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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:17):
You're listening to the travel show. I'm Larry Gelwicks, they
Get Away Guru, joined by the Argentinian Gauchin himself, that
World Globe trotter Carlos Fieda, Senor bien benitos, amigo benitos.
There we go. Hey, we got a great show lined
up today. I've been so excited about this. We're going
to be talking about in flight theft on an airplane,

(00:39):
how to protect yourself And did you know this Switzerland
and Italy, two of my favorite countries, have redrawn their borders. No,
yes they have.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Who gave up?

Speaker 1 (00:52):
I will tell you, okay, and a representative will be
calling in from the Tourist Authority of Thailand and we'll
get some details on Thailand. And according to the Department
of Transportation, there is a major major airline who will
lose one or more bags on seventy three percent of

(01:14):
their flights. Three quarters of their flights, they're going to
lose one or more bags. I'll tell you which airline
and you can make your decision. You will not believe
the Hawaii and Mexico all inclusive prices. I've got five
star hotel in Honolulu, five star. How could you do
that for the same price as a three star and

(01:37):
you know these on the cruises they offer a drink package.
How many drinks do you have to have to make
it worthwhile? And then, of course, Carlos, you'll be taking
us to South America with some highlights there. All that
on today's Travel show, and may we just express our
appreciation that you're with us today and every week at

(02:00):
this time on this station. We love travel and we
love you well. First of all, in flight theft on
an airplane is a serious problem. Just last week and
three people were victims of an in flight theft where

(02:21):
the person allegedly we have to say allegedly because they've
been arrested. They found out stole twenty three thousand, two
hundred and sixty dollars worth of jewelry that was in
somebody's carry on. Now, I don't know that the thief
knew the jewelry was there, but you know, you can
go there and just start fishing around, particularly on overnight flights,

(02:44):
red eye flights where everybody is asleep. Now onboard theft
is an issue that continues, Carlos, to plague airlines worldwide,
and we have seen a spike in thefts now. Interestingly,
last month, Taiwan's Aviation Police Bureau arrested a man for

(03:06):
allegedly stealing cash out of a carry on luggage on
a flight from Tokyo to Taipei. Elsewhere, a man was
arrested after being accused of stealing over ten thousand dollars
in cash from two passengers on American Airlines flight. I mean,
who carries twenty three thousand dollars worth of jewelry? Well,

(03:29):
if you have to, if you are taking it, you're
not going to put it in your check in luggage.
Put it on theft of check in luggage is a problem. Now,
I do put a tsa approved luck that at least
slowed them down anyway. Police advised passengers to alert the
cabin crew immediately if there's even suspicious behavior. And you know,

(03:55):
budget airlines do offer cheaper tickets and thus a lower
threshold for prospective in flight thieves. So to ward off these,
I think several things. One you mentioned it you can
put it at your feet and with the open part
towards your feet, not the seat in front of you. Well,

(04:16):
I take a roller bag, briefcase, I put my laptop
and things like that and if it's going to be overnight,
I put a lock on it, but I turn it
around so that the zipper front is not facing out,
it's facing inside the overhead carry they're going to have
to take my whole case out, and they don't want

(04:36):
to do that. They when the lights are out and
people are sleeping, they'll just start feeling around with that.
So you want to keep your purses under your seat.
It's still at risk, but in front of you. And
as I told you, the zippers there. And I'll tell
you what my favorite travel pants if I'm going overseas,

(04:57):
has a zipper velcrow right on the quad these massive
quad muscles that I have from my extensive workout.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
I think that they're fat. It's not muscles.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Anyway. I keep my passport and credit cards and things
right there in this velcrow zipper, and uh, you know
that's going to be tough to get into.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
But you know some people.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
I have been on a trip to Lima in fact,
and somebody in one of the interior flights that we took,
the guy lost the passport. He said, I can't find
my passport and we have to apply a passport in
the middle of nowhere to the police first and then
to the American embassy, and then when they returned the passport,
somehow they were detained because he never reported to the embassy.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
I found my passport. You know.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
I had a similar issue a few years ago. We
were on a flight to Hong Kong with a tour
group and on Cathapis, which is a great airline, and
one of our tour members. You know, you have to
show your with Kathay, you show your boarding pass and
your passport as you're getting on the plane, and he

(06:15):
showed his passport, but he gets to his seat and
he can't find it somewhere between the open door, and
everybody was checking everywhere that he couldn't find it. And
this was in San Francisco, and they had to deboard
him because he can't go without a passport. And I said,

(06:35):
I've got to go with the group. You know, our
office will help you. But here's what you need to do.
There's a passport office in San Francisco. Here's when it opens,
here's the address. Be their first thing. Because he had
a photo copy. I always tell people take photo ties
of it. And he got his passport the next day,
but they did find his passport when the plane landed

(06:57):
in Hong Kong and the cleaning crew was cleaning, I
had fallen down somewhere. You want to do that now? Interesting,
Dyonsha loves Switzerland. I was in Switzerland when was I
in Switzerland August? And I love Italy? Who doesn't love Italy?
I know the land of your forefathers. Anyway, Switzerland and

(07:22):
Italy are redrawing some of their borders now. They've redrawn
part of their border in the Alps due to melting glaciers.
Part of the area affected will be beneath the matter Horn,
one of the Europe's tallest mountains and close to a
number of popular ski resorts. You thought you were skiing

(07:44):
in Switzerland, You're now skiing in Italy. See Large sections
of the Swiss Italian border are determined by glacier ridgelines
or areas of perpetual snow. It's always ice, but the
melting glaciers have caused these natural borders to shift, leading
both companies or countries seeking to rectify the border. So

(08:08):
Switzerland officially approved the agreement on the change last Friday,
a week ago yesterday, but Italy has yet to do
the same, but they anticipate that it will take place.
What's interesting is in twenty twenty three, the last full
year of reporting Switzerland, glaciers lost four percent of their volume.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
That's a lot by that's a lot.

Speaker 1 (08:37):
The second biggest lost ever after was twenty twenty two,
the year before, they lost six percent of their glaciers
in glacier melt.

Speaker 3 (08:48):
But you know what, you may think, well, it will
never happen to change the border. But I remember I
was navigating the San Juan River between Costa Rica and Nicaragua,
and the dredge was taken more territory that belonged to
Costa Rica and it could not happen, But yes it did.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Hey, we're talking about Italy. The Colosseum, Forum and Vatican
muse museums are enforcing your ticket entrance time very strict
and if you're not there, they will say sorry, lociento.
They're checking IDs to match the name on the ticket
because some ticket brokers were buying watts and ticket and

(09:32):
then jacking the price up. But now you have to
match that, so be sure if you're visiting the Colisseum,
the Forum, the Vatican Museums, the Sistine chapel have a
photo ID government issued like your passport or a driver's license.
Now the Pantheon, I was sorry to hear this is
now charging five euro to go it. It was originally

(09:55):
a pagan temple then turned into an early Christian temple.
It's very, very interesting. It's only a short step from
the Trevy Fountain. You know, you can easily walk to it,
but it now charges five euro and they are restricting
tickets or they're not restricting ticket sales, and they're even

(10:17):
regulating how many people can go in. Also want to
remind you that Viking Cruises and Morris Columbus Travel will
have two information nights of discounts promotions What's going on
in Saint George October sixteenth at three pm at the
Morris Columbus Travel Office and on Thursday, October seventeenth at

(10:39):
the Morris Columbus Salt Lake office which is first South
and second East that will be at six pm. This
will be fantastic information on Viking cruises, special discounts and promotions.
You don't want to miss it more. When we come
back from Thailand here on the travel show Sowadi Cup

(11:12):
and greetings from the travels show, Carlos, I should said
be in Beneto's a travel show, but today it's Sowadi Cup.
We are headed to Thailand. And you know, Carlos, how
many times have I told you that if it weren't
for my kids and grandkids, I would live in Thailand.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
I don't know, how are you going to do that?
Because everybody thinks that we go so often. Well you
may have another.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
Fun you know. In twenty sixteen, I made seven separate
trips to Thailand, all business related. I am pleased to
welcome my dear friend Candy from the Tourism Authority of
Thailand to the travel show. Candy Sowdi Cup.

Speaker 4 (11:51):
Soaudi Hilary's so glad to do that.

Speaker 1 (11:53):
Oh you know, I should say welcome back to the
travel show. Now I've asked you to come on and
talk to us about Thailand. And you know, Candy, you
know how I feel about Thailand. I love it. I
can't wait. My next trip will be in January. It's interesting, Candy,
I do this trip. It's you know, Thailand, Bangkok, chang Rai, Chang,

(12:19):
my pouquette and a lot of stuff in between. We
put that on sale last into February. Early March for
January of twenty twenty five sold out in one week.
One week.

Speaker 4 (12:31):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
But I've got a new program in twenty twenty five
that includes the Loy Kratong Festival Candy. You know, I've
said this is the biggest, most exciting, colorful event. Introduce
us to Loy Kratong.

Speaker 4 (12:48):
Sure, Larry. This is one of my all time favorite
holidays in Thailand. It's probably one of the most enchanting festivals.
And it's usually celebrated in November, depending on the lunar calendar,
sometimes it could be October, but most of the time
it's still very and it's a time where Thai people
and you know, tourist all around gather near the rivers
and the lakes and the oceans, and you can see

(13:08):
these bodies of water filled with goatholes, which are these
decorated baskets usually made out of banana leaf, and we
use it to honor the goddess of the water and
to let go of all the negative juju that's going
on in our lives. And so it's a really really
beautiful festival, and it's a it's just a really great
way to experience the Thailand and the very historic holiday

(13:30):
and culture.

Speaker 1 (13:31):
You know, it is a wonderful holiday of renewal. I've
described it as kind of a combination of Christmas, yam
kipur Ramadan, Thanksgiving, everything Yaster, I mean everything rolled into one.
And say you let your bad karma, your bad juju
as you called it, your sins and mistakes. Well, I've

(13:53):
just said, you know, the kutong is a banana leaf.
If that's what I'm sending out on the water and
letting go, I need a big boat.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
I don't need a how about a month?

Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah, well you know they and the reason we haven't
done one of these Loy Kretong festivals Candy in about
twenty fifteen, twenty years is because on the Lolar calendar
it's too close to do a whole tour, it's too
close to Thanksgiving. This year, the special day is November

(14:25):
the fifth, and of course they celebrate before and after
tell us about the Loy Kretong festival in Sukotai where
we will be.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
So specifically here Sukotai is considered the actual birthplace of Larkatol,
so that's even more exciting for people visiting. And they
have a if you're visiting there. They have a big
light and sound.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
We're going to that. We're going to that at the
age of temple.

Speaker 4 (14:51):
Yes, and so you have to imagine that these ancient
ruins are illuminated with candle light. There's a toll where
there's people dressed up in traditional old garb. There's performances,
there's fireworks. Do you think and I believe even your
guests can dress up.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
In Yes, yes, we encourage them to if it's nothing
more than a shirt or something, you know, or a
sorry something too. And the people are so friendly, they're
thrilled to see Americans celebrating this most important holiday. Now,
the first thing, we're in New Candy and give me

(15:26):
some of the highlights that you like about Bangkok. I
love Bangkok. Yeah, it's a big city. I love Bangkok.
What are some of the fun things there because we're
going there for four days, three nights before we head
up to Sukotai.

Speaker 4 (15:39):
Oh, well, Bangkok for me is I love the food.
I mean, you know me, I'm a big foodie girl.
So there's definitely some great neighborhoods to explore street food.
I probably always go to Yo Lad, which is Chinatown
in Bangkok.

Speaker 1 (15:54):
I love Chinatown there it.

Speaker 4 (15:57):
Is insane, Like I think Chinatown by day and by
night is completely different. If you have a chance to
go at night, all of the street free vendors are
out on the sidewalks. They've filled up the entire rows.
And I'm also a big fan of temple hopping. Obviously
there's the main ones like the Grand Palace and What
Alone and What Pulled the Temple of Buddha, but I

(16:18):
have a few that I love to visit.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
I love visiting.

Speaker 4 (16:22):
Which is just like a couple of blocks away from
the Grand Palace. It's absolutely quiet, complete mosaic of of
of of of textiles and and things on the walls,
and it's so much quieter than the Grand Palace. And
shopping endless shopping and time shopping shopping.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
You know.

Speaker 1 (16:38):
They have of course Asia tiqu.

Speaker 4 (16:41):
And the U into the new one.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
Yes, it's over near the Peninsula Hotel. Now from Bangkok,
will make our way up to fits a new luk
uh and then visiting that's where we overnight, which is
just adjacent to Suko Ta. Now we've got about a
minute and a half left. Speaking with Candy from the
Tourism Authority, of Thailand, and we then go to chang

(17:06):
Mai and of course up to cheng Dao. Uh introduce
us to chang Mai.

Speaker 4 (17:13):
So chiang Maai is the largest city in Northern Thailand,
and I think it's kind of like the gateway to
northern Thailand for sure, and it definitely has its own
magical qualities. It's are you are you pairing that up
with Lakatong as well, because they're like, yes, yes, different.

Speaker 1 (17:32):
We'll be doing l Kotong, the like the the illuminated.

Speaker 4 (17:39):
The lanterns, Yes, they have the festival.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
I've got Carlos, Carlos Feta here, Carlos, it's unbelievable with
these lanterns that are illuminated with a little candle that
rises them up. And uh, I mean the whole sky
is afloat with lanterns of them. Candy, We got about
thirty seconds left. Last words on chang Thai, chang Mai

(18:05):
in the cheng Du Valley sure.

Speaker 4 (18:08):
Northern Thailand, Ching MYI. That whole area is instilled with
so much culture and the people are so kind and
so the best thing is to just really embrace it.
And there's culture riddled on every single corner, So just
enjoy every moment of it.

Speaker 1 (18:19):
When you're do you like kawshoy my feet? I love?
This is a Northern Thai dish. Is a chicken in
a very mild coconut or curry base. Yeah, with noodles. Hey, listen,
Candy with the Tourism Authority of Thailand and folks will
be going to Vietnam afterwards and later in the show.

(18:40):
I'll give you that itinery cob kun Ka kpun Ka.

(19:07):
You're listening to the travel show. I'm Larry Gelwicks. They
get Away Guru, joined by the Argentinian Gauchin himself, that
World Globe trotter Carlos Fieda, Senor Bim Benitos, Amigo Bi Benitos.
There we go. Hey, we got a great show lined
up today. I've been so excited about this. We're going
to be talking about in flight, theft on an airplane,

(19:30):
how to protect yourself and did you know this Switzerland
and Italy, two of my favorite countries, have redrawn their borders. No,
yes they have.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Who gave up?

Speaker 1 (19:42):
I will tell you? Okay, And a representative will be
calling in from the Tourist Authority of Thailand and we'll
get some details on Thailand. And according to the Department
of Transportation, there is a major, major airline who will
lose there's one or more bags on seventy three percent

(20:04):
of their flights, three quarters of their flights, they're going
to lose one or more bags. I'll tell you which
airline and you can make your decision. You will not
believe the Hawaii and Mexico all inclusive prices. I've got
five star hotel in Honolulu, five star, how could you
do that? Or the same price as a three star?

(20:27):
And you know these on the cruises they offer a
drink package. How many drinks do you have to have
to make it worthwhile? And then of course, Carlos, you'll
be taking us to South America with some highlights there.
All that on today's Travel show. And may we just
express our appreciation that you're with us today and every

(20:50):
week at this time on this station. We love travel
and we love you well. First of all, in flight
theft on an airplane is a serious problem. Just last
week and three people were victims of an in flight
theft where the person allegedly we have to say allegedly

(21:15):
because they've been arrested. They found out stole twenty three thousand,
two hundred and sixty dollars worth of jewelry that was
in somebody's carryer on. Now, I don't know that the
thief knew the jewelry was there, but you know, you
can go there and just start fishing around, particularly on
overnight flights, red eye flights where everybody is asleep now

(21:38):
onboard theft is an issue that continues Carlos to plague
airlines worldwide, and we have seen a spike in thefts now. Interestingly,
last month, Taiwan's Aviation Police Bureau arrested a man for
allegedly stealing cash out of a carry on luggage on

(22:01):
a flight from Tokyo to Taipei. Elsewhere, a man was
arrested after being accused of stealing over ten thousand dollars
in cash from two passengers on American Airlines flight. I mean,
who carries twenty three thousand dollars worth of jewelry? Well,
if you have to, if you are taking it, you're

(22:22):
not going to put it in your check in luggage.
Put it on theft of check in luggage is a problem. Now,
I do put a tsa approved luck that at least
slowed them down anyway. Police advised passengers to alert the
cabin crew immediately if there's even suspicious behavior. And you know,

(22:46):
budget airlines do offer cheaper tickets and thus a lower
threshold for prospective in flight thieves. So to ward off these,
I think several things. One you mentioned it you can
put it at your feet and with the open part
towards your feet, not the seat in front of you. Well,

(23:06):
I take a roller bag briefcase. I put my laptop
and things like that, and if it's going to be overnight,
I put a lock on it, but I turn it
around so that the zipper front is not facing out,
it's facing inside the overhead carry they're going to have
to take my whole case out, and they don't want

(23:26):
to do that. They when the lights are out and
people are sleeping, they'll just start feeling around with that.
So you want to keep your purses under your seat.
It's still at risk, but in front of you. And
as I told you, the zippers there. And I'll tell
you what. My favorite travel pants if I'm going overseas,

(23:47):
has a zipper velcrow pocket right on the quad these
massive quad muscles that I have from my extensive workout.

Speaker 2 (23:57):
I think that they're fat. It's not muscles.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
Oh anyway, I keep my passport and credit cards and
things right there in this velcrow zipper, and uh, you
know that's going to be tough to get into.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
But you know some people.

Speaker 3 (24:17):
I have been on a trip to Lima in fact,
and somebody in one of the interior flights that we took,
the guy lost the passport. He said, I can't find
my passport and we have to apply a passport in
the middle of nowhere to the police first and then
to the American embassy, and then when they returned the passport,
somehow they were detained because he never reported to the

(24:40):
embassy I found my passport.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
You know.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
I had a similar issue a few years ago. We
were on a flight to Hong Kong with a tour
group and on Cathay Pacific, which is a great airline,
and one of our tour members. You know, you have
to show your with Cathay, you show your board pass
and your passport as you're getting on the plane, and

(25:05):
he showed his passport, but he gets to his seat
and he can't find it somewhere between the open door
and everybody was checking everywhere that he couldn't find it,
and this was in San Francisco, and they had to
deboard him because he can't go without a passport. And
I said, I've got to go with the group. You know,

(25:28):
our office will help you. But here's what you need
to do. There's a passport office in San Francisco. Here's
when it opens, here's the address. Be their first thing,
because he had a photo copy. I always tell people
take photo copies of it. And he got his passport
the next day. But they did find his passport when
the plane landed in Hong Kong and the cleaning crew

(25:50):
was cleaning, I had fallen down somewhere. You want to
do that now? Interesting? Jonsha loves Switzerland. I was in
Switzerland when was I in Switzerland August? And I love Italy.
Who doesn't love Italy? I know the land of your forefathers. Anyway,

(26:11):
Switzerland and Italy are redrawing some of their borders now.
They've redrawn part of their border in the Alps due
to melting glaciers. Part of the area affected will be
beneath the Matterhorn, one of the Europe's tallest mountains and
close to a number of popular ski resorts. You thought

(26:33):
you were skiing in Switzerland, You're now skiing in Italy.
See large sections of the Swiss Italian border are determined
by glacier ridgelines or areas of perpetual snow. It's always ice,
but the melting glaciers have caused these natural borders to shift,
leading both companies or countries seeking to rectify the borders.

(26:58):
So Switzerland approved the agreement on the change last Friday,
a week ago yesterday, but Italy is yet to do
the same, but they anticipate that it will take place.
What's interesting is in twenty twenty three, the last full
year of reporting Switzerland, glaciers lost four percent of their volume.

(27:25):
That's a lot. That's a lot. The second biggest lost
ever after was twenty twenty two. The year before, they
lost six percent of their glaciers in glacier milt.

Speaker 3 (27:38):
But you know what, you may think, well, it will
never happen to change the border. But I remember I
was navigating the San Juanda River between Costa Rica and Nicaragua,
and the dredge was taking more territory that belonged to
Costa Rica and it could not happen.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
But yes it did.

Speaker 1 (27:59):
Happen. Hey, we're talking about Italy. The Colisseum, Forum and
Vatican muc museums are enforcing your ticket entrance time very
strict and if you're not there, they will say sorry lociento.
They're checking IDs to match the name on the ticket

(28:19):
because some ticket brokers were buying watts and ticket and
then jacking the price up. But now you have to
match that, so be sure if you're visiting the Colisseum,
the Forum, the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel have a
photo ID government issued like your passport or a driver's license. Now,
the Pantheon, I was sorry to hear this is now

(28:42):
charging five euro to go. It was originally a Pagan
temple then turned into an Early Christian temple. It's very
very interesting. It's only a short step from the Trevy Fountain.
You know, you can easily walk to it, but it
now charges five euro and they are restricting tickets or

(29:03):
they're not restricting ticket sales, and they're even regulating how
many people can go in. Also want to remind you
that Viking Cruises and Morris Columbus Travel will have two
information nights of discounts promotions. What's going on in Saint
George October sixteenth at three pm at the Morris Columbus

(29:25):
Travel Office and on Thursday, October seventeenth at the Morris
Columbus Salt Lake Office which is first South and second
East that will be at six pm. This will be
fantastic information on Viking cruises, special discounts and promotions. You
don't want to miss it more. When we come back
from Thailand, here on the travel show Sowadi Cup and

(30:03):
greetings from the travel show Carlos, I said, say, bien
Benito's a travel show, but today it's Sowadi Cup. We
are headed to Thailand. And you know, Carlos, how many
times have I told you that if it weren't for
my kids and grandkids, I would live in Thailand.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
I don't know how are you going to do that?

Speaker 3 (30:22):
Because everybody thinks that we go so often.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
Well you may have another.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
Fun you know. In twenty sixteen I made seven separate
trips to Thailand, all business related. I am pleased to
welcome my dear friend Candy from the Tourism Authority of
Thailand to the travel show Candy Sowardy.

Speaker 4 (30:40):
Cup Saudi hilarious. So glad to do that.

Speaker 1 (30:44):
Oh, you know I should say welcome back to the
travel show. Now I've asked you to come on and
talk to us about Thailand. And you know, Candy, you
know how I feel about Thailand. I love it. I
can't wait on My next trip will be in January.
It's interesting, Candy, I do this trip. It's you know, Thailand,

(31:07):
bang Kok, Chang Rai, Chang Mai, Pouquette, and a lot
of stuff in between. We put that on sale last
into February early March. For January of twenty twenty five,
sold out in one week. One week.

Speaker 3 (31:21):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
But I've got a new program in twenty twenty five
that includes the Loy Kratong Festival. Candy, you know, I've
said this is the biggest, most exciting, colorful event. Introduce
us to Loy Kratong.

Speaker 4 (31:38):
Sure, Larry, this is one of my all time favorite
holidays in Thailand. It's probably one of the most enchanting festivals,
and it's usually celebrated in November, depending on the lunar calendar.
Sometimes it could be October, but most of the time
it's November, and it's a time where Thai people and
you know, tourists all around gathered near the rivers and
the lakes and the oceans, and you can see these

(31:59):
bodies of water filled with gatholes, which are these decorated
baskets usually made out of banana leaf, and we use
it to honor the goddess of the water and to
let go of all the negative juju that's going on
in our lives. And so it's a really really beautiful festival,
and it's a it's just a really great way to
experience the Thailand and the very historic holiday and culture.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
You know, it is a wonderful holiday of renewal. I've
described it as kind of a combination of Christmas, Yam
kipur Ramadan, Thanksgiving, everything, Easter, I mean everything rolled into one.
And say you let your bad karma, your bad juju
as you called it, your sins and mistakes. Well, I've

(32:43):
just said, you know, the katong is a banana leaf.
If that's what I'm sending out on the water and
letting go, I need a big boat.

Speaker 2 (32:52):
I don't need a how about a month?

Speaker 1 (32:55):
Yeah? Well, you know they and the reason we haven't
done one of these loyal Kretong festivals. Candy in about
twenty fifteen twenty years is because on the lar calendar
it's too close to do a whole tour, it's too
close to Thanksgiving. This year, the special day is November

(33:15):
the fifth, and of course they celebrate before and after.
Tell us about the Loy Kratong festival in Sukkotai where
we will be.

Speaker 4 (33:25):
So specifically here Sukotai is considered the actual birthplace of Marcatol,
so that's even more exciting for people visiting. And they
have a if you're visiting there, they have a big
light and Soundhow.

Speaker 1 (33:37):
We're going to that? We're going to that at the
age of temple.

Speaker 4 (33:41):
Yes, and so you have to imagine that these ancient
ruins are illuminated with candle light. There's a toll where
there's people dressed up in traditional garb, there's performances, there's fireworks.
Do you think and I believe even your guests can
dress up in the world.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
Yes, yes, we encourage them to if it's nothing more
than a shirt or something you know, or a sorry
something too. And the people are so friendly, they're thrilled
to see Americans celebrating this most important holiday. Now, the
first thing, we're in New Candy and give me some
of the highlights that you like about Bangkok. I love Bangkok. Yeah,

(34:20):
it's a big city. I love Bangkok. What are some
of the fun things there because we're going there for
four days, three nights before we head up to Sukotai.

Speaker 4 (34:30):
Oh well, Bangkok for me is I love the food.
I mean, you know me, I'm a big foodie girl.
So there's definitely some great neighborhoods to explore street food.
I probably always go to Yo Lad, which is Chinatown
in Bangkok.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
I love Chinatown there.

Speaker 4 (34:47):
It is insane, like I think Chinatown by day and
China and by night is completely different. If you have
a chance to go at night, all of the street
food vendors are out on the sidewalks. They've filled up
the entire rows. And I'm also a big fan of
temple hopping. Obviously there's the main ones like the Grand
Palace and What Alone and What Pulled the Temple of Buddha,

(35:08):
but I have a few that I love to visit.
I love visiting Pit, which is just like a couple
of blocks away from the Grand Palace. It's absolutely quite
complete mosaic of of of of of textiles and and
things on the walls and it's so much quieter than
the Grand Palace and shopping and the shopping and time
shopping shopping.

Speaker 3 (35:28):
You know.

Speaker 1 (35:29):
They have of course Asia Tiqu and the UH to
the new one k. Yeah, it's over near the Peninsula Hotel.
Now from Bangkok, will make our way up to Fitz
Anu luk Uh and then visiting that's where we overnight,
which is just adjacent to Suko Tai. Now we've got
about a minute and a half left. I'm speaking with

(35:51):
Candy from the Tourism Authority of Thailand and we then
go to cheng Mai and of course up to cheng Dao.
Uh introduce us to Chang Mai.

Speaker 4 (36:03):
So ching Mai is the largest city in Northern Thailand,
and I think it's kind of like the gateway to
Northern Thailand for sure, and it definitely has its own
magical qualities. It's and are you are you pairing that
up with La Katong as well, because they're like, yeah, yes, different, we'll.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
Be doing Kotong the like the the illuminated.

Speaker 4 (36:29):
Do you have the lanterns? Yes, they have the thing festival.

Speaker 1 (36:32):
I've got Carlos, Carlos Feta here, Carlos. It's unbelievable with
these lanterns that are illuminated with a little candle that
rises them up. And uh, I mean the whole sky
is afloat with lanterns.

Speaker 4 (36:47):
Thousands of them.

Speaker 1 (36:48):
Candy, we got about thirty seconds left. Last words on
Cheng Thai, Chang Mai and the Cheng Dal Valley.

Speaker 4 (36:57):
Sure, Northern Thailand ching Mai area is it's filled with
so much culture and the people are so kind, and
so the best thing is to just really embrace it.
And there's culture riddled on every single corner, So just
enjoy every moment of it.

Speaker 1 (37:10):
When you're do you like kowshoy my feet? I love?
This is a Northern thie. This is a chicken in
a very mild coconut or curry base. Yeah, with noodles. Hey, listen,
Candy with the Tourism Authority of Thailand and folks will
be going to Vietnam afterwards and later in the show.

(37:31):
I'll give you that itinery cop Kum Kapu ka, Welcome

(37:54):
back to the travel show, Carlos. Wasn't that fun with Candy?
The Tourism Authority of Thailand, which is the National Tourist
Bureau or board, who are charged to promote tourism. See
the Kingdom of Time. It's a kingdom. They have a king.
Think of the king and I, of course I think
of your Brenner.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
But there is a new one.

Speaker 3 (38:15):
There is a new movie with a real time No
you know, there is a beautiful I mean, the new
movie is as beautiful as the one.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
Well, let me get kind of fill in some more.
What we're going to do. This is next year, twenty
twenty five. We will leave on the night flight, the
midnight flight out of the West Coast on October the thirtieth,
and we will arrive in Bangkok November first, we crossed

(38:43):
the international date line. I am sorry if October thirty
one is your birthday, but that means you don't get
a year older, I guess anyway, So we'll arrive there
and fly home from Saigon, Vietnam. So we talked about
the tile and we are doing. We're going to offer
cooking classes, a special bike ride, very easy and flat.

(39:07):
We have an elephant safari. All of these things that
are so unique. And the shopping is simply outrageous. It
is simply outrageous. They have the very famous night bizarre
night market that is block after block after block, and
it's all shopping. So one of the dates, well, we

(39:28):
leave October thirtieth, like it. I think it's like eleven
thirty pm out of the west coast anyway. So from
Ching Mai we will fly to Hanoi. We'll spend a
couple of days in Hanoi, Vietnam. We'll see the prison
and sell where John McCain spent five years as a pow,

(39:49):
and we'll see old town Hanoi, which must have been
like it was one hundred years ago. And then we're
going to drive out to Halong Bay. Now, Halong Bay
is a uniqu World Heritage Site, over eleven hundred islands.
They're like gum drops. If I showed any of our
listeners a picture of Hollong Bay, you would immediately recognize it.

(40:11):
One of the most photographed bodies of water in the world,
these gum drop islands and mountains. We have chartered an
entire boat, has twenty cabins. By the way, our group
including me and Kathy is thirty eight, so thirty six guests.
But we've chartered the whole liverboard boat and it is deluxe.

(40:32):
We'll have activities, we'll visit some hill tribe villages, activities
off the boat, or you can stay on the boat.
But we'll be on the boat for three days, two nights,
and then come back and fly to Huchi Min City,
which we remember as Saigon, and we've got some wonderful
activities there. In fact, going out to the Kuchi Tunnels

(40:55):
now the Kuchi Tunnels during the Vietnam War, which the
Vietnamese call the American War. During the Vietnam War, were
those rat tunnels the nickname and that you know as
the people the Vietnase are. You don't see any of
them in the NBA, let me put it that way,
or in the NFL. Okay, thank you.

Speaker 4 (41:15):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
You know. They they had a network from Saigon to
the Cambodian border, and underground they had hospitals and barracks
and meeting rooms. And that's how they they would attack
and then retreat. And I've seen this how they covered up.
You can't even tell. There's a trap door there, hatch there.
And so we'll visit those, we'll see all the sites

(41:38):
of Saigod and more. Shopping, ladies, if you love shopping.
I've never done a shopping tour quite as extensive expensive. Now, gentlemen,
on the tour, if you each give me fifty dollars,
there will be no shopping. How about visiting, Yes, yes,
that's the mausoleum. Yes, we'll be seeing a Ho Chi man.

(41:59):
He's it's like Lenin in Moscow. He's in a glass
case and they preserved Ho Chi Minh will visit the mausoleum.
The Vietnamese affectionately referred to him as Uncle Hoe, Uncle Ho.
That's not a disrespectful term. So again the dates, we
depart the night of October thirty. You can go to
work that day if you want. We're depart in the

(42:21):
evening and we're back November fifteenth, so in country, it's
about two weeks. And I've never done one like this now.
I did Lloyd Cratong about fifteen fifteen, twenty years ago.
Because it's always you have to put a whole tour together.
It's been too close to Thanksgiving on the lunar calendar.

(42:42):
So you have all the hotels and everything is first
class hotels, most of your meals, extensive sight seeing and yeah,
I'll be your personal host and tour. I hope that
you join me. We introduced it about a week ago
and it's already one third sold out that fast.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
Also, it's a very small group compared to the larger.

Speaker 1 (43:02):
It's a deep dive in culture, in food, in people.
We hope that you'll join us on that. Now, let
me ask you this. It's you see a lot of
this in social media, Carlos. What would you do if
you're sitting on an airplane and a total stranger says

(43:23):
I want to switch seats with you? What would you do? Well?

Speaker 3 (43:27):
I will consie the first is he traveling with a
spouse with the children, And will I get an aisle
seat a seat?

Speaker 2 (43:36):
Yes, I would do it.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
I have done that. I have switched. But what I
want to know is what seat are you on? I
read some recently that a woman was trying to switch
seats because she and her husband were split up. But
the seat that she was going to give the guy
sitting next to her husband is the back of thee

(44:00):
a middle seat, and this guy had an aisle seat,
the husband had a window seat. No, you know I
do that. No, and so you know I would have said, well,
have your husband in the window seat, go ask the
guy in the back, but they want and then they
got nasty about it about switching. So you know, many
people pay extra for like an exit row or a

(44:23):
preferred seating or window seat. So social media is absolutely
buzzing with a debate over switching seats on planes. I
think sometimes passengers have a legitimate reason to ask for
a swap. Ultimately, everybody's entitled to say no, this is

(44:43):
the seat that I want. You paid extra for it,
You've got the extra leg room. And one of the
problems is this so called basic economy fair Now, basic
economy is the lowest, but you do not get a
seat assignment until you get to the airport, and there
are other restrictions too. Some airlines on their basic economy

(45:04):
that's the term delta use, but it's the same same setup,
even by you know, a different name. Some won't lets
you have a carry on if you're in basic economy,
Delta will and there's no upgrading based upon your medallion status. Uh,
there's no rebooking it at a loaded date. It's that date.

(45:26):
It's the cheapest. But families, particularly in Utah which tends
to can have larger families. You know, there can be
a family of four, six, eight recent all the time
they all buy basic economy and you cannot get a
seat assignment until you check in at the airport. And
you've got young kids spread all over the plane.

Speaker 3 (45:49):
Which is not very good either because it could be
a nuisance to it.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
Could it could be unsafe too. Yes, there's weird people
out there. So what I say? An equal switch for
an equal switch? Yeah, I will do that if they're polite,
but ask to see their boarding pass before you say yes.

(46:14):
Would Here's what I tell them, Do not give that
person your boarding pass. You take theirs, but don't give
it yours in case you find out there's a problem.
There was one I read where he said, okay, I
will switch, is being very nice about it, And how
do I put this politely? There were two double plus

(46:34):
sized people, one on the window, one on the aisle.
They both were infringing on the middle seat. This guy
in the middle seat says, I'll switch with you. Well
I would have gone back, say switches over. And that's
why you want to keep your boarding pass with you now.
I said in the opening that there's a major airline

(46:56):
that on three quarters of their flight they will lose bags,
meaning the bag doesn't show up three quarters. Is that
the Department of Transportation. End of September, they have a
report called the air Travel Consumer Report. There's a government
report from the DOT and they have airline performance data

(47:20):
month by month, So in September they're reporting on July,
all right, Month after month, American airlines loses more checked
bags than any other airline. They don't just lose more
bags in total, but they also lose more bags as

(47:40):
a percentage of those checked in with American, more than
any other airline. And what really is striking to me
is though that America loses nearly one bag on at
least one bag on every flight they operate. According to
data from the Aviation Analytics American operated. I'm going to

(48:04):
round this to the nearest thousand, one hundred and eight
thousand flights in July. Again, I'm rounding to the nearest thousand.
According to DOT data, American loss on those one hundred
and eight thousand flights seventy nine thousand incidents of bags
being lost. A flight could lose one, two, or three,
but incidents. In other words, they lost seventy three percent

(48:28):
as many bags as they had flights.

Speaker 2 (48:31):
Ridiculous.

Speaker 1 (48:32):
So am I saying I personally, I don't care for
American airlines. The morale is awful. The relations between management
and employees is awful. Am I saying they're unsafe. No,
Am I saying, and that's not the issue. I just

(48:53):
avoid them if I can. Now, I'm not telling you
to avoid them. I'm not telling you to boycott them.
I'm saying you make your own informed decision. But as
for me and my house, we will not fly them
if we can avoid it.

Speaker 3 (49:08):
I have there the situation I'm traveling in a week
and I have to go to two key well, I
decided to fly Delta because I don't want to go
with them, even if the price was a little cheaper.

Speaker 1 (49:20):
You make your own informed Speaking of bags, Kathy and
I were checking into a flight. This was so embarrassing.
And we're checking in and uh, we've got our luggage there,
and the attendant says, you want to check in your bag.
Kathy looked right at her and said, no, let him
sit with me. Hmm, okayh knows, that's right, that's right.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
You know.

Speaker 1 (49:45):
Interesting. We had another occasion where it hurts, and this
in the President's Circle. Customer brought back his Tesla that's
an electronic car, and was fine, we find charge an
extra fee of two hundred and seventy seven dollars and
thirty nine cents for and it said for not filling
up with gas. It's a Tesla, and Hurtz has refused,

(50:12):
according to reports, to reverse it. It's just unbelievable. And
they also charged him for twenty seven gallons. The car
doesn't even hold twenty seven gallons two hundred and seventy
seven bucks because he didn't put I say, just open
up and dump twenty gallons of gas and that'll teach him. Hey,

(50:33):
when we come back here on the Travel Show, Carlos
is headed to Sudamerica. Yes, welcome back to the Travel Show,

(50:58):
Hour number two, the best two hours in radio. I'm
Larry Gelwicks, the Getaway Guru, joined by Carlos feed a
director of Latin American sales and all around good guy
at Morris Columbus Travel. The Travel Show is brought to
you every week by Morris Columbus Travel, where you always
travel more and pay less, and Norwegian Cruise Lines, the

(51:19):
home of freestyle cruising. Do check out the Morris Columbus
website Morriscolumbus dot Commorriscolumbus dot com. And if you want
to take a look at any of the wonderful group
escorted tours we have on that homepage, just scroll down
a little bit. I think it's the third entry. It
says Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours. Then if it's a cruise,

(51:43):
click on cruise. If it's if it's a land tour
geographic location like where Carlos is going to Ecuador, you
click on Europe or Asia or Africa wherever you are
interested in going, and you can call your favorite Morris
Columbus travel advisors. Everyone has a direct line, but if

(52:06):
you don't have one, call one eight hundred triple nine
forty six forty six. One eight hundred triple nine forty
six forty six. You know, I do love Hawaii, and
I what I'm going to say, I don't mean in
any hey look at me or bragging way. But I

(52:27):
have been to Hawaii in my lifetime one hundred and
seventy times. I've kept track of them. And the very
first I was sixteen years old. I thought I was
really cool. I wasn't, but I thought I was, of course,
And it was the time in my life where it
looked really good in the bathing suit. That's been decades ago.

(52:49):
I was, but I went to go surfing. I grew
up in California as a surfer boy, yep, you know.
And yeah, so I went to Hawaii hanging out on
the beach. I could play the guitar a little bit,
you know, a few chords, and the girls loved it.
When I'm on the beach with my surfer haircut and

(53:10):
my my surfer jam shorts on and uh, the beach
boys and just kind of playing the guitar, they got
me a few kisses.

Speaker 2 (53:19):
But uh, never before, never, never before.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
No comment, no comment on that one. Anyway. I love Hawaii.
And you know, we've talked about good deals. The what
I call secret airfares are that tour operator for our
columb secret because you call the airline. They don't even
know about these fairs. They're unpublished fares that airlines give
to a small number of tour operators around the country.

(53:48):
And Morris Columbus Travel is one of that handful. And
so what we get, well, we have it to South America, yes,
we have it, to Europe, to Asia, to Hawaii, Mexico,
even placed in the US we get the super discounted airfares,
but it cannot be sold air only. You got to

(54:09):
package it was something a hotel, a car rental and
in most cases you don't even have to have a
hotel or car rental for the full stay. Most of
them require a minimum of two nights hotel or car
and I say most, not all most, So you want
to check anyway you get a package aerin hotel package,

(54:29):
aeron car rental package. Catch this now. Rates do vary
by departure date and are subject to change and availability
at the time of booking, but as of right now,
I found a five star deluxe de Luxe suites in
Honolulu at the Ohio Waikiki Suites. I looked at the

(54:55):
dates November fourteenth to the nineteenth, so your home, that's
the week before Thanksgiving, so don't worry about it. Are
you ready for this airfare in six days five nights.
You can extend it for the appropriate cost. But for
a five star suite at the Ohio Waikiki Suites, I
looked at November fourteen to nineteen, including air including taxes

(55:20):
including fees eight hundred and ninety one dollars no way
eight hundred and I mean that's insanity. You can hardly
buy an airline ticket for that. That's right. You know
that is a secret airfare now on all of everything
in Mexico. What is not included in what I call
the evil resort fee. It's a daily fee that the

(55:42):
every hotel charges just to pick your pocket, every hotel
except the the Marriott out in Laea. That is one
of my favorite favorite hotels. It's right next to the
Polynesian culture. They don't charge a day interesting and most
of the resort fees are thirty to fifty bucks and

(56:04):
they have to be paid on site.

Speaker 2 (56:06):
I know that the barking is horrible.

Speaker 3 (56:08):
It is.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
Yeah, yeah, it's the Marriott Courtyard by Marriott out in
light Ea, North Shore. Now that's a wahoo. As I said,
rates vary by departure date. We love Mexico. I love Mexico,
the people, especially the food. All right now Cancun at
a first class four star hotel at the Grand Oasis, Cancun,

(56:31):
same dates November fourteen to nineteen. This is airfare, transfers, meals, drinks, entertainment, tips,
gratuities in the course your your resort. Nine and fifty
seven dollars and no resort fee, and.

Speaker 2 (56:47):
What does it include?

Speaker 1 (56:48):
Everything? Air transfers, meals, drinks, entertainment, your resort taxes, gratuities
are included nine and fifty seven dollars. And then in
Puerto Bayata which you and I dearly love at the
Crown Paradise Club, all inclusive, same dates, nine hundred and

(57:09):
sixty two dollars. So folks, listen, give Morris Columbus a
call for Hawaii, for Mexico or all of your vacation needs.
These prices are pure insanity, as in very very good,
very very cool with that. Now, if you're going to Hawaii,
I think there's really some particularly Waykiki, there's some questions

(57:30):
that we ought to ask ourselves before booking it. We
want to know the hotel, what is the star ring,
What is the quality of the hotel? What services are
on site? A gym, a spa, a restaurant. Of course
in Waikiki you have no problem finding restaurants, are there?
What about resort fees? What about parking fees? You know,

(57:51):
I don't know why people rent a car if they're
staying in wite Wiki. I would rent it for the day,
take it out and bring it back late that night
and just check it in. Pay the rental fee, but
avoid a parking fee. With that other thing is what
is really included in my stay? Is there a pool?
What's the size, what's the location? What is the walking

(58:13):
distance to the beach? Now, this five star looks about
a ten minute walk from the beach. And then what
about nearby shopping attractions and restaurants and their public Is
there public transportation available? Now? What I love about Waikiki

(58:33):
You have called the bus. Yeah, and you know they
have a senior rate. All of that great, just great,
great stuff. Hey, I wanted to mention an incredible program
that I'm doing. I haven't done one of these in
a couple of years. One of my favorite cruise tours
is called the Pacific Coast and we start in Vancouver,

(58:57):
we end in San Diego. It's a nine day, eight
night cruise next year September twenty sixth to October fourth.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
I love that that tour, Larry, I think it is.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
Yeah, And so we were with the Royal Caribbean. Catch this.
We'll sail from Vancouver through that Pacific Northwest archipelago of islands.
Our first stop is Astoria, Oregon. That's Lewis and Clark Country,
Lewis and Clark. It's some of the most heavily forested
countryside in America. And what's interesting, Carlos is Astoria is

(59:33):
not on the coast.

Speaker 2 (59:34):
Oh, I remembered I seen that it's up.

Speaker 1 (59:37):
Up the river with a paddle. It's nine miles. Oh.
It's a very quirky that this little trolley that runs
and the shops everything about it, and you know, kindergarten,
cops and a lot of movies were filmed there. And
then we have from Astoria, we'll sail along that rugged
Pacific coast line down to San Francisco, sailing right under

(59:58):
the Golden Gate Bridge, past my former home at Alcatraz,
and the ship over nights in San Francisco. Now, I
know San Francisco's got some problems, but if you get
you know the ferry building, the cruise terminal, Pier thirty nine,
Geared Delli, all of that Fisherman's wharf, you know you're
in good shape.

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
Yeah, okay that.

Speaker 1 (01:00:19):
They keep very clean. But we overnight have two full
days and I will be doing a tour of San Francisco.
I'll do all the commentary I grew up there. I
know it like nobody's business. We'll go into some of
the neighborhoods, some of the out of the way places,
and some of the very expected places. Will cross the
Golden Gate Bridge, we'll go to the Palace Chinatown, will

(01:00:42):
drive right down Grant Avenue, and by the way, we're
walking distance to Chinatown and Quoite Tower. Then from San
Francisco we take a hard left rudder at the Golden
Gate Bridge past the Farrelaon Islands, which is thirty two
miles off the coast of San Francisco, and spend a
day at Catalina Island. I love Catalina, and then on

(01:01:04):
to San Diego. Catch this with taxes. With taxes, rate
start at seven hundred and sixty one dollars.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
Let me break that out for nine days.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
For nine days, but the actual cruise fair is four
hundred and seventy four dollars. Add two hundred and eighty
seven dollars tax you have to pay it, Yes, seven
sixty one for a nine day cruise. You want an
ocean view, another ten bucks a day and a couple
hundred dollars more for a balcony. September twenty six to

(01:01:36):
October fourth with Morris Columbus Travel. Welcome back to the
Travel Show. Thank you for listening. We just love spending

(01:01:56):
our weekend with you every week at this time on
this very station. Carlos. A few years back, you and Karen,
your lovely wife, and Kathy and I my lovely wife,
we sailed together on a Danube River cruise. What were
some of the highlights of that cruise for you? Oh, Austria, Oh, yeah, yes,

(01:02:18):
I like the bakeries and the chocolate.

Speaker 3 (01:02:21):
Well yes, I know, no, but Austria was one of
my favorite stobs. The Milk Avenue, the Milk Abbey, Oh,
that was amazing. In Vienna, Vienna, Vienna was just outstanding.
And the food in Vienna. We went for a walk
in Vienna and yes, yes, and we had this amazing
place that we ate there and I would come back
on the.

Speaker 1 (01:02:42):
Street against clean, clean, and I always felt very safe.

Speaker 3 (01:02:46):
I walked to the church where they filmed the what
is it called the movie the famous movie about there?

Speaker 1 (01:02:56):
A famous movie?

Speaker 2 (01:02:56):
Yeah, well, you know it's it's a very well known movie.
You know they have the church where the winding takes
place of the captain.

Speaker 1 (01:03:02):
Yeah, whatever, that was, and Ving itself is the city
of music Mozart and Beethoven and concerts everywhere.

Speaker 3 (01:03:11):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:03:12):
Earlier this year, earlier in the summer, we talked about
a very special Danube cruise Germany, Austria and Budapest during
the Christmas markets. Now, the Christmas markets are a six
hundred year tradition. That is, I don't even know how
to describe it. Go google Christmas Markets in Germany or

(01:03:33):
Austria or somewhere and just look at the photos and
the videos there that you can see. Well, we completely
sold out. We bought half the ship.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
I remember.

Speaker 1 (01:03:44):
Many of the prices were over a thousand dollars discount
of what you would pay Alma Waterways, the ultra deluxe
cruise life. Yes, you know, and it's like, where could
you get this? Now on the Christmas Market cruise, We'll
start in Nuremberg and we go to Passau and Milk

(01:04:08):
and Vienna and Regensburg. It's Germany, Austria and then Budapest.

Speaker 3 (01:04:14):
You know.

Speaker 1 (01:04:14):
Interestingly, oftentimes Hungary. We don't think like Grandfather and Heidi
coming off the mountain in Switzerland or something, but Budapest,
Hungary has one of the greatest Christmas markets on the planet.
My favorite is Nuremberg. It's in the old city, cobblestone
buildings that survived the war and it is it is

(01:04:36):
really magical. But in addition to the Christmas markets, we
call it the Christmas Market cruise. But you get all
of the sight seeing on the Danube that you would
have in any month of the year, including Milk Abbey
and of course the shore excursions are included in your cruise.

Speaker 3 (01:04:55):
Fair I did everything E said biking because you can
do biking, also.

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
Done that toy have bicycles on board. So anyway, we
had two people that had to cancel for health reasons. Lociento.
We're very very sorry, but we have now two cabins
available and I'd love it for our listeners. I just
love to you want something unique, something different Christmas markets

(01:05:22):
of Europe. I have been to one hundred and thirteen countries.
I've done just about everything you want and travel and
I gotta tell you honestly, the Christmas Markets, which I've
done several times, is in the top three or four.
Thailand of course is number one with it. Anyway, you
know another great tour that we will be doing that

(01:05:46):
I'm so excited about is a tour next August in Scotland,
Wales and England, and listen to this. We start in Edinburgh,
and while in Edinburgh we attend the Tattoo Festival. That
has nothing to do with that big navy tattoo on
your arm, Carlos. Okay, but you know, a couple hundred

(01:06:10):
years ago, the pubs were full lots of soldiers and
the town crier would walk through down the streets and
say tattoo, tattoo, meaning to the the innkeeper or the
the head of the pub, turn the tap off, yeah,

(01:06:34):
and tattoo became tattoo, no relation to body paint or
body art, and so they would and send the soldiers
back to their barracks. Well, it's the largest bagpipe and
military drum festival. Teams come from all over the world.

(01:06:55):
It's viewed by one hundred million people worldwide, and it
is only in the month of August we were able
to snag forty tickets. This tour is selling very well,
but we still have some space of ill. Let me
give you the itiner. First of all, we would leave
the US August the eleventh. You can fly to Edinburgh.
You can go earlier if you want to see other

(01:07:16):
parts of Europe, and then meet us in Edinburgh. We'll
see all of that and then down to York. York
is everything you pitch your old England to be.

Speaker 2 (01:07:28):
The problem is the language.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
Even even the people from London cannot get it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:35):
I remember being there.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
Now. We'll then visit Chester and the famous Minster there,
tutor and Victorian houses. It's it's young You go to
Youngster right yeah, yeah, well well, and the then into
Wales and Stratford upon Avon, which of course is Shakespeare

(01:07:59):
right there to Oxford and then on to London, and
so it's England, Wales and Scotland. I will be your
personal host and tour guide. It is a bus tour. Yeah.
We fly into Edinburgh and fly home from London and
that is again you can do whatever you want before

(01:08:20):
after I would love to have you folks. Uh do this.

Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
Just do this.

Speaker 1 (01:08:26):
Go on YouTube and type in Scotland military tattoo tattoo
and just look at some of the videos. It is
overwhelming this festival. But then we see all the sights
of Scotland and Wales in England August eleventh to the

(01:08:47):
twenty first again you can extend or go earlier with that.
Now when we come back, we're going to be talking
about cruise line drink packages and is it really worth it?
Are you getting your money's worth? And I want to
talk about Alaska because twenty twenty five is getting close

(01:09:08):
to sold out on some dates. And then I'm going
to take you to the British Isles. Lots of fun
right here on the Travel Show. So we're headed to Europe,
We're headed to cruising and Alaska here on the Travel Show.

(01:09:42):
It's a great day. Hear on the Travel Show. I'm
Larry Gelwicks. They get away Guru now mi amigo. Carlos
had a couple of appointments, so he is audiost and
you've got me for the next couple of segments. And
I'm grateful to be here. Love the Travel Show and
so a pre that you join me every weekend for

(01:10:04):
yet another edition. Some of you fly Delta one. That's
a great service. It's the business class. You have the
live flat seats and own a little suite where you
have a lot of privacy. You're really not sitting next
to anyone because you have a what about a four
foot wall around your business class seat. Well, Delta Airlines

(01:10:28):
is opening three Delta one lounges. Now, you know they
have the sky club and by the way, they've already
announced for the Salt Lake City International Airport there's a beautiful,
big sky club there in Terminal A. Well, they have
plans to build one in Terminal B, which is halfway

(01:10:51):
to Ogden, but you know that's going to really make
it nice and gets so crowded there. Interestingly, United Airline
Lines has said they're gonna build a lounge. It'll be
out on Terminal B because that's where their flights come
and go. They haven't given a date, neither Delta for
the Terminal B or United for Terminal B. But I'm

(01:11:13):
hoping with United opening a lounge, you'll get more service,
more frequency, and see some more flights coming into Salt
Lake City. Well, I actually got a sneak peek at
the Delta one lounge couple of months ago in New York.
They allowed me because I do the radio show to

(01:11:35):
visit the Delta one Lounge at JFK. My goodness, it
was fantastic. They actually have a sit down restaurant with
a top chef. Then they have the more casual food,
and you gotta be flying Delta one to go into it. Well,
they're going to be opening two other Delta one lounges,

(01:11:55):
one in Boston and one in Los Angeles. The Boston
date isn't firm yet, but in lax Los Angeles it
will be opening this coming week October tenth, and it'll
have multiple buffets and outdoor deck, a very elevated dining

(01:12:16):
and we'll wait to see how crowded it gets. So
by the way, if you're flying business class air France, KLM, Korean,
Virgin Atlantic, and Latom, you can also use these lounges
as well. That's a real great thing. Okay. You know

(01:12:37):
earlier I talked about these just incredible Hawaii Mexico deals.
I'm going to review them briefly and then talk a
little bit about Hawaii. I love Hawaii. I just there's
an atmosphere, the aloha spirit I mentioned again. Rates vary
by departure dating. They're subject to change and availability at

(01:12:58):
the time of booking. But five star Deluxe the oheohia
Oheo Waikiki Suites I looked at six days, five nights,
November fourteenth to the nineteenth. This is insane because it's airfare,
taxes excluding the evil destination or resort fees, and a

(01:13:20):
five star suite eight and ninety one bucks. I mean,
it's crazy. And then we had the all inclusive in
Cancun at the Grand Oasis Cancun, the first class, beautiful,
all inclusive, same dates, nine fifty seven. Remember all inclusive
Mexico as your airfare, your resort, the transfers to and

(01:13:43):
from the resort, from the airfare, your meals, entertainment, select activities,
taxes fees, no resort fee, and of course your gratuities.
And then in Puerto Bayota, a first class four star
ground pair Crown Paradise Club nine hundred and sixty two dollars. Guys,

(01:14:05):
this is the time to be booking that. Now we're
talking about Hawaii. A couple of just kind of fun
facts about Hawaii. One hundred and fifty two islands and atolls.
Now you never thought about that, did you. They stretch
out about one fifteen hundred miles across the Pacific. But

(01:14:26):
tourists don't go out to all of these far away islands.
There are eight main islands. Can you name them? Now?
Which one's come to your mind? Of the eight main
of one hundred and fifty two. How about Owahu, Maui, Kawaii, Mullakaii, Lanai,

(01:14:47):
nihihow the Forbidden Island. You know, a couple of months ago,
I gave you the history of that. It's privately held
where the Hawaiian language is the language spoken on the island.
There are no there are no street lights they I mean,
there's not a lot of electricity out there except at

(01:15:08):
the school. It's an agrarian, rural lifestyle. So we have niki.
How the Big Island of Hawaii and Kaho Lave. You
know the world has fourteen climate zones. Did you know
that Hawaii has ten of the fourteen climate zones? Did
you know you can do snow skiing in Hawaii? Now

(01:15:29):
there's no lifts, there's no ski resort, but there on
the big Island, on Mona Kea, they is snow in
the wintertime. It's such a high elevation, and yeah, you
can snow skiing. I have to hike up so you
could go skiing. Snow skiing in the morning and water

(01:15:50):
skiing are surfing in the afternoon. That's pretty cool about it.
Hawaii is the most isolated population center on the Earth now.
The first European to visit Hawaii was Captain James Cook
in seventeen seventy eight, and he named the Hawaiian Islands

(01:16:12):
the Sandwich Islands in honor of John Montaque, the fourth
Earl of Sandwich, one of Cook's sponsors, and the name
Sandwich was used until the eighteen forties. Now, hanging on
my wall at my office, I have a map of
Hawaii and it's the original, not a copy. It's an

(01:16:36):
original map dated eighteen twelve, and it refers to it
as the Sandwich Islands. And hey, sorry, guys, I love pineapple.
Pineapple is not native to the Hawaiian Islands. There's no
snakes in Hawaii, which is really nice. The Hawaiian alphabet
has only twelve letters. And what's really nice to is

(01:17:01):
there are no billboards anywhere in the state. They're illegal.
And there are no private beaches. You can get in
some very exclusive neighborhoods and they'll have a right of
way walkway through these tens of million dollar houses down
to the beach and it's a public beach. A lot

(01:17:23):
of fun. Now, you know, we mentioned earlier that if
you're interested in Alaska and twenty twenty five next summer. Boy,
you really ought to be making those reservations now, because
I was talking to our travel advisors this week and
they're saying, Alaska next year is getting real hard to find.

(01:17:44):
Prices are going up. And you know, there are really
two type of Alaska itineraries, what I call the round
trip Seattle and the North South. They only vary in
about a day day and a half. The round trip
Seattle means you sail depart from Seat and you come
back to Seattle. That makes it really nice because you
can drive to Seattle, make a road trip of it,

(01:18:07):
or fly there very very easily, and you're going to
get some combination not all of these ports, but some
combination of Juno, Ketchigad, Skagway, Icy Straits, or Sitka. Usually
you'll get about three of them, and you will have
a stop in Victoria. You know, that really goes back

(01:18:27):
to an eighteen eighty seven law that was passed it
called the Passenger Services Act, where not just cruise ships,
but any maritime ship could not sail exclusively between US
ports unless they were US registered. And so the cruise

(01:18:49):
lines which are not US registered for tax and other
reasons have to make a pit stop somewhere, so you
get on that round Seattle. You'll generally arrive in Victoria,
British Columbia, usually on the last day, because they're headed
back to Seattle six seven pm and leave at eleven

(01:19:12):
or midnight, so you only have a few hours there.
And I love the butt Yark Gardens, but it's it's
not quite the same seeing at eight or nine pm
under some floodlights and the dust because it's not completely
dark at that time as opposed to twelve noon. It's
a very different experience. I love to walk down from
the ship. It's about a twenty minute walk down to

(01:19:34):
the marina, the Parliament building. You see, Victoria is the
provincial capital of British Columbia, and you know they have
the marina there and shopping or great Chinatown, lots of
fun there. Anyway, that is round trip Seattle, and you'll
get one glacier viewing day. Now on the North South,

(01:19:56):
you'll leave from say Vancouver and go to Anchorage or
vice versa, depending on what week that you're doing that,
and you still will get some combination of those five
ports of call, usually three of them. You won't stop
in Victoria, because you're leaving from Vancouver, you've made your
Canada stop right there. Sometimes four ports, but usually it's

(01:20:19):
three ports. But you get two glacier days and it
could be Hubbard Glacier, Glacier Bay a beautiful thing, but
you'll get a second glacier day, which is really really nice.
And then up to Anchorage. Now, frankly, Anchorage is not
a very exciting town. If you're going to spend some

(01:20:40):
hours there, get a rental car or something, go to
the grocery store, make a picnic lunch, and it is
gorgeous outside of the city in the national parks. The
city itself ah kind of boring, but you know, it's
a beautiful area. Then you can extend your stay up
to Denali or the Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak, things like that.

(01:21:05):
Up to Fairbanks absolutely spectacular, so you make the choice.
I love the North South itinerary. Seattle certainly is easier
to get to, but just as far as the Itinerary,
I really like that North South. And you know, next
year I will be personally hosting my annual Alaska and

(01:21:27):
I'm doing the North South. The dates are August twenty
third to thirties Now why did I select those dates. One,
it's a great price where with Princess Cruises. But secondly
we'll see fall foliage and a good chance to see
the Northern Lights. Did you know the Northern Lights are
visible two hundred and forty three days a year. It

(01:21:49):
all depends on the weather and so that late in
the season. Remember end of August early September is fall
in Alaska. Pretty warm here, but fall is really coming
in fall foliage, hopefully the Northern Lights, and we have
some great activities August twenty third to the thirtieth with

(01:22:11):
Princess Cruises again. I will be your personal host and
tour guide. Contact Morris Columbus Travel, Morris Columbus Travel, or
give one of our travel advisors a call. More to
come here on the Travel Show. Welcome back to the

(01:22:44):
Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwick's the getaway Guru, the Maha
Lari of travel, and thank you for joining us. We've
had a wonderful show. I just so look forward to
coming into the studio and sharing this time with you.
Want to remind you for or those who are using
the Salt Lake International Airport for parking when you're on
your next trip, I recommend parking Jet. Now there are

(01:23:07):
two major off airport parking facilities. I like parking Jet
for a couple of reasons. One, they're so friendly, a
free car wash. You have to ask for a coupon,
by the way. But they're locally owned. We have we
talk so much about keeping things local. Well, here's a
chance to keep it local, and here's how to get

(01:23:29):
a twenty percent discount. Go to Morriscolumbus dot com Morriscolumbus
dot com and then on the toolbar at the top
on the homepage, click on resources, then click on the
parking lot discount. What do you want to do is
print about a half a dozen of them and just
keep them in your car. Twenty percent can rack up

(01:23:50):
a lot of money. Now, I'd talked earlier about the
drink packages that cruise lines offer, and they're usually priced
about fifty to sixty bucks a day. Some of them,
like on Celebrity, for the premium liquor is over one
hundred dollars a day, and most of the cruise lines

(01:24:12):
then will charge an eighteen to twenty percent mandatory gratuity
on top of that. Now you do the math, you
know you're paying sixty bucks a day, and it's unlimited. This,
that and the other. Some cruise lines are now capping
i think Carnival caps at thirteen alcohol drinks a day.

(01:24:32):
So when is it worth it. There's really two things
about a drink package. By the way, they also have
non alcoholic drink package, which would be juices, juices and sodas. Interestingly,
some of the cruise lines, in fact most of them,
in the drink package will not give you bottled water.
They want you to buy it another way to dip

(01:24:53):
into your pocket, but for the full drink package and
not the premium drink package, just the regular Let's assume
sixty sixty five bucks a day, fifty five bucks a day,
somewhere in that range, depending on the cruise line. Generally,
if you're an alcohol drinker, you're gonna have to drink

(01:25:14):
about seven alcoholic drinks a day. Now, that's a lot
of booze, but then you break even. Then you're about
break even. Obviously, if they if they don't have the
soft drink package but only the alcohol package, it's not
a good deal. And with the soda, you got to

(01:25:35):
drink a couple gallons of soda just to make it worthwhile,
But you know there's something else. Some people tell me
it's simply the convenience. I don't have to be thrown out,
you know, charging things and waiting to sign the bill
or anything like that. So you make the decision. But
as far as a good value, you know, I don't

(01:25:57):
think it's a good value at all. It is a
convenient offer, and some people love it, But if you're
drinking alcohol, plan on at least seven cocktails or beers
or drinks a day to break even, I think you're
better off just buying them yourself. Now, cruise lines used
to forbid guests from bringing their own soda, but they've

(01:26:22):
kind of relaxed on that. For example, Royal Caribbean will
allow a twelve pack of soda a twelve pack one
per stateroom. They see it in your suitcase when that's
X ray, but they also allow it you to carry
it on, but only on boarding day, not at the

(01:26:45):
different ports of call. You can bring one can or
one bottle of soda on but twelve pack on boarding
day as a carry on or in your suitcase. And
you know, Kathy and I generally don't get the drink package.
It just I just don't think it's a good So
we take a twelve pack with us and then in
the different ports, if we want another soda, we will

(01:27:07):
get it at that time. So a lot of fun. Hey,
couple of my tours that I'd like to remind you
of Christmas markets on the Danube. We got two cabins
left December fourth to the eleventh. I mentioned Scotland, Wales
and England. Please join me on this one with the
world famous military tattoo festival that's bagpipes and drum corps.

(01:27:30):
But we're going to do a deep dive in Scotland, Wales,
in England August eleventh to the twenty first. My Alaska
cruise August twenty third to the thirtieth with Princess Cruises.
You know, we talked last week about the British isles
that will be England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and France.

(01:27:51):
That is a fantastic one that I'll be hosting. Do
I have a great life or what I get to
see the world? July seventh to the twentieth of next year.
And one we haven't talked about in a couple weeks
is Iceland to England, which is June twelfth next summer,

(01:28:11):
where we'll start in rekuvic Iceland, make three stops in Iceland,
then on to Norway, the Norwegian fjords, Olssen and Bergen,
then to the Netherlands, then to Belgium and then to
across the English Channel to Southampton and you can come
home or I'm going to spend a few days in London.

(01:28:33):
Love to have you with me. That's Iceland to England
June twelfth of next year. And don't forget that. The
Land Tour Thailand, Vietnam and Loikretong next year October thirtieth
to the sixteenth the most colorful, beautiful festival in all
of the Kingdom of Thailand. And then we've rented a boat.

(01:28:56):
We're going to take the whole thing a group of
thirty eight including Kathy and I on Hollong Bay. You'd
recognize that UNESCO World Heritage Site. Well, that brings our
Travel Show to an end. God bless you have a
great week, love your family, and we'll talk to you
next week right here on the Travel Show