The Travel Show – March 21, 2026

0:00The travel show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel where you always travel more and pay less we've got a great great show for you today here we are just in the early days of spring and it feels like summer already well today among the many exciting things that we're going to chat about is what are you really looking for in travel what is the difference between a traveler and a tourist and both are wonderful. And I am both what are the best cruise promotions out there and a new poll worldwide poll has just been published at what are the happiest countries in the world now can you fly if you lose your ID we're going to talk about that Hawaii in Mexico is on sale and you can now venture into Eastern Europe with the comfort of a river cruise and Dan Hone will be joining us in the second hour talking about

1:00an update with the Middle East and Holy Land all that and more on today's travel show well I'd love to have you join me here on the travel show one triple eight five seven oh eight oh one oh that's triple eight five seven oh eight oh one oh with your recommendations your suggestions how you approach travel in any questions that you may want to have for me so let's start out with what are you really looking for in travel there's no right or wrong answer in your answer will likely be different than mine will probably share a couple of things but are you looking for what fun relaxation new experiences food and culture all these are wonderful but I'm often said there is a difference between a tourist and a traveler now the differences aren't bad I personally am both sometimes I'm a tourist sometimes I'm a traveler they're both wonderful but a tourist typically travels for leisure relaxation entertainment often visiting well known landmarks and attractions they want comfort they want convenience and probably rely on guided tours and pre planned itineraries I do that myself but what about a traveler

2:26on the other hand travelers are motivated by a desire for exploration a cultural immersion and personal growth travelers seek authentic experiences and are more likely to venture in a very safe environment we're not talking about any death wish here but venture off the beaten path sometimes go where few tourists ever venture and they really like to engage with local local cultures and communities now I want to emphasize again folks that there is no right or wrong answer to this because I am both a tourist I am both a traveler and sometimes on the same trip I'm a traveler and a tourist for example let's see coming up April 6th we have that travel show listeners group spring break escape cruise we got a we got a great 91 people 91 listeners of the show are joining Kathy and I and we're doing a five day cruise out of the port of Los Angeles which is really sand Pedro closer to Long Beach airport than L.A.X.

3:42And it's five days to Catalina Island stop an incident of Mexico some wonderful days at sea we actually gave this trip to our entire family Christmas of 2024 we said Nana and Papa are going to take everybody on a family cruise you get yourself down to the ship and we'll take care of anything else we got a whole family I'll tell you what's really cute my let's see it was January of 2023 we had a group of travel show listeners 106 that did a one week Mexican Riviera cruise and Kathy couldn't go so my daughter Sarah went with me and her son Oscar then seven now ten and another grandson Jenny's son Milo then seven now ten and it was so much but these two boys just went crazy on the navigator of the seas with royal Caribbean that by the way is a great ship I've sail on it four times but so much to do the kids program unlimited ice cream of the buffet the dining you was interesting they're seven years old

4:56and I just assume that want to go to the buffet for dinner every night no they wanted to sit down in the restaurant have the waiters bring their food order from the menu well anyway Milo who is an inquisitive child in every wonderful way he has been studying online the navigator of the seas and he will be taking all of his cousins ages ten months to ten years nine of them and he's going to give mature adults will attend to but he's going to walk them around the common areas show them everything until he's been studying it and he said to his mother this morning you know there's too many adults only pools they need more kids pools well they have plenty of kids pools well that is a tourist we're going to have tourists fun but if you want the ultimate traveler you're looking for experiences you know last week I talked about

6:00and maybe I'll mention again today I think we only got three cabins left the riches of the May Kong we're going to cruise with on the waterways November 9th to the 16th I will be your personal host and tour guide and we're going to explore the big cities and the backwater villages it will we're going to see anchor what non-pensi gone the big cities and then to Tanchao and some of these places that tourists never get to for a very authentic experience we have an audience with a Buddhist monastery in the priest will talk to us and give us a blessing so many a rickshaw ride so many unique experience by the way I'd love to have you come with me we're at serious group discounts because you know what we do with river cruises we buy the cabins and then the discounts are anywhere from you know six seven eight hundred dollars to two thousand dollars a cabin below booking it directly with any other travel company or on the waterways that is a traveler experience you know it reminds me of an experience I had with my eldest son he's now what forty eight this is when he was seventeen he in a group of five friends we would go somewhere

7:18different trips you know during the summertime with multiple trips these are rugged kids football players rugby players I took them to Samoa Western while we spent some time in Pongal Pongal American Samoa but I have so many contacts and friends there in the islands we spent some time in Western Samoa and we did I rented a house like an Airbnb and we cooked our own meals stayed out with letti saili my good friend uh and he arranged letti arranged for each of the boys individually to go with a Samoan family now in Samoa it is the most authentic traditional Polynesian experience you can have most of the people still live in in follies or think of the grass hut you know they're actually covered with corrugated iron now because it holds up long but open sided cooking over open fires no plumbing no electricity just a lantern at night sleeping on the floor what which is mats not not a bed or even a hardwood floor and I remember I had this big pickup truck

8:28and the boys were in the back they love to ride in the back standing up you know as we go through the jungle and I took them to each family drop them off one by one and you could see the anxiety on their face they're going to spend several days in a real cultural immersion and the anxiety on their face was unforgettable like what have I got myself into you know hanging out with this the teammates and with coach galwigs well there's a security there but now they're on their own with these families so I come back several days later and with out exception the families and each boy wept they they fell in love with this the simple families poor by our standards rich by values and um life and experiences and you know they just wept and they talked about how much they love them and they exchange some gifts each of the boys brought a gift well see that is a traveler experience now I don't suggest you go as crazy as I do with some of these I mean I've been writing the rails through India canoeing sailing through polinesia doing all these things but what are you looking for in travel

9:50let morris Columbus travel help you plan it tourists we're going to be talking about tourist things Hawaii in Mexico and cruises we're going to be talking about traveler things and oftentimes like this Asian cruise pearls of Asia singapore vietnam Hong Kong uh let's see Taiwan and Japan we're going to be tourists and but when we do our own short scursions we are going to be travelers and so we'll get a bit of both hey when we come up I want to share with you the latest and greatest cruise promotions that'll save you a ton ton of money next time you sail the seven seas right here on the travel show you welcome back to the travel show I'm Larry Gellwicks the getaway guru the travel show is sponsored by morris

10:54Columbus travel where you always travel more and pay less do check out their website at morris Columbus dot com that's morris Columbus dot com hey I in this last segment I mentioned one of my grandsons Oscar yes he he's now 10 and you know the game they play in heaven is rugby of course you know that and the and the movie they show in heaven is forever strong surprise surprise well Oscar is 10 years old but he's a tank on the field he's he's playing good rugby third year rugby and his game today is at 130 at the east high football field I'll be up there and if you come or in the air stop by and say hello to me speak of saying hello I was sitting at Murdoch Hyundai in the service waiting room yesterday and a fellow sitting next to me just popped up and said hello I know who you are love the show his name is Rick I want to

11:56give a shout out to Rick and you know I've said this before you know if you see me or run into me please take a moment to say hi Larry and I always stop and chat for a brief moment and get a little take on you and it's interesting maybe four five six times a week I'll be somewhere and someone will say I recognize that voice you know I've 34 years on the radio by the way I also am on channel to the CBS affiliate for Utah and southern Idaho on KUTV every Monday at the new news between 12 and one I give a travel report like the it's kind of like the travel newsletter news reporter pre pandemic I'd go into the studio and sit with the anchors they're in suits and nice dresses I'm always in in the loha shirt yeah it's branding but excuse me during the pandemic they wanted to reduce the

13:02foot traffic at the KUTV studio so it said Larry film it outside just email it in which I did after the pandemic the station said well Larry you know back in the studio I said no no thank you this has been wonderful I can be anywhere in the world and send you a video of where I am with it's not necessarily commercial I do commercials but it's just an update on the latest travel maybe it's the latest cruise promotions what I'm going to tell you know maybe it's passport requirements have changed and speaking of advice do get to the airport much earlier I recommend two to three hours in salt like I really do you remember the governments on a partial shutdown TSA being nice to these TSA agents they're working without pay showing up to keep the system going say thank you tell them you appreciate I know there is one airport a not salt lake else where they

14:05had like a food bank boxes bring a can of food because these people aren't getting paid they have mortgages they have expenses so do get there early if I'm checking in at LAX or JFK or hair I'm going to be there three hours in advance I really am now if you have medallion status or or clear or TSA pre check that will open it up although some airports have shut down TSA pre check simply because they don't have the people to do it let's talk about cruising the latest promotions you know there's so many cruise lines but what I call the big three I categorize them as first class cruise lines Norwegian or NCL Princess and Royal Caribbean then there is what I call premium that be Disney and Holland America celebrity and then there's the deluxe you get in their seaborne and crystal region seven seas and and some of the others so I'm going to focus on the big three

15:08and keep in mind that all prices all promotions are subject to change and availability at the time of booking let's start with NCL and most of these are limited promotions today's Saturday what March 21st these could be gone sometime next week they could keep them so you want to act quickly with Morris Columbus travel Norwegian cruise line up to 50% off your cruise fare a free air promotion I love this one it's really a bogo buy one get one where the first person purchases from NCL through Morris Columbus travel and their contracts with them a discounted difference really is a discounted air for second person flies absolutely free you got to understand that Norwegian will pick your airline it'll be a major airline but they will pick your itinerary and there is no appeal they can't say well I don't want to change planes in Dallas well if you're change if that's

16:08the item or you're changing planes in Dallas they do have a free at sea promotion but it's not really free now this is the thing with all the cruise line you can buy a cruise only base it's just a cruise and then they all have an upgraded amenity package well NCL calls it free at sea because once you buy it once you buy it all this stuff is free that's not really free but I like the package it's a good value of the perks if the perks are used it would include a it's a prepaid discounted bundle rather than truly a free offering you get free Wi-Fi up to about 250 minutes on a on a cruise one week cruise free specialty dining free shore excursion credits free this free that free drinks unlimited drinks so it's called free at sea but it's not free

17:08princess cruises up to eight hundred dollar savings and in the higher cabins like sweets that's where the eight hundred bucks is but you get something in all cabins up to fifty percent off your cruise fair and just ninety nine dollar deposits let's take a look at royal Caribbean which I'll be sailing at in one week up to nine hundred dollars off third and fourth guess sale absolutely free that's the same with NCL and princess has it coming and going meaning the third and fourth person sharing your cabin on select cruises sale absolutely free you just pay the taxes and if you're going to sail with royal Caribbean to the Caribbean or Alaska there's an additional savings of up to a hundred dollars off do remember that I'll be sailing this summer with princess on a brand new ship Alaska Roundtrip Seattle July 12 to 19 we do our own shore excursions and I'd love to have

18:13you join me well that's a lot to digest give Morris Columbus Travel a call and find the value that works for you well coming back what is it that makes you happy welcome back to the travel show I'm Larry Gellwicks the getaway guru the travel show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel where you always travel more and pay less check out their website at Morris Columbus dot com and if you're interested in any of the escorted programs including the cruises and tours that I will be your personal host and tour guide go to the website Morris Columbus dot com and on the homepage scroll to Morris Murdoch escorted tours click on that and then you choose cruises europe asia africa holy land tours faith based tours south america you

19:20pick you know domestic tours you pick what you want and then take a look at it love to have you join me and I'll tell you all of the travel hosts that the travel directors are just absolutely wonderful so you I asked you the rhetorical question at the top of the show what makes you happy you know a lot of things a really good cheeseburger with bacon on it makes me very happy but I think that happiness comes from a combination of meaningful relationships purposeful activities and some personal autonomy gratitude and you know just the simple everyday pleasures of life relationship social connections quality time with friends and loved ones like that spring break crews in april where our kids and grandkids we're gonna have a ball what a great

20:24memory of that is I think purposeful activities meaningful work hobbies creative pursuits that really provides a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment I think some autonomy having the ability to make independent choices and shape your life according to your values don't you think that really fosters happiness and then gratitude a positive outlook now life isn't all a better roses to be honest life totally sucks at times things happen you know and just like oh I've ever had this thought I've had it for a long time if I can just get through the next two weeks my life will be so simple and you know I've been saying that for over 60 years life isn't always pleasant but most of my life is particularly when I'm looking at relationships and activities and for me travel autonomy and I think also another aspect of happiness is physical and mental well

21:30being way it be exercise adequate rest self-care support both physical and mental I think is foundational to happiness well what makes you happy a recent poll according to Gallup you know that's the big poll taker they put out an annual world happiness report and what they do is they look at all aspects of life the world happiness reports it's based upon data from Gallup world poll and asked people in more than 140 countries probably not Iran right now 140 companies to rate their lives on a scale of zero to 10 with rankings calculated from three year averages so they look at every aspect they're asking you rate your health your relationships your the communications

22:34food the cleanliness of every every aspect that you could imagine of life you rate yourself zero to 10 and thousands and thousands and thousands of people took this poll well it's interesting for the ninth year in a row one particular country has been rated the happiest now this may surprise you but the country continues to stand out for its high quality of life strong social support systems and an emphasis on happy living and I was just there last year but that doesn't surprise you've been a lot of places last year Finland yes Finland in Scandinavia was ranked the happiest country in the world but the people there it's a deep connection to nature and outdoors while inviting travelers member tourists and travelers inviting travelers to learn more about the

23:35finish way of life do you want to learn something really about Finland now this may surprise you too and you may or may not be comfortable with this but it's perfectly modest and perfectly appropriate sonnas are the cornerstone of every day life in Finland has been a part of the finished culture for centuries right now there's more than three million sonnas around the country and by the way Kathy and I have a son in the basement of our house I love sitting in it uh yeah they've really there's even a son at the Helsinki International Airport well let me give you how about the top five now this but but people from 140 countries rating their own country and things at number five is Sweden you know what you have to remember about Sweden should bolla now I didn't swear you know it's that Denny didn't hit the edit button

24:36should bolla mintling on that Swedish meat balls with lingon berries oh my gosh kill me now well lord don't take that seriously uh number five is Sweden number four one of my favorite countries is Costa Rica now you can divide coast to recap into three areas you go up north west the Guana Costa area um and then kind of the midland you have R&L it's an active volcano and then down to the Pacific coast um the beaches I love the Merrient at Los Swinges the beach is so so it's kind of a gray sand beach but the pool is probably the best one in all of Costa Rica there's a marina there lots of restaurants keep us is a village just a few miles away you can go in and spend the day there my favorite you know one third of Costa Rica's national parks my favorite absolute favorite is Manuel Antonio it's kind of the southwestern part of the country it's uncrowded one

25:41of the great activities that I did what years ago with my son Keaton he was I didn't know about 14 and we went to Costa Rica together and I rented a four wheel ATV and on a planned route it was a dirt route um established route we we drove ATVs and went to a waterfall when swimming I I got in a picnic lunch what a I mean that is memorable experience so sweet number five Costa Rica number four number three Dale Anderson will love this one Denmark number two Iceland I'm in love with Iceland been there many times um yeah occurs is a great way to see Iceland because Iceland really is expensive Scandinavia is expensive and number one Finland um yeah a lot of fun there with the happiest countries on earth so here's a question I'm getting all the time Larry is it safe to travel

26:46and the answer is yes depending on where you're going to go am I going to take a group to Iran right now no but here is the question how do you balance uh reality with emotion and that's not a criticism we're driven by emotions but you know travel can significantly impact our emotions and perceptions while travel offers me an opportunity for exploration and personal growth as it does to you it can also lead to cognitive biases and emotional responses that may not align with objective reality I remember you know when people get out of their comfort zone they get emotional I remember a tour we're at Salt Lake we're headed to Europe and our flight was delayed two hours well that happens and a woman literally burst into tears and said I never should have

27:48signed up for the trip is ruined now I'm not criticizing her it was an emotional response she hadn't traveled much and you know you get into a delay on i15 it's like oh here it is again but you don't flip out but she did again no criticism and I talked to her and kind of talked she wanted to go home just call the whole thing quits I talked her off the cliff these things happened but it was balancing emotion with reality I'll give you another example we're going to talk about some incredible air all-inclusive Mexico later on in the show well people say is it safe to go to Mexico I saw some things on television well yeah I saw a lot of things on television television you you want to avoid dangerous places don't go to L.A. it was some time ago that the sheriff's department said they could not guarantee visitors safety in L.A. County you know I don't go to

28:49Portland I used to love Portland it's a dump right now with the problems they're having how am I going to walk Minneapolis at night no those are my but we want to balance this with reality and emotion so we come back to Mexico I have said before use travel dot state dot gov travel dot state dot gov and then click on find international travel and they're the country that you plan to visit I just did that with Mexico and remember the the safety it's one two three four one is place like Vietnam uh Australia New Zealand Fiji it says go don't be stupid as one man said life is hard enough but life is really hard when you're stupid don't be stupid and go to places or be involved in things that you have no business being involved in you know and but a level two is hey go

29:54have a good time but exercise just a little bit more caution uh most of Western Europe's like that a three is reconsider travel except absolutely essential travel and four is are you out of your ever love and mind do not travel uh for example I I've I've said I love Israel and the Holy Land Egypt and Jordan I I'm not going to go there now but I am going to plan for my future trip I'm planning ahead with that so back to Mexico on the website it does list some area four states I know there's a whole bunch of states there and list a few places you should not go like Sinaloa um colima but then there's 17 states not cities the whole state that are a level two go and have a good time well I'm going to give you some of these uh uh uh great Mexico rates when

30:55we come back now in the next segment I want to I'm oh I'm going to be in St George tomorrow speaking I'm going to tell you all about that love for our listeners on KDXU to join me but can you fly if you lose your photo ID I'll tell you what is up and what is down when we come back oh welcome back to the travel show I'm Larry Gellwicks the getaway guru the travel show is sponsored by Morris Columbus travel you know what I'm going to say we always travel more and pay less do give them a call if you already have a favorite Morris Columbus travel advisor you already have his or her direct line skip all of the recordings if you don't have one give Morris Columbus a call it's easy telephone number to remember 800 triple nine 46 46 800 triple nine 46 46 I mentioned

32:05that I'll be in St George tomorrow and I am I'm going to invite you to a uh fireside and an LDS stake down there that I'll be speaking at tomorrow March 22nd it's sponsored by the little valley stake at the coyote springs chapel that's 1905 east rustic drive St George 7 pm tomorrow coyote springs chapel 1905 east rustic drive St George 7 pm and with with the with the stakes permission I'm inviting all of you to come and you know afterwards come up and say hey I listen to the travel show and we'll have a great time I'm looking forward to that I've got a fun one on Monday too I'm speaking to the seventh grade football teams in St George in the evening um yeah that's going to be fun I'm going to talk to them about uh what it means to be a champion how do you develop a

33:08championship attitude you know attitude and effort is everything attitude and effort is more important than natural smarts more important than natural ability although you have to have smarts and you have to have ability I mean you can't have a championship team with guys tripping over the shoelaces you know what do we do we we teach you how to tie their shoelaces anyway that's tomorrow night Sunday March 22nd at the coyote springs chapel what a great name for a church congregation's coyote springs you know it well anyway that's at 1905 east rustic drive coyote springs sounds like a Mexican restaurant to me maybe they mean it at a chapel at the restaurant I don't know 1905 east rustic drive St George tomorrow night at seven and LDS fireside to the little valley stake everyone is invited now arriving at an airport only to discover you've forgotten or lost your ID has got to be every traveler's worst nightmare but here's how

34:16to handle it and possibly still make your flight uh remain calm don't freak out all hope may not be lost if you can't find your ID but the TSA transportation security administration isn't going to dis let you pass through checkpoint because you have an honest face whatever that may be what you'll have to do is go through an identity verification process so first of all your name if you have photos photos of yourself or somebody else in your party has in their photo gallery if you have your library card credit cards these all help out but the TSA announced in December that it will refer all passengers who do not present an acceptable form of ID and still want to fly an option to pass $45 fee to use a modernized alternate identity verification system

35:23and so it will establish identity maybe you've had a facial recognition photo well anyway travelers can pay the $45 fee to use the TSA it's called confirm ID for a 10 day travel period in most cases going I'm going to to LA on Friday and then coming back next when you have 10 days where it's good TSA urges travelers who do not have a real ID that's your driver's license with the gold star on it to make an appointment with a local DMV and update it now what is an acceptable form of ID how many can you name will probably quickly driver's license passport did you know there are 16 federal government acceptable forms of ID let me tell you a couple that maybe haven't heard of how about a tribal nation Indian tribe enhanced tribal card has to be federally recognized

36:31a foreign government issued passport transportation worker identification credential how about this one US merchant marine credential anyway there's 16 of them and so all is not lost but again you're going to be with TSA longer than normal just get there early especially if you have lost your ID you know we're talking about cruises earlier in this segment virgin voyages which is an adult only cruise and a very good one too I'd put it in the premium category an adult is 18 years of age or older they have just added Mexican Riviera cruises out of LA they'll be doing some Panama can out cruises between LA and Miami they're going to be seasonal but it's a great cruise line adults only adding the Mexican Riviera now when we come back in hour number two I'm going to give you

37:40the latest and greatest Hawaii and Mexico air hotel packages and I'm going to break down the difference between buying it as a package and buying it individually and did you know you can now visit the forbidden Hawaiian privately owned island of Nihial I'll tell you how to do it when we come back welcome back to our number two of the travel show I'm Larry Gellwicks to get away guru the travel show is sponsored by Morris Columbus Travel do check out their website Morris Columbus dot com that's Morris Columbus dot com and if you want to participate and join any of the escorted tours including the ones that I'll be hosting on the homepage Morris Columbus dot com scroll to Morris Murdoch escorted tours then you pick Europe Asia Africa if it's a cruise you

38:42click on cruises go to the year and the date and there they all are love to have you join any of our programs and yeah it's a great time to travel now we were talking about Hawaii and Mexico I love both and I love Mexican food a lot of good Mexican restaurants here in the great state of Utah one of my favorites is the the blue iguana down at arrow press square downtown in Salt Lake City they have they just have some great cuisine the chili verde that is one of the things I judge all Mexican restaurants they're salsa and the chili verde and the homemade tortillas but yeah try one dish puntadefulete and it is it comes with a mole and it's beef and it's just fantastic anyway let's talk something now you've heard me say this before about the so

39:43called secret air fairs now I that's my term because they're unpublished fairs that I call them secret if you call the airline reservation desk they don't know about them they can't sell them to you airlines know historically how many seats are going to sell but for empty seats once that door on the airplane closes there's no opportunity to sell the seat so it's revenue lost so they airlines go to just a handful of tour operators with their own contracts now as far as I know Morris Columbus travel is the only travel company travel agency in Utah that has their own international and domestic contracts they're not buying it from third parties which increase the price Morris Columbus does have their own contracts and other programs they'll buy from a third party depending on where you're going but the condition of the secret air fair

40:49which the legal name is a tour operator fair tour operator because it's sold through a tour you can only buy it from a tour operator you can't sell air only because that would disrupt the overpriced seats that the airlines are selling it has to be bundled with something typically a car rental hotel you don't even have to get the car hotel for the whole time oh last year sometime I told about a name many of you'll remember Marion D. Hanks when he became an emeritus general authority for the LDS church we were I was his travel agent and he and his wife Maxine had a house out in Hana Maui and they had their own car and I would sell them a ticket that's been the winner out there with a two-day car rental at the cheapest rent a junker

41:53car rental company I could find they never picked the car up but that that air and the two-day car rental was less than buying air only now it isn't always less sometimes about the same but but it's always the same as let me give you an example now again rates and prices vary by departure date and the subject to change and availability at the time of booking we were talking about Mexico I love all of Mexico can coon Cabo Mazitlan Puerto Vallarta if I could only pick one well I picked them all but I had to pick one I lean towards Puerto Vallarta you know that has a colonial atmosphere right there the Sierra Madre mountains you have the Marietta islands and snorkeling right there zip lines what I love is new esteras in Yorda de Guadalupe the church of our lady of Guadalupe you want an iconic colonial church that's it but two things that stand out

43:01what is the Mali Khan it's a beach side promenade it's about a mile long pedestrian only no cars and it's shops canteen as music street entertainment restaurants boutiques it is so much fun and then I like to go over to zono romantica and it's called the romantic zone and I have a restaurant they're called the margarita grill not margarita bill margarita grill it's a restaurant it's outdoor but covered they have some indoor too great food reasonably priced in the evenings they have musicians singers and guitar players roaming around the restaurant it's just a fun fun atmosphere now if you want a great taco right near the Mali Khan there's a shop that's that's had a lot of press coverage on it el carboncito carboncito c-a-b-o-n-c-i-t-o el carboncito tacos I mean oh my gosh are they ever

44:12good it's it's just a hole in the wall it's not a street cart it's a little restaurant where you go in and you stand order your tacos and they are fantastic well let's go to let's go to Puerto Vallarta in May I looked at a six day five night package you can easily add extra days to and I recommend that you do the standard of six days the rio riu is a wonderful hotel chain in Mexico I'm looking at a four and a half star see four star is considered first class five star deluxe the rio vayarta comes in about a four and a half so it's on the cusp of deluxe it's I've been to it I've stayed there it's a wonderful hotel now if I were going to go there and buy everything individually on and I looked at my dates may 14th to the 19th I found a really great

45:15airfare with southwest airlines for four hundred excuse me six hundred and eighty eight dollars the best price at the hotel that's all inclusive meals drinks non-motorized activities taxes even your tips and gratuities although I leave them more but you don't have to four hundred and sixty dollars and then transfer his figure about eighty bucks round trip if I were to buy this vacation may 14th to the 19th every component individually my price for almost a week six days is one thousand two hundred and twenty eight bucks that's not a bad price that's what people are paying but if I bought it as a package using the Morris Columbus secret air fares it's not twelve twenty eight it's nine hundred and eighty one bucks that is a savings per person of two hundred and forty seven dollars as a couple it's about five hundred

46:17bucks let everything same same date same flight same hotel same everything you want to take advantage of these tour operator fares and Morris Columbus has them around the country and around the world hey do you know our dear friend Abby banel she's a well-known radio personality in the great state of Utah with station k and rs the flagship station of the travel show uh she is from England a wee village called oddlem up near the cotswolds uh she will be taking and hosting a tour in september september 9th to the 19th eleven days England whales and scalded including a visit to her what I call a wee village it is about two thirds a half-act is only room for five couples or five singles there's five rooms left you don't want to miss this when you can get all the details at morris columbus.com click on

47:22Morris Murdoch escorted tours did you know that some airports offer free tours for long layovers there are two four six seven international airports that i'm aware of you know you've got a long layover maybe a six seven eight nine hours or more what are you going to do you can only walk around so long only so much diet coke and hot dogs but these airports you have to you have register for them offer a free airport tour singapore soul in chan istan bull hong kong doha probably wouldn't go there now uh Taipei and Tokyo narita so just google let's say i have a um singapore extended layover google singapore free airport tours each one has their own

48:25website so it's too much to give you right now now when we come back i want to tell you about what to do on a rainy day in hana lulu and we're going to be headed to south east europe eastern europe which has not caught up with the west all right more on today's travel show welcome back to the travel show i'm larry gellwigs to get away guru and we have had so much fun today i another rugby game that you might want to see today is uh b-y-u and st marys both top nationally ranked teams kickoff is at the rugby soccer field next to the smith field house at two o'clock today free admission on the b-y-u campus but of course the headliner is my 10 year old

49:29grandson you know he's playing with the 12 year olds he plays up because he's that good but i'm not a proud grandpa so you know i i'm a foodie and business insider magazine did recently published an article on the most iconic sandwiches in all 50 states now our crack producer not our producer on crack uh denny is here with me of course he's here with the studio he runs the play he's the brains i'm just a pretty face well not even that uh anyway denny i know that you love burgers and sandwiches so i'm going to talk about the most iconic sandwich in utah according to business insider magazine but for you you're kind of a sandwich guy yeah i'd say so yeah what is your if you could have one your your last supper sandwich your burger what would it be here in utah uh i got to go back to

50:30riches which is like my go-to place that's a downtown yeah just downtown yeah riches burgers and what's that about third-south second-south yeah yeah third-south between state and main i think it is yeah but why do you like it so much what is it they they use like actual like fresh ingredients so like whenever you take a bite of the burger like it just feels like a fresh bite yeah and i love when my food tastes like food you know like i love a good McDonald's like here and there but like eventually it starts this like hard board and i you know i like you know i love five guys but i don't go there anymore to expensive yeah yeah great fries but it's just flat out i love in an out burger too some people don't like it but i like in and out and i'm starting to eat more and more at McDonald's because of my grandchildren i've gotten nine of them ages nine months to eleven years yeah and so that does it now i'm gonna put you on spot okay uh see denny's kind of a romantic type uh and you took a new girlfriend to riches what what what give us a little backstory here

51:35so uh her and i met at a music venue uh uh i don't know if i should sound well down in first names only for it sound well uh is where we met and then uh we clicked and the very first place i took her was uh was riches like a casual day fine i need a casual day right did you kind of a chaser of Diet Coke or something absolutely you always have to chase diet how are their fries there i love their fries they're always fresh i they i add a little bit of salt because they feel like undersalted yeah but overall great great fries okay now is this relationship still going on yes okay thank you daddy and thanks for the keep in this show going okay here is what it is denny according to business insider magazine the most iconic sandwich in Utah is a pastrami burger now that sounds like crown burger to me it does not look like you know which we ate at two nights ago and Kathy had a crown burger um uh some of the other uh let's say in um let's go to uh Nevada that

52:43we have stations in Nevada picking set a shrimp pobo it's fried shrimp with lettuce and sauce how about up to Idaho again according to this survey i didn't say most popular it's most iconic right okay and Idaho is the finger steak sandwich it's battered steak strips in a bun and sauce that actually sounds pretty good how about Arizona we broadcast into Arizona a sonoran dog sonoran dog it's bacon wrapped hot dog with beans pico and jalapeno sauce in the bun that's a hardy meal that is a hardy meal um now california french dip i love french yeah yeah and one more pencil vain yeah it has to be a fillet cheese stay absolutely now if you go to fillet elfia there's three of the big three fillet cheese mix hats genos and jimmies personally i like jimmies yeah but i'll eat any of them now all for that how about fun things to do on a rainy day in

53:44handle you haven't been how i had i'm not know what's the matter with you i just a lot of things but we'll discuss a lot of the air okay here's some fun things to do they've had what they call the the kona range so it there's flooding on a wahu it has been raining for days and days i called my nephews over there with his young family on vacant they're just landlocked in their hotel room i gave him a list of things age appropriate to do here's some fun things to do now i'm going to include adults kids in all ages uh for example the bishops museum which is world's greatest um hawaii ana museum the kids are bored to death yeah i love it so the bishops museum the ilani palace the only uh royal palace a short drive you can take it's called the bus the bus the bus you can go around the island for two bucks okay but it's no on and off pretty although you can buy a pass ilani palace here's here's three i want you to think about

54:48the wiki key so you're in wiki key is pouring grain go down to the aquarium they have over 500 marine animals on display at the wiki key aquarium with a special focus on species found in the waters of hawaii and the south pacific it's fabulous uh for younger children and pre tweens the hawaii children's discovery center it's an interactive museum for little ones that gets hands-on experience and then the alamawana shopping center oh my gosh three hundred and forty retail stores and they have a food court about the size of a football field and it i mean just lot of fun fun things to do you have the hunlulu museum of art a really fun one you can take the bus out there is the pearl harbor aviation museum well we got about a what a minute left oh where does time go don't forget the gems of southeast europe september of 2027 i will be hosting a

55:57alma waterway september 27th to october the fourth hungry kroesha surbia romania and bulgaria loved to have you with me i want to remind you about the eldeus fireside i'm speaking at tomorrow march 22nd at the little valley stake in the coyote springs chapel seven o'clock 1905 east rustic drive state george again coyote springs chapel 1905 east rustic drive state george seven o'clock in state george tomorrow see you next week welcome back to the travel show i'm larry gellwicks the getaway guru i am joined today on the line by none other than my dear friend dan hone we've been the best of friends for over 50 years sat together in graduate school and have worked together on travel

57:02particularly the middle east dan for what some 50 years now it's incredible yeah that's like a dream we've come through these 53 years i know and we're still the best of friends that's the amazing thing you know dan's an interesting guy he's far too humble to tell you his background but he's the smartest guy that i know about anything in the middle east dan got his graduate degree from an israeli university uh lived over there for some 10 years was one of the founding members of the what we call the Jerusalem center or the center for neary string studies uh familiarity with 16 different languages most of them ancient languages published off or author popular speaker you know i'm going to put a crown of holly around your head dan what do you think

58:02of green leaves i think it's too much anyway love you dan and you know dan takes groups to the middle east and europe on his own dan and i also do tours together where you get a double punch so you know dan obviously the middle east and the conflict there grabs all the attention and sucks all the air out of the room you i know have met with heads with government leaders in many both israel and the arab countries you've had private meetings because you've told me about them we won't discuss the details of that because they were private but you have such an insight in the middle east kind of give me your overview of what's happening and it's a crystal ball of where we're going well you know every day it changes over there and of course we don't go there right now because of the conflict going on but you have to understand there's a great hope going on now

59:07throughout all the arab and jewish world and the christian world because of the events that are going on right now it's a very very tenuous time but already we have found that a temporary government is being formed already Denmark for instance today uh took down the flag of the current regime of iran and put up the old flag went in a shower there with the line really i didn't see yeah that was in the news this morning that they changed uh the flags at the embassy in Denmark so there's already some of the embassies were around that are beginning to recognize the weakness of the current regime which is very close to falling now people have to understand just because it falls there's got to be a transition there's going to be some individual fighters and things doing things all right my own feeling as the regime will be lucky to last

1:00:11two weeks if if even that however there's this transition that must take place in iran itself then you have to remember that the hits below out of lebanon that may take a little bit longer to settle that although it's real has taken out more of the leadership today some of the key people in the hits below the finances have been cut off from iran which was the main supporter of the yeah financial economic support and the government of lebanon has outlined for the first time because it used to be controlled by it's below has outlined hits below as uh as an entity in the country yeah and that's the lebanon's government so things are looking very working yeah things are looking be while you still have their students there they have in Jerusalem yeah well that's a major sign dan i'll just tell you before we move on to some other middle east topics if i had any

1:01:13position of authority in iran i'd be making the deal real fast you know with this now you would mention the readers of that going on but yeah i kind of suspect that there can't be a deal uh with the regime and remember this is the war to do with the regime it's not to do with the Iranian people the Iranian people are supporting and again just yesterday and today for the first time after all this time there's now been uh marches again by student groups and many of the major cities oh man the without the fear they had before so you know the times very close and when we see that piece we're gonna see a rush i believe a people have wanted to go for so long because there will be safety maybe not to Iran but certainly to Israel i believe and of course Jordan is actually safe now and there are flights with the uh you have any airlines and things

1:02:14there and i was just there uh two weeks ago three weeks ago we saw everything we planned on and then of course it took a while to get air flights out it's actually only two days very crowded there okay dan you you already mentioned my next question b-y-u has the students at the center i don't know of a more conservative group and i say this is a compliment that bergame university and its sponsoring church of jesus christ of latter-day saints now i tell people now is not the time to travel to israel or the holy land of course the holy land is much more than israel half of the new testament you know it was in jordan beyond jordan and these other areas you've got much of the old testament in surrounding so the holy land is that greater middle east now is not the time to go but now is the time to plan and one thing at moris columbus travel you you make an advance reservation if it's not safe you get your money back and you can get the details

1:03:20of that online at moriscolumbus.com be sure to review the details but your money is perfectly safe so dan very briefly you've been leading that to tours there since the time of noah and what what what is the shortly after that we met you know that's right now i got myself in trouble what what does a holy land and again that's more than just israel what does a holy land experience do to people you know it truly is it may sound a little tribut it truly is a life-changing experience people take a whole new look for instance up the scriptures and cells you know one of the things i love to do over there is be in the galilee one of my favorite things is to be there with you when you talk about peter walking on the water and that's you 14 that's you 14 yep and that's one of my favorite places be out there you know i've been fishing throughout the night not catching anything

1:04:25with a boat on the sea galilee before and the great experience that i've been there when there's been storms and when you see any of these things any of these locations over there comparing them choisee number primacy of the rock of peter and so forth taking resurrecting christ man of the attitudes and of course Jerusalem were the most important events of all time in history for christians took place and for Jews for that matter and Muslims as well have a reverence for that land so yeah i i have a great well yeah all of it and it's life changing for people uh we're speaking with dan hone dan we have about four minutes left in this segment and lots to talk about but i would like to spend the last few minutes about two exciting tours now again your money is very safe the first one is the footsteps of the ancient apostles this is focuses on turkey

1:05:25the dates are october 19th to september 4th and dan very briefly give us the highlights of the footsteps of the ancient apostles that you'll be leading yeah i'm so excited about this i've been to most of the areas we're going to a couple of places i haven't been before but i've studied them and imagine this next year we'll be studying the new testament they're here from now and all and this experience of look i just happen to drop a quick list this evening of people that we'll be discussing over there who've been part of the scripture experience peter john mark luke titus uh marie uh mark uh barnabas uh paul we're going to visit the seven cities of the apocalypse as mentioned by john we're going to go all the way from istonville to where christians were first called christians and antioch and probably exciting place in between things that are greater than

1:06:30some of the ruins you've seen in uh as far as roman goes plus the city of troy i mean how can you put such a thing together uh so well done please read the itinerary when you go to it under the europe better than under holy land to see that tour if you go to morris columbus dot com that's morris columbus dot com click on morris murdoch escorted tours and for this one click on europe and uh it's it's amazing you know the most frequent comment we get after the footsteps of the aposses the holy land is i can't wait to read the gospels get i can't wait to read the writings of paul then we have about forty seconds left and you've got a holy land tour with an option to jordan october ten to the twenty you've only got about thirty seconds now uh and we can talk okay remember there's also remember there's also the pre tour to jordan and i really encourage

1:07:36people to do that we do some unique things on that as well as hit all the very special spikes that you can see in the holy land and a few unusual ones too uh you know lary i want to say another thing here real quickly and that is uh the uh faculty that are leading all the tours to the holy lands all of those tours uh the ones that have been selected by morris columbus by morris murdoch escorted tours are outstanding every one of them offers a different insight into uh the countries they visit give a different experience you can go with one and go with another and it's just like you're on a new tour as well it really is and let me mention some of those and actually we have about a minute left i missed red in my clock craig and sandy these are holy land tours at different times at craig and sandy osler uh most of us know scott and marine proctor from meridian magazine joe joe i love joe what a great leader is uh tim tagart now i mean

1:08:44they're all good aren't they uh jonathan brinning anthony sweat brad wilcox and of course dan hone so dan thank you for joining us can i get you back on the show in the near future and we can fill out some of these other things uh with the holy land club too lary do go to morris columbus.com click on morris murdoch escorted tours for dan's footsteps of the apostles click on europe that's in august and for all of our holy land including dan's click on holy lands and uh dan thank you toda and we'll talk to you again soon and gochachala he called more when we come back on the travel show yes just listen and you'll know welcome back to the travel show hasn't it been fun today absolutely a lot of fun and uh as i

1:09:47said i just get giddy thinking about coming down to the studio 34 years on the radio and you know where it's syndicated on 19 different radio stations and a big heartfelt thank you to all of you now i know denny knows the answer to this question he's our producer what game do they play in heaven now denny knows it's rugby i have that on good he's nodding his head good answer denny i'm going to give you a treat then i'll ask you to roll over something you know stand up and anyway seriously it i you know i love rugby coach the highland rugby team for 36 years hollywood made a movie about us forever strong uh i want to tell you oh this is so self-serving but my grandson oscar uh oscar geowicz costa uh is he's ten years old in fourth grade and he's in

1:10:50his third year of rugby and uh he he's a good player all grandpa favoritism aside and he's good enough that he's playing in the 12 year old league and you know there kids at 12 are getting big you know um and uh but he holds his own with the 12 year old crowds and uh he has a game today he's part of the brighten rugby program great coaches Reno for new and others are his coach by the way Reno played for me uh long time ago at highland but um they have a game today i'm going to announce at one o'clock at east high school in salt lake city on the football field come on out and uh see a great rugby game this is the 12 year old it's going to be a lot of fun listen i got a request from several listeners to review the next information we've covered this over the last several

1:11:52weeks first of all there's two websites both of which are maintained by the u.s. state department and they're absolutely critical for international travel the first you've heard me talk about it travel dot state dot gov that's travel dot state dot gov uh and there's all sorts of things that you can look at for your international travel but other stuff too get a u.s. passport did you know you can renew your passport online at travel dot state dot gov i'm on the home page find international travel information that's when we're going to focus on him and get us visas learning about adopt adopting a child to and from the united states protect a child from parental abduction to and from the united states um replace life event documents issued by the u.s. state

1:12:52department and certify your document for use overseas now that is a wealth of information let's say you're planning to go where let's say tyland of course we're going to tyland so i click on find international travel then on the follow up page it says learn about your destination that's going to be entry requirements local laws tips from the u.s. embassy so i'm going to type in tyland and then click on the tyland box click on go and it tells me all the the safety restrictions uh passport validity six months from the date of entry required blank pages uh do i need a tourist visa no but you have to have a pre arrival online registration vaccinations currency restrictions uh for entry and exit where are the u.s. embassies and

1:13:59consulate offices for that uh entry exit and visa requirements safety and security local laws and special circumstances health information i mean everything is there and if you're going to multiple countries you just go through them one at a time now the next one i told you about was the step program smart traveler enrollment program simply go to step stp step.state.gov the first one was travel.state.gov this is step.state.gov and it's a smart traveler enrollment program it's a free service that allows us citizens and nationals to enroll your trip abroad so that the u.s. state department can accurately and quickly contact you in the case of an emergency now other things you get is the embassy you put the countries you're going to

1:15:01and the embassies from that country will send you information about health weather safety is there civil disobedience is there a strike security for your destination and help to get a hold of the embassy or consulate to contact you if there's an emergency like a natural disaster civil unrest or a family emergency back home these are free services so it's travel.state.gov travel.state.gov and step stp smart traveler enrollment program step.state.gov step.state.gov you know those that it's just so much information i use these all the time and need you to also hey well listen well that wraps it up for this Saturday look forward to next weekend with you always appreciate you joining us here on the travel show and do give Morris Columbus a call

1:16:04the travel experts Morris Columbus dot com or 800 triple nine 46 46 see you next week