Manuel Rivera began life as an Army brat in
Japan, lived in five
different cities by his college years, and immediately embarked on
a career living abroad, so he was primed for travel when he started
hitting the road in a serious way about seven years ago. Since
then, he's made a study of
business travel. His Road Warrior entry
was a charming seven-page dissertation on his travel philosophy,
and the experiences and techniques that got him there. An engaging
conversationalist, he delights in telling stories - he regaled us
with 21 of them - and is equally at home talking about bicycles,
Latin dance, Puerto Rican music, and his international wine
collection. When it comes to travel tips, Rivera is equally
forthcoming: We counted 35 on his entry, and he e-mailed us more
after he was chosen as our winner. "I have more stories and tips,"
Rivera promised us when he first wrote, "but I would be writing for
hours and make a book." If our experience with him was any
indication, Rivera could just write a bestseller.
On being a Road Warrior: "It is a different perspective when
the territory is vast and the world is the playground. I have
enjoyed seeing the world from Patagonia and
Tierra del Fuego to the
Magellan Strait and Cape Horn, all the way up to Prudhoe Bay. From
the Bosporus to the Galápagos,
Machu Picchu to Christchurch,
through
Zurich and Konstanz to the Great Sabana and Okinawa, from
the
Caribbean to most of the U.S.A. To experience and know the best
restaurants in the world, the various currencies and roads, the
people, their habits, their stories, histories, views, culture,
their social and political atmosphere, is fascinating and a true
privilege."
Action Adventure, Road Warrior style: "I flew to LAX in the
morning for an early afternoon meeting and was planning to return
that evening on the red-eye. I finished my meeting early and was
making business calls from my cell phone, when a prospect agreed to
meet me that afternoon in
San Diego. We decided to go for it and
sped to San Diego in our
rental car, met the prospect, drove to the
San Diego airport, returned the car, took a commuter flight back to
LAX, and made the red-eye back to
Boston. All arranged on a cell
from the car."
Exercise made easier: "I travel with workout clothes and
have bicycles (I love riding) in Belmont,
Massachusetts, a suburb
of Boston where I live; Miami; and Puerto Rico."
Travel Tip No. 17: "I have a traveling 'uniform' that
doesn't wrinkle easily and loafers I can take off during the flight
(the waistline and feet always swell)."