My most memorable meal was ...
In New York at Serafina Osteria, a small Italian restaurant on 58th and Madison. It was totally authentic Italian food, just like we used to eat when we lived in Rome for six years, cooked by a large Italian chef. Because I spoke a bit of Italian he piled on one dish after another and gave us a grand tour of his kitchen. What was supposed to be a 45-minute snack turned into a drunken four-hour lunch followed by one of the worst live interviews ever conducted on the 10 O'Clock News
My favourite American hidden gems are ...
Savannah, Georgia, which is beautiful enough to be memorable, but not so manicured that it doesn't feel real. Santa Fe, New Mexico, is set in a high, dry desert, so it's fresh at night, and warm but not boiling during the day and is full of beautiful adobe architecture. San Francisco is my favourite big American city because of its amazing topography.
I'll never go back to ...
Cambridge, Ohio. The only dreaming spires there are the mega billboards for McDonald's. Another place I don't like but have to go to every four years for the election is Des Moines, Iowa. It's so cold in winter and so hot in summer that the buildings are connected by air-conditioned or heated walkways. It gives you a glimpse of life post-climatic disaster.
If I have a spare weekend I'll ...
Take a mini-break. In winter we go skiing in Pennsylvania, which is an hour and a half away. In summer we sail on Chesapeake Bay or drive into Northern Virginia, which is like a cross between Dorset and Tuscany.
One of the great things about America is ...
The sense of space. We have friends who'll drive 20 hours to Florida for a long weekend. Americans spend a lot of time driving, which is why they get so upset when petrol's $4 a gallon.
I never travel without ...
A digital camera. I make a big point of taking it, but always end up leaving the film chip or the battery behind.
As a traveller I'm ...
Very disorganised. At Heathrow I once managed to leave my passport at check-in, my boarding card at passport control, my hand luggage in a duty free shop and my car keys at a pharmacy.
My Top Travel Tip Is ...
If you have to travel by plane, have a drink to dull the pain of it all. It makes it so much more bearable. Travelling now, particularly in America, is awful and you need that form of anaesthetic.
The worst thing about travelling in America is ...
The involuntary striptease before you get on a plane. You have to take your shoes, belt and coat off to go through security. I know people who go to the airport in pyjamas and flip-flops to get through quickly. If you complain, you run the risk of being shot by an air marshall as a potential terrorist. At Miami airport last year a bipolar bloke kicked up a fuss, ran off the plane and was shot five times.
My idea of paradise is ...
Whatever I can't have. When we lived in Asia, paradise was sitting in a cafe in Rome watching the world go by; paradise in Washington is being somewhere in Asia where you get pampered and the food is delicious.
My favourite hotel is ...
Amanjiwo on Java in Indonesia. It's very beautiful and low key and surrounded by volcanoes that perform for you every night. It is next to one of the world's biggest Buddhist monuments, Borobudur, to which the hotel has exclusive access before dawn.
I try to bring back ...
· Matt Frei's book Only In America (Fourth Estate £16.99) is out now.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2008
