New memoir from actor, traveler Andrew McCarthy
BY ALICIA RANCILIO Associated Press
Sunday, October 14, 2012
10/14/12 at 3:28 AM
NEW YORK — Twenty years
ago, actor Andrew McCarthy
read a book about walking the
Camino de Santiago, the ancient
pilgrimage route in Spain,
and it inspired him to walk the
Camino himself.
“That sort of changed the
way I felt in the world and it
helped me stop being afraid
of the world,” recalled Mc-
Carthy, 49. “It helped me realize
travel obliterates fear."
McCarthy, whose bestknown
films include his
work as part of Hollywood’s
“Brat Pack” in “Pretty in
Pink” and “St. Elmo’s Fire,”
is now an acclaimed travel
writer for major magazines
(he admits that he’s lucky
to have “the two best jobs in
the world” as an actor and a
writer). And he’s just written
his own book about travel
called “The Longest Way
Home: One Man’s Quest for
the Courage to Settle Down."
He sums up his conflicts over
settling down as, “I want to
be alone and I want to be
with you,” and says he resolved
the conflict “the way
I answer all questions in my
life, by traveling."
Here’s more from McCarthy,
who is married and the father
of two children, about travel:
AP: Are your children good
travelers?
McCarthy: Everything to
them is an adventure. My
kids love the plane. They
love going through security.
I mean, there are very few
meltdowns when we travel
and most of them are mine.
I took my son to the Sahara
when I was doing a story and
he had an incredible experience
in the Sahara. We had
a 12-hour car ride through
the wilds of Morocco and at
home if we were in the car
for more than 20 minutes, he
would’ve had an issue, but
he is fantastic, you know? As
long as I supplied him with
Coca-Cola, he was great.
AP: Any place you don’t like?
McCarthy: Very rarely do I get
to a spot where I’m like, “This
is awful.” It’s usually me that’s
awful in the spot and then
when I have something to eat
usually, or maybe a nap, I come
back, “Oh, yeah, no. This is
OK.” I find anywhere interesting.
… You know I was recently
in Sudan and I found that endless
and fascinating. I would
love to go back to Sudan. I’ve
been to a lot of places; I was in
Mozambique recently and it
was just ravaged parts of it and
I found it fascinating.
AP: Do you plan for trips?
McCarthy: I like to know what
story I’m planning to write before I go and then invariably
it changes. I find, like with
anything, it’s like with the
acting, the more prepared you
are, the more you can throw
that out the window when
surprises do happen, do you
know what I mean? When I’m
just on my own, I just go. I just
show up without a reservation.
I just arrive and figure it
out. I like that.
AP: How did you start writing
about travel?
McCarthy: It started because
I met the editor at National
Geographic Traveler and I
convinced him after much
cajoling to let me write a
piece for them. Eventually
I said, “Let me write it, if it
doesn’t work, you don’t pay
me.” And he went, “I can live
with that.” So I did a piece
for him and that worked out
so I did more for Traveler
and then my editor there, I
kept pitching him so much
he said, “Look, go write for
some other people, would
you?” So I started writing for
the Atlantic, the Times and
numerous things and nobody
really put together that it
was the actor Andrew Mc-
Carthy writing.
AP: How does travel affect you?
McCarthy: People think
they’re going to escape and
have a vacation (but) people
always have meltdowns on
vacation. You go, you leave
everything you know that
you’ve safely constructed to
keep yourself from having
any anxiety and you go to a
beach and you lay there and
all you have is your mind.
How can you not think that’s
gonna be a stressful experience?
I always think travel
is not about escape at all, it’s
about confronting yourself.
Original Print Headline: New memoir from actor and traveler Andrew McCarthy
Associated Images:
Actor Andrew McCarthy says he has the "two best jobs in the world," as an actor whose work includes "St. Elmo's Fire" and "Pretty in Pink" and as a travel writer for major magazines. Now he's written a book, "The Longest Way Home: One Man's Quest for the Courage to Settle Down," in which he describes resolving his conflicts over settling down "the way I answer all questions in my life, by traveling." EVAN AGOSTINI/Associated Press file
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