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Ernest White II
Ernest White II

Want to know how to travel in style, just like the pros? We check in with frequent fliers to find out how often they fly, their favorite destinations and what they never leave home without.

Name: Ernest White II

Occupation: Storyteller and Explorer

Hometown: Jacksonville, Florida

Residence: New York City

College: Florida A&M University (undergraduate); The American University (graduate)

College major: Political Science (undergraduate); Creative Writing (graduate)

Website: flybrother.net

Twitter: @FlyBrother

Facebook: Fly Brother

Instagram: flybrother

Short bio: I’m a storyteller, explorer and proponent of reasonable recklessness who has circumnavigated the globe five times. I’m also the producer and host of global reality-travel television series Fly Brother, host of the travel- and culture-focused “Fly Brother Radio Show,” and publisher of multicultural travel portal FlyBrother.net. My writing includes fiction, literary essay and travel narrative, having been featured in Time Out London, USA Today, Ebony, The Manifest-Station, Sinking City, Lakeview Journal, Matador Network, National Geographic Traveler’s Brazil, and Bradt’s Tajikistan guidebooks, and at TravelChannel.com. I’m also non-fiction editor at literary travel journal Panorama, former assistant editor at Time Out São Paulo, and founding editor of digital men’s magazine Abernathy.

How often do you fly? Monthly.

How many countries have you been to? 59

How many continents have you been to? 6

Earliest travel memory: Summertime trips to Disney World with my family.

Favorite American city: New York City.

Favorite international city: São Paulo.

I have no desire to go to: North Korea.

Friendliest people in the world: If forced to choose, I’d say Brazilians. But I’ve found incredibly friendly people everywhere.

Country with the meanest immigration officers: I’ve encountered a few douchey immigration officers in many places, but most have been decent and some even pleasant.

Favorite World Heritage Site: Maloti-Drakensberg Park, astride the border of South Africa and Lesotho.

Favorite airline: I really enjoy the service on Turkish Airlines. Strongly dislike Istanbul airport, though, bless it.

Favorite aircraft type: A380.

Aisle or window: Window.

Favorite airport lounge: Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse at Heathrow.

Favorite U.S. airport: JFK, because you can fly everywhere from there!

Favorite international airport: CPH.

Favorite island: Manhattan island.

Favorite beach: Baker Beach in San Francisco.

Favorite National Park: Bryce Canyon.

Favorite food: Anything with curry.

Least favorite food: Liver and onions.

Drink of choice (in the air and on the ground): Milchkaffee.

Favorite travel movie(s): Passing Strange.

Favorite travel show(s): Fly Brother, of course.

Favorite travel book(s): “I Wonder as I Wander” by Langston Hughes.

Right now I am reading: Just finished Shantaram. Now reading “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry.”

Top 3 favorite travel newsletters/magazines/blogs: Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel, Smithsonian Journeys, and the new Airbnbmag.

Favorite travel website(s)—besides JohnnyJet.com, of course! Certainly, followed very distantly by Atlas Obscura.

5 things you bring on a plane: Music, water, reading material, carry-on, laptop (though I hardly get to take it out on domestic flights).

What do you always seem to forget? Hats, gloves, umbrellas, sunglasses…

What do you like least about travel? The reduction in legroom in economy class.

What do you want your loved one to buy you from an airport Duty Free store? The biggest bottle of Terre d’Hermès they carry. Parfum, natch.

Favorite travel app(s): Instagram (not sure if that counts, but I’m an old, so…).

Most embarrassing travel moment: Slipping on dog poop in Havana many years ago and letting out a loud four-letter expletive (which wasn’t a synonym for “poop”).

I’m embarrassed I haven’t been to: Argentina.

Worst travel moment: Becoming violently ill to my stomach on New Year’s Eve, also in Havana (but on a different trip).

What’s your dream destination? Greenland.

Favorite travel charity: The Passport Party Project.

Best travel tip: Be permeable. Engage and connect. We’re all here together.

 

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