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: Paul Theroux
Occupation: Writer
Hometown: Medford, MA
Residence: Cape Cod (summer), Hawaii (the rest of the year)
Website: PaulTheroux.com [not done by me but by readers of my books]
Short Bio: Born just outside Boston. Happy childhood. Eagle Scout. UMass grad. Peace Corps 1963-65 in Malawi Central Africa, then Uganda, Singapore, Britain – got married on the way, two children. Began publishing journalism in 1964, first novel 1967, and have published a book (novel, travel, collection of essays or stories) almost every year since then. Moved back to the US in 1990, remarried in 1995, kept on traveling and writing.
How often do you fly: About six times a year
How many countries have you been to: Many
How many continents have you been to: All except Antarctica
Favorite American city: Rockland, Maine
Favorite international city: Palermo, Italy
Least favorite country: The unpromising, unfavored, even hostile countries are the greatest destinations for the traveling writer.
Favorite World Heritage Site: Angkor
Favorite airline: Emirates
Favorite aircraft type: Don’t know
Aisle or window: Don’t care
Favorite airport lounge: Don’t know
Favorite U.S. airport: None
Favorite international airport: None
Favorite hotel: Dean’s Hotel, Peshawar, Pakistan in 1973
Favorite cruise line: Seabourn
Favorite island: Calf Island, Maine
Favorite fancy restaurant: The restaurant at The Heathman Hotel, Portland OR
Favorite hole in the wall: The Slipway, at the harbor of Thomaston, Maine
Favorite fruit: Mango
Favorite food: Chinese tea-smoked duck
Least favorite food: Cow’s tendon
Drink of choice (In the air and on the ground: Portuguese Vinho Verde
Favorite travel book(s): See the 200 or so travel books I write about with enthusiasm in my anthology, The Tao of Travel (Mariner paperback)
Right now I am reading: Vol 2 of Brian Boyd’s biography of Vladimir Nabokov
Five things you bring on a plane: Three books, one notebook, a pen
What do you always seem to forget: Batteries
What do you want your loved one to buy you from an airport duty free store? Nothing
Favorite travel iPhone app(s): Hi-Tide – gives the tides and times
Most embarrassing travel moment: In 1976, I arrived in Japan from London without a visa, and was forced to wait for a day and a half at the airport (with jet-lag) while the Japanese officials faffed around with my passport to teach me a lesson
Worst travel moment: Being threatened with death by three spear carrying Trobriand Islanders
What’s your dream destination: Home
Favorite travel charity: Doctors without Borders
Best travel tip: Take nothing for granted
