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Celebrity Travel: Go Away With Yo-Yo Ma

By Jae-Ha Kim, Tribune Media Services on

A. Paris. I was young and naive enough to be completely unselfconscious.

Q. What are your favorite cities?

A. I would probably have a different answer any day you asked me. My favorite anything tends to be in a constant state of evolution rather than constant. That said, here's my answer for today: Florence, Jerusalem and Castle Combe, which is an amazingly beautiful, picture-perfect English village. It looks like a postcard. I love the American Rockies and my friends tell me I absolutely have to get to Telluride for the Bluegrass Festival someday. And I love Chicago. It's both a world city and a worldly city. Chicago has long been a hub of trade, transportation and culture and like so many major cities today, people from around the globe live there. It's a city that celebrates innovation and diversity.

Q. Where have you traveled to that most reminded you of back home?

A. Well, today the demographics of any mid-size city represent the population of the world, so almost anywhere I go I can find resonances to my immediate neighborhood.

Q. Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?

A. So many places! Machu Picchu, Lhasa in Tibet, New Zealand, Mongolia, Bhutan, Isfahan...

Q. Which city do you think is the most romantic?

A. I can't pick just one! Boston, Charleston, Paris and Buenos Aires come to mind for me.

 

Q. What are your favorite restaurants?

A. Oh, too many to name. Some place I haven't been to yet but want to go to is Milk and Honey (www.mlkhny.com/newyork/) in New York City. (Mandolinist) Chris Thile is a fabulous mixologist and he raves about it.

Q. What is your guilty pleasure when you're on the road?

A. Food! Of course, it depends on where I am and what the food is. Some highlights: Joe's Stone Crab (http://www.joesstonecrab.com/) in Miami; okra and she-crab soup in Charleston; oysters in New Orleans; sausages and cheese almost anywhere; and I always try to eat fresh local fruits and vegetables.

Q. What kind of research do you do before you go away on a trip?

A. I try to talk to people who know the place well. If you can find someone who deeply loves a place, they can take you inside their world. That way you don't just get information, you find a way in. Most of my best memories of faraway places involve wonderful hosts who wanted to share with me something that was precious to them.

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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. She welcomes your questions and comments.


(c) 2011 DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

 

 

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