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Peter Greenberg / Jaunted Interviews / Travel Trends / Pitch Your Travel Book / → All Tags

Jaunted Interview: Chatting with Peter Greenberg

Late last week we got a chance to sit down with Today Show travel editor Peter Greenberg to chat about airlines, hotels, Kyla and his new book, The Complete Travel Detective Bible. This is one serious travel tome: It appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list just one week after it went on sale. Peter's mission is to keep travelers from getting abused on the road, something we definitely wanted to know more about since, as he says, "There are about 47 different points of abuse from the time you decide to go somewhere until the time you limp back home."

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Chinglish / Peter Greenberg / → All Tags

Don't Turn Over in China

We've had plenty of experience with seeing those pictures of weird Chinglish: the supposedly helpful signs and directions across China that are so badly translated we have no idea what they mean.

Over at Peter Greenberg's blog they've taken the helpful next step of explaining what instructions like "Unrecycling" and "No turning over" actually mean. While it's sometimes a bit of a letdown to learn that the original Chinese meaning behind these odd phrases is usually very ordinary--"no turning over", for example, was just a mistranslation of "no climbing"--the info still makes for some pretty hilarious reading.

Our personal favorite is from a sign near the Terracotta Army site in Xian that "Asks you on own initiative to walk according to the scenic areaturnover line"; if you translate the Chinese, it simply says "Please follow the marked path through the scenery." Of course.

Related Stories:
· Signs in China [Peter Greenberg]
· Peter Greenberg's Brand New Travel Blog [Jaunted]
· The Old Weak Ill Disability and Pregnant Lounge [Jaunted]

[Photo: KhE_?]

Peter Greenberg / Travel Tips / Ryanair / EasyJet / → All Tags

Peter Greenberg Pays Dearly For His Excess Baggage

Peter Greenberg was back on NBC's Today Show this morning, letting us in on his recent troubles with a couple of European low cost carriers. He outed EasyJet and Ryanair as skyway robber barons--airlines charging small amounts of money for airfare, but then jacking up the cost for extra charges buried deep in the contract of carriage once you get to the airport.

Greenberg calls out skyway robber airlines here.

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Ann Curry / Dubai Travel / Today Show / Peter Greenberg / → All Tags

Ann Curry Is Unimpressed With Dubai

A couple weeks back NBC's Today Show did their annual "Where in the World is Matt Lauer" shtick. We did not tune in, but we should have. The Lauer is Lost segments can be informative, entertaining, and most of all, chalk full of unintended humor.

In any event, a tipster alerted us to a video (the one half way down on the right) showing Today Show host Ann Curry breaking down Matt's Dubai portion of the trip with travel everywhere-man Peter Greenberg.

Peter and Ann have a three minute conversation about Dubai, and by the pace of their speech, the two of them must have been backstage downing Claritin and coffees, or greenies, before they arrived on set.

Anyway, near the end lap of their double speed Dubai travel talk, Ann, who seems absolutely miffed you can't eat cheap food and visit archaeological sites in Dubai, says:

I've been to Dubai. All I've seen is a shopping mall, I can see a shopping mall in the United States.

So there you have it. Ann Curry's back of the envelop travel guide to Dubai--it is full of pre-fab strip mall bullshit.

Looks like you can forget about offering Ann Curry a house in The World, or a job at Halliburton.

Related Stories:
·   Dubai Travel [Jaunted]
·   Hotels in Dubai [HotelChatter]

Airbus / A380 / Airplanes / Lufthansa / Peter Greenberg / → All Tags

Airbus A380 Flight To Nowhere: Peter Greenberg Addicted To Hot Tail Cam Action

As for the entertainment, you don't need a movie, I quickly became addicted to the tail camera.

Turns out Lufthansa has its own version of JenniCam, with no Jenni, but lots of live jumbo jet ass.

The tail camera shows a live continuous, wide angle shot of the plane in flight.

Peter Greenberg continued his Today Show review of the Airbus A380 this morning, with plenty of live shots from his Frankfurt to JFK "proving flight" yesterday.

A380 Tour Highlights:
·    Greenberg got frisked in Germany.
·    A grand staircase connects upper and lower decks.
·    Multiple "mock boardings" took place.
·    The plane had access to three jetways as it took off.
·    First class is super comfortable, coach is as crowded as ever.
·    The lavatory is huge and sports a window.
·    Sharkey was on board.

Airbus / Peter Greenberg / A380 / Lufthansa / → All Tags

Today Show Rides The Big Plane

Today Show travel Editor, and friend of Jaunted, Peter Greenberg is on board a Lufthansa A380 promo flight from Frankfurt Germany to JFK this morning.

Matt Lauer spoke with him via plane phone while Peter was somewhere over the Atlantic, the short conversation went something like this:

Matt: Does it feel different to be flying on something so big?
Peter: The thing that feels different is the quiet. It is about 50% quieter than a 747. Our take off this morning was remarkably quiet.

Matt: And is it on time Peter?
Peter: Exactly on time.

Um, did you really think a promo flight would be late? C'mon Matt dig a little deeper buddy.

The Today show notes that the A380 is facing an uphill battle. Most air customers looking for cheap airfares, frequency, and point to point. Furthermore, most US airport runways are not exactly ready to accommodate the A380.

However, JFK is ready to roll out the red carpet for the A380 this week and let folks take a closer look at the big plane.

Related Stories:
·   Airbus A380 Coverage [Jaunted]

Peter Greenberg / Travel Web Sites / → All Tags

Peter Greenberg's Brand New Travel Blog

A couple years back Peter Greenberg took the time to sit down with our sister site HotelChatter for an interview. While blogging piqued his interest back then, he was a well entrenched Travel Editor for NBC's Today Show, and, understandably, didn't need the daily nuisance of a blog formatted website.

Fast forward a couple years and Peter Greenberg, still a widely respected travel media king, is launching a new travel website, with a team of editors, blog formatted, and such. The site is a mix of daily travel news, Greenberg dispatches, and in the future the site promises feature stories.

Our favorite teased feature? Swingin' Senior Singles, hopefully this promised piece will not be a list of nudie beaches and resorts where seniors gravitate. Then again, such a list might serve as a great warning to the traveling public. After all the Greenberg site promises consumer advocacy.

Peter is most definitely a travel voice worth listening to, and we will watch the evolution of his site closely.

Related Stories:
· Peter Greenberg Interview [HotelChatter]
· Peter Greenberg's Web Site [petergreenberg.com]