The Travel Show: Live from New Zealand!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The travel show. I'm Larry Gelwicks, the Getaway Guru, and yeah,
I have gotten away again all the way to New Zealand.
Last week I was in Australia. I have a wonderful
group of travel show listeners who got up and got
away with me. We spent three days in Sydney. I
love Sydney, Australia. Got outside the city to the Blue Mountains,

(00:24):
the Three Sisters. No, that's not a triplet of sisters.
That is a mountain called three mountains called the Three Sisters.
All over Sydney. I love Darling Harbor's Circular k of
course a beach, the most famous beach in Sydney. They
named after me. It's Manly Beach. Now that who you

(00:47):
hear snickering in the background back in studio in Salt
Lake City is the Lovely and tallhood Wendy Fracket, Group
department manager with Morris Columbus Travel. We also want to
welcome back in Salt Lake Jim Gee, Explorer extraordinaire and
we worked with Jim on all of our Africa programs

(01:10):
to the Great Migration, and Jim will be joining us
to talk about Africa. I'm going to invite him to
talk to me about New Zealand. Well, it is early
early morning here. We're actually twenty hours ahead of Salt
Lake City. So Wendy, I think it's what eleven am

(01:30):
we start to show back home.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
It is, and I'm not feeling it all. Sorry for you. You're
the maths.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Seven am here in out a Roa, Land of the
long White class. By the way, that was the indigenous
name of New Zealand, out the a Roa because as
Abel Tasman, who was the first European. He didn't discover
New Zealand because people were living there, but he was
the first European and the guides, the local native of

(02:00):
Guides called as they spotted New Zealand what we call
New Zealand, and you think of Zealand as a place,
a district in the Netherlands. It was Abel Tasman, a
Dutchman from the Netherlands, and it became New Zealand, just
as New York. Anyway, he called exaid it looked like

(02:24):
there was a long white cloud over the land. Out
they Aroha, land of the long white clouds. So it's
early in the morning. Of course I've already had breakfast
and I'll be going back again.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
For your second breakfast.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Well, you know I'm in training. Well listen, through the
miracle of technology, I can be in New Zealand today,
Jim and Wendy in Salt Lake City and Studio.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
Which is technically your yesterday it is.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
It is Sunday morning here. You know I'm about to
travelgious obligations, you know, save me Lord, and that's my
Sunday obligation. Anyway, No, unfortunately we can't take your calls
when I do it remote. Well, Jim, welcome. You know,

(03:15):
I know you've traveled in New Zealand. Yesterday we visited
Fjordland National Park and of course it's the largest of
the thirteen national parks in New Zealand with over twelve thousand,
almost thirteen thousand square kilometers and it is on the

(03:36):
southwest corner of the South Island. And catch this. It's
part of Heywahi Pote Namu, which is a UNESCO World
Heritage Site. Again, can you say that quickly?

Speaker 3 (03:49):
I was going to say is in type? It's kind
of a bad joke.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Namu is the area of it's the po pi O Tahi,
which is the indigenous name of Milford Sound. Jim, what
are your recollections of your travels to this is Lord
of the Rings country.

Speaker 4 (04:09):
Well, what I liked about New Zealand is just the
beast wilderness. Getting on the boat in those sounds and
going through those fields in a boat and seeing all
the scenery and it was just spectacular.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
You know. Milford Sound is actually a fjord carved by
glaciers millenniums ago and it's the only fjord in New
Zealand that is also accessible by road. We take a
boat ride. I know that the cruise ship doesn't go
up there, but we take a boat ride. And I
mentioned the Maudi name, which is the indigenous people. Their

(04:50):
name for Milford Sound is p p o Tahi. You know,
tahi like in many Polynesian languages, including Tongan, Tahi refers
to the ocean. And in Tongan we'd say uhai, which
is let's go swimming in the ocean, and otahi uh

(05:15):
it refers to it. It's actually a reference to a
native bird that is long extinct near the ocean. Uh
It's it's just a wonderful, wonderful area. Now you know
that I love to eat and it's showing up my wasteline.
People say, I've seen you grow in your job. Yeah,
you've seen my wasteland waistline grow. Here are some of

(05:37):
the uh the famous foods, gym. Do you remember any
famous or popular foods in New Zealand?

Speaker 4 (05:45):
I really don't remember.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
Oh, come on, fish and chips, dude, Well, of course.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
With you.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
Oh vegamine was made by Satan in the death email.
It's a it's a yee spread. Think of peanut butter.
That's yeast.

Speaker 3 (06:03):
I know. That's why I thought they packed some in
Australia to bring it.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
Well, they have it New Zealand too. They eat it.
They eat it like we eat peanut butter. I'll bring
you a jar anyway. Fish and chips lamb are. There's
more sheep than people. There's like twenty million sheep and
what eight nine million people. Pavlova, now you know. Pavlova
is a meringue dessert, kind of a round, crusty, very

(06:32):
soft in the side, and served with fruit. Did you
know that Pavlova, which you can get anywhere in the world,
very popular here in New Zealand, was named after a
Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, now ll and p is my
favorite sauce. It's a soft drink. It's a lemon flavored
soft drink that's mixed with mineral water. Sparkling water from

(06:58):
Piroa ll and p is Lemon and Piroa. Now I
think my favorite thing down here, I love the fish
and chip. Are the hot pies. You know it's they're
brought by the British, and the British got them from
the Romans. Just think of a pastry with fillings in
Now my favorite is like steak and cheese, steak and mushroom,

(07:21):
but they've gotten creative. Those are the traditional ones. How
about butter chicken, chicken curry? Okay, green curry from Thailand.
They got some really exotic ones. How about this one,
Jim Devriett, I bet you ate this and you don't
remember the name. Hokey pokey ice cream. It's you take
any ices, you take any ice cream, and they put

(07:44):
on top of it a honeycomb with honey. That's the
hokey poke couple more, couple about how about this one?
I'll give you two more. A Kiwi burger, Now obviously
that's a that's a hamburger. I have a beef patty
with cheese and you can get lettuce and grilled onions

(08:04):
and mustard or ketchup on it. But what makes it
a Kiwi burger is they have a fried egg on
top and beetroot. Now that's what I'm It's like beats.
Think of Thanksgiving dinner, but in about the size of
a onion slice a beetroot.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
But you can take that off.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
I throw it to the dogs. Now, Kathy loves it.
She loves beets. She's been wolfing them down. Some people
add a pineapple slice to it. And finally, fairy bread.
The kids Inhale, This fairy bread is a piece of
white bread smothered lathered in butter, and then they take
those colored sprinkles and dump it all over it. And

(08:49):
that's what the kids. Well, we're having a great time
here in Alto. And obviously if you're listening to this,
you missed my Australia New Zealand tour this year. We
got another week to go and then we'll spend a
few days in Auckland. But next year, Wendy I will
be personally hosting a tour. What are the dates?

Speaker 2 (09:11):
Dates are February fifteenth through the twenty ninth, twenty twenty six.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
March first, March first March first.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
Yes, that's right, because there's not twenty nine heyres, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
There are so days fifteen March fifteenth through February first,
and you can go to the Morris Columbus website morriscolumbus
dot com, Morriscolumbus dot com, scroll down to none other
than the Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours. Click on cruises. If
it's a land tour, click the geographic destination and then

(09:45):
go to twenty twenty six February fifteen to March the first.
We'll start in Sydney, visit Melbourne, Tasmania, sail across the
Tasman Sea as Abel Tasman did, and we will visit
Milford Sound, Fjordland National Park, the South Island, the North
Island of New Zealand. On Holland America, Tell me about

(10:06):
Holland America.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
Holland America is a fantastic cruise line that has got
beautiful ships, wonderful service, great food. It has really been
a favorite of a lot of people.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yeah, it's a premium line. They nail it in the
dining room and in service, in service with that. Well, listen,
we've got more on the Travel Show where we've come back.
We're going to talk about snooze and you lose here
on the Travel Show. Welcome back to the Travel Show.

(10:50):
I'm Larry Gilbritz the Getaway Through Route. I'm joined on
the show today my Wendy Frankia Group department manager for
more US Columbus Travel the Escorted Tour Division, and Jim
g will be talking to us about Africa. I'm in
New Zealand today. It's Sunday morning, just a little bit
after seven am and a little bit after eleven am

(11:14):
back in Salt Lake City. Let me ask you a question, Wendy,
the name of the company, our travel company is Morris
Columbus Travel, but the escorted Tour division is Morris Murdoch
Escorted Tours. Why are the two different names?

Speaker 3 (11:30):
You know what?

Speaker 2 (11:31):
I have been explaining that so much recently. It is
because the Murdoch part of that name is so tied
into the Utah culture and as an escorted tour division,
we have been in business doing escorted tours for those
sixty plus years time, and people recognize the name Morris

(11:53):
Murdoch and Morris Murdock escorted tours.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
We have a reputation, and it was so much.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
When are you saying you have a reputation?

Speaker 3 (12:02):
You know what.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
I've been with the company long enough I think I
can take some ownership of that. But you know, when
the merge happened and we looked at a lot of
ways to include Columbus, they just really felt like our
name stood on its parents, and so do we.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
You know, I liken it to General Motors and Chevrolet.
General Motors is the corporate name. Chevrolet is a division
like you know other Chrysler or Buick or something like that.
So the name of the company is Morris Columbus Travel
as a result of Morris Murdoch Travel and Columbus Travel merging.

(12:42):
But we have kept the name because it's so well known,
Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours. So once you do as you
go to Morriscolumbus dot com and on the homepage, I
think it's a third item down, you simply click on
Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours and then you select a geographic destination, Asia, Africa, Europe, whatever.

(13:04):
But if it's a cruise, you click on cruise.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
Do you know that we have got over sixty five
programs happening this year and they're all listen on the website.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
It's a lot of programs. It's a lot of.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
Programs of them you know what you very well could be.
And then I've got the other like two and then.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Yeah, got some great programs. You know, you and I
were talking, Oh, just after Expo, which is a couple
of weeks.

Speaker 3 (13:33):
Now it's a blur. It's a blur.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
Snooze and you lose.

Speaker 2 (13:38):
Oh my goodness, what do you mean by that? So
we have had so many popular programs. You have got
an amazing eye. I will congratulate you, Larry that when
you see a product and you just know that this
is going to be popular. Pearls of Asia. We'll just
talk about that super quick. That was an amazing cruise
that we have. In April of twenty twenty six with

(14:01):
World Caribbean, we had over fifty cabins that we sold
in a week and a half. And people are still
joining the weight list, people are still joining a wait list.

Speaker 1 (14:13):
My January Thailand six another one in a weekend at.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
Expo exactly you just barely got home. We barely got
it out for sale and people were already talking about it.
It's just the reason that we're adding more tours to
that destination.

Speaker 3 (14:30):
Be looking for that to come.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
However, there are so many programs to Europe cruises, to
church history tours. This year Church's History Tour for the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. This has
been incredibly popular this year based on the study that
the members are going through with church history. And so

(14:54):
we've got, of course at Gym's right here, We've got
his Africa tour that still has only a few spaces
left on it. I've got a star Clipper cruise that
only has a few spaces Switzerland and June, only a
few spaces.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
I mean, these are.

Speaker 2 (15:09):
Itb you snooze any more on this, You've waited, but
they're going to be gone soon.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
Let me give you one of those unique things. And
you know, Jim, I'm always looking for unique travel. And
in our next segment we'll be talking to Jim about Africa.
But I have a love of Polynesia. I think what
Captures Polynesia was something written by Robert Lewis Stevens in
July twenty eighth, eighteen eighty eight, whilst in French Polynesia

(15:39):
he wrote this quote, few men who come to these
islands leave them. They grow gray where they alighted. The
palm shades and the trade winds fans them till they die,
perhaps cherishing to the last. The fancy of a visit home,
which is rarely made, more rarely enjoyed, and yet more

(16:02):
rarely repeated. No part of the world exerts the same
attractive power upon the visitor. With some sense of its seduction.
The first experience can never be repeated. The first love,
the first sunrise, the first south Sea island are memories

(16:24):
apart and touches a virginity of our sense close quote. Well,
to me, that's that sums up. Let me ask you, Jim,
you have been to Tahiti, who said it is your
wife's favorite place? What is it about the South Seas,
the South Pacific that captures us?

Speaker 4 (16:46):
It's about everything, I mean, the beautiful islands. I mean,
there's nothing like Maria, you know once you've seen him.
And I think Robert Stephenson didn't he say Bora is
the most of island.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
That was James Mishner, the famous author. Now maybe maybe
Bob Louis Stevenson, maybe he also said it but it
was James Mishner, who wrote Hawaii and other kind of
historical novels, said that Bora Bora was the single most
beautiful island in the world. I can agree with that,
but to me, the single most beautiful spart is on

(17:24):
the island of Moorea or morea properly pronounced Moorea at
openo Hubay. Now there's two bays there, There's Cook's Base
and Open no Hube. Interestingly enough, Captain Cook dropped anchor
in Open No Hubay, but they named the other one
after him. I never understood that. But you remember the
nineteen fifty eight movie South Pacific with Mitzi Gainer. I'm

(17:47):
going to wash that man right out of my hair.
That the legendary Bali High, the forbidden island. Well, the
mountain for that that reference, the inspiration was actually at Openohube.
That mountain is right there, and it's encased with the

(18:11):
mountain at one end, surrounded by mountains on either side
of the open ocean. And when we come back, I'm
going to take it to Tahitian Polynesia. On the travel
show Yoranna. That's actually the native greeting in French Polynesia.

(18:42):
And I'm not there, but I am in Polynesia on
the South Island of New Zealand. So Yorda, I'm Larry
Gelwiz to get Away Guru, and I've gotten away with
a wonderful group. We have eighty two people with us
on this Australia and New Zealand cruise. And it's Sunday
morning here. It's almost eight o'clock in the morning time

(19:03):
for my second morning feeding. I'm joined in studio back
in Salt Lake City today Wendy Fraki, a group department
manager at Morris Columbus Travel, and Jim Gee from Discovery Expeditions.
We were talking Wendy about a cruise tour program that
we have in twenty twenty six. Now, I did this

(19:26):
last year, yes, and we like to do it every
two or three years. They don't sail this every year.
Sometimes there's a five year gap. It's just a one
off cruise. One time. The ship is returning to the
US and I'll be sailing on a Tahiti to Hawaii

(19:47):
cruise tour May fifteen to twenty seven next year. Now,
this one sells very well and we will board this
ship in Puppy eighty Tahiti and Jim. You mentioned we
were talking last segment that your wife loves Tahiti. You
know what I hear people always talk about is the
Tahitian Islands. There is no such thing. There is no

(20:12):
such thing as the Tahitian Islands because Tahiti is one
island of French Polynesia. Actually in French Polynesia. There are
five sets of islands. Tahiti is in the Society Islands.
You have the Gambier, the Austro, the Twomo To Archipelago,
and then up north the Marquesas Islands. By the way,

(20:35):
interesting on Nukuheva, on the Marquesis, which I've been several times,
there's a one thousand foot waterfall. Wow. I mean, it's
just crazy crazy. But we will board in Tahiti, Papiete,
the island of Tahiti, will visit Moorea, Bora Bora, which
we talked about. We will be in open No Hubei

(20:58):
that I talked about last onto right Yata, then sail
north through the Tuamotu Archipelago. There's eighty two islands in
that archipelago, and then crossing the equator and into Hawaii,
will visit the big island Maui. Kawaii, Oahu and then
disembark in Honolulu. One quick comment about Right Yetaya. It's

(21:23):
a very interesting island. It's a beautiful island. The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints what about a
year ago or sometime, I don't remember what general conference
it was, Wendy, but they announced a second temple in
French Polynesia. I've been to the one in Papiete.

Speaker 3 (21:42):
It's hard to keep up with the temple announcement.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
I think there's like ten thousand. No, there's not that many,
but there's a lot of temples planned and working. But
they announced one for Right Yetaya. And everyone says it's
a small island with just a few thousand people. Why right, Well,
you'd have to ask President Nelson that. But here's my
theory on it. It's kind of a central place.

Speaker 4 (22:07):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
They don't have boat service to all of the islands
in the in the Society islands to down to Papiete,
and people can't afford to fly. But there's boat service
everywhere to rite Yataa exactly, and I think they can
get there. So where the ship and it's one of
there's only two piers where cruise ships dock everywhere else.

(22:30):
Your tender one is in Papiete is right yetaa, there's
a pier there and uh as you face it's just
up the hill to your left there's a there's a
big LDS steak center with a lot of ground. They're
going to build it there. But there's another temple. It's
an ancient temple that I've been to and it's hard
to get to, but I made my way tramping through

(22:52):
the jungle, and it's the foundation. It's the ancient temple.
And the the explorers, you know, those ocean going vessels
Kantiki like, would come to the temple to be blessed
Wendy and then set out into the vast stretches of
the open Pacific, and they navigated by the stars, the wind,

(23:16):
the clouds, the weather. They would be the temperature of
the water, the currents, what fish they were catching, of course,
if they saw birds, they you know, there's some land
nearby somewhere. And the first settlers to Hawaii as we
call it now, came in two waves. One came as

(23:37):
early as four hundred AD, but the biggest wave came
from French Polynesia and the Marquesis Islands and Rightieta about
one thousand AD, and the name of the temple, the
ancient temple in Rightieta is Hawaiki. Now many people have wondered,

(23:58):
Wendy if some of the explorers, because we know the
first settlers of Hawaii came from French Polynesia, if maybe
they named that place after the where, yeah, where they left.
Captain James Cook was the first known European contact to

(24:18):
the ancient Hawaiians in seventeen seventy eight and renamed it.
I mean you know that it took a lot of
gall He renamed it the Sandwich Islands and named after
John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Not because he was hungry.

Speaker 1 (24:36):
Yeah, well he was his benefactor. He was paying for
this for he was. So we'd love to have you
join us. Go to Themorriscolumbus dot com click on Morris
Murdoch escorted tourists. I'll be your personal host and tour guide. Tahiti,
French Polynesia, the Society Islands, the Tuemo Tows crossing the

(24:58):
Equator into Hawaii May fifteen to twenty seven, twenty twenty six,
and it does have a free airfare promotion, which is
really a buy one, get one.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
Feat it is, but there's such value there.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
Let's turn our attention to Jim. I should say, Jambo.
What does jombo mean? Where's it from? Hello?

Speaker 4 (25:20):
From Swahili?

Speaker 1 (25:22):
It is now. There are wonderful safari expeditions all over Africa,
and I've been on them, but there is nothing, nothing
that really even is like the Great Migration. So first
of all, what is the Great Migration? Which takes place
only in Kenya and Tanzania and for many reasons, Keny

(25:44):
is the better choice.

Speaker 4 (25:45):
Yeah, what it is is a migration, the world's largest
mammal migration of over two million animals, and the majority
of them are one and a half million wildebeest and
five hundred thousand zebras. Of course, a few other analytic
travel with them, and it's it only happens there in

(26:06):
like you mentioned, Tanzania and Kenya, and it reaches its
climax in Kenya during the months of July through September.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
Yeah. You know what's interesting about that is when I travel,
I've traveled with you. You have a group. We have
a one group this summer in July and end of July.
I think July August the ninth. I think it is

(26:35):
that's actually in country and traveling time. What is what
is different about a Morris Columbus gym Gee Discovery Expeditions Safari.

Speaker 4 (26:47):
Well, what's different is we only put four people in
beautiful modern land.

Speaker 1 (26:53):
Cruisers Toyo de Lan cruises.

Speaker 4 (26:55):
Right, they're only they're designed to hold eight, so the
driver plus driver, so that's very roomy.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
Why is that a big deal only four?

Speaker 4 (27:03):
Because things happen there, and when they happen there in wildlife,
if you're not on the right side of the vehicle
that that's happening, sometimes you miss it.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
I see the problem, Jim, and I pointed this out
and you've done nothing about it. I'm really disappointed in
you because the animals only come to one side. They
haven't learned to only come to your side of it.
And I've suggested you work with the animals and get
them to always come to your side. Well, that's true.
You know, we see vehicles out there with eight, nine people,

(27:31):
and Wendy, you can't. You know, again, the animals are wherever.
You can't move from side to side. But with four
in a vehicle that seats eight, you can go front, backwards,
right or left. Right. Now, if a family or a
group of friends say, hey, there's six of us or
eight of us that want to be there, we'll well,
we'll do that, but we typically put only four in

(27:55):
a vehicle. Tell me about your guides because most companies
it's let's go find a guide and rent a guide
of who's available. But yours are full time employees.

Speaker 4 (28:05):
Right, And that's the big difference is we have employees
that have worked with me for over twenty years.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
I mean the.

Speaker 4 (28:12):
Spangles from between sixteen and twenty, very experienced, speak good English,
know their animals very well, know how to track them.
And also we own our own vehicles. Everybody else usually
leases them with a driver and you never know what
you get.

Speaker 1 (28:27):
Now, you have an office here in Salt Lake and
office in Nairobi, and you have picked the cream of
the crop. To give you an idea to our audience
of how many animals Jim, you provide everyone with a
booklet of about sixty seventy likely to be viewed animals.
And I have found that by day three typically we

(28:50):
have seen fifty or more species, not including the birds.

Speaker 4 (28:54):
That's exactly right. You will see and to see the
Big Five. We always see the Big five as well.

Speaker 1 (28:59):
Name the Big five big fire will.

Speaker 4 (29:01):
Be the cape buffalo, the elephant, the lion leopard, and
then the black lions.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
And the cape buffalo, not to be confused with the
water buffalo or the bison of Wyoming. They're a very
smart animal and a very dangerous anem very very dangerous.

Speaker 4 (29:16):
That's why they're included in the Big Five.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
Now, my favorite animal I want you to tell me
and educate me are the lions. Yeah. I love the
lions and I'm not lions. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (29:25):
And that's what makes it unique for us because we're
right there where we have three big lion prides right
on our lodge there on the Mara River, so we
get to see lots of lions.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
You know. One of the things Wendy is in Kenya,
there are fifty national parks. None of them have a
complete fence around them. But I would say the the
big three of the national parks, the game parks have
to include Samburu, Olpajeta and the Marak slash Serengeti exactly.

(29:56):
There's all three of them.

Speaker 4 (29:57):
Yeah, and we could go to others, but those three
will give people the best opportunities. And of course the
migration happens only in the.

Speaker 1 (30:04):
Mar it really does, which is also known as Sarrenghetty.
Everybody wants to visit that a lot of choices out there.
You have a group that you will personally be hosting
July thirtieth, correct with all, there are good choices out there.
Why Morris Columbus and Discovery Expeditions in jim Gee.

Speaker 4 (30:30):
Well, what you're going to have is, like I've already mentioned,
the beautiful vehicles, privacy, lodging inside the parks that are
right by the key things that are happening, like the migration.
We don't have to travel to get to those spots.
As soon as we come out of our gate, we
are right there.

Speaker 1 (30:49):
We're all the actually like up on the Mars there
and get in the some great lodges. But they have
to drive every morning an hour to two hours each
way where that lodge that we said the shil lodge. Wendy.
Once you're in your vehicle, you're out the gate, which
is a big electric fence to keep you safe in
about fifteen seconds and you're looking for a Jim Thanks

(31:13):
you for joining us and John Boes. You we'll talk
more about Africa when we come back. Welcome back to
the Travel Show man. I express my sincere appreciation that

(31:34):
you join us every weekend on the Travels Show. I
look forward to the show so much. And you know,
at Expo so many of you said something to me.
I was easy to identify at the Expo in my
trademark Aloha shirt.

Speaker 3 (31:53):
Very bright.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
Yeah. I have about fifteen or twenty Aloha shirts, but
I have a couple of favorites right there. I'm in
New Zealand today. It is just past eight am. We're
twenty hours ahead of Salt Lake City. I think it's
about noon. I'm joined in studio back in Salt Lake
by Wendy Frakio. Wendy, welcome to the Travel Show.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
Thank you so much. I am not ending what your
jet LAG's going to be like when you get back.

Speaker 1 (32:20):
I know, I know, But you know what's interesting is
we get back from this trip and then three days later,
Kathy and I leave from Maui. And this is not
with a group. We have a friend of ours who
has a timeshare condo over there, and every year, I
mean for years and years and years, he's invited us

(32:40):
to go to Maui, and I'm always traveling with a
group somewhere. You know, I am gone over half the year.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
It's incredible.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
Yeah, and I'm I'm seven hard working man, seventy four
years old. I'm a young man trapped in an old
man's body. I will not retire till I am six
feet under. And Lord, I do not want to do
that anytime soon.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
No, no, no, we can't lose you.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
Our friend, he's been called. He and his wife is
mission leaders. There will be president of the Mexico Cancun
Mission come next summer. And he said, hey, this is
about it. It'll be another three or four years before
we get back to our condo in Maui. So it's

(33:26):
now or never. So even though we'll only have about
three days after New Zealand, we're going to take some
PTO personal time off and spend a week in Maui.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
Some wonderful place to recover. I will be thinking about.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
You working on that bronze take.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
Eating the Pineapple beach. If you haven't had enough, well,
I just.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
Say that when I strut at the beach, it causes
quite a stir. Oh.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
I can imagine they asked me to put my shirt
back on and you oblige.

Speaker 1 (33:58):
Thank you very much, Gang dressed on the beach. You
know that I just love having Jim Gee and Discovery
Expeditions as our safari partner.

Speaker 4 (34:12):
You know.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
The most frequently heard comment that I got and this
is no kidding about this tour. In fact, my wife
Kathy uses this. It's overused, life changing. I hear this
time and time again. I don't know how I can
adequately describe the effect. It's a circle of life. It's

(34:33):
a daily life of a struggle of life and death.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
It really is one of those surreal life experiences. And
I'm just going to add that when you go with
Jim Gee, he knows everything and he is such a
fantastic photographer. That's just one of the extra benefits is
that he is going to be able to make sure
that you get the best shots. This is a once

(34:59):
in a lifetime trip. This is not something that you're
going to do over and over again and take your
grandkids and everything else. This one time. You really want
it to be special. You want it to be everything
you've dreamed it could be. And that is the trip
that Jim puts together for us.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
How do people get information and those who want to
join us this summer, how do you get.

Speaker 2 (35:24):
So again, there's just a few spots left on this tour.
So you go to Morsecolumbus dot com. Scroll down about
the third thing down. You're going to see Morris Murdock
Escorted Tours, the Escorted Tour Division of Morse Columbus. Thank
you very much, and you are going to click on that,
and then you are going to click on the destination Asia, Africa,

(35:45):
South Pacific and you're going to be able to find
Jim's tour listed right there.

Speaker 1 (35:51):
You know, there's something about India that captivates me. I
was there in November. I've traveled to India previously, and
we remember that group we had the secrets of the
Spice Route.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
Yes, so we got it.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
We actually circumnavigated the entire globe on that trip. We
flew to Paris and then we went to Dubai, spent
a few days there, jumped aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise
ship and cruised Dubai. The United Arab Emirates went to India, Thailand,
Malaysia and Singapore, then flew home across the Pacific.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
Yeah, that was one of those epic itineraries that we
were talking about earlier.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
The taj Mahal is one of the great wonders of
the world. It was completed in sixteen fifty three. It
took twenty two years to build and it was commissioned
by the Mughul emperor Shah Jahan. He had nineteen wives
if it were to fit in wonderful in Colorado City,

(36:53):
but his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, died in childbirth. He
grieved and so he built a memorial where she was
buried and he was eventually buried. And it took twenty
two years to build over one thousand elephants twenty two

(37:14):
thousand workers on the taj Mahall. And we have a
tour going this December December two to the thirteenth, so
you're home in plenty of time for Christmas. Carol and
Leggray one of our wonderful tour hosts. She works in
the group department. You'll visit Delhi, the taj Mahall, the

(37:37):
Ramthaboor National Park, Jaipur, the Pink City and on to
Mumbai better known as Bombay. You can get all of
the details at Morriscolumbus dot com. That's Morriscolumbus dot com.
Click on Escorted Tours and book at twenty twenty five
a Portrait of India More. Can we come our number

(38:01):
two of the Travel Show. We're welcome back to our
number two of the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwicks. Then
get away, Guru. I'm pumped up on diet coke. That's
keeping me awake because it's a little bit after eight am.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
So is Sydney awake and acclimated.

Speaker 4 (38:25):
Larry.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
I'm not feeling sorry for you.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
As I said, I'm about to go to my second
morning feeding. I'm here with a wonderful group of Travel
Show listeners and we are in New Zealand as part
of an Australian New Zealand cruise tour. I'll be doing
this same thing next year twenty twenty sixth February fifteenth
to March the first where we sail from Sydney, Australia.

(38:51):
We'll spend a few days there to see the area.
But it's Sydney, Melbourne, Tasmania, Fjordland National Park, Milford Sound.
It is lord of the Rings Country and we'll visit
the North and South Island of New Zealand sailing on
Holland America, and we'll have some pre and post tours
of New Zealand and Sydney. I'd love to have you

(39:14):
join me. I'm joined today in studio by Wendy Frakia.
She's back in Salt Lake City. She's not sailing with me.
Kathy would not allow that. Not I wish you and
Art had come on this tour, Wendy.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
You know what, we absolutely would have loved to. But again,
as you said, somebody has to stay back your work
and you traveling.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
Now you know your roles to work, so I can
travel anyway. How do people find out about our Australia
New Zealand tour that I'll be hosting along with Kathy
next year.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
They go to Morrisclombus dot com, scroll down to the
escorted tour link about three down. Click on that and
go to cruises and you will be able to find
lots of cruises, but specifically your Australia.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
Now you mentioned that Morris Columbus Travel this year is
offering sixty five escorted tours going to I'm going to
ask you a very unfair question, Okay, name one or two?
Just a brief description that you think are pre unique, different, exciting.

(40:20):
I mean they're all exciting.

Speaker 3 (40:21):
They are all exciting.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
And you know, we talked about Jen Ghee's Africa tour,
we talked about Carol's India's tour. We talked, well, we
not on this show, but you've talked multiple times about
your amazing Thailand Cambodia tour. That is amazing. We have
got destinations where South Africa, Croatia, in Jeraking. I am

(40:47):
taking a cruise this summer in July on this star Clipper,
the sailing ship. Yeah, down down the Venice Canal in
this beautiful sailing ship and then we're going down the
coast of This is the most amazing barefoot cruise. It
is like you're a guest on somebody's private yacht. But

(41:09):
this is a unique experience. In doing it with a group,
You've got instant camaraderie, you've got better values, We've taken
care of all your travel arrangements. It is just a
wonderful time to be able to go and relax and
know that you're just going to be so well taken
care of.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
Now I'm going to tell a story that I'm going
to get in trouble for oh, both from the station
and from the Morris Columbus tell I'm didn't tell it anyway,
the true story. It's not happened, oh maybe twenty five
years ago. And this is the importance of Denny. You
control yourself, as I tell Denny is our crack engineer,

(41:48):
not our engineer on crack. But I want you to
control yourself, Denny, because you're going to get really excited here.
This highlights the importance of work with a professional experience
travel advisor. Make sure your dates are right, your destination
is right, everything is right. So there was a couple,

(42:11):
Actually I've been on the radio thirty four years. I
told this story about twenty five years ago. As it happened.
They booked their own cruise and you said, it's Barefoot Cruise.
And there used to be a company called Barefoot Cruises.
You remember that. Yeah, yeah, they're no longer in business.

(42:31):
But it was a sailing ship. And by the way,
you're sailing with Star Clippers. I've sailed with them many times.
It's a true tall ship, fabulous.

Speaker 2 (42:39):
Firm, everything royal. This is the Royal Clipper. This is
the largest of their vessels.

Speaker 1 (42:45):
All I love the Star Clippers. But these people booked
their own they didn't work through a professional travel agency,
and they got the name of the cruise line. I'm
gonna let you fill in the details. They booked a cruse.
They were an older, elderly couple. They booked a cruise
on Bare Bottom Cruises. Now you can figure out what

(43:10):
happens as soon as they sail out of ple.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
There was a lot optional there.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
Oh my gosh. But actually I thought it was pretty funny.
Now Denny is grinning ear to ear. Denny, I'm sorry
to disappoint you, but that company, bare Bottom Cruises, is
no longer in business.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
And it might be full of the elderly couples.

Speaker 1 (43:32):
So that's why I'm not going into any other details
with that one. But oh my gosh, with that, Okay,
now onto the mundane.

Speaker 4 (43:47):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (43:47):
I was going to say, this is exotic too, This
is fun. What you're going to talk about.

Speaker 1 (43:52):
It is, you know, parents and grandparents especially, pay attention.
I've got a cruise tour experience that is like none other.
And the dates are specific because for most of Utah
school districts in southern Idaho, this is spring break five
days Monday through Friday, no school. Of course, you have

(44:14):
the weekends too. For next year twenty twenty six, it's
April sixth to the tenth. That's Monday through Friday for
most of Utah and southern Idaho schools. This is spring break.
So we gave this. Kathy and I gave this cruise
to our kids and all of our grandkids for Christmas.
We're taking them because you'll never get an experience as

(44:37):
much fun at a ridiculously low price. Now, I just
checked the prices, and I want to emphasize that rates
vary by departure date, are subject to change and availability
at the time of booking. I'm giving you the lead
in prices. That's what we told our kids. Kathy and
I are going to get a balcony. You can have
an inside cabin across the hallway or something, you know.

(45:00):
But if you want to upgrade to an ocean view
with the window, or to a balcony or a suite,
you can do that, but that's on your dime. We're
going to give you the lead price or an inside cabin.
So this is a five day, four night cruise on
the Navigator of the Seas. I've sailed on this ship

(45:20):
four times. I love this ship, absolutely love it.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
Royal Caribbean does a fantastic job.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
What do you like about Royal Caribbean.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
I love how they cater to families. I love their
fun atmosphere. I think they do a great job in
the dining room and in the service, the kids clubs,
the pools. I just really think that they cater to

(45:50):
families and the people who are looking to have a
good time.

Speaker 3 (45:53):
But it's not.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
Tacky and beautiful shit exactly. And you're comfort there with
your kids. You don't feel like, you know, you're trying
to sish your kids, you know, or they're all the time.

Speaker 3 (46:06):
It's not too loud, it's fun.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
Two years ago I sailed. I had a group on
boards families, and so Kathy wasn't able to go. So
my daughter Sarah and two of our grandchildren, her son
Oscar and another grandson, Jenny's son Milo. They're nine years
old now, they were seven years old at the time.
They loved it. The kids programs. I have great programs

(46:31):
for teens also.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
Oh yeah, they have.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
A water park, they have a miniature golf. They have
that flow rider which is like boogie boarding and surfing.
I mean the activities go on on and on and on.
And by the way, they have a little water park
for real young kids, for adults, and it's fantastic. So
here's the itinerary. April sixth, on a Monday, we board
the ship at the Port of La and then we

(46:57):
have that afternoon sale. On Tuesday, we're in Catalina Island.
I love Catalina's fun. It's the consummate beach community and
beautiful sand beach there with all the the like a
Santa Cruz, Santa Monica.

Speaker 3 (47:16):
I learned the stupid eve there, did you really? I did?

Speaker 1 (47:19):
On Wednesday, a full day at sea. I love the
days at sea, three hundred and sixty degrees of open ocean.
On Friday, excuse me, Thursday, we make a stop in Mexico.
That's always fun. And then on Friday, April the tenth,
back to La. Now you have both weekends. You can drive,
you can fly. Take the family. This is at tension, grandparents,

(47:41):
now catch this. Let's take a family of four, two adults,
two kids. Royal defines kids is twelve and under. I'm
giving you the prices today. I cannot guarantee these prices.
Say come Monday on Monday, Yes, but it is always
subject to change and availability. The how about per person

(48:03):
two adults, two kids, three hundred and sixty three bucks
for a five day cruise that includes arm taxes.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
All fees exactly? I mean can't even feed kids anymore
for that?

Speaker 1 (48:14):
Yeah, if you want to drive down, you can park
right across the street, two lanes of traffic from in
a private parking lot. From the ship.

Speaker 3 (48:24):
It's going to say, are you suggesting they play Frogger?

Speaker 1 (48:27):
Why not? Why not? You can make a Disneyland stop.
John Potter will get excited about that. You can stop
in Las Vegas, Saint Joe. You can make a great
week when you can sail on a five day cruise
in this example, two adults, two kids. By the way,
just two adults want to go? We have a group
right of three ninety nine, all that and more when

(48:49):
we come back. I want to take you to an
American Airlines dilemma? What would you do? Kyoda? And reading
from out there a row on New Zealand, the land
of a long line Sunday morning, air I am in

(49:10):
New Zealand on the South Island to the wonderful group
of travel show lists. Yeah, We're on an Australia and
New Zealand cruise and tour. I'm joined in studio back
in Salt Lake City with Wendy Frakia, Group department manager
of Morris Columbus Kyota. Let's get it straight, Kyota, very

(49:32):
very good. Now, Wendy, you are a world traveler. I
want to know what you would do in this situation
because American Airlines, who we have highlighted from time to
time as they continue to strut down the Hall of shame,
just unbelievable the problems here, Okay, American Airlines. It was

(49:55):
about ten days ago American Airlines, American Airline flight eight
three one from Tampa to Philip Delphia made an announcement
at the departure gate. Now it's a two hour and
forty one minute trip actual flight time. Here is what happened.

(50:19):
A customer wrote this on social media. American has not
denied it. The customer wrote, the gate age, oh you're
waiting for the big surprise.

Speaker 3 (50:30):
I was just going to say this is all right.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
The gate agent told everyone in the gate area. They
made an announcement that the bathrooms would not be available
on the flight, and they acted like it was just
normal and perfectly fine. Yeah, it's a two and a
half hour flight. But the person wrote, if you've flown
so many miles, then surely you know that flights can

(50:53):
end up sitting on the tarmac for long holds. There's
weather delays, maintenance delays, no gates available. What would you do,
Wendy if they announced, listen, there's a two hour, forty
one minute flight. You can either we'll book you on
a later flight later today or tomorrow, or go to

(51:13):
the bathroom now and just hold it. Buster.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
I was thinking that it was really great that they
gave everybody the heads up on that, so they get
got to play on words the head it is actually unintentionally,
but yes, so you could prepare for that, but oh
my gosh, yikes, because you're right. It's one of those
mental things too. It's like if you know there's not
going to be a bathroom available, you know, that's when

(51:39):
your the body kicks in and goes, oh, well, let's.

Speaker 1 (51:43):
That's why you take a dixie.

Speaker 3 (51:45):
Cup with you, you know exactly.

Speaker 1 (51:47):
Oh, listen, here's what happened here. The same person wrote,
it was not until we got on the plane that
the flight attendants told us they thought that maybe we
could use the bathrooms in flight, but you would have
to use bottled water. So if you got to go,
you notify the flight attend Maybe you raise your head

(52:10):
or hit the call button and they'll bring you bottles
of water to flush it away. I mean, this is disgusting.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
Well it is, but I guess give it to them for,
you know, operating the flight, because how many times have
you been disappointed by a council flight, delayed flight, waiting
for a part. There's so many things going on. I
think I would rather hold it and use a bottle
of water to flush if you can hold, you know what,
rather than miss a connection.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
What do you do with a five year old?

Speaker 3 (52:38):
You take a bottle of water and you do the thing.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
What if it has to be number two with a fire,
I don't want.

Speaker 3 (52:47):
To get two bottles of water.

Speaker 1 (52:49):
Hey, this actually happened to me. You remember America West Airlines.
I was flying home on America Worst, I mean America
West Airlines and from Phoenix to Salt l and they
announced it was an RJA or regional jet. They announced
that the two restrooms were not working, and you could
it was the last flight of the day. You could

(53:10):
either rebook tomorrow or go just before you get on
and then and yeah, there were no restrooms for that
what two hour flight.

Speaker 2 (53:22):
Well, anyway, you know, it is something that it's important
and we've gotten very used to having that convenience. But
I'm going to stick with I would rather hold it
than miss miss a flight or have something canceled.

Speaker 1 (53:39):
You know. A couple of years ago, I think it
was maybe a year and a half ago, November of
twenty three, I think it was, Kathy and I hosted
an Almah Waterways Make Kong River cruise through Cambodi and Vietnam.
Now we had a pre cruise option to visit Thailand

(54:01):
Bangkok for three days and then christ arm thank you.
Of course, we visited cn Reap, which is the home
of anchor Wat, one of the great wonders of the world.
You know, from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, anchor
Wat was with over a million people living right there,
the most enlightened, educated, intellectual city in the world.

Speaker 3 (54:25):
One of my all time favorites.

Speaker 1 (54:27):
And in that greater area today there's over eight hundred
Khmer temples, only two hundred of Binberg reclaimed. But you
have Anchor Tom Bay Yen Temple and of course Anchor Watt,
which has remained a working temple since the twelfth century.
Tell me about Almah Waterways.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
Alma Waterways is a fantastic river cruise company that cruises
all the major rivers of the world, and they have
beautiful ships, and they do wonderful itineraries, and it is
your all time favorite. It is the one I think.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
I love Alma Waterways.

Speaker 2 (55:09):
Exactly, and we are excited to use them at all
the opportunities that we can because we know we can
guarantee the experience.

Speaker 1 (55:19):
This is deluxe, it is locked true.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
The actual cruise, dude, the cabins, everything about it.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
The actual cruise dates. We leave from San Reap and
we disembark in Ho Chi Minh City, which we know
better as Saigon. I've done this cruise. It's unbelievable some
of the small villages that we sail through on this
It's a one week cruise again with a post option

(55:46):
spend a couple of days in Saigon, the pre option
that I talked about. The actual cruise dates are November
ninth to fourteenth, twenty twenty six, and you can go online.
Morris clumb dot Com. On the homepage. Third item down,
Morris Murdoch escorted tourists click on cruises, go to twenty

(56:08):
twenty six. I would love to have you join me.
This is one you just man, you just don't want
to miss. So when we come back, I'm going to
tell you about the greatest gift that a dad can
give to the mom, a husband can give to his wife.
This one lots to think you, by surprise, the greatest

(56:31):
gift in the world. You're listening to the travel show.
I'm Larry Gelwick's They get Away to Goury and I've
joined back in studio. I'm in New Zealand today and

(56:54):
Wendy Brackty, a group department manager with Morris Columbus Travel,
is in student hold them down the fort.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
I was like, you know what, it is another Saturday.
We made it through another week at the office. We're
still so incredibly busy from our travel expo. It was
so incredible this year. Wow is all I can say
is wow.

Speaker 1 (57:18):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (57:18):
We're still cleaning it up and we are just booking
like crazy.

Speaker 1 (57:23):
Do you think your husband Art is listening? I hope so,
I think so. Okay, I have an idea suggestion, and
I've done this since since we first had children, which
we had in the first year of our marriage. Three
months after Kathy and I were married, we were expecting

(57:43):
our first child, and I said, now, how did that happen?
I guess I should have paid more attention in health class. Anyway,
I think the greatest gift, well, the greatest gift you
can give your children is they see that a couple
loves each other and are commit it to each other.
But here's a gift that I gave to Kathy, usually

(58:04):
at least a couple times a year. It's the greatest
gift that a husband can give his wife, father can
give the mother. And that's this, take the kids and
leave mom home. Now that sounds cold, but I don't
mean that Kathy traveled enough. But what I would do is,

(58:26):
you know, mothers are the unappreciated, overworked, underpaid species.

Speaker 3 (58:33):
Yes, thank you.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
So my idea was to give Kathy a vacation, a break.
She could, yeah, she could go to the spa, do nothing,
layer around, I mean, go out with friends. Of course, Kathy,
I learned, was a very twisted woman. You know what
she would do. She would clean out closets while I'm gone,
Say don't.

Speaker 2 (58:54):
There's nothing more soothing than cleaning a closet out.

Speaker 1 (58:59):
Organizing it closet. Are you out of your mind, sweetie?
Go to the spa, go to lunch with your friends. Anyway,
so I would take the kids. It might be just
a weekend, a long weekend, a week, a two week.
One of the most memorable trips that I took the
kids on. They still talk about it today. I took

(59:19):
the four oldest. Now I did have to leave the youngest.
He was nine months old well okay, yes, and he
was still nursing. I tried to nurse him and he
was very frustrated that just you know, he just couldn't
get old. I was trying as best as.

Speaker 3 (59:34):
I could best intentions, thank you.

Speaker 1 (59:37):
Anyway, I took the four oldest ages when we traveled
thirteen eleven, ten and eight and we went to Japan
for two weeks. We had we rode the Shinkansen, the
bullet train. We went to Osaka to Kyoto tonight. My

(59:59):
kids were all toe. It was so interesting. Everywhere they went,
people wanted to touch their hair and have them have
them their picture taken with them. You know, there's In
Japan there's one hair.

Speaker 3 (01:00:11):
Color exactly right.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
In Asia there's one hair color, although some of the
hip kids now are dyeing their hair bleaching, bleaching. But
so you know, wherever we went, of course, Tokyo Osaka,
him Meiji. Himiji's interesting. The most well preserved Shogan castle

(01:00:35):
is in Himiji. So we traveled the Kenye what's very interesting.
We ate at McDonald's once and at KFC twice. Everywhere
else we went it was Japanese restaurants.

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
Oh, that's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (01:00:47):
Now, what's cool about Japanese restaurants.

Speaker 3 (01:00:51):
Anywhere you can get a hamburger, you can.

Speaker 1 (01:00:53):
Get a hamburger. But they have a display case that
most of the restaurants, even little family run restaurants, with
a plastic model of every menu item. And you know
there's there's actually three writing styles in Japanese. Of course
they get away guru fluent in Japanese and all languages. Actually,

(01:01:17):
you want to learn some phrases like eki wa do
kodeska eki uh uh You know, dokodeska means where is it?
Eki is the train station? Benjua, Dokadeska very important, where's
the restroom? And so forth? And and uh on. Anyway,
there's three writing styles hit a, gana, kanji, and katakana.

(01:01:42):
Now the the more complicated using Chinese characters is kanji,
hit a ghana, and katakana used very simple. And that's
what you see, all that very simple. So I would
always take a little notepad in the pen with me.
We would look at the menu out side and right
down in the simple hitta, ghana or katakana symbols what

(01:02:07):
we wanted. We'd walk in to these little family run restaurants.
Hand it to them. They took a delight of having
Americans and these blonde haired, blue eyed kids. And then
you you remember things like obi zukuda sai, can we
have some more water? And so I always have these
phrases how much is it?

Speaker 4 (01:02:27):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (01:02:27):
Wait?

Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
So when you were on the train, you were training
the kids on how to say that face.

Speaker 1 (01:02:31):
We say everything with that. And we got through Japan,
and what we learned is that department stores in Japan
always have a fabulous supermarket and food court in the basement,
and we actually got They loved the the It's like
dim sum in Chinese, these steamed buns. So we would

(01:02:54):
buy them and take them back to our apartment or
a hotel room, and they always have a coffee maker,
and so we would. I'd fill it with water, put
some chopsticks across the top of it, and then turn
on the coffee maker with water so it steams them.
And that we had fresh steamed buns and snacks everywhere.

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
Look at you being all homemaker.

Speaker 1 (01:03:20):
Yeah, it's one of the greatest experiences of a lifetime.
I hope the families come on that spring break escape
crews that we talked about. But hey, dad, if you
wanted to give your wife a break, bring.

Speaker 3 (01:03:35):
The kids and let her stay home, that's right.

Speaker 2 (01:03:40):
Actually, if you really wanted to give her a gift,
you would get her her own cabin so she could
be pampered, and then you take the cabin with the kids.

Speaker 1 (01:03:48):
That's right, that's right. Love to have you joy anyway,
that is. I just think it's something you can give
your wife, the mother of your kids. Give her a break,
do something extra or Mary.

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
Now that your pre Mother's Day, post Valentine's Day suggestion
from the GETAWAYO amen, I got to.

Speaker 1 (01:04:10):
Tell you a funny story that you already know the
ending to we how do I explain this? The world's
biggest bagpipe festival and military drum Corps were where bagpipe
companies and drum corps from all over the world come

(01:04:31):
to Edinburgh, Scotland in August for the biggest bagpipe festival
and drum corps. Festival in the world is viewed by
over one hundred million people. It's like the Super Bowl
view and it's it's several weeks, a couple of weeks,
and it's only in August.

Speaker 3 (01:04:50):
Only in August.

Speaker 1 (01:04:51):
They set up stadium chairs at Edinburgh Castle.

Speaker 2 (01:04:55):
It's on the parade grounds of the Castle. I can't
believe when you asked me about something that was unique,
I forgot about this one. Because this is especially unique.

Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
Now here's a marketing ploy. The name of the festival
is the the Scotland Tattoo Festival, but tattoo has nothing
to do with body art. It comes from the sixteenth
century where a drummer and a sergeant or someone from
the barracks would visit each of the pubs in town

(01:05:27):
and they would shout out tattoo, tattoo, which means to
the pub the innkeeper, turn the taps off it's late
at night, and send the soldiers back to the barracks
because they're not going to leave as long as the
pub is serving up some grog, some nil.

Speaker 3 (01:05:45):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
I've got a marketing ploy. I think we need to
find out if Brent would let us give away a
trip to somebody if they got Morse Columbus travel tattooed
on them and we gave aways based on this tour.

Speaker 1 (01:06:01):
We're not making that offering there they are not.

Speaker 3 (01:06:03):
Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
You know what, if anybody wants to get the tattoo
of Morse Columbus on your body, you just need to
call the office.

Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
Well, I can't do it on my back, have the
angel Morone on my back? All I'm just kidding. Hey,
So here's the deal. When Morris Columbus came out with this,
they called it correctly, the Scotland Tattoo Festival plus England
and Wales. Nobody bought it. Why they thought it was
body art convention, you know, And so I remember you

(01:06:35):
and I talking. We said, let's change the name of
this to Scotland, England and Wales with the Scotland Bagpipe
Festival and Drum Corps Festival.

Speaker 3 (01:06:47):
Which is a mouthful, but it is so much more descriptive.

Speaker 1 (01:06:51):
There's a few spaces left. The biggest miracle is not
the parting of the Red Sea. It's getting tickets for
this festival, which is only a few days. They're almost impossible.
We got forty tickets. It's over half sold out, and
it's August eleventh to the twenty first. This summer August
eleven to twenty one, who else but me and Kathy'll

(01:07:15):
be your personal hosts and tour guide. We're going to
see Scotland and Wales, and England will be in York,
the iconic English city will be in Chester Stratford upon Avon,
which is the home of Shakespeare, down to London of course,
Oxford of the University.

Speaker 2 (01:07:36):
You know, I was just going to say, this is
a land tour, and so many of the programs that
you and Kathy host are cruises. And it's great to
go on a cruise with you and Kathy. Absolutely I've
done it. You get to have some dinners together and
seminars and whatnot. But having also been with you on
a land tour and that time you have such a

(01:07:59):
wonderful opportunity to bond and to get to meet the
travelers of the group. I love that this is a
land tour and the time that you get to spend
with our travelers.

Speaker 1 (01:08:10):
I hope that you'll join me again. Just a few
spots left August eleventh to the twenty first. The not
the Tattoo Festival. Actually we're going to see that, but
you understand Tattoo Tatto Scotland, Wales and England.

Speaker 2 (01:08:25):
It's a wonderful heritage tour. So and so many people.
We've got roots tech coming up here in a couple
of weeks. You know, we're we're talking genealogy. This is
a place that people need to go.

Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
Love to have you join me. And where do we
find out information?

Speaker 2 (01:08:40):
Miss Wendy on Morriscolumbus dot com. Scroll down to Morris
Murdock Escorted Tours and then click on the Europe tab.

Speaker 1 (01:08:48):
Very good. Now, for those using the Salt Lake International
Airport and parking out there, there are two major off
airport parking facilities. Hey you know they both they both
get you there, but we recommend parking Jet one because
if you go to the Morris Columbus site click on resources,
you can print a twenty percent discount coupon and I

(01:09:12):
say print six of them and put them in your
glovebox and they have a free car wash and they're
local part come back. I don't welcome back to the

(01:09:47):
Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwick's the Getaway Guru, and I've
gotten away to Australia, New Zealand down Under and uh yeah,
we're having a great time with some Travel Show listeners
eighty two us. Actually we spent a few days in
Sydney and then boarded Princess Cruises and sailed Australia, Tasmania

(01:10:09):
or on the South Island. Yesterday, well yesterday for me.
It's Sunday morning. Here on Saturday. We're at Fjordland National Park,
Milford Sound. This is Lord of the Rings country.

Speaker 3 (01:10:22):
Oh I want to be there so bad.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
Well we can make that happen to If you're conrest here,
if your credit card will clear, I can take you anywhere.

Speaker 3 (01:10:31):
I you know what, I will see what I can
do about that.

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
I'm joined today by Wendy Fraki, a group department manager
back in studio in Salt Lake City for the Travel Show. Hey,
just a reminder to all of our listeners. We briefly
mentioned earlier in the show a South Pacific odyssey next
year in May May fifteenth to the twenty seventh from

(01:10:57):
Tahiti to Hawaii cruise tour and this is with Norwegian
Cruise Line. We bored in Tahiti, we visit Morea or
Morea as some pronounce it, Bora bora right yetea will
cruise through the Tamutu Archipelago, cross the Equator and then

(01:11:18):
sail Hawaii, the Big Island, Maui, Kawaii, Oahu and in
Honolulu and you can go a couple of days early,
stay a couple of days late. I mean, you're in
the neighborhood. Why not. But here's what comes with that.
Norwegian Cruise Line for this cruise is offering a free airfare,
which is really wendy if you'd explain it, a bogo

(01:11:41):
bog o exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:11:44):
So it really is a great value. They already offer
really great discounted or contracted rates on most of their sailings,
but this is a buy one, get one free, so
you're getting a really good price or not charging you
double and then saying, hey, one of these are free,
but they're giving you a really good, honest rate and
then the other person is free, so it really does

(01:12:06):
give you great value.

Speaker 1 (01:12:08):
You know, when we did this couple of years ago.
They don't do this every year. It's kind of a
one off cruise, but they did it two years ago.
We had a group. I remember the airfare for me
Salt Lake to Tahiti home from Hawaii was sixteen hundred dollars.
Now this is not the price for next year. I'm
giving you an example of what a good deal this is.

(01:12:29):
But I priced it out doing the same thing on
Delta and United it was over two thousand dollars. So
on this one I paid sixteen hundred for me. Kathy
went absolutely free. This was an effective rate again two
years ago, of eight hundred dollars per person.

Speaker 3 (01:12:49):
Now tell them the other side of the story, though, Larry,
what is not in our control? Well, with the air
here's the disc show.

Speaker 1 (01:12:56):
Here's the deal. Norwegian Cruise Line picks the the airline.
You'll go on a major airline. You could be United, Delta,
Foreign Care, whatever, right and there. You can't request an
airline because you know they have what fifty sixty seventy
thousand people coming and going everywhere. Can you imagine people? Well,

(01:13:16):
I don't want to change planes in Dallas. I want
to go on United. I don't want to go on
America and I don't like.

Speaker 3 (01:13:23):
This need to hook up with my sister and this
that's right, and Atlanta and I.

Speaker 1 (01:13:27):
Have a stopover for three No, So it's if you
take the free air you have to agree. They pick
the schedule and the airline. There's no appeal on it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:39):
There's no change, right, And the good thing is is
they're not sticking you in a basic ticket. You're you're
going to have an itinery, you're going to have a
seat assignment, you're going to have you know all of that.

Speaker 3 (01:13:49):
So it is still a great, great deal balanc as
long as just.

Speaker 1 (01:13:54):
As you understand that, yes, the dates again are May
fifteen to the twenty seventh, a great time to visit
the South Pacific. There's nothing like it.

Speaker 4 (01:14:05):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:14:05):
One thing is so many cruises. It's there's so many ports,
and that's great. This cruise you've got what I think
five days at sea where you ultimately get to relax
and enjoy the ship. And you don't get that often.

Speaker 1 (01:14:21):
Let me let you know a secret. Having crossed the
Equator many times on a cruise ship in the North
and South Hemisphere, as you cross it the water looks
the same.

Speaker 3 (01:14:32):
Well, I would like to find that fact out for myself.

Speaker 1 (01:14:37):
You know, you'll be out there and it's always seems
to always be a daytime crossing, and they'll they'll call
you where you know, we're gonna cross it in ten minutes,
five minutes. Then they have a countdown. You know, it's
like ten seconds that we're across the equator. Kathy and
I like to get we did this once. I'm at
the front of the ship. She's at the back. We

(01:14:57):
cross the equator and actually I take a pic looking back.
It's hard to pick her out at the back. But
I'm in now in the northern hemiphare she's in the
southern hemisphere. We posted that on social media, that we're
in different hemispheres, and someone wrote a comment, is this
also true of your marriage, that you live in different careers? Well, listen,

(01:15:17):
we're coming to the end of the show. I want
to thank you for joining us. We're so grateful to
have you join us every weekend at this time on
this very station. And again remind you the Tahiti to
Hawaii that we've been talking about is May fifteenth to
the twenty seventh next year. With the free air they

(01:15:39):
also have the more at s promotion, which is free
unlimited drinks, free Wi Fi, free shore excursion credits, free
specialty dining and on select cruises, not this one, by
the way, but on select cruises on other itinerais, the
third and fourth person sharing your cabin sales absolutely free.
And that England, Wales and Scotland with the Bagpipe Festival

(01:16:02):
August eleventh to the twenty first. I want you to
figure this out for next week. I'll say to you
Otto Hanui from New Zealand.

Speaker 3 (01:16:12):
Every next week from Auckland,