Latest / The Frommer's Travel Show / Peter Greenberg Discusses Maine, Tahiti, and Flying Today

Transcript

Peter Greenberg Discusses Maine, Tahiti, and Flying Today · The Frommer's Travel Show

0:15
And welcome to the Fromer Travel Show.
0:17
I'm your host, Pauline Fromer.
0:19
Today's show is going to be an exciting one because Mr.
0:23
Travel himself, Peter Greenberg, you know him, you love him, he is our guest.
0:29
He, he's all over the airwaves.
0:32
And his new ish series, which takes you to hidden sides of destinations, is particularly intriguing.
0:42
So we're going to discuss that.
0:44
We're also going to discuss some airline foibles that I want to bring to his attention.
0:51
And I'm sure Peter will surprise me.
0:53
So I don't really know what we're going to discuss because Peter always surprises me.
0:59
Hey, Peter.
1:00
Welcome to the Fromer Travel Show.
1:02
Well, thank you, Madam P.
1:05
So tell me, what is on the horizon in terms of your hidden destination shows and where can people watch them first?
1:16
Well, they can watch them on PBS and then, Interestingly enough, about 35 days after they first premiere on public television, they're also available on Amazon, on Apple TV and on YouTube.
1:28
So it's a, it's a rather wide distribution.
1:30
We're happy for that.
1:31
And they stay on for like three years, so people get a chance to, to bank them or watch them whenever they want to watch them.
1:36
Wow.
1:37
Okay, so I know that your first one coming up this fall will be Hidden Maine.
1:43
And I'm hoping you're hiding an affordable hotel there because air hotels have gotten so outrageously expensive in Maine.
1:54
Let me back to the actual concept of the show itself, which is.
1:57
Okay, sure.
1:58
The concept of the Hidden show is this.
2:00
No gift shop, no tour bus, no brochure, no guidebook, all due Respect, sure.
2:07
No TripAdvisor stickers.
2:09
Instead, we give you, and I take you to the most extraordinary but unknown or little known experiences in a destination where each of them is actually accessible to you.
2:22
So, you know, for example, if I were doing Hidden Paris, the last thing you'd expect me to show you is the Eiffel Tower.
2:29
However, what if I know the guy who goes in there at 8 o' clock at night every night and lights it up and I get to go in there with him and so do you.
2:36
That's Hidden Paris.
2:38
So lots of surprises there.
2:40
Oh, very cool.
2:41
Okay, so what will be the most surprising hidden thing in Maine?
2:46
Well, there are so many of them.
2:48
Because if you take a look at the actual landscape of Maine, the geographic footprint of Maine, it's mostly unpopulated.
2:55
And so you have opportunities to discover stuff all the time, whether it's whitewater rapids in Maine, whether it's one of the oldest pipe Organs in the United States that happens to still operate with.
3:10
There's only one person knows how to play it and he plays it every night.
3:15
And of course, when you think Maine, of course you think, what?
3:18
Lobster?
3:19
Everybody wants to have lobster.
3:21
Well, guess what?
3:22
We don't talk about lobster in hidden Maine.
3:24
We talk about another thing that they're doing there in the harbor in Portland.
3:29
They're doing mussels.
3:31
And they're doing mussels in a different way.
3:32
And it's phenomenal.
3:34
When you say doing, you mean fishing for them or farming them.
3:39
What does that mean?
3:40
Oh, farming.
3:41
And they're doing it in a sustainable way and which is always pleasant to see because in Maine, you know, the water is so incredibly clear.
3:50
We love it.
3:52
It's also incredibly cold.
3:54
And.
3:55
And so you have to be prepared for that.
3:56
But you know what?
3:58
The folks who live there love it no matter what.
4:01
And in fact, when we did the show, we didn't just go by boat, we went by seaplane.
4:07
Because some places are only accessible by seaplane when you're landing on secluded lakes that have no road access, you know, or if you're going to go in there, you're talking about a 12 hour hike so you can actually
4:20
fly in by seaplane.
4:21
And we're not talking about major developments, we're not talking about high rises, we're not talking about resorts.
4:28
We're talking about great campsites and old lodges and old, know, lumbering.
4:33
You know, Maine used to be a big center for lumber and, and for.
4:37
And for logging.
4:38
Not anymore, but the rivers that they use for the logging are now whitewater rapids.
4:45
And it's just amazing, huh?
4:47
And this is a place where they're not having problems with low water because I know in many whitewater rafting destinations, climate change is affecting the sport.
4:58
Yes.
4:59
And I would be remiss if I said no, because the point is they're all affected by it.
5:04
But the folks who know, know when to go and the folks who know go where, know where to go.
5:09
And it's interesting to see how they transformed, which was only a river used by loggers now into a recreational opportunity.
5:17
And it's great.
5:20
Well, I want to go back to the part of Maine that you had to fly into because there are no roads.
5:26
For so many of us, we go to Maine and it feels like it's.
5:29
Everything is free.
5:30
You know, all of these shop after shop after shop, outlet after outlet.
5:36
Was this Katahdin woods or where were you where it was so remote?
5:41
That was part of it.
5:42
But it also bordered on Acadia national park, too.
5:45
And, you know, you mentioned Freeport.
5:47
I do have my addiction to L.L.
5:49
Bean, I have to tell you.
5:50
But.
5:51
But forgetting that, literally, if you take out the map and you look at where these seaplanes are going, it's funny because when you talk to the pilots and, you know, they're not flying with gps, they're not flying with
6:06
compass, they're just following the water.
6:10
You know, the joke is, do you say, hey, are you flying ifr?
6:16
Which usually stands for Instrument Flight rules.
6:18
They go, yeah, I fly ifr.
6:20
I follow the river.
6:23
Wow.
6:24
And, you know, and the guy who flies the plane, his father flew it before him, and his father flew it before he did.
6:30
And so it's.
6:31
The generational aspects of Maine in terms of storytelling and in terms of preserving that culture, should never be, you know, underestimated.
6:42
Yeah.
6:43
Many years ago, I went to a resort in Maine where you stayed in a little hut that looked like it should be used for a summer camp.
6:52
There were no locks on the doors, everybody ate communally, and you could take sailing lessons and arts and crafts.
7:00
I went with my daughter.
7:01
It was one of the best vacations we ever took.
7:03
But so many of those places are now disappearing, sadly.
7:07
Yeah, but the ones that we went to, happily or not.
7:10
And there's another aspect to Maine that people forget.
7:13
You know, the Native American impact.
7:17
Oh, sure.
7:18
The Indian impact.
7:19
And what they've done in terms of preserving their culture and their craftsmanship and their own love affair with nature is quite amazing.
7:31
And again, every one of the pieces that we do if we're successful is about storytelling.
7:37
And that's exactly what we do in this story, because everybody has a story to tell about Maine.
7:43
Sure.
7:43
Well, let's talk about another place that you will be profiling in the show.
7:48
The island group of Tahiti.
7:50
Do you go to all the different islands or how was that set up?
7:55
Well, let me put that in some geographic context.
7:57
It would be impossible for me to go to all the islands, because if you take a look at the content, the continent of Europe, and just look at the map and carve that out and move it over to
8:07
the South Pacific and plop it in the water.
8:10
The islands of Tahiti are bigger.
8:13
Wow.
8:14
More, more, more space.
8:16
You, you know, you have.
8:17
It's not just the island of Tahiti, which most people know because they land in Papeete, but it's the gap year islands.
8:23
It's the Tuamoto, it's the Marquesas, which we love, and the Austral Islands.
8:29
And we spent a lot of time both in Tahiti and then going out to the Marquesas.
8:36
The Marquesas, it's another world.
8:39
And it's a cliche for me to say time stands still, because it doesn't.
8:46
They have WI fi there, I won't kid you.
8:48
But the point is most of the people don't even need it and they don't want it because they're operating at a pace that we only wish we had, which is much slower, more contemplative and at peace with themselves.
9:04
And we were going to different islands that had.
9:07
Every island, by the way, of course, has a different story about how they got there.
9:12
One of the islands we went to, it was Tetiaroa.
9:15
Now Tetiaroa, if everybody remembers the movie with Marlon Brando, Mutiny on the Bounty, he discovered Tetiaroa when they were making the movie.
9:26
And what Tetiaroa is, is really 11 islands.
9:30
It's, it's a, it's its own little archipelago.
9:33
And back in the 60s, you're going to get crazy when you hear this.
9:37
Marlon Brando fell so much in love with that archipelago.
9:41
He bought it for the sum.
9:43
We're talking about 11 islands.
9:45
He bought it for the sum of $261,000.
9:50
Oh, wow.
9:52
Century.
9:52
My goodness.
9:53
But he was quite, not only enamored with the islands, but wanted to protect them.
9:58
And so that purchase price came with his own caveat.
10:02
Not the seller's caveat, the buyer's caveat that only one island could he ever really developed.
10:08
The others had to be protected and not touched.
10:11
And the island that he developed was, was Tetiro, which is now where they have a beautiful resort called the Brando, named after him, of course.
10:20
But not just any resort.
10:22
This is its own ecosystem award.
10:27
He made all.
10:27
He also said before he died that.
10:30
And he, and he turned it over to an amazing guy named Richard Bailey, who also lives in Tahiti and decided to honor Brando's request to the letter.
10:40
And that is.
10:42
This is a luxury five star resort.
10:44
No doubt about it.
10:45
You'd find it in every major magazine, you know, the glossy photos.
10:49
But there's an interesting caveat.
10:51
It's off the grid.
10:53
No fossil fuels, no electricity is generated there the way you think it is.
11:00
They grow their own food, they're totally self sustaining.
11:04
They have, and, and listen to this.
11:09
We're talking, when I say no electricity, they have their own air conditioning.
11:12
How'd that happen?
11:14
Well, they pioneered it.
11:17
They took a pipe, they went out about two miles, maybe Even three miles.
11:22
And then about two miles deep in the water with a water temperature was about 34 degrees.
11:29
And they figured out the physics to get that water through pipes back to the island.
11:35
And guess what?
11:38
Every place is air conditioned.
11:40
There's no fossil fuel being consumed, there's no electric grid that you would be aware of.
11:45
They do all their own composting.
11:47
I mean, it is quite an amazing operation.
11:50
I mean, you want to get around there, you have a bicycle, you want to go on a boat, they'll take you.
11:57
How many rooms?
11:58
I mean, how many people can go there?
12:01
I think Brando has about maybe 20.
12:03
Rooms, but they're pretty small.
12:05
They're 20 villas.
12:08
And look, you're a writer, I'm a writer.
12:11
This is where we dream of going to complete our writing assignment because you're at peace with yourself.
12:17
In fact, you know who went there to write his book and spent a month there?
12:22
President Obama.
12:24
Wow.
12:24
Lucky him.
12:25
Oh, lucky him.
12:27
And, and of course, Five Star Chef.
12:30
They're doing a great amount, but of course, all locally sustainable food as well.
12:34
I've never seen a self contained operation that was disrespectful of the environment anywhere I've ever traveled.
12:41
Interesting.
12:42
And the other islands, are there, are there people on them or are they totally natural?
12:48
Oh, no, you have a lot of uninhabited swell islands.
12:51
But of the islands I' mentioned, the Gambier and the Marquesas and the Astral and the Tsuamoto.
12:57
Oh, yeah, of course, I meant the other islands that Brando bought in that archipelago.
13:04
You can go visit them as a guest.
13:06
But there's nobody living there.
13:08
It's free for the flora and the fauna and it's just absolutely beautiful.
13:14
No, it's great hearing you talk about Tahiti and the nature of it, because many years ago, I was about 15, my father and I went to Tahiti.
13:25
We took a rowboat, which for my father was crazy because he knew nothing about nature, knew nothing about rowing.
13:34
And we took this rowboat out past the beach and we got stuck on a reef and we kept waving to shore yelling, help us, help us.
13:44
And people kept waving back.
13:47
We were stuck out there for nearly four hours.
13:50
Got the worst sunburn of my life.
13:52
Ah, but you and dad bonded.
13:54
Dad and I bonded, Yep.
13:56
I will never.
13:57
I never trusted him again with anything natural.
14:01
But we finally got rescued and I will.
14:05
I just fell in love with Tahiti.
14:07
Despite that, just the beauty of it is so intense.
14:11
We were on Moorea.
14:12
Oh, sure, we know Morea very well.
14:14
You know, when I first Went to Tahiti.
14:16
It was back in 1981.
14:18
And when I landed in Papeete, there was an old freighter called the Taporo 4.
14:23
And if you wanted to see Tahiti, meaning the islands, you'd wait until 6:00 clock at night and you'd board the Toporo.
14:31
It was an Inter island freighter, very small ship, and they, they navigated with a Southern Cross.
14:38
And at night you're, you're at sea and in the morning you hit Mo' Orea and Taha and Bora Bora and, you know, all those great islands.
14:48
But the cool thing about that crossing is what's on that ship.
14:52
Everything that islanders need.
14:53
Everything from a jeep to refrigerators to old tires.
14:57
And who's on the deck?
14:59
Everybody going home, playing their ukuleles and singing.
15:03
And it was just out of central casting.
15:05
It was just amazing.
15:06
And today that ship is long since gone, but there's another ship there that's doing the exact same route and they do a great job.
15:15
And can regular visitors use that ship to get around?
15:20
Absolutely.
15:20
In fact.
15:21
Oh, yeah, I highly recommend it.
15:23
And speaking of ships, you know, you're not going to have an island group like that without cruise ships coming in.
15:29
But there's one cruise ship that's there that has an interesting history because they don't just come in and leave, they've never left.
15:37
It's the Paul Gauguin, appropriately named ship.
15:39
And when they built it back In France, back 30 years ago, they purposely built it for Tahiti and the Society Islands.
15:49
And the reason why they did that was they made it a very wide beam and a very shallow draft.
15:55
So as opposed to what happened with you and your dad, they cannot damage the reef.
16:00
They're not going to run aground because they have to navigate through very narrow passageways where the, where the depth of the water may only be, you know, nine feet, eight feet.
16:10
And they, and they, they do it very, very well.
16:13
You know, they have local islanders, they're named Goguines, and they're on the ship as crew, but also as storytellers.
16:25
So that every time that ship comes into one of the island groups, it's the Goguines who take you off the ship and show you their villages and where they grew up.
16:35
It's really.
16:36
When we did our show there, one of the Gogins in the Marquesas, by the way, took me diving and.
16:44
Unbelievable.
16:45
It was, it was out of a, you know, a Brook Shields movie, you know.
16:52
Right.
16:53
If you remember, they.
16:54
And they shot that movie Fiji, not Tahiti, but same Idea.
16:59
We have the Paul Gauguin in our book, bizarrely enough, on river cruising, because you're not river cruising, but it's the same type of experience.
17:07
It's a small boat, if I remember.
17:10
Everything is all inclusive.
17:12
It just has maybe, I don't know, 30 cabins, 20 cabins.
17:17
I'm not sure how many.
17:18
They can have as many as a couple hundred passengers.
17:21
It's a cruise ship, but not in the traditional way.
17:27
They're not showing up at 8 in the morning and leaving at 4 in the afternoon.
17:29
They're not putting people on 55 passenger buses.
17:32
It's a different kind of immersion and storytelling on the ship.
17:37
But the cool thing is, it's also interesting to note that they perform a very interesting service on this ship for all the islanders.
17:47
And that is the ship's doctor realizes that when they get to these islands, they may have a clinic there, but they don't have the medical facilities that the cruise ship does.
17:57
And so they offer this to all the islanders that if they're having a problem, their doctor will come and consult with a local clinic guy.
18:05
And if they need to be treated, they're treated on the ship.
18:08
Wow.
18:09
Because they have the.
18:10
They have the facilities to do it.
18:12
And they've helped dozens and dozens of islanders.
18:16
Which, by the way, is great for the islanders and it's great for the community.
18:20
Sure.
18:20
And again, more storytelling, you know.
18:23
Yeah, yeah, no, it sounds wonderful.
18:26
So once again, this will be hidden Tahiti, Hidden Maine.
18:31
You can watch it on pbs.
18:33
I often see you reporting on current events on what's happening at our nation's airports.
18:40
And so I wanted to bring something up to you to get your take on why this keeps happening to me.
18:47
Whether this is actually a trend or if it just is happenstance.
18:53
For some reason, I'm always in group six when I have to board.
18:57
So the second to last group, maybe because I buy the cheapest tickets I can and I always have a carry on bag.
19:06
But on the last three flights, well before they would have known how filled the overhead compartments were, it was announced.
19:16
Group six, sorry, you have to check your bag.
19:20
Why is this?
19:21
It's driving me nuts because I get on the airplane and there are all of these empty spaces.
19:26
Well, I'll tell you the real reason.
19:28
First of all, if you're not in the first four boarding groups, you're a member of the witness relocation program.
19:36
Because there are some airlines that have as many as nine boarding groups and that's after they board people with disabilities and military.
19:43
So it's really?
19:44
Eleven boarding groups?
19:45
Sometimes.
19:46
Sure.
19:46
And the reason why somebody wants to be in the first boarding group, it's only because they want bin space.
19:52
They want to hog the bin space.
19:54
Everyone's going on first and put their bags away.
19:57
And in many cases, I've seen on jetways up to 53 bags sitting there that have to be gate checked because they literally couldn't fit it on the plane, and that delays the departure by 20 minutes.
20:10
And that thing gets delayed every.
20:12
Every leg.
20:13
It makes.
20:14
So the reason why they're doing those preemptive announcements when you're boarding is they don't want to have to gate check anything late, they want to gate check it early because it just from an operational reliability point of view,
20:26
it really hurts their schedule.
20:28
I see.
20:29
Okay, interesting.
20:30
So what's.
20:31
I'm not going to pay more from a damn seat.
20:33
So what's the strategy?
20:35
Do I take off the little tag and sneak it on, or is that going to get me banned from the airline?
20:42
You know what if they say they have to gate check your bag and they give you that little yellow or red tag?
20:46
Nobody's going to see you if you take it off on the way down the jetway.
20:50
Nobody.
20:50
Right.
20:50
Okay.
20:51
And then just walk on the plane.
20:54
And you know what?
20:55
If you're in RO.
20:56
If you're in group boarding group 6, I have no idea where you're sitting, Pauline.
20:59
But if you're in boarding group six, at that point in the boarding process, any open bin space, shove it in.
21:05
You'll get it at the end of the flight.
21:07
I mean, don't even.
21:07
It doesn't have to be over your head.
21:09
You.
21:09
It just has to be above your head somewhere on the plane.
21:12
No, I'm in the back.
21:13
Bumpiest part.
21:14
You know, I'm not in the middle usually.
21:16
I'm usually on the aisle.
21:17
But, you know, I'm a cheapskate, so.
21:20
Well, you know what?
21:21
I.
21:22
There's nothing wrong with being a cheapskate when you realize what you're not getting on an airplane flight these days.
21:26
You know, I grew up when I went to college and I was flying around for my college newspaper.
21:32
I learned early and often how to sleep on the tray table in the center seat with my headphones on.
21:38
And that's how I did it.
21:40
Because, look, we just came back from a shoot that we did in Africa.
21:44
Do you know what the coach ticket was?
21:46
The coach ticket from Atlanta, Johannesburg.
21:50
What do you think?
21:50
I'm gonna guess $1500, $1600.
21:55
Close to 3000 what do you think?
21:58
Wait, what do you think the business class ticket was?
22:02
20,000, 17,000.
22:05
And in my estimation, that's not a ticket.
22:07
That's a Toyota.
22:09
Right.
22:10
And you know what?
22:11
I don't care how good the food is on the plane or how many Biscoff cookies they give me.
22:15
I'm sorry, I can't justify that.
22:17
And, you know, maybe I have to go through orthopedic surgery after I land, but you'll find me in the back of the plane because it just.
22:25
You can't justify that anymore.
22:27
You just can't.
22:28
Well, was the price so high because we're in a crisis right now because there's not enough fuel?
22:34
Oh, no, no, no, no.
22:35
The price is so high because, believe it or not, the stock market is so artificially inflated that people are not flinching about the price of their tickets, especially in the premium cabins.
22:46
They're filling them.
22:48
They're filling them so much that Delta Airlines is now reconfiguring their new planes to hold how many seats in first class?
22:56
44.
22:58
You and I grew up when there might be 8 to 12, not 44.
23:03
What does that tell you?
23:03
They're generating revenue they've never expected, but they love to get it.
23:07
And so, for the moment, at least, in the short term, they're filling those seats.
23:12
I gotta wonder at those.
23:13
Do you think that's sustainable?
23:15
I gotta wonder about that.
23:17
Of course it's not.
23:18
You have one major correction in the stock market, and there'll be a lot of free upgrades in first class because the paid tickets are going to go away for a while.
23:26
People can do it now because they're flush with cash at the premium level.
23:30
Same thing with hotels getting two and $3,000 a night for a single room.
23:34
I'm sorry, it ain't going to work for me.
23:37
But a lot of people are doing it.
23:39
They want to do it.
23:40
And for the moment, the airlines, at least in that situation, are shrinking the number of coat seats on planes, increasing the number of business and first class seats, and then selling the upgrades.
23:51
You know, part of the perks of being a frequent flyer is maybe getting an upgrade.
23:56
What they're doing now is the day before your flight, they're going to everybody on the plane and send them an email saying, hey, for $36, would you like to sit in business class?
24:05
So they're filling business class with people who may only fly once a year, who don't care about miles and points, but the people who have worked that hard to get to that point of Status where they think they're
24:15
somewhat entitled.
24:16
They're not getting anything.
24:18
We've reached an inflection point of loyalty.
24:20
And we've reached an inspection, an inflection point of spend and get ready.
24:25
People are angry.
24:26
Well, my colleague Jason Cochran very briefly just wrote an article the other day.
24:31
He thinks Delta's new basic business class tickets are going to totally screw all the loyalty members.
24:38
He thinks it'll mean they already have.
24:41
Look, I like to say friends don't let friends fly basic economy.
24:45
Well, what about basic business?
24:48
You know what it means?
24:49
It means, you know, you have no seat selection, you're limited in terms of bags, you're limited in terms of the frequent flyer miles you'll get that maybe you'll never be able to redeem anyway.
25:00
And, and so, and if you bought.
25:03
That seat with frequent flyer miles and, and you for some reason can't travel, you've lost those frequent flyer miles because it's a non refundable ticket.
25:13
Correct.
25:14
They, they're making.
25:15
Look, the idea of flying with status today is defined differently now.
25:21
It's about mitigation of pain because you know, oh, it's not as bad or it's not as worse or it's not as terrible as opposed to it's pretty good.
25:31
Completely different definition.
25:32
And it's sad because in the airline's obsessive pursuit of additional generation of revenue, they're losing their most loyal customers.
25:41
I agree.
25:42
And on that unhappy note, I'm going to say thank you so much, Peter.
25:47
It's always such a education speaking with you.
25:51
You got it, Pauline.
25:53
And that is it for this week's show.
25:54
I thank you so much for listening.
25:56
And to those who are traveling, may I wish you a hearty bon voyage.
26:04
Sour candy on the table Lazy afternoons in your sweatpants Watching cable well it feels so far away all the channels seem the same Trying to remember all the stuff songs we like to play Cuz those lazy afternoons don't
26:32
come so frequently these days oh it's been so long and I cannot help but wonder Are you ever coming home?
26:46
I like you with your sour candy in the boat house on the lake oh but I hate, I hate, I hate, hate I hate, I hate, I hate the way it takes.
27:09
I can't get you off of my mind Looking out the window where we spent so much of our time Cause I miss the way it moved But I guess you can't control those damn cards with Babe I know
27:31
that both of us are Ask me when we're free but would it be so hard to find your freedom here with me oh, it's been so long and I cannot help but wonder Are you ever coming home?
27:50
I like you with your sour candy in the boat house on the lake But I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate the way it tastes and I I hate the way it tastes But
28:21
I love it all the same and I.
28:29
Hate the way it tastes But I love it all the same Sa.
30:00
Oh, I know it's been, it's been, it's been, it's been so long and I cannot help but wonder Are you ever coming home?
30:11
I like you with your sour candy in the boathouse on the lake But I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate the way it tastes it's been, it's been so long and I
30:27
cannot help but wonder Are you ever coming home?
30:32
When I see you with this sour candy don't want it any other way oh, I just hate, I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate, I hate the way it tastes.