By Jae-Ha Kim
Tribune Media Services
April 29, 2008
It has been a busy year for John Cho. He has been cast as Sulu in the upcoming “Star Trek” film to be released in 2009 and he reprised his role as the stoner Harold in “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay” – the sequel to the 2004 hit comedy “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.”
But the 35-year-old actor — who was born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Los Angeles — is about to tackle his most important role: that of dad. Cho and his wife, actress Kerri Higuchi, are expecting their first child – a son – at the end of May. “I’m taking a maternity leave with my wife,” Cho says, laughing. “We’re really anxious to meet this baby. I can’t wait.”
It’ll be a while before the Chos travel as a family, but the actor talks about one of his favorite destinations: France.
THERE’S ALWAYS GUANTANAMO BAY…: That would be my least favorite place to go. I would never want to go there.
IF NOT GUANTANAMO, THEN WHERE? One of our best times was in Paris … Texas. No, just kidding. Paris, France. That was a ridiculously good time. In the U.S., we go to New York and San Francisco a lot. I love Chicago and feel it’s an underrated travel destination. Montreal gets overlooked as well – it’s a great city, the food is unbelievable and everywhere you turn there’s a historic place. It’s like France … but the people are nice and have manners.
WHY FRANCE? All kidding aside, there’s so much culture and history there. For tourists who enjoy going to see things, it can’t be beat. Everywhere you go, you find something that should be in a museum or in a book of photos somewhere. And the food is amazing. Everyone eats a ton in France, but they’re all thin. Paris is a pretty easy city to get around in, too.
GUIDEBOOK TYPE OF GUY: My wife and I are kind of guidebook buffs when it comes to traveling. We take really active vacations. We go to all the cathedrals and museums and keep busy. We don’t really sit back and wait for things to happen. We’re not really take-a-load-off kind of people, except in some place like Hawaii maybe.
PACKING FOR THE ROAD: My wife is very good at packing. I’m getting better, but I used to be a terrible overpacker. And people also have to remember that sometimes it can be difficult for guys to travel with one carryon ’cause our clothes are bigger (than women’s). If you plan on going to the gym at all and want to pack a pair of sneakers and your sweats, there’s not much room for anything else in that bag. It’s become a little bit of an obsession of mine to try to find items to take with me the next time I travel. I’ll look at a shirt and think, “Hmm, that’s a shirt I’ll be able to wear all day on a trip…”
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT FRANCE:
CURRENCY: Euro ($1.57US = 1EUR)
TIME ZONE: Paris is seven hours ahead of Chicago.
CAPITAL: Paris.
WHAT FRANCE IS FAMOUS FOR: the Eiffel Tower, the Palace of Versailles, the Tour de France, Napoleon, Marie Antoinette, pastries, perfume and haute couture.
DUTY FREE: U.S. citizens may bring back $800 worth of merchandise, duty-free! Like many European countries, France charges a Value Added Tax (VAT). If you spend more than 175EUR at one store, you’re eligible to get a refund for the VAT. You have to fill out paperwork and jump through some hoops, but it’ll save you a few Francs, er, Euros.
To learn more about Paris, go to http://us.franceguide.com/. To read more about “Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay,” check out the film’s Website at www.haroldandkumar.com.
© 2008 JAE-HA KIM
DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
