allDAY : Where in the World

Where In the World Would Meredith, Al and Ann Go?

Adam Miller — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:37:00 GMT

We're just a few weeks away from the launch of our exciting "TODAY Takes a Vacation" series when Matt, Meredith, Al and Ann will travel all over the U.S. showcasing some of the most beautiful and affordable hot-spots in America.

Travel is nothing new to our TODAY family, especially to Matt who has spent the past 9 years trekking the globe during his popular "Where in the World" series. But, maybe next year, he'll leave the suitcase at home and send Meredith instead...where would she like to go?

In this week's "Getting to Know TODAY," we ask the TODAY family: If you were to embark on "Where in the World is Matt Lauer," what would be your first choice for a destination?

Be sure to post your choices below -- maybe you'd like to land in the same city as Al or suggest an exciting American landscape for "TODAY Takes a Vacation!" Don't forget to add your ideas for future "Getting to Know TODAY" questions as well. Hopefully we'll pick yours.

As always, check the allDAY blog every Tuesday to learn the latest answers to all your burning questions about the TODAY family!

-A.M. in the A.M.

TALK BACK TODAY: What did YOU think of Where in the World?

Katharine Billman — Sat, 05 May 2007 15:00:00 GMT

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)

I truly enjoyed the series this week "Where in the World in Matt Lauer"? It's always a blast! This year's adventures were entertaining and informative. You always learn new and exciting facts when you watch this series.   I especially enjoyed the other staff members who traveled with Matt. The crew as always does a great job and it's nice when you thank the people from the behind the scenes who work so hard on research, travel arrangements, etc.   Kudos to Matt for thanking everyone this morning.
      Maybe so suggestions for next year: Visit the schools in the area and inform the public what's happening there in the schools. Talk to more of the locals in each area -it's always a fun to hear what they say!
Once again TODAY, it was a fantastic series!
MarLear

I just wanted to say that "Where in the World is Matt Lauer" is not only entertaining, but also very educational. As a faithful today show watcher, I look forward to the segments every year. I am a 37 year old mom of two who watches every morning as we get ready to start our day.
This year my five year old has taken a great interest in the show.. She has gotten up every morning this week a little early because she is afraid she will miss seening what exotic location Matt is in. She gets up singing the song, and wondering what continent he will be in.. She enjoys it so much that I have had to send her to school with sticky notes every day with the locations on them, so her Kindergarten teacher can help her find them on a map!! It is great to see her so excited about learning from footage you have shown her each morning. Thanks again for the great mornings!
-Colleen Rivers (E. Syracuse, NY)

How wonderful to be exposed to so many diverse and wonderful places through "Where in the World." However, when I see the excesses in Dubai, I see what is wrong with our planet. With the money available for such extravagance, there should not be a single hungry, homeless person in the world.
Rollie Haugen (Walker, MN)

Dear Today Show Producers,
I wanted to take a minute to thank you for your "Today Show" incredible series "Where in the World is Matt Lauer". This segment is not only fascinating being able to see places in the world that I will probably never be able to visit, but as a reminder that the people of the world really are of one race-the HUMAN race, where we all want pretty much the same things in life: A loving family, a good job, good health, and the time to enjoy and appreciate all of these things.
Again, thank you for reminding all of us that the world really is a smaller place than we often see it, and Matt Lauer is a great ambassador for all of us. As a military veteran, I have traveled the world and have seen the differences all around. I have often dreamed about how wonderful our world could be if embrace our diversity rather than try to change it. By focusing and celebrating the beauty and variety of far away lands and cultures, Matt Lauer's traveling segments remind us of what a wonderful planet we live on.
Hats off to all of you for great work!
Respectfully,
Matt Rader

Hi Ya'll.....I live for this week every year on the Today Show. Visiting your locations Matt is a passion of mine. You always take such a great inside look into every place that you have ever visited. I particularly loved the visit years ago to the aircraft carrier The USS Roosevelt as my wonderful son-in-law Alan Resmondo served on it for his six years in the Navy. I even ordered that tape for him. He died last year at the age of just 41 from cancer. Keep up the good work about educating all of us about our world.
-Marjorie Waggoner (McDonough, Georgia)

Dear Matt,
I just wanted to thank you for going to Ireland. I am in Law School at the University of Tulsa. This summer, a group of us are going over to Dublin to study law. In addition to studying, the school has already planned trips to Galway and the Cliff of Moher for us. It was great to see on TV what we can expect. Plus, even though I am 29 and married, it eased my parents and my husbands mind about Ireland. I called my husband instantly when you showed the pictures of the Cliffs Of Moher. My husband is from California and living in Oklahoma we don't get to see cliffs and mountains anymore. So he was excited that I had already put these places on the travel schedule when he comes over to visit. Thanks again Matt!!! You are awesome.
Stacy Brklacich

It's "Slante", Matt, not Cheers (pronounced sa-lan-cha) But I'll take a Guinness too !! I LOVE that you are in Ireland on one of the biggest traditional holidays, May 1st, Beltain. Thank you !! I'm an American-Irish but my heart and soul is forever in Ireland since I visited there 11 yrs ago.
-Karen Malone

What was your favorite part of this year’s travels? What would you like to see in a future “Where in the World” week? Send us your comments.

We're in Baboon Country

Jaclyn Levin — Fri, 04 May 2007 19:03:00 GMT

(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."

Huh? What? So, I did that. I left the snack shack and immediately felt pairs of searing little beady eyes upon me. I made my way to the van like I was a drug mule. Nervous, and packin'. I got in the van, and wolfed down my sandwich like it was contraband.

A short time later, the lot of us was standing at your live location talking to the Park Ranger. Some stupid tourist was walking across the parking lot towards her car, sandwich in full view, swinging backward and forward in her hand as she walked. I thought, "Could you be ANY dumber?” In about 5 seconds I saw three baboons come out of nowhere, one on point, the other two as back up. They attacked with a military precision. The attacker was on her in two seconds, slapping at the sandwich. This poor girl didn't know what the hell was going on.

I started to yell "DROP THE DAMN SANDWICH" and it was like the connection between her ears and her brain and hands was broken, but about a second and a half later after a slap on the ass by the baboon she dropped it. I've never seen a look of more complete bewilderment on a person's face.

Well, then, after those three rogue baboons got one sandwich, it was a full on baboon bonanza. There were about 6 of them now patrolling the parking lot looking for more stupid tourists with their plastic encased sandwiches. They were sitting on the roofs of cars, skulking around. When they are walking, they are about 2.5 feet of the ground, when they stand, they can approach 4 feet. None of them bared their teeth, which is how you know you're in real danger.

After all that, we got the Baboon briefing from the ranger. Here are the salient points:

If you've got something that a baboon wants, give it to them. They can kill a leopard with their bare hands. If they bare their teeth, start praying.
If they take your bag, don't worry. They are just looking for food. They will drop it, eventually. They are not interested in sunglasses or hats.
If you feed them, willingly or unwillingly, in the eyes of their community, you have just entered baboon society at the lowest possible rung.
There's a sign there that says, "If you feed the Baboons, you've signed their death warrant." Meaning, once they view humans as a source of food, that's it. They stop hunting, gathering, all that.
If they come up to you, be cool. No sudden movements. Nothing. Just stand there. I did it. It works.
There are men out there whose formal title is "Baboon Monitor," quite something for the resume. They are dressed in green, and have 3-foot long sticks. Their whole job is to chase the Baboons away from people. It's a growth industry. There will be extra monitors out there on Friday. But damn, I want to see one on live TV. I'm also going to try to get you a stick to use during your intro.

Out at Cape Point, the ranger said that there are about 280 tagged baboons in the park. They belong to 5 different families or tribes. No kidding. After the briefing, In the midst of Baboon Bonanza, when they were all going nuts, he uttered the single greatest sentence I will ever hear.

"Now, I've got to go sort out the Baboons."

Matt has the easy job; Tiki just swims with sharks

Jen Brown — Fri, 04 May 2007 14:38:00 GMT

(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.

We took a two-hour drive to the little seaside town of Gansbaai, where we were meeting Brian McFarland, who is a local shark expert. In a previous life he was an ocean diamond hunter, a wreck diver and a shark fisherman. He eventually gave all that up and came to appreciate the grace and beauty of this massive sea predator that so many fear, mainly from its depiction in the “Jaws” movies. Brian was out to show us, and any who would listen, that the great white was not as bad as we are shaped to believe. Oh yeah, and he had a cage that I was to get in to prove his point.

In actuality, I really wasn’t that scared. Brian was great at convincing us that we had nothing to fear, especially after showing us an island, Geyser Rock, directly next to Shark Alley. It is home to some 60,000 Cape Seals, and where a shark would go if it wanted to “drive through” eat.

So, into the tank I jumped, nervous, anxious, excited to see the beast. After some clever baiting (Brian has a fake seal named Gladys that attracts sharks, along with a severed and bloody tuna head), the great white appeared. I have to tell you, the grace and majesty and lightning acceleration of such a massive animal was awe-inspiring. I thought that I would be recoiled in the back of the cage, watching with wide open eyes; instead, I found myself wanting to be closer, and when a great white caught onto the bait and was thrashing wildly against our cage, I actually stuck my hand out of the cage and tried to touch its sandpaper-like skin. He moved away before I could contact him, but as I left the cage, I had a new respect for these animals. They weren’t these super aggressive man-eaters of television lore, they were curious of us and only focused on having a meal.

Even though I was only in the water for 45 minutes or so, it felt as if time evaporated. I got out and asked our producer, Sean, as Brody asks Hooper in the last scene of Jaws, “what day is this?”

The answer was Monday, but it really didn’t matter. Two weeks on the job and I’m on the ground (or in the water) running… and loving every minute of it.

I Bought Tiki Barber Underwear

Jaclyn Levin — Fri, 04 May 2007 12:28:00 GMT

(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.

On his way to Cape Town, South Africa, for "Where in the World," 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. (Video coming soon) 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.

I contact Tiki via the Blackberry saying I was going to have to buy him clothes. Please enjoy the following exchange:

-----
From: Reis, Sean
To: Barber, Tiki

Do you think you are going to need clothes?

-----
From: Barber, Tiki
To: Reis, Sean

Yes, my bag is hopelessly lost.

From: Reis, Sean
To: Barber, Tiki

Sizes please?

I will get you some pants, some shirts, and some unmentionables. Ok?

You need toiletries too?

From: Barber, Tiki
To: Reis, Sean

I have essential toiletries, so I’m good there.

Pants are tough to fit, I have a 32 waist but my thighs are generally too big for them so you'll prob need to get 34. Length 33.

Shirt: large is good.

I have tennis shoes, i'm not sure what i'll need but in case, i wear 11.5.

Hopefully, they will find my bag and get it to Capetown tomorrow.

Thanks, i appreciate you getting the stuff for me.

From: Reis, Sean
To: Barber, Tiki

Treetrunk thighs.
Got it.

Armed with that information, now I had to buy clothing for a thankful, but seemingly difficult to fit former professional athlete. It's a strange errand, but not the strangest I've ever performed in my service at the TODAY Show.

Anyhow, I was off to a local department store. Now, I think perhaps I sound a bit fussy in this posting. I'm not. I'm a 34 year old father of twin boys (Hi Charlie and Brady!), who when it comes to his own personal appearance, is a bit of a slob. I'm more prone to cargo shorts and sweatshirts, even in the posh 30 Rock offices.

A word about buying clothing overseas. Americans are BIG. I'm not sure if you're aware, but apparently, there's some kind of obesity epidemic happening in our country. Take a look around. Other countries, well, not so much. So, American sizes are actually a size up from some overseas sizes. A U-S large is actually an XL. You get the idea. So I go to the store.
I started mentally dressing Tiki, of course.

I started with the underwear. Now, I've never bought them in a foreign country. I've got my brand and my style and that's my business. I'd never find myself in a position like this on my own, trust me. But, at least in the store, the selection was limited. It would appear from this experience that South Africans are really really really big fans of the bikini brief for men. NOT the jockey. The bikini. It's referred to in some circles as "The Grape Smuggler" or "The banana Hammock". You could buy them by the dozens in this store. But I really wanted something a bit more traditional. I looked high and low and finally found "THE BEAR". They were awesome. If I was shopping for me, it's what I would have bought. Really.

After that, it was pretty much a blur, some pants, a pair of new Nikes, a Fleece (bit colder than you'd imagine in Cape Town in fall), a couple shirts, and I was done. I have to say, I'm not much of a shopper, but I did ok. It's a rather odd experience shopping for another man. Especially when you are buying things fast because the stores about to close, and the women are looking at the sizes you are buying (I'm 6'7", Tiki's 5'10" <cough cough>) and shaking their heads. I told them they were for my son.

In the end, Tiki liked the clothes, and took a little too much joy in my role as his manservant, teasingly me incessantly. Thanks Tiki. Jerk. Welcome to the Show.

allDAY posters appear on TODAY

Jen Brown — Thu, 03 May 2007 17:21:00 GMT

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's vlog: Skiing in the desert, golfing on the helipad

Jen Brown — Thu, 03 May 2007 17:06:00 GMT

Matt and Natalie swap stories about skiing in Dubai and about his golfing on the helipad. WATCH VIDEO

Give it a Shot! Where will Matt be Tomorrow?

Dana Haller — Thu, 03 May 2007 13:52:00 GMT

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."

Buckle Up - It's Gonna Be a Heck of a Ride!

Jaclyn Levin — Wed, 02 May 2007 22:37:00 GMT

(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's vlog: Prepare for landing!

Jen Brown — Wed, 02 May 2007 15:27:00 GMT

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.