By Rachel Belle

Listen to Feature: Travel & Travel Writing Advice From Guru Peter Greenberg

This is the time of year when the gray and the rain of Seattle suddenly becomes too much, and I start to dream about vacation.

CBS travel editor and travel talk show host Peter Greenberg has been to 151 of the existing 196 countries, and the makers of the movie Up in the Air consulted him for George Clooney’s character. I figured he knows what he’s talking about.

“The hottest place going right now is Cuba. Don’t kid yourself, anyone can go right now. There are over 300 scheduled, nonstop, round-trip flights a month out of Miami. You can also fly out of Atlanta or Fort Lauderdale. You know the old sayings, AD or BC, I have a new one, BKFC: Go to Cuba before Kentucky Fried Chicken gets there.”

He sends wine lovers down to Argentina.

“You go to Mendoza, in western Argentina, they have over 880 wineries in Mendoza that makes Napa Valley look like Ding Dong School. I’m not kidding, Napa is overrated. Get to Argentina.”

And if your passport collects stamps based on your palette.

“You know I’m going to pick Thailand. Unbelievable food. You can’t find a bad restaurant in town, and I include eating on the streets to that. Nothing beats getting on the khlongs at 4:30 a.m., going to the local floating markets, and having pad Thai and mi krop cooked right at your boat. It’s cool.”

If you don’t have a passport, get ready to get scolded by Peter.

“Only about 32 percent of Americans even have a passport. That is disgusting! If you don’t have a passport, I’m coming to your house and slapping you because you have denied yourself an unbelievable opportunity. Everybody talks about luxury travel, let me tell you what luxury really is: It’s when you have options. If you don’t have a passport, you have no options! What’s even worse – how many members of the United States Senate and the United States congress have passports? That’s even worse! These are people who we are elected to make global policy and they’ve never left Kansas.”

A lot of travel lovers think the best job in the world is that of a travel writer. It turns out, it’s a whole lot of work. Greenberg basically lives on an airplane, he gets three and a half hours of sleep a night and chooses to read 35 magazines and 16 newspapers a day to keep up with the world. His advice for people who’d love to have a job like his is to specialize by focusing on women, handicapped travelers or the gay travel industry, for example. He also reminds writers to tell people what they don’t already know.

“If you want to start as a travel writer here in Seattle, think about neighborhoods. Are you living on Vashon on Queen Anne? You probably know that flower market on the corner more than anybody, or the person who sells bagels. Tell me all about the nooks and crannies that no one else knows. Don’t try and do a big piece on lovely Seattle – that’s boring. Start in the neighborhoods, start local.”

Who is Rachel Belle?