Celebrity Travel: Go Away With George Kourounis

A. Not that much. I didn't get the travel bug until much later in life. I went from Canada to the United States. I went to Greece with my father when I was 19. I got into travel in the late '90s, when I was in my 20s. I'm a bit of a late bloomer that way.

Q. So how did you get from traveling here and there to chasing tornadoes?

A. I've always had a love of nature, science and documenting nature with photography. I was an engineer maintaining large recording studios in Toronto. It was a good job, but I would take my vacation time and go tornado chasing. And, just on a whim, I got really hooked on it. I went to cover Hurricane Katrina on vacation time. I began to build a reputation as a guy that was always there and I was able to quit my job. It was a leap of faith.

Q. Your job ensures that you travel most of the year, but not necessarily in a way that most people would find comfortable.

A. I travel in the most complicated way possible. Traveling is expensive and exhausting, lugging tons of equipment and dozens of bags to obscure places all around the world. You have to get visas issued and permits. It's brutal. It's not the kind of travel where I won a million dollars and stay at five-star resorts. I dream of that. Sometimes I camp in a tent or sleep in my car. There's some glamor, but it's far outweighed by the difficult things. But I love it. I wouldn't keep doing it otherwise.

Q. Are you an adventurous diner?

A. Yes! I almost always rely on local food. I'm very fortunate that I have the metabolism of a ferret on amphetamines. I never gain any weight. I love spicy local food. That's my favorite thing. I'll try anything once. I've had a lot of weird food over the years and eaten things like bugs and snakes.

Q. Have you ever gotten seriously injured during your trips around the world?

A. No, but I have gotten sick. I caught dengue fever in the Caribbean. In Siberia, I had a fever for five days in the coldest place in the world. I was bit by a bat in Africa. And I was on the island of Tuvalu and I had a massive reaction to something there -- I don't know what -- and I ended up covered in what looked like chicken pox. I'm still scarred up by that.

Q. Name an item that you always take on your adventures.

A. Imodium. I never leave home without it. There's nothing worse than having stomach problems when you're away from home. I get horribly seasick, so that is always in my first aid kit.

Q. Where would you recommend people visit to get a small taste of the things you do, but in a less dangerous way?

A. Stromboli, a small, beautiful island (off the coast of Sicily). You can sit there at a little cafe sipping wine and eating pizza while looking at an active volcano. It's a little luxury with a fair dose of adventure.

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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.)