Category: Interviews

Go Away With … Justin Roberts

Jae-Ha Kim

Justin Roberts doesn’t think it’s all that unusual that he went from being a Montessori preschool teacher to a Grammy-nominated musician. The Chicago-based singer-songwriter wrote intelligent, catchy songs to sing to his young students. Roberts has consistently made Amazon.com’s Top 10 Children’s CDs of the Year list, and performed his music on the “Today” show and Nick Jr. His single “Get Me Some Glasses” also was featured on a World Series broadcast. He’s currently touring with his band, The Not Ready for Naptime Players, to promote his latest album, “Recess.”

Go Away With … Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan

Jae-Ha Kim

Grits and Glamour celebrated the completion of its CD “Dos Divas” in a relaxing way. The duo — comprised of country music stars Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan — took a trip to Mexico. “We went with our husbands on a couples’ getaway to celebrate the wrap of our new album and stayed at Garza Blanca Preserve Resort and Spa in Puerto Vallarta,” says Morgan. “We were treated like royalty and I’m ready to go back.”

Go Away With … Pauline Frommer

Jae-Ha Kim

Like her father, Arthur, Pauline Frommer writes travel guidebooks. She also hosts the nationally syndicated radio program, “The Travel Show” with her dad. But when she was a teenager flying around the world with her parents, Frommer wasn’t always enamored with the travel lifestyle. “I dreaded going on trips with my parents,” says the fortysomething New Yorker. “I found it very difficult to be away from my friends. And since my parents were travel writers, a lot of what we did when we traveled was fact checking, which can be dull, if you’re not the one doing the checking.”

Go Away With … Sean Rosenthal

Jae-Ha Kim

Beach volleyball player Sean Rosenthal has played in two Olympics so far and, if he gets his wish, he’ll be competing at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, too. “I hope to make the U.S. squad for a variety of reasons,” says the 33-year-old athlete, who’s based in California. “It’d be such an honor to get to represent the United States again. And, there’d be the added bonus of getting to play in Brazil, which has always shown an amazing amount of love for volleyball. The people are so enthusiastic about the sport, which makes it a lot of fun to play there.”

Go Away With … Carter Oosterhouse

Jae-Ha Kim

HGTV’s “Red, Hot and Green” host Carter Oosterhouse and his wife, actress Amy Smart, enjoy living green. So, it’s fitting that the former “Trading Spaces” carpenter is one of the go-to guys when a program needs a telegenic lifestyle expert for advice on eco-living. A regular contributor to the “Rachael Ray Show,” the 36-year-old television personality also hosts HGTV’s “Carter Can.”

Go Away With … G. Garvin

Jae-Ha Kim

Chef Gerry “G.” Garvin is an author and a James Beard Award nominee for best food personality. As the host of the Cooking Channel’s “Road Trip with G. Garvin” — currently in its second season — the 44-year-old Atlanta resident crisscrosses the country to find the best Southern-inspired dishes. His cookbooks include “Turn Up the Heat with G. Garvin.”

Go Away With … Regina King

Jae-Ha Kim

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Calif., where she still resides, Regina King starred as Marla Gibbs’ daughter on the popular ’80s sitcom, “227.” Unlike many child actors who fade away after a few years in the spotlight, the 42-year-old actress worked steadily through the years opposite Tom Cruise, Reese Witherspoon, Sandra Bullock and Cuba Gooding Jr. King recently starred in the series “Southland” and has a recurring role on “The Big Bang Theory.”

Go Away With … Gary Forbes

Jae-Ha Kim

Born in Colon, Panama, and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Gary Forbes had basketball on his mind when he was growing up. When he discovered he had Type 1 diabetes, he worried that it would derail his NBA plans. But, with the help of his diabetic father, he learned to navigate his way around his illness. After brief stints with the Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets, the 28-year-old athlete last played for the Chinese Basketball Association’s Zhejiang Guangsha Lions. Forbes’ latest project is TypeOneTwo.org, an online forum he created to help young people learn how to live full lives with diabetes.

Go Away With … LeAnn Rimes

Jae-Ha Kim

LeAnn Rimes will be the first one to tell you that she likes to be in control of just about every aspect of her life, including travel. “I’m very hands on when it comes to planning trips,” the 30-year-old singer says, laughing. “I really would love to go on a safari. That’s the next thing I want to do, and I’ve been planning it for a couple years now. I’m looking forward to going away with my husband (actor Eddie Cibrian).” But first, Rimes will tour to promote her new CD “Spitfire.”

Go Away With … Gary Player

Jae-Ha Kim

Before he turned 30, golf legend Gary Player became the third person to win the Grand Slam. In 1974, after winning 165 tournaments, Player was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Player and his wife, Vivienne, live on a stud farm outside of Colesberg, South Africa. They also spend time at their home on Florida’s Jupiter Island.

Go Away With … Pete Wentz

Jae-Ha Kim

Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz remembers traveling to the Bahamas as a child and getting ill on the small plane that took his family from Nassau to their destination. “I had terrible motion sickness when I was younger and I barfed into the bag,” says the 33-year-old musician, who also hosts the Oxygen reality series “Best Ink.” There was no place to throw the bag away, so we had to go through customs holding it. That was a little weird, but the trip overall was awesome!”

Go Away With … Mayim Bialik

Jae-Ha Kim

Where would Sheldon Cooper and Amy Farrah Fowler — aka Shamie — go for their honeymoon? I asked Mayim Bialik, the actress who plays one-half of the geeky dream team on “The Big Bang Theory”: “Probably Stockholm, home of the Nobel Prize, maybe, or somewhere with lots of trains, since Sheldon loves trains.”

Go Away With … Nora Kirkpatrick

Jae-Ha Kim

“I love South America and Mexico City,” says “The Office” actress Nora Kirkpatrick. “I loved Cuzco, Peru. I spent time there before I hiked Machu Picchu. A city that took me by surprise last year when we were on tour, was the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. We played this amazing festival called Noorderzon that combines theater, arts and music around this beautiful lake in the center of town. It was an incredible city, specifically geared for biking. I could have lived there, and I rarely feel that while traveling.”

Go Away With … Ted Allen

Jae-Ha Kim

Born in Ohio and raised in Indiana, Ted Allen — the host of “Chopped All-Stars,” currently in its third season on the Food Network — remembers his parents dressing him up in smart pants and a blazer, before boarding a flight to visit his grandparents in Orlando. “This was during a time when everyone dressed up to fly,” says Allen, 47. “I remember getting to go into the cockpit on an Eastern Airlines flight, which was very exciting for me as a little kid. I’ve always loved going to visit different places.” Allen resides in New York City.

Go Away With … Frances Fisher

Jae-Ha Kim

“Travel is one of the best ways of knowing that we’re all one as human beings on this planet,” says actress Frances Fisher. “I grew up traveling. When I had my baby (Francesca Eastwood), it seemed natural to take her everywhere with me. She loved it!” Fisher, 60, may be seen in the film “The Host,” which is based on “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer’s novel of the same name.

Go Away With … Aly Raisman

Jae-Ha Kim

As the captain of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Aly Raisman led the squad — dubbed the Fierce Five — to its gold medal in the team competition. She also won an individual gold medal in the floor exercise, as well as a bronze medal on the balance beam. Today, the 18-year-old gymnast is looking to add a mirror ball trophy to her collection of awards as she competes on “Dancing with the Stars.” Currently residing in Los Angeles, Raisman says one of the things she’s enjoying about the city is everyone’s quest for a healthy lifestyle.

Go Away With … Sabrina Soto

Jae-Ha Kim

Author, Target™ Style expert and HGTV on-air personality, Sabrina Soto is known to viewers as the host and designer of such shows as “The High Low Project” and “Get It Sold.” Soto, who has a background in both real estate and design, says she has always been interested in decorating and interior design. To get paid to do it is literally a dream come true for her, she says. A resident of New York’s Upper West Side, Soto admits that it’s sometimes difficult to get her out of her beautiful apartment when she’s not working. Still, the allure of travel is something she can’t ignore.

Go Away With … Kevin Olusola of Pentatonix

Jae-Ha Kim

The son of a Nigerian psychiatrist and a Grenadian nurse, Kevin Olusola enrolled at Yale University intending on pursuing a medical career. But the classically-trained cellist and innovative beatboxer couldn’t resist entering the “Celebrate and Collaborate with Yo-Yo Ma” international competition, where he won second place. As a member of the a cappella group Pentatonix, the 24-year-old musician and his bandmates won the third season of the NBC reality series “The Sing-Off.”

Go Away With … Tristan Prettyman

Jae-Ha Kim

“Mexico is pretty amazing,” says singer Tristan Prettyman. “From San Diego, it’s so close to drive to Rosarito and rent a house for cheap and relax, surf and chill out. My parents also have property about 19 hours down in a little surf town. I love going there to get away. No phone service or Internet. It’s the perfect unplug-from-everything getaway.”

Go Away With … Matthew Salesses

Jae-Ha Kim

Author Matthew Salesses says his year in Prague was one of his favorite years: “It was very cheap for Americans when I was there. Beer cost about one dollar, rent was about $600 per month for a four-bedroom apartment and you could get a really good meal for a few dollars. As soon as I ran out of my American money, I had to live off my earnings. I was paid in crowns, not dollars, so then I was even poorer than I am now. It’s not the kind of place where you can make a lot of money and travel around. But it was such a beautiful city and there was plenty to see. There is this great beer garden in Prague on Letna Hill where you can have a drink and look over most of the city.”