Returning to his favourite city off the back of a press tour, New York based actor, Johnathan McClain tells e-Travel Blackboard why the Big Apple should be on everyone’s bucket list and how picking up foreign accents can get him into a bit of trouble.  

	Photo credited to Marc Cartwright

e-Travel Blackboard: Raised in South Carolina, you’ve since moved to Chicago, New York and then Los Angeles – having had the opportunity to live in four popular travel destinations within the US, which would you say is your favourite city and why?

Johnathan: I think New York is the only place on Earth that a person should travel or live. If I had the autonomy to make that decision it would be the only place I would ever go because it’s not just the greatest destination: it is the greatest in the history of civilisation. It has a magical energy and it is like an organism that’s greater than some of its parts: palpable energy that makes it more substantial than just the building and concrete. My wife said the other day that it’s the best place on earth to reinvent yourself… and it really is. There’s something magical about it. And the spectacle of the city - there’s this uniqueness to it because it has this quality that’s exciting in everyway. It’s like it is complex but not too complicated.

e-Travel Blackboard: What’s the one thing you recommend all travellers see in the city?

Johnathan: It’s really simple and specific. If you go into Central Park, there this spot on the eastside of the Park where you can just sit for hours upon hours. It’s in the middle of this enormous structural peak of human engineering and it is like a quiet refuge where you can sit and watch people from all over the world walk past in this communal spot. It’s also great because as an actor, watching people is a responsibility of my job and that could be why it is appealing to me. But everyone can enjoy it - rich or poor.

Central park is such an important part of a city like New York because you need somewhere you can escape to a quiet place in the middle of it all.

e-Travel Blackboard: Your work seems to take you around the country a fair bit, what other locations have you had the opportunity to work in?

Johnathan: I’ve actually worked all over the place. Even internationally including Toronto in Canada at one point; it’s probably one of the cleanest cities in the world. I’ve done Canada, I’ve been all over the US, New Mexico - which is a big place for filming. Miami, I’ve worked in New York and surrounding areas and I just came back from a press tour in Italy.

e-Travel Blackboard: How was Italy?

Johnathan: I loved it. It was mostly in Florence, which was very charming and beautiful, and I bought the most amazing pair of shoes.

We did a side trip to Rome and it was incredible – it’s definitely part of my list of travel priorities. I thought it was magnificent. New York is all about the energy and pulsing nature, but Rome had all the characteristics of a modern and energetic city mixed with the most genuine antiquity I’ve ever seen in one place before. I was looking at the buildings in Rome and I could see the archetype - which cities today are built on. I could really imagine what it looked like years ago.      

e-Travel Blackboard: Have you ever had the opportunity to travel down to Australia?

Johnathan: No, I so desperately want to get to Australia. I want to get to Australia and also to South Africa. There’s an interesting allegiance with the Australia and South Africans, sort of a unified sensibility. So I really want to get to both.

The thing about getting to Australia is I haven’t been taken there for work yet and so I haven’t wanted to take myself there. That’s the only impediment to me going. I remember when the Olympics were on in Sydney; it looked amazing and it looked like God’s country.

You know there are a few Australian actors in the US and it’s interesting, I’ve met many people that speak highly of Australia but they’re never in Australia when they’re telling me about it.

As much as I love New York, I’m not immune to other locations… the Australian coastal regions look beautiful and anyone who sounds British or anything in that vicinity appeals to me.

Travelling where I already know the language is great, I like to fundamentally communicate when I’m travelling because otherwise so much of my mental energy is exhausted trying to look like I know what I’m doing. When people travel to countries where they can’t speak the language sometimes they tend to disappoint themselves and they come back complaining that it wasn’t what they expected.

e-Travel Blackboard: So did you pick up any Italian while you were in Florence?

Johnathan: I actually speak a bit already - just enough to communicate badly. But, I find in most countries they attempt to speak English, and in Italy they will admit they speak more English than I do Italian. But languages are also one of the things that are fascinating to me. To see where they are unified, and where they differ, especially romantic languages.  

e-Travel Blackboard: To what other destinations has work taken you?

Jonathan: All over Europe; Italy, Britain, Paris and surrounding areas, Spain. Also, my wife is going to take me to Iceland - that’s high on the list.

I’ve also been to Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands, pretty much everywhere west of Turkey, even Russia. But the further East you go, the less I’ve travelled. One of the things about living in New York is if you wanted to go abroad you just jump over to Europe. Living on the West Coast: that’s how I discovered Hawaii and Maui.

e-Travel Blackboard: What are three things you must always take with you when travelling?

Johnathan: I travel almost as an excuse to buy new luggage. I love luggage. When I was a young man growing up we didn’t travel because we grew up in a tourist city so we already had the beach, but the image of a well-traveled, American traveler was associated with fine luggage. It is such a romantic ideal that when I could, I went out and bought my own stuff. I bought the nicest luggage I could possibly afford.

Now I treat my luggage like a baby, I dust it off when I take it off the luggage cart and I always want it to look clean.

The only other thing is that I’m addicted to my phone; I have to have it with me. Whatever it costs to activate cellular connections in other countries, I will pay for it. But otherwise, I’m not really one of those people who needs my special pillow, but I do have to have my electric toothbrush.

I also try to do as much research into how they dress in the country I’m visiting because the last thing I want to look like is a tourist. Like, if I’m going to take pictures I will, but I’m very sneaky about it: I’ll use my phone and I’ll pretend I’m emailing someone. I like to look like I belong in the place that I go.

e-Travel Blackboard: Does that include talking in the local accent?

Johnathan: When I start talking in accents, that is when I get into all types of trouble [laughs]. Actually, coming back from Italy, I was talking with a little Italian accent for a few days before someone said to me “you sound like an idiot”.