The Travel Show: Live from Cambodia!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Soustay and welcome to the Travel Show. Soustay's the native
greeting here in Cambodia where I am today. I'm Larry Gelwicks,
the get Away Guru, and I've gotten away with a
wonderful group of travel show listeners. We actually flew from Pouquette, Thailand,

(00:32):
arrived here in c n Reap. Now it's Saturday morning,
about eleven o'clock there in Salt Lake City, but it's
one am Sunday morning here in Cambodia as it was
in Thailand. We're fourteen hours ahead of you back home.
We've got a wonderful show lined up today. I'm going

(00:53):
to talk about one of my favorite activities in Thailand
in pong Yong Bay, the origin of the Hawaiian Aloha shirt.
Jim Gee with Discovery Expeditions, the Ultimate Africa Safari, will
be joining us. He's back in Salt Lake City. And
then I have a new cruise tour that I am

(01:17):
so excited about. I mentioned it last week when I
was in cheng Rai, Thailand. I want to return to that.
I call it the return to the Golden Age of cruising.
We'll be talking about exciting foods, around the world. Dan hone,
the Middle East Holy Land expert will be calling in

(01:39):
and talking about Egypt and some of the history of things.
So many things that we've got on the plate. And
of course I want to remind you that next week
is the Utah Travel Expo, the thirtieth annual Utah Travel Expo,

(02:00):
sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel, the biggest, the best travel
expo anywhere in the Inner Mountain area that brings together
over one hundred travel vendors airlines, cruise lines, safari companies, hotels, resorts,
tour companies, all things travel in one place. The Travel

(02:21):
Expo will start Wednesday this coming Wednesday, January twenty first,
in Saint George at the Hilton Garden Inn, and then
the granddaddy of all with one hundred plus travel vendors
in the Salt Lake City area Friday and Saturday, January

(02:41):
twenty third and twenty fourth at the Mountain America Expos
Center in Sandy. Now. It is a ticketed event. All
tickets in Saint George are free, but in Salt Lake
there is a minimal cost three bucks for adults to
something for seniors. Kids seventeen and under are free. However,

(03:03):
I have rigged the system for you. I have got
a website set up that will get you free tickets
because there's a secret code that we're not publicizing. But
of course I am. You know things just come out
of my mouth. You already know that, and I've got
your free tickets. So here's what you do. Go to
Utah travelexpo dot com. That's Utah travelexpo dot com. Scroll

(03:28):
down on the homepage and click on you can click
on St. George tickets. They're all free. Click on Salt
Lake City tickets and you'll see the price associated with it.
Grab as many tickets as you want for your ward,
your parish, your synagogue, your neighborhood, your business. Put this

(03:50):
out forward information to everybody. And in the lower left
hand corner, after you've selected the number of tickets that
you want, there's a box where you can apply a
discount code. Well, I am a simple man. I have
a simple discount code for you, because the only thing
better than cheap is free. Just type in free fr ee.

(04:15):
But the critical thing is that there's a box right
next to the discount code free that says apply, I
mean submit apply. You have to click on apply and suddenly, voila,
all of the prices of your tickets go to zero,
and then you take as many people as you want. Now,

(04:39):
what's great about the Utah Travel Expo is the vendors.
You can sit down with any of the vendors and
ask questions, talk about their crews, their airline, their safari,
their resort, their hotel, take advantage of exclusive expo discounts,

(05:03):
and plan the perfect vacation. I mentioned that while I'm
in Cambodia today. Later in the show, Jim Gee with
Discovery Expeditions, my good friend and safari partner, will be
He's in Salt Lake City today. He'll be joining the show.
You can sit down with Jim and talk about Africa,

(05:27):
ask questions. I've told you that my favorite animals are
the lions. I think the big cats are a favorite
for a lot of people, but my wife loves the
wart hogs. I don't know why. Maybe I remind her
of a wart hog. But sit down and talk to Jim,
Sit down and talk to the cruise lines. Also attend

(05:50):
information seminars. I'll be doing two of them, and we're
going to have a lot of fun at the Utah
Travel Expo Wednesday, January twenty first in Saint George at
the Hilton Garden Inn, and Friday and Saturday. By the way,
I'll be back for the Salt Lake Area Expo. I
fly back on Thursday the twenty second from Cambodia, and

(06:15):
I'll be there Friday and Saturday. Now the Travel show
will be broadcast live from the expo on Saturday. Everyone
from Morris Columbus Travel wears these nice polo shirts with
Morris Columbus logo on, except one person, of course, that
would be me. I will be in one of my

(06:36):
trademark Aloha shirts. Please say hello, come up and talk
to me, kick me in the rear end and tell
me what's up. I always enjoy talking with our listeners there.
So let me tell you we flew this group I
have from Pouquette, Thailand. One of the islands you may

(06:58):
see it called Co Puqutt is the Thai word for island.
You have Co Krabby. That's not my disposition, that's actually
the name of the island. Krabbi kr Abi, Co Krabby,
Co Puquette, Ko Samui, all of the islands down here.
I love a puquette. I want to tell you what

(07:19):
we did just the other day. It's my favorite activity
in Thailand. Pongong Bay. It's on the east side of
the island of Pouquette, and they have what they look
like gum drop mountains in the bay, and they're limestone
and many of them are hollow like a volcano. They're

(07:40):
not volcanoes, but it's hollow all the way to the clouds.
And so what we do. We go out on a
larger boat that we've chartered only for our group, so
got lots of room on it. It's about an hour
leisurely cruised through Pongyong Bay, past islands and tropical seas,
and then we go to usually two or three islands,

(08:05):
and we get off the boat into sea canoes. Two
persons per sea canoe plus a guide, so there's three people.
The local guide who does all the paddling knows where
to go, and these islands have tunnels, and the tunnel
takes us right into the center of the island. Again,

(08:28):
it's then hollow. You can see the clouds and inside
there are tropical birds, many of them have monkeys, and
we're gliding through this kaleidoscope of colors and nature. And wildlife.
There's nothing like it in the world. Then we go
back out of the tunnel. Now, some of the tunnels

(08:48):
you have one hundred feet from the water to the ceiling.
Others yet it's a more narrow passage. But it's usually
just a short distance in. And that's what we do.
I have people tell me over and over again that
this is the most exciting thing they've ever done in
their life, and we just did that. I do that

(09:08):
on every possible tour. I told you last week that
I was looking forward to Cambodia, where I am today
because about Anchor Watt from the twelfth to the fourteenth century,
the most enlightened, educated civilization on the planet. Now, in

(09:29):
this area, which was part of the kimmer Khmr Kingdom,
today there are over eight hundred temples. Only two hundred
have I might say, been recovered because the jungle has
overgrown them. We know where the other six hundred are,
but you know it takes a bit of an effort.
Anchor Watt, however, was never claimed by the jungle because

(09:53):
it's been a working temple since the twelfth century, some
nine hundred years. The Buddhist pri there. You can get
a blessing and it's a wonderful experience. Do you remember
tomb Raiders the movie Angelia comes out of that door
that's anchor Tom. We go to the different temples. You

(10:13):
can be you have your picture taken right at that
door from the movie. So that's what we're going to
be doing tomorrow here in Cambodia. It's an interesting history
of the you know, nineteen seventy five to seventy nine,
the dark days of the Kimerouge and pol Pot. But

(10:34):
the people are humble, they're wonderful and it's a great experience.
When we come back on the travel show, I want
to take you from Cambodia to Hawaii. I have about
fifteen Aloha shirts. I'm going to talk about the origins
and history of the Hawaiian Aloha shirt. Aloha and greetings

(11:12):
from Cambodia. Actually at Suste is the native greeting here
in Cambodia. But we're headed to Hawaii, and I've told
you before that I have about fifteen alohas shirt. I
love Aloha shirts because I keep getting fatter. I don't
have to get a new wardrobe anyway. You know, I've

(11:34):
told you previously that every Monday, I'm on the New
News as a travel reporter, not a commercial I do
commercials on television, but as a travel reporter with updates
on travel promotions and news like new passports requirements, Princess
Cruz is having a super sale, and I always wear

(11:57):
a Loha shirt. Now pre pandemic, I would go in
to the studio and sit with the anchors on the set.
During the pandemic, they wanted to over there at Channel
two reduce the foot traffic, so said Larry. Film the segment,
the travel update called the Getaway Guru segment, and just
outside the studio and email it into us, which I

(12:19):
did post pandemic. They said, okay, Larry back in the
studio and I said, no, I am filming this anywhere
in the world, and it's I've done some from Africa,
from China, the South Pacific, and that's my backtark. Everybody says, Larry,
you gotta be using a green screen. Nobody travels that much.

(12:43):
I said, never have used a green screen, never will. Well, anyway,
I've as I leave the studio at KUTV in the
summer months and I don't have a jacket. I've just
got my Aloha shirt. I've been stopped on the street
and people say, hey, I recognize that shirt. They don't
always say I recognize your face, but they recognized the

(13:05):
Aloha shirt. Well, you know, a lot of us were
introduced to the Aloha shirt in nineteen sixty one. Now
they had him before that. But Elvis Presley in Blue Hawaii,
you can't help but look impossibly cool in the Loha shirt.
And he wore that he had the ukulele dwarf in

(13:28):
his hands, but it was the shirt. A red zinger
of a Hawaiian shirt, an Aloha shirt. Now, the history
of how we got the Aloha shirt's really quite interesting.
There was a man named Chen l Ray Chen, the
son of Chinese immigrants, and Chun returned to Hawaii after

(13:52):
graduating from Yale University in nineteen thirty one to manage
the family's dry goods store in Hunlu. He saw local
Japanese teens wearing shirts made of rayon and local Filipino
boys wearing colorful barong shirts. When the Great Depression hit,

(14:14):
Chun changed the store's name to Kingsmith Clothiers to attract
non Chinese customers and took all of this material that
was not selling, and they they made shirts out of it,
out of the flashy Japanese kimono material, What am I

(14:36):
going to do with it? So now they're transitioning from
an Asian clientele to a broader clientele, and they got
all this kimono and Filipino material, What do we do
with it? The hollies those are the white Caucasian visitors.
They weren't buying it, so they made shirts out of it.

(15:00):
And as Chun in an interview said, there was no
authentic Hawaiian material in those days. So I bought the
most brilliant and gaudy Japanese kimono material, designed the shirts,
and had a tailor make a few dozen colorful short
sleeve shirts, which I displayed in the store window with

(15:21):
a sign Hawaiian Shirts. This happened in nineteen thirty two,
and then he patented the term Aloha shirt in nineteen
thirty seven, and that was the origin of the Aloha shirts. Well,
other people in Hawaii saw how profitable Chun shirts were

(15:45):
and they started copying it. Well, you know, Hawaii is
a great place if you're going to visit in Hawaii,
to be honest, has gotten expensive and the state of
Hawaii keeps adding more and more tourist taxes. The best
way to reduce your costs in Hawaii is to buy

(16:07):
an air and hotel package. You've heard me talk about
secret airfares. That's my term where airlines will discount heavily
the airfare which has gotten very expensive to a handful
of tour operators. And as far as I know, Morris
Columbus Travel is the only travel company in Utah, Idaho,

(16:30):
Wyoming that has their own airline tour operator fares. That's
the legal name for the secret airfars. I call it
secret because you call the airline, they don't know anything
about it. You put those together and you get a
heavily discounted airfare. But there's a catch. The airlines say
you cannot sell air only because that upends their distribution

(16:56):
system of inventory of seats, and because it's much less
than what they are charging. You have to bundle it
with something a car rental, a hotel. Maybe you have
your own condo over there, timeshare, or you're staying with friends.
You can still use the secret airfare because you don't

(17:18):
have to have a car rental or hotel for the
entire stay and I've told the story of Marion d
and Maxine Hanks when he became an emeritus General Authority
for the LDS Church, then a house in Hana, Maui
and I would always do their travel. They go over

(17:39):
there for the whole winter. We would sell him a
discounted airfare with a two day car rental, the cheapest
car I could find, and that price was less than
the airfare alone airfare only they never even picked up
the car because they had their own car there. Take
advantage of the secret airfares not just to Hawaii, but

(18:04):
to almost every vacation spot. Morris Columbus Travel does have
the tour operator fares. Give them a call and find
out where you can save a ton of money. Just
kind of a fun fat juno. Hawaii has one hundred
and fifty two islands and atolls. Eight major islands, can

(18:27):
you name them? Oahu, Maui, Kawaii, and the Big Island
which I told you last week. They are officially changing
the name of that island. Then Mola Kai, Lanai, Cooho, Lave,
and the secret forbidden island of Nihiau. When we come back,
we're going from Hawaii to Africa with Jim Gee Jumbo,

(19:01):
and welcome to the travel show. We've gone through some
interesting greetings together, haven't we. Today. I started out with
sous day, the native greeting in Cambodi. I should have
thrown in Saudi cop where I just flew in from
Thailand yesterday. I say yesterday because it's January seventeenth, Saturday

(19:23):
in Salt Lake City. It's actually about one thirty a
m here in Cambodi in Southeast Asia, so it's Sunday
morning for me. Then we went to the next segment, Aloha,
which we talked about Hawaii and the origins of the
Aloha shirt and how to reduce your costs in Hawaii.

(19:46):
Now we're headed to Africa. So Jumbo is the native
Swahili greeting. I'd like to welcome to the show my
good friend Jim Gee with Discovery Expeditions, who is the
safari partner with Morris Columbus Travel. Jim Jumbo, Jumbo, Jumbo Jumbo.
That why do they often say it twice Jumbo jumbo?

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Just because they're friendly people, very friendly, and they long
to let you know that you're welcome.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
Well, it's a lot of fun. Let's talk about safaris,
you know, I've been on safaris all over Africa. I've
never had a bat when I've enjoyed them, but they're
Kenya is different.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
Why it's because the Great Wildebeest Migration takes place in
that region and during a certain time of year July
through September, they that migration of nine hundred miles has
reached its destination and what's called it, and they're up
and compacted into a very dense area and you see

(20:53):
millions of wildebys and zebras and all those that kind
of follow them.

Speaker 1 (21:00):
You have some one and a half to two million
wildebees on the move, a half a million zebras. What's
very interesting is for most people, Jim an African safari
is one time. Now some of us go back every
year and you go multiple times. Jim Discovery Expeditions headquarters

(21:22):
here in Salt Lake City with an office also in Nairobi.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
Correct.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
But if you're looking for that animal viewing experience, why
is there nothing even close in the sheer numbers to
the Great Migration?

Speaker 2 (21:39):
Because it's the greatest show on earth concerning animals animal
migration and to see that many altogether where you look
out over a valley and there's completely covered with Wildeby's
and zebras. And then to watch them cross over the
Mara River.

Speaker 1 (21:58):
Oh, the river crossings are crazy.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
You're unreal. And that time of year is when you
see those.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
You know. As far as seeing animals on the Morris
Columbus Great Migration Safari in conjunction with Jim Gee and
Discovery Expeditions. By the way, Jim is on all of
our safaris correct, which is absolutely wonderful. We give you

(22:25):
a booklet with color photos of I don't know, sixty
seventy animals that you're likely to see. I always tell
people that by day three you will likely have seen
fifty or more species, not including the birds.

Speaker 2 (22:42):
That's correct. There's so many different varieties of mammals in
Kenya besides these millions of Willebyson zebras, and everybody comes
to see those as well. You will see those. We
do give you a handbook field book we call it,
that identifies them and talks about them. But the most

(23:04):
popular ones that people love to see are those three
big African cats, which is the leopard, the lion and
the cheetah. And those are quite dynamic, and we will
see an abundance of all three.

Speaker 1 (23:20):
You know what I find interesting. My favorite animal of
the lions, and they're the only social group of cats.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yeah, there's no question there.

Speaker 1 (23:29):
And a male lion can weigh up to five hundred
pounds and their roar can be heard up to five
miles and that's exciting because I've heard that roar and
I know it's miles away and that male is saying,
this is my territory. Tell me about the leopard.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
The thing that's about unique about leopards is they are
the quinctent central cat as far as predator, and they
they're only seen when they want to be seen. They're
very sly.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
They're one of the hardest to see. But we see
them on every tour, multiple times.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
We do, and uh, they're very interesting and so when
they when we do see them, and they're beautiful. Uh
this year, remember we got those ones, Uh, that leopard
that was just right in front of our face, up
in a tree right by us. And you know, they're
they're the best climbers. So they're found often found in
trees either relaxing or grooming themselves or up there with

(24:32):
a kill. So they're very unique and uh, different than
the lions, which are the biggest cat, but the leopard
is next in weight. And then of course you have
the cheetah, who is a very very.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
Unique cat that they walk funny.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
They have run fast too, and they h what's funny
about them is they can't climb trees, and so sometimes
we're lucky though, and they jump on one of our vehicles.
Typically you'll see up on a termite mound or something
so they can get a good elevation view of their
surroundings because their ies eight is the keenest of all
of the cats.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
You know, what is the top speed for a cheetah.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Seventy five miles an hours where they've been clocked at.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
That's insane, right, and.

Speaker 2 (25:18):
Then they get up very quickly within two jumps. They're going.

Speaker 1 (25:22):
Tell me about elephants.

Speaker 2 (25:23):
Well, elephants they're very unique as well. They're our largest
land animal and they are we'll see them in lots
of them, I mean big herd, especially up in sambrew
and well we see them everywhere, even in sweet Waters
and of course in the mustem are in the Serengeti.
But we will see lots of elephants and we have

(25:44):
very very close to them, and they're very, very intelligent.
They're the fourth most intelligent mammal on our planet.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
They're smarter than some of the rugby players I coach.
They'll tell you that.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
Yeah, they're very intelligent, and they're.

Speaker 1 (25:57):
Very curious, and they have a good memory, very.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Good memory, very good memory. So yeah, we have a
lot of fun with the elephants as well. And you
will get you very close. But you're in a very
protected vehicle with only four people in it.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
Now, that's one of the differences. Because you're using these
uh these Toyota land cruisers with the pop up top.
They will seat eight people plus the driver. And most
of the vehicles I see out there, surprisingly there are
companies that use a passenger van. Now, how stupid is that?

(26:33):
Have a lot of clues, But other vehicles I always
see six to eight to nine people. Why do you
put only four in the vehicle.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
So that every person will have a three sixty degree
view of the animals.

Speaker 1 (26:50):
I don't know if in the company does that. I
really don't.

Speaker 2 (26:52):
They don't. We're the only ones that I know of.
And you immediately when you're with us, notice the others,
and notice that you have privileges they don't have, and
that way you don't miss the action because these animals
are completely wild and untamed, and things can happen so
quick and so fast, and if someone's blocking you or

(27:15):
you're not on the right side, then it's a problem.

Speaker 1 (27:19):
Well here's the problem, Jim. Let me make it real simple.
The animals have not yet learned to only come to
your side of the vehicle. Now we are working with them,
we're training them. But just I mean, you can move.
Everybody could be on the right side, everybody can be
front back or on the left side. And you'll see

(27:39):
other vehicles that for financial reasons, it would be more
profitable if we dumped eight people in your vehicle. But
now I will say, if there's a family or a
group of friends that wants to have five or six
or whatever, we will do that because you asked for it,
but we keep it four to a vehicle. Tell me,

(27:59):
I think that is one of the huge differences in
the Morris Columbus Discovery Expedition Safari. Another one is the lodges.
Tell me about that.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
Well, the lodges, we say it are very special and
they're inside the park in the best area of the park.
For example, when we'll be in the Marrow, we'll be
right along the Mara River where all the action happens
during that migration.

Speaker 1 (28:22):
You know, one of the lodges that I like is
Ashneil up on the Mara or the Serengetti. And what's
interesting is that there are some beautiful lodges. Marriott has
some lovely lodges up there and they're great facilities, but
they're about an hour to an hour and a half

(28:42):
drive each way from the center of the action. Right
there on the Mara River where at the lodge Ashnill,
which we have used, you'll get in your vehicle and
literally within twenty seconds you're outside the gate and there's
these big electric fences around all the lodges. We've never

(29:03):
had an incident. You are looking for animals, and so
tell me about why you do three game drives a day.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
Well, like you've mentioned, we're right where all the action is.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
In the morning.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
When we do that early morning game drive, we're the
only ones there and so it's quite fun to see
what the lions when you hear them roaring from your
tent and then when you come out, they're right there.
They're either on a kill or they're in a fight,
or whether they're in a group, and you get to
view them and you don't have to wait a long
period of time.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
No, it does get crowded in the afternoon. It does
because all these other lodges are coming in. So the
morning lodge a morning drive. You'll go out six fifteen,
six point thirty, come back for breakfast, have a little rest,
then tell me about the afternoon.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Then we go back out again after and stay out
till lunch. Come back at lunch, have a little relaxation,
and then we go out in the evening time from
only four is when we meet sometimes early as three,
and we stay out to the sunsets.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
And these other game drives have to go back. So
afternoon where the animals are less active. It's coransentral stations.
But the morning, in the evening we have to ourselves
and those who are at the lodge. Fantastic listen, Jim,
We've got some exciting programs coming up. Mark Folmo has

(30:30):
a safari. It's shorter in May. It's not the Great migration.
You'll still see animals. It'll save you some money, but
it's a May tour. You are on all of them.
My tour in late July, I believe is sold out,
and I do have a twenty twenty seven date available

(30:50):
that's selling very well. You will be also taking a
group in August mid August that you can join. Contact
Morris Columbus Travel. You'll also see Jim at the expo
and he will be doing a presentation and the information seminars.

(31:12):
He's going to join me for one of my seminars.
Sit down, talk to him, to Cindy as assistant and
ask the questions. There's nothing like this tour, Jim, appreciate
you being here. A jambo Jambo and a good time. Hey.
The other thing I will The other thing I want
to mention is your guides are full time employees and

(31:35):
it's not like hiring some guy who can we find today? Jim,
thanks so much. When we come back, I want to
take you from Africa to Alaska here on the travel
show in u Piak, the native greeting in Alaska. We

(32:05):
you know, we've had quite a day, haven't we. Souste
from Cambodia, Saudi Kap from Thailand, then Aloha from Hawaii.
Jambo Jambo from Kenya, which is a Swahili greeting and
now in U Piak, which is an indigenous Alaskan greeting.

(32:26):
Did you know there are twenty indigenous languages officially recognized
by the State of Alaska, twenty different languages. What is
the official sport of Utah? I don't know. I guess

(32:47):
I should look that up. I hope it's rugby. But
the official sport in Alaska is dog mushing. And there
are two hundred and twenty four federally recognized tribes with
twenty indigenous language spoken in the state. Of the twenty
highest peaks in the US, did you know that seventeen

(33:09):
are in Alaska, including the highest peak in North America. Now,
some call it Mount Denali, some call it Mount McKinley.
It's over twenty thousand feet above sea level. Now what's
interesting is Mount Everest is approximately twenty nine thousand feet

(33:31):
above sea level, but the volcano Monakea is thirty three thousand,
five hundred feet from its base, which is the ocean
floor Mount McKinley. Mount Everest is measured from its base well,
the base of Monakeaa on the Big Island of Hawaii.

(33:54):
By the way, I told you last week, the state
is officially changing the name of that island. The base
of Mona Kea, Hawaii, is on this ocean floor, and
if you take it from its base, which we do
all the other islands, or excuse me, all the other mountains,
it's thirty three thousand, five hundred feet. What is it

(34:16):
about Alaska with over twenty seven thousand glaciers that is
so appealing. I've told you before that there are places
I've been one hundred and seventeen countries. I'm adding some
new ones this year. I think I'll be one one
hundred and twenty this particular, most of many, many times over.

(34:41):
But there are places that are one and done. I'm
glad I went. Don't ever have to go back. You've
heard me say someplace like Cleveland, you know glad I
went there. But there are other places I go back again,
again and again. Cambodia where I am today, Thailand, Hawaii,

(35:03):
and one of the gems for me is Alaska. I
absolutely love Alaska everything about I usually do the same things,
and the best way to see Alaska is on a cruise.
I'd love to have you join me in Alaska this
year on my annual trip. It's in July. The cruise

(35:25):
dates round trip out of Seattle with Princess Cruises, the
love boat on a brand new ship, the Star Princess,
all the whistles and bells that you could possibly imagine.
The cruise dates again July twelve to nineteen, round trip
out of Seattle. But here's what's crazy. Some people have

(35:46):
said to me, Larry, the Alaska cruise prices seem higher
than they were last year. Well, the actual price is not.
It's actually lower. Why because there's more deployment, more ships
in Alaska and it's supplying demand economics one oh one.
The prices have come down. But the difference in the

(36:08):
advertised price, that is what's causing some confusion. Last year,
we the cruise lines and everybody else quoted the cruise
price plus tax. Now, Alaska cruise taxes are always over
three hundred dollars. Alaska has never met a tax that
they didn't like. But this year, the price that's advertised

(36:35):
includes the taxes. Let me give you an example for
this cruise with me, July twelve to nineteen on the
Star Princess, brand new ship. All as I call it,
the whistles and bells and advantages of a modern ship.
The advertised lead price is just eleven seventy four, but

(36:59):
that include dudes three hundred and thirty dollars in tax.
So let's back the taxes out to compare it to
last year. If I told you that you could go
in the peak of peak of peak season, which is
mid July, the best viewing for the whales, the best weather.

(37:21):
The rain season has not hit there, although you probably
get some rain because we're in a temperate rainforest, but
it's the best possible weather, and you could go for
eight hundred and forty four dollars. You would jump at that.
I say eight forty four plus tax. Well that's what
I'm telling you. The taxes are three hundred and thirty dollars.
It is what it is. The lead price for an

(37:44):
inside cabin is just eight hundred and forty four dollars
plus the tax. So we advertise it as everybody else does,
with a special group discount of eleven seventy four. That
is a great price. I recommend you go for an
ocean view or balcony. I mean your whole outside wall

(38:05):
on a balcony cabin are floor to ceiling sliding glass doors,
and it's a window. We will do our own private
shore excursions. We charter our own boat for whale watching,
and we go where we want to go, not where
someone tells us to go. And always I'll tell you
where to go and how to get there. We have

(38:26):
private onboard activities. Join me July twelve to nineteen in
Alaska and stay tuned for our number two of the
Travel Show. Aloha and sous stay and greetings from Cambodia

(38:56):
and we're headed to the Aloha Islands of Hawaii. I'm
Larry Gelwicks, the getaway Guru. Thank you for joining me
on our number two of the travel Show. The Travel
show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel, where you always
travel more and pay less. Check out their website at
Morriscolumbus dot com. That's Morriscolumbus dot com. If you already

(39:19):
have a favorite Morris Columbus travel advisor, keep his or
her direct line number handy. If you don't have a
favorite travel advisor at Morris Columbus Travel, it's very easy
to do so, call toll free eight hundred triple nine
forty six forty six eight hundred triple nine forty six

(39:40):
forty six and don't forget that. Coming up next week
is the Utah Travel expos starting Wednesday, January twenty first,
at the in Saint George at the Hilton Garden Inn,
and then the granddaddy of them all Friday and Saturday
in the Salt Lake area at the Mountain America Expost
Enter January twenty third and twenty fourth. For all details,

(40:03):
go to Utah Travelexpo dot com. I was so excited
because last week I introduced a new cruise tour that
Kathy and I will be hosting, and we'd love to
have you come with me. This one I haven't done
for a few years. This one is so unique. In fact,
the details are so are different than what I've done

(40:28):
in the past. I've done some similar things, but that's
been years ago. You know, I love cruising. I love
everything about it. I love you know what My favorite
days are are the days at sea three hundred and
sixty degrees of open ocean, and it's fun to go
to the ports of call. Those are Kathy's favorite ones
is visiting exciting ports of call and different cultures and people,

(40:50):
And I guess the best is a mix of them.
But I call this a return to the Golden Age
of cruising. I've told you about growing up in San Francisco,
going down to the marina and the wharf, seeing the
big cruise ships, the Lureling, the Mariposa and others. Push

(41:11):
off from the San Francisco Pierce Sale past Alcatraz, right
under the Golden gate Bridge and out into the blue
waters of the Pacific, dreaming that someday maybe I could
go somewhere, and little did I know what my life
would be, what an adventure I have had. But in

(41:33):
those days, a cruise ship, or an ocean liner as
we called them, was primarily a means of transportation, getting
from point A to point B. Sure you had some
fun on board, but the primary purpose was transportation. I
think now it's vacation and holiday and I think it's wonderful.

(41:53):
There's so many activities, so many things to do on
board your cruise ship. Well, we are going to a
return of the golden age of cruising. We are set
to depart Honolulu on the beautiful island of Oahu on
April twenty ninth. Next year, twenty twenty seven. We're just

(42:15):
a little over a year away from this cruise, and
we're going to sail to the west coast. We're going
to visit, of course, Honolulu, the Island of hawaihu the
Big Island of Hawaii. I keep telling you that the
state is officially changing the name. I announced that last week.
Let me repeat it. The name now is the Big
Island of Hawaii, and the state is dropping Big Island

(42:40):
and simply calling it Hawaii. And not to be confused
with the State of Hawaii. Everyone's still going to call
it the Big Island. In fact, most people don't say
the Big Island of Hawaii. They simply call it. We're
going to the Big Island. Why is it the Big Island?
You can fit the whole state of Hawaii in the

(43:00):
Big Island. Hawaiian still have some room left over. Why
it's at the Big Island because it is the Big
Island anyway. So we're gonna spend an overnight two days
on the Big Island in Kailuacona. Now I love Kailuacona.
It is it's kind of a throwback to a sleepy
time of life in Hawaii where it was less hassled.

(43:25):
For those who are members of the Eldest Church. There's
a temple there that you can visit right at Kailuacona.
You know Hawaii itself. The first European visitor was Captain
James Cook. He made three voyages into the Pacific, and
in seventeen seventy eight he sailed right past Oahu and

(43:47):
landed at Wayimea, Kawaii. He named these islands the Sandwich
Islands in honor of his friend and patron, John Montague,
the fourth Earl of Sandwich. It had nothing new. He
didn't name it after a Boloney Sandwich. He named it
after John Montague, the Earl of Sandwich. Well, there's so.

(44:10):
Kailua Kona is the historic center of the Big Island
of Hawaii. You can stroll down the promenade past the
first Christian church ever built in Hawaii, past the royal residence.
It was the home of King Kamehamea, the First, also

(44:31):
known as King kameha Maya the Great. Last week I
talked to you about one of my favorite places, poohol
onuah Oh how now now, yeah, I wasn't stumbling there.
That's how it's pronounced the city of refuge. It's where
if you broke the kapu, where death was the penalty
if you got to the city of refuge Poolua oh

(44:55):
Now now everything was forgiven. You could walk immediately out.
The bones of twenty three Alie are buried there, giving
it spiritual power at the hanow or the temple. Another
place that I like to visit is Kayla Kekua Bay.

(45:15):
Now this is interesting because Captain Cook returned. His first
visit was in seventeen seventy eight, but he returned the
next year in seventeen seventy nine, And it was on
Valentine's Day, February fourteenth, seventeen seventy nine that Captain Cook

(45:36):
was killed in a confrontation with the native Hawaiians. Well,
a stone monument was ordered by Princess Lekiliki in eighteen
seventy four, and three years later this little crop of
land that was dedicated to Captain Cook by Princess leaki

(46:00):
LeKi was given to the UK was given to England
in eighteen sets. It is sovereign British soil with kind
of a local parentis agreement, an interlocal agreement with the
United States to kind of maintain it. But it's actually
British soil. People think when they break the law in Hawaii,

(46:23):
oh I can run to England on this little piece
of land and the monument and the police can't touch me.
Wrong in the interlocal agreement, the US has jurisdiction over
criminals and things like that, but it's England. Denny, get
on the microphone. He's our he's coming over here. I

(46:48):
want to ask him a question about this. Denny is
our producer who runs the board, and ask him when
he is going to be going to Hawaii. Because Denny
just walked in, I'm sorry, didn't I thought from your
office I can see him on a television. I can't.

(47:11):
I thought. You're on a microphone. You'll be on number
two right there. First of all, when you haven't been
to Hawaii, when are you gonna go?

Speaker 2 (47:18):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (47:18):
Maybe like thirties? Probably old? Are you now? Twenty five?
Twenty five? Okay, we'll get one of those secret airfares.
Now if I how would this do for advertising? Visit
Hawaii and England the same day? Oh, that'd be nice,
that'd be nice. Now, you were you were born in Bosnia,

(47:40):
weren't you. Yep? And you came here as a young
child with your family, and I've given you a scolding
because you haven't been back to boss, I'm not Yeah,
you have given me a number of scoldings for I
wanted to get your number of scoldings. His favorite place
is rich As Burgers in Salt Lake City. Amazing burgers,
very very good. So I wanted to get your take.

(48:03):
You're an advertising guy England and Hawaii the same day.
That sounds fun. I like that. It's two different two
different cultures, all in one day. I like that. Thank you, Denny,
appreciate you jumping over here. So anyway, back to this cruise.
We are going to do so many exciting things. I'll
take you to these, the Kona Coast, the Big Island, wah.

(48:28):
What we're going to say is go to Hawaii early,
spend two or three days or two or three weeks,
whatever what you want to do, and then join me
on April twenty ninth, and we're sailing to the West
coast May seventh. And this is what's crazy. Cruise rates

(48:48):
start at just seven hundred and seventy seven dollars. That's
an inside cavin. Go for the balcony. It's only AE
thousand and sixty eight for a balcony. Say from Hawaii
through the Hawaiian Islands to the west coast of Vancouver.
But what's really cool this anthem of the seas. It's
with Princess Cruises, excuse me, with Royal Caribbean Cruises is

(49:14):
one of their brand new ships. And on May seventh,
when we arrive in Vancouver, it starts the summer Alaska season.
You can stay on board, keep your same cabin and
do an Alaska cruise. I'll tell you more about this
and we come back in the next segment. We're going
to visit foods around the world. Welcome back to the

(49:54):
travel show. I'm Larry Gelwicks to get Away Guru. That
was kind of fun talking to Denny, who kind of
runs the show.

Speaker 3 (50:00):
Here.

Speaker 1 (50:01):
I'm just a pretty face, but yeah, it's kind of
interesting to talk about sovereign British soil in Hawaii. Would
anyone get mad at me for false advertising if I
said let's go to Hawaii and England on the same day. Technically,

(50:21):
I'm right. I don't think I'll advertise it. I just
want to wrap up. This is such an exciting cruise.
I promise you, promise you that prices are going to
go up. You think of hotels, think of airline tickets
and cruises. As the ship as the hotel room, as
the airplane fills up, prices go up, up, up. We're

(50:45):
right at the bottom of pricing now because we've just
announced it. So in summary, let me tell you again
that April twenty nine to May seventh, next year, twenty
twenty seven, I'll be sailing with Royal care Arabean on
the Anthem of the Seas brand well, a relatively new ship.
It's almost brand new. That particular ship was given the

(51:09):
award Royal Caribbean as the best cruise line overall. Has
so many activities. We'll visit Oahu, Honolulu, the Big Island
of Hawaii, the Islands of Hawaii, Kailuacona, all of these things,
and then cross the North Pacific to Vancouver, British Columbia.
The lead price is just seven hundred and seventy seven dollars,

(51:33):
but go for the balcony. An ocean view is nine
to sixty eight. The balcony is just one hundred bucks
more at ten sixty eight. That includes all your taxes,
all your taxes right there, and that is an incredible,
incredible bargain. Then I told you that you can disembark

(51:55):
the ship May seventh in Vancouver. There's been a couple
of days there. But what I suggest you, rather than
come home, the ship starts the Alaska Cruise sailing round
trip from Vancouver. The lead price for a one week
UH Alaska cruise to Juno, Ketchikan, Skagway, Glaciers Galore is

(52:19):
just seven hundred and fifty eight dollars. We have special
group pricing. Now, you remember I told you what the
taxes are, three hundred and thirty three. Excuse me, three
hundred and thirty dollars. If the cruise including the tax
is seven point fifty eight, back out the taxes. You're
getting a one week cruise for four hundred and twenty
eight dollars plus the tax. You could do Honolulu to Vancouver,

(52:45):
Alaska round trip from Vancouver for just fifteen thirty seven.
That is pure insanity. But again on both of them,
go for the balcony cabin. Contact Morris Columbus Travel. This
is an exclusive agreement that we have on this one
with me and our private shore excursions onboard activities. The

(53:08):
return to the golden age of cruising. Now, Denny and
I were talking at the break there about foods we love.
I told you he loves Riches Burgers in downtown Salt Lake.
We also said we love jay dogs, some of the
best hot dogs. I love a brought verse. When I

(53:28):
go to Germany or that region, I have one at
least one every day. And you know, the hot dogs
and the brats in Germany are different. When you bite them,
they pop because they have a casing and the bun
is critical to it. Well, Denny, we were talking about
jay dogs, which are great hot dogs. Why is a

(53:51):
hot dog called a hot dog? As far as I know,
there's no dog meat in it. Well, it traces back
to German immigrants with the doc they call it. Some
people call them docks and sausages. In Germany you have
a brat, but every town, every village has their own

(54:12):
unique sausages. I love the Nuremberg sausage. As you get
about six of them on a plate. Think of the
size of one of those Jimmy Dean's Heat and Serve sausages.
They're about that size. You get a good zimbal roll
and you have them anytime of the day with that brown,
spicy mustard and some sour crowd. Do you know their

(54:34):
potato salad in Germany doesn't have mayonnaise, which I think
is disgusting, but that's another story. It's made with more
of a little oil. It's I love the potato salad
in Germany. Well, any references to docks and sausages and
ultimately hot dogs can be traced to German immigrants in

(54:55):
the eighteen hundreds. These German immigrants coming to the US
through Ellis Island brought not only the sausage with them
in the late eighteen hundreds, but they also brought their pets,
the docks and dogs. The name hot dog probably began
as a joke about the Germans small, long, thin pet

(55:19):
dogs and their long, thin sausages that looked like a
docks and dog, and that's likely where it came. The
other question is often asked, why is a hamburger called
a hamburger if there is no ham in it? Well,
also the Germans. In the nineteenth century, beef from German Hamburg,

(55:43):
which is a city in Germany cows, was mince combined
with garlic, onion, salt onions and formed into patties. The
inspiration for a hamburger came from Germany. The concept of
a meat patty between two slices of bread. Later, a
bun came later well. Local lore says the hamburger, the

(56:04):
ground meat patty between two slices of bread, was first
created in America around nineteen hundred by a gentleman Lewis Lawson,
a Danish immigrant owner of Lewis's Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut.
When we come back on the Travel Show, We're headed
to Egypt with Dan Hone. You're listening to the Travel Show.

(56:44):
I'm Larry Gelwicks, the Getaway Guru, and I've gotten away
to Thailand and Cambodia. But I'll be back next week
for the Utah Travel Expo. Don't forget. That is Wednesday,
January twenty first in Saint George and then the Big
Tent in Salt Lake City Friday and Saturday January twenty

(57:06):
third and twenty fourth at the Mountain America Expos Center
in Sandy. It is a ticketed event. I've told you
how to get free tickets. Just go to the website
Utah Travel Expo dot com. Scroll down, click on get
Salt Lake City tickets. You'll see prices. No charge for
the Saint George event, but there is a cost for

(57:28):
the Salt Lake event. Kids seventeen and under always go
free discounts from military and seniors. But in the lower
left hand corner it says a discount code. Type in
the word free. This is a special for Travel Show listeners.
Free order as many tickets for your neighborhood, your friend, whoever,

(57:49):
and then you have to hit the icon that says
apply and wohila, all the prices, the dollar amounts disappear
and all the tickets are absolutely free. Now one of
my best friends in life is going to be at
the Utah Travel Expo, and that is Dan Hone, who
is I think the smartest guy I know on all

(58:10):
things in the Middle East and Holy Land. Dan, Welcome
to the Travel Show.

Speaker 3 (58:17):
Well, thank you, Larry. It's great to be here. You
know I mess the times we travel together. But you know,
I don't know if we're allowed to announce it that
April of twenty twenty seven, we hope we and our
wives and a group will come with us.

Speaker 1 (58:31):
Well, you just announced it. You just announced it. Yeah,
that's cool. Now. You know, the travel advisors at Morris
Columbus Travel, they beat the daylights out of me when
I announce programs that are not in the system yet.
And I do it anyway, you know, I take the

(58:52):
beating kind of like it actually, But we are planning
it's don't don't call yet on this one. We will
announce it. It should be ready. I'm hoping by next
week at the Expo we'll announce it there. But we
are planning to have an early April Holy Land with

(59:18):
the Jordan option to that. Dan and I will be
doing it. Dan and I have been the best of
friends for over fifty years. We sat next to each
other in graduate school and some of my graduate studies
included Hebrew, Coptic, one of the Egyptian languages, and religion,
first century Christian literature. Dan's background, he's too humble to

(59:42):
tell you, but I'll brag him. You know, I always
do this to you, Danny boy Ah. He hates it.
He hates it when I do that. But he got
his graduate degree at at Israeli University, lived in Israel
for almost ten years, one of the founders of the
BYU Jerusalem Center, and is someone that people go to

(01:00:07):
all the time for information. So, Dan, you have a
program going to Egypt, and of course you also do
Israel and Jordan tours. I'd like to introduce our audience
to Egypt. You know, I've said this before, Dan that

(01:00:28):
you you can find white sand beaches in many places,
alpine splendor, volcanoes, you can find these around the world,
but you cannot find Egypt or anything like Egypt anywhere
but Egypt. So introduce us to a brief the culture

(01:00:50):
of Egypt, and let's talk about some of the monuments
there and what people can expect.

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
Well, you know, guess tour at least actually the fourteenth
of February is one that's going to some rather unique
places compared to the standard tours of Egypt. And you know,
some of the things we're going to be doing there
is getting involved in the culture. When we go to
the Nubian village, that's a favorite place of mine, and

(01:01:18):
we hold the alligators if you want, and so forth,
of ab alligators there being among the village, walking in
the gardens. Egypt's so beautiful along the Nile, and yet
there's a kind of beauty outside the Nile that's exciting,
you know, Gerty said the famous writer anciently, if you
want to understand the poet, you must go to the

(01:01:39):
poet's land. And if you want to understand Egypt. You
can read all you want about the monuments and things,
but to see them at least three of the ancient
wonders of the world are located that we will be
at the area or at the site and remember the
great pyramids of Gizen and so forth, as well as
the Luxor and Karnak temples. Those areas are fantastic, you know.

(01:02:04):
And those that stay and go on to Jordan well
also not just as a patra and jar ash and things,
but we're also going all the way from the Red
Sea to the Northern area, clear up to look down
on the Sea of Galilee in the north. But I
love the places like Waddie Rum where the story's Lawrence

(01:02:28):
Regia took place, but also the children of Israel going
through that area, staying at a Bedouin camp, eating the
food and so forth. In Egypt, we go to Dendera,
we go to Alexandria, not just the standard places in
Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt, but all the way from
Oswan to Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast. It's a great

(01:02:51):
experience for us.

Speaker 1 (01:02:52):
Now you can still join Dan he leaves in February there.
Morris Clumbs Travel has wonderful Holy Land, Middle East Egypt
tour hosts others. In March. K Godfrey, we'll be visiting Egypt.
The Proctors have an Egypt going in May. Let's see.

(01:03:17):
I think Tim Taggart he has a program going in November.
So you know, Dan and I have been together, We've
led tours together. But if you'll go to Morriscolumbus dot com,
scroll down on the homepage, click on Morris Murdoch Escorted
Tours and then a toolbar comes up and you can

(01:03:40):
click on Holy Lands. And of course the Holy Lands
are much more than just Israel. It's Jordan, parts of Syria.
We don't go to Syria and Egypt. Now, Dan, i'd
like to I'm gonna give you names of a couple
places or monuments. Would you comment briefly on the significance.

(01:04:00):
Let's start with people associate they say Egypt, they immediately
think of pyramids.

Speaker 3 (01:04:09):
Yes, and we'll be visiting the pyramids. You know, the
pyramid is actually in the shape of what was known
as the Ben Benz stone. That is a foundation stone
at the time of creation and the very top part.
In fact, on the Egyptian Old List. You'll also see
a pyramidal shape at the top of it. And oh,
there's so much we can discuss and talk about that.

(01:04:30):
Any one of those that go over find that that's
one of the great wonders of the world. If you
where they used as tombs. Now there's some question about
the use of those pyramids, and there's a lot of
background information on that. What they've found underneath and around
the Great Pyramids there and Giza is kind of exciting

(01:04:53):
and fun to be with. And where we usually stay
is within eyeshot of those same pyramids.

Speaker 1 (01:04:59):
What was the purpose of pyramids?

Speaker 3 (01:05:02):
Well, that is one of the big questions today. I
think we've pretty much figured out how they built the
pyramids today, even though you'll see some articles question it.
It was assumed that it was a tomb, but recent
finds underneath the Great Pyramid suggests that yes, but the
tomb have been hidden in a different location than where

(01:05:23):
we have so often gone to. And the pyramids are
believed to have been used as monuments to the pharaohs
of the third millennium bc UH. And then went on
through the oldest pyramids, the step pyramids. It started with
a what's called a masabah and then builds itself on

(01:05:44):
up to become a step pyramid, just as we find
in other areas of the world. We will also be
visiting those areas that standard on any of the tours.
And these are the oldest pyramids in the world. They
predate of Gezan.

Speaker 1 (01:06:01):
Now, one of the most recognizable symbols of Egypt is
the Great Sphinx of Giza. It's a limestone statue with
a lion's body and a human head, believed to represent
the pharaoh and is one of the most iconic symbols
of ancient Egypt. Introduce us to the Sphinx.

Speaker 3 (01:06:22):
Well, you'll notice the sphinx doesn't have a nose. In
seventeen ninety nine, Napoleon used that as a target practice
some of his troops competent, and of course it was
buried up to just the head poking out in those days.
Of course, it's all uncovered to its base today. Again,

(01:06:45):
it was also used as a priestly offering place for
the pharaohs, and so it also has a temple complex
around it. As they dug down through it, we see
the sphinx, you know, and you mentioned the pyramids again.
Remember on our dollar bills we have the symbol of

(01:07:09):
the pyramid.

Speaker 1 (01:07:10):
Wow, hey, you know one of the and by the way,
the Great Sphinx was probably constructed in the fourth dynasty
of the Old Kingdom about twenty five twenty six, about
twenty five hundred BC. It is it's just a great thing.
Now people associate Egypt with King Tut. We have about

(01:07:34):
a minute and a half left or known as dunk Amun,
introduced us to King tut.

Speaker 3 (01:07:42):
Oh. King Tut originally was tud Otun. His father and
mother were not for a TV which they believed. They
recently found the tomb of behind the tomb of King Tut.
It was the first full tomb untouched, having been covered
underneath another tomb in the Valley of the Kings, and

(01:08:03):
the exhibit there they're just added. At the Giza Egyptian Museum,
that's Jim. That's about two billion dollars worth of construction,
thirty thousand new items, many of which are the King
Tut exhibit never before shown, and so that's one of

(01:08:25):
the places that all of these groups hope to visit now.
And there's over one hundred thousand exhibits in the gym
there and then King Tut is a primary focus.

Speaker 1 (01:08:38):
And of course you can see up in Luxor. And
if I tell people, if you haven't been to Luxor,
which is up the Nile, you haven't been to Egypt.
You can see his mummified body in the case, you
can see his teething. It's absolutely fascinating. Dan, we got
to wrap this up. I want to thank you for
joining me. Dan and I will be together at the

(01:09:00):
Utah Travel Expo, and I want to remind you not
only does he have a February Egypt, but Dan will
be taking an Israel with an option to Jordan April eighteenth,
his Israel tour. Check out all of the tour operators
that we have tour hosts at Morriscolumbus dot com. Dan Toda,

(01:09:23):
Todaugh Ava more when we come back. So stay and
greetings from Cambodia. Hasn't this been a fun travel show.

(01:09:47):
It's almost three am here in Cienried, Cambodia, where we
flew in again the last show before the expo. I'll
be bro podcasting live from the Utah Travel Expo next
Saturday in my one of my trademark Aloha shirts. Please

(01:10:08):
say hello to me. I love to sit and chat
with you. I want to remind you that the travel
show excuse me, the Utah Travel Expo is scheduled to
open Wednesday This coming Wednesday, January twenty first, in Saint
George at the Hilton Garden Inn, and then in the
Salt Lake area Friday and Saturday this coming week January

(01:10:30):
twenty third and twenty fourth at the Mountain America Expo
Center in Sandy. The over one hundred travel vendors in
Salt Lake airlines, cruise lines, safari companies, hotels, resorts, tour comes,
everything related to travel. There'll be exclusive expo discounts. Come

(01:10:51):
and talk to the travel vendors one on one, find
out what you need to plan for the perfect vacation.
They'll be information seminars. I'll be doing two of them.
Love to have you join Me. I'll be talking about
traveling with me, and there'll be a handout on if
you care to join me as I travel and trapes

(01:11:12):
around the world. Love to have you come with me.
I talked about that new Honolulu to West Coast cruise.
I've got another one that I'll be introducing at the expot.
I'm going to give you a heads up on it
right now. This will be next year, late September, a
something I've never done before. It'll be a river cruise

(01:11:35):
on the Danube and we start in Budapest and end
in Bucharest, Romania. We're going to visit Eastern Europe on
the Danube. You know, the Danube River goes north south, Hungary, Slovakia, Germany, Austria,
and it goes east west. And listen to the countries.
We're going to visit Hungary, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania. This

(01:12:04):
is a part of Eastern Europe that is still not
fully developed and you're gonna see kind of an old lifestyle.
We're even going to have an option to go visit
Dracula's castle. Now I know Denny. I can see him
on the screen. He's grinning right now because he's kind
of a vampire himself. You know, I keep my distance

(01:12:26):
from him, but I'm going to introduce that at the XP.
I'm giving you a heads up. I also want to
remind you that in June of twenty twenty seven, this
one is selling very well is Adventures on the River Sinn.
That is a round trip the River sin that flows
into the North Sea. We're going to sail round trip

(01:12:48):
from Paris and visit Rowen. That's Joan of Arc. That's
like stepping back five hundred years. The town is cobblestone
streets in ancient architecture, han Flour which is Gothic architecture,
Les and lis lajav Vernon. But the I think the
highlight for me is Normandy and the D Day Beaches

(01:13:11):
June sixth, nineteen forty four. And you can go online,
say at YouTube and other places and see actual footage,
but it is an emotional experience. You know. There were
five beaches that were landed on June sixth, two by
the Americans, two by the British, one by the Canadians.

(01:13:32):
The US forces went to Omaha Beach and Utah Beach.
On that day June sixth, nineteen forty four, thirty four
thousand Allied troops landed on Omaha Beach, led by the Americans.
It was the bloodiest of all the beaches. You can
still see to this day, the German bunkers and embankments

(01:13:57):
standing there knowing that it was a slaughter. It was,
but it turned the tide of the war. For me,
it's emotional to go to the American cemetery which we
will and you want to be there about four pm.
There's there's two flagpoles, each with an American flag. Everything stops.

(01:14:21):
There's about ninety five hundred servicemen, mostly teenage boys in
early twenties that are buried there that died at D
Day and they play taps and the silence you can
feel as they lower the two American flags, and it's

(01:14:41):
just emotional. The homes in that area to this day
fly American flags year round as a thank you to
the Allied troops that liberated them from the dark days
of Nazi Germany. It's a great experience. Now here's what
we've done on on the I'm doing the Maykong with

(01:15:02):
Almah Waterways this November. Still got five cabins left on
the Sen River in June seventeen to twenty four. Next
year Maykong is this year the Senn River and D
Day is next year June, and then this new cruise
through Eastern Europe that I'll be announcing at the expo.

(01:15:24):
What we've done with Almah Waterways. The ultimate deluxe is
we buy this cabins. We bought half the ship and
the discounts run anywhere from one thousand to two thousand
dollars per person, less than if you were to book
it direct with Almah Waterways or any other travel company.
We've taken the inventory. I will be on all three

(01:15:48):
of these May Kong November twenty twenty six, the Sen
River June of twenty twenty seven, and then the Eastern
Europe Budhapet to Bucharest in September and early October of
twenty twenty seven. Well that wraps it up. I'll see
you at the Utah Travel Expo next week. Yeah. I

(01:16:11):
fly home in just a few days from Cambodia. Love
y'all have a great week.