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Peter Greenberg Says "Don't Go There," But Should You Listen?

As a career travel writer, Peter Greenberg has been pretty much everywhere you'd ever want to go and many places you wouldn't. It's this authority on which he wrote his new book Don't Go There, sure to be a consolation to people who, for whatever reason, can't go to some of the world's top destinations. In fact, in the preface to the book, he argues that travel media have a responsibility to report the bad alongside the good--that some trips will never be sunshine, lollipops and rainbows.

Greenberg has had the luxury to go wherever he's desired, and some of his cautions just won't apply to avid travelers; the air pollution of Cairo may deter him from visiting again but not someone who has never seen the Pyramids, for whom a trip to Egypt without visiting its capital would be unthinkable. But while Don't Go There frequently slides from serious to silly, some of its tips are really useful, so long as they concern places people actually go.

His work on dangerous highways and crappy airports is superb, although a blanket statement like "When there's snow in Chicago and fog in San Francisco... just don't go there!" is a bit pointless. And we wish he would have told more of his own stories, but he uses them to cut through categories like Most Depressing Places (Alaska: "How happy can you be when you have to dress in layers?") and still have fun. Don't Go There! is just as flippant as its title, but seasoned and rookie travelers alike can learn something from it. (Even if the lesson is to go there anyway.)

Related Stories:
· Peter Greenberg's Brand New Travel Blog [Jaunted]
· Hotelchatter Interview With Peter Greenberg [HC]
· Travel Media coverage [Jaunted]