Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
It's another blockbuster weekend and you're listening to the Travel Show.
I'm Larry Gelwick's the Getaway Guru. We have a wonderful
show for you today. Places to Go Hawaii, travel memories
only twenty six days until Christmas, Cruise tips for first timers,
and how to travel with the Getaway Guru. The Travel
(00:27):
Show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel, where you Always
Travel More and pay Less, and Norwegian Cruise Line, the
home of freestyle Cruising. Got a couple of special guests today.
Mallory Layton from our Saint George office of Morris Columbus Travel. Mallory, Well,
I should say, welcome back to the Travel Show.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Thank you, it's good to be back.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
And you brought some homeless man with you, some old
old geezer.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Hi PROMI my dad.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
That's right now. I'm going to introduce Mark Late. Mark,
welcome to the You know, Mark and I have been
the best of friends since nineteen sixty eight. We were
both eighteen years old freshman down at BYU on the
same dorm floor. We have a lifetime of stories, most
of which cannot be told over the radio because this
(01:17):
is a family show. No dorm stories. Oh, we had
so much fun. And Mark and I've stayed in touch
all of these years. Mark is well traveled in many ways,
and we're going to have him share experiences with this
and malloy, you've been to forty three different countries I have. Well,
(01:37):
we'll hear all about that. Well, you came up from
Saint George Mallory for Thanksgiving and to see your folks
here living in Provo. How is Thanksgiving with the old man?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Very?
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Very good food? He's a great cook. I'm lucky enough
to have parents who are both really good cooks, and
we had he has an interesting way of putting foil
on a turkey.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
But other than that, everything was great.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Mark, you had a good Thanksgiving?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yes, great time.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
You're really dead, dude. It's interesting value you Mallory. You
mentioned about Thanksgiving dinner. The average Thanksgiving dinner for the
average American three thousand, four hundred and eighty calories, and
of course for you Mark, that was just your first
helping and one hundred and sixty grams of fat. Wow,
(02:30):
it's the gravy and the pies that do it. Now.
A couple of interesting trivia about Thanksgiving that we just
celebrated a few days ago. Is that the Mayflower there's
the Pilgrims, was supposed to land in the New York
City area what's now New York City, but there were
strong winds and so they were forced to settle at
(02:54):
Cape Cod, Massachusetts due to the windy conditions. I don't know.
Maybe if they'd gone to New York they would have
pizza or something, you know, down in little Italy, I
don't know for that. Did you know Mark that the
TV dinner which I mean we ate so much of
those growing up. It was a big deal. Now they
(03:15):
have them at the store Mallory, but you don't see
a lot of people eating the TV dinner that had
three serving areas on that. But the TV dinner was
invented from Thanksgiving leftovers. In nineteen fifty three, the food
giant Swanson found it had too many frozen turkeys that
(03:37):
didn't sell during Thanksgiving, so they cooked them and they
created these TV dinners, you know, with some mashed potatoes,
some peas and cobbler and a little bit of the turkey.
Triple A reported that this weekend that we're in eighty
million people are traveling at least fifty miles or more
(04:02):
for the Thanksgiving holiday, and it's interesting mark that Traditionally,
you know, we've always said that Wednesday to Sunday was
the busiest days. Well, now Tuesday is almost eclipsing Wednesday
as the busiest departure day. Sunday still is the most
(04:23):
favorable return, but Monday and Tuesday are getting pretty busy. Also.
One last thing, there was a favorite Thanksgiving Day song
written by James Pierpont in eighteen fifty seven. You know
this song very well, jingle Bells. Jingle Bells was written
(04:47):
as a Thanksgiving song dashing through the snow on a
one horse open sleigh to Grandma's house for what for
turkey and stuffing and cranberry as well. It was so
popular that they started continuing during the Christmas holidays. The
name was changed to Jingle Bells in eighteen fifty nine,
(05:12):
has become no longer a Thanksgiving Day song, but a
Christmas song. Very interesting too. One of my favorite Christmas
songs is Joy to the World. That was not written
as a Christmas hymn, was written for an Easter service,
(05:33):
But you think of the words joy to the World,
the Lord has it never mentions the birth it was
about the second coming of Christ, the return of the
Savior Joy to the world. And I always tell my
Sunday school class, which I teach, that shall we sing
an Easter song on Christmas? And shall we sing a
(05:53):
Thanksgiving song for Christmas? Also? And they threw me out. Hey, listen,
we loved travel. Mallori. You are one of the great
travel advisors in our Saint George office at Morris Columbus Travel.
And you've traveled to forty three different countries, and you
have clients and guests coming back from their adventures near
(06:17):
and far. What do they say? What do you say?
What is the joy of travel? What do you personally
get out of it? And what are your clients reporting?
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Yeah, for me, my personal benefit and joy is travel
for me is kind of a school of life. I
get to experience life from a different perspective. I get
to experience different culture, really stepping into somebody else's world
of food, scenery, custom, culture, all of that, and that
really is enriching for me, and I think it is
(06:47):
for my clients as well. They come back talking about
this amazing new dish that they tried, or a beautiful
scenery or sunset or you know, some kind of cultural
experience they love.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Now, Mark, you have traveled almost everywhere. You and I
have traveled overseas. I remember that trip to Vietnam and
Thailand that you and I did together. What does travel
do to you? What are the benefits to Mark Leyton
and others with traveling?
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Well, I like the scenery. I mean when I see
tropical things, or it could be Europe or could be
anywhere in the world. But just the variation of scenery
and elevations and the oceans and the food and the
people and cultures. I mean, it's just a thrill.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
It really is. You know, Malory, you kind of touched
on this. It's a chance to unplug and recharge. And
there's very different types of travel. Some you know, if
you just want R and R rest and relaxation, go
on a Caribbean cruise, go to Hawaii or something. There's
(07:53):
some travel adventures where it's more go, go go, and
that's a decision you have to make. And from some
of my travels, I've been to one hundred and fifteen countries.
From some of my travels, I have to rest when
I get home from my adventures. It's also a chance
to see the world through new eyes. But one of
(08:16):
the things that's meaningful to me is it makes me
appreciate what I have now. I've been in the travel business,
traveling the world a lot for forty six years, one
hundred and fifteen countries, most of them many many times over.
And every time I fly back to the US, as
(08:37):
I did a week ago from Singapore, I have this emotion.
I want to get down on my hands and knees
and kiss the ground and say, Dear God, thank you
that I live in this country. Thank you. It is.
You know, we got our problems here in the United States,
but this is the greatest country on Earth, and right
(09:00):
now we live in the greatest time of the United
States of America. We really do. Kathy and I have
this philosophy. Whatever it is in life you wanted to
be at, travel, family, experience anything, do it while you can,
and go while you can. You know, a great opportunity
(09:24):
to find out where your next travel adventure can be
is that the Utah Travel Expo, which is coming up
in about two months, and it opens in Saint George.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
That's right on Wednesday, January twenty second, from eleven am
to six pm.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
So basically all day.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
I'll be there all day the New Black Doesert Resort
in Ivans, Utah, and it is free admission.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
You know, we have travel advisors coming now. Mark, it's
back in Salt Lake and you've joined me there a
number of times Friday and Saturday, January twenty fourth and
twenty fifth on Friday two to eight and Saturday ten
am to five at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy. Now,
I'm gonna probably get fired for this, but it's a
(10:09):
ticket an event free in Saint George. Six bucks for adults,
five bucks for seniors. Kids seventeen and under free in
Salt Lake. However, for our Travel Show listeners, I'm gonna
give you all the free tickets you want printum for
your neighborhood, your ward, your congregation, your synagogue, your family.
(10:30):
Simply go to morriscolumbus dot com forward slash free, Morriscolumbus
dot com forward slash free and you can get all
the free tickets you want. Hey, that's six bucks a ticket.
Hey more when we come back here on the Travel Show.
(10:55):
Welcome back to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Elwick's the
Getaway Duru joined today by my dear friend of gosh
fifty five years, Mark Layton. He and by the way,
Mark and I not only first became friends in the
Hinckley Hall at BYU in our freshman year nineteen sixty
(11:18):
eight sixty nine. Then we both left on LDS missions,
but when we came back we both played rugby for BYU.
And I call for you rugby lovers, you'll recognize this title.
I called him the white jonah Lomu Jonah Lamu. It
(11:39):
was a big Maori Polynesian, fantastic guy, a man of character.
But he played wing out there and just rolled people.
That's what Mark Clayton did. How tall are you six
four six ' four? That's about what John Lomu is anyway.
And Mallory, his daughter, is a traveler advisor from the
(12:00):
Saint George office of Morris Columbus Travel. They're both very
well traveled. I mentioned earlier Mallory, you've been to some
forty three countries. What are a couple of your favorite adventures, destinations,
travel experiences, and most importantly why all right?
Speaker 4 (12:21):
I love everything that touches the Mediterranean Sea probably my
favorite destinations.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Poor Qua.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Parsko because uh Turkey.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
So Turkey and Greece are probably my top for those
that area Turkey, the Kappadocia region, they have, the underground
cities they have. We did the Alara Valley hike where
we hiked into a cafe that was over the water
and it was just unreal, nothing I've ever experienced before.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I love Turkey too. And by the way, I'm looking
at Google travel searches and Turkey and you mentioned Greece. Yeah,
We're have just continued to rise like a rocket in
Google searches, which tells us Mark what people are interested in.
You know, I still enjoy as many times as I've
(13:11):
been there. Istanbul and Ephesus.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Yeah, it just doesn't get better, and they're rising for
good reason.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
They really are where else.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
I would also say Estonia and Lapland in Finland.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Estonia, yes, oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Some of the best food I've ever had. And you
can climb up until they have these old medieval gates.
You can climb up into the towers and walk the
medieval wall. It was incredible.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
It is now, Mark, you have done so much travel,
particularly and I might call adventure travel sir. What are
some of your favorite experiences.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Well, a couple were places that you and I went.
When we went to Kachanaburi in Thailand, Oh yes, which
I love that and that was a very solemn and
humbling place to go. And also when we went to
Love to Lawong Propang and Lao, and when we first
got there, we wondered why we were there. It was
so small and so sleepy, but then we discovered the
beauties of it and we found so many things of
(14:10):
interest there. But other places like in India, down in
the very southwestern tip of India in there of Nanthroperum
in the Karala, the capital of Korala, there are just
it's like the garden area of India. And so when
I went down to Pouvar Island on the Nar River
and took this ancient little boat through these mangrelves that
(14:31):
hung over and scraped along the top of the boat.
Going down through that, it was like four hours on
the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. And it goes out past
golden sand beach out into the Arabian Sea. It's just magical.
That's a wonderful.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Pay I remember you mentioned chan Khan Chanaburi that Malay.
Have you ever seen the movie. It's an old movie.
Bridge over the river Kui.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Oh, yes, many times you.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Know that's where you and I went. And it's interesting.
It's almost like a narrow gage rail because it's not
as wide as the rails are. Now this goes back
to even pre World War Two, but the rail was
laid that we went on by the prisoners at the
river Koi. There's actually a cemetery there, a small little
(15:22):
visitors center, and if you understand the history, it is
very emotional because the train stops Mallory and allows you
to get off, actually walk along the trestles and think,
and you can see the spikes that were driven in
by the World War Two prisoners who underwent it. Wasn't
(15:44):
this rosy picture of everybody nice like it is in
the movie Mark.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Yes, And it's fascinating when you and I got out
of that one rest stop and walked back along the
trestle and then we came to a cave and there
were there was cement work that had been laid by
the prisoners there and they put their handprints in and
their initials. I remember that, yes, and and that that
was fascinating and uh, there's another good movie that relates
this and it's called the Railway Man and tell and
(16:12):
tells that story as well.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Yeah, you mentioned Luong Probong in it's pronounced both lao
and laos is preferred. That's the prof The natives pronounce
it lao. We Americans call it laos and that came
from John Kennedy when he was president. He said laos.
And it's just kind of stuck and kind of stuck.
This Luong Probong a colleague of mine. I don't know
(16:37):
if you met him, Jeff Rex sissen uh in Thailand,
Kuon Jeff, Kuon Jeff now Kuhn. They'd call you Kuon
Mark Kun Larry. It's like mister you know signor Mark
signor Larry, but it's Kon k h u n so
Kuon Jeff. I work a lot with him. He has
a tour operation over there, and he's been after me
(17:00):
for years to go Luong Promong. And it's like you said, I, okay,
I'll go, and I'm sitting there. We're there. You and
I were there three days, yes, And it's like, why
am I even here? This is the most boring thing.
I'm gonna be slap Jeff when I see him. Then
I'm changing on day two. By day three, Malory, who
(17:22):
is I don't want to leave this place. It's beautiful,
it's it's just fantastic. You know a question that I'm
often asked, Larry, You've been everywhere, what is your favorite
place here? And I always ask, what's the purpose of
the trip? For now? And my favorites don't have to
be your favorite. It's a personal choice. But I say,
(17:43):
for absolute physical beauty that overwhelms the senses, explodes the brain.
French Polynesia. The marquess is Tahiti Bora Bora morea for
something exotic, different, great value, great food, gentle people, a
place that I would live if it weren't for my
(18:04):
kids and grandkids. Thailand. Yeah, Now it's hard for Europe
in the Middle East. For history, hard to beat Europe
in the Middle East. But for an adventure, it's the
Great Migration in which is only the months of July,
August and September in Kenya and Tanzania. For a lot
of reasons, Kenya is your better choice. Hey, a lot
(18:27):
more with some specials to Mexico all inclusives and Hawaii.
You're listening to the travel show, I'm Larry Gelwicks, that
get away guru, and we'd love to have you join us.
You really are at the star of the show. Perhaps
(18:49):
some questions, your experiences, your recommendations. Give us a call
at Triple eight five seven oh eighth one. Oh that's
eight eight eight five seven eighty ten. I'm joined today
in studio by Mark Layton, my friend of some I
don't know fifty five years. We were teammates and went
to school together and one of the most well traveled
(19:12):
men that I know, second to me, of course. And
Mallory his daughter, who works in the Saint George office,
one of our great travel advisors of Morris Columbus Travel.
My first trip to Hawaii was in nineteen sixty six.
(19:34):
I was sixteen years old. I was a little surfer
boy growing up in California, in San Francisco. I used
to cut school and go down to with my buddies
to Santa Cruz and Steamer's Lane is the place in
Santa Cruz that the surfing is and it's just north
of the boardwalk and the amusement park theme park right
(19:58):
there on the beach, And of course we thought we
were very cool. I was never a really good surfer,
but you know, I enjoyed it. I was never one
of these that you'd see on the Wide World of
Sports or anything like that. I fell in love with Hawaii. Now,
(20:19):
both of you have been to Hawaii. In fact, Mark,
you and I went to Hawaii in nineteen seventy five.
We were both playing rugby for BYU and we went
out there for about a week and had two matches,
one against BYU Hawaii then known as the Church College
of Hawaii but BYU Hawaii and one against the University
(20:41):
of Hawaii the Ladder there in Kapiolani Park in hod
Lulu right there at Waikiki, and the other out Inaea.
And Mallory, you've been to Hawaii many times. Mallory, what
is it as a travel advisor as you talk to people?
What is the magic of Hawaii?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
A lot of it is history.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
A lot of people want to see Pearl Harbor and
then also the Polynesian Cultural Center. They wanted to experience
all of those cultures in one place.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, and it's magical.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Then you mentioned Pearl Harbor. Do you know what the
date is a week from today?
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Well, I think you're going to refer to December.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Seventh, December seventh, the day that will live in infamy.
You know, the Japanese came in two waves. The first
one hit at seven point fifty five am, the second
wave at eight twenty and their intent was to destroy
the American fleet, the Pacific fleet. What they didn't count
(21:43):
on and were disappointed is that all of the flattops,
all of the aircraft carriers were out of port. That
really was their target. And they did a lot of
damage there. And you know, it's a very moving experience,
and mark if you go there, don't buy a tour
(22:04):
of Pearl Harvard. Take the US Navy tour and you
can make a reservation for it. It's free of charge.
They have a nice visitor center. They show you a
video of it, and then you go out on the
Navy launch and they have a little like a visitor
center outdoors right over the USS Arizona. And to this day, Mallory,
(22:27):
you can see oil and gas still leaking. You know,
right after the attack, they went divers went down there
and you know, using underwater torches they ignited some of
the gas and they were killed. So now they've made
you know, you have a thousand plus men entombed in there.
(22:52):
What's really interesting is for survivors who served on the Arizona,
they can be buried in the inside the Arizona. To
this date, they have to be cremated and a diver
takes them down under one of the turrets. They'll actually
(23:12):
entomb them or bury them with their shipmates. Fascinating history there, Mark,
What is it about Hawaii that attracts you, that just
draws you there.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
It's in the smell in the air when you first
step off the plane, and even even with the smells
of an airport, you can smell the plumeria and the
tubros and the ocean, and it's just all of it's sweet.
It's just a lovely place to be.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
You know something I've mentioned before, As you know, there
are words in other languages for which there is no
English equivalent, no direct translation, and one of them in
Simon is holy ghost or spirit. Now there's two words,
(23:59):
there's angang and manna. Now anganga has a religious connotation
the spirit, the holy spirit, the holy ghost. So in
any religious context, if you're talking about I feel the
spirit something draws me to my church or synagogue, it
(24:20):
would be anganga. But they have another word mana, for
which there is no English equivalent, And mana is this
what spirit of aloha people talk about it. You feel
a drawing power. You can take Polynesians anywhere in the
world and they feel a link back to their home
(24:43):
island Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Hawaii and so on.
And that's what we feel, Mallory. You feel something there.
You know, the Polynesians would talk about the mana in
the the uh tahi, which is the ocean, in the
coconut trees, in the rocks, in the hill, everything about it.
(25:07):
They feel a spirit, you know, a spirit that is
in all things and through all things and giveth life
to all things. That's what they feel. I think that
draws us to Hawaii. And now, if you're gonna go
to Hawaii, Mallory, you sell a lot of Hawaii. I
have always advocated getting an air and hotel package, or
(25:29):
maybe you have your own time share or staying with
a friend, get an air and car special and rates
and promotions different by airline. But I've talked on this
show about secret airfares. I want you to explain to
our listeners what is crazy Larry talking about secret airfairs,
(25:50):
So why does he call it a secret airfare?
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Well, crazy, Larry, this is a real thing. So the
secret affairs are unpublished fares. So what we see online
when we're start for flights, So they're the published fares.
That's the price you pay that they obviously they publish.
But when you package flight with car, or with hotel
or both, we're able to book an unpublished fair or
(26:13):
a secret fair that they don't publish for the general public.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
You can't buy it air only.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
No, no, it's impossible.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Now I call it secret because Mark, if you were
to call the reservation desk for any major airline, they
have no idea. The legal term is a tour operator fair.
It is an unpublished fairs, and airlines know historically how
many empty seats they're going to have a flight, and
(26:41):
once that door closes, there is no opportunity to sell
the seat. And so they have a handful of tour operators,
Morris Columbus being one of them, and the only one
that I know of in the great state of Utah
and Idaho. Well, if there's others, I just don't even
(27:02):
know about them. But has their own contracts, their own
secret airfare contracts, and also we can deal with other
tour operators, but you get such a deep discount. Let
me give you an example. First of all, we talked
about Hawaii. I love the all inclusives in Mexico. Now
(27:24):
let me give you just an example. I was looking
at kN Kun at a first class hotel. Mallory the
Reu Riiu is a chain of hotels. How good are
they in Mexico?
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Oh, they're great, they are great.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
I'm looking at Cancun, the Real Yucatan all inclusive and
what does that include? Mallory all inclusive.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Everything, all of your food, your your room, drinks.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Everything, airfare, it's airfare, it's the transfers from the airport
to the resort, the resort, as you mentioned, the meals,
the drinks. Most of your act today is what they
call is non motorized activities. If you want a speedboat,
we you're gonna have to pay for that, a jet ski,
you're gonna have to pay for it. But all the
(28:09):
other activities that don't have a motor they're included. And
for you cheap skates out there. And I'm looking at
you Mark Layton, sir. Not only are your taxes included,
but your tips and gratuities are included. You won't have
that moment of crisis mark that you often face. Should
I really tip him a whole quarter?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
You know?
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Well you are never mind, I'd say you are from
Utah County, But that's another story. So here's what it
is now. Rates vary by departure dates and are subject
to availability at the time of booking. So I'm looking
at late January, what a great time to hit Cancun. Specifically,
the basic package is six days, five nights. You can
(28:53):
extend it and of course the price is adjusted. But
at the real Yucatan all inclusion of four star, first class,
a great property. January thirtieth to February fourth, six days,
nine hundred and eighty six bucks, and that includes airfare
that includes everything you could go down there without a pay.
(29:13):
So now let me break it down. Remember the number
nine eighty six That is with Southwest Airlines, and I'm
using Salt Lake City. You know, we're syndicated on nineteen
stations across the country all the way to the east coast.
We have stations listening in. But I can't give fifty airports,
(29:34):
So I'm going to use Salt Lake City where I
am nine eighty six and this is Southwest. They actually
have a super sale on right now air only four
forty six. I mean, that's insane now and they give
free luggage on Southwest airlines. The hotel, if you bought
(29:54):
the hotel by itself, is eight hundred and ninety three
dollars and then transfers about eighty bucks round trip. That
totals one thousand, four hundred and nineteen dollars if you
bought this package by itself, but if you buy it
together bundled, it's nine hundred and eighty six. That mark
is per person savings four hundred and thirty three dollars
(30:18):
per person times two, as if a couple were going,
you're going to save eight hundred and eighty six dollars
by using a secret airfare and buying it as a package. Yeah,
and oh we mentioned Hawaii. Hawaii's gotten kind of pricey.
You know, some of the rates are coming down. There's
(30:40):
a really good hotels called the twin Fin mark. What
is a twin fin.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
It's at the back of the surfboard. You have two
skegs instead of just one.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
You have two fins or Skegs right there. It's a
four star, first class hotel. Again, I looked at January
thirtieth to February fourth, six days, five nights, a thousand
and forty three per person, double occupancy that hardly covers
the airfare. It's a great time to buy your Mexico
(31:12):
or Hawaii. Well, listen, when we come back, I want
to share some travel memories and experiences that have shaped
my life and yours here on the Travel Show. Welcome
(31:33):
back to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwich, your humble host.
Humility a character trade I've never been accused of. And
may I give my sincere thank you, you know, for
joining us every weekend here on the Travel Show. We
have so much fun. I got to tell you that
I look forward to Saturdays, and some of our East
(31:54):
Coast affiliates actually rebroadcasting on Sunday, But I look, I
so look forward to coming to the studio and sharing
this time with you. And may I say that probably
five or six times a week I'll be somewhere at
a store, at a restaurant and people will say, oh,
you're Larry Gelwick's the getaway Guru. Usually they say you're
(32:17):
the getaway Guru and we stop and chat. What often
happens is people say, oh, I recognize your voice. I
recognize that voice. You know thirty three years on the
radio and a lot of experiences. But thank you so
much for joining us, and I'm pleased to welcome to
(32:37):
the travel show, Mallory Layton from our Saint George office
of Morris Columbus Travel. Be sure to check out the
Morris Columbus website Morriscolumbus dot Commorriscolumbus dot com if you
want to join any of the escorted tours. The brand
name for Morris Columbus Escorted Tours is Morris Murdoch Escorted Tour.
(33:00):
On the homepage, scroll down, it's a third item. Click
on the destination or click on cruises. We're joined today
by Mallory's father, Mark Layton, who is a travel adventure
has been just about everywhere. He and I have been
the best of friends for fifty five years, starting at
age eighteen at Hinckley Hall dorms at BYU and then
(33:24):
we both played for BYU Rugby and we're teammates. We
mentioned that in March of nineteen ninety five, Mark, you
and I as members of the Not excuse me. Nineteen
seventy five, as members of the BYU rugby team flew
to Hawaii. That was a great trip, you know, Mallory,
(33:49):
we talked earlier about the emotions that are generated by
travel and the experience is why we love it. Share
with our listeners. Maybe one of your travel advance as
you've been to forty three countries, that is memorable and.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
Why one of my adventures I think would be up
in Finland. We found a place where we could do
ice krting, so go karting out in the ice in
the open air with you know, a three pm sunset,
and that was just something we happened upon and we thought, well, why.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Not let's do it.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
That was in Finland, Yes, in Finland, uh Mark, what
about you?
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Well for an adventure, Palau in the Pacific in Micronesia
was very interesting because you can be going down the
street there and they have these giant pots, you know,
they'll be cooking and they'll be cooking giant clam and
sea turtle.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
I remember when you took this trip.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Yes, that was a lot of fun. And my dad
had told me stories of World War two and then
when I went out exploring the different islands like Bubbel
Dab and Paley Lou. On palleey Lou, I recognized, I
recognize nice things that my dad had told me that
upon seeing them, I remember, yes, that's just the way
my dad described it from World War two. And Plow
(35:08):
is very interesting. Everybody there choose batel nut. It's basically
right for your teeth.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
It's awful.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
It's actually areka nut wrapped up in betel leaf and lime,
and so everybody choose this. It's kind of like an
narcotic and it turns their teeth like you're reddish. And
they all carry a little can to spit it in.
And it's everyone, the man, the women, everybody. But I
can hardly wait. Yes, but you know, but the things
(35:34):
to see like on Paaleleew where all these great World
War two battles took place up on the Umbigrel Massive
which they call Bloody nos Ridge. That was the worst
fighting terrain of all of World War two. It was
just such brutal, you know, Coral Rock Mountain.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
You know what I love to do, Mark is go
on YouTube and see actual video from historical events and
you can see a lot of World War two in
the Pacific and in Europe right on YouTube now, Mallory,
you are an expert travel advisor in the Saint George
(36:14):
office of Morris Columbus Travel. You give a lot of
advice to people. If you had to just kind of
sink it down, what is some of your best travel advice?
Speaker 4 (36:27):
I would say the number one thing is to actually
follow the advice. The advice is given for a reason.
I had an experience where I won't say where or
kind of the circumstances since my dad is here, but
you want to always take a marked taxi, and I
ended up in a situation where we didn't. We were
just in a hurry. We thought, oh, this will be fine.
(36:49):
Obviously I'm still here to tell the story, but we
really learned a lesson that day. Always take a mark taxi,
and even better than that, book a transfer in advance
so that you have someone waiting for you with your
name on us and they know you're going with you.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Know, that's great advice because at every airport, particularly overseas,
you have people, hey, do you need a taxi? Do
you need a taxi? And they're they're unauthorized tax You
have nothing, you know nothing about the safety, the rate,
and it's oftentimes a shakedown and it also can get
(37:22):
very dangerous. So when you come into a place you
need a taxi, you know, go to the Mark Taxis.
You can also check with the Tourist office of what
are the authorized companies and usually if they're marked, they're
okay for that. So, you know, great travel memories, they
(37:43):
just kind of shape our lives, you know.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
Mark.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Everybody asks me, when are you going to retire? Larry,
and I say, what do people do when they retire?
They travel? Well, that's what I'm doing now and I'm
even getting paid to do it. Hey, when we come
back to our number two, we're going to talk about
Christmas and some of the great escorted tours offered by
Morris Columbus Traveler. Welcome back to our number two of
(38:11):
the Travel Show in the Best two Hours in Radio.
I'm Larry Gelwiz, the Getaway Guru, joined today in studio
by Mallory Lighton, one of our travel advisors in the
Saint George office. And what is your direct line? Mallory?
Speaker 4 (38:26):
Oh, I don't have that memorize. Actually, I'll keep it
written in front of me. My extension, my extension number is.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Folk signals zero. Okay, we'll figure out your phone now
here and joined by her father that I invited Mallory's
up from Saint George with her family for Thanksgiving. And
Mark and I have been the best of friends for
fifty five years, teammates on the BYU rugby team. We've
traveled the world together. And guys, we you know, we
(38:58):
just finished Thanksgiving couple of days ago. And can you
believe that in twenty six days Christmas is here? Twenty
six days and we love Christmas. I already told you.
Joy to the World was originally written as a Easter
(39:19):
song for an Easter service. Jingle Bells by another name
was originally written as a Thanksgiving song. I think David
City probably is a good That's one of my favorite
Christmas hymns is David City. Anyway, Mallory, growing up in
the Layton household must have been a unique experience.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
I know your father very well, and there's things about
your father that I won't tell you, and he has
things about me that he won't tell you. But what
is a Christmas tradition in the Layton household that you
remember from your childhood?
Speaker 4 (40:03):
Well, it would start on Christmas Eve, we would always
start opening Christmas pajamas and then we would say, what
about one more? We look over at our dad and
he would just see us so happy, and he'd say, Okay,
one more and then and then it just kept going
one more, one more, one more, one more, until we'd
opened everything under the tree. And that happened every year.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Is that true? Mark? Is you were responsible for that?
You know? A Christmas tradition in the Gelwick's household. Amongst
everything else in your stocking, you always get an orange,
always an orange. And my mother grew up, was born
and raised in southern Alberta, and they were poor, They
(40:46):
really were poor. And my grandfather was a grain elevator
operator for the trains, but it was seasonal work and
all of that. And a couple of things. First of all,
they called them hoboes, more of the homeless. The hoboes
would ride the rails, and they had always come to
(41:09):
Grandma and Grandpa Mercer's house. Those are my grandparents. As
poor as they were, they always fed them. But one Christmas,
my mother was a small child, you know, about eight
nine years old. The only thing she wanted was a
Shirley temple doll that was it, and they had no
(41:32):
money for it. In fact, that year, all the kids
got was an orange, which was a real treat. You know.
You go back to the nineteen thirties. My mother was
born in nineteen twenty four, and that's so the early thirties,
going into the depression. They had nothing. And you think
(41:53):
of all that we have at Christmas time. It's Christmas
gift overload. All she and her siblings got was an orange.
That's all the parents could afford. And I have never
forgotten that story and hearing my mother tell me how
blessed we are, you know. And so I've told that
(42:17):
to our five children, for Kathy and I since they
were little. They know the story, and every year I
give them an orange and I recount the story that
they know, but I tell the story again. Christmas is
a wonderful time and a lot of different ideas for
Christmas gifts. Morris Columbus has an idea for a Christmas gift.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
How about a Morris Columbus a gift certificate.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
You know what I like about that mark is you
give a gift certificate. You can pick a specific trip
or what I like to do and suggest is pick
a dollar amount and they can apply it to anything
that they want from an airline ticket, a cruise, a tour, whatever,
and they can look at a globe and pick where
(43:08):
they want to go. And this gift certificate is a
nice certificate, beautifully printed, and it would be a memorable gift.
What I'd like to suggest is get the gift certificate
and include a map of the world, and then sit
down with the happy recipient and talk about your experiences,
(43:30):
your travels around the world. Now, let's do something very quick.
We're going to play Stump the dummy with you.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
Mark.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
It's one of my favorite games. You have two seconds
to answer this question. Think of a Christmas gift that
you got, say two or three years ago. You can't,
you can't now. I want you in two seconds to
think back to your childhood. You grew up in Compton.
(44:00):
I've heard stories about Compton and occasionally it makes the news.
That was a rough neighborhood, Mallory. And think of a trip,
a vacation, a holiday near or far, short or long.
I don't want the details, just the destination.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
Sledding in the mountains, going up into the califoun mountains.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
Okay, why is it that we can't think of a
Christmas gift from one to two, three, or whenever years ago,
but immediately we can think of a travel experience. And
the reason for that is a basketball, a new dress,
a new shirt, a tie, a sweater, these are a book.
(44:42):
These are wonderful gifts. They really are. We're not diminishing them,
but they're things. And things don't generate emotions or memories.
We're an experience, be it travel, be it family, be
it friendship, be it social whatever generates memories that immediately
(45:03):
mark you could go back to your childhood remember. And
that's what the gift of travel will do. And a
Morris Columbus Gift Certificate is perfect. I got another another
great Christmas gift, and that is Dan Hone, who I
consider the smartest man that I know on all things
Holy Land. He will never tell you about the behind
(45:26):
the scenes with heads of state that have contacted him,
heads of state in the Middle East to talk to
him about ongoing situations in his church. The highest level
of church leaders still contact him. He was a founding
member of the Byu Jerusalem Center, lived in Israel for
(45:47):
twelve ten years, got his graduate degree from an Israeli University,
sixteen different languages, most of them ancient languages are in
his studies. Just published a book, The Foundations of Scriptural Understanding.
It's volume one of an eight volume series. This spring,
(46:08):
the volume two comes out on festivals and holidays and
celebrations in modern and ancient Israel and the Holy Land area.
By the way, the Holy Land is so much more
than just Israel. Half of the Bible was in what
we call Jordan today, Jordan, in Egypt, you know, so really,
(46:29):
I think Holy Land is Israel, Jordan and Egypt. You
can get some up into Syria, but not a lot
right there. His book, The Foundation of Scriptural Understanding, is
the perfect Christmas gift. You can go to Amazon and
order it, Barnes and Noble online and order it, or
(46:50):
direct from him. Travel Studies Institute dot org, Travel Studies
Institute dot org and choose shop, or just go to Amazon,
particularly if you're a Prime member. You can get free
shipping for that. The Foundations of Scriptural Understanding. You know,
Dad is also leading a kind of an apostolic to
(47:14):
our next August. It's the Turkey and Greece, the Holy
Land and it's Turkey. They have a cruise and they
have a pre cruise option to Istanbul. What you're really doing,
Mark is following the ministry of Peter, John and Paul
(47:35):
and it's fascinating. There's a post cruise. There's a one
week cruise there from Istanbul to Rome and so much
of the Greek islands where these things took place. But
check this out. It's August twenty third to September, the
first eleven days, ten nights and if you go to
(47:56):
Morriscolumbus dot com and click on Morris Murdock Escorted Tours
and click on holy Lands, it's listed under holy Lands
and that's next August and September.
Speaker 4 (48:10):
Larry, I want to jump in. I just want to
put a plug in for the pre and post tours.
I think they're always worth it. You get so much
more out of the trip and it's phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
I mean, you land at Rome, really the port city
chivvy Tavecchia, but why not even if you've been there,
Rome is one of those cities you can go back
to again again and again, and a pre cruise you'll
see so much of Greece. We talked earlier about Greece
when we come back. We're going to talk about the
(48:42):
cruise tips, the first time cruisers and cruise cabins to
a boy here on the Travels Welcome back to the
Travel Show. Thank you for joining us this weekend. I
(49:04):
assume you're out shopping for my Christmas gift. I prefer large,
unmarked bills starting with C notes. But we'll tell or
seize chocolate. I love sees chocolates. You know what would
be great? You could give me an orange. We talked
about that. You know, suddenly I have boxes of oranges.
I'm joined today on the Travel Show by my good
(49:25):
friend Mark Layton and his daughter, Mallory Layton. Mallory is
one of the travel advisors in the Saint George office
of Morris Columbus Travel. She's up for the weekend with
her family. We talked about some of those Christmas traditions.
By the way you open the pjs on Christmas Eve,
and then your dad just said keep opening. That's what
(49:48):
as kids, we all we can only open one, and
we knew what it was. It was always new pjs
for us. Mallory, you work with a lot of people
on booking and arranging their crew's experience is what is
the best some of the best crews advice that you
(50:10):
would give.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
The best cruise advice.
Speaker 4 (50:12):
I already mentioned booking pre tours and post tours, and
that could be done through an escort, a tour, or
we can arrange something more individual, more separate for that. Also,
pay attention to where you want your cabin to be.
Do you like to feel the water, do you like
to hear the anchor, Do you like to hear the
pool chairs drag above your ceiling? Or do you like
(50:34):
a more stable, quiet experience.
Speaker 1 (50:37):
Yes, I love to hear the engine and the anchor
banging across my cabin. Well, let's talk first about what
I consider cabins to avoid. First of all, avoid cabins
that are right below the pool and the pool deck. No,
you're not going to have Noah's flood number two coming
(50:59):
through your ceiling, but you can pick up a lot
of noise up on the pool deck. You also want
to avoid cabins that are right above the theater or lounges,
unless you enjoy waking up at midnight to a standing
ovation or something, because some of the noise can bubble
through if you're right above the theater or some of
(51:21):
the lounges, and unless you have kids, I would stay
away from some of the kids area. Now this is
not anti kids, it's I love travel. I've we've cruised
with our grandchildren. It's fantastic and they love the kids' activities.
But it also can get noisy as they're running up
(51:41):
and down the hall. You want that choir experience. Now,
this is not so much an issue on the newer
ship's mallory, but on some of the refurbished ships. If
you're right at the aft or rear of the ship,
right above the engine room. I've been on some of
the old ships that have been refurbished, and I still
(52:03):
get a little bit of vibration. It's kind of like Mark,
you know at the at the furniture showplace, those massage
chairs that you love to sit in. You know, it's
kind of what it is for a week as I
dish your father. Those are the ones some of the
advice and I want to ask you if you want
(52:25):
to buy a ticket to LA, just go online and
buy it. You know, you can go to Delta dot
com or United dot com, or you can go to
what's called a an aggregator site bringing all the airlines together.
Something like kayak dot com is one that I like
to look at, but I never I never book it
(52:47):
with Kayak. I get the information there, but I think
you're nuts. If you book a cruise by yourself. Always
use a travel advisor.
Speaker 2 (52:58):
Why well, travel advised.
Speaker 4 (53:00):
They are added discounts and amenities that can be added
on that are specifically contracted with the travel company, So
with Morris Columbus Travel, for example. Cruise lines give extra
onboard credit, sometimes an additional discount, or we can book
into a special group that has those.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
Things, and this is in addition to whatever the cruise
line is offering itself. It's very interesting. For many years
I did the negotiations for our travel company with vendors airlines, resorts, hotels,
cruise lines, and particularly with cruise lines. It was they
(53:40):
would say, now, Larry, we're going to give you this
extra bonus, not on every sailing, but on some sailings,
or for maybe for two or three week period, We're
going to give you this extra bonus. Maybe it's a discount,
maybe it's a free this or a free that, but
you can't talk about it on your radio show. You
(54:01):
can't advertise. But when people call you can tell them,
of course I talked about it anyway, what are they
going to do? But those are the extras again on
every sailing, No, on many sailings. Yes. The other thing is,
it's very interesting. There's a two tiered price structure now
(54:23):
and there's like on Norwegian they call it the sail
away fair. There is a one cruise fare that is
just a cruise, and there are is another cruise fair
that includes the freebies, and there's a price difference. It's
not free. The other thing I suggest is, whenever possible,
(54:46):
put down a refundable deposit. Now, sometimes there's a price difference,
the same with hotels for a non refundable deposit or
payment and a refundable or but sometimes it makes no difference.
Always go with a refundable deposit if you can. Also,
for particularly mark for people in our age bracket. I'm
(55:09):
a young man trapped in an old man's body. I
highly recommend almost insisting on travel insurance. Yes, we just
had a couple had to cancel a twelve thousand dollars
trip they had for medical reasons. They had travel insurance.
They didn't lose a dime on it. And I know
(55:29):
another couple that was on the Spice route that about
the same that they spent and they lost it all,
and yet they were offered but declined. Remember that on
board the Internet is additional on most sailings except the
Ultra Deluxe ones. Pick your stateroom carefully. The location means everything.
(55:54):
And you know, I remember the day where you kind
of had to dress up for meals, which I really
think was for the ladies. If that sounds sexist, I apologize,
but you know, you don't have to take a tux
or even a suit on a cruise unless that you
want to. And you know, it used to be that
(56:16):
all meals were included. Now most meals are included, but
every cruise line has what they call specialty dining and
you'll pay extra for that. Well, listen all that and
more when we come back. I'm going to tell you
about how to get away with the Getaway Guru. You're
(56:39):
listening to the travel show. I'm Larry Gelwick's the get
Away Guru, and I'm about to get away coming up
in the next little bit, I'll be leaving for Germany,
Austria and Hungary with the Christmas Market Group. We have
a wonderful group of travel show old listeners. We'll be
(57:01):
flying to Munich, spend three days there in Bavaria, visit
nos Schwanstein, the Disneyland Castle, ober Amagau and Munich, and
then we cruise from Nuremberg to Budapest, including stops in Germany,
Regensburg and Passau, crossed the Austrian bordered to Milk and Vienna,
(57:22):
and then down to Budapest. We're really looking forward to
I just get back from Singapore and soon I'll be
leaving for Munich. You know, I don't even know what
time it is. Mark. I'm joined today by Mallory Layton
with the Morris Columbus office in Saint George and her
father Mark Layton, who I've traveled the world with, and
(57:44):
he and I have been the best of friends since
nineteen sixty eight when we were eighteen years old freshman
at BYU, and after both of us serving our missions,
played on the BYU rugby team. You know, it's very flattering.
In many of our offices people will come in and
I guess it's because of the radio and TV. They say,
(58:05):
give me a list of Larry's tours. So I'm in
just you know, bullet rapid fire. I want to mention
some not all, but some that are coming up in
twenty twenty five, and Mark and Mallory if you have
something to say, just a bullet point about it, let
me know. June twelfth to the twenty second. I've done
(58:29):
this one before. We'll be sailing with a brand new
ship relative it's just a couple of years old, with
Norwegian Cruise Line, which offers a free air fare which
is really a buy one, get one free. We start
in Iceland and we make three stops in Iceland and
then Norway, Olison and Bergen, the Fjords down to well,
(58:53):
I'll be Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Bruges, Belgium, which
maybe maybe one of the most beautiful cities in all
of Europe. Famous for the laces.
Speaker 4 (59:02):
Oh beautiful lace, and also they have really good fries there.
Speaker 1 (59:07):
Yeah. In fact, have you ever eaten at the waffle
shop around here called Bruges. I'm actually going there after
this show. It's my daughter Jenny's birthday, and that's we
always go out to eat somewhere and that's what she picked.
And so very happy birthday to my wonderful daughter Jenny.
And I'll be eating at the Bruges and then back
(59:30):
to the cruise. We go to London and we will
have a pre recufect Iceland option and a post option
in London June twelfth to twenty two. By the way,
you can get all of these at Morriscolumbus dot com.
Click on the homepage the Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours and
(59:51):
then click on cruises for these if it involves a cruise,
all right, British Isles, mark the British Isles. What is
something about the British Isles. They speak a form of English.
Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
It's a form of English, but it's just lovely. It's
our ancestry as far as the country and a lot
of us as far as our own personal history.
Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
Well, this is a round trip cruise from Southampton, England,
which is obviously in the south of England, and we
will visit England, Ireland, Northern Ireland which is still part
of the UK, and Scotland. I think one of the
highlights will be the ship. We spend a day in
the Have France, which is d Day. The Normandy Beach
(01:00:38):
is the American Cemetery and it is an emotional experience
and again I talked earlier in the show about going
on YouTube and seeing the actual video of historical events.
You can do that with D Day and the landing,
and there's some great documentaries about it. Those dates are
July seven to twenty July seventh twenty Mallory. You've had
(01:01:03):
some people, in fact go on the Safari, the Great
Migration Safari, which is the largest migration of land animals
on Earth. Nothing comes close to it. You have close
to one and a half to two million Will deebaests
on the move and it only happens July, August and September.
(01:01:25):
There's nothing like it, nothing even close to I've been
to safaris all over Africa and nothing if you want
to see animals, but by day three you will have
seen typically fifty species, not including the birds. And it's
only in Kenya and Tanzania. For a long list of reasons,
Kenya is the better choice. What do your guests and
(01:01:48):
clients say when they come back from this experience?
Speaker 4 (01:01:51):
Every single one of them has come home saying it
was life changing and they can't wait to get back.
That is like the top of their top favorite.
Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
It's very interesting you mentioned life changing because that's an
overused phrase. But that is the number one comment that
I hear, starting with my wife Kathy didn't really want
to go. She thought it was going to be chuck
a rama for the lions and that's all we're going
to see it. I mean, sure they got to eat too,
but that's just one element.
Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
Do not chuck aramillarry.
Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
That's right, that's right. But she's been several times now.
The first time she came back so enthusiastic. Actually, Mark
brought her here on the show to talk about a
woman's perspective who was hesitant to go. The dates on
the Great Migration is August twentieth to the thirtieth. It's
(01:02:45):
eleven days, twenty to thirty count them out, it's eleven days.
Then this one, perhaps is the most misunderstood tour and
the one that I have wanted to do as long
as I can member. It's England, Scotland and Wales featuring
(01:03:05):
the Bagpipe Festival. Now that's not the original name of
the tour. You remember the original name of the.
Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
Tour the Tattoo Festival.
Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
Yes, yes, well the Tattoo Festival, which they still call
it in Scotland, has nothing to do with body art.
All right.
Speaker 4 (01:03:22):
I was hoping my dad and I could go and
get matching tattoos.
Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
Well, he's already got a big one of the Angel
Moroni across his back. All right, I've seen it. No no,
no no, and I'm getting back at him because he
used to tackle me and just pulverize me when we
were playing Innsquad scrimmages. I would run away crying when
(01:03:45):
Leyton was coming at me. You see. Anyway, let me
tell you about tattoo. It's only in August the Tattoo Festival.
One hundred million people watch it worldwide. We have taken
that name out of the title because everyone thought I'm
going to go to Scotland to see a tattoo body
art festival. I don't think so. Nobody was buying it.
(01:04:06):
But what it goes back the word tattoo has nothing
to do with body art, but it comes from last
call originally in Dutch pubs in the sixteen hundreds dough
ten taptau dough ten taptau, which meant turn off the taps,
and so a town crier would be telling this to
(01:04:29):
the pub owners and then the military corps or band
would actually play the regiment's core of drums and they
would march through the town late at night, I guess,
waking everybody up. And this was a signal by the
drum corps that the tavern owners should close their taps
(01:04:52):
and send the people and the soldiers in particular back
to the barracks. As this spread to Scotland, well they
had the drum and the bagpipes going through go ten
tap tooe, tap toe, taptoe tattoo. Again nothing to do
with body. But no one was buying onto this. It's
one of the greatest tour's greatest events only for a
(01:05:14):
few weeks in the month of August, so we changed
the name to Scotland, Wales and England Tour featuring the
bag Pipe Festival. And people are buying it right and left.
That is August the eleventh to the twenty first. And
tell me one of the hottest cruise destinations.
Speaker 4 (01:05:35):
Alaska by far. Why everybody wants to go. They want
to take their grandkids, their kids, they want to go
as a couple, they want to go in groups of friends.
It is probably the hottest location, coldest. The hottest is
in we get the most calls for it. Everybody wants
to go to Alaska.
Speaker 1 (01:05:52):
The Alaska cruise season mark. Have you cruised Alaska? No,
I've been up there for a summer and then another
time we got to get on a cruise. I know
a travel advisor in Saint George that can help you
out with that. But it's really May to September. We
have a few cruise lines, maybe the last week of April,
first week of October. And I really like about mid
(01:06:16):
June to late August that it's it's just a better
time and I'll be taking a group. I do this
every year. I have an Alaska cruise August the twenty
third to the thirtieth. And what I like about is
we're sailing from Vancouver to Anchorage. Now you can also
(01:06:38):
go round trip Seattle, which is great. But what I
like about the North South run is you get two
glacier days and to see those glaciers calve and crash
into the it's mind boggling. So on this particular cruise,
we'll see Juno catch you can Skagway. We do our
(01:06:59):
own shoreursions and in Juno we rent our own whale
watching boats and the general public doesn't join us. We
rent our own with some of the expert guides and
go whale watching. That's not me at the buffet, that
is out in the Pacific Ocean. And we do other
(01:07:19):
tours just ourselves. But the highlight for me will be
not only Glacier Bay, which is the granddaddy of them all,
but we go into College Fjord, and in College Fjord,
which the round trip seattles can't get to, there are
thirteen glaciers in that one fjord that we will witness,
(01:07:40):
that we will enjoy, and then up to Anchorage. Hey.
The last one I want to comment and Mark I'd
like to hear from you, is you know how much
I love Thailand. Oh yeah, and Vietnam. It's a Thailand Vietnam,
but it's very different. It includes the Loi Kretong Festival,
which is the biggest, most dolorful, most outrageous celebration in
(01:08:04):
the entire country. So we're going to do Bangkok, the
ancient capital of Suko Tai, the Lloyd Kotong Festival, up
to Chang Mai, which is the foothills of the Himalayas,
and then fly to Vietnam. We spent a couple of
days in Hanoi out to Halong Bay, down by the way.
We're gonna be on a deluxe boat that I have chartered.
(01:08:27):
I've sailed on this very boat. It's ultra deluxe, only
has twenty cabins in Halong Bay and then down to Saigon.
You've spent a lot of time in this part of
the world.
Speaker 3 (01:08:36):
Yes, Holong Bay is fascinating. I love Vietnam.
Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
I just live.
Speaker 3 (01:08:40):
I just love Vietnam. The people are so kind, they're
just they're just so. I love the food, yeah, all
the food, yeah, the food, but all the sites and
being on the rivers. I love riverwork. I love being
on rivers, traveling on rivers, and in Vietnam, you can
travel everywhere on rivers and you could be in in
the ancient capital Hooyan. You can go down to Fung Tao.
Saigon is wonderful. You can go to h O Chiman's mausoleum.
(01:09:05):
Who's got the best, Yes, sir
Speaker 1 (01:09:07):
Very good that the Thailand and Vietnam, including Lloyd Kretong
Festival is October thirtieth is the day we lead late
at night, so you can work that day back November fifteenth,
when we come back, I'm going to tell you which
major airline has filed for bankruptcy,
It's another blockbuster weekend and you're listening to the Travel Show.
I'm Larry Gelwick's the Getaway Guru. We have a wonderful
show for you today. Places to Go Hawaii, travel memories
only twenty six days until Christmas, Cruise tips for first timers,
and how to travel with the Getaway Guru. The Travel
(00:27):
Show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel, where you Always
Travel More and pay Less, and Norwegian Cruise Line, the
home of freestyle Cruising. Got a couple of special guests today.
Mallory Layton from our Saint George office of Morris Columbus Travel. Mallory, Well,
I should say, welcome back to the Travel Show.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Thank you, it's good to be back.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
And you brought some homeless man with you, some old
old geezer.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Hi PROMI my dad.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
That's right now. I'm going to introduce Mark Late. Mark,
welcome to the You know, Mark and I have been
the best of friends since nineteen sixty eight. We were
both eighteen years old freshman down at BYU on the
same dorm floor. We have a lifetime of stories, most
of which cannot be told over the radio because this
(01:17):
is a family show. No dorm stories. Oh, we had
so much fun. And Mark and I've stayed in touch
all of these years. Mark is well traveled in many ways,
and we're going to have him share experiences with this
and malloy, you've been to forty three different countries I have. Well,
(01:37):
we'll hear all about that. Well, you came up from
Saint George Mallory for Thanksgiving and to see your folks
here living in Provo. How is Thanksgiving with the old man?
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Very?
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Very good food? He's a great cook. I'm lucky enough
to have parents who are both really good cooks, and
we had he has an interesting way of putting foil
on a turkey.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
But other than that, everything was great.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Mark, you had a good Thanksgiving?
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Yes, great time.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
You're really dead, dude. It's interesting value you Mallory. You
mentioned about Thanksgiving dinner. The average Thanksgiving dinner for the
average American three thousand, four hundred and eighty calories, and
of course for you Mark, that was just your first
helping and one hundred and sixty grams of fat. Wow,
(02:30):
it's the gravy and the pies that do it. Now.
A couple of interesting trivia about Thanksgiving that we just
celebrated a few days ago. Is that the Mayflower there's
the Pilgrims, was supposed to land in the New York
City area what's now New York City, but there were
strong winds and so they were forced to settle at
(02:54):
Cape Cod, Massachusetts due to the windy conditions. I don't know.
Maybe if they'd gone to New York they would have
pizza or something, you know, down in little Italy, I
don't know for that. Did you know Mark that the
TV dinner which I mean we ate so much of
those growing up. It was a big deal. Now they
(03:15):
have them at the store Mallory, but you don't see
a lot of people eating the TV dinner that had
three serving areas on that. But the TV dinner was
invented from Thanksgiving leftovers. In nineteen fifty three, the food
giant Swanson found it had too many frozen turkeys that
(03:37):
didn't sell during Thanksgiving, so they cooked them and they
created these TV dinners, you know, with some mashed potatoes,
some peas and cobbler and a little bit of the turkey.
Triple A reported that this weekend that we're in eighty
million people are traveling at least fifty miles or more
(04:02):
for the Thanksgiving holiday, and it's interesting mark that Traditionally,
you know, we've always said that Wednesday to Sunday was
the busiest days. Well, now Tuesday is almost eclipsing Wednesday
as the busiest departure day. Sunday still is the most
(04:23):
favorable return, but Monday and Tuesday are getting pretty busy. Also.
One last thing, there was a favorite Thanksgiving Day song
written by James Pierpont in eighteen fifty seven. You know
this song very well, jingle Bells. Jingle Bells was written
(04:47):
as a Thanksgiving song dashing through the snow on a
one horse open sleigh to Grandma's house for what for
turkey and stuffing and cranberry as well. It was so
popular that they started continuing during the Christmas holidays. The
name was changed to Jingle Bells in eighteen fifty nine,
(05:12):
has become no longer a Thanksgiving Day song, but a
Christmas song. Very interesting too. One of my favorite Christmas
songs is Joy to the World. That was not written
as a Christmas hymn, was written for an Easter service,
(05:33):
But you think of the words joy to the World,
the Lord has it never mentions the birth it was
about the second coming of Christ, the return of the
Savior Joy to the world. And I always tell my
Sunday school class, which I teach, that shall we sing
an Easter song on Christmas? And shall we sing a
(05:53):
Thanksgiving song for Christmas? Also? And they threw me out. Hey, listen,
we loved travel. Mallori. You are one of the great
travel advisors in our Saint George office at Morris Columbus Travel.
And you've traveled to forty three different countries, and you
have clients and guests coming back from their adventures near
(06:17):
and far. What do they say? What do you say?
What is the joy of travel? What do you personally
get out of it? And what are your clients reporting?
Speaker 4 (06:26):
Yeah, for me, my personal benefit and joy is travel
for me is kind of a school of life. I
get to experience life from a different perspective. I get
to experience different culture, really stepping into somebody else's world
of food, scenery, custom, culture, all of that, and that
really is enriching for me, and I think it is
(06:47):
for my clients as well. They come back talking about
this amazing new dish that they tried, or a beautiful
scenery or sunset or you know, some kind of cultural
experience they love.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Now, Mark, you have traveled almost everywhere. You and I
have traveled overseas. I remember that trip to Vietnam and
Thailand that you and I did together. What does travel
do to you? What are the benefits to Mark Leyton
and others with traveling?
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Well, I like the scenery. I mean when I see
tropical things, or it could be Europe or could be
anywhere in the world. But just the variation of scenery
and elevations and the oceans and the food and the
people and cultures. I mean, it's just a thrill.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
It really is. You know, Malory, you kind of touched
on this. It's a chance to unplug and recharge. And
there's very different types of travel. Some you know, if
you just want R and R rest and relaxation, go
on a Caribbean cruise, go to Hawaii or something. There's
(07:53):
some travel adventures where it's more go, go go, and
that's a decision you have to make. And from some
of my travels, I've been to one hundred and fifteen countries.
From some of my travels, I have to rest when
I get home from my adventures. It's also a chance
to see the world through new eyes. But one of
(08:16):
the things that's meaningful to me is it makes me
appreciate what I have now. I've been in the travel business,
traveling the world a lot for forty six years, one
hundred and fifteen countries, most of them many many times over.
And every time I fly back to the US, as
(08:37):
I did a week ago from Singapore, I have this emotion.
I want to get down on my hands and knees
and kiss the ground and say, Dear God, thank you
that I live in this country. Thank you. It is.
You know, we got our problems here in the United States,
but this is the greatest country on Earth, and right
(09:00):
now we live in the greatest time of the United
States of America. We really do. Kathy and I have
this philosophy. Whatever it is in life you wanted to
be at, travel, family, experience anything, do it while you can,
and go while you can. You know, a great opportunity
(09:24):
to find out where your next travel adventure can be
is that the Utah Travel Expo, which is coming up
in about two months, and it opens in Saint George.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
That's right on Wednesday, January twenty second, from eleven am
to six pm.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
So basically all day.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
I'll be there all day the New Black Doesert Resort
in Ivans, Utah, and it is free admission.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
You know, we have travel advisors coming now. Mark, it's
back in Salt Lake and you've joined me there a
number of times Friday and Saturday, January twenty fourth and
twenty fifth on Friday two to eight and Saturday ten
am to five at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy. Now,
I'm gonna probably get fired for this, but it's a
(10:09):
ticket an event free in Saint George. Six bucks for adults,
five bucks for seniors. Kids seventeen and under free in
Salt Lake. However, for our Travel Show listeners, I'm gonna
give you all the free tickets you want printum for
your neighborhood, your ward, your congregation, your synagogue, your family.
(10:30):
Simply go to morriscolumbus dot com forward slash free, Morriscolumbus
dot com forward slash free and you can get all
the free tickets you want. Hey, that's six bucks a ticket.
Hey more when we come back here on the Travel Show.
(10:55):
Welcome back to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Elwick's the
Getaway Duru joined today by my dear friend of gosh
fifty five years, Mark Layton. He and by the way,
Mark and I not only first became friends in the
Hinckley Hall at BYU in our freshman year nineteen sixty
(11:18):
eight sixty nine. Then we both left on LDS missions,
but when we came back we both played rugby for BYU.
And I call for you rugby lovers, you'll recognize this title.
I called him the white jonah Lomu Jonah Lamu. It
(11:39):
was a big Maori Polynesian, fantastic guy, a man of character.
But he played wing out there and just rolled people.
That's what Mark Clayton did. How tall are you six
four six ' four? That's about what John Lomu is anyway.
And Mallory, his daughter, is a traveler advisor from the
(12:00):
Saint George office of Morris Columbus Travel. They're both very
well traveled. I mentioned earlier Mallory, you've been to some
forty three countries. What are a couple of your favorite adventures, destinations,
travel experiences, and most importantly why all right?
Speaker 4 (12:21):
I love everything that touches the Mediterranean Sea probably my
favorite destinations.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Poor Qua.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Parsko because uh Turkey.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
So Turkey and Greece are probably my top for those
that area Turkey, the Kappadocia region, they have, the underground
cities they have. We did the Alara Valley hike where
we hiked into a cafe that was over the water
and it was just unreal, nothing I've ever experienced before.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I love Turkey too. And by the way, I'm looking
at Google travel searches and Turkey and you mentioned Greece. Yeah,
We're have just continued to rise like a rocket in
Google searches, which tells us Mark what people are interested in.
You know, I still enjoy as many times as I've
(13:11):
been there. Istanbul and Ephesus.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Yeah, it just doesn't get better, and they're rising for
good reason.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
They really are where else.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
I would also say Estonia and Lapland in Finland.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Estonia, yes, oh my gosh.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
Some of the best food I've ever had. And you
can climb up until they have these old medieval gates.
You can climb up into the towers and walk the
medieval wall. It was incredible.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
It is now, Mark, you have done so much travel,
particularly and I might call adventure travel sir. What are
some of your favorite experiences.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
Well, a couple were places that you and I went.
When we went to Kachanaburi in Thailand, Oh yes, which
I love that and that was a very solemn and
humbling place to go. And also when we went to
Love to Lawong Propang and Lao, and when we first
got there, we wondered why we were there. It was
so small and so sleepy, but then we discovered the
beauties of it and we found so many things of
(14:10):
interest there. But other places like in India, down in
the very southwestern tip of India in there of Nanthroperum
in the Karala, the capital of Korala, there are just
it's like the garden area of India. And so when
I went down to Pouvar Island on the Nar River
and took this ancient little boat through these mangrelves that
(14:31):
hung over and scraped along the top of the boat.
Going down through that, it was like four hours on
the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. And it goes out past
golden sand beach out into the Arabian Sea. It's just magical.
That's a wonderful.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Pay I remember you mentioned chan Khan Chanaburi that Malay.
Have you ever seen the movie. It's an old movie.
Bridge over the river Kui.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Oh, yes, many times you.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Know that's where you and I went. And it's interesting.
It's almost like a narrow gage rail because it's not
as wide as the rails are. Now this goes back
to even pre World War Two, but the rail was
laid that we went on by the prisoners at the
river Koi. There's actually a cemetery there, a small little
(15:22):
visitors center, and if you understand the history, it is
very emotional because the train stops Mallory and allows you
to get off, actually walk along the trestles and think,
and you can see the spikes that were driven in
by the World War Two prisoners who underwent it. Wasn't
(15:44):
this rosy picture of everybody nice like it is in
the movie Mark.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
Yes, And it's fascinating when you and I got out
of that one rest stop and walked back along the
trestle and then we came to a cave and there
were there was cement work that had been laid by
the prisoners there and they put their handprints in and
their initials. I remember that, yes, and and that that
was fascinating and uh, there's another good movie that relates
this and it's called the Railway Man and tell and
(16:12):
tells that story as well.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Yeah, you mentioned Luong Probong in it's pronounced both lao
and laos is preferred. That's the prof The natives pronounce
it lao. We Americans call it laos and that came
from John Kennedy when he was president. He said laos.
And it's just kind of stuck and kind of stuck.
This Luong Probong a colleague of mine. I don't know
(16:37):
if you met him, Jeff Rex sissen uh in Thailand,
Kuon Jeff, Kuon Jeff now Kuhn. They'd call you Kuon
Mark Kun Larry. It's like mister you know signor Mark
signor Larry, but it's Kon k h u n so
Kuon Jeff. I work a lot with him. He has
a tour operation over there, and he's been after me
(17:00):
for years to go Luong Promong. And it's like you said, I, okay,
I'll go, and I'm sitting there. We're there. You and
I were there three days, yes, And it's like, why
am I even here? This is the most boring thing.
I'm gonna be slap Jeff when I see him. Then
I'm changing on day two. By day three, Malory, who
(17:22):
is I don't want to leave this place. It's beautiful,
it's it's just fantastic. You know a question that I'm
often asked, Larry, You've been everywhere, what is your favorite
place here? And I always ask, what's the purpose of
the trip? For now? And my favorites don't have to
be your favorite. It's a personal choice. But I say,
(17:43):
for absolute physical beauty that overwhelms the senses, explodes the brain.
French Polynesia. The marquess is Tahiti Bora Bora morea for
something exotic, different, great value, great food, gentle people, a
place that I would live if it weren't for my
(18:04):
kids and grandkids. Thailand. Yeah, Now it's hard for Europe
in the Middle East. For history, hard to beat Europe
in the Middle East. But for an adventure, it's the
Great Migration in which is only the months of July,
August and September in Kenya and Tanzania. For a lot
of reasons, Kenya is your better choice. Hey, a lot
(18:27):
more with some specials to Mexico all inclusives and Hawaii.
You're listening to the travel show, I'm Larry Gelwicks, that
get away guru, and we'd love to have you join us.
You really are at the star of the show. Perhaps
(18:49):
some questions, your experiences, your recommendations. Give us a call
at Triple eight five seven oh eighth one. Oh that's
eight eight eight five seven eighty ten. I'm joined today
in studio by Mark Layton, my friend of some I
don't know fifty five years. We were teammates and went
to school together and one of the most well traveled
(19:12):
men that I know, second to me, of course. And
Mallory his daughter, who works in the Saint George office,
one of our great travel advisors of Morris Columbus Travel.
My first trip to Hawaii was in nineteen sixty six.
(19:34):
I was sixteen years old. I was a little surfer
boy growing up in California, in San Francisco. I used
to cut school and go down to with my buddies
to Santa Cruz and Steamer's Lane is the place in
Santa Cruz that the surfing is and it's just north
of the boardwalk and the amusement park theme park right
(19:58):
there on the beach, And of course we thought we
were very cool. I was never a really good surfer,
but you know, I enjoyed it. I was never one
of these that you'd see on the Wide World of
Sports or anything like that. I fell in love with Hawaii. Now,
(20:19):
both of you have been to Hawaii. In fact, Mark,
you and I went to Hawaii in nineteen seventy five.
We were both playing rugby for BYU and we went
out there for about a week and had two matches,
one against BYU Hawaii then known as the Church College
of Hawaii but BYU Hawaii and one against the University
(20:41):
of Hawaii the Ladder there in Kapiolani Park in hod
Lulu right there at Waikiki, and the other out Inaea.
And Mallory, you've been to Hawaii many times. Mallory, what
is it as a travel advisor as you talk to people?
What is the magic of Hawaii?
Speaker 2 (21:03):
A lot of it is history.
Speaker 4 (21:04):
A lot of people want to see Pearl Harbor and
then also the Polynesian Cultural Center. They wanted to experience
all of those cultures in one place.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Yeah, and it's magical.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Then you mentioned Pearl Harbor. Do you know what the
date is a week from today?
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Well, I think you're going to refer to December.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Seventh, December seventh, the day that will live in infamy.
You know, the Japanese came in two waves. The first
one hit at seven point fifty five am, the second
wave at eight twenty and their intent was to destroy
the American fleet, the Pacific fleet. What they didn't count
(21:43):
on and were disappointed is that all of the flattops,
all of the aircraft carriers were out of port. That
really was their target. And they did a lot of
damage there. And you know, it's a very moving experience,
and mark if you go there, don't buy a tour
(22:04):
of Pearl Harvard. Take the US Navy tour and you
can make a reservation for it. It's free of charge.
They have a nice visitor center. They show you a
video of it, and then you go out on the
Navy launch and they have a little like a visitor
center outdoors right over the USS Arizona. And to this day, Mallory,
(22:27):
you can see oil and gas still leaking. You know,
right after the attack, they went divers went down there
and you know, using underwater torches they ignited some of
the gas and they were killed. So now they've made
you know, you have a thousand plus men entombed in there.
(22:52):
What's really interesting is for survivors who served on the Arizona,
they can be buried in the inside the Arizona. To
this date, they have to be cremated and a diver
takes them down under one of the turrets. They'll actually
(23:12):
entomb them or bury them with their shipmates. Fascinating history there, Mark,
What is it about Hawaii that attracts you, that just
draws you there.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
It's in the smell in the air when you first
step off the plane, and even even with the smells
of an airport, you can smell the plumeria and the
tubros and the ocean, and it's just all of it's sweet.
It's just a lovely place to be.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
You know something I've mentioned before, As you know, there
are words in other languages for which there is no
English equivalent, no direct translation, and one of them in
Simon is holy ghost or spirit. Now there's two words,
(23:59):
there's angang and manna. Now anganga has a religious connotation
the spirit, the holy spirit, the holy ghost. So in
any religious context, if you're talking about I feel the
spirit something draws me to my church or synagogue, it
(24:20):
would be anganga. But they have another word mana, for
which there is no English equivalent, And mana is this
what spirit of aloha people talk about it. You feel
a drawing power. You can take Polynesians anywhere in the
world and they feel a link back to their home
(24:43):
island Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, French Polynesia, Hawaii and so on.
And that's what we feel, Mallory. You feel something there.
You know, the Polynesians would talk about the mana in
the the uh tahi, which is the ocean, in the
coconut trees, in the rocks, in the hill, everything about it.
(25:07):
They feel a spirit, you know, a spirit that is
in all things and through all things and giveth life
to all things. That's what they feel. I think that
draws us to Hawaii. And now, if you're gonna go
to Hawaii, Mallory, you sell a lot of Hawaii. I
have always advocated getting an air and hotel package, or
(25:29):
maybe you have your own time share or staying with
a friend, get an air and car special and rates
and promotions different by airline. But I've talked on this
show about secret airfares. I want you to explain to
our listeners what is crazy Larry talking about secret airfairs,
(25:50):
So why does he call it a secret airfare?
Speaker 4 (25:52):
Well, crazy, Larry, this is a real thing. So the
secret affairs are unpublished fares. So what we see online
when we're start for flights, So they're the published fares.
That's the price you pay that they obviously they publish.
But when you package flight with car, or with hotel
or both, we're able to book an unpublished fair or
(26:13):
a secret fair that they don't publish for the general public.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
You can't buy it air only.
Speaker 2 (26:18):
No, no, it's impossible.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Now I call it secret because Mark, if you were
to call the reservation desk for any major airline, they
have no idea. The legal term is a tour operator fair.
It is an unpublished fairs, and airlines know historically how
many empty seats they're going to have a flight, and
(26:41):
once that door closes, there is no opportunity to sell
the seat. And so they have a handful of tour operators,
Morris Columbus being one of them, and the only one
that I know of in the great state of Utah
and Idaho. Well, if there's others, I just don't even
(27:02):
know about them. But has their own contracts, their own
secret airfare contracts, and also we can deal with other
tour operators, but you get such a deep discount. Let
me give you an example. First of all, we talked
about Hawaii. I love the all inclusives in Mexico. Now
(27:24):
let me give you just an example. I was looking
at kN Kun at a first class hotel. Mallory the
Reu Riiu is a chain of hotels. How good are
they in Mexico?
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Oh, they're great, they are great.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
I'm looking at Cancun, the Real Yucatan all inclusive and
what does that include? Mallory all inclusive.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Everything, all of your food, your your room, drinks.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Everything, airfare, it's airfare, it's the transfers from the airport
to the resort, the resort, as you mentioned, the meals,
the drinks. Most of your act today is what they
call is non motorized activities. If you want a speedboat,
we you're gonna have to pay for that, a jet ski,
you're gonna have to pay for it. But all the
(28:09):
other activities that don't have a motor they're included. And
for you cheap skates out there. And I'm looking at
you Mark Layton, sir. Not only are your taxes included,
but your tips and gratuities are included. You won't have
that moment of crisis mark that you often face. Should
I really tip him a whole quarter?
Speaker 3 (28:30):
You know?
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Well you are never mind, I'd say you are from
Utah County, But that's another story. So here's what it
is now. Rates vary by departure dates and are subject
to availability at the time of booking. So I'm looking
at late January, what a great time to hit Cancun. Specifically,
the basic package is six days, five nights. You can
(28:53):
extend it and of course the price is adjusted. But
at the real Yucatan all inclusion of four star, first class,
a great property. January thirtieth to February fourth, six days,
nine hundred and eighty six bucks, and that includes airfare
that includes everything you could go down there without a pay.
(29:13):
So now let me break it down. Remember the number
nine eighty six That is with Southwest Airlines, and I'm
using Salt Lake City. You know, we're syndicated on nineteen
stations across the country all the way to the east coast.
We have stations listening in. But I can't give fifty airports,
(29:34):
So I'm going to use Salt Lake City where I
am nine eighty six and this is Southwest. They actually
have a super sale on right now air only four
forty six. I mean, that's insane now and they give
free luggage on Southwest airlines. The hotel, if you bought
(29:54):
the hotel by itself, is eight hundred and ninety three
dollars and then transfers about eighty bucks round trip. That
totals one thousand, four hundred and nineteen dollars if you
bought this package by itself, but if you buy it
together bundled, it's nine hundred and eighty six. That mark
is per person savings four hundred and thirty three dollars
(30:18):
per person times two, as if a couple were going,
you're going to save eight hundred and eighty six dollars
by using a secret airfare and buying it as a package. Yeah,
and oh we mentioned Hawaii. Hawaii's gotten kind of pricey.
You know, some of the rates are coming down. There's
(30:40):
a really good hotels called the twin Fin mark. What
is a twin fin.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
It's at the back of the surfboard. You have two
skegs instead of just one.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
You have two fins or Skegs right there. It's a
four star, first class hotel. Again, I looked at January
thirtieth to February fourth, six days, five nights, a thousand
and forty three per person, double occupancy that hardly covers
the airfare. It's a great time to buy your Mexico
(31:12):
or Hawaii. Well, listen, when we come back, I want
to share some travel memories and experiences that have shaped
my life and yours here on the Travel Show. Welcome
(31:33):
back to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwich, your humble host.
Humility a character trade I've never been accused of. And
may I give my sincere thank you, you know, for
joining us every weekend here on the Travel Show. We
have so much fun. I got to tell you that
I look forward to Saturdays, and some of our East
(31:54):
Coast affiliates actually rebroadcasting on Sunday, But I look, I
so look forward to coming to the studio and sharing
this time with you. And may I say that probably
five or six times a week I'll be somewhere at
a store, at a restaurant and people will say, oh,
you're Larry Gelwick's the getaway Guru. Usually they say you're
(32:17):
the getaway Guru and we stop and chat. What often
happens is people say, oh, I recognize your voice. I
recognize that voice. You know thirty three years on the
radio and a lot of experiences. But thank you so
much for joining us, and I'm pleased to welcome to
(32:37):
the travel show, Mallory Layton from our Saint George office
of Morris Columbus Travel. Be sure to check out the
Morris Columbus website Morriscolumbus dot Commorriscolumbus dot com if you
want to join any of the escorted tours. The brand
name for Morris Columbus Escorted Tours is Morris Murdoch Escorted Tour.
(33:00):
On the homepage, scroll down, it's a third item. Click
on the destination or click on cruises. We're joined today
by Mallory's father, Mark Layton, who is a travel adventure
has been just about everywhere. He and I have been
the best of friends for fifty five years, starting at
age eighteen at Hinckley Hall dorms at BYU and then
(33:24):
we both played for BYU Rugby and we're teammates. We
mentioned that in March of nineteen ninety five, Mark, you
and I as members of the Not excuse me. Nineteen
seventy five, as members of the BYU rugby team flew
to Hawaii. That was a great trip, you know, Mallory,
(33:49):
we talked earlier about the emotions that are generated by
travel and the experience is why we love it. Share
with our listeners. Maybe one of your travel advance as
you've been to forty three countries, that is memorable and.
Speaker 4 (34:05):
Why one of my adventures I think would be up
in Finland. We found a place where we could do
ice krting, so go karting out in the ice in
the open air with you know, a three pm sunset,
and that was just something we happened upon and we thought, well, why.
Speaker 2 (34:23):
Not let's do it.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
That was in Finland, Yes, in Finland, uh Mark, what
about you?
Speaker 3 (34:32):
Well for an adventure, Palau in the Pacific in Micronesia
was very interesting because you can be going down the
street there and they have these giant pots, you know,
they'll be cooking and they'll be cooking giant clam and
sea turtle.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
I remember when you took this trip.
Speaker 3 (34:46):
Yes, that was a lot of fun. And my dad
had told me stories of World War two and then
when I went out exploring the different islands like Bubbel
Dab and Paley Lou. On palleey Lou, I recognized, I
recognize nice things that my dad had told me that
upon seeing them, I remember, yes, that's just the way
my dad described it from World War two. And Plow
(35:08):
is very interesting. Everybody there choose batel nut. It's basically
right for your teeth.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
It's awful.
Speaker 3 (35:14):
It's actually areka nut wrapped up in betel leaf and lime,
and so everybody choose this. It's kind of like an
narcotic and it turns their teeth like you're reddish. And
they all carry a little can to spit it in.
And it's everyone, the man, the women, everybody. But I
can hardly wait. Yes, but you know, but the things
(35:34):
to see like on Paaleleew where all these great World
War two battles took place up on the Umbigrel Massive
which they call Bloody nos Ridge. That was the worst
fighting terrain of all of World War two. It was
just such brutal, you know, Coral Rock Mountain.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
You know what I love to do, Mark is go
on YouTube and see actual video from historical events and
you can see a lot of World War two in
the Pacific and in Europe right on YouTube now, Mallory,
you are an expert travel advisor in the Saint George
(36:14):
office of Morris Columbus Travel. You give a lot of
advice to people. If you had to just kind of
sink it down, what is some of your best travel advice?
Speaker 4 (36:27):
I would say the number one thing is to actually
follow the advice. The advice is given for a reason.
I had an experience where I won't say where or
kind of the circumstances since my dad is here, but
you want to always take a marked taxi, and I
ended up in a situation where we didn't. We were
just in a hurry. We thought, oh, this will be fine.
(36:49):
Obviously I'm still here to tell the story, but we
really learned a lesson that day. Always take a mark taxi,
and even better than that, book a transfer in advance
so that you have someone waiting for you with your
name on us and they know you're going with you.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
Know, that's great advice because at every airport, particularly overseas,
you have people, hey, do you need a taxi? Do
you need a taxi? And they're they're unauthorized tax You
have nothing, you know nothing about the safety, the rate,
and it's oftentimes a shakedown and it also can get
(37:22):
very dangerous. So when you come into a place you
need a taxi, you know, go to the Mark Taxis.
You can also check with the Tourist office of what
are the authorized companies and usually if they're marked, they're
okay for that. So, you know, great travel memories, they
(37:43):
just kind of shape our lives, you know.
Speaker 3 (37:45):
Mark.
Speaker 1 (37:46):
Everybody asks me, when are you going to retire? Larry,
and I say, what do people do when they retire?
They travel? Well, that's what I'm doing now and I'm
even getting paid to do it. Hey, when we come
back to our number two, we're going to talk about
Christmas and some of the great escorted tours offered by
Morris Columbus Traveler. Welcome back to our number two of
(38:11):
the Travel Show in the Best two Hours in Radio.
I'm Larry Gelwiz, the Getaway Guru, joined today in studio
by Mallory Lighton, one of our travel advisors in the
Saint George office. And what is your direct line? Mallory?
Speaker 4 (38:26):
Oh, I don't have that memorize. Actually, I'll keep it
written in front of me. My extension, my extension number is.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Folk signals zero. Okay, we'll figure out your phone now
here and joined by her father that I invited Mallory's
up from Saint George with her family for Thanksgiving. And
Mark and I have been the best of friends for
fifty five years, teammates on the BYU rugby team. We've
traveled the world together. And guys, we you know, we
(38:58):
just finished Thanksgiving couple of days ago. And can you
believe that in twenty six days Christmas is here? Twenty
six days and we love Christmas. I already told you.
Joy to the World was originally written as a Easter
(39:19):
song for an Easter service. Jingle Bells by another name
was originally written as a Thanksgiving song. I think David
City probably is a good That's one of my favorite
Christmas hymns is David City. Anyway, Mallory, growing up in
the Layton household must have been a unique experience.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
I know your father very well, and there's things about
your father that I won't tell you, and he has
things about me that he won't tell you. But what
is a Christmas tradition in the Layton household that you
remember from your childhood?
Speaker 4 (40:03):
Well, it would start on Christmas Eve, we would always
start opening Christmas pajamas and then we would say, what
about one more? We look over at our dad and
he would just see us so happy, and he'd say, Okay,
one more and then and then it just kept going
one more, one more, one more, one more, until we'd
opened everything under the tree. And that happened every year.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Is that true? Mark? Is you were responsible for that?
You know? A Christmas tradition in the Gelwick's household. Amongst
everything else in your stocking, you always get an orange,
always an orange. And my mother grew up, was born
and raised in southern Alberta, and they were poor, They
(40:46):
really were poor. And my grandfather was a grain elevator
operator for the trains, but it was seasonal work and
all of that. And a couple of things. First of all,
they called them hoboes, more of the homeless. The hoboes
would ride the rails, and they had always come to
(41:09):
Grandma and Grandpa Mercer's house. Those are my grandparents. As
poor as they were, they always fed them. But one Christmas,
my mother was a small child, you know, about eight
nine years old. The only thing she wanted was a
Shirley temple doll that was it, and they had no
(41:32):
money for it. In fact, that year, all the kids
got was an orange, which was a real treat. You know.
You go back to the nineteen thirties. My mother was
born in nineteen twenty four, and that's so the early thirties,
going into the depression. They had nothing. And you think
(41:53):
of all that we have at Christmas time. It's Christmas
gift overload. All she and her siblings got was an orange.
That's all the parents could afford. And I have never
forgotten that story and hearing my mother tell me how
blessed we are, you know. And so I've told that
(42:17):
to our five children, for Kathy and I since they
were little. They know the story, and every year I
give them an orange and I recount the story that
they know, but I tell the story again. Christmas is
a wonderful time and a lot of different ideas for
Christmas gifts. Morris Columbus has an idea for a Christmas gift.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
How about a Morris Columbus a gift certificate.
Speaker 1 (42:44):
You know what I like about that mark is you
give a gift certificate. You can pick a specific trip
or what I like to do and suggest is pick
a dollar amount and they can apply it to anything
that they want from an airline ticket, a cruise, a tour, whatever,
and they can look at a globe and pick where
(43:08):
they want to go. And this gift certificate is a
nice certificate, beautifully printed, and it would be a memorable gift.
What I'd like to suggest is get the gift certificate
and include a map of the world, and then sit
down with the happy recipient and talk about your experiences,
(43:30):
your travels around the world. Now, let's do something very quick.
We're going to play Stump the dummy with you.
Speaker 3 (43:36):
Mark.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
It's one of my favorite games. You have two seconds
to answer this question. Think of a Christmas gift that
you got, say two or three years ago. You can't,
you can't now. I want you in two seconds to
think back to your childhood. You grew up in Compton.
(44:00):
I've heard stories about Compton and occasionally it makes the news.
That was a rough neighborhood, Mallory. And think of a trip,
a vacation, a holiday near or far, short or long.
I don't want the details, just the destination.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
Sledding in the mountains, going up into the califoun mountains.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
Okay, why is it that we can't think of a
Christmas gift from one to two, three, or whenever years ago,
but immediately we can think of a travel experience. And
the reason for that is a basketball, a new dress,
a new shirt, a tie, a sweater, these are a book.
(44:42):
These are wonderful gifts. They really are. We're not diminishing them,
but they're things. And things don't generate emotions or memories.
We're an experience, be it travel, be it family, be
it friendship, be it social whatever generates memories that immediately
(45:03):
mark you could go back to your childhood remember. And
that's what the gift of travel will do. And a
Morris Columbus Gift Certificate is perfect. I got another another
great Christmas gift, and that is Dan Hone, who I
consider the smartest man that I know on all things
Holy Land. He will never tell you about the behind
(45:26):
the scenes with heads of state that have contacted him,
heads of state in the Middle East to talk to
him about ongoing situations in his church. The highest level
of church leaders still contact him. He was a founding
member of the Byu Jerusalem Center, lived in Israel for
(45:47):
twelve ten years, got his graduate degree from an Israeli University,
sixteen different languages, most of them ancient languages are in
his studies. Just published a book, The Foundations of Scriptural Understanding.
It's volume one of an eight volume series. This spring,
(46:08):
the volume two comes out on festivals and holidays and
celebrations in modern and ancient Israel and the Holy Land area.
By the way, the Holy Land is so much more
than just Israel. Half of the Bible was in what
we call Jordan today, Jordan, in Egypt, you know, so really,
(46:29):
I think Holy Land is Israel, Jordan and Egypt. You
can get some up into Syria, but not a lot
right there. His book, The Foundation of Scriptural Understanding, is
the perfect Christmas gift. You can go to Amazon and
order it, Barnes and Noble online and order it, or
(46:50):
direct from him. Travel Studies Institute dot org, Travel Studies
Institute dot org and choose shop, or just go to Amazon,
particularly if you're a Prime member. You can get free
shipping for that. The Foundations of Scriptural Understanding. You know,
Dad is also leading a kind of an apostolic to
(47:14):
our next August. It's the Turkey and Greece, the Holy
Land and it's Turkey. They have a cruise and they
have a pre cruise option to Istanbul. What you're really doing,
Mark is following the ministry of Peter, John and Paul
(47:35):
and it's fascinating. There's a post cruise. There's a one
week cruise there from Istanbul to Rome and so much
of the Greek islands where these things took place. But
check this out. It's August twenty third to September, the
first eleven days, ten nights and if you go to
(47:56):
Morriscolumbus dot com and click on Morris Murdock Escorted Tours
and click on holy Lands, it's listed under holy Lands
and that's next August and September.
Speaker 4 (48:10):
Larry, I want to jump in. I just want to
put a plug in for the pre and post tours.
I think they're always worth it. You get so much
more out of the trip and it's phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
I mean, you land at Rome, really the port city
chivvy Tavecchia, but why not even if you've been there,
Rome is one of those cities you can go back
to again again and again, and a pre cruise you'll
see so much of Greece. We talked earlier about Greece
when we come back. We're going to talk about the
(48:42):
cruise tips, the first time cruisers and cruise cabins to
a boy here on the Travels Welcome back to the
Travel Show. Thank you for joining us this weekend. I
(49:04):
assume you're out shopping for my Christmas gift. I prefer large,
unmarked bills starting with C notes. But we'll tell or
seize chocolate. I love sees chocolates. You know what would
be great? You could give me an orange. We talked
about that. You know, suddenly I have boxes of oranges.
I'm joined today on the Travel Show by my good
(49:25):
friend Mark Layton and his daughter, Mallory Layton. Mallory is
one of the travel advisors in the Saint George office
of Morris Columbus Travel. She's up for the weekend with
her family. We talked about some of those Christmas traditions.
By the way you open the pjs on Christmas Eve,
and then your dad just said keep opening. That's what
(49:48):
as kids, we all we can only open one, and
we knew what it was. It was always new pjs
for us. Mallory, you work with a lot of people
on booking and arranging their crew's experience is what is
the best some of the best crews advice that you
(50:10):
would give.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
The best cruise advice.
Speaker 4 (50:12):
I already mentioned booking pre tours and post tours, and
that could be done through an escort, a tour, or
we can arrange something more individual, more separate for that. Also,
pay attention to where you want your cabin to be.
Do you like to feel the water, do you like
to hear the anchor, Do you like to hear the
pool chairs drag above your ceiling? Or do you like
(50:34):
a more stable, quiet experience.
Speaker 1 (50:37):
Yes, I love to hear the engine and the anchor
banging across my cabin. Well, let's talk first about what
I consider cabins to avoid. First of all, avoid cabins
that are right below the pool and the pool deck. No,
you're not going to have Noah's flood number two coming
(50:59):
through your ceiling, but you can pick up a lot
of noise up on the pool deck. You also want
to avoid cabins that are right above the theater or lounges,
unless you enjoy waking up at midnight to a standing
ovation or something, because some of the noise can bubble
through if you're right above the theater or some of
(51:21):
the lounges, and unless you have kids, I would stay
away from some of the kids area. Now this is
not anti kids, it's I love travel. I've we've cruised
with our grandchildren. It's fantastic and they love the kids' activities.
But it also can get noisy as they're running up
(51:41):
and down the hall. You want that choir experience. Now,
this is not so much an issue on the newer
ship's mallory, but on some of the refurbished ships. If
you're right at the aft or rear of the ship,
right above the engine room. I've been on some of
the old ships that have been refurbished, and I still
(52:03):
get a little bit of vibration. It's kind of like Mark,
you know at the at the furniture showplace, those massage
chairs that you love to sit in. You know, it's
kind of what it is for a week as I
dish your father. Those are the ones some of the
advice and I want to ask you if you want
(52:25):
to buy a ticket to LA, just go online and
buy it. You know, you can go to Delta dot
com or United dot com, or you can go to
what's called a an aggregator site bringing all the airlines together.
Something like kayak dot com is one that I like
to look at, but I never I never book it
(52:47):
with Kayak. I get the information there, but I think
you're nuts. If you book a cruise by yourself. Always
use a travel advisor.
Speaker 2 (52:58):
Why well, travel advised.
Speaker 4 (53:00):
They are added discounts and amenities that can be added
on that are specifically contracted with the travel company, So
with Morris Columbus Travel, for example. Cruise lines give extra
onboard credit, sometimes an additional discount, or we can book
into a special group that has those.
Speaker 1 (53:19):
Things, and this is in addition to whatever the cruise
line is offering itself. It's very interesting. For many years
I did the negotiations for our travel company with vendors airlines, resorts, hotels,
cruise lines, and particularly with cruise lines. It was they
(53:40):
would say, now, Larry, we're going to give you this
extra bonus, not on every sailing, but on some sailings,
or for maybe for two or three week period, We're
going to give you this extra bonus. Maybe it's a discount,
maybe it's a free this or a free that, but
you can't talk about it on your radio show. You
(54:01):
can't advertise. But when people call you can tell them,
of course I talked about it anyway, what are they
going to do? But those are the extras again on
every sailing, No, on many sailings. Yes. The other thing is,
it's very interesting. There's a two tiered price structure now
(54:23):
and there's like on Norwegian they call it the sail
away fair. There is a one cruise fare that is
just a cruise, and there are is another cruise fair
that includes the freebies, and there's a price difference. It's
not free. The other thing I suggest is, whenever possible,
(54:46):
put down a refundable deposit. Now, sometimes there's a price difference,
the same with hotels for a non refundable deposit or
payment and a refundable or but sometimes it makes no difference.
Always go with a refundable deposit if you can. Also,
for particularly mark for people in our age bracket. I'm
(55:09):
a young man trapped in an old man's body. I
highly recommend almost insisting on travel insurance. Yes, we just
had a couple had to cancel a twelve thousand dollars
trip they had for medical reasons. They had travel insurance.
They didn't lose a dime on it. And I know
(55:29):
another couple that was on the Spice route that about
the same that they spent and they lost it all,
and yet they were offered but declined. Remember that on
board the Internet is additional on most sailings except the
Ultra Deluxe ones. Pick your stateroom carefully. The location means everything.
(55:54):
And you know, I remember the day where you kind
of had to dress up for meals, which I really
think was for the ladies. If that sounds sexist, I apologize,
but you know, you don't have to take a tux
or even a suit on a cruise unless that you
want to. And you know, it used to be that
(56:16):
all meals were included. Now most meals are included, but
every cruise line has what they call specialty dining and
you'll pay extra for that. Well, listen all that and
more when we come back. I'm going to tell you
about how to get away with the Getaway Guru. You're
(56:39):
listening to the travel show. I'm Larry Gelwick's the get
Away Guru, and I'm about to get away coming up
in the next little bit, I'll be leaving for Germany,
Austria and Hungary with the Christmas Market Group. We have
a wonderful group of travel show old listeners. We'll be
(57:01):
flying to Munich, spend three days there in Bavaria, visit
nos Schwanstein, the Disneyland Castle, ober Amagau and Munich, and
then we cruise from Nuremberg to Budapest, including stops in Germany,
Regensburg and Passau, crossed the Austrian bordered to Milk and Vienna,
(57:22):
and then down to Budapest. We're really looking forward to
I just get back from Singapore and soon I'll be
leaving for Munich. You know, I don't even know what
time it is. Mark. I'm joined today by Mallory Layton
with the Morris Columbus office in Saint George and her
father Mark Layton, who I've traveled the world with, and
(57:44):
he and I have been the best of friends since
nineteen sixty eight when we were eighteen years old freshman
at BYU, and after both of us serving our missions,
played on the BYU rugby team. You know, it's very flattering.
In many of our offices people will come in and
I guess it's because of the radio and TV. They say,
(58:05):
give me a list of Larry's tours. So I'm in
just you know, bullet rapid fire. I want to mention
some not all, but some that are coming up in
twenty twenty five, and Mark and Mallory if you have
something to say, just a bullet point about it, let
me know. June twelfth to the twenty second. I've done
(58:29):
this one before. We'll be sailing with a brand new
ship relative it's just a couple of years old, with
Norwegian Cruise Line, which offers a free air fare which
is really a buy one, get one free. We start
in Iceland and we make three stops in Iceland and
then Norway, Olison and Bergen, the Fjords down to well,
(58:53):
I'll be Amsterdam in the Netherlands to Bruges, Belgium, which
maybe maybe one of the most beautiful cities in all
of Europe. Famous for the laces.
Speaker 4 (59:02):
Oh beautiful lace, and also they have really good fries there.
Speaker 1 (59:07):
Yeah. In fact, have you ever eaten at the waffle
shop around here called Bruges. I'm actually going there after
this show. It's my daughter Jenny's birthday, and that's we
always go out to eat somewhere and that's what she picked.
And so very happy birthday to my wonderful daughter Jenny.
And I'll be eating at the Bruges and then back
(59:30):
to the cruise. We go to London and we will
have a pre recufect Iceland option and a post option
in London June twelfth to twenty two. By the way,
you can get all of these at Morriscolumbus dot com.
Click on the homepage the Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours and
(59:51):
then click on cruises for these if it involves a cruise,
all right, British Isles, mark the British Isles. What is
something about the British Isles. They speak a form of English.
Speaker 3 (01:00:05):
It's a form of English, but it's just lovely. It's
our ancestry as far as the country and a lot
of us as far as our own personal history.
Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
Well, this is a round trip cruise from Southampton, England,
which is obviously in the south of England, and we
will visit England, Ireland, Northern Ireland which is still part
of the UK, and Scotland. I think one of the
highlights will be the ship. We spend a day in
the Have France, which is d Day. The Normandy Beach
(01:00:38):
is the American Cemetery and it is an emotional experience
and again I talked earlier in the show about going
on YouTube and seeing the actual video of historical events.
You can do that with D Day and the landing,
and there's some great documentaries about it. Those dates are
July seven to twenty July seventh twenty Mallory. You've had
(01:01:03):
some people, in fact go on the Safari, the Great
Migration Safari, which is the largest migration of land animals
on Earth. Nothing comes close to it. You have close
to one and a half to two million Will deebaests
on the move and it only happens July, August and September.
(01:01:25):
There's nothing like it, nothing even close to I've been
to safaris all over Africa and nothing if you want
to see animals, but by day three you will have
seen typically fifty species, not including the birds. And it's
only in Kenya and Tanzania. For a long list of reasons,
Kenya is the better choice. What do your guests and
(01:01:48):
clients say when they come back from this experience?
Speaker 4 (01:01:51):
Every single one of them has come home saying it
was life changing and they can't wait to get back.
That is like the top of their top favorite.
Speaker 1 (01:02:00):
It's very interesting you mentioned life changing because that's an
overused phrase. But that is the number one comment that
I hear, starting with my wife Kathy didn't really want
to go. She thought it was going to be chuck
a rama for the lions and that's all we're going
to see it. I mean, sure they got to eat too,
but that's just one element.
Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
Do not chuck aramillarry.
Speaker 1 (01:02:23):
That's right, that's right. But she's been several times now.
The first time she came back so enthusiastic. Actually, Mark
brought her here on the show to talk about a
woman's perspective who was hesitant to go. The dates on
the Great Migration is August twentieth to the thirtieth. It's
(01:02:45):
eleven days, twenty to thirty count them out, it's eleven days.
Then this one, perhaps is the most misunderstood tour and
the one that I have wanted to do as long
as I can member. It's England, Scotland and Wales featuring
(01:03:05):
the Bagpipe Festival. Now that's not the original name of
the tour. You remember the original name of the.
Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
Tour the Tattoo Festival.
Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
Yes, yes, well the Tattoo Festival, which they still call
it in Scotland, has nothing to do with body art.
All right.
Speaker 4 (01:03:22):
I was hoping my dad and I could go and
get matching tattoos.
Speaker 1 (01:03:25):
Well, he's already got a big one of the Angel
Moroni across his back. All right, I've seen it. No no,
no no, and I'm getting back at him because he
used to tackle me and just pulverize me when we
were playing Innsquad scrimmages. I would run away crying when
(01:03:45):
Leyton was coming at me. You see. Anyway, let me
tell you about tattoo. It's only in August the Tattoo Festival.
One hundred million people watch it worldwide. We have taken
that name out of the title because everyone thought I'm
going to go to Scotland to see a tattoo body
art festival. I don't think so. Nobody was buying it.
(01:04:06):
But what it goes back the word tattoo has nothing
to do with body art, but it comes from last
call originally in Dutch pubs in the sixteen hundreds dough
ten taptau dough ten taptau, which meant turn off the taps,
and so a town crier would be telling this to
(01:04:29):
the pub owners and then the military corps or band
would actually play the regiment's core of drums and they
would march through the town late at night, I guess,
waking everybody up. And this was a signal by the
drum corps that the tavern owners should close their taps
(01:04:52):
and send the people and the soldiers in particular back
to the barracks. As this spread to Scotland, well they
had the drum and the bagpipes going through go ten
tap tooe, tap toe, taptoe tattoo. Again nothing to do
with body. But no one was buying onto this. It's
one of the greatest tour's greatest events only for a
(01:05:14):
few weeks in the month of August, so we changed
the name to Scotland, Wales and England Tour featuring the
bag Pipe Festival. And people are buying it right and left.
That is August the eleventh to the twenty first. And
tell me one of the hottest cruise destinations.
Speaker 4 (01:05:35):
Alaska by far. Why everybody wants to go. They want
to take their grandkids, their kids, they want to go
as a couple, they want to go in groups of friends.
It is probably the hottest location, coldest. The hottest is
in we get the most calls for it. Everybody wants
to go to Alaska.
Speaker 1 (01:05:52):
The Alaska cruise season mark. Have you cruised Alaska? No,
I've been up there for a summer and then another
time we got to get on a cruise. I know
a travel advisor in Saint George that can help you
out with that. But it's really May to September. We
have a few cruise lines, maybe the last week of April,
first week of October. And I really like about mid
(01:06:16):
June to late August that it's it's just a better
time and I'll be taking a group. I do this
every year. I have an Alaska cruise August the twenty
third to the thirtieth. And what I like about is
we're sailing from Vancouver to Anchorage. Now you can also
(01:06:38):
go round trip Seattle, which is great. But what I
like about the North South run is you get two
glacier days and to see those glaciers calve and crash
into the it's mind boggling. So on this particular cruise,
we'll see Juno catch you can Skagway. We do our
(01:06:59):
own shoreursions and in Juno we rent our own whale
watching boats and the general public doesn't join us. We
rent our own with some of the expert guides and
go whale watching. That's not me at the buffet, that
is out in the Pacific Ocean. And we do other
(01:07:19):
tours just ourselves. But the highlight for me will be
not only Glacier Bay, which is the granddaddy of them all,
but we go into College Fjord, and in College Fjord,
which the round trip seattles can't get to, there are
thirteen glaciers in that one fjord that we will witness,
(01:07:40):
that we will enjoy, and then up to Anchorage. Hey.
The last one I want to comment and Mark I'd
like to hear from you, is you know how much
I love Thailand. Oh yeah, and Vietnam. It's a Thailand Vietnam,
but it's very different. It includes the Loi Kretong Festival,
which is the biggest, most dolorful, most outrageous celebration in
(01:08:04):
the entire country. So we're going to do Bangkok, the
ancient capital of Suko Tai, the Lloyd Kotong Festival, up
to Chang Mai, which is the foothills of the Himalayas,
and then fly to Vietnam. We spent a couple of
days in Hanoi out to Halong Bay, down by the way.
We're gonna be on a deluxe boat that I have chartered.
(01:08:27):
I've sailed on this very boat. It's ultra deluxe, only
has twenty cabins in Halong Bay and then down to Saigon.
You've spent a lot of time in this part of
the world.
Speaker 3 (01:08:36):
Yes, Holong Bay is fascinating. I love Vietnam.
Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
I just live.
Speaker 3 (01:08:40):
I just love Vietnam. The people are so kind, they're
just they're just so. I love the food, yeah, all
the food, yeah, the food, but all the sites and
being on the rivers. I love riverwork. I love being
on rivers, traveling on rivers, and in Vietnam, you can
travel everywhere on rivers and you could be in in
the ancient capital Hooyan. You can go down to Fung Tao.
Saigon is wonderful. You can go to h O Chiman's mausoleum.
(01:09:05):
Who's got the best, Yes, sir
Speaker 1 (01:09:07):
Very good that the Thailand and Vietnam, including Lloyd Kretong
Festival is October thirtieth is the day we lead late
at night, so you can work that day back November fifteenth,
when we come back, I'm going to tell you which
major airline has filed for bankruptcy,
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