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Michael Tonello knows a thing or two about style. In his delightfully entertaining new book, Bringing Home the Birkin (www.amazon.com), he tells the story of the years he spent abroad, tracking down limited edition Hermès goodies—most especially their ever-elusive Birkin bags—for a clientele of passionate fashionistas. Here he shares some of his favorite spots and traveler’s insights with Indagare.

How often do you travel? A few times a week.

What are the main reasons that you travel? Work. Pleasure.

What are your favorite destinations and why? Capri —stunningly beautiful, cultured but quiet, warm sunny days and nights, jasmine-scented air. Freshly-squeezed bellinis and limoncello. Ocean everywhere. Koh Samui, Thailand—glorious weather, great Thai food, fascinating culture. The perfect place to recharge the batteries.

What are your favorite hotels and why? The Chedi, Chiang Mai, Thailand—Beautiful colonial architecture, superb food and service, super-luxe suites. And the spa is among the best I’ve visited. The Villa Brunella (www.villabrunella.it) in Capri layout (the floors are like a stairwell climbing the rock face of the island) and one of the best dining experiences on Capri. Hotel Mansart (5, rue de Capucines) in Paris was there so often that I knew a lot of the staff. Great people = great hotel.

What’s your most memorable travel experience? Probably my trip to Tokyo with Juan that I described in the book. Their technology and urban landscape is dizzying.

Where do you dream of returning to? Honestly, I spent more time over the last ten years dreaming of returning HOME…to Barcelona.

Where do you dream of going? Australia, New Zealand, Brazil.

What are your packing tips? I pack shirts in tissue paper, and they arrive just as if they hadn’t traveled. I bring items of clothing that match each other, so I get multiple outfits from a few pieces. I keep my toiletries kit packed (key if you are a frequent traveler.)

What are your rituals for preparing for a trip? I try to book early morning flights so that there are fewer chances of delays and the crowds are lighter at the airport. The night before, I shower/shave and hit the hay early; that way I can hop out of bed at 4 a.m., down a cup of Earl Grey tea and dash off to the airport.

What is your favorite restaurant in Spain? Cinc Sentitis, in Barcelona.

What is your favorite island hideaway? Koh Samui. I adore the Tongsai Bay cottages (www.tongsaibay.co.th)! (Especially the one named Hideaway.) But the New Englander in me also loves Nantucket. Talk about picturesque.

What is your favorite place for a day of shopping? Paris or Bergdorf Goodman, in New York.

Which is your favorite Hermès store? The Paris flagship store on the Faubourg St Honore, before they discvered what I was up to.

What is your favorite Hermès item? I have a pair of Hermès khaki/chino trousers that are tissue thin and I “altered” the length myself with a pair of scissors (for that frayed look). They are so perfectly worn-in that I almost don’t want to wear them for fear of wearing them out.

Tonello’s writing is wonderfully evocative of place. Here are a few excerpts from Bringing Home the Birkin:

ON CAPRI

“The Isle of Capri…. Its mere invocation at a dinner party summoned up the dream-fed scraps of my yearning: lemons gleaming the only true shade of yellow there is, the strong Mediterranean lapping on the shore, the sun deliciously too strong on my back, a silk shirt’s caress on that sunburn later.… First if not foremost, Capri is the playground of the rich. Capri is the glint of priceless jewels worn with a cotton sundress, a meticulously kept lap pool overlooking an unswimmable rocky coast, a sweating crystal glass pressed against the tan neck of an heiress. It was all this to me and I hadn’t even gone. Time to change that.”

ON TOKYO

“The Hermès in Tokyo makes the Faubourg look like a mall kiosk. Renzo Piano designed the twelve-story butilding, which is constructed completely of glass boxes about a foot square. Now, that sounds very cool, but it doesn’t sound close to as cool as it is in person, seeing this mammoth translucent building glowing with an ethereal white light. What was funny was that it is often described as architecturally understated, which I guess it could be mistaken for if compared to the other consumer temples of the Ginza shopping district…..

“Juan and I had booked at Hotel Okura, and it blew us away. Our suite had a commanding view of both a traditional Japanese garden and the skyscrapers that crowded every inch of the city’s horizon. However, I think Juan and I were more entranced by the little remote control next to our bed, which ran everything. All the lighting in the suite, the television, the drapes, the electronic do-not-disturb message—you could deal with all of it while in a reclining position. Apparently this was nothing special for Japan, but to us it was technology on a Jetsons level.”

ON LUXEMBOURG

“I did find out why Luxembourg was so cocky with that oversized name—that country’s namesake capital city was loaded. The first four letters weren’t any coincidence, either. Everywhere I looked there were gigantic steel-doored investment banks and high-end boutiques, and I’d swear about every fifth car was a Bentley or an old Rolls-Royce.”