The Travel Show: New Rules for Airline Compensation; Christmas Traditions; Larrys Christmas Message

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Hanukkah, and welcome to
the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwick's the Getaway Guru. We
have a great pre Christmas travel show. We're gonna be
talking about some new proposed airline rules that will pay
you cash if the airline delays the flight. How is
Christmas celebrated in the Holy Land, in Muslim countries, the

(00:28):
Thailand and legends of Siam. My legendary trip. You know,
I consider that my signature trip. I've got the January
twenty twenty six dates out. Norwegian Cruise Line has brought
back a triple discount. We're gonna be talking about Christmas traditions,
and then then in the second hour, I have my
Christmas message to you, and it is heartfelt and sincere.

(00:53):
We're pleased to welcome to the show. Marissa, one of
our best travel advisors in the Salt Lake office, Morris
Columbus Travel Marissa, Welcome to the Travel Show.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Thank you, very so happy to be here.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
I should have say bonjour. How many languages do you speak?
Isn't it quatro?

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Oh? Very good? That's good.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Spat Uru fluent in Spanish, French and all languages, all languages.
How many languages you speak? And I'll call it fluently.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
I do speak French and Italian fluently, and then I
speak Spanish conversationally.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
Fantastic. Now where did you learn all these languages?

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well, we did live in France for five years. We
be my husband and I okay, lived there for five years.
I lived in Italy also for a couple of years,
and then we lived in Spain and in Peru for
a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
You know Europe very very well. Hey, listen, one, let's
see one hundred and nineteen million people are traveling between
today and January first, at least fifty miles from their home.
One hundred and nineteen. It's going to be eight to

(02:02):
nine million people in the air flying. We're already seeing
some reports on flight delays. You know, last week we
talked to Marissa about suggestions for travel. You know, you
can go get the TSA app that'll tell you the
expected weight times to get through security for that. Well,

(02:23):
the Biden administration is considering they got like less than
a month left. I wonder if he remembers, you know
what I think.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Just squeeze in the bakay.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Okay, the Biden administration is considering new rules. They've been
talking about this for over a year that would require,
not suggest require, airlines to compensate passengers for significant flight
delays or cancelations caused by the airline. Now under the
DOT REGs. You can look this up under dot Department

(02:55):
of Transportation dot dot gov for the current rules, and
then in the search bar put canceled flights and basically
cliff and airline cancels your flight. You are entitled to
a full refund for any unused portion, or you can
take whatever compensation. But under the DOT they have issued

(03:19):
an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking asking for public feedback.
I mean, you know who's fighting this to and day,
tooth and nails, the airlines. Oh, I think all of
us should be in favor of this. Now if these
rules are implemented, the rules would mandate airlines to pay
passengers cash compensation for disruptions or delays lasting three hours

(03:46):
or more, rebook them for free on the next available flight,
cover expenses for meals, lodging, transportation. Here's the key during
airline caused disruptions, not whether I mean fair enough control.
You know, some years ago, Marissa I was in at
Chicago's O'Hare airport, and I had a flight back home

(04:10):
on American Airlines, and it's what we call a rolling delay,
meaning the flight's delayed an hour, another thirty minutes, another
thirty minutes, another hour. It's rolling. The longest I've ever
had was a thirteen hour rolling delay that started out
an hour. So I me at Chicago's airport and it's

(04:31):
this rolling delay and they announce an apology, but it's
an ATC delay air Traffic Control due to weather. They
lie through their teeth because I can go online and
check ATC warnings, so I do that and there is

(04:52):
no ATC. Now I walk up to the counter at
the departure gate and I said, with the delay like
a meal voucher. And the lady very polite, she said,
I'm sorry, it's a weather delay. There's an ATC delay
on the flight, and so we can't control the weather.

(05:13):
And I said, you know that's fair enough, and I
held up my cell phone. I said, excuse me, it's
not weather. There is no ATC delayed. I mean she
went payof on and then I said, but what I
do see is on the left engine there's a mechanic
working on it. This is a rolling delay. I really

(05:36):
would like that meal voucher. She handed me one. I
turned around standing at the departure gate and I said,
in a very loud voice. I held up the voucher
and I said, hey, I just got a meal voucher
for this delay. Maybe they'll give you one too. The
whole it was a solown flight, about one hundred and

(05:58):
thirty forty people everybody, but it comes poor. I figure
I cost him two thousand dollars.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Well, you know what, they need to be honest about it, right,
If it is mechanical, that's going to be their responsibility.
And so I do think that this proposal is really
going to hold them accountable for maintaining their plans and
give conditions working on mechanics, you know, the operational side
that they need to be.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
If this is implemented, it's going to put us very
closely aligned with Europe, which many on the elite left
would love. Right now. In Europe they have compensation for
delayed flights. Now, the proposed compensation the DOT has listed
ranges from two hundred to seven hundred and seventy five

(06:44):
dollars depending on the length of the delay your ticket
everything enrolled with that right now, it's up to airline discretion,
but I hope they do this, Mayor Pete, who's our
secretary of transportation. They got a month to do this.
My guess is it will not be implemented before Biden leaves.

(07:07):
I hope it is. I hope he puts it.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
If nothing else, maybe it's just a little scared to
really be on top of all those things for the airlines.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
Now are you Marissa yes? Are you a tightwad or
a generous person?

Speaker 3 (07:21):
Well?

Speaker 2 (07:21):
I guess it depends on the circumstance. I feel like
it can be generous in some circumstances, but when only
like I feel like there needs to be value.

Speaker 4 (07:28):
Right.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Have you ever flown Frontier Airlines?

Speaker 5 (07:31):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (07:31):
Okay, Frontier Airlines fact check me on this has suggested,
because I fact my child fact checked myself a few
minutes ago. Frontier Airlines has suggested that passenger, I can't
even say this with a straight face, passengers tip the
flight attendants for serving them drinks and snacks. I mean, really,

(07:57):
they're the Marriott Hotel in Brian, Texas that is asking
people giving them the opportunity. I suppose they would call
it to tip the front desk when they check you
and for checking you in, let's give them a tip.

Speaker 4 (08:11):
You know what.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
For me, these things are ridiculous because it's just the
company really putting all of those costs. Well, they should
be paying their employees because they need to be paid
more money. But it's the employer that should be paying that,
not to the customer, right, I just don't agree with that.

Speaker 1 (08:26):
The practice of tipping in Europe really originated in the
Middle Ages when the wealthy landowners would reward servants servants
for excellent service. Now, currently in Europe you could leave
a few coins in the thing, or it's a five
to ten percent. A lot of the restaurants in Europe

(08:46):
are adding ten percent. But here in the United States,
the question is is tipping out of control?

Speaker 2 (08:54):
Absolutely? I think it is. I mean I served tables,
I waited tables once upon a time back in and
so I am generally just a twenty percent across the board.
I always will tip because of been on the other
side of that. But I do feel like there needs
to be the value for it, right. That server needs
to be there checking in on you, filling your drinks,
making sure everything's going okay, you know, like giving their

(09:16):
best service. But when it comes to things like you know,
when I go and get an ice cream at handles
and I can add a tip because the person skipped
to my ice cream in two seconds, it's not quite
the same thing. And because I've you know, I have
sons that are teenagers and they're working in some of
those positions. I have one that worked at Jamba Juice,
and there's always that suggested add a tip, but it's

(09:36):
it should be the employers.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
They I've seen it at some airports with check in
kiosks asking for a tip. It's a kiosk, it's a machine. Yeah,
oh my gosh. Well you know, let me give you
an example. Earlier this week, my wife and I had
breakfast at one of our favorite breakfast restaurants, Pennyan's Cafe.

(10:00):
They have two little cakes. Yeah, it's a Their pancakes
are to die forms. The server, who I'll leave nameless,
she was efficient, never smiled, once, gave us the menu
we ordered, brought the food, gave us a cup of water,
and that was it. Now when we come back, I'm

(10:22):
going to give you a few minutes to think about this.
What would be well you can answer, now, what would
be a fair tip for that type of service? I
thought it was impersonal, but they got our food to
us and the food was fantastic. What should the tip be? Oh?

Speaker 2 (10:39):
At least because I'm such an ally.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
As we come back, Maris is gonna tell us about
her favorite travels here on the Travel Show. You're listening
to the Travel Show thirty three years behind the microphone.
I'm Larry Gelwicks, the getaway Guru. We'd invite you on
this pre Christmas travel show special to give us a

(11:04):
call with your suggestions. Your idea is, your experience is
your recommendations, and if you want, you can tell me off.
But be nice to Marissa, all right, because I know
I always tell people. I can't wait to tell you
where to go and how to get there right here
on the Travel Show Triple eight five seven oh eight
oh one.

Speaker 4 (11:24):
Oh.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
That's eight eight eight five seventy eighty ten, Triple eight
five seven oh eight oh one oh, and just give
us a call. Say Merry Christmas, Happy Honika Kwanza, whatever
you're celebrating. Marissa. We have Marissa from the Salt Lake
office of Morris Columbus Travel. The good sponsor of the show.

(11:46):
And uh, Marissa, by the way, if you want to
talk to Marissa eight oh one four eight three, sixty
five forty seven. Eight oh one four eight three, sixty
five forty seven. Now there's really only four numbers for
Morris Columbus people in northern Utah that you have to remember,
because it's all eight oh one. Everybody's is for eight three,

(12:11):
and Marissa is sixty five forty seven, So sixty five
forty seven. Okay. You told us earlier that you have
lived in a number of countries. I remember, what was it,
five years in France.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
Five years in France, two years in Italy, and then
the other places that I lived were for like three
to four months at a time.

Speaker 1 (12:30):
It's span ya, you lived in Vietnam.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
I did live in Vietnam.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
That I love Vietnam. I'll tell you snooze and you
lose what. We put out a brand new tour what
I didn't know a month or so ago, called Thailand
and Vietnam next November, including the famous Loi Kratong festival
in Thailand, which is the most colorful, exciting festival. We're

(12:57):
gonna be the epicenter of it in Sukotai, which is
the ancient capital of Siam or Thailand today, and then
we'll be over to Vietnam. You remember Holong Bay, Love,
If I showed any of our listeners a photo of
Ho Loong Bay, you'd instantly recognize it. Think of gum drops, Yes,
gum drop mountains dropped right into the bay. So we'll

(13:20):
be in Thailand, Vietnam. It's sold out, sold out a
year in advance, and I've already getting people calling me saying, Larry,
can't you add two more? Can't you add one more?
And I said, gosh, you know I love you, but no.

Speaker 2 (13:36):
I just need to get them on the next year.

Speaker 6 (13:38):
I I think I'm going to have to do that
again because the reason it's capped is we have chartered
a what's called a liverboard boat.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
We stand ap for three days at Hollong Bay and
explore the bay. We go off and visit some remote
villages and things. There's only twenty cabins, so maybe if
you want to sleep on the you know, I'd invite
you to share my room. But Kathy, Mike, for you listeners,
except for Dale and Mary, you know, you guys could

(14:09):
share our cabin Oh yeah, I would sleep on that sound,
thank you very much. Anyway, snooze and you lose as
a frontline travel advisor. What are people calling about now?

Speaker 2 (14:24):
You know, we always have people calling for Mexico, for Hawaii,
they want those beach vacations, the all inclusives, but a
lot of cruises right now, everybody's calling for cruises, and
like you said, you really need to think ahead, you know,
plan out. We have people booking a year in advance
to get those best fares, to get the rooms they want,
the cruises they want, and I'm seeing really incredible deals.

(14:46):
I just booked a family on a Mediterranean cruise yesterday,
their family of four. We're going to spend a week
in Europe for thirty five hundred dollars. Like, how else
can you get see your travel between all those and
all of your food, everything included for that price means.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
You know, cruising really is the number one best travel value.
And it used to be oh, we can wait and
book a month, and it can't do that anymore. Talk
to me about Alaska twenty twenty five, even twenty six.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
I know, right, I've been trying to book those for people,
and they're finding those those ships pulled out that they
want to be sailing on. So yeah, think ahead.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
Just do you know cruising prices is like anything else,
any other commodity. It's it's dynamic pricing is what it's called.
Meaning as the ship fills up, the prices go up.
As the hotel fills up, prices go up, as the
airplane fills up, prices go up. You know, gasoline is
a variable. Who can afford any eggs anymore? You know, boy,

(15:50):
the government laid an egg on that one. Anyway, if
you wait, though, you know it used to be years ago,
I'll wait and get the last minute. That's not In fact,
Princess Cruise is saying they will not drop prices at
the very end to fill the ship because too many
people are waiting. Alaska, the land of Glaciers is a hot,

(16:12):
hot commodity right now.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
Oh indeed, and the cruise tours where people are doing
add ons, they're taking those train the real tours into Alaska,
seeing Dnali and all of these stunning places. It really
is hot right now. Everybody wants to What.

Speaker 1 (16:26):
Are some other places that seem to be very very popular.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
I've had a lot of requests for Japan and then
I also am hearing Portugal, right, a lot of people
are running Portugal, Spain, Italy and France are kind of
permanent travel destinations. Yeah. The UK also, it's never it
never gets old, right.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
Speaking of the UK, we've mentioned previously that the British
government is coming out with the new e t A
requirement elect Tronic Travel Authorization not Estimated time of Arrival ETA.
If you are a US citizen, Canadian and most countries,
if you're planning to go to the UK, then you

(17:15):
have to have this online ETA. There's a cost just
like ten or twelve bucks or something like that, effective
January the eighth, yep. And so just Google and go
to the official government site, because there's all these scammers
that say pay me a fee, and all they do
is link you to the government site. Then you have

(17:36):
to pay the government. Also, Hey, listen, you have speaking
of the UK, you have a tour that you're going
to be personally hosting end of May.

Speaker 2 (17:44):
I do.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
So we are heading out May twenty eighth for a
thirteen day tour through the UK. We are accompanied by
Michelle Margetz, who is a former professor from the University
of u taught and English Lit. And if you love
literature history. We're going to see the Cotswolds, We're going
to see the whales, We're going to see castles. It's
going to be amazing. So Colin, we'll get you on

(18:06):
the tour.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
You know, Marissa would be You can call any of
the Morris Columbus travel advisors, but Marissa would be a
great one because she will also be hosting this. Give
her a ring at eight oh one four eight three
sixty five forty seven. When we come back, we're head
to the Israel and how they celebrate Christmas. You're listening

(18:37):
to the Travel Show on Larry Gelwicks, that get Away Guru,
joined by Marissa from our Salt Lake office and Danny,
do we have Dan on the line. Okay, through the
miracle of telephone, my dear friend Dan hone is here
with us on the Travel show. Dan. Welcome to the

(18:58):
Travel Show. I should say welcome back.

Speaker 3 (19:02):
Thank you. It's great to be on with you.

Speaker 1 (19:04):
You know, Marissa, I want to introduce you to one
of my best friends. For over fifty years. Dan and
I would sat next to each other at classes in
graduate school at BYU, and Dan is the most humble
man I've ever known, a character trait I've never been
accused of. But will well, Dan lived in Israel with

(19:29):
his family for about ten years, founding member of the
BYU Jerusalem Center, published author. Will talk about that, and
is it sixteen languages you know, including Dan. Actually you
have a seventeenth. It's called smack the way you talk
to me. Okay, So what I asked Dan to do?

(19:52):
You know, Dan hosts tours to the Holy Land, to
the Mediterranean Basin, and we're going to be talking about
some of those. But Dan, I asked you to come
on the show. You live for some almost ten years
in the Holy Land, which, as you and I've talked about,
is much more than Israel. You've got, you know, Sirih

(20:13):
and Jordan and Egypt, really the whole Middle East. It
would come into the Holy Land. But when you were
living with your family in a Jewish state as a Christian,
how do Christians and your family celebrate Christmas in Israel
a Jewish nation?

Speaker 3 (20:35):
You know, it's very different when we lived there. One
of the things I talked to my wife about this.
One of the things that we most noted was how
peaceful and calm it was, there's so much commercialism and
everything here in the United States. Over there, you don't
see all the lights except during Hanukkah, which this year
having to be the same time as Christmas, Great Days,

(20:58):
the celebration of lights Judaism. But otherwise you didn't see
a lot of lights or anything. Maybe in Bethlehem, maybe Rumala's,
and we'd go do some of our gifting there. In
Islamic culture, they don't recognize Christmas, even though they recognize Jesus,
they don't agree with his birthdate and some of the
Christian tradition. In fact, they don't even wish you merry Christmas.

(21:21):
That would be an affront encouraging you and your religious belief.
But nonetheless, and so, for instance, to get a Christmas tree. Today,
both Israeli government and the American embassy and some of
the Christian embassies there supply Christmas trees. But when we
first got there, there was no way we could get

(21:43):
a Christmas tree, but we could get Christmas bows. And
so we'd take all of these limbs of Christmas tree
and make our own Christmas tree out of it by
wiring them together and everything. One of our special experiences
we did every year was to go up to what
we called m in separate fields where there's sheet and

(22:04):
near Beethahem, just outside Bethem, possibly the very early where
David used to hurt his sheet and keep them in
a sheet cove. And we would go out there and
fight a fire and read the story of the account,
and we had watched the stars. We'd be out there
early enough to watch the stars rise up over the
city of Bethlem and reminisce over those things, and then

(22:25):
have some chili.

Speaker 1 (22:29):
Then then I got to interrupt you. You know, back
here we usually have turkey and ham. The latter would
not go over Big Israel. Okay, So when I'm at
home having turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes, you're having chili.
Con Carney, I love you, Dad, I love you. Hey.
One good thing you'd mentioned Hanukkah, which we also, uh,

(22:53):
we celebrate for those of the Jewish faith and welcome
that just for our listeners, is a Jewish fest that
really celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem
and reaffirms, you know, Jewish ideals. A question Dan that
I'm often asked is the manora is how many candles

(23:16):
and as I recall from my Jewish studies, there's nine candles.
As the story goes, one day's worth of oil miraculously
lasted for eight days. So there's the eight and the
ninth is one more candle to light the rest.

Speaker 3 (23:34):
That's correct. It's called the shamash. And go along with that,
you might know. You might note in Judaism that according
to the Talmud, two events happened about forty years before
the seventy eighty destruction of the Temple of Herod. Number
one was, of course, the on Yom Kipur, the release

(23:55):
of the lamb at the amount of olives. How the
blood of the other ram. There were two rams. One
sacrifice that the temple was dipped in a cloth and
that turned it was deeply red that when it got
to Death's age on the outskirts of the city of Jerusalem,
it turned white until forty years before the destruction of

(24:16):
the temple. The other one had to do with the Menora.
The Menora continued from one sixty four BC all the
way up through through the time of Christ till about
forty years before the destruction of the temple. They used
only one curse of oil to light for the full
eight days, a sign that God accepted the temple, but
then it ceased. According to Judaism, this is because this

(24:40):
was precursor to the destruction of the Temple, warning the
Jews that the temple would be destroyed. But nonetheless, and
it's mentioned in the New Testament, by the way, the
celebration of lights as it's called, the Savior also did
some activities there as you read your New Testament during
that fessful of dedication or celebration of vites.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah, you mentioned the temples there, you know, it's a
great celebration. Now, I have not been well, I have
been to Israel, I don't know twenty thirty times, easily.
I've never been there on December twenty fifth, but I've
been there around the Christmas season. And what I remember
Dan is not so much focus on Santa Claus as

(25:26):
the focus by Christians on Jesus Christ.

Speaker 3 (25:31):
That's right, That's part of the calmness and peace there is.
Really all that we did was centered around that. And
being such a minority, there's only about two percent Christian
in the whole country, and being latterday Saints very much,
you know, very very small. We would celebrate more on
the idea of what you know, we'd reenact the pageant

(25:54):
at home after being out at shepherds Field and things.
And it was a fun time for it was very
peaceful and calm, centered on Christ rather than all the
commercialism and Santa Claves.

Speaker 1 (26:07):
Now, when we were talking about gift giving, I'll tell
you what Kathy and I did. Marissa Dan has an
eight series book. Volume one is out, Volume two and
three should be coming out very soon after the year.
And in the springtime, we bought seven copies of this

(26:30):
of Dan's volume one, the Foundations of Scriptural Understanding. And
what's interesting about this is it includes It's not exclusive,
but it includes traditional Christian, Hebrew, Jewish, Islamic studies, LDS

(26:51):
studies and references. And so it's rather encompassing. But although
it includes, it's not exclusively LDS oriented, but it includes
some LDS references. Dan, this wasn't published by Deseret Book
or any LDS publisher. It was published by the largest

(27:14):
Christian publisher in the country.

Speaker 2 (27:17):
Sounds a great gift, yeah.

Speaker 1 (27:20):
Yeah, And so it has a very very broad appeal.
Do you know where I want to see it? One
of the bookstores that I love going to is at
the University of California, and my graduate studies included Hebrew
and Coptic, one of the Egyptian languages and religion. Dan,
you've been to my house. I have a bunch of

(27:41):
books from the Union Theological Seminary where I would I
wasn't I would go there all the time and study there,
and I want to see this book there. But let
me tell you, folks, the best way to describe it
is the footnotes are Hugh nibly s. Yes, but that

(28:01):
text is very easy to understand. So in just a
couple of sentences, Dan, what is the focus of volume
one the Foundations of Scriptural Understanding that would appeal to
all Christians even non Christians, Catholics, Baptists, Latter day Saints,
Jewish studies. What is the focus of volume one of

(28:25):
your series?

Speaker 3 (28:28):
Well, of course, the very title suggests that the foundation
of the scriptural understanding. It goes into the backgrounds of
how you can better understand and how to understand the
scriptures far better. And of course one of the key
points on it is recognition of the principles of Messiah.
Masianic believes both in Judaism, Islam, and of course Christianity

(28:53):
and for latter day Saints the greater testimony. And you know,
with all the things that are in it and all
that's going on in this book, the key is is
the witness that it bears of the scriptures themselves and
how real they are. You can't understand a poet unless
you've been to his land, according to Gerty, and that's

(29:14):
exactly right.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
That's what it was.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
Dan.

Speaker 1 (29:17):
I mentioned Hugh Nibley, who one of the smartest men
I ever knew. I had graduate classes from him. I
remember one that was in first century Christian literature, and
there were just five of us, and we're graduate students,
so you would assume that we had a decent understanding
and language and background. We used to sit there with

(29:39):
doctor Nibley, and the funny thing is he would translate
it in the original text. He'd read it in the
original text, then translate it, and then we would discuss
it at a graduate school level. Well, sometimes he would
forget to translate it, you know, and he would be

(29:59):
laughing thing out loud, and then we're all sitting there
with dumb looks on our face, and he says, well,
don't you think that's funny. It's like, yeah, h if
I knew what it said. Uh, but his you know
his books. I sometimes have, like you know, the the
Egyptian Endowment Book, which is a wonderful book. I have

(30:21):
to read that page two or three times. That's why
I said the the footnotes are hunibly like, but the
text that Dan has written in is easy to understand. Now,
you tell us where we can get a copy of
your book, The Foundations of Scriptural Understanding, and we have

(30:43):
about thirty seconds.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
One of the Okay, one of the sites is Travel
Studies Institute dot org, slash shop that's in the shop.
That's there, and that'll take you right to the West
Publishing site you can get it. You can also get
it on Amazon. Just type in my name or the
title of it and you can get a book there.

(31:05):
Also Barnes and Nobles has it and a few other prices.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
Hey, when we come back later in the show, I
will tell you about the Turkey and Greece trip that
Dan will be taking. Shallum, Dan, thank you, Hodda, thank you.
Welcome back to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwicks. That

(31:30):
get away Gurus, wasn't that a fun discussion with Dan
Hode Marissa.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
Indeed, what a brilliant man.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
You know, how did this farm boy from Idaho get
so smart? Dan and I've been the best of friends
for over fifty years. You know. He went on with
thirty two years with the BYU Department of Ancient Scripture
and Travel Study, and I used to do. I went

(31:58):
into the travel business, and BYU was one of my accounts,
and we did almost all of the airline travel and
some of the land travel for BYU Travel Studies and
BYU Study Abroad, the student programs that go for four
or five months. And so Dan and I for years

(32:22):
and years worked together. He was a founding member. But
the way I like to put it is that I
did their travel until BYU organized and set up their
own in house travel department. When they took it in house,
I became outhouse. Hey, I'm joined today by Marissa, one

(32:46):
of our travel experts at Morris Columbus Travel in the
Salt Lake office. You can talk directly to Melissa Marissa
on Monday eight oh one four eight three sixty five
forty seven. Marissa, as an avid listener to the Travel show,
I know you did you and your family just get

(33:08):
giddy on Saturday mornings knowing that the travel show is
coming up. And why don't you give a shout out
to your family right now because I know they're listening.

Speaker 2 (33:16):
Oh hey Dave, Hey, Oliver and Elliott. I think they're
Christmas decorating at my dad's house. So hey Dad, hey Dad.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
Anyway, you've heard me say, if it weren't for my
kids and grandkids, Kathy and I would live where in Thailand?
Oh my gosh, Thailand. I love it. I'll be leaving
for Thailand the first week of January with my annual group.
You now you've been, You've traveled. You know you lived
in Vietnam, You've traveled in Thailand. What is it about Thailand?

(33:47):
Marissa that you love.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
Mango's and sticky ris?

Speaker 1 (33:51):
You know, the mangoes you get at the grocery stores
here are out of Mexico and there's hard as baseballs.
Have you ever I mean, have you ever had a
mango and Thailand? I haven't. And they're all sticky right,
and you have to drizzle coconut cream on it.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
I mean, just kill me now, eat it three times
a day for me, please while you're there.

Speaker 1 (34:12):
You know the food, the culture, the people. There's a
different feeling in Thailand called the Land of Smiles, a calmness,
a serenity that's different than the rest of Southeast Asia.
I mean, I've been to mir and Marwich formerly Burma,
which is a very troubled country. You know, Lao or Laos,
they prefer Lao. Vietnam. I love Vietnam. There's a different

(34:36):
feeling there. Cambodia. You know, Cambodia is psychologically and emotionally
still suffering from Polepot and the Kimeroos nineteen seventy five
to seventy nine. And you know what's crazy in Cambodia
is the cronies that ran the country with Polepot, who
made Adolf Hitler look like a choir boy. They're running

(34:59):
the country now. It's scary, it really is, but it is.
Thailand is absolutely and I love Cambodia too, you know,
Anchor what you know, I have a signature tour that
I am the most proud of. I've done the itinerary,
I've been you know, I've been doing it for oh gosh,
twenty five years now, taking people to Thailand, and what

(35:20):
I consider my signature trip is all of Thailand. We
go to Bangkok, up north to the foothills of the Himalayas,
to chang Rai, chang Mai, the cheng Dao Valley, down
to Puquett with an option then to anchor what in Cambodia.
And I do love Cambodi. I love Cambodian food. It's very,

(35:42):
very different. And you know last year we put the
I keep it to thirty six people plus myself. It's
a deep dive in culture and people, but I keep
it to a small group one bus. It's fabulous hotels.

(36:02):
In fact, any of you who've traveled with me on
this Thailand and Legends of Siam my signature, I'd love
to have you call in the next hour because we're
coming up to top of the hour, break here in
the moment and give your experience of traveling to Thailand
with me. But there's something different about so we put

(36:22):
it out for sale at the expo, which is coming
up next month. You know last year January of this year,
the Utah Travel Expo, this tour sold out in one week. Well,
I'm putting it out on them. I'm not going to
wait till expo because already it's a third sold out
and we haven't even announced it. People calling when is

(36:43):
Larry going to Thailand next one? I want to get
on that, and so folks, I'm going to give you
a heads up before we go to expo, the Thailand
and Legends of Siam. I'll give you some more details
in the next hour, but we do some incredible things.
You see all the usual stuff like the Grand Palace

(37:03):
and the Clongs, which are the canals. You know, there's
over three hundred canals in Thailand. It's called the Venue
of the East. And remind me to tell you about
the four types of taxis they have in Bangkok. Anyway,
we do some incredible things there and I'd love to
have you sell this out before expo. Speaking of the

(37:26):
Utah Travel Expo that will be in southern Utah Saint
George area at the Black Desert Inn in Ivans on Wednesday,
January twenty second, and then on Friday and Saturday in
Salt Lake at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy.
We will have over one hundred travel vendors, airlines, cruise lines,

(37:51):
tour companies and when we it is a ticketed event,
but we come back in the second hour I'm going
to give you a special link ticket Horry tickets to
the expoment. Back to the Travel Show Hour number two,
the best two hours in Radio. I'm Larry Gelwick's the
Getaway Guru, joined today by Marissa, one of the travel

(38:14):
experts with Morris Columbus Travel. Be sure to check out
their website Morriscolumbus dot com, Morriscolumbus dot com and if
you'd like to look at any of the escorted tours.
The brand name for the Morris Columbus Travel escorted tours
is Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours, So don't let that confuse you.

(38:36):
Go to the homepage of Morriscolumbus dot com and they're
on the very first page. Scroll down and click on
Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours. You know, we mentioned Marissa a
couple of Dan Holne's tours that we referenced in that
last segment. It wasn't that fascinating to talk to Dan?

Speaker 2 (39:00):
So fun?

Speaker 1 (39:01):
How did he get so smart? Smartest man that I
know well.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
And then such a specialist in the area to travel
with him would be so it really is.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
He escorts some programs himself. He and I do some
holy Land together. We bring a different perspective with my
studies and his studies. But Dan's got two programs next year.
I'd love for you to look at him. By the way,
when you get to the Morris Murdoch site, click on
the geographic region. These would be under Holy Land. Remember,

(39:29):
Holy Land is much more than Israel in many ways.
It's the whole Mediterranean basin. If it's a cruise, then
you click on cruise. But Dan has in April Egypt explorations,
including a Nile cruise April twelve to twenty one. You'll
see Cairo of course, Giza up to a swan, the

(39:52):
Nile River, Luxor Petra over in Jordan. But Luxor, you know,
the ancient capital of Thebes. You have Luxor and Karnak.
What I always tell people, if you haven't seen Luxor,
you haven't seen Egypt. That is where That's where the
action is now. That is April twelve to twenty one,

(40:15):
and yes, people are traveling to Egypt. I haven't seen
any of the problems of Gaza. I mean, you were
so far away. I was just in the United Arab
Emirates in Dubai. I feel safer in Dubai than I
do in Salt Lake City, and we were one thousand,
six hundred and sixty three miles from Gaza. It's like saying, oh,

(40:39):
there was a problem in Detroit, so I better not
go to San Diego. Egypt is open and welcoming tourists.
So that's April twelve to twenty one. Dan's Fall trip.
This one is the origins of Christian and Western Heritage
Turkey and Greece. This one you just have to see.

(41:01):
The itinerates August twenty third to September first, August twenty
third to September first, and then look at all of
the programs there. You know, Scott Marine, Procter or back
with an incredible program, some of the others. Tim tagger
You gotta see Tim Taggart's Journey of the Apostles. And

(41:23):
I mean I could go on and on. Do check
out the website Morriscolumbus dot com, scroll down to Morris
murdoch Escorted Tours. I want to round out this Thailand
and Legends of Siam by just giving you one example
of what we do. Marissa. The departure date in twenty
twenty six will be January fourth, it's in the evening.

(41:47):
It's like a midnight flight out of La so you
can even go to work that day and the Thailand porsches.
You'll be back in the United States on January eighteenth.
Now the stension into Cambodi is another four or five days,
which you want to do. I mean, you're in the neighborhood.

(42:07):
Why not Anchor? What did you ever get to Anchor? Okay, well,
then you and your husband need to sign up for
this tour. Let me give you one example, just one.
We're up north, we go to chang Rai, which is
the foothills of the Himalays. We see the summer residents
of the royal family. They have gardens there that rival
botch Art Gardens in Victoria, BC, Canada. And you're in

(42:31):
a it's just a different area of the foothills of
the Himalays. No, you won't see Mount Everest, but it's
just over to the left. Then you want to go
down to chang My Love, don't you? Mike?

Speaker 2 (42:46):
What do you love about chang My I love the temples,
I love the pace. It's so calm and peaceful.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
Bangkok about the night bizarre, It's bizarre. It's got to be.
It's just incredible you spending the temples my faith. I
won't get into the story here, but what Deusu Tep
is my favorite temple in all of Thailand. What wat
means temple. So the Ties would call the the LDS
Salt Lake Temple. What salt Lake? Oh does that put?

(43:14):
Dousu Tep is the top of the mountain in that area.
But there's a whole story of the white elephant that
picked the site. I'll tell that next week.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
Anyway, so everybody drives in a bus from chang Rai
to chang Mai. Do you think the Getaway Guru would
ever do something as pedestrian as that? Ever? Perish the thought.
We get in long tail boats. Now long tail boats
they have a V six or V eight in this
long drive shaft that's probably oh fifteen feet long with

(43:52):
the propeller, and that's why it's called the long tail.
You got about six or seven people's a narrow boat
covered be decked with flowers. And we're out of the
Kulk River, Koka, the Kulk River into a national park.
We stop in the Hill Tribe village area, you know,
in the middle of we're on for about two hours,
and then we get on a bus and go deeper

(44:13):
into the jungle. And I met this guy. I know,
a guy from Switzerland who married a tie lady. He's
a professional chef extraordinaire, okay, and he started this little
resort in the middle of I wanted to say Frickin',
but I can't say that on the radio. Middle of nowhere.

(44:37):
I mean so deep in the jungle, towering mountains straight
up around you. So we put this little resort with
about six little units not connected that you have your
own unit, and a restaurant that is like to die for,
and we have lunch there and the last part we
have to walk to it. It's flat, very very easy,

(44:58):
and then we continue you on and we get into
chang mind. Now, that's one example of the extraordinary things.
The dates on this again or January fourth to the eighteenth.
You know what, I'd love any of you who are listening, Okay, Sharon,
I know you're listening, and I'd like you to call

(45:19):
in you and lou uh, what has been your experience
with me on Thailand and the Legends of Siam. Triple
eight five, seven oh eight oh one oh Triple eight five,
seven oh eight oh one. Oh, we haven't even put
it out there. We just put it on the website
and with people calling and when's the next time Larry's
gonna go? When's the next time Larry is gonna go?

(45:41):
It's already a third gone and we only keep it
to thirty six people. So do the math. This one
is gonna go quickly. Uh. Now we're coming up to
travel time. You mentioned cruises. The number one Norwegian Cruise
line has come out with what I call I've labeled

(46:02):
this the triple Discount tell me discounts one and two.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
All right, So discount one is going to be your
fair discount and discount two.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
Is you guarantee that you seriously you guarantee you I guarantee.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
That it's a fair discount.

Speaker 1 (46:15):
Fair f A R E f A I double fare
double fair guaranteed cruise fair discount.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
Number two the more at C program. So when you
call in, wait.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
Wait, wait a minute, wait a minute, more at C,
More at C. What didn't they call that free at C?

Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yeah, number more free, we're for your.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
Named it. Yeah, Free at C used to be more
is now more at C.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Yeah, So more it's is going to give you your
specialty dining package, your premium beverage package, your Wi Fi,
and that's all going to be included as long as
you asked for a more at c fair and then
you're just going to pay gratuities on on this.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
Let me Yeah, so you've got the free Wi Fi,
which the length is depending on how long your cruise.
The specialty dining shore excursion crowditnt specialty dining in on
select cruises. The third and fourth person, no age limit,
no family requirement sales, absolutely free sharing your cabin. You

(47:15):
just pay the taxes now. The third one is what
I really love. It's a free air promotion, a legitimate
free air It's really what we call a bogo bogo
Buy one, get one. The first person in your cabin
pays a discounted airfare, and I mean it's discounted. Second
person flies absolutely free. You don't even pay the taxes

(47:38):
on the airfare. One quick example. You know this June,
I'll be doing the Iceland to London Iceland, Norway, Netherlands,
Belgium England cruise. The last time I did that, the
airfare Salt Lake to London. We're doing it next year.
Iceland to London. But I did it the reverse two
a year ago to London home from Rekuivic Iceland on

(48:03):
United and Delton's over twenty two hundred dollars. The NCL
discounted fare was sixteen hundred for me. My wife goes free,
effective fair of eight hundreds. Now here's the deal. NCL
picks the airline. You cannot request an airline, you cannot
change it. You have to understand that it will be
on a major carrier, but it may be United, maybe Delta,

(48:25):
maybe could be anybody.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
And then if you're traveling with multiple cabins, you're not
guaranteed to be together.

Speaker 1 (48:33):
If you're on the same reservation, yes, they'll try to
work that out. If anyway, you just have to accept.

Speaker 2 (48:40):
That's an incredible deal.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
Hey, when we come back, Marisa has got her best
travel advice. You're listening to the Travels Show, and may
we wish you a very very merry Christmas, a happy
New Year, happy Hanukkah, or however you want to celebrate

(49:05):
the holidays. Yes, we'll even say happy holidays. I'm Larry Gallowich,
they get Away Guru, joined by Marissa, one of the
travel experts at Morris Columbus Travel. You can contact Marissa
direct at eight oh one four eight three sixty five
forty seven starting Monday. What time do you start answering
the phones? About nine o'clock. Now a word has it

(49:27):
you will not be available on Wednesday.

Speaker 2 (49:31):
I will not. I'm so sorry.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
College we close earlier on Tuesday. But yeah, do check
out the website Morriscolumbus dot com. Marissa as a travel professional,
but just a couple of your best travel advice, both
for the holidays and for any time of year.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
My best advice for travel is to prepare yourself self
mentally and emotionally for your trip. And I'm not just
talking about the details of hotels and flights, et cetera.
I mean put yourself into this space. So read books
that are set in that destination, watch films that are
filmed there. Learn a little bit of the language, even
just knowing a few words. I mean, if you can

(50:17):
be come fluent like Larry and everything that's in our languages,
but I mean just speaking a little bit is going
to help you connect to that culture, into that destination
is going to change your trip entirely. So yeah, that's
my biggest thing.

Speaker 1 (50:31):
So I have a couple of pieces of advice for
the holidays. If you're going to be flying, and one
hundred and nineteen million people will be traveling fifty miles
or more eight to nine million in the skies. If
in your carryons, if you have a gift, don't wrap
it because TSA that's a good one. They may unwrap it,

(50:51):
and this beautiful wrapping. If possible, put all your gifts
in your check and piece of luggage. And whenever you
travel overseas. I like Global Passport. It's one hundred and
twenty dollars for five years, gives me TSA pre check,
and it zips me through immigration and customs when I
come back to the country. I travel internationally every month,

(51:15):
so I'm somewhere. It zips. Now. If you don't want
to pay the one hundred and twenty bucks because you're
a cheapskate, then go. It's an online app Mobile Passport Control,
the MPC, not the MTC, but the mp is in
Passport Control. It's a free app that will that will

(51:39):
zip you through immigration. You don't have to that long
line of the huddle masses yearning to breathe free. Now,
be careful because if you type in mobile Passport Control
add official like you're going to google it Mobile Passport
Control Official site site. There's all these scammers. I call
them scammers. I mean technically they're legal, but you pay

(52:03):
them a fee twenty bucks. Maybe all they do is
connect you to the free government. Right, you don't need that.
And always if you're gonna fly, call the day before, reconvert,
reconfirm the flight number and the departure time because flight
numbers change all the time. And then, of course my

(52:23):
best travel advice. Some of you've heard it because I've
told you the day before you travel, put your empty
and you're packing, put your empty suitcase on the bed,
all your clothes that you're going to take, and all
your money. Cut the clothes in half, double the money,
and you're going to be in great shape. Well, you know,
you told me the other day that you're getting so

(52:44):
many calls on Europe. Very quickly, tell me about that
the Cotswalves. I love the Cotswalves. You know that part
of England. Tell me very quickly about that tour.

Speaker 2 (52:56):
Yeah, so it's really exciting. Time to go to the
UK Next year the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of
Jane Austen's birth, So we're going to Chatham House, Winchester
where she grew up, where they going to, like I said,
move on through the Cotswolds and it's just gorgeous. We're
going to see these great homes, Montacute House, Wilton House,

(53:16):
going through, finding some royal tombs and castles, and the
whole time we're going to have Michelle Mergets with us,
just giving us all of the history. So it's really
going to be delightful. Please join us.

Speaker 1 (53:26):
Give Marissa a call or any of the travel advisors,
but you can contact Marissa at eight oh one four
eight three sixty five forty seven. You know, Marissa. There's
some other great europe tours that Morris Columbus has as
an escorted tour. One is with Mick and Dianne Smith,
The Splendors of Italy. I mean, who doesn't love Italy?

(53:51):
Who doesn't love the food in my heart Italy? That
will be April fourth to the fourteenth of next year,
twenty twenty five. You got it. Check out the itinerary
on that one. I mentioned Tim Taggart's name earlier in
the show. He's got the Journey of the Apostles and
Rome Lds Temple April seventh to the seventeenth with Tim

(54:14):
Taggart and then one that I'm taking and the fact
that I'm taking it, you may want to book a
different date, but anyway, I'd love to have you with
me on the British Isles July seven to twenty July
seven to twenty, and we're going to see England, Scotland, Ireland,

(54:34):
Northern Ireland and France including the d Day Beaches. For that,
let's see to our crack producer, not our producer on
crack Denny. I saw a listener call up. Do we
have that listener on the phone? Oh? They hung up?
All right, somebody I would have loved to have chatted

(54:56):
with you the British Isles. Now, all of these you
can and get the details at morriscolumbus dot com. Scroll
down on the homepage to Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours. Because
that's the brand name for It's like General Motors and
the brand name Chevrolet. You know, that's how we do it.

(55:17):
And that's a throwback to our era with the old
Murdoch people. Good people, you know. One of the other
things that I'd like you to do as you prepare
for travel, is make if you're going to travel overseas,
is make three copies of the information page of your passport.
That's the one that has your mugshot and your personal information.

(55:40):
Now the three copies are one is like a photocopy
xerox copy. Second is a photo, just a snapshot of
it that you save on your gallery of photos on
your cell phone. And the third is you download that
snapshot to your server wherever it is. Now, why three copies?
In the very unlikely event that your passport is lost

(56:02):
or stolen, if you have a photo copy, you can
go right back to it. But what if the photo
copy is gone you have it on your cell phone.
And if you don't have it on your cell phone,
I mean if your cell phone's then taken, you can
go to any server and get a copy. If you
have a copy of your passport, you can get it
replaced in one or two days. Otherwise it could take

(56:23):
you one, two, three or four weeks to get it.
Hey more, would we come back here on the Travel Show?
Welcome back to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwicks. They

(56:45):
get Away Guru, joined by Marissa, one of the travel
experts at Morris Columbus Travel, who happens to be the
largest seller of travel and cruises and tours in this
inner Mountain area. And we don't say that braggingly, but
simply there are deals. You buy one pencil, you get

(57:07):
one price. You buy a case of pencils, you get
another price. So do give Morris Columbus a call or
check out the website Morriscolumbus dot com. Let's go to
the phone lines and talk to Don Don Welcome to
the travel show. I understand you're headed to Europe.

Speaker 4 (57:24):
Yeah, we've never been to Europe before, and we're starting
off with a cruise that goes from Barcelona and goes
over to Gibraltar, then it goes up to Marseille, France,
goes to Jenhoa, Oh my Worsa. It ends in Rome
and it's going to be a really fun cruise. It's
in March, but you know, we've decided to stay an
extra day so we can tour Rome because it ends

(57:47):
in Rome. And I understand the airport is I mean
the cruise doc is like an hour from the city.

Speaker 1 (57:53):
Yeah, a little bit more than that. In Chivitevekia is
the port city. Yeah, I like to allow any where
from an oh an hour and ten minutes to an
hour and a half, depending on traffic and the airport Fumachino.
There's actually two airports in Rome. There's the domestic one
and the international, which is Fumacino, And it's not in

(58:15):
a direct line between the city and Chivy Tevekia, but
it's kind of in between with a detour. Now you
get off the ship. On what day of the.

Speaker 4 (58:25):
Week we get off I believe it's on a Tuesday, okay,
but we're not going to fly out until Wednesday, so
we're going to have all day Tuesday to tour Rome.
And I don't have a clue where to stay in Rome.
I know I want to be near the coliseum and
the Vatican and all that sort of thing, so we
can tour those.

Speaker 1 (58:45):
All, right, come out.

Speaker 4 (58:46):
I need some advice. I don't be a word of Italians.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
Okay, pizza, can you say pizza? You speak? There we go.
Here's here's my suggestion. Non, First of all, you say
you want to stay close to the coliseum in the Vatican,
you can't do that because they're at opposite ends of
the city. Rome is a city of seven hills. There's

(59:12):
no downtown. I'm gonna have Marissa join me in a minute,
because she lived in Italy and spent a lot of
time in Rome. It's not like there's a Times Square
in New York or a Magnificent Mile in Chicago or
Union Square in San Francisco. It's a city that is
spread out over seven hills. Now, what time is your

(59:35):
flight on Wednesday?

Speaker 4 (59:39):
Wednesday?

Speaker 1 (59:39):
Our flight to eleven thirty, okay, and they like a
three hour check in, so you're going to be pressed
on this. Here is what I would recommend. You're going
to get off the ship probably eight o'clock at the earliest.
A range of transfer you'll have to get into town.
I think the best way to see it in one day,

(01:00:01):
and then we'll talk about hotels is a hop on,
hop off bus and they have a bunch of different
companies that do the same thing. Hop On, hop Off
happens to be a brand name where it is on
a pre determined route that stops at all the major sites.
You're gonna be pressed for time. That's why I like it.

(01:00:22):
If you would do the whole circuit without getting off,
it's about an hour and a half in Rome. I
recommend on the first one. You just stay on the
bus and do the whole circuit from wherever you pick
it up, and they have some headsets that they give you.
They have it in about thirty different languages, including English,

(01:00:43):
but pre determined. Now, what is the most important for
you to see? I will tell you the reason I
asked what day of the week is The Pope gives
his weekly address on Wednesdays and everything shuts down at
Saint Peter's Basila and Square until he's done. Sometimes they
will reopen the basilica. Sometimes they just leave it closed,

(01:01:07):
so you'd have to get there in the morning, and
you're going to be pressed to get there in the morning.
But you can look at the Coliseum as a stop.
The bus doesn't stop at Trevy Fountain, which has been
closed for cleaning. It'll be opened by then, but it
stops very near by the Borghese Gardens, the Spanish Steps,
all of these things, the Pantheon, which, by the way, Marissa,

(01:01:30):
they're charging a fee to go into the Pantheon. Now
it's crazy. I would make advance if you want to
get into the Vatican Museum, see the Sistine Chapel, make
an advance reservation, but then your time locked on that reservation.
Same thing for the Colisseum, you can get a reservation.

(01:01:51):
The good news is, while Rome is always crowded, March
is not a real crowded time. Marissa.

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
Your adverse, yeah, on that is this is a Jubileo year,
which is only once every twenty five years. This happens
and it's really crowded. Yeah, it's really credited right now.
It was just there a month ago, two months ago,
I guess, So just plan on that. But also, like
he was saying, advanced reservations if you want to get
into the Vendicot Vatican, I mean like now three months
in advance, and then also Borghese Gardens if you wanted

(01:02:21):
to go into the Fielaport, also in advance.

Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
But I don't know if he's going to have that much. Yeah,
you really have a half day an evening.

Speaker 3 (01:02:29):
We get off.

Speaker 4 (01:02:29):
We get off the ship at six am in what's
it called. You get off that ship at six o'clock
am on Tuesday, So Tuesday will be our tour day.
But we need to put the bags somewhere like at
our hotel. We need to get from the port to
a hotel hotel, put the bags there, do our touring,

(01:02:51):
and then we're going to spend the night in Rome.
So we have all day Tuesday Wednesday. We're just going
to concentrate on getting out of the hotel to the airport.
So that's where I need most of your help, because
I think we're going to figure on taking some sort
of a tour of the city all day on Tuesday.

Speaker 1 (01:03:07):
Yeah, okay, Now the ship offers some tours that you
can look at. Double check your documents when you say
you get off the ship at six a m. Check
to see if that's when the ship arrives at Chivy Tavekia,
because then you'll have to correct. The ship has to
be cleared, you'll have to go through customs, and immigration

(01:03:28):
will be a breeze. I doubt that you'll be off
the ship at six am. Marissa, talk about hotels before
we say Choo.

Speaker 2 (01:03:38):
Absolutely so. The place we just stayed in Rome, I
really loved.

Speaker 5 (01:03:41):
It's called the Albergo Etico Eti Coo and.

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
It's near the Borghesi Gardens. It's like it took us
thirty minutes in the morning to get to the airport
in a taxi.

Speaker 5 (01:03:51):
Albergo a l B E R G O Alberta go
out she means hotel and then etico et I coo
and it was a really lovely tay.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
I'd recommend that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:03):
And don we got to say chow now. But you
could also go on TripAdvisor dot com and get reviews.
You can look at prices and I now for all
of this free advice that we give, I expect something
out of you after your return. I want you to
call in the travel show and give us a report.

(01:04:23):
What do you say?

Speaker 4 (01:04:25):
I would love to do that, all right. I have
one more quick question before I go. Getting from the city.
I want to be at a twenty four hour hotel
because a lot of them are closed part of the
day and I'd like to be able to get a
car to get to the airport.

Speaker 1 (01:04:39):
Well, what I would do is simply ask the front
desk to arrange a taxi. They do it all the
time for you and I. Yeah, at any hotel in
Rome is going to have somebody at the front desk
twenty four to seven. You get out in the country
and they close, but in the city most all of
them stay open. Don I appreciate your call having we'll
talk to you in a few What a great What

(01:05:03):
a great call.

Speaker 5 (01:05:04):
There.

Speaker 1 (01:05:04):
We're talking about Christmas and Christmas traditions. Last week I
told about why I give my children a single orange
for Christmas. You were telling me that you have a
Christmas tradition as to Christmas dinner, which is not a
turkey ham stuffing and mashed potatoes.

Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
Yeah, well, it's actually Christmas Eve. So because we lived
in Italy, the Italian Christmas dinner is reveoli. You always
make reveoli. So for many many years we would make
homemade reveoli and it takes hours and hours, but it
was such a fun project with our kids. And then
one of my kids got the stomach fluick one Christmas Eve,
so now he refuses to eat reveoli. So that kind

(01:05:44):
of put the kebash on our tradition. But I love
Christmas food traditions. Do you have something specially you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:49):
Do, le, Well, let me tell you. By sun in
law's Hispanic and his mother's from Cuba. His father is
from Brazil, and Arnie is a very proud and I
I am so happy that he's proud of his cultural heritage. Well,
one of the celebrations is noch Boyne the Good Evening.

(01:06:09):
It's always Christmas Eve, and it's a celebrate very very
big in Cuba and other you know, Latin countries. But
it's center around friendship and fun and all of these
things and food and drink and again I mean yes.

(01:06:30):
And so every Christmas Eve we go to Arnie and
Sarah's house, my daughter, and celebrate with all of their friends,
a lot of Hispanic people there. One of the drinks
that's a centerpiece in Latin America is whiskey. Now Arnie
doesn't serve whiskey, but you know, friends bring it and

(01:06:51):
that's okay, you know, that's the that's their culture and things.
He has a non alcoholic punch. So it was too
Cristmases ago. We're over for note Chay Bayne as we
always do, and we'll be going Tuesday night. I'm looking
forward to it, and you know, we're having Cuban food
and fruit punch and everything. I'm sitting down talking to

(01:07:15):
some of Arnie's Cuban friends, Latin friends that I know
personally because I've met them through the years, and we're
just talking and I'm drinking my punch and we're doing
everything and you know what's coming. Well, I picked up
what I thought was my glass, and there was about
a half an inch of punch left. So I'm gonna
down the whole thing, and I just chug out to

(01:07:38):
go boom. It was the wrong glass. It was straight whiskey.
And it goes down and going. You know, I can't
even talk. I've never tasted whiskey in my life up
until that point, you know. And I'm thinking, and they
think I'm having some medical emergency. I'm going and then

(01:08:04):
and then they figure out and I said, what is this?
I took the wrong glass. I down straight whiskey for
the one It's been the first and only time in
my life. Well, in the Gelwick's family, we never miss
an opportunity for cheap and shameless humor. Do you remember
the John Denver song Please Daddy don't get drunk this Arristmas. Mama,

(01:08:30):
she's crying a river of tears. So John Denver sang
a song, Please Daddy don't get drunk this Christmas. Well,
my kids start singing that to me. They sing it
the next year. In fact, they've already asked, hey Dad,
no chay Boyne, are you gonna get wasted? Again this year.
Oh my gosh, it was. It was horrible. Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (01:08:55):
But it was the most relaxed Christmas have you ever spent?

Speaker 5 (01:08:58):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (01:08:58):
I was.

Speaker 1 (01:09:02):
They said, well you better not dry. I just was hoping.
I'm chewing gum and everything. What if I get pulled
over your breathalyzer test or something like that. Hey, listen,
when we come back for our final show before Christmas,
I have put together a very personal and very serious,
of heartfelt Christmas message from me to you. Welcome back

(01:09:36):
to the Travel Show. I'm Larry gelwizni getaway Guru, joined
by Marissa, one of the travel experts at Morris Columbus Travel.
You can talk personally to Marissa starting Monday morning eight
oh one four eight three sixty five forty seven eight
oh one four eighty three sixty five forty seven. Do
check out the Morris Columbus website Morriscolumbus dot com. Well, Marissa,

(01:10:00):
we come to the end of the last show before Christmas.
Now we'll be live next week, the last show before
New Year's And you know, thirty three years I have
been hosting this show. Don Schaeffer, he and I were
together for many years Carlos Feeda and I were together
for many years hosting the show. But I'm still going,

(01:10:24):
still look forward to it. Everybody asked me when I'm
going to retire, and I think, I say, well, you
know what do people do when they retire? And the
answer is well, they travel. Oh wait a minute, I'm
doing that now, and I'm even getting paid to travel
the world. May I express on my behalf and on

(01:10:46):
behalf of Morris Columbus travel, a very sincere thank you
for a wonderful, crazy year, crazy in so many ways,
wonderful in so many ways. We look forward to twenty
twenty five with you, twenty twenty six with you. As
we go forward. I thought deeply and prayerfully about a

(01:11:07):
Christmas message, a brief one that I could offer. You know,
we come from many different backgrounds, ethnicities, countries, different faiths
worshiping the same God, and people of moral character who
don't follow a prescribed faith. Sometimes we turn off when

(01:11:29):
someone speaks about their own cultural or religious heritage and background.
I never do, because I can learn something so much.
My Jewish studies, my Egyptian studies, Christian studies, all of
these I just revel in their experiences. I want to

(01:11:50):
share a universal Christmas message that actually comes out of
my own personal faith. So don't get hung up that
I'm going to talk about something out of mind. Focus
on the message. One of my favorite stories is of

(01:12:10):
Lehigh and his family leaving Jerusalem. You know, some six
hundred years before the time of Christ, and there were
some scriptures brass plates that Lehi sent his sons back to.
He put them in harm's way. King Laban attempted to
kill them. So important were having the scriptures put in

(01:12:33):
their bible Torah, Qoran, whatever you identify as scripture. So
important were these scriptures that he was willing to put
his own children at risk of being killed, of being arrested,
of being imprisoned. But he was willing to do that.

(01:12:55):
And you know, after several after more than one attempt,
they find were able to get these plates of Laban.
It's very interesting when Nephi said, I'll go and do
the thing that the Lord commands to me. It's what
he didn't say. He didn't say, i'll go if you go.

(01:13:15):
I'll go when it's convenient, I'll go if you pay me,
I'll go if it's easy, I'll go when it's warmer,
I'll go when it's colder. He didn't put any conditions
on going back for yet another attempt, yet another time
of putting his life in danger. He just simply said,
I will go and God will lead me in what

(01:13:36):
I'm to do. Here's the message. They got a hold
of the plates of Laban, and I'm in the book
of First Nephi, chapter five, verses nine to ten. Let
me just read it to you. They came back, Nephi
and his brothers, And now here's the family waiting. When
it came to pass, they the family did rejoice exceedingly

(01:13:57):
and did offer sacrifice and offerings unto the Lord. And
they gave thanks unto the God of Israel. And after
they had given thanks unto God of Israel, my father
Lehi took the records which are engraving upon the prates
of brass, and he did search them for the beginning. Marissa,

(01:14:20):
what is the message here? This was so important. He
put the biggest prize of his life to get these plates.
But when the boys came back, the first thing they
did was give thanks to God. They built an altar,
they offered sacrifice, would be cleaning and dressing an animal

(01:14:42):
that would take hours, and then did you notice? And
after they had given thanks, at the very end, his
father took the records. So the message here to people
of all faiths, of all and without an organized faith.
Which I've often said, I think I believe to the

(01:15:03):
mirror of my bones what my church teaches me. But
having said that, I've always believed that God, our heavenly Father,
who is the father of us all, is less focused
on denomination than we are. What Father doesn't want all
of his children back. So the message here is Lehi
gave thanks and then took the place. As we come

(01:15:25):
down Christmas morning, before we run and open our gifts,
what if we gather together as a family, be that
a family of one or a family of many, and
give thanks to God for the blessings that we have,
the freedoms that we have, for the opportunity to celebrate Christmas,

(01:15:47):
and then transition perhaps from being just a fan of
Jesus Christ to a follower of the Savior or whatever
you know, Judaism, Islam, whatever path you follow, we become
a follower and not just defend. Before you open your
presence Wednesday morning, give thanks to God.

Speaker 2 (01:16:08):
Talk to you Next week, Gratitude my Christmas