My dream trip?

I wouldn't mind living for a little while in the Maldives. Or walking across Madagascar.

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The movie or book that inspired me to pack my bags?

Strangely, perhaps, it was probably C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, which is about some children who routinely visit an imaginary realm. My mom read those books to me when I was very young, too young to understand everything, but I remember the power of Lewis' idea--that you might be able to step through the back of a wardrobe and enter another world. The impulse that sent those kids into Narnia came from the same curiosity about distant places that sends any of us traveling, I think; the conviction that there is always something new to see, someone interesting to meet.

My greatest travel pet peeve?

Windows that won't open.

How I deal with jetlag?

I lay awake in bed feeling lost and confused and then complain a lot the next morning.

If I could travel with any living person.

Any living person? My wife.

I'll never go back to ____________ And why?

Gosh, everywhere I've been lucky enough to visit or live has been fundamentally interesting in some way. Every place has its own stories, its own marvels, even places that don't necessarily strike travelers as dream destinations, like Puerto Natales, Chile, say, or Detroit, Michigan. Ultimately, the success of any trip has more to do with the heart of the traveler than with the place itself. If you're heartbroken in Indiana, you're going to be heartbroken in Fiji, too. But if you're well-fed, and dry, and curious, every place in the world is worth trying to understand.

If I could be anywhere right now.

I'd be eating huge spoonfuls of gelato with my family in Rome's Campo dei Fiori.