The Travel Show: Coming at you live from the Utah Travel Expo!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Well travel show. I'm Larry GELDI said, get away Guru,
and the Getaway Guru had just got back it down.
This week I returned home from Thailand and Cambodia for
another successful Thailand. Do you know, because I've told you
before that if it weren't for my kids and grandkids,
Kathy and I would live or retire in Thailand. But

(00:29):
that statement has an inherent problem because I will never
retire till they drop me six feet under. I mean,
why would I People ask me all the time, Larry,
when are you going to retire? I have the same answer.
What do people do when they retire? Well, they travel.
It's like, oh, well, I'm doing that now, and I'm

(00:51):
even getting paid if you travel the world with you.
I'm here today at the Utah Travel Expo, the biggest,
the best travel ex in the entire Inner Mountain area.
This is the twenty ninth annual Utah Travel Expo, sponsored
by Morris Columbus Travel where you always travel more and

(01:12):
pay less. And this is so exciting because we have
over one hundred travel providers travel vendors here. These are airlines,
cruise lines, safari companies, hotels, resorts, everything related. To travel.
Even sub zero ice cream is here. I keep going

(01:33):
back for samples. I think already I've had about a
gallon that is the best ice cream in the world.
You know, I'm welcoming to the show. A dear friend,
Emily States, marketing director for Morris Columbus Travel. Emily, welcome
to the show. Should I say welcome back to the show?

Speaker 2 (01:52):
Thank you so much, Sary, great to be here.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Tell me about what people can expect here at the
Travel Expo. And by the way, we're at the Mountain
America Expost Center and Sandy ninety five hundred South State Street,
and we will be here until five pm. It's a
ticket at event. You can can you still get tickets
at Utah.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Travel Expo dot com You certainly can, or.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
Just get them here at the door. Everybody who comes
will get a fifty dollars Morris Columbus Gift certificate that
is good for qualifying purchases, correct sir.

Speaker 4 (02:29):
And we have over one hundred and twenty travel vendors here, airlines,
cruise lines, tour providers, tourism boards. So come and learn
about these destinations and these products. Ask your questions. All
of our travel advisors are here. All of our Morris
Columbus Travel advisors are here booking travel on the spot.
We're giving away great prizes like seven night cruises and stays.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
At Disney, a trip to Europe, a trip to.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
Europe on Amazon gift cards. Now I have offered to
draw the winner. Would it? Would it? I tried this
yesterday and I drew my own name for the trip,
for the trip to Europe, and then the free Hawaii
I you know, the luck of the gods with Is
this gonna been with you?

Speaker 2 (03:16):
You know? It might it might be? I think I
need to draw the next one.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
How about that?

Speaker 1 (03:20):
I know I'll do it. This is one of the
best part. You know, somebody's going to win these prizes,
and it may as well be you and our listening
audience at every hour. Now, you do not have to
be present to win, but you do have to register,
and when you come you register, you know, like your
name and contact information so that we can uh get

(03:44):
a hold of you as the winner. But tell us
about the Some of the vendors you can't name, actually
the one hundred and seven of them here, But some
of those that people are perhaps quite familiar with are
not so familiar.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, we've got all of your big cruise lines. We've
got Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean Carnivals here.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
NCL Celebrity. They're just so much fun. And you've got
some Delta Vacations, the vacation arm of Delta Airlines. We
have yeah, Alma Waterways. These are river cruise companies, Celestial cruises.
We also have the national tourist boards from all over

(04:30):
the world, from Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand. Many of these people
have flown in from overseas to be here at the
Utah Travel Expo.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
The Cook Islands are here as well. In Fiji.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
Now if you let me tell you about the Cook Islands,
the main island is Roar Tonga. I of course have
been there, of course everybody. But what you want to
do if you go to the Cooks is there's an
atoll north called Itu Taki. It is an absolute must
see if you're going to be visiting the Cocons. I

(05:05):
have a love of Polynesia, you know. In eighteen eighty eight,
when Carlos Fita was just a young man, Robert Lewis
Stevenson spent his last years in the South Seas and
he wrote that quote. No part of the world exerts

(05:26):
the same influence on the visitor. Wow, the first sunrise
is the first experience. The first love is an experience
apart and touches our virginity of senses.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Magical.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
It just why is it, Emily that we have such
a romanticized love of Polynesia and the South Pacific.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
That's a great question. There's something in the air.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
It's the people.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
They're just so full of love and just full of
a kindness, a deep and true kindness.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
And they're singing always. It's in the air, it's in
the water.

Speaker 5 (06:08):
You know.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
It's interesting when when the Polynesians sing, it's harmony. Yes,
they don't sing parts, and they always start slowly for
about the first two or three seconds, and then they
all come in.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
I hope they start singing at the show today. Do
you think we could convince I think we could.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
You know.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
One of the great experiences that I've had is spending
a good part of my life in the South Seas.
I can speak enough tongue, and I don't know I'm fluent,
but conversational. I can get by. And on Sunday mornings,
everybody goes to church and almost nobody has cars. You know,

(06:47):
they walk and they they're cooking the big Sunday meal
in an Umu, the underground oven. They you know, I
have dear friends Lettis say Eli in Samoa in western
Samoi lives on the island of Upolu, out near Fungi Lais,
and they all sleep on They have a well, you'd

(07:09):
call it a grass hut, but most of them have
corrugated iron roost because it holds up. But it's open sided,
and they put the smooth rocks from the creek bed
as their floor and then cover it with mats. And
when I go to Samoa, I always go out and
spend at least one night, maybe too, but usually it's

(07:31):
one night. They're out at Letti's house and you know
they have nothing, but they're so they're so happy, and
they have an interesting tradition that the older folks, like
grandparents or guests, the adults eat first and the kids
serve the food. And when I go out there, you know,

(07:55):
they put on a feast that they really can't afford.
But I cannot say anything because that would be rude.
You know, it's like, well, this is not good enough
for me. But I always rent a truck. Pickup truck
is my rental car, and I fill the back with food.
There's a little we call it the Chinaman's Market. There's

(08:19):
a Chinese and that's what it's called. Not trying to
be racist or anything, but it's the Chinaman's Market. They're
in Apia, and we fill it up with fifty pound
bags of rice. They love the corn, beef, coco, samoa,
all of these. And I can give, you know, mayafa
kita koi. I can give a gift to them, which

(08:41):
then they accept. It's just a wonderful. But what's interesting, Emily,
is the kids are serving, and the kids eat what
the adults don't. That's why the we adults are fat
and the kids are skinny, you know, and they're sitting
there with these eyes like that's the last piece of chicken.

(09:03):
Oh so, But what you have to do. You don't
have to you don't have to clean your plate, but
you have to taste it, just a sample of it.
Otherwise the message is it's not good enough. Well, I
have so many stories, you know, forty six years in
the travel business, and I love the Utah Travel Expo.

(09:24):
We're here at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy,
ninety five hundred South State Street. Will be here until
five o'clock. As I mentioned, it is a ticketed event.
You can go online to get information or tickets at
Utah Travel Expo dot com or get tickets here. Emily
tell us about the fifty dollars gift certificate that everybody gets.

Speaker 4 (09:47):
Yeah, when you come through the door, we'll hand it
to you with your show guide and all of your
other takeables. And that applies to when you book a
package with us, and we highly recommend doing so. You
get fifty dollars off that package in addition to any
of the show specials that our vendors.

Speaker 1 (10:03):
Are providing, so we can double dip.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
You can double.

Speaker 1 (10:05):
Dip do that now, that's on any qualifying package. Correct,
It's yeah, you got to come out here. And you
know coming up next is one of my favorite people
and favorite cruise lines, Royal Caribbean, the business development manager,
Jinny Toujay, will be joining us and talk about some

(10:26):
great promotions and I've got a Spring Break twenty twenty
six cruise that you will absolutely flip over. All that
and more on today's Travel Show, coming to your live
from the Utah Travel Expo. Welcome back the Travels Ibrary

(11:01):
Yellin's the Getaway Bore. They are broadcasting live from the
Utah Travel Xpo, the twenty ninth annual Utah Travel Xpo
with over one hundred travels suppliers and vendors. These are airlines,
cruise lines, safari companies, hotels, resorts, tour companies, everything travel related.

(11:21):
We're at the Mountain America Expo Center and Sandy ninety
five hundred South State Street and we will be here
until five pm today. Take advantage of exclusive expo discounts,
information seminars. It is a ticketed event. You can get
information and tickets at Utah Travel Expo dot com. That's

(11:42):
Utah Travel Expo dot com. We're just here at the
door and everyone that comes you'll get a fifty dollars
Morris Columbus Gift Certificate applicable to qualifying purchases. At every hour,
we are giving away free cruises, free airline tickets, a
trip to Europe, Amazon gift cards. It's a lot of fun.

(12:05):
I want to welcome I should say back to the show.
One of my favorite people with one of my favorite
cruise lines, Jenny two, Jay, business development manager with Royal
Caribbean International. Jenny, Welcome back to the show.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
Thank you, Larry. I'm excited to be here.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
How's the show treating Royal Caribbean.

Speaker 6 (12:22):
Oh, we are so busy, it's amazing. This is my
twenty first show with Morris Columbus Travel and a year
over year we are just as busy as previous years.
So it's amazing. We're having a great time down here.
Everybody should come.

Speaker 5 (12:38):
No.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
Royal Caribbean has come out with some really good promotions.
Why don't you run through those with us?

Speaker 3 (12:46):
Well?

Speaker 6 (12:46):
For the show special we have sixty percent off second guests,
third and fourth or thirty percent off kids twelve and
under sale for free on select ships and sailings. Plus
an exclusive with Morris Columbus Travel, we have special dining
for the first two guests in a state room and
up to one hundred dollars on board credit and that's
for any sailing.

Speaker 3 (13:06):
So that's a nice incentive.

Speaker 1 (13:08):
Now that kid's twelve and undersill free. That's on select cruises.
You do pay the taxes on that.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
You do, you pay the taxes and.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
The cruise is free.

Speaker 6 (13:17):
The cruise is free for those kiddos twelve and under
think maybe ue a week in October Kids Sell Free.
We're really blacked out over the spring break summer.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
Or in Hollowdrace.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
You mentioned spring break. You and I put together a
twenty twenty six spring break I call it the spring
Break Escape Cruise. It's on the Navigator of the Seas.
I think I've sailed on that three or four times.
I love that ship. It was a refurbished just a
few years ago. It is I just love that ship.

(13:50):
Everything about it is fun. And what Royal Caribbean does
and what the Navigator does so well is kids programs.

Speaker 6 (14:00):
Yes, our Adventure Ocean program with Royal Cribine is an
award winning adventure ocean.

Speaker 3 (14:05):
We take care of our.

Speaker 6 (14:06):
Baby six months to seventeen years of age, so there's
something for everyone. In the Navigator, she has the flow Rider,
surf machine, and rock walls, ice skating.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
Miniature golf.

Speaker 6 (14:16):
Miniature golf one of my favorites. Yes, water slides, which
are always fun.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
I want to tell you something. I'm speaking of cruise
lines in general. I've never had a bad meal on
any cruise line, but some of the buffets seem to
be These are my words, boring and tired that I
have never had that experience with the Royal Caribbean meal

(14:44):
the buffet they refresh it. I mean, you guys really
do a good job in the dining.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
I think we do.

Speaker 6 (14:50):
And in speaking of buffet if we don't really like
to say buffet, but we have a marketplace, so we
have all these different stations so you don't feel like
you're in a line going through a buffet, which is great.

Speaker 3 (15:00):
That's one of our benefits on the ships.

Speaker 6 (15:02):
Our main dining room we offer traditional dining first and
second we also offer my Family Time dining and if
you want flexible time, we have my.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
Time dining.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
So we have well, I mentioned the spring break escape cruise.
Now for most of the school districts in Utah, not all,
but most. Spring Break in twenty twenty six next year
is Monday through Friday April six to ten. And wait,
there's more. That just happens to be a five day,

(15:34):
four night Royal Caribbean on the Navigator of the Seas.
We sail on Monday, April sixth again next year. Jenny
out of Los Angeles, which is really San Pedro is
the port of Los Angeles it's actually closer to the
Long Beach Airport than to Lax, but it's just down

(15:54):
the road from Lax. We out to Catalina Island now
catalin Night because I love it.

Speaker 6 (16:02):
I love it Catalina, and there's no better way to
get there than not a big ship. You don't want
to take one of those faerries, No, not for me.
Helicopters are too expensive. So the ship is and you
can walk around Catalina, rent one of those golf carts
and tour around.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
It's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Then we have a wonderful day cruise. I personally love
the days at sea on any cruise, you know, three
sixty degrees of open ocean. Then they stop in Mexico,
back to La Now here's the blockbuster. Because our group
fares just yesterday got lowered. I'm going to give you
the prices as of yesterday, and they are subject to

(16:38):
change absolutely, but as of yesterday, if you were looking
at this is perfect for families two adults, two kids.
The per person price, including all taxes and fees, fasten
your seat belt, three hundred and sixty three dollars for
a five day, four night cruise. I don't know of
a better value. My wife Kathy and I gave this

(16:59):
to our our children and grandkids were taking the whole
family spring break next year. Hey, listen, we got about
a minute left. There's one other itinerary that is one
of the classiest I've ever seen. We're gonna hit it
real fast. I'll talk about it later in the show.
And there is a time crunch on this one. Pearls

(17:19):
of Asia. Now this is April seventeen to May one
next year, twenty twenty six. It is a two week cruise.
We board the ship in Singapore, and of course there's
various days at sea as we make our way to
different countries Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and

(17:44):
four stops in Tokyo again, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea,
and four stops in Japan. And we have the ship
is almost sold out, but we're holding group space until February.
And once that group space is gone, it's gone.

Speaker 3 (18:04):
It's gone. It's gone, and you have amazing space.

Speaker 6 (18:07):
So come down here and book it today with the
Morris Columbus Travel Advisors.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
That's right, or contact any of the offices at Morris,
Columbus Travel Pearls of Asia, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwans,
Korea and Japan. Jenny, thank you for joining us on
the Travel Show.

Speaker 3 (18:26):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
Hey more, when we come back, we're gonna go river
cruising and then head to Africa.

Speaker 7 (18:34):
You're listening to the Travel Show.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
I'm Larry Gelwicks, no Getaway Guru. We're broadcasting live today
from the Utah Travel Expo. We'll be here at the
Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy, ninety five hundred South
State Street until five o'clock with over one hundred travel vendors, suppliers, airlines,
cruise lines, safari companies. Everybody is here. I want to

(19:06):
welcome to the show, or maybe I should say welcome
back to the show. Scotty Horn, business development manager for
Alma Waterways, which is a river cruise company. Scotty, welcome back.
Thank you so much. Hey, let me ask you a
straight up question. Sure, and you know Alma Waterways. You
know how I feel about Amah. I love Alma Waterways.

(19:28):
But there are a lot of good choices. I mean,
you've got you got some river companies. I don't I say,
don't book them, But there's so many good choices out there.
There are why Almah waterways. What's the difference between you
and the other good guys?

Speaker 8 (19:44):
That's a great question, and yes, it doesn't matter who
you say what, you're gonna have a good time. But
the real big points of distinction that separate us is
the heart of the river. It's we're family owned and
operated and we love to pamper our guests in a
very unique special way. We are upscale luxury. It really
starts with the size of our staterooms. You know, when
you look at the fact that we only put one

(20:05):
hundred and one, one hundred and thirty or as many
as one hundred and fifty six on our ships. In
Europe we have one very special vessel that carries one
hundred and ninety six. But when we're in Africa, we
have twenty four. In Egypt, four guests guests.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
Oh, twenty four guests.

Speaker 8 (20:20):
Absolutely, eighty guests in Egypt, sixty in South America. It
just really means we're small, and so those smaller crowds
mean the state rooms get much larger, about one hundred
and sixty square feet for a basic what we call
Riverview stateroom, the fixed window, and then we get as
much as seven hundred and ten square feet for a suite.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
So that's in the Larry Gelwick suite. It is in
Larry Gelwick.

Speaker 9 (20:43):
Se Okay, got that.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
You mentioned a couple of places that just sail Scottish. Sure,
where do you sail? Okay?

Speaker 8 (20:50):
We do sail Europe, Asia, Africa, Egypt, and South America.
So really great destinations across the globe. But then if
we continue on with really what separates us from our competition,
Your cruise manager makes all the difference in the world.
They're an individual that's with you from pre cruise experience,
through the cruise and the post cruise experience. It's not

(21:10):
a handoff service. You're not meeting different people. It's one
person's going to really be looking after you. You can
choose from up to eight included excursions a day. They're
all included different levels of participation, high energy the average tour,
to a gentle tour those that need to go a
little slower. We will even do a tour for one person.

(21:31):
We keep our group sizes small. Eighteen to twenty is
our magic number. When we get that number, we then
cut it in half, get another group guide, and off
we go with ten to twelve or less. And it
really means that they're all included. They also will include
the entrances to castles, cathedrals, museums, food pairings, all those

(21:52):
different elements. It's all included. Then all of your meals
are also included. We have a couple different restaurants on board.
It's far the table. No microwaves on board, no freezers
on board for anything other than ice cream and ice cubes.
But we will honor dietary needs and restrictions, whether you
have gluten or siliac or anything else. I just don't

(22:13):
have room for a kosher kitchen, so that's the one
thing I can't honor. But other than that, we'll honor
almost anything you can throw at us, even if you
don't see it in the menu. Will do what we
can to really take care of our guests properly.

Speaker 1 (22:24):
You know, my experience with AMA has just been fantastic.
We took our adult children and their spouses on an
Alma cruise and the Rhine. They loved it because Kathy
and I paid for it right. And I have two
siliac daughters, which is gluten free. One has to be
vegetarian and the others just base. You know, the chef

(22:48):
actually came out and talked to them. I'm not surprised,
you know. Wonderful listen, you've got some special promotions going
we do.

Speaker 8 (22:56):
Right now, we have a promotion where on our select
sale it's Select itineraries and dates for twenty five and
twenty six, we're giving our land package that's the pre
cruise night for two to three four nights before the
cruise or after the cruise. We call those pre and posts.
We're giving those complimentary that would be the transfer from
the airport to the hotel, the hotel stay, excursions, breakfast,

(23:21):
and then that big long transfer from the hotel to
the vessel, and that we're giving right now on those
Select sailings complements.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
There's a value of that if you are pay.

Speaker 8 (23:30):
Oh my goodness, sometimes twelve hundred dollars or more.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
Yeah, yeah, I've seen them even up to two thousand
and sucks. That's right, and that's per person. That's correct,
and you stay at high end hotel.

Speaker 8 (23:40):
Only four and five star.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
Hey, let me mention two amba programs that I will
be personally hosting in twenty twenty six. I've done both
before and they were so popular. The Make Kung. Tell
us quickly about the Make Kung.

Speaker 8 (23:57):
It is an incredible itinerary between Cambodia and Vietnam. You
visit cities like ho Chiman City, cem Reap, the floating gardens,
you watch the elephants play soccer. If you love your
Western favorites, they're available on board. Otherwise, a lot of
the food is culinary based for the region and the
ship is designed around the destination.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
As again I did this couple of years ago. It
was so popular. The dates for next year if you'd
like to travel with me and we will offer a
pre cruised Thailand visit and a pre cruise cn Reap
Anchor Watt visit and a post cruise there in Saigon.
The actual cruise dates are November ninth to the fourteenth

(24:37):
next year, and then very quickly, we have about thirty
seconds left with you. Christmas markets on the Rhine.

Speaker 8 (24:43):
They're amazing, great way to see those little villages all
lit up, the cathedrals all lit up. It's spectacular. If
I can real quick, I just want to let people
know we have a military savings. If you've served in
our military. We thank you for that service. We have
a special for you. Solo travelers don't feel left out.
There's a special for you as well. And air everyone
has to get there. We've got air specials. The only

(25:04):
other thing I'll say is if you're here at the show,
we can give you additional two hundred dollars off your
stateroom if you're here at the show and you book
within the next two weeks, So come on down to
the show.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
The dates for the Christmas markets on the Rhine next
year with me or December third to the tenth. That's Switzerland, Germany,
France and the Netherlands. Scottie Horn, business development manager with
Alma Waterway, is thanks for joining us.

Speaker 8 (25:25):
Thank you for having us.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
Hey. Our next guest is just one of my really
good friends, Jim Gee with Discovery Expeditions. Now this is
who we do our safaris with. Now we have about
five or six minutes. Jim. We have safaris this summer.

(25:51):
We have them every summer. You can go there anytime
of the year and there's something different and special and
prices are lower. But I really like the Great Migration,
which is only July August and September and only in
Tanzania and Kenya, and for a variety of reasons, Kenya

(26:12):
is the better choice. First of all, what is the
Great Migration.

Speaker 10 (26:16):
Theration, Larry, is the world's largest migrating animals, mammals. There'll
be two hundred or excuse me, two million animals migrating
a million and a half. Will there be five hundred
thousand zebras?

Speaker 1 (26:34):
Do you know? The other thing is by day three
typically we have seen fifty different species of animals, not
including birds exactly.

Speaker 10 (26:45):
You'll see all the animals, the Big Five. Of course
you'll see the Big Five, but we'll see about, like
you said, sixty different animal species. And it's a great
time of year to go there. This year, we're all
sold out of your group trips.

Speaker 1 (27:01):
Of my My Trip. You're tru about the other we have,
We only have.

Speaker 10 (27:04):
All the others are sold out except for one, which
we're selling here right here at the travel show. And
I think we're down to only eight places left.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
Eight spots. You know, these these typically sell out, you know,
a year in advance, six nine months in advance. We're
already selling twenty twenty six. I think that the group
that I will be taking next year is July twenty
nine to August ninth next year. It's already about a

(27:36):
third sold out us traveling with me, but we have
other dates. Jim of course, will be on every tour.
So let me ask you this. There are there are
a lot of good safari companies and there's some real
awful ones. I mean, I see some people companies out
there in passenger vans that get stuck in the ruts.

(28:00):
Let's focus on there are some other There are many
good choices. What makes Discovery Expeditions and Morris Columbus Travels
so far as different.

Speaker 10 (28:10):
Well, number one, we own and operate all our own vehicles,
so we're not putting you into some vehicle that isn't new,
that doesn't service service. And what's special is they're designed
to hold nine people. We only put four people in
each vehicle. Even though you're coming with a group with
Morris murdoct Columbus travel we only put four in a vehicle.

(28:31):
So it's like a semi private tool.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
And see the reason that we do that is the
animals have not learned to only come to your side
of the vehicle for fu. I see some of these
I mean you could put nine people, but you can't
move from side to side. Now, I will say if
you're coming with a group of friends or family and
you want more than four, that that's okay, that's your choice.

(28:56):
But that's your choice. We won't put you in more
than those. What are the other differences. Let's say the lodges, the.

Speaker 10 (29:03):
Lodges, all the lodges and luxury tenanted camps we stay
in are inside the park. Many that have these blue
light specials are staying outside the park and you have
a long drive to get where the action is. Here,
you move right into where the action is.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
It's an exciting time, exciting time. You know, my experience
has been overwhelming. And I'll tell you one of the
big ones. For example, up on the Serengetti or the Mara,
we stay at the Ashmell Lodge, which is right there
on the bend of the Mara River. Animals gather there.
There are some wonderful lodges, I mean, really good, top notch,

(29:45):
deluxe lodges that are outside the park. Nothing wrong with
them other than you'll have an hour hour and a
half each way drive. And so what we typically do
is three game drives. The early morning drive the one
right after lunch, and we'll go early morning, come back
for breakfast, go out for the kind of lunchtime crowd,

(30:07):
come back for lunch, go out, and then for the
afternoon until dusk, come back for dinner. And so on
a typical day we can offer three drives. But these
other lodges, again I'm not dissing the lodge, they're really good,
but they'll drive in the morning. They have to stay
there with the day with a sack, lunch, and then

(30:28):
you they have to leave in the afternoon because you're
really not supposed to be driving around the park at night.

Speaker 9 (30:35):
No, and so they have to beget it.

Speaker 10 (30:37):
And that's when it's really special for us because we're
only only ones there the late evening when the game
viewing's the best, or the late you know, right before sunset,
and the same thing in the morning as the sun rises.
We are the ones there and there's no one else.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
You can check out the Great Migration Safari dates for
twenty twenty five and twenty two he six, although twenty
twenty five is basically gone at Morriscolumbus dot com. Morris
Columbus dot com. Scroll down to the Morris Murdoch Escort

(31:12):
of Tours. It's on the homepage and click on Africa
Jim T Discovery Expeditions. Thank you for joining us. We'll
see you on the Sergetti Hie.

Speaker 5 (31:22):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (31:37):
Look travel show. I'm Larry Gallawan get Away from you
and I'm here at the Utah Travel Expo in I
hope you'll join you. We're broadcasting live. Just got back
from Thailand and Cambodia and just this week and one

(31:59):
of our guests who was with us along with his parents, Craig.
He didn't know he was good. He was just walking
past and I signaled, come over here, Craig, welcome back,
Thank you, thank you for having me. Hey, in short,
give an evaluation of our tour Thailand and the Legends
of Cim or Siam they pronounced it Cim Thailand, the

(32:23):
legends of and then we have a Cambodia option. Give
us just your unbiased straight talk.

Speaker 11 (32:31):
I thought it was fantastic, It was wonderful. It was
one of my bucket list items that I wanted to
check off, and and I really liked it that the
tour was great.

Speaker 1 (32:43):
What about the quality of hotels.

Speaker 11 (32:45):
Very on par with anything that i'd normally stay in and.

Speaker 1 (32:49):
Meals most of your meals are included.

Speaker 3 (32:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
Yeah. The breakfasts were awesome with fresh brandpicked restaurants for lunch,
your dinner yep, yep. Give me one or two highlights
of the whole trip.

Speaker 11 (33:01):
I think Charming Company, Yeah, yeah, I think is at
the bottom. I think one of the things that was
fascinating to me was the different modes of transportation. I mean,
obviously you take an airplane that getting there, but I
mean we did long boats, we did, took tooks, we
did took took.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
These three wheel vehicles. It's like mister Toad's Wild.

Speaker 11 (33:21):
Right, and and in Bangkoka it really truly is. It
is a fascinating experience. So I really like the modes
of transportation. We got to do elephants, you know, right
on the elephants, which was a highlight for for me
and my wife.

Speaker 1 (33:36):
And so that was probably the one thing. And then
the second thing.

Speaker 11 (33:41):
Is just the sheer beauty of of you know, the
palaces and the temples and and and the people.

Speaker 1 (33:47):
The people are so gracious, they are well. Craig, thank
you for again. He didn't know he was going to
be on you're now a radio star. I appreciate it.
Are your parents here at the show that they're not?
They went home. We'll give a shout out today, all right,
thank you Craig. Hey, listen, folks, I'd love to have
you join me on my annual Thailand and Legends of Siam,

(34:08):
for I only do it once a year, that when
I do other Thailand programs. But January fourth to the eighteenth,
twenty twenty six, and this is trust Larry Times. You
want to be on that one? Hey? I want to
tell you about a really special tour and kind of
a funny story about it, and that is our Scotland,

(34:32):
Wales and England Tour. I'll be personally hosting it along
with my lovely wife Kathy August eleven to twenty one
this year. Now The Highlight is the world's largest bagpipe
and Military Drum Corps festival and it's only in August.
It's viewed by over one hundred million people worldwide. It's

(34:55):
held in the Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. They put
up stadium chairs just for the festival. Well, the name
of the festival is the Military Tattoo Festival the Way,
but tattoo has nothing to do with body art. It

(35:16):
goes back to the sixteenth century when a drummer and
a town crier or military guy would go through the
town to the pubs and say out loud at the door,
and the drummer would call their attention tattoo tattoo, which
meant to the owner of the pub, it's time to

(35:38):
turn the taps off and send the soldiers back to
the barracks. So it was a military tattoo tattoo. Well
over four hundred years now tattoo tattoo became tattoo again,
nothing to do with body art. Now here's the funny story.
So we put this tour together. Tickets are almost impossible
to get and we got for August. Again, it's only

(36:02):
in the month of August, and our company put out
the brochure Morris Columbus Travel and it said Scotland Military
Tattoo Festival. Nobody was buying it, nobody had any interest.
And they showed me the brochure and I said, what's this.
People think it's a body Let's go get you know,

(36:24):
some tattoo all across my back or something like that.
I said, you can't sell it as a tattoo, even
though that's the name of it, because nobody knows what
it is, so I said change it to Scotland, Wales,
England featuring the Scotland Bagpipe and Military Drum Corps Festival.

(36:46):
It is overwhelming, it is mind boggling. It's a absolutely
must see. We're over we changed the name just a
little while ago. We're over half sold out. It's capped
at forty that's all the tickets we got were closed
on the end. I'd love to have you join me
August eleventh to the twenty first of this year at

(37:08):
the Scotland Military Tattoo. No not the Military Tattoo, to
the Scotland, Wales and London. So will start in Edinburgh,
We'll visit Scotland, we'll dip into Wales, visit England and
then finish in London. There is an option at the
end to go to Paris. Folks, this is trust Larry time.

(37:32):
You want to book this as soon as you can
to eastn't want to miss it. There's nothing like it
in the world. Well, as I mentioned, we're here at
the Utah Travel Expo at the Mountain America Expo Center
and Sandy ninety five hundred South State Street will be
here until five o'clock. It brings together over one hundred

(37:53):
travel vendors, airlines, cruise lines, safari companies, riverboat companies, hotels, resorts,
tour operators. Everybody is here with exclusive expo discounts. When
we come back for our number two of the Travel Show,

(38:15):
your Best Being of the Travel Jowl, we're broadcasting live
from the Utah Travel Expo. We're here today until five
pm at the Mountain America Expo Center and Sandy ninety
five hundred South State the biggest, the best travel expo anywhere,
with over one hundred travel providers and vendors airlines, cruise lines,

(38:36):
safari companies, river boat companies, hotels, resorts, everything related to
travel and what we have are exclusive travel expo discounts,
information seminars. But the best part that my good friend
Brent Jensen, president of Morris Columbus Travel, is going to
outline are the free travel giveaways. Brent, Welcome to the Travels.

Speaker 12 (39:00):
My cool radio name again, what's my radio name? Oh Guappo,
that's right, El president A Wappore.

Speaker 1 (39:07):
Wopple And for those, of course, the Getaway Guru fluid
in Spanish and all languages that means handsome and Brents
he's kind of mischieving.

Speaker 9 (39:18):
You're very very kind, very kind, you know.

Speaker 1 (39:20):
When it's very interesting when he goes to the beach
and takes off his shirt, he gets gang dressed. Hey, okay,
first tell us about the Travel Expo. You're kind of
like the main man, and I do want you to
highlight the free travel giveaway. So first of all, about
the expo.

Speaker 9 (39:38):
Yeah, gosh, God, this is our twenty ninth Expbowl, Larry.

Speaker 12 (39:40):
We've been doing this for twenty nine years, and I'm
happy to say I've been here for every single one
of those expos and they just keep getting better and
better and better every year. It was fun to, you know,
walk out the door this morning to see little bit
of snow and to think that people are coming to
the travel show to book a great vacation to somewhere warm.

Speaker 9 (39:54):
And they all came again, Larry. It was crowded.

Speaker 12 (39:57):
There was two hundred people knocking on our door this
morning trying to get in the the building. So it's
a if you still have time, make sure you get
down to the expo today.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
Now it is a ticket to event. It is and
you can go for information and tickets to Utah Travel
Expo dot com. That's Utah Travel Expo dot com, or
just get tickets shows right come to the door. And
first of all, everybody's getting a fifty dollars gift certificate
good on qualifying packaging.

Speaker 12 (40:23):
Absolutely, you come to the show, you're gonna get a
gift card. It's just like cash. Book a book a
trip with us. And there's so many other exclusive operas
that we have. It's just some of the deals they
have Laria are amazing.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
Now free travel giveaways.

Speaker 12 (40:35):
Free travel giveaways. We've got cruises, we've got trips to Hawaii.
We've got two international airline tickets we're giving away.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
It's it's to Europe.

Speaker 9 (40:44):
Absolutely, trip to Europe. You could do whatever you want.

Speaker 1 (40:46):
Amazon gift cards.

Speaker 12 (40:47):
Amazon gift cards, we've got lots of Our vendors are
really stepped up and giving us a lot of things
to give away.

Speaker 9 (40:52):
So make sure every hour.

Speaker 1 (40:54):
You don't have to be pressed out to win. You
do have to register when you arrive.

Speaker 9 (41:00):
Yep, yep.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Man.

Speaker 12 (41:01):
For those that were interested to see who wins those
fabulous prizes, check on our website. Next week we'll have
all those winners listed.

Speaker 1 (41:07):
What can people who come here, Brent expect.

Speaker 12 (41:11):
First of all, they can expect to have a great time.

Speaker 9 (41:13):
You know, Larry, you have the best jobs in the
entire world.

Speaker 12 (41:16):
Tell me, buddy, we get to sell travel, We get
to sell dreams, We get to sell opportunities to see
that the world. I know you've been to several countries.
I've been a chance. I had a chance to be
to several countries. But that's what you want to do.
You want to come, you want to look, you want
to see, Gosh, what am I dreaming of? What am
I actually going to do? And then the beauty of it? Larry,
once you make up your mind, we have forty five
travel advisors on site that can book your vacation for

(41:39):
you right here on.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
Side with exclusive expert but they won't find anywhere else. Now.
As president of Morris Columbus Travel, You're perhaps most difficult
assignment is keeping me rained.

Speaker 9 (41:50):
In dang straight.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
Do you understand your I.

Speaker 9 (41:54):
Do I stay home so you can go track?

Speaker 1 (41:56):
Say that you are to work so that I can travel.
I like this arrangement. In fact, I just got back
this week from another Thailand Cambodia trip. I I've told
people I would live there Kathy and I if we
ever retire, which will never happen until I'm six feet under,

(42:16):
which I hope is not anytime soon, but that I
love that part of the world. I've had the privilege
of visiting one hundred and fifteen different countries. That's special,
It really is that every one of them have had
an influence on my life. What do you see as
the benefits of travel? What does it do to us
as people?

Speaker 12 (42:37):
It makes you, first of all, it makes you appreciate
what you have. You know, obviously I love going to
different countries. Again, I would like you, Larry. I went
to Cambodi in Southeast Asia last year my wife and
absolutely loved it. But I came home and I appreciated
what I do have a lot of times, some people
when you go to third world countries, they don't have
what we have, and you're able to see the people,
you're able to experience what they have. Morris Columbus also

(42:59):
have opportunities to take give back to people when you
when you go on vacations, to give back when you're
when you're traveling also, so it's a great opportunity, you know.

Speaker 1 (43:06):
We have so many. We probably have about eighty to
one hundred escorted programs, and.

Speaker 9 (43:14):
You do like seventy of those, don't you?

Speaker 1 (43:15):
Seventy three seventy three. The name of the company is
Morris Columbus Travel, but the brand name for our escorted
programs is Morris Murdoch Escorted Tourists. And so if you
go to our website Morriscolumbus dot com, that's Morriscolumbus dot
com and on the homepage just to scroll down to

(43:38):
Morris Murdoch Escorted Tours. I explained the two names. This
week's like General Motors and Chevrolet. Chevrolet is the brand
name for that line of cars. General Motors is the
parent company. And then click on the destination or the
geographic area. It might be Europe or Asia, Africa, Holy Land, LDS,

(44:00):
Church History tours. If it's a cruise, you click on
cruises and then they're separated by date and year. Now
here is one program I'd like you to come in.
And I didn't tell Brent in advance that I was
gonna quiz him on this one.

Speaker 12 (44:17):
I usually I usually fail your quizzes, by the way, Larry's,
I know that the dummy.

Speaker 9 (44:21):
I'm usually the dummy.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
That's right. We have what we call Brent Jensen remedial
thinking this one. The ship is almost sold out and
it's next year April seventeenth to May the first Pearls
of Asia. We got a notice because we're holding group Space,
we got a notice from Royal Caribbean Fantastic Cruise Line

(44:44):
that they were going to take our unsold group Space back.
And you and Wendy Frakia and the whole Morris Columbus
team put up a state they have now they want
it back, and I'm gonna tell you why they want
it back. They've given us Okay, you have until February seventh.

(45:06):
We've seen a lot of action on one of the
greatest itineraries, now this particular one. What is Singapore, Vietnam,
Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and for stops in Japan. What's
your take on this itinerary.

Speaker 12 (45:23):
I think for an individual that wants to go see
a great part of the world, can get a lot
of countries in on one trip.

Speaker 9 (45:29):
That's what I'm thinking of.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
Those I know you've been everywhere. Pick one destination that
we'll be visiting and tell me why you love it.

Speaker 12 (45:38):
I had a chance last year, Larry to see Taipei,
Taiwan for the first time.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
That's a great destiny, as we loved.

Speaker 12 (45:43):
It's kind of a little bit off the beaten path.
People don't think about it as much as they do,
but you're gonna spend.

Speaker 9 (45:47):
Some time there.

Speaker 1 (45:48):
Very clean, great food.

Speaker 9 (45:50):
Absolutely, it's a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (45:52):
So we board the ship in Singapore. We will offer
both a pre cruise Singapore, you know, spend a couple
of days if you can just go to the ship
but you don't see Singapore then and post cruise a
couple of days in Tokyo. But we'll visit Singapore and
then to Vietnam. Now, I to me, it's still Saigon.

(46:12):
The name officially is ho Chi Minh City after Uncle Hoo.

Speaker 12 (46:16):
Saigon and his amazing city, isn't it. You and I
have both been there sometimes and it's amazing.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
What's one thing you love about it?

Speaker 12 (46:22):
The food? Again, I'm a foodie. Wherever I go, I love.

Speaker 9 (46:25):
It to do.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
You know what's interesting. The favorite dish is fa but
it's spelled p h oh, and the uninitiated pronounce it pooh.
I'll I'm sorry folks. But I hear this all the time.
We'll have a bowl of beef poo. No, it's fa
that is how but it's spelled p h oh. I

(46:47):
love the the Bentan Market, shopping market there. Then we
move on to Hong Kong. Oh, my gosh, I was
there in June while you were working. Yeah again again
great great food. There is like energy coming right out
of the sidewalks. There, absolutely a beautiful city. In April
is a wonderful time in Hong Kong. You don't have

(47:09):
the summer heat and humidity. Moving on, you mentioned Taipei
and then to South Korea to Jju Islands. It's kind
of like a Santa Monica with all the Korean influence.
And look at these four stops in Japan. That's Nagasaki,
which is a sobering experience. You get to Kobe, which

(47:33):
is the gateway to Kyoto Kyoto and the Gold Pavilion,
and then on to Shimizu, which is Mount Fuji and
the Japanese Alps, and then to Yokohama, which is the
port city for Tokyo. We'll have a post cruise office. Anyway,

(47:58):
the reason that Royal wants back Brent is our prices.
It varies by cabin category, but our averaging are you
ready for this five hundred dollars per person? Wow, less
than what Royal Caribbean is selling it for. So that's
one thousand dollars a couple. And they're thinking, we Royal

(48:18):
can make a lot more money if we sell it ourself,
and Brent and the other said no, no, no, no no.
So folks, we have the pearls of Asia Singapore, Vietnam,
Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan until February the seventh.
So call now, let's call now you want to book
this while it's still there. Okay, we've got about twenty seconds.

(48:41):
What's why come to the Utah Travel Expo.

Speaker 9 (48:45):
We do all the work, you have all the fun.
Come out and see us.

Speaker 12 (48:49):
Let us help you plan your gring vacations.

Speaker 1 (48:50):
Bret Jensen, Honorable Bret Jensen, President of Morris Columbus Travel.
More when we come back. You're listening to the travel show.
I'm weary, yelwiz that get away Guru. We're here at
the Utah Travel Expo at the Mountain America Expo Center

(49:13):
at Sandy ninety five at South Stake we're going to
be here until five o'clock. I want to welcome to
the show. I should say, welcome back to the show.
One of my very dear friends from Norwegian Cruise Line,
Lisa Presley, How are you.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
I'm great, Larry.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
How is the show treating you?

Speaker 13 (49:32):
Oh, it's been phenomenal. We've had so many great conversations
with people. And what I love about this show is
the fact that I always have a really good promotion
to give to him. But I know we'll talk about
that later. But the fact that there's so many people here,
they're so excited, and everybody wants to go on vacation.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
You know, I have said repeatedly for the last couple
of years, and I reaffirm it now. Cruising is absolutely, positively,
beyond dispute, the best travel.

Speaker 13 (50:02):
Value, absolutely the best travel value, because your food's included,
your transportations included. In fact, when we talk about transportation,
we've got to buy one, get one free air which
I know you're very familiar with that.

Speaker 1 (50:14):
Oh, I have talked about I think the NCL promo,
which is much more than just the free airfare, which
is really a buy one, get one free promotion. The
first person pays a heavily discounted fare. In most cases
it is below what you could get directly from the airlines.
That's been my experience because I always price it out, yes,

(50:36):
and the second person goes absolutely free. Now you know,
I'm a big fan of Norwegian Cruise Line or NCL,
but there are a lot of good cruise lines out there. Absolutely,
why choose NCL? What makes you different?

Speaker 13 (50:53):
What makes us different is we're a freestyle cruise line.
We've got no set ninety times. You can have dinner
wherever you want, whenever you want. We also have no
formal nights, so there, I know you never pack your
texts when you come with us on board.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
Right, Oh, thank the Lord. In fact, I'm sitting here
and like some uh just slacks and Aloha shirt. Yeah,
this is my formal night.

Speaker 14 (51:16):
That's your cruis that's it's absolutely so.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
Yeah. Those are huge different differences.

Speaker 13 (51:25):
But let me tell you what really makes a difference
with the cruising with us, it's our crew.

Speaker 14 (51:29):
It's our staff on board. And I know you can
attest to this.

Speaker 3 (51:33):
They're so good, they're wonderful.

Speaker 13 (51:35):
And what I love most is you will find the
captain even walking around the shop and the who come up.

Speaker 1 (51:40):
And he's approachable too. He is he's got with you.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
He loves to meet our clients that are on board.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
Now this is gonna sound funny, but I mean it literally.
One of the things I really love about the NCL
crew is they seem happy to be there. No offense
is some other cruise lines, but sometimes I run into
people crew members and they just seem distant. You know.
I've never had one be rude to me on any

(52:08):
but some of them are just I have this almost
death look on their face. Not with ends.

Speaker 14 (52:14):
They're welcoming, They're happy to see you.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
So how many ships in your fleet? And where do
you sail?

Speaker 13 (52:19):
Twenty one ships in the fleet? I know we got
a new one coming out, new one in April.

Speaker 1 (52:24):
I'm going to be on that. Folks. Do I have
the best job in the world. I got invited. It's
like a three day cruise. I think we're going to
the Bahamas. And I do it not for personal reasons.
I do it for you, the listeners. To eat at
every venue multiple times in three days, you know, as

(52:48):
I will say. The one criticism I have of NCL
is I tried to move my bed up to the
buffet and they wouldn't let so rude of them, they
would not allow me. I'm just gonna sleep up there. Hey,
one thing I want you to talk about, and then
let's talk about some promo o. Well, I asked you first,
where you say it?

Speaker 3 (53:07):
Different destinations? Where you want to go? You got to
cover this.

Speaker 1 (53:11):
We're gonna have a quiz game. Name all of them,
basically anywhere in the world.

Speaker 3 (53:17):
Correct, Let you go.

Speaker 1 (53:18):
I have a group, a very great group on the
I call it Iceland to London. It's on the Prima
Fantastic Show, one of my favorites. There's one aspect I
haven't seen anywhere else. Was the food court. Tell us
about the food.

Speaker 14 (53:34):
Court, the Indulge food court. Ye, eleven different restaurants.

Speaker 1 (53:37):
It's really a food court, it is.

Speaker 13 (53:39):
And we've got food trucks there too. And what's great
about it, eleven different restaurants. You get the choice of
where you want to have your dinner brought to you.
You're ordering off an iPad. You're sitting in the middle
of the area in a table round, surrounded by different
restaurants that you can order something from every restaurant.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
Imagine this folks. You go to the mall and you
go to the food court, absolutely and you have to pick.
I'm going to go to Panda Express or Dairy Queen
or Shabarro Pizza or something like that. But imagine being
if you sat down at that mall with a like
an iPad provided by the ball it's fixed there. Yeah,

(54:20):
and you say, you know, I want to slice a pizza,
I want some Indian curry, I want a cheeseburger, I
want a salad, and you could order it all and
they're starting to break. That's what happens at the Indulge
food court.

Speaker 13 (54:34):
Let me give you a little information about that, Larry
though insider info. When you sit down and order, you
only want to order two dishes at a time, right,
because what happens you get way too many dishes of
food on your table and.

Speaker 3 (54:46):
You don't have enough space. But you can always order
a mark.

Speaker 1 (54:48):
You can keep going. Hey, very quickly, we got about
two minutes left. You've got some wonderful promotions we do.

Speaker 13 (54:55):
The first of all I want to start off with
is our military promotion. We offer a ten percent off
everybody within the stateroom.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
Is is that clean? Better, active and.

Speaker 13 (55:03):
Retired correct including Vetteran so excited about that promotion, and
that's combinable with everything else.

Speaker 14 (55:09):
We're currently offering fifty.

Speaker 13 (55:10):
Percent off cruises for guests one and two, so basically
you're paying for one guest and the other one is
going for free. We also have our more at C promotion,
which is the unlimited beverage package, the specialty dining, the
buy one, get one free airfare that you spoke about earlier,
short excursion credits, and Wi Fi packages. Plus we have
a lot of sailings for third and fourth guest sale

(55:31):
for free.

Speaker 1 (55:32):
Could you on that Iceland to London? Could you make
me a reservation every night at Cagsy's Stakehouse. I'm not serious.

Speaker 3 (55:42):
That's my favorite place to eat.

Speaker 1 (55:43):
To me, I call it a ruth Chris wanna be Yeah,
I mean that's the sin. It is fabulous.

Speaker 14 (55:49):
You can cut your fillet with a fork, you really can't.

Speaker 1 (55:52):
And there's there's other great restaurants there with Yes, well
Lisa Pressley here along with her crew. Yes, at Norwegian
Cruise Line at the Utah Travel Expo, and you got
to stop by take advantage of some of these exclusive
show discounts.

Speaker 13 (56:08):
We are offering free paid gratuities and this is only
when you book through Morris Columbus Travel. You have to
book by January thirtieth, and it has to be a
seven night or longer cruise and a balcony or above.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
Prepaid gratuities or guess one and two. Yeah, Norwegian Cruise
Line the home of freestyle femership for joining us and
come to see NCL here at.

Speaker 15 (56:33):
The Utah Travel X Monk you, Larry, Welcome back to

(56:56):
the Travel show.

Speaker 1 (56:56):
Idlarry, Telvis they get away to you. Here you can
travel expo. We'll be here until five o'clock. We have
over one hundred travel vendors and suppliers airlines, cruise lines, resorts, hotels,
safari companies and riverboat companies. And one of my favorites,
Viking Cruises, is actually with here right now. Ryder Marks,

(57:21):
the business development manager with Viking Welcome, I should say,
welcome back to the Travel show.

Speaker 9 (57:26):
Yes, yes we have done.

Speaker 1 (57:27):
Hey listen, you've got some really exciting new itenans. Of course,
Viking does both ocean cruises and river cruises. Highlights some
of your new itineraries.

Speaker 16 (57:38):
Well for this year we add It's the Quiet Mediterranean
which is absolutely stunning. These are sailings that depart during
the winter time when all the crowds.

Speaker 9 (57:47):
Are gone from the Mediterranean.

Speaker 16 (57:49):
Many of the ocean suppliers they go into the Caribbean.
We leave a couple of ships in the Mediterranean, and
there's some more.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
We're talking about ocean cruises.

Speaker 9 (57:56):
That's right, ocean cruises in the Mediterranean.

Speaker 16 (57:58):
So you know, the tractions are less crowded, the weather
is still nice, it's in the sixties at night. It
gets the prices or lower. That's exactly right. So there's
a big, big push for that. It's very very attractive offers.

Speaker 1 (58:10):
There. Tell me three of your personal favorite medi Trainean ports.

Speaker 16 (58:16):
Oh, that would be gosh, I know there's much more,
there's so many, but just three of the top list.
That would be Dubrovnik, right, Dubrovnik would be up there,
and I would certainly name Rome and of course Barcelona.

Speaker 1 (58:30):
I could go with all of those. Now you have
a January promotion.

Speaker 16 (58:34):
Yes, this is very very new for Viking because we
actually give consumers a choice. So you choose between double
pass passenger discount or a silver beverage package and prepaid
gratuities or one thousand dollars per couple of ship or credits,
so whichever works best for.

Speaker 1 (58:53):
Thousand you heard me, yes, good night, I'll almost pay
for the cruise. So you get to choose them. Run
through those options again.

Speaker 16 (59:04):
So again there's a up to one thousand dollars ship
with credit or silver beverage packaged and prepaid cartuities or
the double pass passenger discount.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
That's fantastic. Now one of the things that I love.
There's so many things I love about Viking cruises, but
one of the standouts to me is the free or
reduced airfare.

Speaker 9 (59:27):
This is huge, you know.

Speaker 16 (59:28):
And on those longer river cruises you see again up
to free air that we're offering. We have a lot
of discounted air and debt is our Explorer sale that's
currently going on. So you see us on rivers on oceans.
Talk to the team of More's Columbus Travel. They will
find you those deals.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
You know, it's important on all promotions, discounts, everything, they
are subject to change and availability at the time of booking.
They come and go. That's why don't put off off
giving Morris Columbus Travel a call and ask about Viking
Ocean and river cruises. Now, one of the things that's

(01:00:11):
really interesting is Egypt. I think the best way to
see Egypt. I've done land tours, I love them, but
what I really enjoy is kind of a combination of
some land time at a hotel, but then getting on
the Nile on a riverboat.

Speaker 9 (01:00:28):
Absolutely incredible tour.

Speaker 16 (01:00:30):
So you spend three days in Cairo, see the ancient antiquities,
the museums, the markets, and then on an inland flight
you transfer over to Luxor take that river cruise along
those amazing temples, the value of the King's Luxor and
all of that.

Speaker 9 (01:00:45):
It's absolutely unforgettable.

Speaker 16 (01:00:46):
And Larry, I don't know if you know that we
do have currently six ships that we're operating on there,
and we're building two more.

Speaker 1 (01:00:52):
Because the smaller ship very intimate. You know, I've often
said if you visit Egypt, and there's nothing like Egypt
anywhere else in the world. You know, we've got white
sand beaches, alpine splendor, Patagonia type pampas all over the world,
but there is nothing that you can compare Egypt outside

(01:01:15):
of Egypt. And I've told people, if you haven't seen Luxor,
you haven't seen Egypt. You can even see Dutan common
or Duke Amun has properly pronounced. His mummified body is
on disprand to look at this pharaoh, you can't even
see his teeth. It's just incredible. So you've got the

(01:01:36):
three days in Cairo. Now, I believe you're including the
new Cairo Museum. True. You know they have on display
over thirty thousand objects, new objects in addition to the
stuff that we have been seeing. They they didn't have
room in the old Cairo Museum. And now with the

(01:01:56):
new museum all the stuff plus thirty thousand new items.

Speaker 9 (01:02:02):
Isn't that incredible?

Speaker 16 (01:02:03):
I mean the expedition, the exhibition is that massive, and
that absolutely second to none in the world.

Speaker 1 (01:02:10):
What I want to talk to you about is very
quickly we got about thirty seconds, a lot of good
choices out there for river cruises. Why Viking fame with.

Speaker 16 (01:02:21):
Ocean You know, with Viking you looking at an all
inclusive kind of a product. We are twenty five years
in operation. We've been doing this for a long time
and we don't Nickolenndim, you know that is just what
we do.

Speaker 1 (01:02:38):
Well, Reiner, thank you. I'll let you get back to
your booth. Check about here at the Utah Travel Expo.
We're here till five o'clock. Thanks Rider, it was a pleasure.
Always good to see you. Now we have a very
special guest. I, of course, will be translating for you.

(01:02:59):
Luke O.

Speaker 9 (01:03:03):
Mahone o mahoney, oh mahoney.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
I'm sorry loke with Brendon Vacations that you're a native
of the great country of Ireland. That's right.

Speaker 17 (01:03:11):
I'm from the Emerald Isle and I've lived over here
for about ten years now.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
Yeah. So we're in Ireland. Did you grow up not
too far.

Speaker 17 (01:03:20):
From Dublin, a little town called Bray in County Wicklow.
And I used to work as a travel director for
Brendan Vacations and Trafalgar uh huh yeah, And then I
came over here and they said, you've got an accent.

Speaker 9 (01:03:34):
Here's a job.

Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
Yeah, let's talk about something important, Okay. Are you an
Ireland rugby fan?

Speaker 9 (01:03:40):
Absolutely?

Speaker 1 (01:03:41):
Oh good, good good? Yeahs team in the world. Well,
they had their chance at the last World Cup. They
were favored to win. And then that's another story for
another day. I understand they're still in mourning in Ireland.
Over that you were the sales manager with one of
the great tour companies in the world. Seriously, Brendan Vacations. Yeah,

(01:04:04):
introduce us. Who is Brendan Vacations? Where do you offer
travel packages too?

Speaker 17 (01:04:11):
Brendan Vacations have been around for fifty years. We were
named after Brendan the navigator, who was a monk believe
it or not, allegedly discovered America long before Columbus did. Anyway,
we've been earning for fifty years and all we do
is Ireland and Scotland, so we specialize in it and
the advantage of traveling with us is choice. Catherine Riley,

(01:04:32):
who's our managing director, her goal is to build relationships
and that's what we've been doing for the last fifty years.
So when you come with us, you have so much
choice for activities from family activities to genealogy, history, active stuff.
You could be hiking, biking, you could be ski shooting
at a castle falconry. That's just multiple choices. And then
the accommodations as well, you so much not just big

(01:04:55):
box hotels, but we do B and b's, we do manners,
we do castles, we do boutie hotels.

Speaker 1 (01:05:01):
So yeah, castles, Yeah, Brendan one of my favorites is
Dromolin Castle.

Speaker 9 (01:05:07):
I love it.

Speaker 17 (01:05:08):
I was there just three weeks ago where I did
falconry with Dave, who's our resonant falconer there, and we
did a you know, have a good story about that,
actually good story about falconry. So with multiple travel styles,
and one of those travel styles is private chauffeur and
this is where a driver will drive you around our end.
A couple of years ago, we had this young couple,

(01:05:28):
they're probably in their thirties, I would say, and the
boyfriend says to the girlfriend, shall we do a horse
and carriage ride around Dromolin Castle tomorrow morning? And she
said that sounds incredible. So the horse and carriage comes
to the doorstep of the castle. They walk down, hop
on the carriage and it goes around past the lake
with the mistover right right up along the forest and
they see the falconer and the falconer has a bird

(01:05:50):
up in the sky and he says, I'm just training
the bird. Would you like to put on the glove
and it'll land on your hand? And she says that
sounds amazing. So the girl puts the glove on. The
hawk soars down and lands on this leather glove that
she's wearing. She looks at the talons and sees an
engagement ring.

Speaker 1 (01:06:09):
Turns around.

Speaker 17 (01:06:09):
Boyfriend's on one knee.

Speaker 9 (01:06:11):
He proposes.

Speaker 17 (01:06:12):
She said, no, absolutely, yeah no, it was all stage,
all planned. Yeah, no, that was planned with you know,
the travel advisor. The boyfriend came to Columbus. I can't
remember the travel agency now exactly, but came to Travel
Advisor said hey, looking for a special way to propose
to my girl, and we thought we came up with this.

Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
Yeah. Yeah, oh that tell you know. As great as
the story is, what it highlights is the personal attention
with a with a Brendan vacation. You know. The Dromolin
Castle is a huge, massive estate and it's a real castle,
absolutely that they've turned into a five star luxury. Now
many of the castles that you'll see in the UK

(01:06:54):
and Ireland are really the manor house of Lord Fufu,
you know, and they call it's not a castle. You
have to have turrets, yeah, and you've got to have
a torture chamber and a moat. Now they've done away
with the toy, but I mean it's gotta be a
real castle. But there you have a championship golf course,
you have fishing, you have a questrian falconry, archery, a

(01:07:18):
skate shooting bicically, yes, you don't even have to leave it.
And I'll tell you they kill it in the dining room.

Speaker 17 (01:07:24):
Oh my god, it's incredible, it really is. And you
know what, you don't have to do a private show
fur trip to go and stay out a castle. No, no, no,
you could do a guided vacation where you're on a group,
you know. And the way you arrive is you don't
arrive on your motor coach. You travel around Ireland on
this motor coach. Then you arrive at this huge lake
beside Ashford Castle. You get off the motor coach right

(01:07:45):
you'll get on the boat. The boat will travel across
this huge lake and they say the air is like
champagne out there. And you get off at the castle,
but on the far side of the river. And when
you get out you'll hear bagpipes and Benny the piper
will march with you and your group up to the
entrance of the castle where all the staff are there
to greet you as you arrive. Now you do Ireland,
Northern Ireland, or we do you do Ireland, Northern Ireland

(01:08:08):
and Scotland.

Speaker 9 (01:08:09):
Yeah, and there's multiple waste.

Speaker 1 (01:08:11):
Many good tour companies. We have about a minute left,
all right, a lot of good tour companies, planners, why
branded vacations.

Speaker 17 (01:08:19):
The choice and the five ways to travel. So, like
I mentioned, all those accommodations and experiences available. Also, you
could do a guided tour with group sizes twenty four
or forty people or fifty two people better value at
fifty two, more exclusive at twenty four.

Speaker 9 (01:08:33):
You could do.

Speaker 17 (01:08:34):
Rail tours traveling around Ireland and Scotland by train, meeting
with local hosts in every city. Or you could do
self drive where you've a car, you get out in
the open road and finally private chauffeur like I mentioned,
so just that choice.

Speaker 1 (01:08:47):
Sign me up, Yes, sign me up.

Speaker 9 (01:08:49):
We'll come with us.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
To how's Ireland going to do in the next World Cup?
We're gonna win it for sure, it's time I sure
hope you do.

Speaker 17 (01:08:56):
Yeah, we had to give an opportunity to the opposition
last time, but it's time to reclaim our title.

Speaker 1 (01:09:01):
Brendan Brendan Luke with Brendan Vacation. Thank you for joining us.
Mill's the Travel Show treating you guys.

Speaker 17 (01:09:08):
One of the best shows I've ever been to. Absolutely
bring in so many enthusiastic customers for Ireland and Scotland.
So I'm glad I can be here to represent and
we hope to show some people around Land.

Speaker 1 (01:09:19):
Let's yeah, that's an interesting comment because I've asked many
vendors year after year. They tell me the Utah Travel
Expo is different, and I say, how is the league
come with questions? Hey, thank you. I think to stay
tuned for our final segment of the Utah Travel Expo.

(01:09:47):
Welcome back our numbered Villas, the last segment of the
Travel Show. May I just say I've been host of
the Travel Show now thirty four years. I was a
young man the Brown Air when I started this and
I can't believe it's been thirty four years. I want
to give a very personal thank you and shout out

(01:10:08):
to you, our listening audience. We're syndicated on nineteen stations,
most in the Inner Mountain area, but we also have
stations in Texas and on the East Coast that pick
up the show. Sants say thank you. I never take
it for granted. We have a lot of fun on
the show, and today we're here at the Utah Travel Expo.

(01:10:29):
We will be here until five o'clock and it's just
an incredible expo everything about travel. Over one hundred travel
suppliers and vendors are here at the travel show. Airlines,
cruise lines, safari companies with exclusive expo discounts. Still time

(01:10:52):
to come here. We're at the Mountain America Expo Center
at Sandy ninety five hundred South State Street. We're here
till five o'clock and do come on by. As I said,
we have exclusive discounts. Fifty dollars gift certificate Morris Columbus.
It is applicable on any qualifying purchase. You know, I

(01:11:13):
love to travel, and one of the great joys of
my life is traveling with you around the world. I
just got back this week from Thailand and Cambodia, and
I just love that part of the world. I want
to highlight two programs that I'll be personally hosting next
year twenty twenty six. The first is what I call

(01:11:38):
Spring Break Escape Cruise. This is April sixth to the tenth.
It's a five day, four night cruise round trip from
La visiting Catalina, Island, a day at sea, stop in
Mexico and back to La. Now, I pick this date
because for most Utah school districts, not all, but this

(01:12:00):
is spring Brick, you have the whole week off Monday
to Friday. So we have a Monday to Friday cruise
to Catalina Island and Mexico, and they're practically giving it away.
We secured group prices. Now, all prices and promotions are
subject to change and availability at the time of bookie,
but as of right now, you could take a family

(01:12:22):
of four, and I think it's a great time for
a family of four, two adults, two kids. Are you
ready for this? From just three hundred and sixty three
dollars per person, including all taxes and fees, all you
have to do is get yourself there, and by the way,
if you want to drive, you can park right next
to the ship, literally next to the ship. The port

(01:12:44):
of La is really in San Pedro, just south of
lax and quite close to the Long Beach Airport. Love
to have you join me Monday to Friday, April sixth
to the tenth, five days Mexico, Catalina Island, and southern
California and then you've got the weekends on both ends
of spring break. You can do Disneyland, Nottsbury Farm, Saint George,

(01:13:07):
Las Vegas, or just down and back, drive fly however
you want to get there. The other one I mentioned
earlier in the show was the Pearls of Asia. Now
you know I love Asias, particularly Southeast Asia. I've got
a cruise with Royal Caribbean. By the way, the spring
break is with Royal Caribbean on the fabulous ship, the
Navigator of the Seas. The Pearls of Asia is on

(01:13:30):
Ovation of the Seas, one of their best ships. It's
April seventeen to May one. We board the ship in Singapore.
We visit Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and
four stops in Japan including Nagasaki and yes, we'll visit

(01:13:52):
Ground Zero. We visit Kobe, which is the ports. You
can get to Kyoto, the ancient capital, the Gold Pavilion,
Shimi Zoo which is Mount Fuji, and the Japanese Alps,
and then to Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama. We
will offer a pre cruise visit to Singapore. We'll offer

(01:14:13):
a post cruise visit to Tokyo if you'd like to
join us. But think about that, folks, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan,
South Korea, and Japan. Now what's interesting the ship is
virtually sold out. We got a notice from Royal Caribbean
that they want our unsold group space back. And you

(01:14:36):
know why they want it back is a ship is
almost sold out. We're holding like the last inventory and
they've given us you can keep your space until February
the seventh. After that it's gone. And the reason they
want it back is the prices, which vary by your
Kevin category, are averaging five hundred dollars per person, less

(01:15:00):
than what Royal Caribbean is selling it for now. I
mean that's one thousand bucks a couple. Of course they
want it back. Well, they're going to take back anything
we haven't sold on February seventh. The dates again April
seventeenth to May first, twenty twenty six for Pearls of Asia.
Now the spring Break cruise is April sixth to the tenth.

(01:15:23):
You know that is such a great one. Kathy and
I gave this spring break cruise to our kids and grandkids.
We're taking everybody when I can get off a five
day cruise for three hundred and sixty three dollars including
all taxes and fees. We gave it to them for Christmas. Well,
this brings us back to the winding up the Travel Show.

(01:15:45):
I don't know where two hours goes. We'll be back
live in studio next week at the for the Travel show.
And we are here at the Utah Travel X we again.
We're here until five o'clock at the Mountain America SPOS
Center and Sandy ninety five hundred South State Street in Sandy.

(01:16:05):
Love to have you join me. Do say hello. You'll
see me in a bright, loud hello usher. Thank you
so much, God bless I'm a wonderful weekend. Hope to
see you here at the X book. Thank you