Hometown: NYC

Occupation: Founder of FATHOM.

Favorite destinations: Lo Scoglio on the Amalfi Coast, a certain backyard in Sagaponack, Taprobane Island in Sri Lanka. 

Dying to visit: Chile from top to tail, New Zealand, Ecuador, Botswana, the Turkish Islands, the Canadian Rockies, the fjords of Norway (since 1990). 

Bizarre travel rituals: I pack a ridiculously compact carry-on, but don't unpack for weeks when I get home. I can't book a plane ticket until I've read the details aloud to someone else. I'm obsessed with getting a bulkhead seat (business class on a budget). 

In-flight relaxation regime: Very bad movies and 22-minute naps. 

Always in carry-on: Snacks for the journey, Blackberry, unread New Yorkers, La Pasticca del Re Sole Italian licorice. 

Concierge or DIY? DIY. But I'm amazed at how good the results can be when I let someone who knows take charge. 

See it all or take it easy? See it all, then see some more. 

Drive or be driven? Drive. Really fast.  

Travel hero: Paul Bowles and H. V. Morton wrote brilliantly about the places they'd been and had such romantic notions about history. 

Weirdest thing seen on travels: It wasn't weird, but it was magical to carry a newborn baby goat down the Atlas Mountains in Morocco.  

Best hotel amenity: Elaborate silver servingware for breakfast and tea, free wifi, oversized bathtubs, and never having to sign for anything.  

I dream about my first meals at Le Meurice, the Fat Duck, and Don Alfonso. 

Everywhere I go, I check out the supermarkets.

When I arrive in a new place, I learn the lay of the land by walking everywhere. I have a crazy internal compass and can't get lost. In Lebanon, my friends called me "the pigeon" and cooed when I walked by. 

I always bring home contraband salumi, ceramics, chili peppers, and honey or vodka for my father.     

If I never return to Dubai or Cyprus it'll be too soon because both were just awful. I had low expectations of Dubai, and it met them. I had high expectations of Cyprus, and it dashed them.

I travel for the four-hour lunches.