Journalist, Author & Syndicated Columnist
“I love going down South to visit my mom’s side of the family,” said “General Hospital” star Sydney Mikayla. “My Grandma Tina always cooks up big meals. What can I say? I love to eat good soul food. It’s also nice to be around my extended family since my immediate family is just the three of us and my dog.”
“We were in Vietnam for six weeks and I got to see my parents’ childhood home, met family I didn’t know, and got to connect with my roots,” said “Van Helsing” costume designer Beverley Huynh. “It oddly felt like home. Going to Vietnam felt like I was connecting with a piece of me I felt was missing. That trip changed everything and travel became a part of me that I never want to give up.”
“When I was three years old, my mom picked me up from daycare and surprised me with a trip to Disney World,” said “Turner & Hooch” actress Carra Patterson. “We were living in Florida at the time, so it was a short road trip for us. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world to go on a spontaneous road trip to meet Mickey Mouse and Cinderella in person.”
“You can hear these influences a lot in my music wrapped up in a little pop bow, of course,” said musician Kentö. “I grew up listening to singers from all over the world like Freddie Mercury, Ivete Sangalo, Ayumi Hamasaki and Sylvie Vartan. (They’re) very different artists, but all iconic voices that I tried to emulate growing up and, in my own way, shaped the style and tone of my voice today.”
“My father was a sailor from Singapore who met my mum in the United Kingdom,” said “The Suicide Squad” actress Mayling Ng. “(When I was a child), he took us to Singapore and it changed who I was and how I saw the world. I really connected to my culture and started to actively do martial arts and watched more Hong Kong cinema than Western growing up.”
“I don’t necessarily remember the best shows, because the bombs always hit so much harder,” said stand-up comic and “Black Monday” actor Yassir Lester. “There’s plenty of fun shows, but my worst one was in a place called Mesquite, Nevada. A woman ran up to the stage to give me the middle finger during my set and said, ‘You f—— suck!’ That, and in Long Beach one time a dude heckled me just by saying, ‘Look at you with all that acne on ya face!’ Crowd loved it and I was devastated.”
“My whole life, I have heard the word American as shorthand for white, Black and white Hispanic (or) Latinx,” said Nobody’s Girl singer/songwriter, BettySoo. “As a kid who never grasped fluency with the Korean language, I very much felt like a person without a homeland to claim and without a homeland to claim me. I have always felt like a Texan and an American, but as I get older, I become less convinced I will ever be seen as fully Texan nor American by others.”
Tanaye White has put aside her career in defense and aerospace to concentrate on modeling, which includes a photoshoot for Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue.
“I really feel like the pandemic gave me a chance to grow and get to know myself more,” said “Blindspotting” actress Jaylen Barron. “I’ve discovered things about myself that a year and a half ago I wouldn’t even think I would like or dislike.”
“The worst vacations are the ones where they’re so packed full of excursions and things to do that you need to book a recovery vacation after your first vacation,” according to “The World’s Most Amazing Vacation Rentals” host Megan Batoon.
“You have to be willing to try new things and experiment (when traveling),” said “All American” actress Alondra Delgado. “I am very picky with food, but now I’ve learned to just give things a try, because every place has its own thing and food connects you a lot to the culture.”
“My wife and I have taken frequent road trips in order to ensure our sanity during this tumultuous time,” said actor Gregg Daniel (“True Blood,” “7th and Union”). “There are several places heading due north we love visiting, especially the coastal communities – Ventura, Ojai, Summerland, Montecito and Santa Barbara.”
The Sloane Stephens Foundation is the tennis star’s way of helping vulnerable children via tennis and education: “We give you all the tools to take tennis as far as you want, but the most important thing is that you are finding a pathway to be healthy, happy and have a positive experience.”
“I moved to Spain for a time and that’s when I truly let go of my attachments to the life that I had before,” said “Clueless” actress Elisa Donovan. “I wanted to see if I could live in Spain permanently. After my dad died and my life was turned upside down, I re-evaluated everything.”
I never paid that much attention to McDonald’s previous celebrity collaborations (Travis Scott, J. Balvin). But when the hamburger chain announced that its latest celeb partnership would be with BTS, it made me happy. I know it’s easy to trash talk fast food. And while fast food usually is something we reserve for road trips, I will buy it on occasion for my son as a treat, just as my parents did for me.
“I take brief road trips two to three times a month to work for Songwriting with Soldiers,” Maia Sharp said. “(It’s) an incredible organization that pairs a professional songwriter with veterans, active-duty service members, their family members … to turn their stories into songs.”
“What I’ve learned is that what you do with your time is what matters most,” said “Descendants 3” actress Jadah Marie. “You don’t have to be super busy all the time, but as long as you are happy with what you’re doing, nothing else should matter as long as no one is being harmed. Spending time with those who show you the same love back matters the most.”
Joe Seo said one of the reasons he loves his role playing a bully on “Cobra Kai” is because “it goes against the grain of the way Asians are portrayed. I jumped at this opportunity and thank the producers for trying to push the envelope.”
“I love stopping at unique stores and restaurants,” said “The Goldbergs” actor Jacob Hopkins. “I remember when I drove to Pine, Arizona, to film “Carolina’s Calling,” there was this restaurant with this ginormous cup on the outside that sold the best fried chicken and ice cream I’ve ever had.”
“I never fully understood the privileges I had as a westerner until I started to travel outside of the country,” said “The Good Doctor” actress Jasika Nicole. “My first trip out of the States was when I was in my mid-20s, so I had a perspective about these experiences that I probably would not have had if I had been traveling the world as a kid.”