Where in the World
Although it was Matt making his trek around the world this week, the
stories and pictures from every corner of the globe made an impression on all of us. Many of you even felt like you were on the trip with him. Here are some of your e-mails:
Matt,
Just want to tell you that every year I really look forward to this Where in the World is Matt Lauer week. I feel like I'm taking my own personal vacation thru your trips. For most people, these destinations will never happen to us, so it's so much fun to see parts of the world that we would never be able to do ourselves. So, thank you so much for this week of brutal miles and hours that you put in. We do so appreciate it. Please don't ever quit doing this part of The Today Show.
Cathy Howell (Decatur, IL)
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(From Sean Reis, TODAY Producer)
For almost every segment on the Today Show, there are notes written. Sometimes lengthy, sometimes not. They can be background about a story, or a rundown of how the segment's been planned to go. Sometimes, in the case of the Where in The World, they can be quick notes about things Matt's going to encounter. This is one of those notes, about my first trip to Cape Point, the Cape of Good Hope, otherwise known as Baboon Country.
"We're in Baboon Country"
With apologies to Hunter S. Thompson, Matt, you're in Baboon country. It's about the wildest thing maybe I've ever seen. There are Chacma Baboons (I think they are commonly referred to as Red Assed Baboons for reasons that are pretty obvious) all over the place. You see them around the parking lot where we are doing the live shot. I'm not kidding.
We went down to do the survey. There are busloads of tourists. There's a little snack place. I went in to buy a soda and a sandwich. The nice lady behind the counter offered this ominous advice "if you're going to walk through the parking lot, hide your sandwich under your jacket."
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(By Tiki Barber, TODAY national correspondent)
Having watched “Where in the World is Matt Lauer” over that last four or five years, I was already a big fan of Matt’s experiences around the globe before joining TODAY. Now, I was given the opportunity to be a part of the series when I was sent on assignment to Cape, Town, South Africa.
Matt has the hard job—spending less than a day in a location, delivering his stories, then getting on a plane to fly thousands of miles to the next place, only to do it again, five days in a row. I had the easy job—swimming with great white sharks! WATCH VIDEO
Let me back up for one minute, getting to South Africa is not an easy task… especially when you miss you connection at Heathrow Airport in London, lose your bags (see Sean Reis’ blog on buying me underwear, a must read), have a 10 hour unplanned layover, which makes an already long 19 hour journey, into 36 hours. And forget about adjusting to jetlag; I was on my way to Shark Alley at 6:45 a.m. the next morning.
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(From Sean Reis, TODAY Producer)
I bought Tiki Barber underwear. They were green, and blue, and white, and had the word BEAR in the waistband. They are more of the boxer brief variety. Snug. He likes them. As 
Dave Barry would say, "I am not making this up." I'm just going to come out and admit it. If you work at the TODAY Show, and are subjected to a task like this, you're really never going to hear the end of it. I'm going to be known as Tiki's Personal Shopper, whether I like it or not. So I might as well set the record straight. But I've really started this story in the middle.
Tiki missed his connection in London, and his bags went to another part of Europe (we think). I got the phone call over dinner with my mother (did I mention she came all this way?). He had missed his connection because of a delay in New York, which happens in the least wind and rain. Ordinarily, even under the most direct route, it takes about 19 hours to get here from the East Coast. His arrival was going to be delayed by more than 12 hours. His bags weren't going to make till the next day, if then.
Here he was, a man traveling six time zones, two continents, and he did not have so much as clean socks. The morning after he arrived I had to produce a shoot, where, um, I had to stick him in a cage in the ocean, and Great White Sharks were going to come by. WATCH VIDEO He needed new clothes (underwear could be important for this story). He was going to hit the town after the stores were closed, so it was up to me.
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After writing in to allDAY about following Matt on his "Where in the World" adventures, Tamara Williams' third, fourth and fifth grade reading classes appeared on TODAY to ask Matt their questions.
When you post on the blog, you never know...we may be contacting you next!
Matt and Natalie swap stories about skiing in Dubai and about his golfing on the helipad. WATCH VIDEO
One more chance to give it your best guess. Tell us where you think Matt will be on the last day of his trip.
If you think you know the country, use your cell phone to text the answer to 46833. Watch the show tomorrow. Matt just may return your call from tomorrow's location.
Note: Standard text messaging rates apply.
Here's the clue for tomorrow:
"To the West, it is 10 degrees colder. To the East, there is warmth in the air. To the North, there's a seat at the table. To the South, there's a formal affair."
(From Mark Atterbury, Director Flight Standards and Safety, NetJets Large Aircraft Co.)
My name is Mark Atterbury and I am one of Matt’s pilots on this year’s tour. This is my second assignment on "Where in the World." Last year I flew the legs from Innsbruck, Austria, to Shanghai and Shanghai to Helsinki, Finland.
Innsbruck is classified as a “special airport” meaning that the aircrew must undergo specialized training and be specially certified to operate into and out of the field. About two weeks prior to last years trip, my crew and I underwent training in the simulator to qualify for this tricky approach, landing and departure.
This years “special” destination makes getting into and out of Innsbruck seem like a walk in the park. The skill set required to get Matt and his team safely to Wednesday's destination are more closely linked to a tactical military operation combined with crop dusting.
About six weeks ago I traveled half way around the world to meet the chief pilot of the tiny airline that serves this community. I rode in the cockpit of one of their planes while he showed me the nuances of the arrivals and departures. I then spent two days in a four-wheel drive vehicle driving around the area to get a good “lay of the land.” About a week later my co-captain and I traveled to a military base in northern England where British Aerospace operates the only flight simulator in the world with an accurate visual model of our target airport. NBC wanted to accompany us to film the training but the Royal Air Force denied them access to the base. My flying partner, Jim Lucore, and I spent four hours being instructed by a retired RAF pilot who had been into our field many times.
In the meantime, back at my companies headquarters, a team that included our chief pilot, Rick Weeks, and our performance engineer, Pat Chiles, were busy gathering as much information as they could and crunching numbers to be sure that we could operate safely into and out of this airport under any conceivable conditions. Armed with these numbers, we went to our own simulator and validated what we had on paper.
If you saw today's show, you know we made it Bhutan, no problems!
Matt takes you inside the plane, as a Bhutanese pilot helps the crew navigate through the Himalayan Mountains on their way to the Kingdom of Bhutan. WATCH VIDEO
UPDATE: If you want to learn more about the flight to Bhutan, check out pilot Mark Atterbury's blog.
(By Kerry Sanders, NBC News Correspondent)
Paro, Bhutan—Pant. Pant. Gasp. Gasp.
I’m breathless, and so is everyone around me, tourists that is.
It’s not just the spectacular view that’s stolen our breath: It’s the steep hike at this altitude.
The Bhutanese are used to this thin air, and thankfully they’re politely not laughing at us. The climb to Tigers Nest is a challenge, especially for a flat-lander who lives at sea level like I do. This Buddhist monastery sits at 11,000 feet. The only way to get here is a long, narrow, well worn, mostly dirt path. The hike up begins at around 8500 feet.
If there is one must-stop for every tourist who comes to Bhutan, Tigers Nest is it. But iIf you’re coming here, consider yourself in rare company: last year (2006) only 18,000 tourists were given visas to travel to Bhutan.
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