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The good news, according to travel writer Peter Greenberg, is that Americans are traveling more than ever before. The bad news is that we hate the process--the delayed flights, lost suitcases, overhyped cruises, and overpriced hotel rooms. We are a nation of unhappy but addicted travelers, doomed by our own inadequate travel planning and geographical ignorance. Never fear, though, the original savvy traveler has written the guide to end all guides on how to get to your destination and have a good time, too, by beating the airlines, hotels, cruise lines, and rental car agencies at their own games, playing by their own rules. Greenberg is hands down the right man for the job. Here is a guy who, just for laughs, checked in a double porcelain sink as a carry-on, crisscrossed the country on six different airlines over two days to see if the flights would be on time, and tested credit-card company claims of offering global assistance in an emergency by getting stuck in a ghost town in Death Valley. Not only that, he's traveled to 120 of the world's 187 countries.
A tourist, says Greenberg, is a victim waiting to happen. The travel world is full of ridiculous and draconian rules, but there are no shortages of ways to finesse them. You just have to know what to avoid and how to ask the right questions. Greenberg explains how to get the cheapest fares, beat the Saturday-night-stay requirement, and the importance of Rule 240. He tells you the truth about frequent-flyer programs, where the secret flights and even secret seats are, and how to avoid being a PAWOB (passenger without bags). He's got tips for traveling with kids and pets, and the truth about the safety of infants flying on laps (as well as that infamous first-class flying pig). Once you've made it to your destination, he'll fill you in on the best time to call to get the lowest hotel rates, the right question to ask to get a room with good water pressure, and how to avoid hotel and rental-car rip-offs. He's even got advice for finding a cruise that lives up to its seductive description. This is one useful, fun, and readable guide. --Lesley Reed
From Library Journal
In this entertaining book, Today show travel editor Greenberg reveals many insider secrets on how to get the lowest fare, make plane reservations, get the best airplane seat, negotiate the best hotel room deals, and much more. Greenberg, who is also the chief correspondent for the Discovery Network's Travel Channel and editor at large for National Geographic Traveler, devotes about three-fourths of the book to air travel, delighting in offering well-deserved criticism of the airlines. His air travel tips are useful and deserving of all serious travelers' attention, especially those traveling on a budget. Though the book omits three areas of travel that form an increasing part of America's traveling experience organized tours, travel by car, and train travel it is packed with valuable information and features an authoritative, and quite funny, voice. Recommended for all libraries. George M. Jenks, Bucknell Univ., Lewisburg, PA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
Renowned travel authority and NBC Today show travel editor Peter Greenberg shares his insider secrets.
Americans now travel more than ever before. Yet as our traveling has increased, the service we receive from airlines, hotels, and other agencies has deteriorated dramatically. Industry surveys reveal what you already feel: growing dissatisfaction among travelers of every age, income, and education level. We've been abused by the travel experience. Peter Greenberg is here to help. The Travel Detective tells you the things most travel agents can't — or sometimes just won't — tell you. In his characteristic friendly and conversational tone, Greenberg tells how to find the secret walk-up fares that can save air travelers hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on last minutes flights; which coach seats on which planes are better than first class; the secret rule to know to avoid being bumped from a flight, which cruise ship brochures lie; which credit card companies are fastest — and slowest — to come to your aid in a foreign land, or worse, in the U.S.,; which hotels have the best — and the worst — fire and crime safety records, and how you can protect yourself; how to negotiate the best hotel room deal; which hotels have the worst water pressure in their showers (and better yet, how you can get great water pressure, even at those hotels); and much, much more. Accessible and entertaining, The Travel Detective gives you the information and tools you need to make every trip an affordable pleasure.
From the Inside Flap
Renowned travel authority and NBC Today show travel editor Peter Greenberg shares his insider secrets.
Americans now travel more than ever before. Yet as our traveling has increased, the service we receive from airlines, hotels, and other agencies has deteriorated dramatically. Industry surveys reveal what you already feel: growing dissatisfaction among travelers of every age, income, and education level. We've been abused by the travel experience. Peter Greenberg is here to help. The Travel Detective tells you the things most travel agents can't — or sometimes just won't — tell you. In his characteristic friendly and conversational tone, Greenberg tells how to find the secret walk-up fares that can save air travelers hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on last minutes flights; which coach seats on which planes are better than first class; the secret rule to know to avoid being bumped from a flight, which cruise ship brochures lie; which credit card companies are fastest — and slowest — to come to your aid in a foreign land, or worse, in the U.S.,; which hotels have the best — and the worst — fire and crime safety records, and how you can protect yourself; how to negotiate the best hotel room deal; which hotels have the worst water pressure in their showers (and better yet, how you can get great water pressure, even at those hotels); and much, much more. Accessible and entertaining, The Travel Detective gives you the information and tools you need to make every trip an affordable pleasure.
About the Author
Peter Greenberg is the travel editor for NBC's Today show. He is also the chief correspondent for the Discovery Network's Travel Channel and editor at large for National Geographic Traveler magazine. He lives in Los Angeles, but he's never home. Go figure.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Most of us love to travel. That's the good news.
The bad news: We hate the process of travel.
We've been abused. And after each trip, we tell ourselves we'll never do it again.
And yet, we can't wait to do it all over again. And we do.
To many people, travel remains a voyage-or a flight or an Interstate trip-of discovery. But to most of us, travel remains a ritual of reassurance. Where there's a whim ... there's a way. And even though we hate the process, we continue to travel.
In 1999, more than 1.3 billion people traveled by air. The average American traveler is 44 years old. Of all American adult travelers, 49 percent are men, 64 percent are married, and 48 percent have children.
We travel to escape, or to explore, or to rest. Travel is, for many of us, an exercise in renewal, or a test of our limits. And some of us travel, simply, because we CAN.
And we DO. In a recent American Express study of 200 developing and developed countries, travel and tourism were found to be the biggest industry. In fact, if travel and tourism were a country instead of an industry, its gross national product (GNP) would rank among the top five in the world.
As an industry, it is one of the world's largest employers-one of every eleven jobs worldwide is held by someone in the travel business.
I've been traveling since I was six months old, when my parents took me on a very long DC-6 flight from New York to Los Angeles.
Since then, I've flown on virtually every commercial aircraft ever made, from DC-3s to Comets, Fokkers, Ilyushins, Fairchilds, and Boeings.
Over the years, my passports have bulged with the entry and departure stamps of more than 120 of the world's 187 countries.
And many readers of this book have passports that are fatter than mine.
There has been an exponential jump in the number of travelers and in the frequency of their trips.
In 1978, at the beginning of airline deregulation in the United States, only about 17 percent of all adults had ever taken an airplane flight.
With deregulation came dozens of new airlines. Airfares started matching bus fares, and the numbers of passengers soared.
Today, more than 84 percent of adults have flown. An impressive number, but also a scary one because a majority of that 84 percent feel abused by the process.
But the key question remains: Are we tourists or travelers?
To me, the definition of tourist is victim waiting to happen. I know very few people who define themselves as tourists. Instead, they call themselves travelers. But that doesn't mean they're good travelers.
I always get a laugh on Mondays. That's when my incoming-call volume soars.
Nearly everyone who calls is angry. They've just returned from a trip and there were problems.
And the calls seem to share the same structure, language, and intonation.
"It was a HORRIBLE flight," one will say. "The service was TERRIBLE." And, they add, they will NEVER do it again.
"Really?" I respond. "A horrible flight?"
"Absolutely," they answer. "Horrible."
"Let me ask you something," I continue. "At any time during your flight, did the airplane hit a mountain and disintegrate?"
"No..."
"And when you landed, did the wing hit the runway and did you cartwheel and explode?"
Again, "No."
"And," I conclude the questioning, "are you calling me from your. . . destination?"
"Yes..."
"Well, hang up the phone. It was a GREAT flight. You arrived!"
A funny thing then happens between the time my phone rings on Monday and the time it rings again-the same person is calling-on Thursday.
The person who had insisted that his or her experience was horrible on Monday, that he or she would NEVER do it again, is now in a mild panic.
Why? Because it's THURSDAY and he or she is desperate for the information necessary to get to the airport, get out of town, and try it all over again!
We have become a nation of travel junkies. And our addiction seems to be incurable.
And yet, for many of us, the decisions involving the PROCESS of travel are flawed. We have a serious entitlement problem. Half of us don't think we're entitled to anything when we travel. And the rest of us think we deserve EVERYTHING.
Result: A nation of unhappy, but addicted travelers.
So, what do we REALLY want when we travel?
Chances are, if you've traveled lately, you now have a list. You may not have written it down or committed it to memory, but you've got it-your list of all the ways a trip can be ruined.
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