By Jae-Ha Kim
Baltimore Sun
January 21, 2020
Best known for his work on the Hulu series “Shrill,” Luka Jones is an avid traveler whose preferred mode of transportation is the train. But the actor says he hasn’t been blessed with the ability to pick up other languages. “I wish I did,” says Jones, 44, who resides in Los Angeles. “Spanish would be my first choice. When I was younger, I spent a month living in Belgrade, Serbia, but all I can recall from that time are some curse words!” Jones stays in touch with his fans via Twitter and Instagram.
Q. What is your favorite vacation destination?
A. The Bay Area. I love San Francisco. If I were to live somewhere else in California, it would be there or the East Bay. Berkeley is another of my favorites.
Q. To someone who was going to that area for the first time, what would you recommend that they do during their visit?
A. Alcatraz. It’s a weird thing to go to a formerly active prison on an island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay. But it’s actually really cool. You get to take a short ferry ride to the island and back. And you get some history about what it was like to be there when Alcatraz was active and how intense it must have been for prisoners there to be stuck on the island looking out at one of the most beautiful cities in the world knowing they don’t get to enjoy it. I’m making it sound horrible to some, maybe, but I promise it’s an interesting and oddly lovely trip.
Q. What was the first trip you took as a child?
A. The first trip I remember was a road trip from Chicago, where I partially grew up, to Toronto. My dad lived in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago and wanted to take the family to visit his friend in Toronto. It felt like a long trip to me at that time, but I was only about 10. I probably didn’t appreciate the great city of Toronto as much as I could have at the time. Later on, I shot a couple seasons of the TBS show “People of Earth” in Toronto. That meant I got to spend about six months there. I love that city. It’s very much like Chicago in a lot of ways. It has great food, great entertainment options and a really big city with a ton of diversity in terms of people and activities.
Q. If you could only pick one place to eat, would you choose a casual meal at a street cart or fine dining at a nice restaurant?
A. I’m into simple places to eat. I like it to be a restaurant, but nothing very fancy or very noisy. As an Angeleno, I prefer to go to one of the many Mexican restaurants and grab a burrito or some enchiladas than almost anything else.
Q. Where are your favorite weekend getaways?
A. Santa Barbara. Palm Springs. The beach towns north of San Diego. One nice thing about living in L.A. is that there are a lot of fun or relaxing places within a day’s drive from here. Obviously, San Francisco can be a weekend trip from here as well. And I happen to really enjoy Las Vegas. I know it’s not for everybody, but it’s fun!
Q. What are your five favorite cities?
A. Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Las Vegas.
Q. Where would you like to go that you have never been to before?
A. Tokyo. I have a lot of friends that have visited Tokyo over the last five years or so and all of them loved it there.
Q. When you go away, what are some of your must-have items?
A. Gotta bring my laptop. And I’ll always bring a book, even if I don’t read it.
Q. What would be your dream trip?
A. My dreams about trips are always changing. As I get older, my dream trip tends to become most about relaxing in a warm place with comfortable surroundings and zero pressure to do anything.
Q. What is your best vacation memory?
A. My first trip to New York City when I was young is probably the most excited I’ve ever been for a trip. I went to visit my friend in Maryland. His dad drove us up from Maryland and we caught a double-header at Yankee Stadium against Bo Jackson and the Kansas City Royals. That was a truly thrilling trip.
© 2020 JAE-HA KIM
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