The Travel Show: Magic Kingdom Specials; Polynesia; Serengeti & Maasai Mara

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're up the travel show. I'm Larry Gelwicks, that get
away Guru, and we have a great show lined up
for you today. We're gonna be talking about a Disney
update and some Magic Kingdom specials for a couple singles
and families in Orlando. What's the best international travel advice
that I could possibly give? You? Will be headed to Polynesia, Tahiti, Bora, Bora, Moorea,

(00:26):
and a very special cruise discount if anyone in your
family is in the military or is teaching school. And
then we'll head to Africa and the Great Migration. I'm
going to tell you about my favorite animal there. I
won't tell you what it is now, but you're gonna
roar with excitement. John. That's a little bit of a

(00:47):
hint there are. And we'd like to thank you as
a very manly roarer.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Jallia.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
We'd like to welcome John Potter, one of our Ace
Morris Columbus Travel Advisors and on you are in the
Bountiful Office. Yes, very very good. Well, I would like
to say and remind you that the travel show I've
been hosting this now for thirty four years. I can't

(01:13):
believe it, John, I don't know where time goes. But
the travel show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel, where
you always travel more and pay less, morriscolumbus dot com.
That's Morriscolumbus dot com and Norwegian Cruise Line, the home
of freestyle cruising. What does freestyle cruising mean?

Speaker 2 (01:34):
It means you're not on a set schedule. You can
eat when you want, you can drink when you want,
you can you're on your own.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
So I can eat at one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven and eight.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
Isn't that what you usually do?

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Thank you very much. Listen. The Best of State is
a how do I inscribe it? It's a program, it's
a it's an event that recognizes the very best in
the great state of Utah. Of course we are syndicated

(02:06):
outside of Utah, but here at home in Utah. The
Best of State Award recognizes the number one company or
service in a variety of categories, and for the fifth
year in a row, Morris Columbus Travel has received the
Best of State Award. Now here's some trivia, John, Okay,

(02:27):
that's five years. Yeah, if you go back six years,
another company got it. But if you go back seven
and eight years, it was Morris Columbus Travel. I don't know.
We had a hiccup about six years ago. Yeah, yeah,
maybe this got tired of us an all that. But
it's an independent panel of judges. You don't know who

(02:50):
the judges are. They can do like guest calls or
test calls and see how you solve problems, ask you
a questions. They do a lot of research on this
and you have to be nominated for it. But congratulations
to Morris Columbus Travel five years in a row as

(03:10):
the best of State. Now here's something I talked a
little bit about last week, but I received a number
of inquiries asking me to go into a little bit
more detail on this particular topic. And with the death
of Pope Francis, which was April twenty first, yeah, last month,

(03:34):
how is that affecting travel in Italy and in Rome. Well,
it hasn't had a significant effect outside of Rome because
the conclave and everything is being taken care of there,
and so travelers to Rome, even with the conclave going

(04:00):
after with the new Pope selected, travelers to Rome should
expect closures, visitor restrictions and crowds. Now, if you have
booked traveled to Rome already, even after the new pope
is selected, you are going to experience delays. But it's

(04:22):
kind of exciting to be there for a rare historical moment.
And so we remember after the death of Pope Francis,
which as I said, was April twenty first, a series
of religious rituals and procedures were enacted that would certainly
impact travel plans. Cistine Chapel was closed. Yes, we're not

(04:47):
sure exactly when it's going to reopen. Even after the
pope is selected. It may be a few days, even
a week or two before the Cistine Chapel is open. Now,
the Assistine Chapel is there in the Vatican Museums, and
the thing you want to do on the Vatican Museums,
which includes the Sistine Chapel, but not now. You can

(05:10):
go to Vatican museums. Now you simply can't go to
the Castine Chapel. And the Vatican Museums announced that all
tickets are non refundable and you can't change the date.
So if you bought a ticket to include the Sistine Chapel, sorry,

(05:31):
you're at a historical moment. You're not going to get
a refund on that. But we're going to watch that.
But there's a lot of crowds and outpouring of love
and sympathy to Pope Francis, and we will welcome in
the new pope absolutely. So I wouldn't put off any
plans whatsoever in going to Italy. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
I liked how their announcement of the Sistine Types chapel closure.
He says until further notice, not a date, yep, and
so so it will reopen, but we do not know when.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Okay, I will be leaving in about a month for
Europe included this is a travel travel show. Listeners group
will fly to rekuvic Iceland. I love Iceland. You know
what's really cool about Iceland is that in polls fifty percent,

(06:30):
actually fifty one percent of the population believes in trolls
and elves. Now I don't say that with any humor
or disrespect. That's their belief. You can actually talk to
people say I have seen them. And when you put
in a permit application for construction, you have to get

(06:53):
a clearance that you're not digging in over the homes
of elves and trolls where they live underground.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
Oh yeah, that'd be devastating to them.

Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yes, yes, you have to get a permit. Wow, there's
about three hundred and fifty thousand people that there's even
a book so if you're dating someone and you're thinking
about getting married to him or her, that you can
see if you're related to them. I'm serious, there's three
hundred and fifty thousand people. It's a wonderful country. It's frontier,

(07:29):
it's waterfalls everywhere. You know, Hawaii has thirteen volcanoes, with
just a couple of them that are active, you know. Yeah,
Iceland has thirty three volcanoes and some of them are active.
You know. You remember some years ago when the the.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Trans l flights, Yes.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
They couldn't fly because of the volcano.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, the ash yes. Oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
Anyway, so we will fly to Reki, spend a couple
of days there. I love the Blue Lagoon. It's thermal
pools everywhere that you can just lay, so relaxing.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
It might be extra warm now volcanic activity.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
So we will spend a couple of days in a
recumict and then board the new Norwegian Prima. I've sailed
on that ship a couple of times. Fantastic, absolutely fantastic.
So we'll make three stops in Iceland and then off
to Norway to Olissend and Bergen and then the Norwegian
Fjords down to Well, I'll be Amsterdam in the Netherlands,

(08:36):
to Bruges, Belgium, which rivals Paris and old town Prague
as maybe the most beautiful city in Europe. It's a
smaller city. Yeah, it's a smaller city. And then to England.
Now I need something called an ETA if I'm going
to be going to the United Kingdom, which is England, Scotland,

(08:58):
Wales and Northern Ireland.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yes, ETA stands for an Electronic Travel Advisory.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
I thought it was estimated time of arrival that too.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
That yes, so you do need to have one, even
if you're just flying through changing planes and Heathrow, never
living in the airport. Yes, you still need one. And
from what I've been told, they're very easy to get online.
I'm going to be doing mine probably next week because
to be going.

Speaker 1 (09:22):
Here's what you want to do. You want to put
in uk ETA official site. The cost is thirteen British pounds.
I'd like to lose thirteen pounds, but that's another story. Third,
it's about sixteen bucks. Yeah, but there's all these scammers
out there that they want you to believe the official site.

(09:42):
I saw one that is charging two hundred dollars, Oh
my goodness. And all they do is connect you the site.
You still have to pay the thirteen pounds, so put
official site. Something BIG's happened in this fall up and
late in the Davis Conference Center.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
Yes, October eighteenth, we're going to have a Fall Travel
Expo all day Saturday, and I think we'll be doing
the Travel Show live from this. We will be doing
will you join me on party? I'd love to.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
That's October eighteenth, Saturday at the Davis Conference Center in Leyton.
And you know at the January expo we have one
hundred travel vendors. We can't fit that, mate, so we
should about sixty sixty five airlines, cruise lines, foreign tourist boards,
safari companies, tour companies, resorts, hotels, and we'll be giving

(10:29):
away free travel market on your calendar October eighteenth at
the Davis Conference Center in Layton, the Fall Morris Columbus
Travel Expo. When we come back, we're going to put
Pluto to the test. Welcome back to the Travel Show.

(10:50):
I'm Larry Gelwick's the Getaway Guru, joined today by our
guest John Potter, one of the travel experts at Morris
Columbus Travel. John's the bountiful office that takes calls from
all over the country and all over the universe. If
you'd like to talk to John direct, you can call
his direct number eight oh one four eight three fifty

(11:13):
two fourteen. That's eight oh one four eight three fifty
two fourteen. Now, John, where did you get the name Pluto?

Speaker 2 (11:26):
When I was doing the travel show with Don Schaeffer
several years ago, he asked me what my favorite Disney
character was, and I says Pluto. And that's the day
I became Pluto. And I've been Pluto ever since.

Speaker 1 (11:37):
I thought it would have been goofy. Well, you would
think thank you very much, and for me it'd be dopey. Yes,
thank you. You know, stop stop stop, okay. And when
you see John at expo, he often brings his Pluto hat.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
Yes, I'll bring a Pluto hat, and I even have
a Pluto shirt.

Speaker 1 (11:58):
Now you have plutos, No I don't. Why didn't you
get something? I better get some, all right. John is
the ultimate Disney file. He loves Disney only once did
I stump him on the Disney question? And you had
a brain freeze because you knew the answer. I said,

(12:20):
what does EPCOT stand for?

Speaker 2 (12:21):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (12:22):
And by the way, what does EPCOT stand for.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
The Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow? I will never forget that.
I'll never let you get it again.

Speaker 1 (12:33):
That's right. So it's Larry one John about five hundred question. Hey,
give us a Disney update. What's going on? Okay?

Speaker 2 (12:41):
Well, Disney World, Walt Disney World in Florida has some
amazing specials going on right now, right now kids, and
they consider a kid aged three through nine, they get
to save fifty percent off their part tickets for a
three day or law hunger pass between the day chef

(13:02):
to travel between May twenty seventh and September twentieth, which
is basically all summer the time.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
You know, Disney's definition of a child, as you mentioned,
was three to nine. I'm trying to think of how
many adults age ten I've run into. Yeah, but it's
their rule.

Speaker 2 (13:18):
It's their rule. Yes. Also, starting in twenty twenty six,
if you purchase a Disney dining plan, kids ages three
through nine will get it for free.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
That saves a ton of money.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
It really does. And of course you have stay at
one of the on site hotels, and you also want
to stay at an on site hotel. One thing that
a lot of people aren't aware of when you stay
on site with the Disney and Walt disney World is
if you arrive at say, you know, one in the afternoon,
and you don't want to waste a park ticket to
go into a park for just a few hours. So

(13:54):
that first day you arrive in check in, you can
go to one of the Disney water parks for free. Really, yes,
free to a Disney park. Do they have a rival?

Speaker 1 (14:05):
How much does that save you? What is that part?

Speaker 2 (14:07):
That's sixty dollars a person? So it's a good shaving, Louise. Yeah.
And it gives you something to do if you get
there early. And so again that's when you stay at
it on site hotel.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
Now in Orlando or Anaheim, the California Disneyland, and that's
something people sometimes get the terminology disney Land is California,
disney World is Florida, Florida. Do they still allow an
early entry if you stay at a Disney property.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
They do. It's only thirty minutes. But if you stay
at a Disney property in well, Disney World, you get Florida,
Florida half hour early, ore at one of the disney
Land hotels in California thirty minutes.

Speaker 1 (14:48):
Also, he's done a lot of time. But you can
beat the huddled masses yearning to breathe free and ride Space.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
Mountain, that's right, or Star Wars.

Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yes, you can avoid. What are they charged for that
quick past to go in to start? Like twenty bucks?

Speaker 2 (15:05):
It's like thirty depends on the date and the time
you want to get in. Yeah, there's no no cost
too high for Disney They've never met a price hike.
They have not.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
Is it still worth it?

Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (15:17):
Seriously.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Yeah, I don't go as much as I used to do.
I let my season pass in Disneyland go. I still
have Disney World.

Speaker 1 (15:23):
Didn't they do away with the Disneyland season pass? No,
they still have them.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
They're still there. My daughter Jenny had one. Mm. Yeah, yep,
they've still got them. And uh so, yeah, it's a
good time to go. Also, one other secret that a
lot of people don't know is there are several rides
in both Florida and California that have what they call
single Rider access and you can go as a single

(15:49):
rider and what that is you? Yeah, because it won't
you will not be riding together, you won't be sitting together.
Save a lot of time. Yeah, and so it it's
really a good thing. The brides that offered in Disneyland
are the Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run, Mettahorn, Bob Sleds, and
Space Mountain. And I think after the newness wears off,

(16:11):
they'll also offer it at Tiana's by You, which is
the old Splash Mountain, and then at California Adventure they
offer Goofy Sky School, the Incredit Coaster, Radiator, Springs Racer
which almost always has a very long line, Grizzly River Run,
and the spider Man Web Slingers. So it's a great,

(16:32):
great thing and I use it all the time.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
Does California Adventure the beautiful hotel at Anaheim Disneyland? Do
they ever have a reasonable price? It's now expensive.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
Yeah, it's about seventy eight dollars a night.

Speaker 1 (16:45):
And you're in the park all day. Yeah yeah, I
mean if you have more money than you care about baby.
So you know where my daughter and her family always
did it. It's called the best Western dolls in. Yeah,
it's a short Walter and they have a full breakfast.
All right, I am gonna stump. We're gonna play Stump
the dummy. I've come up with some Disney trivia that

(17:06):
it's gonna be a slam dunk. You don't know these.
I think some of them. You will, but I'll get you,
all right. What was the first full length animated film
Disney film to be produced?

Speaker 2 (17:18):
Now, Larry, I thought you said it's gonna be hard
snow white.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
I hate you. No, I don't, I don't Okay. What
is the name of Mickey's first film.

Speaker 2 (17:31):
The not Sorcerer's Apprentice?

Speaker 1 (17:36):
I get half a point on that, okay. Uh. In
what century does Sleeping Beauty take place? Oh?

Speaker 2 (17:43):
My goodness, that I don't know. I got you, you
got me. Fourteenth century, Okay, I totally. I get some
hard on in the movie Old Yeller, which I remember
as a kid. What is the name of the mule
Mule Jumper? Is a jumper?

Speaker 1 (18:00):
Wow?

Speaker 2 (18:00):
Too? Wow? Isn't it time for a commercial?

Speaker 1 (18:03):
Larry?

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Actually it is.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
It is in about fifteen seconds. What is the first
Disney film to have a complete human cast?

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Oh? My goodness, that I know. I know.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
I reached deep to get so tough one you did. Hey,
when we come back, my best international travel advice. You're
listening to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwicks, that get

(18:39):
away guru. The Travel Show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel,
where you always travel more and tay less. Now, each
of the travel advisors at Morris Columbus Travel has a
direct line, and if you have it and you're happy
with your advisor, stay with him or her. If you
don't yet have a travel advisor, you can always call

(19:01):
John at eight oh one for eight three fifty two fourteen,
or call one eight hundred. Oh, this is so easy
to remember John, one eight hundred triple nine forty six
forty six. Yeah, that's it. One eight hundred triple nine
forty six forty six. And it will geo route your

(19:22):
call to the closest office. But you know, it doesn't
really matter where you live or where the office is, no,
because it's all on digital or viral videos, emails, telephone calls. Yeah, Okay,
I love international travel and I think most people do.

(19:45):
It's exciting, it's get new things and people want experiences. Now,
you know, I said last week in the show. I
think there are two types of people who travel, and
one is not better than the other. But I call
them travelers and tourists. The traveler wants an experience, no

(20:10):
death wish, but you know, does things, gets out into
the marketplace and has experiences where they go, and I'll
tell you about some of the great experiences that I've had.
The others what I call a tourist, and there's nothing
wrong with that. But let's get the set package to Waikiki,
and I love wyki Key. So I'm not saying one's

(20:32):
better than the other, right, But it's a different mentality,
it's a different approach to travel.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
And nobody's the same each type trip.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
And it could be both. Yeah, So what is some
of your best travel general travel advice or any specific
international advice.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
I would say I would not consider going anywhere internationally
without travel insurance that will cover any medical issues that
may come up. Most people think that their own medical
insurance here in the US will cover them abroad like Medicare. Yeah,
most cases, it does not.

Speaker 1 (21:08):
In most cases, it just does it outside the United States.
One of the things on travel insurance some call it
travel protection, is The most important feature to me on
that policy is the emergency medical evacuation. I remember I

(21:28):
remember a client that had a aneurysm in French Polynesia.
They got him to the local clinic, but they really
couldn't do what needed to be done. He had travel
insurance with a good I mean, I like a half
million of the emergency medical. You don't have to get that,

(21:49):
but that's a great number. And they flew him first class.
He was in coach, but they flew him and his
wife first class in a life flat seat with a
doctor MD right next to him. They arrange for an
ambulance on the tarmac to pick him up right from

(22:10):
the airplane with the doctor and go to a local
Los Angeles hospital, and the doctor flew home. Yeah, you know,
I think my best is this. It's a philosophy than
Kathy and I have. Whatever it is you want to
do in life, be it travel, service, education, family, health, religion, anything,

(22:37):
do it while you can't. That's true, go while you can.
Because we all know people where they've had a life changing,
a life altering event, not a bad day. I'm talking
about their life is changed forever. Now. It could be me,
It could be my spouse or partner, my children, my business,

(22:58):
my income folio, geopolitical things. I could be anything.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:04):
Do you know people who have had a life changing event?
Oh yes, yeah, yeah, every day, go while you can.
I think some of the other things I would say
is review all your travel documents. Your air crewis hotel.
I was driving my son Keaton, you know Keaton. Yeah,
he and his wife were going to Mexico, and I

(23:25):
was driving out the airport. We just left the house
and I said, take a look at your passports. Oh
doubt dad, We got it. We got it, We got them.
Here it is, I said, just look at it. He
had brought the expired one, oh no one, And so
we did you know, Flip bat went to his house.
It was a great lesson check. You know, most countries,

(23:47):
not all, but most countries require a six month validity
on your passport, six months beyond or after your return
date to the United States. Go to Travel dot state
dot gov. Travel dot state dot gov, click on international travel,
then type in in the search bar the country that

(24:10):
you're gonna be visiting or countries. Well, I say you
have to do them individually. They only take one country
to and a just a plethora. To quote Don Schaeffer,
a plethora of information will come out about your travel.
Is a visa required, passport requirements, the embassies inoculations, required

(24:32):
currency regulations. That's travel dot state, dot gov. One of
the things, if you're on your own and not with
a say a Morris Columbus guided tour, download Google offline
maps on your cell phone. You may not be able
to get them over there. So city maps, countrymaps, things

(24:53):
like that, and call your cell phone provider and find
out about their international call plan. Also, it's a good
idea to call your credit card company and say I'm
going to be in France and Spain and Italy so
you'll be seeing charges. Don't get worked up and think
it's fraud. Yeah, and most of all, have fun. That's

(25:15):
the important it is. Now tell me John, this is
redemption time from your failed Disney trivia. Okay, okay. I
want to know you travel a lot. I want to
know what you would do on a flight Delta Airlines.
It's kind of a crappy flight, all right, from Salt

(25:36):
Lake to New Orleans. It was crappy because a man
was trapped in the onboard lavatory or toilet. The door
got stuck for thirty five minutes. They had they were
in flight, but they had the flight attendants. Even the

(25:56):
captain came back pulling on the door handle while the
man vigorously kicked the door from the inside. What would
you do if you were trapped?

Speaker 2 (26:08):
Oh, that is a tough one. Luckily I don't have claustrophobia,
but I don't know that's that's just you know, you
think of the light of people. It's always waiting in
the aisle for the restroom, and here this guy's stuck
in there.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
Well, they finally opened it after thirty five minutes. And
I won't use any profane language on the show, but
the passenger said, I kicked the h double l out
of the door, knocked it off its hinges.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
Oh my goodness. So I don't want to do that,
all right.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
My wife says that I'm white on the outside and
brown on the inside because of my love for Polynesia,
for the Polynesian people. We'll go ole fakatong and ccpe.
I just said I can speak enough Tonguan to get by.
Am I fluent?

Speaker 2 (27:02):
No?

Speaker 1 (27:03):
But I'm conversational. You know. I couldn't give a scientific report,
spent a lot of time in Samoa, were in the
Fa suif I can get by a little bit. And
in Australia today, but yeah, and New Zealand, Kyota. I

(27:26):
I love Polynesia, the South Seas, the South Pacific. It
conjures up so many romantic images. It's a tough life.
I will tell you. I've told you previously. In fact,
I mentioned it last week that when we go to Samoa.
In western Samoa, on the island of there's Opolu and Savai,

(27:47):
we stay with the Lati Saili family out in Matareva
on the other side of the island of Upolo, that's
where Apia is at the international airport. We always stay
a couple of nights. They insist and I bring may
o FAKKOI I'd bring them a gift and it's like
fifty pound bags of rice. They will not take any money,

(28:09):
but they'll take food. That's about a corned beef and things.
I rent a pickup truck and I fill the back
full of food. We sleep on the floor. It's open
sided folly. You know. Most of them use corrugated metal
now rather than the traditional grass shack, but it is

(28:30):
it's all they cook all of our meals over an
open fire with coconut husks. Wow, no plumbing, of course,
it's a privy outhouse. Yeah, a little bit, but it's
not even would it's just palm branch is stacked enough
that it gives you some privacy. And what's they're very
fortunate they have one light bulb because they're near the street.

(28:55):
The road. What I really love in Samoa or Sunday
mornings because everyone's cooking in the umu, the underground oven
and you can see the smoke. They're all dressed. They
go to church there and I go from congregation to congregation,
from the Methodists to the Catholics, to the LDS to

(29:15):
the Lutherans, because I want to hear them sing, and
you they all they don't sing parts. They all sing
harmony and they start out soft and then get loud
when they go. I love poly Do.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
They wear the lava lavas?

Speaker 1 (29:33):
Yes? Yes. The lava lava is the male wrap around
I had there. There's the casual one that's a floral pattern.
Then there's what we call the pocket lava or in
Tonga toupenu. In Samo, it's lava lava and it's called
the pocket lava and traditionally men would wear a dark
color like black is the most common color that they have,

(29:59):
and it has pockets, clasps, it's formal. I wore it
to my church congregation in Salt Lake. I have where
I have a short sleeved white shirt and a tie
my pocket lava with sandals. And that's how the man.
That's how the missionaries fife a cow.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
The missionaries, they wear the lava. Lava. That's what the
prime That's what the prime minister wears. So you tell
me why why do we love Polynesia?

Speaker 2 (30:35):
I think the spirit, the people. Everybody wants to go
there because it's exotic, and once you've gone there, it
calls you back. You have to keep going back. It's
in your blood.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
Yeah, And I just I can never get enough about
the people. Oh they are so loving and kind. They
give you the shirt off your back, their backs, just
sweetest people.

Speaker 1 (30:58):
Well I can. I will be headed to Polynesia, French Polynesia,
the Society Islands, the Tuomotus and Hawaii next year when
we come back.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
I'll give you the dates of how I will show
you mine the South Seas.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
Welcome back to the travel show The Best two hours
in radio. Yeah, I'm Larry Gelwicks, that get away guru,
and may I give you a very personal thank you
for joining us every week at this time on this station.
We love travel. You love travel. We love to talk
about it. Now, John, I was talking about the South

(31:50):
Seas and next year May fifteen to twenty seven. You've
done this cruise, haven't you.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
I've done it.

Speaker 1 (31:56):
Yes, yes, you and I had a radio show listeners
group on it a few years back. Yes, it's a
great cruise. We will start in Tahiti. We will sail Tahiti,
the Society Islands, Moorea, right Yeta. We'll be at Bora, Bora,
which James Mischis said was the most beautiful island in
the world, the famous author we wrote, Hawaii and some

(32:19):
of the others. Then we'll head north, passing through the
Tuomotu Archipelago, crossing the Equator, and then cruising Hawaii, Hilo, Kona, Kawaiii, Oahu, Honolulu,
the Big Island and the dates again May fifteenth and
twenty seventh. We'll have our own short excursions and on

(32:41):
board activities. I will be your personal host and tour guide,
which maybe is a reason to pick a different date,
but that's another story. And by the way, they don't
do this every year, they don't. They do it like
once or twice in a select year. And twenty twenty
six they're repeating this.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yes, yeah, that's a great cruise. Just can never go
wrong with that one.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
Speaking of great cruises, you will be leading Pluto himself. Now,
how does it get any better than that? We'll be
leading a group on a river cruise on the Sinn
River with Almah Waterways next year in August. Tell us
about what you're planning.

Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yeah, this is gonna be fun. The dates is again
next year, August twenty sixth through September the fifth. It's
a seven day cruise and those that would like to
I'm doing this can go into Paris to two days early.
They take care of our hotel for us, the sight seeings,
taking care for us daily breakfast.

Speaker 1 (33:37):
And at a five star hotel.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
Five star hotel, you can never go wrong in Paris.
We can eat the crapes till our heart's delight. And
then on the twenty twenty ninth, excuse me, we get
on the beautiful Alma Dante and sailing down the Sind River.
We're going down to visit Normandy. Normandy, the Normandy, you.

Speaker 1 (34:03):
Know, the American Cemetery is so emotionally moving, you know,
it's interesting. There's also a German cemetery there, there is, yes,
and an Allied cemetery. But most of them were young men,
many of them teenage boys.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
Yeah, seeing all those great markers, and one thing that
really hit me is most of them crosses. But you
had some Jewish people there under the Star of David,
and I thought that was so nice and appropriate to
recognize them and honor their traditions as well.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
What are the dates again of the cruise itself.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
The cruise itself is the twenty ninth of August through
the fifth of September. And so we're also going to
visit Rowan.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
It's a medieval city and it's where Joan of Arc
was tried. Yeah. Yeah. By the way, if you have
a subscription to Fox Nation, they have Martin Scorsey's series
of called Saints, and they have a wonderful production on

(35:08):
Joan of Arc that they intersperse with commentary on the history.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
Yeah, oh yes, amazing. We're also gonna visit Vernon and
uh Lahov and so it's gonna be a great time.
And then, of course, in true John Potter fashion, we're
gonna have an optional two day Disneyland Paris extension. I have, yes,
and it's great, and they do.

Speaker 1 (35:33):
They serve es cargo on a stick.

Speaker 2 (35:36):
They have some weird food there. I got to admit
I haven't either. I don't eat it, but they wouldn't
surprise France.

Speaker 1 (35:45):
Is that mine's French fresh bag at?

Speaker 2 (35:49):
Oh yeah, you can't go wrong with the whole thing. Yeah,
Oh my gosh. Yeah, well, very good.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
I understand that Morris Columbus Travel and Norwegian Cruise Line
have a special promotion giving discounts to active military, retired military,
and school teachers. What's going on?

Speaker 2 (36:11):
Yes, this is such a great offer. You're going to
get fifty percent off all cruise fair so even their
discounted rates. You're going to get an additional five percent off.

Speaker 1 (36:23):
So it's five percent on top on top of any
discs promotion. Yes. Wow.

Speaker 2 (36:29):
You're also going to get a fifty dollars on board
credit and that's for the cabin, not for wirston.

Speaker 1 (36:35):
It's an on board credit sometimes called an OBPC.

Speaker 2 (36:38):
It's basically free money. It's money that you can use
for things on the ship, just.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
About everything except the casino. I know you'll be disappointed.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
Yep, darn it.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
You know. The other thing is that the five percent
discount on it's a discount on top of a discount.
Whatever you can get applies to every one in the cabin. Yeah,
not just the t or the military serviceman or woman.
Right wow.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
Yeah, so it's a great thing. Of course, it's combinable
with all of the more at sea options, including the
second person flies free promotion.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
Now, I got I got a question for you. Uh,
taking Disney out of the equation, what's your what's your
favorite place?

Speaker 2 (37:25):
It would have to be Hawaii? Why just the I
get there. When I I get there, in the second
I'm off that plane, I am a different person. I'm relaxed,
I'm enjoying myself. I'm happy.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
I like the coconut shrimp.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
Not me.

Speaker 1 (37:41):
Oh that's right, you know John. I know. John's favorite
seafood is a t bone t bone steak. As you
grew up on a ranch, a cattle ranch. Oh my gosh. Well, listen,
when we come back to our number two, I'm gonna
talk about the craziest de fond excursion on the island
of Molorea. Welcome to our number two of the Travel Show.

(38:10):
I'm Larry Gelwicks, your humble host. Humility a character trade
I've never been accused of anyway. I'm the Getaway Guru.
Do you know John Potter's here with Nick. Do you
know who gave me the nickname Getaway Guru? I do.

Speaker 2 (38:26):
It was Don Shaeffer, Don.

Speaker 1 (38:27):
Schaeffer, and this goes away. I've been hosting the show
for thirty four years, much of it co hosting with
Don Shaeffer, who's retired now one of the great guys
I know he is, And he gave me this nickname,
the Getaway Guru. And I remember saying, Dom, that is
so cheesy, don't call me that. He just kept calling
it and it has stuck and it's it's a term

(38:51):
of endearment. Even my kids just call me the Guru sometimes,
the getaway Guru. I the other day Kathy and I
were having lunch at Applebee's. Two people came up and said,
you're the Getaway Guru. I recognize your voice, and I'm flattered,
absolutely flattered by that. Hey, listen, we were talking about

(39:13):
this Tahiti to Hawaii cruise May fifteen to twenty seven
next year. As you pointed out, and I want to
emphasize it, it has a free airfare offer where the
first person pays a heavily discounted airfare, the second person
flies absolutely free, and it's one of the best deals.

(39:36):
They also have the more at Sea promotion, which is
unlimited drinks, both what I call leaded and unleaded, free
Wi Fi, free shore excursion credits, free specialty dining, and
on select cruises, not this one, but on select cruises,
the third and fourth person sharing your cabin sales absolutely free.

(39:57):
Now I said, we do our own shore excursions or tours.
One of the favorites that you will remember when you
sailed with me is on the island of Moorea. Now
most people say Morea. That's just fine, properly pronounced Moorea,
because in the Polynesian languages, every vowel is a syllable. Moorea.

(40:22):
By the way, there's two big bays there. There's Cook's
Bay and Openo Hube and Cook Captain James Cook, who
made three voyages in the late seventeen hundreds to the
South Pacific and Hawaii. He anchored as the first European,

(40:43):
we'd say discovered first European, not first human in Openo Hube.
But they named the other one after him. Do you
remember the nineteen fifty six movie with Mitzi Gainer. Yeah,
South Pacific, that's it. I'm going to watch that man
right out of my hair. Now you're wondering what I
did with the money my mother gave me for singing lessons.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
You went to the arcade?

Speaker 1 (41:06):
I did, I did, indeed. But you remember the legendary
bally High, Yes, that that was the inspiration for the
Forbidden Island. Well, the real bally High Mountain is there
at Openahu Bay, Yes, and you'll recognize we will see
it on our tour. So this we call it Swim

(41:30):
with the sharks and rays. Now, that's going to terrify
a lot of people. Yes, is it scary, John Ken? No? No,
These are gray tips and reef sharks, most of them
probably three to five feet long. Yeah, they're white, they
are They are more afraid of you than you are
of them. And then they have the rays there that

(41:52):
are swimming. You can hold it, you can kiss it
if you want to. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:56):
And the water's wait steep, it's not deep water. Exactly, Crystal.

Speaker 1 (42:01):
And you know the other day, this was about almost
two weeks ago. You know, we have group departure meetings,
like a pre departure group meeting for our travel show
listeners group. Kathy and I were doing one for the
Iceland to England tour and had a you know, we

(42:25):
do it in person and by zoom, and we had
a full house at Morris Columbus Travels Downtown Salt Lake office.
And at the end of it, this woman comes up
and says, you may not remember me, although we did.
She says, I was with you and this was about
eight years ago on the Tahiti to Hawaii cruise and

(42:52):
I was on the morea. Now that swim with the
sharks and rays is one part. Then we go to
a private, uninhabited island, think Gilligan's Island. We have a
barbecue Kaitulu was what we would call it. And entertainment.
I mean, it's a fact, it's a whole day.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
It is.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
This sharks and rays is just one part of it.
She wouldn't get off the boat. She was the only
person and no criticism. She was terrified. Well, my wife, Kathy,
who is the greatest person I know, and I seriously
married above myself and she agrees with that statement.

Speaker 2 (43:29):
We all do.

Speaker 1 (43:29):
Thank you, Uh, just kind of talk to her, kind
of said, if you it's you know, it's not scary.
The sharks are more afraid of you than you have them.
The only time you'd have a problem is if you
grabbed it and tried to force your hand in its mouth.
And you know there is it's not stupid, is not
against the law, but there are consequences for stupid. Right

(43:52):
in our twenty five thirty years of doing this, we
have not had one instance, yeah, with the rays or
the And finally, Kathy, she said, why don't you just
try it. I'll hold your hand and literally held her
around the waist and they went down the steps and
she was literally trembling. But now she says it is

(44:15):
one of the greatest She said, thank you, thank you
for taking me down there. It was so much fun.
I got down there, I got over my initial shock.
I wasn't scared. It was wonderful, And she says, I
have all these wonderful memories. Well, that's an example of
the type of things. And by the way, the cruise
line doesn't offer that, No, they don't they will not,

(44:38):
and so those are some of the things that we do. Hey, well, listen,
there are only two hundred and twenty nine days till Christmas.

Speaker 2 (44:47):
Oh great, I better get shopping for my gift. Yeah, yeah, sure,
I'll be a small one. Do you like a hershey,
bar kiss her? She's kissed even.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
Better from you, John, even better. What are some of
your Christmas traditions.

Speaker 2 (45:07):
I love being with the family, of course, but I
love just driving around and looking at Christmas lights. I
love Christmas lights and I have I didn't get to
do it last year because I was out of town,
but the Salem Ponds down in Salem, Utah just does
such a beautiful display. I have to go down there
and see that.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
You know, a couple of weeks ago, actually more than
a couple, I told of a Christmas tradition in my
family where I give each of the kids an orange.
And that goes back to the days when my mother,
who grew up in southern Alberta. They were homesteaders, her
parents where young children went. So really, her grandparents homesteaded

(45:50):
southern Alberta and they were dirt poor, and my mother
desperately wanted for Christians. About eight and nine years old
Shirley Temple doll. But they were so poor that the
only gift, the totality of the gifts, was one orange
each child got, which, of course they didn't have year

(46:11):
round fruit and vegetables. That was a real gift. But
I mean an orange. And so every Christmas I tell
that story. My kids and grandkids know the story, but
I tell it in a lot more detail, and I
give them, I hand them each an orange, and I
usually do it with tears in my eyes, remembering my
mother as a child just getting one orange. Yeah. Well,

(46:38):
I'll tell you the thing I love about Christmas, Kathy,
and I've done it a few times are the Christmas
markets of Europe. It's a six hundred year tradition where
they completely lose their mind at Christmas. Big cities, small cities, hamlets, villages.
It's just out of control in a positive way. And

(47:03):
it's all outdoors. It's music, it's entertainment, it's dancing, it's food,
it's you can there's shopping, but it's not like a
department store, the wooden kiosks. I've told you before, I'm
not a shopper. I don't even like to shop for socks. Okay,

(47:25):
but the first time I did this, I had to
go buy a suitcase because it's the grandkids. You know,
the grandkids are going to bankrupt me. But I'm a
willing participant in the whole thing. Well, Kathy and I
will be leading a Christmas market tour next year December
third to the tenth, twenty twenty six, and we'll be

(47:47):
visiting Switzerland, Germany, France and the Netherlands with Alma Waterways.
We'll have a pre cruise Switzerland option. Now this is
Christmas time and so on Astmas Market cruise. We will
be visiting in every city the Christmas markets, but we
see all the other site seeing and all your tours,

(48:08):
all your excursions are included. Alma Waterways is as good
as it gets. We'll be planning some activities again December
third to the tenth. You're home two weeks before Christmas
and I'd love to have you join me. So for
that Tahiti to Hawaii cruise. For the Christmas Market cruise,

(48:30):
go to Morriscolumbus dot com and scroll down to Morris
Murdock Escorted Tours and click on cruises, or give John
Potter a call at eight oh one four eight three
fifty two fourteen. We're going to leave the Christmas markets
and head to the Serengiate and welcome to the travel Show.

(49:02):
I'm Array Gelwicks, the Getaway Guru, sometimes known as Doc
Tari fearless African guy, and Jumbo is the native greedy
in East Africa. You'll hear that a lot now, John,
I've been trying to talk you into going on the
Great Migration Safari. What have I got to do to
get you there? Hey? Your way done, deal, done deal.

(49:27):
You know, there's something different about Africa. It's an overused
response when asked how you reacted to it, but the
one that I hear more than anything else that's overused,
and this is Kathy's response, life changing it in a
circle of life. There's a rawness of life there. Now.

(49:51):
Kathy was hesitant to go. I've been to Africa before,
I'd been to Safaris, but she just no. She thought
it was going to be chuck rama for all the predators,
for the lions, just you know, chomp chomp every night.
Well that's not it. When you go with us on
the Great Migration, which only happens in July August and

(50:11):
September and only in Kenya and Tanzania. And for a
long list of reasons Kenya is the better choice. We'll
give you a booklet has about sixty seventy animals, photos,
descriptions and everything. By day three, you will have checked
off in your booklet over fifty species, not including birds.

(50:36):
It's like Noah just opened the arc right there. But
there's a lot more than two. There's up to two
million wildebees on the move, and it's the largest land
migration of animals on Earth. It's the ultimate national geographic experience. Now,
I told you at the top of the show, I

(50:57):
was going to tell you my favorite animal. Kathy's is
the warthog. Okay, what would you guess? I haven't told
John the answer to this. What would you guess my favorite?

Speaker 2 (51:08):
I'm guessing the lion.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
How'd you know that? Did I ever tell you that?
It just kind of your well, what's hare? Lions are
the only social group of cats. Others are solitary, but
the lions congregate in a pride. A male lion, fully

(51:32):
grown can weigh up to five hundred pounds. Can you
imagine the force is? That's when it's hunting. Although the
women do. Then the female lions do most of the
hunting on some of the bigger animals. The male may
come in and when five hundred pounds hits any animal
at full run, yeah, it's something else. But they're also

(51:57):
the loudest roar of all the cat that's in fact,
for a male lion, his roar can be heard up
to five miles. Wow, that is just crazy. Now, the
role of the males is to guard the young, his young,
and protect the pride's territory. He'll be marking his territory

(52:21):
what we all do when we go camping. Yes, a
female lion needs to eat about twelve pounds of meat
every day. The male lions even more of that, you know.
I remember, Yes you will see some hunting. I mean,
everybody's got to eat, But the trip is so much

(52:44):
more than that. In Kenya there are fifty national parks,
none of them have a fence around it. I've been
sitting looking at a pride of lines and seeing off
in the distance of village, but the lions don't move.
There is so much food available, Why move, you know?
And I love watching them, and yes they have to

(53:06):
eat too, But what will often happen is that as
the male lion is getting older, the young male lions
and often brothers two or three, will take them on
and take over the pride one of the most and
they hunt as a unit. Everybody knows their job. I

(53:29):
remember this one time. We're sitting in our jeeps and
by the way, they do not see the jeep as food.
We have lions walk right past our jeep where if
we wanted to. Again, stupid is not against the law,
but stupid has consequences. You could pet it, you could
literally pet it, but you keep you just keep your

(53:51):
arms in. They see the whole vehicle, but you put
your arm out, you get out, and it's another story. Yeah. Well, anyway,
so we're in this vehicle and we see a pride
of lions crouch beneath these shrubbery trees that were about
seven feet tall, dense shrubbery, and on the other side

(54:12):
is a herd of Wilderby's kind of a small herd
of about forty thousand, that's all her Yeah, and then
two female lions left the pride, one to the right,
one to the left, crept way around like sheep dogs
and came at the herd from the backside. Which all

(54:37):
h double l broke out and they're running. Where are
they running? They're running towards the bush, and at the
right moment, with the right signal, the pride jumps out
and that's their dinner. You hate to see it.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
But it, yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:52):
It has to happen. And you see these what they
call the Nile crocodiles. Now we're not in the Nile,
we're not in Egypt. These are the ones you see
on National Geographic twenty twenty five feet weigh two thousand pounds.
You don't pet them, no, but you know, there's so
many experiences. I remember once we're at a lake and

(55:14):
you could just there's almost a slight rumble to the ground.
We're sitting in our jeeps and a whole herd of
buffalo show up. Must have been two hundred of them,
and they're in the water because we're by a lake
in the mud and they're surrounding the jeep, no danger.

(55:34):
And then they move on and you can feel and
hear the stillness of Africa. And then sometimes later a
herd of elephants come and there was one that had
been born maybe three or four days, and it's a
matriarchical society and everybody is helping it along and they're

(55:54):
taking care of this baby elephant. These are the type experience.
I've never seen a sunset till you've seen one on
the serengetti and the serengetti is a plane and here
masei mara. Yeah, Masai is a tribe, a nomadic tribe,

(56:15):
and the mara is means spotted plane. There's clumps of vegetation.
Serengetti comes from the Masai word sarnget, which means endless planes.
I'm going to tell you about how you could join me.

Speaker 4 (56:29):
In Africa when we come back here on the Travel Show.

Speaker 1 (56:43):
You're listening to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwiz, that
get away Guru. Be sure to check out the website
of our good sponsor, Morris Columbus Travel, which happens to
be the largest seller of vacation travel and cruises Hawaii, Mexican, Go, Europe,
wherever you want to go to, the largest seller in

(57:03):
the entire Inner Mountain area. As a result, they get
some deals that you just don't get anywhere else. We
mentioned some military discounts, teacher discounts, you know, last week
and I'm hoping they bring it back we had with
Norwegian Cruise Line to spending money. You couldn't even get

(57:26):
that from Norwegian Cruise Line. It was a Morris Columbus exclusive. Well,
we're talking about Africa, and I take a group every year.
My group for twenty twenty five is sold out. We
do have another group with Jim Gee, who's actually on
all of our tours. He's fantastic. July thirtieth, you leave

(57:49):
the US, you get back August ninth. Now, next year,
my safari is about half sold out now, in fact,
we keep it to twenty eight people. Yeah, so we
had like sixteen or eighteen people already booked with me
next year twenty twenty six. And by the way I
take it, Jim Gee also is with us on my

(58:11):
tour next year twenty twenty six, July twenty nine to
August ninth. Now, this is not your two ninety nine
kmart blue Light Special. No, the land package includes all
but I think one meal or something like that, and
flights within Kenya is seventy seven to twenty four per

(58:35):
person double occupancy. And you know that's not your two
ninety nine special, but it is the greatest value. I
always say John, look at the price, but shop value
even more than price. What am I getting? If anybody
ever asked me about the price, I say, let's not

(58:56):
have the conversation right now. I want you to go
out and find another Safari Apples to apples. I can
find you a cheaper one. You'll never speak to me
again because you'll be in a passenger van.

Speaker 2 (59:10):
Yeah, two hours away from them.

Speaker 1 (59:13):
Oh that's right, animals, and you won't see it. So
there's fifty game parks, four major ones. We go to
three of the most prominent. There's a fourth one, Amboseli.
You won't see anything there. You don't see it. These
three we go to Old Pagetta, Samburu and the Serengetti.

(59:34):
And I just tell people, I want you to come
back about a week and we'll have this conversation apples
to apples, which I've already done.

Speaker 3 (59:43):
You know.

Speaker 1 (59:43):
The closest we have is Abercrombie and Kent. Now that's
a great tour company.

Speaker 2 (59:47):
They're very good.

Speaker 1 (59:49):
It's a great program, one day less but very similar
to ours. And they only go to two parks, twelve
thousand dollars just the land. And so they come back,
can they say Larry, Okay, how can you do it
for this price? What am I missing? We've been doing
it for twenty five years and we have connections there.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
We have great.

Speaker 1 (01:00:09):
One of the things that sets us apart is our
land vehicles. We use the Toyo de Land Cruiser, which
seats eight people plus the driver. Yeah, we put four
in as far as I know, we're the only company
that limits it to four. You can stand up, you
can move to you can all be on one side.

(01:00:31):
See the animals have not learned to only come to
your side of the vehicle. So most companies, even AMBERCARMEI
and Can, will put six in. Now I say, we
don't put more than four unless a group of friends
or families. Hey there's five of us, there's six of us,
there's eight of us. We all want to be together,
knowing that it will restrict the movement. So we'd only

(01:00:54):
do that if the travelers ask us to do it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:59):
And it's nice pill get a picture without somebody's head
in it as well all the time.

Speaker 1 (01:01:03):
So go to Morriscolumbus dot com Morriscolumbus dot com. On
the homepage, click on Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours and then
click on Africa love to have you join me. Well, listen,
John Hurts has done it again.

Speaker 2 (01:01:21):
Oh no, I mean, you do whatever you want.

Speaker 1 (01:01:23):
I'm not calling for a boycott, but I will not
rent from them. I simply won't because there's so many
problems with it. A Hurtz customer, a member of their
elite president's circle that's like.

Speaker 2 (01:01:38):
That's the free as you can get.

Speaker 1 (01:01:40):
Frequent renters, was charged a fee of two hundred and
seventy seven dollars and thirty nine cents for not filling
up the gas on his rental car. That seems a
little high. Well, yeah, there's one problem. It was a Tesla.
Oh my goodness. They charged him and they wouldn't remove it.

(01:02:02):
They would not remove it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:05):
A Tesla is an electric car.

Speaker 1 (01:02:08):
Yeah, so I thought, okay, just fill it up with
gas in the back seat.

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
Yeah yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:02:15):
Here is what the customer had to say, quote, I
am unable to excuse me. This is what Hurst Hurts
Customer service said to them. I am unable to provide
an adjustment or refund since the service was provided, the
service is filling it with gasoline, and the contract is closed.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
Oh my goodness.

Speaker 1 (01:02:40):
And I've read this on other occasions. So he gets
charged two hundred and seventy seven bucks for gasoline that
he didn't put in an electric vehicle.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
Yeah, what are we if you would have put gasoline
and there would have been a bigger problem.

Speaker 1 (01:02:57):
Now, what would you think if I told you? See,
I've been doing in fifteen countries. I've got a couple
new ones coming up this year. I am a hopeless
travel junkie, and I hope to always stay that way.
What would you think if I told you I've been
to North Korea? Which is a true statement.

Speaker 2 (01:03:17):
Numb and I got out and got out.

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
That's right, Kim, John Uhn and I are buddies, not Andy.

Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
Did you go with Rodman? Yeah, Dennis, I should have.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Well here's when I actually did visit North Korea for
about thirty seconds. I back when you can go up
to Pan Munjam up to the DMC. I went up
there in one of my sojourns in Korea. I was
up in Seoul. I was I was twenty twenty five

(01:03:52):
years old, twenty four years old and in college in
graduate school, and my sixteen you old brother. We grew
up in San Francisco, went to school there and everything.
We were just bohemians, bedo ones, backpackers, and we slept
on the floor at some of these little Korean hotels

(01:04:13):
for a dollar a night. Oh wow, And they I
still remember to this day. Do we want to add breakfast?
I said, what's breakfast? He said, eggs and toasty sure.
And I never have picked up kim chi. I mean
anytime you take food and vegetables and you.

Speaker 2 (01:04:32):
Put it in the ground, put it in the ground
and let it rot.

Speaker 1 (01:04:36):
I don't want any part of it. But it's an
acquired taste in some people. But anyway, you go up
to the DMC and they're still there. There's a building
with a line down the middle, a table over it
where the South Koreans and North Koreans could sit and
talk and both stay in their country. And in the

(01:04:57):
old age, they can't do this anymore. You come in
and you can go into the building, you can spend
as much time as you want there, and you can
walk over to the North Korean side. So technically, yes,
I've been to North Korea. Okay, interesting about three feet
across the lotty.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
Yeah, I bet you wouldn't do it today.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
No, no, I wouldn't do that. But hey, listen, what
type of request do you get for families wanting a
spring break vacation, which we're past right now. What look
people looking for? They got a week off?

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
Yep. Most people want Disney, either Disneyland or Disney World,
or a cruise or both.

Speaker 1 (01:05:35):
Southern California is very popular. It is, yes, they can
drive there well for most of the Utah schools and
many of the Idaho schools in Arizona schools, but for
most of the Utah schools. Next year, twenty twenty six,
spring break, which is always a Monday to Friday, and
then you have both weekends on the beginning and the

(01:05:58):
end is a April sixth to the tenth. I know
that the Salt Lake School District, the Granite School District,
most school districts it's April sixth to the tenth. Some
are the week before. Well, I have come up with
the ultimate spring break. It's a five day cruise out
of Los Angeles. Of course, the port of Los Angeles

(01:06:21):
really San Pedro, closer to Long Beach Airport than lax
It is, yes, but easy to get to from any
of those airports. Orange County, Long Beach a little farther
from Ontario Bank. Lax is real easy to get to
catch this. So it's April sixth to the tenth next year,

(01:06:43):
Monday through Friday, and you can drive to San Pedro
and you have a private parking lot literally next to
the ship. You get out of your car, you cross
two lanes of traffic, not a public street, it's the
cruise terminal street, and you walk on the ship. So

(01:07:05):
you can fly down, you can drive down. And of
course if you're going to drive, what are you going
to add to this five day cruise Disneyland there you
go on both hands.

Speaker 2 (01:07:14):
Yeah, you can fly out on Friday, have Disneyland Saturday, Sunday,
get on the cruise ship Monday, get off the ship Friday,
fly home Sunday. It's just perfect.

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
It's perfect. Well, I like the itinerary. So we board
on Monday and have an afternoon and evening at sea.
It's an afternoon sailing on Tuesday. We are at Catalina Island.
It's kind of like Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, Coney Island
all rolled into one. It's so much fun and it's

(01:07:46):
a beautiful sandy beach there.

Speaker 2 (01:07:48):
It's a Beach community.

Speaker 1 (01:07:50):
That's on Wednesday, a full day at sea with all
the activities. This is with Royal Caribbean on Navigator. The
season I've sailed four times I have on Navigator. It
is a fantastic chip. It was refurbished just a couple
of years ago. Then on Thursday we make a stop
in Mexico. Friday, we're back at San Pedro La Cruise Terminal. Now,

(01:08:16):
while we recommend a passport, a passport is not required
for this cruise. We always recommend it, we do, but
proof of citizenship like a birth certificate or something like that.
Here's the best part. This is the ultimate family spring break.
Next year, check when your spring break is for a
family of four and Royal Caribbean defines a child is

(01:08:41):
twelve and under. Yes, all right, family of fur so
two adults, two kids, three hundred and seventy three dollars
per person, including all taxes and all fees.

Speaker 2 (01:08:52):
That's great.

Speaker 1 (01:08:53):
Three seventy three four you'll pay that for a turo
at Disneyland you would have. But three hundred that's what
the prices are today. Now will it be available Monday?
Maybe it's higher, maybe it's lower. All prices are subject
to change and availability at the time of booking, but
right now, as of today, three seventy three for a

(01:09:16):
family of four, a few dollars more for just two.
That's the greatest spring, great kids program.

Speaker 2 (01:09:24):
That's great.

Speaker 1 (01:09:25):
Hey, we got a lot more when we come back
on the Travel Show. Thank you for listening to the
Travel Show. We love you guys out there. We're so appreciative.
We have a lot of fun here on the radio,
but we never take you for granted, because without you,

(01:09:46):
not only do we not have a radio show, we
don't even have a job. I'm joined today by my
friend John Potter, one of our best travel advisors at
Morris Columbus Travel. If you'd like to talk to John
direct eight oh one four eight three fifty two fourteen
eight oh one four eight three fifty two fourteen, or

(01:10:06):
call your own. If you have a favorite travel advisor,
you just call him or her. If you don't have
a travel advisor, you can call John or one eight
hundred triple nine forty six forty six. And don't forget
John is leading the Senn River Cruise next August of
next year. That'll include Normandy, Paris Han Floor. I mean

(01:10:29):
it's just a great, great great Sure you now social media, John.

Speaker 2 (01:10:38):
Yes, follow Morris Columbus Travel. We've got a Facebook page,
You've got an Instagram page. It lets you know everything
that's going on. They'll highlight some of the travel advisors.
I was highlighted a few weeks ago, and it's just
a great way to know all the specials, what's going on,
expo information. It's all just follow us. You'll you'll be

(01:10:58):
happy follow me.

Speaker 1 (01:11:02):
That was awful. Hey, listen, John, one of the most
exciting tours we have. I'm so excited to be taking
this August eleventh to the twenty First, do I do?
I have a good life?

Speaker 2 (01:11:14):
You really do.

Speaker 1 (01:11:15):
I do? And you know your job, you know your role.

Speaker 2 (01:11:18):
And I know you're very well as well.

Speaker 1 (01:11:20):
You are to work so that I can travel. I
like this arrangement. Yes, yeah, so it is the Scotland, Wales,
England August eleventh to twenty one. But yeah, it is
called the Tattoo Festival, the Tattoo Festival.

Speaker 2 (01:11:34):
Are we gonna get body art? No, it's nothing to
do with bardi art. It's back from the sixteen hundred's.
The military. They all when it was closing time at
the bards. That's say tattoo tatto and over four hundred years, yeah,
what that was, they'd often have a drummer.

Speaker 1 (01:11:51):
Maybe the sergeant would go from pub to pub tattoo
tatto meaning turn the taps off, send the soldiers to
the barracks and any men, send them home to their wives.

Speaker 2 (01:12:02):
Last call, last call.

Speaker 1 (01:12:04):
And over four hundred years tattoo tattoo became tattoo. When
we first put this tour out, our marketing department labeled
it the Tattoo Festival. Nobody signed up and broke sure
and I said, no, no, it's not body art. No,
so we renamed it Scotland Wales, England Tour, including the

(01:12:28):
Edinburgh International Bagpipe and Drum Corps Festival. It's called tattoo.
You don't find the word tattoo.

Speaker 2 (01:12:35):
No.

Speaker 1 (01:12:35):
We have two rooms left. It can be a single, singles, couples, whatever.
We have two rooms and two. We've never done this
before and I don't know if we'll do it again.

Speaker 2 (01:12:46):
I hope so, yeah, I would love to go. I've
seen the YouTube of the Tattoo Festival. Yeah, and it's.

Speaker 1 (01:12:54):
Oh, it's not that they have the festival up at
the Edinburgh Castle which is on the mountain that is
in the center of the city of Edinburgh, which is
one of the only major cities in the world without skykescrapers,
and they've set up stadium chairs. Tickets are almost impossible
to get for a couple of weeks in August every

(01:13:16):
year viewed by over one hundred million people worldwide. Yeah,
we have tickets, but there's marching through the streets and
the drum corps and the bagpipers. They come from all
over the world. Then of course we'll be seeing Wales,
other parts of Scotland, England. We go to York, which
I love. It's everything Old England, down to Stratford upon Avon,

(01:13:41):
the birthplace and burial place in Shakespeare. Yeah, okay, where
do we find information on this?

Speaker 2 (01:13:48):
Morriscolumbus dot com scroll down to Morris Murdock Escorted Tours
and it's under I believe its under Europe.

Speaker 1 (01:13:57):
Hey, I'll tell you what, if you'll come on this,
I'm going to take you out to lunch dinner and
I'm going to buy you a real British treat. Toad
in the hole. No it's it's not frogs. No, it's
a sausage in Yorkshire pudding batter. One of the most
and it's delicious, one of the most popular things. Hey,

(01:14:17):
we only got two minutes left. Tell me about real ID,
which is in effect, right, it's.

Speaker 2 (01:14:22):
In effect now you're if you're using a driver's license
to fly, it's got to have the gold star on it.
It's upper right corner. And if you do not have that,
you need to get one. You can still use a passport.
If you have global entry, you can use your card
that they give you for global entry. But if you're
using a driver's license, make sure it'll work.

Speaker 1 (01:14:44):
You just get a replacement made. You're actually fifteen acceptable
forms of ID, including the real ID, but that's the
easiest one.

Speaker 2 (01:14:53):
It is.

Speaker 1 (01:14:54):
You can go to TSA dot gov and see them. Well, listen,
this is kind of interesting. For seven years in a row,
Olive Garden has been voted in one Pole after another.
According to the Restaurant Business Pole as the number one
casual dining restaurant in America. It's it's not what I

(01:15:16):
vote number one either, and that's I'm not dissing away. Yeah,
salad and the breadsticks in particular, I gotta say the
lasagna kind of sucks. But there's some other dishes, very
very good. But a different restaurant replaced Olive Garden as
America's top casual dining chain, Texas Roadhouse. Now what do

(01:15:38):
you love there besides the steak and you're a steak
either The haves O my god, they yes, they really do.
So you've got Texas Roadhouse, followed by Olive Garden, followed
by Chili's, Applebee's and Buffalo Wild Wings. Well, that brings
us to the end of another travel show. We'll be

(01:15:59):
back in studio next year London next week, next week,
next year, next year too. Morriscolumbus dot com. Thank you
so much,