The Travel Show: Happy New Year; Live From Thailand

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Selling you cop Kam kun Kop and welcome to the
travel show. I'm Larry Gelwicks, that get away Guru, and
yes I've gotten away again.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Just days after the New Year.

Speaker 1 (00:14):
I'm in Bangkok, Thailand for my annual Thailand and the
Legends of Siam tour that includes both Thailand and Cambodi.
And I'll be telling you some more about that, but
we're just on the start of it. We left just
after New Year's and what a wonderful group of people.
I consider this tour Thailand and the Legends of Siam

(00:37):
or Legends of Siam depending you know, the locals pronounce
it Siam and here in America we call it Siam.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
You call it whatever you want.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
I consider this my absolute signature tour, the one I'm
the most proud of. I've been doing this tour for
almost twenty five years. I remember the very first year
I put it out. I took a trip to Thailand
and fell in love with the country, the culture, the people.
Don't even get me started on the food. Oh my gosh,

(01:07):
is it wonderful. And I thought everybody has to come
to Thailand. And you know, it was like pulling teeth.
I put it out there and people are saying, well,
where's Thailand. You know, it's in Asia somewhere. Is it
part of China? Is it near Japan? Well, it's in

(01:27):
Southeast Asia, and it's one of the few countries that
never was colonized. It's the land of the King and
I remember you O Brenner and all of that. Yeah,
that's a true story. Of course, the Hollywood took some
license with the storyline in the movie, but it's based
upon actual events. There's something that grabs me about Thailand.

(01:52):
I am so excited to be I was telling my
wife Kathy that, you know, in the weeks leading up
to our departure. You know, Kathy, I'm just giddy about
getting back to time. I get over here three or
four times a year and absolutely love it. I'll be
giving you some highlights throughout the show of what we

(02:13):
are going to do because we just got here. But
Bangkok itself is a must see. Yes, it's a big city.
It's called the Venice of the East, with over three
hundred canals. You know, Venice has about half that number,
and here in Thailand, everything has been built over the

(02:34):
centuries and the millenniums around the Chawpraya River. You know,
we'res same with the Nile or the Mississippi, any great
the Amazon, any great river in history because that's where
the water is, so all the temples and the monuments.
It's very interesting here that they have really four type
of taxis and the first is your traditional taxi with

(02:58):
the meter and a fairs are really cheap. The drivers
don't like to use the meter. They see foreign visitors
and they just give them some outrageous amount. So which
say is meter and you force them to use it
and then pay them, leave them a nice tip if
they've been friendly. Most of the drivers do not speak English.
And what I always tell people to do, and this

(03:19):
is true for any foreign country where English is not
the primary language.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
Take a car.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
And a business card from the front desk that has
the name of the hotel, the telephone number and the
address written in that native language. And here it would
be tie. You can just hand it to a taxi driver.
So you have a traditional taxi. Then you have the tuktuk.
Those are the three wheeled open air vehicles. Yes they

(03:47):
are covered. There's no meter. You just negotiate the price.
Then you have a water taxi. There's three hundred canals.
You've heard of the hop on hop off bus. I
talked about that a couple of weeks ago. We had
a caller two weeks ago going to Rome and I said,
the best thing you can do in Rome is get

(04:08):
that hop on hop off bus, take the circuit and
then stop around.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Well, in Thailand they have.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
A hop on hop off boat that goes up and
down the ship play a river and some of the clungs.
Clungs is the Thai word for canal. So you have
the traditional taxi, took the water taxi, the fourth one.
Just don't do it. This is trust Larry time. Unless,
of course, you have a death wish, you want to
get rid of a relative, you put him or her

(04:37):
on it. It's a motorcycle and so these drivers they
have a helmet and a vest showing that they're a
motorcycle taxi. You don't get a helmet, and they're weaving
in and out of traffic. Thailand is the land of
the Grand Palace. I've said before there are places on

(04:58):
Earth that if you went all the way there and
only saw that one site, it would be worth it.
The taj Mahal, the tomb of Resurrection in Jerusalem. It
would be worth the trip if, of course you're gonna
see more than that, but it would be worth it.

(05:19):
The Grand Palace in Bangkok. If you flew all the
way to Thailand and only saw the Grand Palace, it
would be worth the trip. Well, we'll be seeing that
in a couple of days. You know, what did you
do for New Year's You know, people have traditions when
our kids are growing up, and now I do it

(05:40):
with the grandkids. We would go outside our house with
pots and pans and bang on them, you know, disturbing
the neighbors at the stroke of midnight. Then we'd drive
down to seven to eleven and get slurpees or whatever
we wanted. That was our Christmas tradition in Japan. By
the way, I'm going to Japan in May with a
wonderful group. We'll spend three days in Tokyo. We board

(06:04):
the ship on May sixth, so we'll go earlier than
that and spend three days in Tokyo seeing all of that,
and then on an eleven day cruise round trip from Tokyo,
which is really Yokohama and the port city for Tokyo,
and we will go to South Korea, Hanshu Kshu, the
different islands of Japan, Hiroshima, Nagasaki. We'll see Mount Fuji,

(06:29):
the Japanese alps I'm looking for.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
There's still some room on that.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
In Japan for New Year's, Buddhist temples ring the bells
one hundred and eight times on New Year's Eve. This
is because in Buddhism it is believe there are one
hundred and eight types of earthly desires. I'm not sure
that true because I've got several hundred earthly desires, but
that's another story for another day.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Anyway, each strike.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
Of the bell will remove one of these earthly desires,
so that tells you it's you know, it's kind of
going the other way with these earthly desires, and I
got hundreds of them. The tradition is called Joya no Khan.
Joe means to throw away the old and move on
to the new. Yah means night a lot of fun

(07:18):
with that.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
You know. Some other really interesting traditions.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
Around the world is in Ireland, don't you love Ireland?
It is literally Green Year Run. That's what's called the
Emerald Isle. In Ireland, it's tradition to bang on the
doors and walls of your home with a special Christmas
bread to drive out bad luck, to invite good spirits.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
It's kind of symbolic.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
It's a symbolic way of starting a new year with
a fresh, clean slate. Well, that's good, I'd rather have
the bread myself.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Now.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
In Johannesburg, or what we call joe Burgh, there's a
New Year's Eve tradition of throwing out old furniture out
of the windows. Look before you go, there may be
somebody down there. Uh, throw furniture out of the windows
to symbolize letting go of the past and welcoming new blessing.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
Now.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
The custom is often accompanied by celebration in the streets
as people bid farewell to the old and embrace the new.
And the people in the streets you really got to
be looking up now. In Russia, it's customary to write
a wish for the new year on a piece of
paper and then burn it. Then you mix the ashes

(08:36):
into a glass of champagne before drinking it at one
minute past midnight.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
Now.

Speaker 1 (08:44):
In Greece, there's an interesting tradition also that on January first,
in Greece, people celebrate Saint Bazle's Day with a special
cake known as a Valisopia, and it contains a single coin,
so the person who gets the slice of cake with the.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Coin is believed to have good luck.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
Yeah. Oh, now this is one that I really dislike.
It's in Switzerland. Now have you ever had an ice
cream cone and the scoop falls off? That's never a
good thing. But in Switzerland, dropping ice cream on the
floor at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve
is believed to bring good luck and abundance. I think

(09:31):
it's a bunch of bs myself. I'd rather have the
ice cream with that one.

Speaker 2 (09:36):
Well. I hope you had a great New Year's you know.

Speaker 1 (09:40):
I like to celebrate it in a very Christian way
on New Year's by watching football, the game God gave us.
That was his second favorite sport. Of course, rugby was
his favorite sport and remains that today. That's how I
celebrated New Year's sleeping in and watching football. Hey, just
a reminder of the Utah Track Expo is coming this

(10:01):
month in Saint George, Southern Utah. Really in Ivans, which
is up by Santa Clara just northwest of Saint George. Wednesday,
January twenty second at the Black Desert Inn now in
the Salt Lake area. Friday and Saturday January twenty fourth
and twenty fifth at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy.

(10:24):
The Salt Lake event does require a ticket before Travel
Show listeners. We have set up a special link where
you can get all the free tickets you want. The
ticket's only six bucks, but you know why not get
it free? Go to Morriscolumbus dot com forward slash free,
Morriscolumbus dot com forward slash free, and you gotta get
them before the expo starts. More to com here on

(10:47):
the Travel Show. Welcome back to the Travel Show. May
I just give my personal thanks for you're joining me
every weekend on the Travel Show at this time on
this very station.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
You know, we're.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Syndicated on nineteen stations now all the way to Florida.
We have some stations out there, most of them are
here in the Inner Mountain West. I'm Larry Gelwicks, the
Getaway Guru. The Travel Show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel,
where you always travel More and pay Less, and Norwegian
Cruise Line, the home of freestyle cruising. Do check out

(11:27):
the Morris Columbus website with so many cool things there
Morriscolumbus dot com. That's Morriscolumbus dot com. And I do
want to give thanks, you know, twenty twenty five starts
my thirty fourth year behind this golden microphone hosting the
travel show. And got my start with Don Schaeffer, who's

(11:51):
still the King of Radio's retired now, but many thanks
to Don for getting me started. He and I co
hosted the show for many years until his retirement, but
I so look forward to this now. Today I don't
have any guests, no co hosts with me.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
It's a solo act.

Speaker 1 (12:11):
Today I'm in Bangkok, Thailand with the annual Thailand and
Legends of Siam tour that includes Thailand, the foothills of
the Himalayas, the night bazaars of chang Mai, down to
the beautiful island of Pouquette, and then with an option
to anchor Watt and Panamp Cambodi.

Speaker 2 (12:30):
I'll tell you more about that as we go.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
Listen, I know that Christmas is over and you've bought
a lot of gifts, but I got a great gift
for your family. Looking ahead, it's in April of twenty
twenty six. Now, yeah, I know that's a long time away,
but catch this. I have got the ultimate vacation trip

(12:55):
at an unbelievable price, either for singles couples, but families
is what I'm targeting right now. Now, what this is
is a five day, four night cruise round trip out
of La. Now, the port of La is really in
San Pedro, closer to Long Beach Airport than Lax, but
very convenient from all of the airports in that area.

(13:18):
It's a five day, four night the sailing round trip
from La slash San Pedro, where you take in Catalina Island,
a relaxing day at sea, a visit to Mexico, and
then back to La. Now, the dates on this are
Monday through Friday, five days, four nights, April sixth to

(13:40):
the tenth.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
Now, why is that one so important?

Speaker 1 (13:42):
Because not all but most of Utah's school districts that
is their spring break. It's of course Monday to Friday.
You get the weekends. It's April sixth to the tenth.
Lolic School District, Granite School District, Corners School District, and
so many of them Provo that is the date now

(14:05):
there's a few districts that have other dates, and uh,
maybe you can be a remote student. But think about this,
what about a family vacation. You can fly, you can drive,
five days, four nights, you got weekends. John Potter is
going to lose it because you go to disney Land
or warm or everything you want to do a five

(14:29):
day crew fast and you're steep when I tell you.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Un incredible rate.

Speaker 1 (14:39):
This is it for Let's start with adults students.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
All right.

Speaker 1 (14:46):
By the way, this is Royal Caribbean. On that beautiful ship,
I've sailed on it about four times. Navigator season they
defined all this twelve tender. The cost if shown third
your cabin is only a few dollars for being on
that beautiful ship I've sailed on about four toime. Navigator

(15:06):
of the Seas. They define a child as twelve and
under the cost your children or third or fourth party
sharing your cabin is thirteen year old. It's only a
few dollars difference. But I'm going to give you the price
for a family of four two adults, two kids and
inside cabin, including all taxes, all fees. You ready for this?

(15:29):
Three hundred and sixty two dollars. Now think about that.
That's five days, three hundred and sixty two dollars for
an ocean view four hundred and twenty six. These are
per person for the cruise fair for government taxes and fees.
Doesn't include your gratuities, but that's up to you what
you want to do. A balcony cabin four hundred and

(15:51):
eighty three. Now again this is for by the way,
you want a sweet six hundred and seventy five, But
think about that, you're gonna you could get an inside
per person three and sixty two dollars out of LA
You can dry on there. And by the way, parking
at the San Pedro Pier is literally across the street

(16:11):
and it's not a main thoroughfare. You have the cruise
pier there and they have their own private parking lot.
It's separated by a couple of lanes of inside traffic,
not the city traffic, so you could park your car
right there. I don't know what is ten or twelve
bucks a day something like that, but you can check
that out. You know. The one that I really like

(16:36):
that ocean view for four twenty six, do you know,
And that's for four people. But the ocean View can
can hold up to six people and there you can adjust.
The price will adjust on that, so let me give
you the itinerary.

Speaker 2 (16:52):
On Monday, April the sixth, we board the ship.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
We're sailing the blue waters of the Pacific, with a
day at sea on Tuesday.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
We're in Catalina. I love Catalina Island.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
You can see dolph bison, foxes and hawks. Hey, I
got great news for those interested in the South Pacific.
Next month, Kety and I are hosting an Australia and
New Zealand cruising tour around a couple actually three days
in Sydney, sail to Melbourne, the island of Tasmania. Yeah,

(17:24):
we'll be checking out the Tasmanian Devils, then both the
North and South Island of New Zealand disembarking. It's like
a twelve day career starting in Sydney and ending in Auckland,
New Zealand. Well February twenty twenty five. The good news
is I'll be doing it again in twenty twenty six.

(17:47):
Will board the ship in Sydney on February fifteenth, will
disembark Auckland on March Firth. We'll see Australia, New Zealand
and you know that's Lord of the Rings country. Do
check out this. Go to Morriscolumbus dot com. Click on

(18:07):
the Morris Murdoch Escort Tourist click cruises, look for twenty
twenty six Australia and New Zealand. I'd love to have
you join me there on that cruise. You know, Australia
and New Zealand are just incredible, incredible.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
Destinations.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
I'll teach you how to talk like an Ausie, I'll
teach you the difference between a and a hongy in
New Zealand, and.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
We're gonna have a lot of fun.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
That's Australia and New Zealand February fifteen to March one,
twenty twenty six, with the Getaway Guru, Funny Cup and

(18:58):
greetings from Bangkok, Thailand. Yes, the Getaway Guru has gotten
away again across the Biffic and you know it's a
long flight, but any discomfort is quickly forgotten when you
arrive here. It was called the Land of Smiles. And
by the way, I told you about the Utah Travel

(19:18):
Expo coming up to Southern Utah and Ivans slash Saint
George Wednesday, January twenty second. The Blacks are in No
tickets required for that one January twenty fourth and twenty
fifth of Friday Saturday in the Salt Lake Valley at
the Mount America Expo Center in Sindy. Now that is
a ticketed event six bucks a pop for adults.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
However, the Ghetaway Guru.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
Has a special website We've set up. I'll give you
all the free tickets you want, print them for your friends,
your neighbor, your your church congregation, whoever you want. Simply
go to morriscombuss dot com forward free and you know
over one hundred Levele vendors. Now travel Vendor is an airline, cruise,

(20:05):
safari company, tour operator, resort, hotel, everything to do with travel,
and they're at the Salt Lake event. Will have over
one hundred vendors. You can come in, you can talk
to them, you can bring questions and the best part
there will be information seminars. I'll be doing some of

(20:28):
them in a separate private conference area. But every hour
Morris Columbus Travel will be giving away travel awards, travel prizes,
airline tickets, cruises, hotels, stays, this, that and the other
and you know somebody's going to win these and it

(20:49):
may as well be you.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
I do hope that you should be there. And by
the way, we'll be.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
Broadcasting live from the Salt Lake event on Saturday, the
twenty fifth of Jail. Now I mentioned I'm in Thailand
with the Thailand and Legends of Ssiam Group.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
I'll be doing it again.

Speaker 1 (21:07):
We've opened it up for sale for January of twenty
twenty six. By the way, the dates for the January
next year, twenty twenty six my signature tour. Last time
we put it out for twenty twenty five sold out
in one week.

Speaker 2 (21:22):
This one.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
The dates will depart the USA January the fourth. Now
it's a late night, midnight flight, so you can even
go to work that day and then we'll be connecting
on the West coast. The Thailand portion ends you'd be
home on January eighteenth, but we have an option to
Cambodia's up to Anchor Watt and PanAm Pen. That's another

(21:48):
four or five days and that would bring you home
a little bit later. One of the things I love
about Thailand is the food. Can I tell you some
of my favorite foods? And there's a misnomer that all
Thai food is spy. You can get it spicy, but
you don't have to know. Kathy isn't a big fan
of spicy food. I am, and she always says that's

(22:10):
the one thing in our marriage.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
Larry, you wish you could change.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
I said, no, there's others, but that's another story for
another day. Anyway, when we order tie food, we always
get it mild, and then I have them bring me
the you know, the ground up chilies and the hot
stuff on the side, so we're both happy.

Speaker 2 (22:34):
Now.

Speaker 1 (22:34):
Maybe the most iconic Thie dish is pad tie, usually
made with flat rice noodles in they'll combined with seafood
or chicken or pork, you know, some little scrambled egg vegetables,
usually a bean sprout, maybe some shallots, and that served
with a sprinkle of herbs. Now what you really like
to do it unless you have some allergy, is sprinkle

(22:57):
roasted peanuts.

Speaker 2 (22:58):
That's optional, of course.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
It always comes on the side, and then squeeze a
fresh lime on it. It is absolutely to die for.
Tom Yong Gooon or Tom Yong Guy. Tom Yong Gooon
is a hot and sour think of the Chinese hot
and sour soup. But this in Thailand, tom Yong Gooon,
it's an iconic dish really from the central region. It's

(23:21):
got mushrooms and lemon, grass and lime and all these
great stuff, but it's made with shrimp. The same soup
tom Yong Guy you'd spell it gai is made with chicken.
That is a favorite in the Gelwick's household. Didn't you
have the curries, green curry, the Panang red curry, yellow

(23:43):
massamon curry. It's really about five different ones. One of
my favorite dishes you really only find up north. It's
called Taosoi. It's a Thai coconut curry. Not a strong
curry at all, but it's a Thai coconut curry noodle soup,
and it's just a delicious broth made with a coconut

(24:06):
milk bas egg noodles and you can get usually chicken
comes with it, and then you put these these crispy
egg noodles. You have the regular soft noodles, but then
you put the crispy egg noodles on top.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
A couple more what I call proud cow. It's capole.

Speaker 1 (24:24):
It's a stir fried tied basil and pork You can
get it with chicken, but traditionals pork and a big
scoop of rice. And it's that it's a hot chili. Again,
they'll tell you if you want it really hot, but
it has a little bit of spice. It won't knock
you out, but you know it's authentic. If they put
a fried egg on top of it. Without the fried egg,

(24:46):
it's a fake. But that's a capile you have, Lob.
But the absolute favorite, Kathy would crawl over broken glass
for this one. Mango sticky rice. The mangoes are always
fresh sticky rice which is a very glutinous a rice
that sticks together, had sticky rice, and then you just
drizzle it with a little sweet coconut cream.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
Absolutely to die for. Well, as we start the new year,
I put.

Speaker 1 (25:15):
Together Larry's travel never lets don't ever do these things,
And it's not a complete list, just a few thoughts
of mine. When you, first of all, always buy travel insurance,
but never buy travel insurance with less than about five
hundred thousand in emergency evacuation coverage that would cover even

(25:38):
a private jet, and we've had that with some of
our clients. Never assume that a hotel booking is truly
the actual hotel. There are fake hotel sites everywhere. The
same with airline tickets, or don't buy an airline ticket

(25:58):
from a third party. Buy either from a trusted travel
company like Morris Columbus Travel or directly from the airline.
Now I use these what we call an aggregator site.
I'll go on a trip Advisor, I'll go on hotels
dot com, booking dot com. I will find the deals,
but then I always go straight to the hotel. Now,

(26:19):
get booking dot com is a legit site, but there
are so many fake sites out there. You just don't
want to do it. Never offer your credit card details
and personal information to anyone at a toll free number
or an unverified company website. You know, people will put

(26:41):
up these fake sites that may say Hilton dot com,
which is a legit site, Hilton dot com slash discount reservation. Well,
you think you're with Hilton, but you're not. You're with
a third party that may or may not be legit.
Do you remember what I told you about that company
that was after me. They said they could get me

(27:03):
USA to Thailand for three hundred and sixty three dollars
round trip, including all taxes. Well, I know you can't
do that. I considered a total fake, but they wanted
my credit card information and they were in ta Zakistan. Seriously,
all right, Never use public Wi Fi in an airport

(27:25):
or public area without activating a VPN. It's an invitation
to steal your information and identity. I already told you
don't book a ticket at a third party consolidator. What
you're going to find these third parties. They will take
your credit card number. Some of them are legit, some

(27:45):
of them are total scams. But what they do is
these people operate out of cubicles, often in countries, some
third world country where it's difficult to resolve conflicts to
your satisfaction experience, and you will frequently find the task
absolutely impossible if you need to make a change or

(28:08):
request a refund. And the other thing is not all
online seller issued tickets will be accepted by other airlines.
For example, you're on Airline ABC, they cancel the flight
and they're pushing everybody on Airline XYZ. With many of
these third party ticket sites, the airline will not accept it.

(28:31):
So here's what they usually do. I call them up
to we'll call it scam travel all right, because many
of them are. Yeah, there's some legits, but there's some
scams out there too, and they want my credit card
the name we First of all, you want to make
if you do buy it, then get what's called a

(28:53):
record locator. It's a six digit alpha numeric reservation or
confirmation coach. Go right and only use a credit card,
Go right to that airline. So if I'm buying a
ticket from you know, scam travel on Cathay Pacific West
Coast to Hong Kong for example. By the way, Cathay
is a great airline, and they say, here's your reservation.

(29:16):
I should be able to take that confirmation code and
go to the Cathay Pacific website and pull up my reservation.
And if you can't find it, you know you've been scammed.
But you can go back to your credit card company
and get the charge reversed when you can prove that

(29:37):
it was a scam to them. You just want to
be careful. So what they often do is they will
take your credit card and they will charge it to themselves.
They'll use their own company card for the ticket, which
means that if a refund comes, it doesn't come to
your credit card, it comes to theirs, and usually in

(29:59):
their terms conditions they have said there is no rema.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
Many of them.

Speaker 1 (30:04):
Even if the airline refunds that, they say, we will
not refund it as scam travel. We will give you
a future credit less a exorbitant service fee. Only buy
an airline ticket, a cruise hotel room from the actual
official site. You could put in Hilton Hotel's official site

(30:26):
and look for that designation, or better yet, from a
trusted travel company such as Morris Columbus Travel. You know
the other thing I say, when you're traveling abroad overseas international,
don't wear a lot of USA logo stuffed T shirts, hats,
things like that. It just targets you because people like

(30:48):
to take advantage of tourists because they think you coming
back to testify against them is unlikely.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
Never never.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
Sit down in an aircraft in an airplane seat without
taking your own biological bacterial wipes and wiping everything down.
And a good idea is in your carry on have
basic necessities, you know, a change of underclothing, maybe a
change of a shirt or something like that in case

(31:20):
your luggage gets waylaid and doesn't come back well, listen,
when we come back here on the Travel Show, I
want to tell you about.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
A place you've always dreamed of.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
I mean seriously, because we're going to be sailing the
islands of the South Pacific with you and me coming
up soon. You're listening to the Travel Show. I'm Larry Gelwicks,

(31:53):
that get away guru. The Travel Show is sponsored by
Morris Columbus Travel, where you always travel more payless.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
Did you know that Morris Columbus.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
Travel, for the fourth year in a row, was awarded
the Best of State as the number one best travel
company in the great State of Utah. It was also
named by Mark Travel Corporation, which is a multi national,
multi billion dollar travel company all around the world. They

(32:22):
have what they call the Top ten, and they have
you don't apply for it. They get nominations and they'll
pick some companies themselves and they they have like mystery shoppers.
They'll call, they'll visit, they'll talk to travel advisors, test
their knowledge, problem solving, how do you find a good deal?

(32:47):
Morris Columbus Travel, the entity that merged between Morris Murdoch
Travel and Columbus Travel, brought with them a designation as
one of the top ten travel companies in the United States.
Morris Columbus Travel was also named as one of the
top twenty five travel companies in the world. So you're

(33:08):
in good hands, you know. In that last segment, we
talked about a lot of travel scams out there, and
I'll tell you one of the real challenges in the
travel business is that there are no mandatory professional standards
of excellence.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
You know.

Speaker 1 (33:25):
You go to a lawyer who's he's had to pass
the bar exam. Now he may be an idiot, but
at least he has passed the bar exam. You go
to a doctor and he may be a shaman, but
he's passed the you know, the test to be a
doctor all about. In other words, a CPA has certain

(33:45):
professional stands. That's not true in travel. You could hang
your shingle and just say I'm a travel advisor, come
and talk to me. Now, to sell a cruise or
airline tickets, you have to put up some money and
things like that. But what I'm saying is that not
all travel companies, not all travel advisors, are created equal.

(34:06):
I am so proud of Morris Columbus Travel for the
excellence that they have in travel advisors. So take a
look at the website Morriscolumbus dot com. That's Morris Columbus
dot com, all right. Robert Lewis Stevenson was sailing in
the South Seas Tahiti the Twomotu Islands, which is an

(34:31):
archipelago of some eighty ninety islands. The marquessis the gambier
all over the South Pacific. This is what he wrote
that really captures the love I have of Polynesia. Robert
Lewis and Stevenson wrote in eighteen eighty eight. Quote few

(34:53):
men who come to the islands leave them. They grow
gray where they alighted, the palm shades, and the trade
winds fan them till they die, perhaps cherishing to the last.
The fancy of a visit home, which is rarely made,
more rarely enjoyed, and yet more rarely repeated. No part

(35:18):
of the world exerts the same attractive power upon the
visitor as does the South Seas. Close quote that's how
I feel about it now. Two years ago, in twenty
twenty three, I led a group of travel show listeners.
We boarded a cruise ship in Tahiti. On the island

(35:40):
of Tahiti and Papiete, the capital city there, and then
we sailed French Polynesia. We were visiting islands such as Moorea,
Bora Bora, by the way, Bora Bora.

Speaker 2 (35:54):
Do you remember the author James Mischner. He said that.

Speaker 1 (35:57):
Bora Bora was the most the single most beautiful island
on earth, and I agree with that. However, to me,
the single most beautiful spot on earth is Open No
Hubay on the island of Morea or properly pronounced Moorea.
In the Polynesian languages, every vowel is a syllable. Now

(36:20):
do you remember that nineteen fifty eight movie South Pacific
with Mitzigainer, I'm going to wash that man right out
of my hair, And they had that mysterious island of
Bali High, And well, the real Bali High Mountain is
that Open No Hubay on the island of Moorea. I mean,

(36:45):
you'll see it, you'll recognize it immediately. And Openo Hubay
is surrounded on three sides by these these mountains that
go literally straight up a thousand fee. Then at the
backside is the Bali High Mountain, and facing the other
side is the lagoon and the blue waters of the Pacific. Yeah,

(37:08):
we're gonna see all that morea bora bora right Yataya,
I gotta tell you, right Yetaya is where the LDS
Church has announced a new temple. They have a temple
in Papiete, but it's the site of an ancient temple.
Hawaiki was the name of the ancient temple. And these
ocean going voyagers and settlers would set out to the

(37:33):
vast reaches of the Pacific and they would go to
the temple right Yetaya and be blessed by the priests
at Havaiki. Now many people think that the voyagers who
found the Pacific, they navigated by the stars, the wind,
the feel of the water, the birds, the fish, the

(37:54):
marine life. They would see. How many were lost at sea,
we don't know. But some from this area settled HAWAIII.
You think they could have named it Viki after the temple.
We will sail French Polynesian that head north, crossing the
equator to the Hawaiian Islands, the Big Island, Kawaii, Kona, Hilo,

(38:17):
and onto Honolulu. I'll come back in our number two
with the dates May of twenty twenty six, Saudi kop
and greetings from Bangkok.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
Thailand.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
I'm Larry Gelwiz that get away Guru, and I've gotten
away across the Blue Pacific.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
To the Kingdom of Thailand.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
Yes, it's a kingdom with a king and it's a
wonderful country. You've heard me say for years and years
and years. If it weren't for the kids and grandkids,
Kathy and I would live in Thailand. People say why.
It's the culture, it's the food, it's the people. It's
called the Land of Smiles. It feels different.

Speaker 2 (39:04):
Now.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
I love all of Southeast Asia, but when I go
into Laos or Vietnam, Cambodia, I'm not going into me
and Mar formerly known as Burma anymore, or the Philippines.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
I enjoy it, but it's a different feeling.

Speaker 1 (39:19):
There's a calmness, there's just a joy in your heart
being here in Thailand. It's the people, it's to be.
They have an interesting way of greeting people. Think of
putting your hands together in a praying position. You see,
you know, the palms together, the fingers together in a

(39:41):
praying position. In Thailand, it's called a why. Nothing to
do with BYU, but it's called a why. And you
greet someone with the hands together just right at about
your sternum, and you give a bow. You greet people

(40:02):
on the street, You greet people wherever you go, strangers, family, business, associates,
Children greet their parents. Children will greet their school teachers
with a bow and a why Saudi cup, which is
the native greeting hello. Now, as a man, I say
Saudi cup. As a woman one would say Saudi ka.

(40:27):
Just a difference there in their grammar. But you know,
I came home years ago. All our kids are grown now.
I came home years ago and tried to introduce the
why the hands in the praying position greeting their father
as he would come home. I was asked to get

(40:47):
out of the way. I was blocking the television. Well
that didn't go so big. So, you know, one of
the things when I am overseas, I can't take phone calls.
My apologies, but you can always give Morris Columbus travel
call with your questions. Now, at the end of the
last segment, which was our number one, we're now in

(41:07):
our number two. The best two hours in radio. I
mentioned this South Pacific cruise. Now we will board the
ship in Papiete Tahiti. Here's one of the misnomers. People
talk about the Tahitian Islands. There is no such thing
as the Tahitian Islands. Tahiti is one island singular in

(41:32):
French Polynesia. So I can visit the island of Tahiti,
but I cannot visit the islands of Tahiti because there's
only one. We're going to board in Papiete, a wonderful
south seas port, and then sail through French Polynesia. I
mentioned Moorea Teya Boris. Some relaxing days at sea as

(41:55):
we sail north, crossing the equator from the Southern Hemisphere
to the Northern Hemisphere, from the South Pacific to the
southern North Pacific.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
We'll visit Hilo.

Speaker 1 (42:07):
Of course, that's where we would see Volcano National Park,
rainbow falls and a throwback. Much of Hilo reminds you
of what it would have been pre World War Two
with the architecture in the streets. We'll go to Kawaii,
the Garden Island, and then we'll visit Kona, which is

(42:28):
you know, I love Kailua Kona. It's a wonderful little
port on the big Island. And then into Honolulu, now
one of the really cool things. This is with Norwegian
Cruise Line. They have a legit free air promotion. I
don't know what the airfares will be. In May of
twenty twenty six, we board the ship May fifteenth, we
disembarked the ship in Honolulu May twenty seventh. I will

(42:52):
be your personal host and tour guide. We'll be doing
our own private shore excursions. We'll have onboard activities and
seminars just for our group. But here's the deal. In
April of twenty twenty three, I took a group on
this very same cruise from Tahiti to Honolulu. They don't

(43:12):
do this year round. It's just kind of hit and
miss here and there. This is snooze and you lose.
They may never do this one again because they don't
do it every year. They have a legitimate free air
promotion NCL does where it's really a bogo bogo buy one,
get one, and the first person will pay a discounted airfare.

(43:35):
The second person flies absolutely free, including the taxes. Now again,
I'm going to give you twenty twenty three rates. I
don't know what it will be for twenty twenty six.
I priced it out on United and Delta Air France
Air Tahiti Nui. It was about oh twenty three, two

(44:00):
hundred dollars Salt Lake to Tahiti. Back from Hawaii, I
found a sale for two thousand dollars. My price with
NCL air they was fifteen hundred dollars for me. Kathy
went absolutely free. That's an effective rate of seven hundred
and fifty dollars. Now again that that was previous, I

(44:23):
don't know what it would be. You see, airlines only
published their schedules and prices eleven months in advance.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
Now, the one thing you have to understand.

Speaker 1 (44:33):
On the Norwegian buy one, get one free air promotion,
which by the way, also is applicable to my June
twenty twenty five Iceland, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium and England Cruise
that's a buy one, get one free is NCL Norwegian
Cruise Line. They pick the airline. You cannot request it,

(44:57):
you cannot change it. You have to live now. It's
a major airline. But can you mac, I don't know
how many people they have going on the week, and
maybe fifty sixty seventy thousand every week coming and going.
Can you imagine if they said, well, you call us
if you don't like the airfare, can you imagine, well,
I don't want to fly United Airlines, or I don't

(45:19):
want to fly American, and I don't want to change
in Dallas.

Speaker 2 (45:22):
I'd rather change in Denver. It would overwhelm them.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
So that if you take this deal, you have to
accept their choice of airline. There is no appeal, there
is no change. And some people don't They like the deal,
but they say, well, I want my Delta miles or something. Well,
you're flying on United. That's the way it is. Bub
So again, the dates are May fifteenth, why not go

(45:49):
to Tahiti a couple of days earlier, extend your stay
in Honolulu. You're there, why not enjoy the island. So
it's May fifteenth to May twenty seventh, twenty twenty six.
That is that is really a great one. Have you
noticed how long and how far you are walking at

(46:11):
airports these days? I read an interesting interview with Larry Summers,
former Clinton Treasury secretary, former Obama Chief Economic advisor, and
former Harvard University presidents, where he observed that the newer
airport terminals are less convenient than they used to be,

(46:35):
all thanks to long walks and we all wonder why
is it takes so long. Now, it's nice to have
the Blue River Tunnel at the Salt Lake Airport open,
which really cuts down your time from Terminal A to
Terminal B. It used to be you go there and
you'd have from check in to Terminal B. You gotta
cut out a half an hour or something. Well, the

(46:58):
real reason why airports now have such long walks is
pure economics.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
You see, here's how it works.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
When a terminal is going to be financed, the airport
authority will often bring in private companies to finance the construction,
and one of the fundamental primary ways to fund everything
is from concessions, meaning the airport is going to rent
out space in the terminal to restaurants and retail shops.

Speaker 2 (47:32):
Well, guys, the.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
Long walks frequently are designed to accommodate what more, shopping
more retail space in the terminals. Airports do not want
you skipping the shops. They want you to spend money.
Now here is a fun one. In the United States.
If you were to walk between two gates, what is

(47:59):
the farthest gate from let's say A to Z. The
farthest that you'd have to walk if you are.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
Now, some of these airports have a train.

Speaker 1 (48:08):
Like Number one is the DFW Dallas Fort Worth. It
has the longest walk in the United States from one
gate to another gate. It could be next door, but
the longest is two point one six miles. It's over
two miles. Now Dallas does have a train, but if

(48:29):
you're to walk next is Washington Dulles Airport one point
six miles, George Bush Intercontinental Houston Airport one and a
half miles, Denver one and a half miles, and JFK
one point four miles. If you were to walk from
one gate to the other at its very furthest point. Well,

(48:53):
did you ever wonder why there is no McDonald's staple
in my diet? I love their diet coke. It's an
addictive substance. But I have ever wondered why there is
no McDonald's at the Salt Lake Airport. We come back,
I'm going to give you the insider secret that nobody
wants to tell you why McDonald's is not at the

(49:17):
Salt Lake Airport. Thank you for joining us today on
the travel show. I'm Larry Gelwiz to get Away Guru,
and I've gotten away to Thailand. Today I'm in Bangkok
and through the miracle of technology, I can be here

(49:37):
and talk to you there. And we're coming off a
very happy New Year. We talked earlier about New Year's traditions.
Mine is watching football and eating too much. But you know,
I was telling Kathy that at the end of the
football season, the college games are over, the NFL is over,
the Super Bowl is over. I don't know it. I

(50:00):
don't mean to be funny. It's almost like a little depression.
It's like, oh no, another seven months before we can
get right back into football. But what redeems me is
my favorite sport, of course, is rugby. My grandson is
playing rugby now and he is nine years old and
it's tackle rugby. It's a modified game for kids that age.

(50:22):
But love to see Oscar play on his rugby team.
He's got a proud grandfather with that. Well, listen, we
were talking about McDonald's. You know McDonald's has gotten expensive,
and I'll tell you what you got to do is
download their app because there's a lot of good deals.
You can get some free food, you know, the large

(50:45):
fry which costs three or four dollars you pick up
for a buck twenty nine every day almost anyway. So
why is it McDonald's, one of the most popular restaurants
in the world, is not at the Salt Lake Airport. Well,
I take my hat off. Kudos to the Salt Lake
Airport for telling them.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
No.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
Here's what Salt Lake has. It's called street pricing, meaning
whatever price you would pay, say in downtown Salt Lake
City at Cafe Rio, at Burger King, at Panda Express,
or my favorite Mexican restaurant, the Blue Iguana. They have
a location out at Terminal A on the east side.

(51:27):
Of course, their main restaurant in Blue Iguana is down
at Airpress Square. Whatever you would pay in town, that's
what you pay at the Salt Lake Airport. They're not
gonna let these people rip you off. You know, you
get a hot dog for fifty cents maybe at sev
and the same dog at the airport's five bucks. Airports

(51:49):
rip people off all the time. I think in the
pricing of good services, especially food, Well, Salt Lake Airport says,
you want to have a retail shop here, like a restaurant,
you got to do street pricing. You're not going to
gouge the people and McDonald's actually, as I understand it,

(52:09):
submitted an application to have a location at Solid Airport
were turned down because reportedly McDonald said, we will not
do street pricing, will jack our prices up. Frankly, I
think they're already too high. I think a lot of
people have taken advantage of COVID. Oh we got it's
more expensive, and yeah, things have gone out, but I

(52:32):
see some of this stuff doubling in prices. You know,
I used to get a McDonald's hamburger for a buck's
that lousy little hamburger. Now it's two bucks anyway, So
that's why they're not out there. You know, I mentioned
I'm here in Thailand. We're fourteen hours ahead of you.

(52:52):
So what is it now about getting close to twelve
thirty pm. Well, it's getting close to two thirty am
Sunday morning here in the Kingdom of Thailand. I have
these beautiful views of the city. It's a city that
never sleeps, it really doesn't. There's still activity out there.

(53:13):
I want to invite you to join me now. We're
just putting this tour out now, and before it even
went public, it's already a third sold out with people
simply calling. I know Larry's going to do this again.
He does it every year, and we want to get
on the list. It's already a third gone. I keep
this group to thirty six people. That's it. It's a
deep dive in culture, in dining. Most of your meals

(53:37):
are included. We've handpicked restaurants, fabulous hotels. We see all
the usual and the unusual. One of the unusual things
we do that is out in Pangang Bay off Pouquette,
sometimes called Co Koh Co Puquette. Co is the Thai
word for island, but we'll just call it Pouquette. We

(53:59):
get in a boat, we have a ride out on
the bay and there's all these islands. They look like
giant gum drops. If I showed you a picture of
Pongong Bay, you'd immediately recognize it. And in many of
these islands, the interior is hollow and.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
You get in.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
So we go out there and you know, we have
some swimming activities, we have lunch. It's a big boat
that you can lay down on. We're going out into
the bay. But when we get to the islands, and
we'll do two or three depending on the tide, you
get in a c canoe. Now there's two people per
Sik canoe, but each canoe has a local guide who

(54:42):
does all the paddling, and there's a tunnel that leads
from outside the island. The tunnel may be twenty feet,
it may be you know, eighth of a mile or
something several hundred feet, but you get in there with
the guide and you go through the tunnel and you're

(55:05):
in the inside of the island and it's.

Speaker 2 (55:08):
Like paradise loss.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Some of them have tropical birds and monkeys, but it's
all water on the side because it's open to the
bay you're gliding along. I literally hear people gasp at
something so beautiful, seeing monkeys and tropical birds. I think
it's a bit of what the Garden of Eden, Tahiti
and Jurassic Park without the dinosaurs must have been. Like.

(55:34):
It's a throwback to another ear. That's just one of
the things we do.

Speaker 2 (55:38):
Now.

Speaker 1 (55:39):
This is twenty twenty six. I keep it to thirty
six people. We'll see the midlands Bangkok up North chang Rai,
chang Mai, the foothills of the Himalayas down to Pouquette,
with all sorts of activities, Our departure date in twenty
twenty six is January the fourth. Now it's an evening

(55:59):
to you can even go to work that day and
if you do Thailand only, you'll be home January eighteenth.
But I want you to come to Cambodia with me.
Anchor Wat is one of the wonders of the world.
We'll see Anchor, what we'll see Panaman pen. Yeah, it's
it's just a lot of fun. Morriscolumbus dot com. Go

(56:22):
online to Morriscolumbus dot com. On the homepage, click on
Morris Murdoch. That's our trade name for escorted tours, and
then click on Asia go to twenty twenty six. You'll
see the brochure. I'll be your personal host and tour guide.
I can't wait to welcome you to that again. It's

(56:43):
already a third sold out and lots of fun. Now
what do you think of someone who would fake an
injury to get on the airplane earlier and then meet
Jesus and be instantly healed. Yeah, all that on the
Travel Show. Welcome back to the Travel Show. I'm a

(57:10):
solo act today. Maybe that's good, Maybe it's not. I
miss having compadres here in the studio. I'm Larry Gelwicks,
the get Away Guru, thirty four years now going into
behind the golden microphone of the Travel Show. And may
I just express my appreciation to you. I have lived

(57:30):
a life of wonder I am so grateful for so
many things. First and foremost for a loving, kind God
who's the father of us all. Let's not start separating ourselves.
For the best wife in the world, wonderful kids, wonderful
grandchildren to live. You know, every time I fly, I

(57:51):
fly internationally every month, and every time I come home
to the United States of America, I have this emotion
when I first land. I want to get down and
kiss the ground and say, thank you God that I
live in this country. Yes, this country. We got a
lot of issues we have to address and issues we

(58:13):
need to make fair. But my goodness, for one who
has traveled to one hundred and fifteen countries, with most
of them many many times over, there is no country
as wonderful as the United States of America. And I
hope that we'll all be good citizens, tolerant of those

(58:36):
who don't share our political or cultural views, listen to
other people that doesn't mean you give up your identity
or give up your beliefs. But we treat everyone with respect.
Doesn't it bother you how much incivility that we're seeing
in politics and culture. And it just bothered because I travel,

(59:00):
as I said, every month somewhere around the world, and
now I'm halfway around the world in Thailand today. I
am grateful to be an American. Okay, how about this?
What do you think? On a flight last week from
Pittsburgh to Chicago, a woman approached a United Airlines counter

(59:26):
at the departure gate from Pittsburgh to Chicago.

Speaker 2 (59:29):
And the woman said that.

Speaker 1 (59:31):
She needed special assistance due to a knee injury, and
so they helped her on. They let her early board, okay,
but she was When she got on board, she was
seated in the emergency row, and the flight attendant said asked, well,

(59:52):
with your knee injury, which turned out to be a fake,
can you help in an emergency? And she said, quote, oh,
I'm not going to save anybody if something happens, I'm
going to save myself close quote. She refused to change seats. Remember,

(01:00:13):
the emergency row helps people if there's an evacuation or
emergency so all of the passengers had to diplane. She
was then escorted off by the police. What do you
think of that. There was another case on a recent
flight where a man said that it was a gentleman
that said that he had a knee injury. This like this,

(01:00:38):
I'm in different situation and needed early boarding. And this
was on a Southwest flight where they don't assign seats,
and so he took the exit row and that had
to be taken on on a wheelchair because of this
bad knee, and then simply walked off the plane. There

(01:00:59):
was a flight also Southwest reportedly that there were thirty
two wheelchair requests. Now again no assigned seats, so they
are boarded early. They and Southwest has no rule against
saving seats, so they would save seats for the rest
of their family or friends who are in line. They

(01:01:19):
board Group ABC and d well when they it was
from Baltimore to Fort Lauderdale. When they got to Fort Lauderdale.
Of those thirty two, twelve required a wheelchair to get
off the plane. Twenty scam the systems. Either they found
religion and were healed by the Lord Almighty, But why

(01:01:42):
do they do it? Because they are put to the
front of the TSA line. They are early boarding on Southwest.
They picked their own seats, even with airlines that reserve
your seat. You see these fakers because they want the
overhead space. Now you know what the problem with this is.

(01:02:03):
It jeopardizes those who are legitimately in need of special
consideration and attendance or help. One of the things that
just bugs me to death is when they call out
for early boarding, be it Delta Unite, whoever, those who
need extra time and assistance. Now I'm all for grandma,
someone in a wheelchair and crutches, families with small children,

(01:02:27):
by all means, go ahead, get ahead of me. But
I see, and maybe I'm being judgmental here, but I
see all. I see a lot of folks, usually with
lots of carry on luggage, that say I need extra
and they just walk on. They appear to be very healthy. Again,
I am judging them. I shouldn't do that, but I'm

(01:02:49):
telling you what I see. You know what they want.
They want the overhead space because almost every flight you
run out of overhead space. And that just bugs me that.
I once asked a Delta gate agent, do you ever
monitor these people? Do you ever qualify these people says,
oh no, I would never say no to anyone who

(01:03:11):
says they need extra time. Why cause you'll probably get
sued something like that. Well, anyway, so I'm not going
to save anybody. This woman said, I'm going to save myself.
Gend to be taken off by the police. Hey, listen.
Samuel Johnson, who was one of the great men of

(01:03:34):
letters in British history, made a statement. He was a poet,
a theologian, He made lasting contributions as a playwright in essays.

Speaker 2 (01:03:46):
All of that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
He was born in seventeen oh nine, died in London
in seventeen eighty four, so seventy seventy five years old.
He made a statement back in the late seventeen hundreds
that is often attributed to Sir Winston Churchill, But when
Churchill didn't say it, Samuel Johnson said it. And what

(01:04:11):
he said was this, when a man is tired of London,
he is tired of life. I love London. I was
there over the summer in what July of last year.
London is such a divers city. Did you know that
there are over three hundred languages regularly spoken.

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
It's a city of.

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
Immigrants, there in London, and by the way, worldwide there
are seven one hundred and fifty one languages and dialects.
The most widely spoken language in London, of course, is English.
Cockney is a variation I think of English. But did
you know that the second most popular language most used

(01:04:57):
language in London is Mandarin Chinese, followed by Hindi, which
is from India, then followed by Spanish and French.

Speaker 2 (01:05:06):
Now, if I said.

Speaker 1 (01:05:09):
What is big Ben, A lot of people would point
to the Big Tower.

Speaker 2 (01:05:15):
At the Houses of Parliament.

Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
No, Big Ben is actually the bell in the clock tower.
There's a law in the books regarding entrance into the
Houses of Parliament. It's still on the books. You cannot
wear a suit of armor. I just can't do it.
That makes sense, makes sense? You know, you gotta love

(01:05:39):
the taxis Now in London. To be a taxi driver
you must pass a rigorous test called the knowledge, including
memorizing every street in London. Now think about that. I
can't memorize every street in my neighborhood. But what they'll do.

(01:05:59):
There's a rich test to be a taxi driver. You
know most of them traditional? Are those those funky black calves?

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
Now?

Speaker 1 (01:06:07):
You'll see some are white or red, but black is
the traditional color. And you'll take a written test and
then they'll say this, you're going to pick up a
man at point A and take him to point B.
And they'll give an address like you're going to pick
him up on Bond Street and take him to Trafalgar
Square or one two three Piccadilly Street, and verbally, with

(01:06:30):
no notes, the taxi driver must tell the person giving
him the taxi test how he would get there. Now,
that's that's incredible. So the knowledge is a requirement. Did
you ever wonder what there are two requirements to be
a taxi driver in New York City? Did you ever
know that one is you don't bathe and the others

(01:06:52):
you don't speak English.

Speaker 2 (01:06:53):
It's very easy.

Speaker 1 (01:06:54):
You can be a taxi driver. Hey, one last thing.
I love Piccadilly Circus. Uh, oh my gosh, it's not
Barnum and Bailey. In sixteen twelve, Robert Baker became very
wealthy from the sale of Piccadal's that's that stiff collar

(01:07:15):
that was worn by gentlemen. His mansion was called the
Piccadale Hall now Piccadilly Hall, and a circus in London
or in England does not mean lions, tigers and bears.
It means a roundabout. You know, we're seeing more roundabouts
here in the US. I love the roundabout rather than
four stop signs. But the circus is a roundabout. So

(01:07:40):
because the Piccadal's, that stiff collar was sold in this
area and there was a circus a roundabout, hence the
name Piccadilly Circus. Now, if you are planning to visit
the UK anytime, starting in four days on Jail Annuary

(01:08:00):
the eighth, they have a new required online electronic travel authorization.
It's called an ETA, not Estimated time of arrival, but
electronic Travel authorization. Other countries have this, Australia, New Zealand others.
You have to have this ETA, and you have to

(01:08:20):
get it online. There's a nominal charge about ten fifteen
bucks something like that. But for travel to the United Kingdom.
Now what's the United Kingdom. It's England, Northern Ireland and
Scotland and Wales. If you're going to fly in you
must have this British or uk ETA. It has a

(01:08:44):
long URL, so I'll simply say go to Google put
United Kingdom or uk ETA requirement and put official site.
Because there's scammers out there. He'll say, pay me twenty
bucks and get All they do is link you to
the government site. You can do that yourself, so it

(01:09:05):
is again effective. What that would be Wednesday January I
think that's January the eighth.

Speaker 2 (01:09:14):
Okay, that's with the UK.

Speaker 1 (01:09:16):
Hey, I've got a couple of programs that I'll be
taking that include the UK and we come back. I
want to give you kind of some of the highlights
of these tours. One is the they're both this year
at twenty twenty five. One is in June June twelve
to twenty second it's Iceland to London with the free

(01:09:41):
air promotion. The other that I'll mention briefly is the
British Isles.

Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
Oh, you already know what the UK is, but we're.

Speaker 1 (01:09:48):
Going to visit England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and France.
Here on the Traveler, Welcome back to the Travel Show.
I'm Larry Elwicks, the Getaway Guru. It's almost three o'clock
in the morning here in Bangkok, Thailand, and what about
one o'clock there mountain time two o'clock for our stations

(01:10:12):
in Texas and three o'clock for those our stations on
the East Coast. But I'm just I'm so excited to
be back in the Kingdom of Thailand again. I've got
my twenty twenty six program out for January next year.
Go to Morriscolumbus dot com. Click well, scroll down on
the homepage to Morris Murdoch Escorted Tour and then look

(01:10:37):
through the offerings that we have. There's some just incredible programs.
Do you want to do now? I'd mentioned that there's
two programs that I'll be taking this year that include
the UK. We talked about that ETA requirement to get
into the UK. The first one is June twelve to

(01:10:59):
twenty two. We have a wonderful group of travel show
listeners traveling with me from Rekivik, Iceland, to Norway, to
the Netherlands, to Belgium to England. So we'll start we
make three stops in Iceland. I love Iceland. Do you
know that fifty percent of the population will swear to
the existence of elves and trolls? I don't say that

(01:11:21):
as any criticism. There's people who claim to have seen
them and when and building a structure, building the Iceland.
You have to get a permit and they have to
make sure that there are no elves or trolls living
underneath where you want to build. Seriously, again, no criticism.
I think it's wonderful. But we'll sail from Iceland to Norway.

(01:11:45):
We'll visit olisenden Bergen, gorgeous cities, then do the Norwegian
Fjords down to Well. I'll be Amsterdamed in the Netherlands,
to Bruges, Belgium, Bruce Rivals, old Town, Prague and Paris
as the single most beautiful city. It's a small city
famous around the world for lace and shopping, and then

(01:12:08):
over to Southampton, England and the.

Speaker 2 (01:12:10):
Gateway to London.

Speaker 1 (01:12:12):
Yeah, we are offering a with that a pre cruise
rekuvic stay and a post cruise London stay and that
does have the free airfare offer, the buy one get
one free that I talked about earlier.

Speaker 2 (01:12:29):
The other one I'm super excited.

Speaker 1 (01:12:31):
I'm excited about everything, but the one that I'm really
excited about is the British Isles. The cruise dates are
July seven to twenty this year. We'll have a pre
cruise option to London and we will visit on the
cruise England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and France. Now we

(01:12:57):
will have an opportunity to see Stonehenge, which you know,
that's an amazing structure.

Speaker 2 (01:13:03):
It's almost mystical.

Speaker 1 (01:13:05):
And then of Belfast and Glasgow inver Gordon, Edinburgh, I mean,
so much to see there. But then we port at
the Haveve France, and that is a stone's throw from Normandy,
the D Day Beaches, the Utah Beach and the American Cemetery.

(01:13:27):
Did you know there at Normandy there's also a German
cemetery and I say that with great respect for German
soldiers who died at D Day at the battles there
there's and different countries have cemeteries, but the American Cemetery,
I mean, you'll get teary eyed. You don't even know
these kids, and they were kids, teenagers in early twenties,

(01:13:51):
and it goes on seemingly forever, these white crosses marking
their graves who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the defense
of freedom. It's a moving experience. Again, the cruise dates
July seven to twenty. We still have some space available.

(01:14:13):
I will be your personal host and tour guide on
both of them. Hey, just to remind if you're parking
at the Salt Lake Airport, I recommend parking Jet. Go
to themorriscolumbus dot com website, click on resources that's on
the toolbar at the top of the page, and then
you'll see a drop down menu Salt Lake Airport Discount parking.

(01:14:37):
I like parking Jets. There are two major off airport
parking lots. I like Parking Jet because it's the only
one that is locally on they pick you up in
the car, they have a free car wash. I like
keeping the money local. Nothing wrong with the other one.
It's just too big and too impersonal. I like parking

(01:15:02):
Chat and you get a twenty percent discount with the
coupon morriscolumbus dot com. Click on resources, drop down Manusault
Lake parking Discount.

Speaker 2 (01:15:13):
Well.

Speaker 1 (01:15:14):
Next week, I and our group of faithful travel show
listeners who are traversing the Kingdom of Thailand and Cambodia.
We will be in chang Mai and we will have
visited the foothills of the Himalayas up in the north
of Thailand in chang Rai and made our way to

(01:15:36):
down to Cheng My. They're the most famous night bazaar
that you can possibly imagine. I mean, it's bigger than
anything I could possibly describe to you, but it is
a I love Chang my I. You know, I'd like
to live there. And do I want to live up
north in the in the mountains or do I want

(01:15:57):
to live down in Puqut or or some or the
Kol Krabi one of the islands. I think I need
a residence in both. Well, I got to get to bed.
It's almost three o'clock here in Thailand, and I wish
you a very very good New Year's We're just coming
off the celebration of the New year. Make it safe,

(01:16:18):
make it happy, Express appreciation to those that you love
and to those that need a friendly hand. So I
will say Kam kun kop, which is thank you in Thai.
The getaway Guru, of course fluent in Thai and all languages.

Speaker 2 (01:16:34):
See you next week from Chang Mai.