
skinny and us older folks are alittle more girth. Yes to us,

(23:29):
but you know, it's incredible.But you know, back in nineteen ninety
five, I took my eldest sonand five of his friends. We had
something we called the White Knuckle Club, and I took him to the outback
of Australia, to New Zealand,but one year. So they're all football,
rugby players, rugged kids. Theylove to go camping and outdoors.
And we lived in western Samoa fortwo weeks. I kind of found an

(23:55):
empty house, but we also stayedwith Letti. But at one one piculoar
stretch we made arrangements for each ofthe boys, one boy per local family.
And it was, you know,pretty poor family, and you know,
yeah, we'll do it. Butwhen we had I had a big

(24:15):
flatbed truck with you know, sideson it. As I'm driving them to
deliver the boys to their host family, you could see the nervousness come up,
and you know, they'd get outand they'd look back at me with
that nervous look. I remember thevery first one, and I want to
be very polite in doing this becauseit's hot and tropical, but Grandma was

(24:37):
sitting there outside topless. Now goingtopless is not customary there, but this
was Grandma is sitting there weaving andthe boys going and you know, well
older ladies. I'll just leave itat that. Yeah, you know,
you know exactly what I'm doing.Yeah, yeah, But I picked them
up two days later that every boywept saying goodbye family. This is what

(25:07):
travel does. And to this daythe boys are all in their mid forties
now they talk about this as adefining moment. They were sixteen and seventeen
years old and it shaped their lives. And that's what travel does. Now.
There are places easy to go onyour own Disneyland, Hawaii, but

(25:29):
there are places where a group grouptravel you really want to do. What
are the benefits of group travel?Well? You know, actually I wrote
a blog about this not long ago, and because this is a question that
we get asked quite often. It'slike, you know, is this you
know, why do you do thingsin a group? And I think that

(25:51):
it's a really good question that alot of people should be asking, and
I hope the listeners. You know, it's something that when you're looking at
a destination and you're looking at avacation, what are the reasons that you're
going and maybe ask yourself some ofthe questions like, you know, do
you know what your what your travelsstyle and preferences. Do you enjoy being

(26:11):
with people? Do you enjoy havingconversations with like minded people? Do you
you know, is that something thatyou enjoy or are you somebody who just
doesn't want to talk when you like, when I'm on an airplane, I
don't want to talk, but Ilove headphones. That's right and it works.
But when I'm when I'm telling insurance, yeah, but when I'm at

(26:33):
a place and I'm experiencing it,I want to know what other people are
seeing and feeling and if they're beingas impacted as I am. So I
think you have to know your stylebecause if you are a person who does
not like to have conversations, probablygroups may not be your thing. But
if you love people and you loveto laugh and meet and friends that you'll

(26:53):
travel with again and again, grouptravel is amazing for that budget and finance
considerations. You know what, withgroups, we get a lot of wonderful
deals. We get discounts on tickets, we get discounts on transportation, we
get a lot of discounts that weget to pass on to everybody. But
independently, you know, you maydecide you want to ride the you want

(27:15):
to write, do local transportation whichmight save you a little bit more but
take you hours. Let me giveyou an example, Wendy. We have
groups that go to Rome and alwayswe visit the Vatican museums, the Sistine
Chapel. I'm taking agad and ifyou you know, you can line up
and buy your own ticket and theline is halfway to Naples. But as

(27:36):
a group, we get a timeslot where we go to the very front
of the line and just walk in. That's one of the benefits of group
travel. Well, it is,and that was the next thing that I
covered on this It's like, whatis your desired level of independence? Because
on a group tour, you're goingto have a scheduled itinerary which includes time,

(27:57):
tickets and entries to all the importantplaces that you need to go to,
which the benefit of that is skippingthe line, getting to go right
in because you've got a lot inyour day that you can do. And
that is not always the experience thatyou get if you do things independently.
But then if you are independent,maybe you get to shuffle your itinery around

(28:19):
a little bit more. You know, when I escort groups and I just
love hosting tours, I just gotback from Tahiti, what a week and
a half ago. What I alwaystell the group is this, there's only
one thing you have to remember,only one show up on time. Oh
and John having said that, ofcourse, at Morris Columbus Travel, you

(28:42):
can see some wonderful tours. Goto Morriscolumbus dot com. That's Morris Coolumbus
dot com. Scroll down to escortedvacations and then pick a geographic area and
you'll see what we offer. Ifit's a cruise, don't pick the geographic
areat pig Cruise Cruises and it isfabulous. Would you just highlight a couple?

(29:07):
I mean, we do over onehundred escorted tours and cruises every year.
Maybe just a couple that you findabsolutely intriguing. Well, one of
the things on that post was talkingabout safety and comfort and one of the
tours that we have this fall.I've got three tours this fall that I'm
super excited about that, but oneof them specifically is going to Morocco.

(29:30):
I love Morocco. You know,it is such an amazing country and it's
stunning, and it is a placethat people don't think about necessarily going,
but it is a place that beingwith the group, knowing where you're going,
not getting lost, making sure thatyou are going to all the proper

(29:51):
places and you don't miss things.This is definitely a destination you want to
go with the group, and we'vegot a fantastic price. This is a
eleven night trip and it's only twentythree to ninety nine, and we have
fantastic airfare out of Salt Lake Cityfor that one. We can help people
with other airfare. And that's anescorted tour with Tim Taggart who's been there,

(30:15):
and he will make sure that youhave the time of your life.
You can go ride a camel,go see how they dye the leather goods,
and experience the cuisine of Morocco.All those things are just part of
a very enticing and just a verydifferent experience that a lot of people wouldn't

(30:38):
necessarily can. Let's play our favoritegames. Stumped the don Now when you
mentioned Morocco, I think of onemovie and I'm going to give you the
I think the most famous line.Play it again, Sam oh Casa Bland

(30:59):
with humphreygart Ingram Bergmann and Paul Henridnineteen There's a Black White I love that
film. It's some playing again sayit again. Well, hey, listen,
we're coming up to a break here, and what I'd like you to
do is I'd like you to highlighta couple more tours when we come back,
and then we're going to play moreof Stump the Dummy. I've got

(31:22):
some travel questions. You are,you are incredibly smart. I'm going to
see if I can stump you.My guess is I probably can't. All
that on more on Today's Travel Show. You're listening to the Travel Show on
Talk Radio one oh five nine kNrs. Just listen and you'll know Welcome

(31:52):
back to the Travel Show. I'mLarry Gelwicks, the Getaway Guru, joined
today by Wendy Frankie, Group DepartmentManager at Morris Columbus Travel. The Travel
Show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel, where you always travel More and pay
Less, and Norwegian Cruise Line,the home of freestyle cruising. You can

(32:14):
get a hold of Morris Columbus Travelgo to the website Morriscolumbus dot com Morriscolumbus
dot com And if you want tolook at those escorted vacations and they are
wonderful, just scroll down the pageto escorted vacations, pick the geographic area
or pick cruises. Now we aregoing to play stump the dummy, but
I want you to quickly mention oneother tour that is just really unique and

(32:38):
out of the ordinary. Well,it's the purpose of this tour. So
one of the things that you know, looking at the differences between groups and
independence is a cultural mersion and authenticity. So Morocco, of course, cultural
mersion all over the place. We'vegot a tour to Spain and Portugal.

(33:00):
Now that is not super unusual,but this tour is a two week tour
and it is a deep dive culturalexperience into these two countries and the history
and the architect architecture. Sorry thatword wasn't coming out. Architecture throughout the

(33:21):
buildings, and just the beautiful countrysidesand the food. And this tour is
hosted by Michael Phillips, who wasa humanity. He is good. He's
so good. We just have thebest webinar with him too, and you
can find that on the sand onthe website you mentioned before. And he
just will explain this tour to youin ways that you are just going to

(33:43):
know. You are going to comeback with the most authentic appreciation for the
uh, for these two countries.So you know, it's interesting Portugal,
which has been kind of a sleeperover the years, has it's so hard.
It is so hot. We're nottalking temperature, we're talking in popularity.
Thank you, it is. It'sjust gone crazy in inquiries. Uh

(34:09):
and interesting. Do you know doesthe tour go to Valencia, Spain?
You recall you know what, Idon't know if it does. Actually I
think it does go to Valencia,it goes to Gibraltar, it goes to
Segovia. It probably does. Imean, there's so much. Uh.
One of the really fun places inValencia is the Yadro Factory. Oh yes,

(34:35):
I've got yeah, it'll set youback. All right. We're gonna
play stumping dummy, okay, andmy guess is we're gonna go with the
easy questions. My guess is youknow this because this is you are well
traveled. What well? You know? That didn't sound right, art,

(34:55):
I apologize. I've said some realgoo fall fights today. What it is
is the chalk chocolate cake by theway over here is huge. The Venus
Schnitzel I absolutely love brought verse,which is more German. You can get
it here, so long the longbrats with the oh yes, yes,

(35:21):
yes, okay. And for ourlisteners back home, I say back home
because you're probably at Homer in yourcar. Wendy's in salt Lake. I'm
in Vienna, Austria. What countrydoes not allow chewing gum? Oh?
I know that one. That one'sSingapore. Actually you can have it.
Oh, you can't chew it?Now? Did you ever see the movie

(35:44):
Castaway with Tom Hanks about a billiontimes? Isn't that fun? That's right?
That's right? Where was that film? What country you pick? Samoa,
New Caledonia or Fiji? I thinkthey have some water named after that
one. That one's Fiji. Fiji. Oh, I gotta get you now.

(36:07):
Do you know a great called theRocky Mountaineer. It's a train ride
between Salt Lake and what city?Denver? Denver? If you're going to
take it, it's much better Denverto Salt Lake because of the time of
day you're coming in mostly daylight thanSalt Lake to Denver. And what a

(36:27):
fun thing to do, all right. The Eiffel Tower was started construction in
January eighteen eighty seven, when Carloswas just a young man. It was
finished in January. In January,excuse me, March thirty first of that

(36:49):
year. So it took about threemonths to build. Wow, And why
was it built? You know what, I honestly don't know that one should
know that. You're going to youstump me. Okay, but you're not
the dummy. I am excuse you. I just just had a bonehead moment.
It was starting in eighteen eighty seven, finished in eighteen eighty nine.

(37:13):
It wasn't built in three months.I was going to say, that's incredible.
Okay, it's like an actor set. I just had a brain freeze.
So it was started January eighteen eightyseven, finished in March of eighteen
eighty nine. Is built for theWorld's Fair. Okayka, very correctly.
Oh you know this one the ferriswheel in London, the Ie the Eye,

(37:34):
the eyes have it. There's ariver, a major river in Italy
that has river cruises, Tiber,Yes, the Tiber River Tiber. You
know, I love Cambodia anchor watWhat centuries was that constructed? Over a
million people lived there? Oh,oh you've I've said this on the show
The twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen, amI in the bar twelve to fourteen.

(37:59):
Very very good. Okay, acouple more the major archaeological ruins in Guatemala.
Yes, that's T call. That'sT call. Now when I come
back, when we come back inthe second hour, I'm going to tell
you about Chichi Costenango I must see. I'll tell you and I'll tell you

(38:20):
where to go and how to getthere right here on the Travel show.
Welcome back to our number two ofthe Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwicks.

(38:43):
They get away a guru, andI've gotten away to Vienna, Austria.
It's about eight pm here. There'seight hours difference between Vienna and Salt Lake
City. And Wendy FRACKI, agroup department manager for Morris Columbus, travels
back in studio in Salt Lake Cityjust to keep me on the straight and
narrow. And of course she's failingmiserably with that. But you know what,

(39:06):
I always tell people, Oh,it's nice to meet you, Laurie,
and that's very kind. But Ialways tell people, you know,
just give me enough time get toknow me. I'm bound to disappoint you.
And you know what, I don'tthink you disappoint anybody. I think
they just learn how to have morefun with you. Well, think of
me, think of fun. Okay, you know what. I got to

(39:29):
say, thank you to our listeningaudience. This literally happens three or four
times a week. I'll be ina store and someone will say, I
recognize that voice. You're the travelguy. That happened. That happened last
week at I was at lunch withsome friends and my friend brought this other

(39:52):
guy who's a friend, and hegoes, oh, I listen to your
showy every week. Here's the bestone. During March mad there were playoff
games in Salt Lake City and BrianHoleen, who is the president excuse me,
co chairman of the Morris Columbus Traveland the Morris related companies, told

(40:15):
me this experience. So he's sittingthere in the March of the basketball game.
He went to all of them,and he just happens to be sitting
to this next this guy from Tennessee, and they get to talking and he's
he's a coach and he coaches agirls softball team, coaches a boys basketball

(40:38):
team, and he's out here forthe playoffs, you know, And they
got talking and so they were talkingabout how he coached. He says,
you know, I do something atthe end of every season. I show
my players the movie Forever Strong,he says, and that coach Larry Gelwick's

(41:00):
you know, I think he's fromUtah. He turns to Brian, he's
talking to me, and he says, have you ever met this guy?
Have I met? Then Brian says, we're co workers. You know,
I thought maybe he would have said, yeah, the movie Larry gelwhich is
much better than the real thing.But Brian didn't throw me under the brust

(41:20):
Thank you, Brian. This happensall the time with the Travel show and
as you know, every Monday,I'm I'm a TV reporter giving travel news,
not a commercial on KUTV Channel to. It usually comes on between twelve
forty and twelve fifty on channel two. And so people are saying, you
know, I recognize you. MayI say thank you? Please come up

(41:45):
and say hello. It's happened inother countries do with Americans visiting, right,
you know, and we're so appreciativethat you can they recognize you without
your Hawaiian shirt. Usually they saywhere is your home? Aloha? Sure
ah, but may I say,in all sincerity, thank you. It's

(42:06):
nice to be remembered. It's nicethat you say good things about the show,
and you say wonderful things about MorrisColumbus travel. So, in fact,
I want to sing you a song. Well, you promised you weren't
going to sing opera, so wellI won't sing News and Dorma, which,
by the way, I love dearly. I enjoy Italian opera. But

(42:28):
how about this song? Tell mewhat we're going to talk about. It's
beginning to look a lot like Chriseverywhere you go. You're wondering now,
the listeners, what did I dowith the money my mother gave me for
singing lessons? Okay, two hundredand thirty five days until Christmas? Are

(42:52):
you one of those counters? Oh, the countdown has started. I love
Christmas. So let me ask youthis in the Fracky effect or in your
own family growing up. Tell meone Christmas tradition. So one Christmas tradition
that we have. Matter of fact, one of the very first things be

(43:12):
a lot like after Thanksgiving, becausetradition is we do recognize Thanksgiving, but
the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas comesout and from a Christmas market trip in
the past. We we got oneof those wonderful German pyramids. They call
it the candles on it, butit's a carousel with multiple levels. It's

(43:35):
got a little propeller at the candles, and it's got intotivity carved into it.
And after my mother passed, Igot hers and it just I look
at it and it makes me smilebecause it reminds me of the trip so
much. But you know, wedidn't have German traditions like that, but
that is one that that we donow. Just thinking about the wonderful experience

(44:00):
of the Christmas markets, because Iknow that's where you're going with this going,
but you know, a Christmas tradition. The Gelick's family, we grew
up in San Francisco. No,we weren't a poor family, but we
didn't have much money and Sea's Chocolateswas the ultimate treat. We could only
afford to go to Seas once ayear at Christmas. We'd all go with

(44:22):
our parents and we'd go down there, we each and we'd usually get a
pound box one pound, and eachof us got to pick some of our
favorites to go in there. Ofcourse, it's very gross to pick one
up and someone who's already bitten thebottom of it to see what it is.
Well, you go in through thebottom. That's right, that's the
truth the knife, yes, andlook anyway. And so every year at

(44:45):
Christmas, Kathy and I gather allof our children, all of our grandchildren,
we go to the Sea's Chocolate herein Salt Lake and we buy each
family a pound box and then thegrandkids get all sorts of other stuff,
you know, but they pick outas each family picks out their favorites,

(45:06):
because that's what you remember. Itis something we could only afford seize chocolates
once a year because it was kindof expensive for us. Well that is
a good one anyway. So itdoes lead to a six hundred year Christmas
tradition in Europe where every town,village, big city, small city,

(45:28):
we hamlet completely loses their mind atChristmas. In Germany it's the Chris Kindle
Mart. Here in Austria the ChrisKindle Mark, and it's an outdoor festival
and they'll have multiple ones in thecity. Vienna has ten Christmas markets and
what they do it's not a departmentstore life thing. It's wouldn't Kiosk be

(45:52):
dealt with evergreen boughs. It ismusic, it's food, it's dancing,
it's entertainment, and then shopping andenergy, and it's not I'm not going
to go, you know, buysome department store. This is most of
it Christmas related or could be Christmasrelated. You can get you know,

(46:14):
fur, gloves and hands and everythingand ornaments. It is everything you dream
Christmas to be. And I alwaysget oh yes, I have a brat
at every Christmas festival that we have, that the non alcoholic one, and
always hoping that they slip up.But that's another story. But so here's

(46:37):
the deal, Wendy. I hateshopping. I'm not a shopper. My
wife is. She single handedly resurrectedthe economy of several third world nations.
Anyway, the last time I went, I lost my mind and I had
to go buy suitcake because I wasbuying so much stuff. It's fun and

(46:59):
the best way to do it ison a river cruise on the Rhine or
the Danube. Now you see somany of the most Yeah. Now,
on that you will see all theregular site seeing that you would see any
time of the year. And Kathyand I will be hosting a very special
Christmas market cruise on the Danube sailingfrom Nuremberg, which by the way,

(47:24):
absolutely positively, without question has thebest Christmas market in my view, in
all of Europe. It's in oldtown, cobblestone streets, buildings that escape
the bombing in the war. Idon't know if if I've told you this
or not. We still have groupspace because you know, we contracted half
of the ship. We still yeah, we still have uh just a dum

(47:49):
show. Yeah, a handful ofcabins left. The rest of the ship
that Ama was responsible for selling issold out because this is the prime selling
and I'm a Waterways, which isthe ultimate deluxe river cruse. We'll sail
from Nuremberg to Regansburg, Passel Milk, Vienna and then down to Budapesh By
the way, in Vienna, youdon't, yes, I will be,

(48:13):
and I know the chocolate shops tocome to. A lot of people don't
think of Budapest as big, bigChristmas. They go crazy. Now here's
the deal. The dates are Decemberfour to eleven, but we have a
pre cruise Optionstein No Schweinstein, theDisneyland castle that Walt Disney used as an

(48:35):
inspiration. So if you take thepre cruise, we'll fly into Munich.
We'll leave the US December first,arrived Munich December second. You have that
day free. The next day wego to ober Amagau and where they have
the Passion play it's not in sessionof course, and the the Disneyland Castle.
Back to Munich and then the nextday drive up to Nerbik. It's

(48:58):
only an hour. Could not bemore magical. Part is buying half the
ship. The discounts very by cabin, but up to one thousand dollars off
per person of what you could buydirectly from the career. This is not
one that you guys want to missa lot of fun. Hey, when
we come back, what is ourbest travel advice to you? You're listening

(49:21):
to the Travel Show on talk Radioone oh five nine knrs. Just listen
and you'll know Welcome back to theTravel Show. Thank you for joining us
every week and we look forward tospending this time together. I'm Larry Gelwiz,
the get Away Guru, joined byWendy Frakia, Group Department Manager at

(49:45):
Morris Columbus Travel. Check out theirwebsite Morriscolumbus dot com Morriscolumbus dot com.
And if you want to look atsome of the escorted hosted tours, just
simply scroll down and click on escortedlocations. You can click on cruises or
a geographic area, but if it'sa cruise, don't click on the geographic

(50:07):
area. Like you know, Alaska, We've been actually trying to listen to
other places for the cruise. Youdon't want to make it difficult for people
to find exactly what they want.Yeah, so i'd said earlier, when
you've been around the block, whendid I say you're well, you're a

(50:28):
well traveled woman. But and thoseare untrue because you are the sweetest woman.
But let me ask you this asa travel professional travel advisor, I
don't know if it's the best,but what is one of the best travel

(50:50):
advice that you would give to people? So my mind is always patients,
pack your patients with everything else thatyou were hacking for this trip. Make
sure that you pack your patience andjust I guess it's an appreciation for the
experience that you're going to have.It's really, I think a mental state

(51:13):
of mind that you're going into becausetravel is just a whole different game post
pandemic, and you can't be readyfor everything, and patience is going to
go so far and make sure thatyou have the best experience in every situation
that happens. You know, thatis great advice. What I have found

(51:37):
is sometimes people, when they getout of their familiar element, little things
bother them. You know. Aflight is delight, you know, and
is delight. And someone say,this is the worst experience of my life.
Well, no it's not. Youknow, look at who you're married.
But that's that's another story. Bythe way, I saw this bumper

(52:00):
sticker a few weeks ago back inSalt Lake, and I'm going to offend
somebody, so I apologize, butI laughed out loud. You know,
you see all these bumperstickers about weightloss, and this bumpersticker said, get
rid of that ugly fat divorce him. And you remembered that, Jasy,

(52:20):
I hope you're so those men thatI've offended, I apologize. Here's my
best advice. It's in the planning. Planning is everything. Get a piece
of paper, just an eight anda half by eleven or notepad, put
three columns and put the and thenlabel them A, B and C in
the A column, where you're goingEurope, Africa, England, Italy,

(52:46):
Switzerland, Thailand, Australia. Dosome research and think, just from my
own awareness, what are the absolutemust things to see? Like if I
don't see these, I will die, it's ruined. The B list is,
I really really really want to seethis, but if I don't make
it, somehow, I'm not surehow, but somehow life will go on.

(53:10):
Like Larry's singing opera in Austria,it's beginning to look a odline.
Yeah. And then the C listis, you know, I'd like to
see this if it works out.And then get a piece of paper and
let's say you're going to be gonetwelve days. You're going to go to
Europe for twelve days. Just numberone through twelve. Day one, fly

(53:32):
salt Like to London. Day two, arrived London, Day twelve. Let's
say we come home from Zurich,Switzerland, Zurich Saltlake. You'll get home
the same day, so already thatthose twelve days are now nine. Yeah.
You know you can again overdose ondiet coke on your day of arrival
to stay away, don't sleep theafternoon. You can take advice take a

(53:57):
power in that for an hour andtake a shower. But if you sleep
all day, you're going to beawake at midnight to six am. And
then fill in what you want todo starting with the A list, and
then look at what things from theB list are kind of associated with the
proximity to the A list, anddon't overschedule. Take time to mix with

(54:22):
the local. Sit at a cafe, have a cup of coffee, a
glass of wine, a diet coke, have a lunch, a sandwich,
or a bowl of soup. Havesomething fit and absorb exactly that is the
beauty of it, rather than we'regoing to see ten countries in Europe in
four days. Now. You know, another good bit of advice because on

(54:45):
escorted tours, you know, wedo make sure that all the important things
are there, whatever the destination isthat you're looking at, whether there's an
escorted tour that where somebody else aredoing, look and see what they have
included. And there's going to bethings that you may not even know exist.
And so I think they're a goodguideline. YEP. Now I have

(55:06):
a very good friend of mine,his name is Rod, and he is
about to get a severe beat downfrom his wife Cindy. Yeah, Rod
is the program director at KNRS Radioand a dear friend and dear friend,
one of the great guys. Buthis wife Cindy is about to beat him
to death because she wants to goto Switzerland and he hasn't gotten her there

(55:30):
yet. And you know what,about a week ago, so I saw
him at the radio studio and hewas saying, Larry, we got to
get got to get Cindy to Switzerland. What do you have to save Rod's
life? Okay, So this yearwe have got an amazing tour to Switzerland,
Switzerland, and I'm just going tohit this one really quick because I

(55:52):
actually get to take this group out. And not only do I get to
take this group out, I hada little bit to do with the planning
on this because the times that I'vebeen there there I called this tour the
Highlights and the Mountaintops of Switzerland becausewe're doing it for a week. This
is for people who are still working. Maybe they don't have that two weeks.
And we're going to see the mountaintops, Young fraud Yolk, the Matda

(56:15):
Horn, We're going to Saint Maritz, We're going to glacier. Are you're
taking that horse drawn carriage up theOh my gosh, the best experience we
ever had. You're going to walkon a glacier. During our Ober Amagau
tours, we we spent some timein Saint Moritz, which was two Winter
Olympics. There beautiful. We tookthese horse drawn carriages. It became a

(56:39):
highlight. Yeah, up the canyonand then there's a little resort. Oh
my gosh, it's good. Well, very quickly. How do people find
information that was this September twenty ninththrough October seventh this year? Don't and
we got it yes September. We'vegot amazing group bear Fair. It's on
the website that you gave Morris usdot com. When we come back,

(57:00):
I'm going to tell you about somegroups. I'd love to have you join
me on it. Why thank youfor joining us here on the travel show.

(57:24):
Every weekend we get to spend timetogether, don't we. And again,
when you run into me in thepublic or Wendy, please say hello.
It makes our date. I'm LarryGelwiz, the Getaway Guru. I
saw a great movie the other daycalled Forever Strong. Once you've seen it,
Hey. On that Tahiti to Hawaiicruise, the movie was shown.

(57:49):
I arranged for you arrange one ofthe special things we do. Everybody was
invited and I gave the background onit, answered questions. It's a great
you know. It's one of thefew movies that you can watch with your
kids or grandkids and not be embarrassed. And opened in theaters coast to coast,
and when they are a big internationalrun, it's been the in flight

(58:12):
movie. I've actually been stopped inairports outside of Utah. The last one
was in Kona, Hawaii in Chicagoand people had just seen the in Flight
Movie. Forever Strong and total strangers. They're just kind of looking at me,
you know, and it's kind ofweird you out. And then they
come out, are you did youever coach a rugby team? We just

(58:35):
saw the movie? Anyway, youknow, I have the best job in
the world. See, Wendy isthe brains of the outfit because she has
to do all the planning and hasto follow up and solve problems. Me
and you're the pretty thing. I'mjust the pretty face. And that's why
I have a face built for radio. But I get to travel the world

(58:59):
with the most incredible group of people. I gotta tell you that Tahiti Hawaii
group, all kidding aside, oneof the nicest groups of people. You
say that every time you come back, because only nice people sign up for
tours that I host. Well,I love these people. We had we
did other activities we always do onboardactivities, have our own shore excursions.

(59:21):
So I'd like to briefly mention threecruise tours that Kathy and I will be
personally hosting. We would love tohave you join us. You can get
all the details at morriscolumbus dot com. Click on Escort of Vacations, click
on cruises. So I love theSouth Pacific. My wife says, I'm
white on the outside and Polisside onthe inside. I've spent a lot of

(59:46):
my life in the South Pacific.Uh you know, I can get by
in tongue and I'm not fluent,but I'm conversational and I've had tongue as
Ask me if if I served amission there. I said no, no,
but I I loved anyway. Yeah, yeah, I just love the

(01:00:09):
South Pacific. So February of nextyear, why are we going in February
when it's snowy and cold here becauseit's the other side of summertime below the
equator. We're going to sail fromSydney, Australia to Auckland, New Zealand.
Catch this itinerary Sydney. We spendsome time in Melbourne, not Melbourne,

(01:00:34):
Melbourne. Then we go down toTasmania, the island of Tasmania,
sail across the Tasman Sea, andthen we visit Fjordland National Park on the
South Island, Dunedin. Christ Whenyou're in christ by the way, this
is that Fjordland National Park. Thisis Lord of the Rings country. I
think we'll run across some hobbits,maybe frodo you know, if you're lucky,

(01:00:59):
Yeah, we'll put food out forhim. But we go to christ
Church you're sure you're in England,and then sail to the North Islands up
to one of the most scenic placeson the planet, the Bay of Islands.
It's scenic overload. Then down toTarrong and now Tarrong, think of
Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, oceanside San Diego. It's a beach community

(01:01:23):
and it will be summertime down there. Yes, of course, I get
in the bathing suit, strut aroundthe beach myself, and they asked me
to put my shirt back on.Well, do you know what happened to
me there? I was in Tahiti. They told you to put your shirt
down. Oh well no, Ifell asleep on the beach. I just

(01:01:45):
was so tired. I'm awoken byGreen Peace workers dumping buckets of water on
me, pushing me back into theearth. It's true, It's true.
And then they pushed me back andI'm swimming here boats. Well, I
gotta stop wearing black baby talking aboutthese cruises, and that's why. And

(01:02:07):
then we go to Auckland. Nowwhat we have you can just do the
cruise. The dates are February twelveto fifteen. We have some great group
rates. You're gonna see Australia,New Zealand. Now, if you want
to see more of it, wehave a pre cruise three nights in Sydney.
Go up to the Blue Mountains,the Three Sisters that those are mountains
area and all over Darling Harbor namedafter Wendy Fraki and Darling Harbor, you

(01:02:31):
know the circular k the Sydney Opera. We see the rocks oh, I
love the Rocks area. And thenwe'll have a couple of nights in Auckland.
This is optional but highly recommended.Go down into Waikato country season.
Why you, I mean, whenare you gonna get back? We get
to Hobbiton where they filmed the movie. It's so cool. So those dates

(01:02:53):
February twelve to fifth, twenty eight. Now can I ask you a personal
question? Of course, your husband'sever stopped you? Yeah, your husband's
name is Art, Yes, that'sa true fact. Is he really your
cousin? No? Are you sure? Yes, we've done the DNA.

(01:03:14):
Okay, because next we're headed toIceland and there's only like three hundred and
ninety thousand people in the whole country. They actually have a book called the
Book of Icelanders. So if you'redating, you know, Romeo and Juliet
fall in love, you can checkto see if that person is really your
cousin. That is, see,your kids had come out with blue hair

(01:03:38):
and blonde eyes, with that Scandinavianinfluence. But what's interesting, it's a
country one hundred and thirty volcanoes,thirty active volcanoes. nowI yes it did.
I've seen an interruption there. HawaiiVolcanoes has sixteen but only three active,

(01:04:00):
Iceland one hundred and thirty volcanoes thirtyactive. And you know that over
half of the Icelanders actually believed inELF's and trolls. And when you get
a I'm true, when you geta construction permit, you have to have
a survey group assessed that there areno trolls or elves living there. You

(01:04:21):
can actually go to elf school,not to become an elf, but to
learn about them. Iceland itself,you know, there was a deliberate confusion
because Greenland has no green ice andIceland it has green. But they purposefully

(01:04:41):
switched the names because people were sentthere as a punishment. The first was
settled in eighteen seventy four by aViking chieftain, and they didn't want more
people coming to Iceland, so theycalled it Iceland. Let's send them to
Greenland where it's green and there isno green I've been to Greenland. Interesting
country anyway, catch this itinerary.This is June twelve to twenty two.

(01:05:04):
Again. I'll be your personal hostand tour guide. Probably a good reason
to sign up for a different cruise, but be that as it may.
We sail from rekiavik Iceland. Wemake three stops in Iceland, which is
just the most incredible country. It'sraw willderness of well and it's also an

(01:05:26):
affordable way to see it. Itis Iceland is very expensive, so all
your meals are included. You're lodgingand vibrating. This on a brand new
ship, the NCL Prima, andwe have a buy one, get one
free airfare, which is the firstperson buys a discounted airfare less than what

(01:05:46):
you can get, a second persongoes to you. Now, these numbers
will not be in twenty This istwenty twenty five. But when Cathy and
I took a group on this samecruise in twenty twenty three, we started
in London Lake to London home fromRecuvic I priced on United and Delta it
was over twenty two hundred dollars.Oh yeah with NCL. The my airfare

(01:06:11):
into London home from Rekivic sixteen hundreddollars. Kathy went for free. It
was eight hundred dollars. Now thosenumbers won't be the same for next year,
but I give it an example.So it's a free air but this
itinerary, so we make three stopsin Iceland, then on to Norway three
stops including olissen Bergen and Flom.These are fantastic cities. Then on to

(01:06:34):
Amsterdam, to Bruges, Belgium,Bruges rivals Paris and Old Town Prague as
maybe the single most beautiful city inall of Europe and it's famous for lace
work. And then on to Southamptonand London. Now we will offer a
post cruise a couple of nights inLondon with a complete tour, or you

(01:06:57):
can just fly home. But againthis is Iceland to London with Norway,
Netherlands, Belgium and England June twelveto twenty two. Next year one more,
one more British Isles. Now thisone. I do you remember when
we saw this come out, thiswith Princess Cruises. I think, isn't

(01:07:21):
it it is? Yeah, wesaid, oh my gosh, we've got
to do this. This is JulyJuly seven to twenty and you will fly
to London. We will offer apre cruise London trip because it sails out
of down on the coast Southampton.Yes, and so here we visit England,

(01:07:44):
Ireland, Northern Ireland and they areseparate Scotland and France. England,
France, Scotland, Ireland, NorthernIreland, and one of the stops is
Cork. Now Cork is close toBlarney Castle and that's famous for the Blarney

(01:08:06):
ste Larney Stone that you've made outwith. Well that's what Mark Faldama says,
because the legend is if you kissthe Blarney Stone you'll be given the
gift of gab. And when MarkFalmo heard that, he just spontaneously said,
well, if that's true, Larrymade out with the Blarney Stone.

(01:08:27):
We're in Glasgow, inver Gordon,Edinburgh and then in le Hove, France.
You can take an excursion into Parisfor the day. So the British
Isles is July seven to twenty.You can stay later, you can come
go early because you'll fly in andout of London and you know, for

(01:08:50):
those in Salt Lake City you havea non stop flight on Delta Airlines,
which is amazing I was going tosay, is amazingly popular. Is all
Europe is and continues to be andeverything cruises is still the number one thing
that people are looking to do.I think it's because the value and I

(01:09:12):
think that It is a very simpleunpack once and you're going to all those
destinations. But the value that youget is still probably one of the one
of the best values. Now,I will rival that it's not giving you
the most authentic experience because you areonly touching the coastlines of so many places.

(01:09:34):
But you're touching many places. Youare touching many places, and so
there are so many benefits both ways, the land tours and the cruise tours.
Well, all that details. I'dlove to have you join me.
That was Australia and New Zealand inFebruary. By the way, you could
fly Fiji Airways and stop in Fiji, fly Air Tahiti Nui stop in Tahiti

(01:09:58):
on your flights, you know,any of the NonStop airlines. When we
come back, I want to introduceyou to the mysterious forbidden Island of Nihihow.
You're listening to the Travel Show onTalk Radio one oh five nine knrs.
Just listen and you'll know Welcome backto the Travel Show. I'm Larry

(01:10:25):
Gelwicks, the Getaway Guru, joinedin studio because I'm in Vienna, Austria,
and it's pushing nine pm here herein Austria. And of course there's
still time to go out and getchocolate. You want to see the pastry
and chocolate shops all over the cityof Vienna. I'm joining studio with my

(01:10:46):
appreciation for her joining us today.Wendy Frakia, Group department manager at Morris
Columbus Travel. Now we broadcast.Of course we're syndicated from the Rocky Mountains
to the East coast. But ifa lot of our people use the Salt
like International and this is where we'rebased, Yeah, make ten percent discount

(01:11:08):
at parka Jet. There are threemajor off airport parking facilities and they all
get you to the airport. Theyall have a free shuttle. Parking Jet
offers a free car wash. Theyoffer detailing. There is a cost depending
on what you want them to detail. But what I like about them,

(01:11:29):
folks, is they're locally owned.The other two or not. I'm just
going to say my favorite thing isjust how nice the people are. They
really, every time I've been there, there's been smiles and they just kind
and I just think that they're justnice people. How about a twenty percent
discount Go to Morriscolumbus dot com.Morriscolumbus dot com. Scroll near the bottom

(01:11:50):
and just click on Salt Lake Airportdiscount. And here's what you do.
Print off three or four of themand just keep them in your glovebox.
Here you go, give you atwenty percent discount. Now. A week
and a half ago, I gotoff the most incredible where we had about
seventy people. We sailed from Tahiti. We visited French Polynesia, the islands

(01:12:13):
of Tahiti, Moorea, Bora,Bora and Kraiatea, and then four days
of open ocean through the Tuamotu archipelagoof islands crossing the equator, and then
visited the Hawaiian islands of the BigIsland, Maui, Kawaii, and Oahu.
Incredibly nice group of people. Thereare one hundred and fifty two islands

(01:12:39):
and atolls in the state of Hawaii'sMost of them are uninhabited. Some are
federally owned, but they're within theboundaries any privately owned. Yes, yes
there are. Because of the onehundred and fifty two, there are eight
major islands. Let's name them together. Give me a couple of them.
Well, you took the Eastahu,Maui, Kawaii, the big island of

(01:13:04):
Hawaii. How about the Pineapple Islandnail Nai Okay, and then you Mollikay.
Now the next two of the majoreight get a little trickier Cooho Lave,
which is uninhabited. It is wasused as a bombing range in World
War Two and the Vietnam where pilotspractice dropping their bombs in lovely place.

(01:13:30):
Yes, and no one's allowed outthere because there's still unexploded ordnance even from
World War Two. But the eighthof the one hundred and fifty two is
the mysterious forbidden island of Nihi.How it's seventeen miles from Kawaii and access

(01:13:53):
is restricted to eat outsiders. EvenHawaiians from other islands can't go there.
Here's the history. In eighteen sixtyfour, when Carlos was just a young
man, Scottish widower Elizabeth Sinclair purchasedthe island from the Hawaiian monarch the US
stage day coup and actually stole theHawaiian islands from the indigenous people. At

(01:14:17):
this time, King Kamehamea the Fifthwas on the throne and purchased it for
ten thousand dollars in gold for ranchingpurposes. The ranching didn't work out,
but when they sealed the deal,King Kamehamea the Fourth, I said the
fifth. It was King Kamehamea theFourth had one final request. And here

(01:14:42):
it is quote, Nihi how isyours. But the day may come when
Hawaiians are not as strong in Hawaiias they are now. When that day
comes, please do what you canto help them. Well. Sinclair and
her descendants, the Robinson family,have really done their best to honor the

(01:15:06):
King's request. They rejected colonialization bythe Westerners and it became the forbidden island.
And so the reason is is formost of the history you had to
be a Nihi Howan. But nowthe population is thirty to seventy. There

(01:15:29):
are no paved roads, no streetlights, no electricity, no indoor plumbing,
and the Hawaiian is the official language, not English. Now they speak
English too, and they have maintaineda rural lifestyle, no electricity, no

(01:15:49):
indoor plumbing, all of these things, and they've preserved the Hawaiian language and
culture. Now, I got veryclose there. I was out snorkeling,
and I'm also a diver off Kawaii, and I got close enough to NIHI
how that I could stand in thewater up to about my waist. I

(01:16:13):
could see no one in sight.And then temptation was great just to go
ashore. No one would know exceptme. I didn't do it because it
would have been disrespectful to the people. Yes, even though no one would
know, I would know that Ihad disrespected their culture. Well, that
brings us to a I've actually flownright over the top of it too.

(01:16:38):
That brings us to the end ofthe travel show, and I'm going to
be headed out for a few hourson Vienna. I'll be back in studio
live in Salt Lake next week.Thanks for joining us. We said our
love to Alfeeder, Zane and AstaLuego Baby. See you next week.