By Jae-Ha Kim
Tribune Media Services
August 23, 2011
Diane Farr says she got a late start in traveling and didn’t leave the country until she was 15 years old. But since then, the 41-year-old actress (“Californication,” “Rescue Me,” “Numb3rs”) has more than made up for it by traveling all around the world, primarily alone. That exposure to other cultures — as well as her marriage to a man of different ethnicity — inspired her to write the very funny and astute memoir “Kissing Outside the Lines: A True Story of Love and Race and Happily Ever After” (Seal Press, $24.95). Farr resides in Los Angeles with her husband and three young children. Check out www.getdianefarr.com for information on her latest projects.
Q. When did you go on your first trip outside of the U.S.?
A. I was 15. My best girlfriend was Cuban and for her Sweet 16, she took 10 of us to Acapulco. She always takes credit that she’s the first one who took me out of the country.
Q. What was your Ugly American moment?
A. During that same trip, I kept referring to the Mexican people as Puerto Ricans and her mom — who’s like my second mom — kept saying, “Diane, they’re not Puerto Rican.” It’s too embarrassing to think about now.
Q. What are some of your favorite places?
A. Hanoi and Seoul are some of my favorite cities. Morocco is one of my favorite countries ever.
Q. Have you traveled to a place where you felt you were in danger?
A. I’ve traveled almost everywhere by myself. You get to Cairo and cover yourself up and are surrounded by men during the business day. But it’s cultural and you survive that one. And then you go to Zanzibar and it’s the middle of the day and there are 25 children chasing you, but really all they want is to ask you what you want to eat and if they can catch a fish for you. But in Cambodia, I had 10 people knock me off a moped and take my money, and I realized that these people are hungry. They were hoodlum kids who were probably sent out to beg and I looked like an easy target. I usually travel under the radar, renting a house in a local neighborhood. When I got to Cambodia and gave the cabbie the address, he said, “Don’t stay there. My people are not bad people but they are poor.” But I brushed it off and wasn’t too worried. But after the first day, I checked in at the Intercontinental Hotel.
Q. What kind of souvenirs do you bring back home?
A. I went to Berlin the week the wall came down. I brought back bricks for everyone as souvenirs and it was the best gift ever! In Morocco I filled up little canisters with sand and gave them to everyone. In India, you find those little Shiva statues that are about the size of your hand. I bought about 50 of them. They make wonderful gifts.
Q. Where have you traveled to that most reminded you of back home?
A. I went to college for two years in England, and a boy I was with there was an athlete who was getting an award from Prince Albert. So I went to Monaco with him. The beaches in the South of France looked exactly like the white sand beaches of New York. It took me years to figure out that everyone doesn’t have the white-sand experience at their leisure.
Q. Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?
A. I am really dying to do Nepal when my kids are big enough to do a walkabout. Also Alaska and Japan.
Q. What’s it like traveling without your children?
A. I went to Bali last year for my 40th birthday with eight of my adventurous friends. We were gone for 10 days. After a few days, my palms started itching and I started worrying if my kids were OK and I realized that seven days was more than I needed. But we’re going to try to do a similar trip to Barcelona next summer.
Q. What’s it like flying with three preschool-age kids?
A. It’s hard and we do it as infrequently as possible. If people want to see us, they can come see us here. We’ve been twice to the East Coast to see the grandparents and I shipped a big box of things there and had my parents ship the box back once our trip was over. But it’s no fun being on an airplane with very young children. My kids actually yearn for things we can drive to, like Mammoth Mountain, Legoland and Disneyland. Those kinds of trips work better for us.
© 2011 JAE-HA KIM
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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