Celebrity Travel: Go Away With Sean Astin
A. Los Angeles, my home, is a city I love. D.C., Chicago, Toronto, London.
Q. Where have you traveled to that most reminded you of home?
A. In a weird way, Mexico City kind of reminded me of L.A. Obviously there's a significant difference, but it's sprawling, spread out and there's lots of different stuff going on.
Q. Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?
A. St. Petersburg, Russia.
Q. What are your favorite restaurants?
A. I like the Four Seasons brunch in Philadelphia.
Q. What is your guilty pleasure when you're on the road?
A. In New York, there are three dozen kinds of what I would call upscale, exotic pizzas.
Q. What kind of research do you do before you go away on a trip?
A. I try to make sure I know which gate to go to. I never prepare for trips. My point is that I usually know nothing, and that is both thrilling and stupid.
Q. What is your worst vacation memory?
A. When my wife and I first got together, we decided to travel across Europe. For the first leg of our trip, we got Eurorail passes. What we didn't know was that you can get on any train, but you might not have a place to sit down because you need to reserve seats. So we spent 18 hours sitting on our luggage and in smoking cars.
Finally, at one point in Luxemburg, we walked into a car with a sleeper coachette and we pulled the shade down and just prayed that no one would say, "Hey, you're in our spot." We fell asleep and then we felt the train car move back and forth a little bit, and then a guy throws open the door and starts barking at us in whatever language they speak in Luxemburg while we looked at him stupidly. He then asked in maybe Russian, then Spanish, then French. And then finally he looked at us and said, "American? Your train's down there." So we pick up our bags and run and we realized that the car we were on had been uncoupled while we were sleeping and was on an inactive track. It makes for a good memory.
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Jae-Ha Kim is a New York Times bestselling author and travel writer. You can respond to this column by visiting her website at www.jaehakim.com. You may also follow "Go Away With..." on Twitter at @GoAwayWithJae where Jae-Ha Kim welcomes your questions and comments.
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