Meet the Maître D': John Winterman

Hometown: New York.

Occupation: Hospitality professional with a flair for the scoundrel and a note of the hooligan.

Favorite destinations: London, Austria, Zurich, The West Village, Bloomington.

Dying to visit: Burma, Laos, Tampa.

Bizarre travel rituals: Adding to an ever-growing shot glass collection. And I download Gordon Ramsay's The F Word on an iPod for the plane.

In-flight relaxation regime: Johnny Walker, screw-cap wines, and masturbation.

Always in carry-on: iPod. Flask.

Concierge or DIY? DIY.

See it all or take it easy? Quality over quantity – room for spontaneity.

Drive or be driven? Neither — I'm down with public transformation!

Travel hero: Robert Young Pelton.

Weirdest thing seen on travels: Amputees with cell phones in Cambodia.

My favorite hotel is The Peninsula Bangkok because there is NO service as personal!

I dream about my meal at Acme Oyster House in New Orleans.

Best hotel amenity: Clean sheets.

Favorite childhood travel memory: Being at a truck stop in far western Kansas at midnight, late December, with the high plains wind cutting through me, and having the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere and like I was at the absolute farthest point from everywhere.

Everywhere I go, I check out the brothels and cathedrals. (This is counterintuitive, but funny.)

When I arrive in a new place, I learn the lay of the land by walking out the door and taking a left (or right) with a map.

I always bring home obscure, local booze.

If I never return to anywhere in Florida, it'll be too soon because the entire state can fall off into the Gulf.

I travel for the experience.

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Twitter: @johnwinterman