Want to know how to travel in style, just like the pros? We check in with frequent fliers to find out how often they fly, their favorite destinations and what they never leave home without.
Name: Jean Yves Chainon (Ooa Revo)
Occupation: Entrepreneur and creator (writing, photography, filmmaking, whichever media)
Hometown: Paris, France and Honolulu, Hawaii
Residence: US
Website: ooaworld.com
Facebook: ooaworld.com – ooa’s World, Arts & Travels
Pinterest: Ooa Revo
Google+: Ooa Revo Ooaworld
Instagram: ooarevo
YouTube: OOAworld Videos
Short bio: Founder of OOAworld: I used to work as a multimedia journalist and media consultant. Working in several areas of media and creative production, including a movie asking the world one common question: “What’s your philosophy of life?” Full bio here.
How often do you fly? Somewhere between 4 times per year and twice per month.
How many countries have you been to? 50+
How many continents have you been to? 4. Soon 6!
Earliest travel memory: Looking out the window of a plane and thinking clouds were weird and beautiful.
Favorite American city: New York City. Throw in Chicago, LA, SF, and New Orleans.
Favorite international city: Paris. I’m biased. It helps knowing some French because locals have the reputation of being * with tourists. I hear it’s getting better though.
Least favorite country: My least favorite question. No traveler should have a least favorite country, and instead pick the best out of every place they go. But let’s say Switzerland for the sake of answering: broke my leg skiing there when I was five years old.
Friendliest people in the world: Myanmar, or wherever people haven’t yet become too greedy with visitors.
Country with the meanest immigration officers: Sorry, USA.
Favorite World Heritage Site: Himalayas, Sagarmatha (Everest).
Favorite airline: Just discovered Vueling for low-cost in Europe. Air Asia in Asia. For the big name carriers, you know the usual suspects: Singapore, Emirates…
Favorite aircraft type: C-152, X-15, Space X Falcon. I love planes and flying: I got my pilot license in the first, dreamed of flying while reading about the second, and can’t wait to hop aboard the third.
Aisle or window: I try to let my partner sit by the window, but I ask her to take pictures. Otherwise I’m constantly leaning on her. So we usually end up switching back.
Favorite airport lounge: Kona, Big Island. Only because there’s none, and you’re already in paradise.
Favorite U.S. airport: San Francisco. I stop there on my way to Hawaii, so it’s always a blast.
Favorite international airport: Changi Airport in Singapore—free massage chairs is a nice perk.
Favorite cruise line: Oops. I’m not much of a cruise ship guy.
Favorite travel credit card: VISA.
Favorite island: Kauai and Big Island. Green and peaceful. Close enough to Oahu that I can get there more than once in a lifetime.
Favorite beach: El Nido, Palawan, Philippines. Have great memories of candlelit dinners there with my love.
Favorite fancy restaurant: Hotel Meurice, Paris.
Favorite hole-in-the-wall: So many. I always forget the names. I have a fond memory of entering the kitchen-home of an old Jamaican lady and eating alone with her.
Favorite bar: It’s hard to have a favorite bar when you move often. There was a time when I’d meet with a friend at Epstein’s in New York to eat a burger and watch a game.
Favorite fruit: Raspberry.
Favorite food: Like them all.
Least favorite food: Manioc (cassava). It’s very bland when served on its own (a bit like poi, but even more so). It’s tasty and healthy when mixed with other ingredients and spices. I have some in my fridge right now.
Drink of choice (in the air and on the ground): Air: ginger ale. Ground: coffee, or tonic water with quinine when in warm weather/malaria zones.
Favorite travel movie(s): 2001: Space Odyssey. Watched it like a maniac when I was a kid. Can’t remember a thing except that I loved the music.
Favorite travel show(s): Planet Earth.
Favorite travel book(s): “Moby Dick.”
Right now I am reading: “Ulysses.” I started about five years ago. I’m almost halfway.
Favorite travel website(s)—besides JohnnyJet.com, of course! Wikitravel—because it’s great when people volunteer to help others out. TripAdvisor—because you want to know where the crowds will be so you can be elsewhere.
5 things you bring on a plane: Paper, electronic paper. One bag (ie: a carry-on and no luggage if possible, which it usually is).
What do you always seem to forget? I forget. I’m always forgetting stuff.
What do you like least about travel? Having to be cautious about the bad intents of strangers. Physically speaking, sitting in the rearest seat of an all-night bus on a bumpy road.
What do you want your loved one to buy you from an airport Duty Free store? There was a time when it would have been a carton of cigarettes. But now that’s just sad. Any good alcohol will do.
Favorite travel app(s): Facebook and Skype.
Most embarrassing travel moment: Showing up at the airport with the rest of the company’s employees for a business trip. Before realizing my flight was scheduled on the next day. On a separate occasion I also managed to show up with TWO expired passports.
Worst travel moment: Being chased by a group of villagers to the edge of a cliff in Congo.
What’s your dream destination? First Patagonia. Then space.
Favorite travel charity: USAID.
Best travel tip: Get some sleep. Eat real food. You’ll see and save a lot more in the short and long run.
