Rock Me On the Water

The Budget Travel Olympian

No matter how low the budget bar is set, I always manage to limbo under it. I’m the Wilt Chamberlain of shoestring travel—racking up stats so unbelievable that mere mortals could never dream of matching them: 300 ports in 38 months.

The Unseen Travel Writer

As the Morgan Freeman of travel writers, I’m a familiar face without the fame to match. Recognition? Rare. Respect? Elusive. My blog, Hotel @nyware (edreif.com), might not be the Edgar Allen Poe of literary knockouts, the Emily Dickinson of poetic triumphs, or the Robert Frost of verbal takedowns. But it’s mine, unapologetically.

Visuals Over Verbs

Instead of waxing poetic, I let my camera do the talking. Photos and videos take center stage for the auditory and visual audience—a little bit of CNN for those who prefer action over alphabet soup.

The In to My Sane

Born with an uncanny talent for throwing ideas against the wall and seeing what sticks, I’ve lived a life that would make Colonel Kurtz jealous. I’ve gone native and insane more times than I can count, but always in a Lance Armstrong-Barbara Bush kind of way (if that even makes sense).

Sometimes, I’m the census taker. Other times, I’m the cannibal psychiatrist. Life on the road—or the water—has made me both observer and participant in a world that’s endlessly fascinating and frequently absurd.

Failure Is Always an Option

Margaret Thatcher once said, “Any man who rides a bus past the age of 26 should consider himself a failure.” To that, I’d add: “Any man working on a cruise ship should know that failure is always an option.”