ArcaMax

A. I am, but I'm not reckless. I will eat off a street cart. I have a bit of an iron stomach. I'll eat any kind of stuff out of the sea. I love shellfish and like to sample the local cuisine and drink whatever the local beverage is. But you do get more prudent as you get older. I have gotten sick and knocked sideways a few times eating food you shouldn't eat. I ate some bad yak meat in Nepal. After three weeks of eating nothing but noodles, I ate the yak meat on the last night. I had been warned not to. It was unrefrigerated meat and I ate it anyway. It was as disastrous an experience as you can imagine. I got about as sick as you can be. It was long-lasting and violent. Western medicine struggled to diagnose it. My brother got ill, too. That was not a fun plane ride back.

Q. What is on your travel bucket list?

A. There's a long list of places I haven't been to that I want to get to. I scuba dive and I'm drawn to pristine islands. I want to go to the South Pacific and French Polynesia. I want to go to Tokyo. I want to visit the fjords of Iceland. I would love to visit Korea, China and Vietnam. Most of my trips for work take me to Europe, where we are well traveled. There are so many places I want to visit and so little time. We're guaranteed nothing. I have the mentality of not putting things off and I'm pretty restless about wanting to see more places than I have time to get to right now.

Q. What are your favorite cities?

A. Capetown is spectacular. In terms of European cities, Paris is my favorite. We've been there a few dozen times and got engaged there. I feel very at home in Paris. Prague. I'd like to take my wife there. She's not been there yet. We tend to spend more time outside of the main cities. Once you've been to a place a few times, you look for those off-the-beaten-track experiences.

Q. What place do you think is underrated?

A. I love Chile, though I wouldn't say Santiago is a favorite. I like going to Patagonia. I think South America is a wonderful, underrated place that more Americans should try. For scenery, it's just an awesome place.

Q. Do you speak any foreign languages?

A. I fumble around in French and Spanish. I try to brush up before I go. Getting more proficient in languages, mainly in Spanish and French, is on my list of things to do. It would help in covering tennis. If I could change one thing, it would be to be proficient in four or five languages.

========

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.

(c) 2014 DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.