The Travel Show: Mexico Specials; South East Asia Highlights; Europe

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:12):
You're listening to the Travel show.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm Larry Gelwicks to get Away Guru, and we have
an exciting show on Memorial Day weekend. We're going to
be talking about Portsovayata, one of my favorite destinations there
in Mexico. The air and Service Business Development manager from

(00:34):
the Salt Lake International Airport will be joining us of
what's up.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
We've got some.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Really new international routes, Hawaii routes, domestic routes here in
Salt Lake City. We'll also be visiting Juno, Alaska and
I really loved Juneo. I'm going to tell you what
to do and what to see. We'll be seeing the
highlights of Southeast Asia. And did you know that booking
a flight with Delta Airlines just got a lot more complicated?

(01:05):
How about the new fake airline telephone scams? They are
robbing people right and left, and it's not the airline
that's doing it, but it's airline scammers. Did you know
that jet blow is being sued over a broken tooth
huft That is a great one. And how to renew

(01:26):
your passport online. We've got an exciting show today and
I'd like to welcome a very special guest Mark, a
friend of mine for close to forty years, a world traveler, Mark,
Welcome to the travel show.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Hey, thanks Laire's and phenomenal to be here.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
It's good to have you here. Well, you know, what
are you going to be doing for Memorial Day weekend?

Speaker 4 (01:49):
Go see some you know late grades that have you know,
since been passed on and I don't know, probably harass
you a little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Thank you very very much. Will you be sacrificing a cow,
lamb or chicken on the barbecue?

Speaker 3 (02:04):
Always col always cal You.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Know, Memorial Day is a wonderful holiday. It's kind of
signals the start of summer. But the holiday was originally
called Decoration Day. Really yeah, Memorial Day was first known
as decoration Day, a term used to describe the practice

(02:29):
of decorating soldiers' graves with flowers. Now the first large
observance of Memorial Day or Decoration Day took place at
Arlington National Cemetery in eighteen sixty eight. However, that was
not the first Decoration Day celebration.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
That was the first large scale one.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
In May of eighteen sixty five, thousands of formerly enslaved
Black community members of its former slaves in Charleston held
a ceremony and parade at the site of a former racetrack,
the Washington Racecourse and Jockey Club, where a reported two

(03:15):
hundred and sixty Union soldiers were buried in a mass grave.
They reburied the soldiers in individual graves, dug up the
mass grave, reburied them, decorated the resting places, saying songs
of freedom, and held a picnic afterwards. It was a

(03:37):
thank you from these former slaves for the emancipation, for
the Union soldiers who gave up their lives in search
of freedom, for all people, especially the black community. So
the first observance was actually May of eighteen sixty five,
but the first large scale was at Arlington there in

(04:01):
DC in eighteen sixty eight. It wasn't until nineteen seventy
one that Memorial Day became a federal holiday and is
observed on when the last Monday in May. Now this
is I think fascinating. The Decoration Day, which later became

(04:21):
Memorial Day, was initially established to honor those who died
in the Civil War. It now honors all Americans who
have died in military service. Now, many people confused Memorial
Day with Veterans' Day. However, Memorial Day specifically honors those

(04:44):
men and women who have died, while Veterans Day officially
celebrates all military veterans. Now, I think the holiday mark
has evolved from honoring all who have served and died

(05:04):
in combat or in military service to almost honoring all veterans.
And now it seems, and I think appropriately so honoring
all those family members who have passed on with or
without military service.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Wouldn't you agree with that?

Speaker 3 (05:22):
Yeah, i'd agree.

Speaker 1 (05:23):
I agree.

Speaker 4 (05:23):
You know, speaking of Arlington, I love Arlington where you
can find the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and I
was I remember there was some ceremonial celebration back back East,
and I think I dropped tears at the thought of
just all of those who have paid the price for
our freedom.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
So I'm grateful for that.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
You know, here's something that I like to do. You
mentioned the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It was designed
in nineteen twenty eight and then later put there, and
there is an honor guard of a soldier that is

(06:07):
twenty four to seven summer, snowstorm, winter all year round.
But one of the things that is very moving to
me is to go on YouTube and look at actual
video of historical events and it's very touching to my heart.

(06:31):
You can watch the storming of D Day Beaches Normandy.
You can see the surrender of the Japanese in Tokyo
Bay on the USS Missouri with General MacArthur. You can
hear his speech. You can go back and see interviews
with former slaves. There's also there was a celebration as

(06:56):
long as they lived for former Confederate soldiers, giving what
they called the rebel yell, which they would do as
they would go into battle. Anyway, folks, enjoy your Memorial Day.
Remember those who have passed on, and are you making
them proud of what you're doing now? Are you making

(07:20):
them proud of your family name?

Speaker 1 (07:23):
I hope.

Speaker 5 (07:23):
So.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
It's something that I think about all the time. The
travel show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel, where you
always travel more and pay less and check out their
website at Morriscolumbus dot com. That's Morriscolumbus dot com. Mark
you've traveled Mexico and I have. What is it about

(07:44):
Mexico that you enjoy so much?

Speaker 3 (07:48):
Now?

Speaker 4 (07:48):
The consistent temperature, the current flow of just peace and quiet.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
It comes with the beach.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, I love the people. I think Mexican people as
a group are some of the friendliest people anywhere. I
mean in every ethnic group, you're going to meet a
horse's rear end sometime, you know.

Speaker 1 (08:12):
I mean that's the way life is.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
But as a whole, the Mexicans are such a friendly people.
And let's not even let's not even get going about
the food. By the way, do you know or just
take a guess for of Mexican food with Americans, what
the three most popular foods areco didn't make the top three,

(08:40):
and that's that's at the top of mind list that
for Americans, the most popular Mexican foods. Number one was nachos.
Now that makes sense, particularly particularly loaded nachos. Number two
was burritos. Number three fahidas or as they pronounce in

(09:00):
northern Arizona, figittas. Now among Mexicans there there are three,
actually four favorite foods are InChI lads, tacos, mole, and tamale.

Speaker 4 (09:16):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
I was gonna put I love I love Tamali's. Well
you know right now. I love Hawaii been there literally
one hundred and seventy timescept that's another story for that
is a literal number. You get paid for this, and
I get paid. My first trip, I went surfing. I
was a surfer boy in California, had the had the
surfer jams, shorts on the hair, everything. I got some pictures.

(09:42):
Well I do have hair. You don't, but I went
there at age sixteen. Your best travel value right now
is cruises and Mexico all inclusives. Now, all inclusive includes
everything what you know. Later the show, I want to
talk about what to do in ports of Varta. But

(10:02):
how about this a four star at the Crystal Grand
Nueva VIARCTA. I looked at some July dates, nine hundred
and eighty six dollars per person double oxsby. That's airfare,
resort transfers, meals, drinks, even your tips and gratuities. And
how about a five star in Cancun in mid September.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
Five star. These are six days, five nights.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
Nine hundred and eighty three dollars per person, doubly occupancy. Hey,
when we come back, we'll be talking to Nate lavin.

Speaker 3 (10:42):
Some internettional area.

Speaker 5 (10:44):
Here listening to the travel show on talk radio one
oh five nine knrs.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
Just listen and you'll.

Speaker 2 (10:59):
Know Welcome back to the Travel Show. I'm Mary Gelwick's
the Getaway Guru, and this Memorial Day we can we
send you all our best regards, particularly to our brave.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
Men and women who have served and some.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
Died in the service of our country. I'm joined today
by my good friend Mark, and we were talking about
Arlington National Cemetery and kind of some fun facts about
Memorial Day. I often think about D Day and you
can watch actual video of D Day and did you

(11:42):
know that they're at Normandy? Of course the American cemeteries there.
There are towns and cities to this day in Europe
that celebrate V Day, that victory in Europe Day, and
they put up American flags and to this hey, if
you're an American, they will thank you. My own grandfather,

(12:04):
I wear his dog tag from World War One. I
was very close to my grandfather and he fought in France.
Those were the days of mustard gas, trench warfare, barbed wire,
almost starvation out on the front lines. My grandfather fought
in World War One and I have his dog tag

(12:26):
that I wear to this day. My father was a
medic in World War Two and I often think about that.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
It's a great, great weekend.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
Mark.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
We were talking about Mexico and the favorite foods. What
is your favorite Mexican foods?

Speaker 3 (12:47):
Is?

Speaker 1 (12:47):
I love Tomalis.

Speaker 3 (12:50):
You know.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
The Mexican go to restaurant for me is the Blue
Iguana down an Arapress Square in Salt Lake City. Now
I really like the Ready Guana too, but you know,
Chris and Ed who are friends of ours, own Blue
Iguana salt It's a fantastic restaurant. By the way, the
Blue Iguana has a has a location out at the

(13:12):
Salt Lake International Airport Concourse A east side.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
And uh, you know what they have.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Out there at the airport that is so called it's
called street pricing. In other words, what you would pay
for a menu item at the Blue Iguana or Cafe
Rio or Burger King or any of the restaurants will
be the same at the airport as it is downtown

(13:40):
street pricing.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
Uh. So many airports.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
You know, that fifty cent hot dog you get at
seven eleven is five bucks out at the airport. But
that is why they do not have a McDonald's at
the Salt La camera. You see mc Donalds at every airport,
it seems, but not at Salt Lake. Why because when

(14:05):
they send in their proposal they said they would not
abide by street pricing. They wanted to jack it up.
And to the credit of our airport, they said, thank you,
we love you, but no, you can't come out here.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
So hey, if you're looking for some great Mexican.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
Food, the Blue Iguana at the airport of downtown air
Press Square. My favorite item is the Punta de filette.
It's steak with mushrooms, onions, peppers, almost stir fried in
a molly on a bed of molly, with rice and beans.

(14:47):
And they got new tortillas down there. They it's really
really good. I want to tell you about just a
fantastic deal in say, let's go with a five star
hotel in Cancun at the Catalonia Yucatan Beach. Just very briefly.
It's right in the heart of the Mayan Riviera. It's

(15:10):
beach front, just twelve miles from Pladale, Carmen, at about
an hour's drive south of the airport. They have all
the amenities you could possibly want. Now here's what's really cool,
Mark is the rooms feature balconies or terraces. The decor
is fantastic and they're very very large rooms. And then

(15:34):
at the spa full range of treatments, so you have
a range of activities from lounging on the beach as
I do as a beach ed whale. You know that
happened to me in Cancun. I fell asleep at the beach.
I'm glad I didn't get a sunburn, but I was
awakened by Green Peace workers dumping buckets of water on me,

(15:59):
trying to push me back into the ocean.

Speaker 3 (16:01):
So embarrassing. I did not see that coming. You did not.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Anyway, this is a five star hotel. Now think about this.
I'm looking at September eighteenth and twenty third. All rates
and promotions are subject to change and availability at the
time of booking. But it's you know, the summer crowds
have disappeared. It's a great time to visit Cancun. Five star,
nine hundred and eighty three bucks per person double occupancy mark.

(16:29):
That is air, that's the five star resort, All meals,
all drinks, drinks both leaded and unleaded, your round trip
transfer from the hotel to the resort, even your tips
and gratuity, so that you I know something about your
spending habits, you mark will not have that moment of crisis.

(16:50):
Should I really tip him a whole quarter?

Speaker 1 (16:54):
Anyway?

Speaker 3 (16:55):
You know a great tipper. Actually, you are phenomenal tipper.

Speaker 2 (16:59):
I remember number one lunch we had. The bill was
like thirty bucks and you dropped a twenty five dollars
tip on it.

Speaker 3 (17:07):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
But she was cute.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
Well, there is that. Also, there is that. Also, Hey,
you know I love cruising. I'll be next month on
that Iceland, Norway, Amsterdam, Belgium, England.

Speaker 3 (17:25):
That you were not invited on.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
Cruise and it's just a great It's that in Mexico are.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
The great values.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
Well, Royal Caribbean is coming out with a birthday bash.
You don't have to have a birthday, they're just calling
it the birthday Bash to celebrate. You do have to
book your Mexico or Caribbean cruise no later than June
the fifth, Yeah, and travel from August thirtieth to October

(18:00):
thirty first, so basically August thirtieth, September and October.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
And here's what you get. You get up to two.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Hundred dollars free cash in the form of an onboard
credit to spend on board and third and fourth guests
of any age sharing your cabin sale free. You just
pay the taxes now. Traditionally Royal Caribean is only given
the thirdy fourth to kids twelve and under. Now it
can be of any age. Again, you have to book

(18:30):
it by June the fifth and basically.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
Sail August thirtieth through Halloween.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Or when we come back with a free airfare offer
here on the Travel Show, cruising is your absolute best value,

(18:59):
along with the call all inclusives we've been talking about.
I'm Larry Gelwiz, the getaway Guru, and we have we
are having so much fun here. I'm joined today by
my good friend Mark, who I've known for.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
Some forty years.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
Travel the world together and Mark, welcome to the Travel Show.
You know, there are a lot of cruise promos that
come and go, and I'm going to repeat something that
I've said before in this show. In my view, the
Norwegian Cruise Line promotion, I call it triple discount. That's

(19:33):
the that's the term I have for it is the
best I've ever seen in my forty seven years now.
It just expired, but the good news is they've brought
it back. They've reinstated it. And let's talk about the
triple discount again. That's my term for it is discount
number one, absolute, flat out guaranteed cruise fair discount. You're

(19:59):
gonna say, hundreds of dollars. Discount number two. NCL calls
More at Sea. They used to call it Free at Sea.
Now it's called More at Sea. And here's what you get.
You get free unlimited drinks, as I phrase it, both
leaded and unleaded drinks. And for you diet coke Utah

(20:20):
people that you know that's a big deal because you're
taking diet coke by an IV. I know it because
I do too. I had one this morning. That's my
Saturday routine is I'll go to McDonald's have a diet
coke and an egg McMuffin.

Speaker 3 (20:37):
That's my routine.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
But this morning I had to pick markup, so I
went to Holiday Oil and got the diet coke right there.

Speaker 1 (20:46):
I have to have that anyway.

Speaker 2 (20:48):
So with the More at C you get the free
unlimited drinks, free Wi Fi, free specialty dining that I have.
Every cruise line has lots of included meal selections and
dining options, but they all have their upscale dining. For example,
at Norwegian they have Cagny Steakhouse. It's a Ruth's Chris Wannabee,

(21:08):
all right, it's a great steakhouse they have depending on
the ship of Mexican restaurant. Well, by the way, very
good Molly. They have italion on all of They have
a shoe Hascadia. By the way, a shoe Uscade is
like Rhodiesio grill. You know, it's the Brazilian steakhouse. They
have the buffet, but they bring all the meats out
on skewers. Two shoe huskite as. I want to mention

(21:32):
unrelated to NCL, but it's a great story. One is
Kathy and I were in Rio de Janeiro some years
ago and found out they had a seafood shoe huskadea.
Now typically it's steak and pork and chicken and all that.
This was lobsters and sea bass and shrimp, deep fried

(21:53):
garlic steam. I mean plates of lobsters are coming about that.
I'll have another one, thank you. So that's one in Reo.
But one of the best is the number one restaurant.
I go to it every year in Nairobi, Kenya. It's
called carnivore. You want to take a guess what they serve, Mark,

(22:15):
let's see carnivores.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
Thank you met.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
But they have the pork and the chicken and the beef.
But then they have the exotic you want, alligator you want?
Oh yes, yes, and all the different exotic meats at
different times. I've eaten lion and bear kudu.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
Oh goana.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
Yes, that's another story that you shared in down in Australia.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
Anyway, So back to NCL.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
So we have the free unlimited drinks, we have the
free WiFi, we have the free specialty dining. We have
free shore excursion credits and on select cruises that means select,
not every select cruises. The third and fourth person sharing
your cabin sales absolutely free. You just pay the taxes.

(23:06):
That's the more at C. So number one is a
discounted cruise fair. Number two is the more at C.
Number three is fantastic. It's a free airfare offer, a
legitimate free airfare. It's really a bogo bogo buy one,
get one. The first person will pay a heavily discounted airfare,

(23:30):
but you have to buy it from NCL. They do
the ticketing. The second person, Mark, flies absolutely free, even
including the taxes and fees.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
So I'm thinking back.

Speaker 2 (23:45):
You know, two years ago I took a group to
Iceland Norway.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
It was a cruise with NCL.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
Iceland, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, England. Now this was two years ago.
My airfare discount was sixteen hundred dollars. I checked it out.
I priced out Delta and United. It was over twenty
two hundred per person and all of the prices are
going to vary by departure date and trip. So I

(24:13):
paid sixteen hundred dollars. Kathy went free. That was an
effective airfare of eight hundred dollars in the summertime to
into Iceland home from London. Just unbelievable. So it's a
great deal. But here's the catch. You got to understand
NCL picks the airline. They do not entertain requests, They

(24:37):
do not entertain changes. Like you get your schedule, they're
going to put you on a major airline American, United,
British Airways, Delta, whatever, they'll they'll get you there on
a major airline, but they pick it. And the reason
they don't entertain requests or I don't want to change
planes in Dallas. Well, suck it up. You got a

(25:01):
free ticket. You know they're moving fifty to seventy thousand
people every week on cruises. Can you imagine the number
of phone calls they would get. I don't like this plane,
I don't like this city. Like I said, suck it up.
But you don't have to do it. You can decline

(25:21):
the free airfare and pick your own.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
Itinerary. But it is what it is.

Speaker 3 (25:27):
Now.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
You know that I love the South Pacific. In fact,
you and I have traveled in the South Pacific. Yes,
what about the shortstop you had in Fiji?

Speaker 1 (25:40):
Wow?

Speaker 4 (25:41):
Well I actually wasn't you filled me in on the
actual reason. We touched down into Fiji on our way
to New Zealand and Australia and they wouldn't let us
off the plane.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Now, why did we go to Fiji onplaned? It was
not on the schedule.

Speaker 4 (25:58):
Well, I came to know about ten minutes ago that
it was. The airport was closed due to a storm.

Speaker 2 (26:05):
In New Zealand. In New Zealand and so they re routed.
They re routed us to Nandi, Fiji, and.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
Fiji was going through political unrest and it was.

Speaker 1 (26:17):
It was crazy.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Though what is it mark about the South Seas, the
South Pacific that absolutely captures.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
Us, the oxygen level, right, the greenery.

Speaker 4 (26:33):
But I love the temple. I say that a lot.
I know I've said that before. I look for in travel.
I looked for the peace in the Temple of life
to be different than the hustle and bustle of the
American way. I looked for an escape to not be
so much, not be so busy, and have so much
noise constantly in my ear and in front of my face.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
You know, the Polynesians describe this we hear about in
Hawaii the Aloha spirit, the spirit of Aloha.

Speaker 3 (27:02):
Something that draws us back.

Speaker 2 (27:04):
Well, the Polynesians have a word for this, and there's
no equivalent translation in English. It's this spirit of Aloha,
spirit of Polynesia. In the Samoan language, for example, there's
two words for spirit. There's anganga, which has a religious context.
It would be like holy spirit, the spirit of the Lord,

(27:28):
holy ghost, anganga, you feel anganga. But they also have
a word that we in English would translate a spirit,
but it's different.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
It's manna.

Speaker 2 (27:41):
Na and the mana is in the rocks and the
sand and the ocean. The taki, it's in the it's
in the trees, it's in the mountains. It is a
spirit that the Polynesians say, literally not figuratively, literally exists
that draws you back. And you can put a Polynesian

(28:03):
anywhere in the world and there is a link back
to their culture into their island. They can feel that.
It's like it's calling to them. And I have felt that.
I've spent so much time in the South Seas, I
can feel the Mana And I don't know everybody has
these dreams of the South Pacific. I think in the

(28:26):
nineteen fifty eight movie South Pacific with Mitzi Gainer, I'm
going to wash that man right out.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
Of my hair.

Speaker 2 (28:36):
The Bali High, the legendary island that actually is a
Bali High, but not by that name. That is Open
No Hubay on the island of Moorea that was used
as the inspiration for Bali High in the movie. And
to me, it's just I mean, you're seeing, oh my gosh,
it's not a separate island. It's a mountain right there

(28:57):
at Open No Hubay where Captain Cook dropped anchor, the
first European What's interesting, there's two bays there on the
island of Moorea, there's open Nohubee and Cook's Bay. But
he dropped Anchor and open no hube and they named
the other one after him. I can't figure that one out,
but they there is this drawing power. Well, folks, have

(29:20):
I got a deal for you?

Speaker 4 (29:22):
No?

Speaker 2 (29:22):
I look for every chance I can to get back
to Polynesia. My wife, Kathy God bless her, says that
I am white on the outside and brown Polynesian on
the inside. And my poly friends would agree to that.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
You know. I I picked up enough Tonguan.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
We'd say okule see pay.

Speaker 2 (29:46):
And I did not swear there that I said I
can speak enough Tonguan just to get by, you know.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
But there there's a power about it.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
Well, next year May fifteenth to the twenty seventh, we
have a cruise. It's a two week cruise, thirteen days.
We start in Tahiti and we sail. We visit French Polynesia,
the Society Islands, the island of Tahiti, Moorea right Yetaya

(30:21):
Bora Bora, which James Mischier said the famous author was
the most beautiful line in the world. Then we sail
north through the Tuamotu archipelago, crossing the equator, and then
visit Hawaii.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
I'm going.

Speaker 1 (30:34):
I hope that you will.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
We'll visit the Big Island, Kawaii, Oahu, and Honolulu. Now
the dates, the actual cruise dates are May fifteen to
twenty seven. Last week, in a moment of brain freeze,
I said, April fifteenth, it's May fifteenth of next year,
and this has the free airfare offer. And you we

(31:00):
finish in Hawaii, why not spend a couple extra days
and extend your stick All the details at morriscolumbus dot com.
Morriscolumbus dot com. Scrolled on the homepage, scrolled on, it's
about the third item to Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours. That's
the brand name for escorted tour programs. I will be

(31:23):
your personal host and tour guide. I might even do
a hula dance for you.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
Oh that would be amazing.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
I'll wear those coconut tops.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
But click on cruises May fifteen to twenty seven, twenty
twenty six.

Speaker 3 (31:37):
More when we come back, I've nine knrs. Just listen
and you'll.

Speaker 6 (31:46):
Know Jorana Holo, me doca, malo lays Helloh yeah, those
are some of the.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
Greetings of the South Pacific.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
You know, I so enjoyed our discussion about.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
The South Pacific.

Speaker 2 (32:09):
I want to add a kind of a special unplanned
story that I think you're gonna find fascinating. I'm Larry Gelwicks,
the getaway Guru here on the travel show, joined by
my good good friend Mark. Friend for forty years and
we've traveled the world and lots of fun times. Welcome

(32:30):
the show. Mark, Thanks Manner. You may you've heard almost
every story. He's so polite because even when I repeat
it because I'm old man with dementia, he still laughs
at them, even though he could finish the story. Anyway,
we were talking about the South Pacific and this incredible
opportunity with free airfare. As I explained that May fifteen

(32:53):
to twenty seven, you know, for a two week cruise,
rates start at just one thousand, nine hundred and seventy
that's for two weeks. Now, if you want to, if
you want to compare that to a one week cruise,
which most people take, just cut it in half, you know,
and you're you're below a thousand bucks.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
And that, by the way, that includes taxes and fees.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
Now your airfare is extra, but you got to buy one,
get one free. One of the places we visit is
right Yetaya. I've been to this island many times and
uh the ancient name of the island was Havaki havaiki uh.

(33:37):
If I spelled it in English, I would probably spell
it h a v a uh ki I something like that.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
Well.

Speaker 2 (33:50):
It is believed that the early settlers of what we
call today Hawaii came in two ways, from the Rightieta
area and from the marquess up at Nukuheva hiva Oa.
The first wave about four hundred a d. The second

(34:12):
wave seven hundred years later about eleven.

Speaker 3 (34:15):
Hundred a D.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
And they coming north, they first saw and settled the
Big Island of Hawaii, later moved on to the other islands.
There's one hundred and fifty two islands in Hawaii, islands
and atolls that stretched fifteen hundred miles across the Pacific.
Of course, you know the eight big main islands. Let's see, folks,

(34:42):
you're listening, can you name them? Let's start with Oahu, Maui, Kawaii, Molokaii,
the Big Island.

Speaker 1 (34:51):
What am I missing?

Speaker 3 (34:52):
Now?

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Lenai, Cooho, Lave and the Forbidden Island. Of Nihihau. Those
are the eight major islands. And by the way, Nihiow
is a private island. Is a long story where Hawaiian
is the first language. They speak Hawaiian on the island
of Niha. No, you cannot visit it without permission. Anyway,

(35:17):
there was an ancient temple that I have visited. It's
not accessible by road. I had a small boat going
through a mangrove forest and then hiked in because the
water levels used to be different, you know, thousands of
years ago, and the ocean going vessels that the Polynesian

(35:40):
maritime sailors who navigated by the stars, the wind, the moon,
the temperature of the water, the currents, the marine life,
the birds, all of these things that as they would
go out into the vast reaches of the South Pacific,
not knowing where they were going, but exploring. How many

(36:03):
were lost at sea we will never know. But they
would come to this temple and the priest would bless them.
They would leave family and friends behind, never to return.
And the name of the temple was Haviki. And we
have wondered if they just simply named their new home,

(36:26):
which they found originally in four hundred AD the Big
Island of Hawaii. Do you know what it's called. We
often refer to it as the Big Island. The actual
name of the island is Hawaii. But if you say
I'm going to visit Hawaii, people think anywhere in the state.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
Sure so. And because it's.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
Bigger than all of the other islands, land masks, bigger
than all of the other islands put together, it's approbably
referred to as the Big Islands. But to stand there
at the foundation foundations of this ancient Madai and temple
are still there, and to think what took place in

(37:08):
that time is just mind boggling to me.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
Hey, I'll tell you one of the switch gears here.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
One of the hottest cruise destinations right now is not
really hot, but it's hot Alaska. We're gone from sunny
beaches to glaciers. There is still room. On twenty twenty five,
I was talking to a lot of the Morris Columbus
travel advisors this week Mark and they said, that's the

(37:38):
number one cruise request they're getting is Alaska this year. Now,
I take a group to Alaska every year. In fact,
i'd love to have you join me. There's still space available.
We sail from Vancouver to Anchorage and everything in between.
Two different glacier days. One of them's at College Fjord

(37:59):
now is a valley carved out by glaciers millenniums ago.
You will see in College Fjord thirteen glaciers just cruising
up and down the Fjord. My cruise dates on the
Sapphire Princess with Princess Cruises is August twenty third to
the thirtieth. I'd love to have you join me. Get

(38:19):
a hold of Morris Columbus dot com. Well, stay tuned
for our number two of the Travel show. Welcome back
to our number two of the Travel Show. I'm Larry

(38:40):
Gelwicks to get Away Guru. Join today with my friend Mark,
who I've known for lo these many years.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
Travel the world together. Welcome to the show.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
Mark. Thank you there. Hey listen. If you've had a.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Good experience with Morris Columbus Travel or any of our
Morris Columbus Tour groups, we invite you to follow us
on social media helps other people find out about us.
You're our best form of advertising builds connections within the
travel community. Now we have active accounts on both Facebook
and Instagram. So why don't you click on follow, join us,

(39:17):
post some pictures, review some comments, and by the way,
at those sites, if you have a topic that you
would like us to talk about here on the Travel Show,
that's the place to put it.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Or get a hold of me. Love to have you
join us now.

Speaker 3 (39:36):
Mark.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
I know that you have been out shopping, and I
know that you spend a lot of serious time shopping
for my Christmas present. You know you always wrap them nicely,
but I was hoping you'd.

Speaker 3 (39:51):
Drive it.

Speaker 2 (39:53):
Wow and with a big bow on the car or
something like that.

Speaker 3 (39:59):
Who told Who told you this? Adolpho? Okay, I love it? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (40:03):
No?

Speaker 3 (40:03):
Is that wrong? Okay?

Speaker 1 (40:04):
What is you know?

Speaker 2 (40:06):
There's only two hundred and fifteen days till Christmas, seven
months and one day till.

Speaker 1 (40:10):
It is Christmas. It is going to be here.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
I mean, we just finished Christmas. It seems like as
we get into the fall and winter, it touches my heart.
It's a spiritual experience because football season comes back and
only exceeded in spirituality by Rugby and the movie for
Obligated to Thank you very much, thank you very much.

(40:36):
What very briefly, Mark, what is a Christmas tradition that
you and your family have or do celebrate.

Speaker 4 (40:43):
You know, for us, it's it's for me, it's it's
really the tree, the ornamental aspects of when the decorations
come out, that's when you start to really internalize the
whole concept.

Speaker 3 (40:57):
Okay, Christmas is here.

Speaker 4 (40:58):
Luckily for us, we have four seasons here in Sulic City, Utah.
So the weather changes, and you know, we go from
Halloween from fall to right into winter, and and so
your your physiology adjusts and adapts. But once the once
the music changes on the radio and the decorations come

(41:19):
out from mom and everything starts to evolve.

Speaker 3 (41:22):
You're getting ready for the big fat red guy.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
Yeah, you know, and we always here, you know, keep
the Christmas spirit throughout the year.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
Well that's a tall ordering. Yeah, that's a tall order.

Speaker 3 (41:35):
You know.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
Some months ago I told the story of the single
Orange as part of our Christmas tradition. I won't repeat
it that. I'll probably repeat it in the fall. But
you know, another Christmas tradition that the Gelwick's family had
when I was growing up is a birthday cake and
singing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Speaker 3 (41:55):
Oh that's cool, that was really cool. Yeah, that's good.
I like that.

Speaker 2 (41:58):
And you know, I guess I guess he must have
liked cake and ice cream because that's what we would eat.
Is his honor. I'll tell you how to celebrate Christmas. Now,
you lived in Europe for quite some time, in Belgium
and France in different places. I actually visited you when

(42:19):
you were living in Strasbourg, France. Now this excuse me,
Christmas twenty twenty six. The way to celebrate any Christmas
is the Christmas markets of Europe at six hundred year
tradition introduce us to the Christmas markets.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
So the crew.

Speaker 4 (42:38):
So the one thing, like I said, what encapsulates Europe
is their ability to maintain traditional cultural events and the
way they celebrate Christmas. They keep it integrists to the
spirit of what it should be. Less all the promotional,

(43:00):
the shechines and and all the things. But as far
as the markets go, they really they tie. They tie
the flavor of Europe, the flavor of the food, into
the spirit of why we're celebrating that time of year.
And the markets are just full of of everything you
can possibly imagine, from the best chocolate to the best meats,

(43:21):
to the best every spirit everything. Talking about mana I
mean that is they really Christmas mind?

Speaker 2 (43:28):
You know, the Christmas markets of Europe, there's nothing like
it in the world. We have like Dickens festivals, and
there are a lot of fun here in the States.
I've been the Dickens festivals in Salt Lake and San
Francisco and New York.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
Nothing.

Speaker 3 (43:41):
It's concrete, no cobblestones.

Speaker 2 (43:43):
Yeah, it's it's a six hundred year tradition where every
city or village, town or hamlet completely loses their mind
at Christmas time.

Speaker 1 (43:55):
And it's outdoors. It's not department stores.

Speaker 2 (43:57):
Oh well, the department stores are full with stuff, but
it's outdoors.

Speaker 1 (44:01):
It's these little chalais.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
These wooden kiosks where they're selling everything from that's you know, food, drink, clothing, souvenirs,
everything related to Christmas. And at the festival there'll be music,
they'll be dancing, entertainment, and I don't you have to experience.

(44:25):
Now I mentioned you lived in Strasburg. There are twelve
Christmas markets in Strasburg. Maybe the biggest, wouldn't you say, Mark?
Is that the cathedral? Now the actual name.

Speaker 3 (44:37):
Of the pit easy, it's the most easy to find.

Speaker 1 (44:40):
It really is.

Speaker 2 (44:41):
Now we hear the name Notre Dame. We think of Paris,
but actually the cathedral in Strasburg is Notre Dame Strasbourg.

Speaker 3 (44:49):
The name of that. I actually prefer the one in Strasburg.

Speaker 2 (44:52):
It is, it is magical, The biggest one is right there. Well,
December twenty twenty six, I will be returning with something
I did last year the Christmas markets on the Rhine.
It's an Alma Waterways cruise and Alma Waterways is top
of the line for me in river cruises. And we

(45:16):
will start in Basel, Switzerland. We'll offer a pre cruise
option for three or four days there in Switzerland and
visit some of the historic places and the mountains and
Christmas time. But we will visit Switzerland, Germany, Germany, Deutschland
the Fatherland, and then on to France and let's say

(45:41):
competent and then well, of course the getaway guru fluent
in German, French and all languages. We'll visit Switzerland, Germany,
France and the Netherlands. Basel, Switzerland. We disembark in Amsterdam.
What's nice about that? Well, I'll be Amsterdam is there
are NonStop flight to and from Salt Lake City. Now

(46:02):
we have people from all over the country come. But
for those listing who use the Salt Lake Airport, you've
got NonStop flights for our listeners in Saint George and
southern Utah and northern Arizona and eastern Nevada. There's NonStop
flights to Las Vegas, sometimes known as Lost Wages. So
let me tell you about this cruise. We will visit

(46:24):
these four countries. Now, we will visit the Christmas markets
along the Rhine. But in addition we will do all
the sight seeing visits that we would do in any
month of the year. You come in September, you'll see them.
You come in December, you'll see them. One of my favorites.
And then I want to get back to Strasburg is

(46:45):
Cologne or in German. The cathedral there is over the top,
completely over the top, and at the back of the
cathedral is a crypt, and there's three men, excuse me,
three men buried there. And the tradition amongst the locals
it's it's a three wise men, the three wise men

(47:06):
who took a wrong turn. I guess at Jerusalem it
ended up in France.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
Yeah, I love it.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
Let's go to Strasbourg talk to me about as you
lived there as a resident and you are fluent in French,
talk to me about Strasburg.

Speaker 4 (47:29):
You know again, the thing about Strasburg, France is that
while it's the well heads of the European Parliament, it's
really there's it's the eighth largest city in Europe.

Speaker 3 (47:40):
You'd never know it.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
Absolutely, it has neighborhoods, It has neighborhoods, Cobblestone streets plus
clay Bear is just it's a thoroughfare where everything around it.
But it's this large open area where and in the
summertime just it's it's a free flowing life that retains
you know, Larry, you talked about six hundred years ago,

(48:04):
you know the ancestral markets, and just they still retain
all that same, that same spirit without a doubt, and
so you don't miss anything. It's like you're back in
a Disney movie and with all the flavors and with
all the the power that is Europe in Strasburg and
capsule is all that.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
So I love it. And it's pretty good. Steak of
polm free.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
I remember the restaurant, you know, I keep talking about
steak and pom fish.

Speaker 3 (48:30):
You know, Strasburg was founded.

Speaker 2 (48:32):
By the Romans in twelve BC, and even today, the
oldest house still in existence, it's very near the cathedral,
dates to fourteen twenty seven. And we'll talk later in
the show about La Petite France. But interestingly that Strasburg
has been both French and German. It has changed hands

(48:54):
four times. It was German from eighteen seventy to the
outbreak of World War One, where it became France, and
then in World War Two it became German again. After
World War Two it became France again. Lots of fun,
hey Nor when we come back, we're headed to Southeast
Asia here on the Travel Show. Welcome back to the

(49:23):
Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwicks, the Getaway Uru, joined with
Mark today as helping us out here, and Mark.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
Of course lived in Strasbourg.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
For lo these many years and we've traveled the world
together for forty years. Mark, just before we go on
to Southeast Asia, what are some of your favorite foods
or dyning ex riss besides steak and poem feits. That
restaurant that we sat at some years ago is facing
the cathedral, so I want some favorite fruits and very quickly,

(49:57):
what is Lapati France.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
The food first for you personal favorite.

Speaker 4 (50:02):
Okay, so the I for me and I reference this before,
but but for me it's the so you I'd step
out of the flat and I come out into the
street and start my day. And the bouerie is the bakery,
and literally you can get four.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
In the morning.

Speaker 4 (50:20):
You can smell mallet and they have this pastry called
a pan and what they do is they take a
sliver of milk chocolate or dark chocolate and they wrap
a pastry around it.

Speaker 2 (50:32):
And it's just it's it's amazing, so good, so good, laky,
sweet crust.

Speaker 4 (50:37):
And I would grab that with a bag at and
and some cheese, a wheel of cheese three sixty five,
take your pick.

Speaker 3 (50:43):
What is it?

Speaker 2 (50:44):
It's a bullion that is one of my fa It's
like a beef stew. It's amazing, but it tastes different
and they always have pearl onions in it.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
Yep. It is, Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
What I love about anywhere in France, but particularly Strasburg,
is just getting a fresh bag at and you go
get some cheese or some sliced ham or something, sit
in the park.

Speaker 4 (51:09):
Well, what's cool about Strasburg is so if you get
too far into France, I mean, France is cool, but
right there on the border of Germany in France is Strasburg.
So you get both influences cuisine wise, which is they
married the two in such a great way.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
When I'm in a Germanic country, Kathy will attest to
this every day. I have to have my brought first.
Oh yeah, and then I look for schnitzel. Those are
my two favorites.

Speaker 3 (51:41):
All right.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
You know what we haven't played with you. It's kind
of a regular with guests. I call it stump the dummy. Cool,
all right, I think I'm gonna stump you.

Speaker 3 (51:49):
Now.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
We talked about Christmas traditions and the Christmas market.

Speaker 3 (51:53):
By the way, you.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
The dates in twenty twenty sixth or December third to
the tenth, so you're home two weeks plus before Christmas.

Speaker 3 (52:02):
All right?

Speaker 2 (52:04):
Now, you know Santa's Reindeer and that that whole thing
about Santa's Reindeer came from an eighteen twenty three poem
called a Visit from Saint Nicholas, which we now call
the Night before Christmas, But originally the poem was a

(52:24):
Visit from Saint Nicholas and it introduced to us Santa's reindeer.
There were eight of them. I will not ask you
to name them. Oh, I was ready, okay.

Speaker 4 (52:35):
Go Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, comic cube, it, Donner, and Blitzen.

Speaker 3 (52:42):
I didn't study. How did you know that?

Speaker 1 (52:44):
From the song? There you go the poem.

Speaker 2 (52:47):
What the most famous deer is missing in that list?

Speaker 1 (52:52):
Rudolf, Rudolph, Rudolph Again.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
The eight go back to eighteen twenty three, but Rudolf
was added in nineteen thirty nine.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
Rudolph, the red nose reindeer, the headlight.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
That's right, okay, And so I do hope that you'll
join me in the Christmas markets on the Rhine. All right,
let's talk about Oh by the way, you know what,
you haven't been here, And I told you when we
go to Strasbourg, I'm going to take you to Requeer.
Require dates back to the year ten ninety seven and

(53:26):
was used by Disney as the inspiration for Bells Village
in the movie Beauty and the Beast. You know the
Lonely Planet books and travel guides. They're really really good.
Lonely Planet named the Alsace area and requir as the

(53:48):
most desired and beautiful, one of the most desired and
beautiful places on earth, and I have to agree to it.

Speaker 3 (53:56):
Now.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
You know that I love Southeast Dasia.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
I get to Thailand three or four times a year,
and I in fact I Kathy and I, well, we saw.

Speaker 1 (54:08):
The greatest movie yesterday.

Speaker 2 (54:10):
It's a brand new movie called The Last Rodeo with
Neil McDonough and Neil McDonough. You see him from Band
of Brothers and a whole bunch of other Ever Strong,
and he was in Forever Strong. He was the coach
of the bad boy team and he is one of
the not I spent. I got some good time with

(54:32):
him when the movie Forever Strong was being filmed. He
is one of the kindest men I've ever known. He's
a devout Christian and he will not take a part
that goes against his morals. His wife is an actress.
He will not kiss another woman on camera unless it's

(54:54):
his wife who is in movies with him. He turned
down a scene in Another p two and a half
million dollars, but it had a sex scene. Now, they
didn't show sex on it, but it was kind of simulated.
His shirt would be off, her top would be off,
which is nothing in Hollywood, and you know, the covers

(55:16):
up to their waist or something. He said, no, two
and a half million dollars because it was against his morals.
He got blackballed by Hollywood and lost his home, lost
his car because he was outspoken about his Christian faith
and wouldn't do these scenes, and he lost everything. But

(55:37):
you know, the Lord protects those who stay on the
right path, and his career has really taken off in
this movie, The Last Rodeo. In fact, he said to me,
he is such a nice guy, he said to me,
said Larry, I'm always cast as the villain. He has

(55:57):
those piercing, piercing blue eyes, always cast as the villain.
And he says, I never get good guy parts. You know,
in Band of Brothers he was the bad guy, you know,
the army officer. But this movie, The Last Rodeo, I
had tears come to me. It is a fantastic movie

(56:18):
and Neil McDonough is.

Speaker 1 (56:19):
The star of it. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
Well, we I never get off topic, do I. We've
got about a minute to our break. I do want
to talk to you about Southeast Asia and one of
the greatest stories that happened to me an event that
happened in PanAm, Penn, the capital of Cambodia. Put on
your seat belts because you're gonna laugh so hard you're

(56:45):
gonna fall off the chair. Yeah, all that and more
on today's Trowels. Welcome back to the Travel Show. I'm

(57:06):
Larry Gelwiz the Getaway New Route. We have had fun today.
You know, this is my thirty fourth year posting the
travel Show. They started out Don Shaeffer and I and
I love Don, what a great guy. And Don retired

(57:26):
and I've taken it from there, and you know, we
just have so much fun. We're on nineteen different radio stations,
which is just yeah, I don't know, it is just
absolutely cool. I love travel and you're listening to this
show because you travel, whether you actually travel or an
armchair traveler.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
We love having you. We love having you here.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
Now I've told you I love Southeast Asia, and you've
heard me say if it weren't for my kids and grandkids,
I would live in Thailand. It's the culture, it's the people,
the food, exotic everything from tropical islands rice paddies to
the foothills of the Himalayas. And yeah, bangkoks called the

(58:16):
Venus of the East has over three hundred canals. Venice
only has about one hundred something three hundred canals. And
did you know that in Thailand, Well, in Bangkok specifically,
there are four type of taxis. You have your regular
taxi like we have around here. They're required by law

(58:39):
to use the meter, but you know taxis everywhere around
the world. They see a tourist, they don't run the meter,
then give you some crazy amount when you get to
your destination. So you always say meter and they'll put
the bar down. So you have the regular taxi. You
have the tuktuk, which is a three wheel open air vehicle.

(59:00):
It does have a cover on it, no meter, You
negotiate the price and it is like mister Toad's wild Ride,
so much fun. And then you have the water taxi.
It's a boat and it's a taxi and it'll take
you anywhere in the city. Again, three hundred canals crisscross

(59:22):
the city. And number four is you have to have
a death wish. It's a motorcycle taxi. Yeah, there's a
man or woman with a vest on, you know, brightly
colored vest and a helmet and you jump on the
back of his or her taxi. You don't get a

(59:43):
helmet unless you bring one. But like who carries a
helmet around with them? And I don't do the motorcycle taxi.
I just I like my skeletal structure in its present configuration.
I do have a love of Thailand. You know, I
think next week, I think next week, be sure to

(01:00:05):
tune in because I'm going to I think I'll talk
about some of my favorite places in Thailand. My favorite temple,
what dois sutep up in the foothills of the Himalayas.
I love Cambodia. You know that anchor Wat is the
largest religious monument in the world, dating back to the
twelfth century, and it's been in continuous use for almost

(01:00:28):
a thousand years. That's why it has not fallen into disrepair.
In the c n Reach, that's this closest city to
anchor Wat, that's where you fly into. There are over
eight hundred temples from the Kimer era the Kimer area.
Two hundred have been recovered. There's still another six hundred

(01:00:49):
that they haven't worked on. But anchor Wat never was
overgrown by the jungle. I'd love to have you come
with me. You know, every year I take group. I
keep it to about thirty six people, an intimate group
with a deep dive into culture, into food, great hotels,
seeing all the expected sight seeing in places you would

(01:01:11):
never see or know about on your own. Yeah, I'll
take you there. The January twenty twenty six Thailand and
Legends of Siam, which I call it sold out mark
in one week, and that's fairly typical. Now I will
be doing a Thailand and Legends of Siam again in

(01:01:35):
the end of January. We'll leave probably the last week
of January, right after the Utah Travel Expo, and so
it'll be late January early February. Those dates will come
out in the next couple of weeks. I mean, I'm
telling you now. Now you don't need to call. You

(01:01:56):
can call your travel advisor, and said Larry said that
he will be putting the dates on the website in
a couple of weeks. Our advisors go crazy when I
talk about a tour or program that is not on
the website yet, because they don't even know about it.
So you might just say, hey, when Larry puts out
a twenty twenty seven Thailand and Cambodia trip, let me

(01:02:19):
know that's what I.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
Can't call right now in reserve a spot. Is our
waiting list?

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
An that well, I'll tell you there's a waiting list
for January of twenty twenty six of about twenty five
twenty six people. Wow, you know they called eight nine
days after we announced it.

Speaker 3 (01:02:38):
Enough.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
By the way, we are going to open up another
same itinerary. It's not on the website, so don't call.
But I will not be taking it because for next
year in twenty twenty six, we'll do the same itinerary,
but someone else from Morris Columbus will take it. I

(01:02:58):
am doing a rich of the may Kong. This is
an Almah Waterways cruise through Cambodia and Vietnam out of
the way back backwater places in some big cities Saigon,
PanAm Pen.

Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
We will have an option.

Speaker 2 (01:03:15):
For a three day experience in Thailand with me because
I'll be your host and tour guide. I'll show you
Thailand like you've never seen it before. Then we'll fly
to see and reap and see Anchor. What if you
just do the cruise, you won't see Anchor What because
you'll get on the cruise ship right there. But we
sail through Cambodia and Vietnam. I want to tell you

(01:03:40):
one of the stops we make is PanAm Pen It's
a sobering experience and a fun experience. The sobering is
we will visit the how do I say, at the
prison toolslag S twenty one in prison during the genocide

(01:04:03):
of the Cambodian people by Paul pot and the kim Rous,
which was nineteen seventy five to seventy nine. Some of
the survivors of that horrible prison will be on site
and talk about what they experience now that I mean,
it's like on this last two to Japan, we went
to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and you can feel, like to

(01:04:25):
borrow a phrase from the Star Wars, a disturbance in
the force. You can feel that at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
You can feel it at bull Run, at Gettysburg, at Auschmidt,
at the Holocaust Museum, at D Day Normany you feel
something different. And so it is. But then we do

(01:04:47):
the really fun stuff and PanAm Penn is a fascinating city.
It was French colonium, yeah, colonial French architecture. So we
have this ride that we often do and it's called
a cyclo. Think of a rickshaw, but it's pedaled and
rather than the peddler in front of you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:10):
Yeah, we get those two.

Speaker 2 (01:05:11):
But in panoman Pen you have two wheels in the
back and one wheel in the front, and you sit
in the seat and the guy pedals you. You know,
two funny stories. So we go there and panoan Pen.
We have our group of about you know, thirty plus people.
I like to keep it to no more than thirty six.

(01:05:33):
And it was a full group, so I guess it
was thirty six. And we're going to do this and
through the French quarter of panom Pen, and so all
the cyclothes and the drivers are there and I go
up to the man in charge and I say to him,
one or two people per cyclo. He looks at our group,

(01:05:59):
he looks at the cycle close, he looks at our group,
He looks at the cyclose. He then turns to me
and this is a direct quote. Two Cambodians, one American.
And now we had a I want to be I
want to be sensitive because we never we never body

(01:06:19):
shame in him. But we had a very very large man,
I mean very large and uh. And so he sits
in the cyclone, and I apologize if I offend anyone,
but by luck of the draw, his driver was an older,
very skinny man. And one place it's all flat, but

(01:06:41):
one place near the royal palace is a slight incline,
and this old man was standing up, sweat pouring off him, but.

Speaker 3 (01:06:52):
He was getting it done. He was getting it done.
You know. We go to Oo Doong.

Speaker 2 (01:06:59):
Now Oo Doong is it's really the Cambodia's former royal
capital from the the early seventeenth century to eighteen sixty six,
and it is a place of pilgrimage for native Cambodians.
We will be treated to a very memorable Buddhist blessing

(01:07:19):
ceremony at the monastery and we'll take a walking tour,
and then that's when we proceed on to.

Speaker 3 (01:07:29):
Panan Pen. You know.

Speaker 1 (01:07:30):
One of the other opportunities is a tan choo.

Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
In Vietnam, tan chows are very small, of course, I've
been there, a small Maikong river ten that is completely
unspoiled by tourism. The only ones that can get there
is these occasional riverboats. There's nothing else there, but it
is famous for the trishaw I'd very similar to what

(01:08:01):
I talked about, but silk making and retan matt workshops.
It's unbelievable what there's so many things. So we will
start up in near San Reap and Anchor Watt. It's
actually a three hour drive from San Reap, will flow
the Mighty Maykong through Cambodi and Vietnam, finishing in Ho

(01:08:23):
Chi Minh City, of which we call Saigon. We will
have the pre tour to Bangkok and Anchor Wat have
a post tour to Saigoon. If you get off the ship,
you're about an hour from Saigon and you can go
straight to the airport come back. The dates on this
are twenty twenty sixth November ninth to the sixteenth.

Speaker 1 (01:08:43):
I'd love to.

Speaker 3 (01:08:44):
Have you join me.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
We're going to have so many fun activities at an
Alma Waterways. Cruise is deluxe, over the top. You're going
to see things that few tourists see because you just
can't get there unless you have a boat. Where do
you find in from? Well, it's Morriscolumbus dot com. On
the homepage, click on Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours and then

(01:09:10):
click on cruises and move to twenty twenty six. I
hope that you will. So it is. Yeah, we're going
to have a lot of fun. The Mighty May cong
November ninth, sixteenth of next year. Now, when we come back,
I'd like you to talk about experiential travel or the experience,
and I'm going to have you focus on the Holy

(01:09:32):
Land cool because you and I have traveled there, and
just talk about how that affected you. And I'll give
you an update on when we can expand tourists back
to

Speaker 3 (01:09:42):
The homely name here right here from the Travel