Barnett on Business Travel

Just reading travel journalist Peter Greenberg's itinerary for one week gives me jet lag and the willies, making me think I would lose something important along the way — like my sanity.

In a little over a week, Greenberg flew from Los Angeles to Shanghai, back to L.A., took a red-eye to Washington D.C., flew to Cancun, Mexico, back to New York for four days, drove to funky Fire Island north of Manhattan for the weekend where he was on duty as a volunteer fireman, down to D.C., then Sao Paolo, and back to New York.

The week before or after — who can remember, except his Blackberry? — he was in Wales, Oslo, the Bahamas, Kansas City, West Palm Beach, Indianapolis and L.A.

The question is why? Certainly not for the airline food. Though he flies first class or business class, Greenberg is on a diet, trying to shed 70 pounds by not eating red meat, among other things. On the 14-hour flight to Shanghai, he claims he had two bowls of soup and blended up a protein shake in his hotel room.

I believe it. At a recent bacchanalian feast at the Campton Place Hotel in San Francisco, he had a scant three bowls of soup — I counted — no dessert, wines or cocktails. Greenberg doesn't drink. He says he has dropped 41 pounds.

And with 8 million miles in his American Airlines AAdvantage frequent-flyer account, 3 million miles banked in United's Mileage Plus program, and 400,000 points with Starwood Hotels, he's not whipping around the world for another toaster or an upgrade.

Greenberg virtually lives on airplanes and in hotel rooms because he's reporting and shooting travel segments, breaking news, insider tips, and occasional investigative hour-long features for CNBC, MSNBC and CNN. He was the "travel editor" for NBC's "Today Show" for 13 years, but was sacked along with more than a dozen contributors, producers and editors when General Electric slashed news budgets earlier this year. A former Newsweek correspondent, he's one of the few travel journalists at ease in both print and broadcast news. (Rudy Maxa and Chris McGuinness are two more who come to mind).

Greenberg isn't exactly a foreign correspondent ducking bullets and shoes while probing swank hotels and antique airplanes.

He also travels nonstop to give well-paid speeches, broadcast a weekly two-hour radio show, and promotes Travel Detective guidebooks. The latest: "Tough Times, Great Travels" on "hidden deals and unexpected bargains."

Yet this column is not a valentine to Greenberg or his official bio, though it's beginning to sound that way. I'm simply amazed how he keeps up an exhausting schedule that would be the death of most humans — especially today when just getting from Santa Fe, N.M., to Schenectady, N.Y., is a daylong grind in tiny seats on tiny planes and maybe two or three airport connections.

For starters, Greenberg can sleep on a plane. His contract for speeches includes the clause that he rides first class or business class. Making it easier for hime, most large U.S. and foreign airlines have flat beds. He grabs a blanket and pillow and is out before "wheels-up" — without the assistance of a stiff drink or a sleeping pill.

"I've just mastered the art of the power nap, 15 to 20 minutes, and I do it four or five times a day, in a taxi, at a hotel, before a meeting," he said. "I just tell my hosts I'm not being rude. It's what I need to do."

He does the same thing — sleeps — on cramped economy-class airlines or, worse yet, 39-seat regional jets.

In sprawling U.S. cities, Greenberg usually rents a car from Hertz, but he always gets it with a GPS device so he doesn't have pull over and scrutinize a map. Or try to read it while he's in the fast line.

Greenberg dines lustily on price and service rip-offs. EasyJet, Ryanair and EasyJet are his nominees for the three worst airlines flying and for a laundry list of reasons — mostly outrageously bad in-flight and on-time service, come-ons and fees. A huge gripe: excess baggage charges that force a passenger with 20-20 vision to haul out a magnifying glass to read the fine print.

He also bares secrets and trumpets great deals. Check all the airlines for shockingly inexpensive transcontinental flights as low as $109 one way. Spend the money and save your frequent flyer miles, he said.

The stealth airline unknown to all but the savviest business travelers? Greenberg says Private Air with flights from the German cities of Dusseldorf, Munich and Zurich to the U.S. is "nothing short of phenomenal."

Chris Barnett writes on business travel strategies that save time, money and stress. Reach him at cbarn@aol.com. To find out more about Chris Barnett and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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