Celebrity Travel: Go Away With Josh Gates
"Technically, I live in Los Angeles," says Josh Gates, host of Travel Channel's "Expedition Unknown." "But my primary residence is on airport floors around the world." Not that he's complaining. The adventurer says that getting paid to see the world is his dream job. When asked for a unique destination that he would recommend, Gates says, "Cuba. Go right now and you'll see Havana as it existed 50 years ago -- classic cars, sleepy streets and music in the air. Go in five years and there'll probably be an Applebee's where (Ernest) Hemingway used to drink."
Read more about him on his website (joshuagates.com) or follow him on Twitter (https://twitter.com/joshuagates).
Q. What is your favorite vacation destination?
A. I'm a Southeast Asia nut. Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos. ... I love them all. I guess if I have to pick one, I'll say Thailand.
Q. To someone who was going to Thailand for the first time, what would you recommend that they do during their visit?
A. Two days in Bangkok, three days exploring Chiang Mai in the north and then a solid four or five days on a small island in the Andaman Sea doing absolutely nothing. Thailand has amazing luxury accommodations, but it's also a low-budget paradise. I always advise people to mix it up. Spend a few nights in a posh hotel and then hang out with a bunch of backpackers at a full moon party.
Q. What is your guilty pleasure when you're on the road?
A. My iPhone. It feels like an extension of me at this point and while it's critical to help me stay in touch with my team back in the States, technology can also be a seductive waste of time. Last week one of my producers was playing Candy Crush on a game drive in Africa. I nearly fed his phone to a rhino.
Q. What was the first trip you took as a child?
A. My mother is British, so every year we'd hop across the Atlantic to visit family. I can remember lying under my parents' seats on the floor of a 747 listening to the hum of those Rolls Royce engines. I think an early exposure to overseas travel primed me for a lifetime of wanderlust.
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