Antoni Porowski, Queer Eye star and Presenter

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4:09Hello and welcome to the Travel Diaries podcast. I'm your host, Holly Rubenstein, and here each week we uncover the seven chapters of my guests' travel diaries, from the first place they fell in love with to their all-time favourite destination, the hidden gem, to what's at the top of their travel bucket list. Before we get started, if you enjoy this episode, don't forget to hit subscribe or follow on your podcast platform. It's free and it means a weekly dose of Wanderlust is delivered into your library each week. And by doing that, you're also really helping the podcast. Today's guest is a global TV star, a best-selling author, food obsessive, and one of the most beloved members of one of Netflix's biggest ever shows.

4:58I see my life sort of divided in two. There's life before Queer Eye and there's life after. And then we get to Times Square and we were on both Jumbotrons. And it was just this like this chill down my spine of sort of like, oh, wow. I remember that that moment I was like, oh, no, I think I've just done something that I can't take back. I don't hear from, you know, the other Muppets, my castmates for a month or two. And then someone starts the group chat up again. And it's like, OK, miss you guys. Like, when's the next one coming up? And now we don't have that. I was terrified. But I think with fears often where I learn the most important things about myself.

5:34I mean, I snot cried maybe three times during that scene. It looks like sweat in the show, but it was tears. And the scent and taste, basically, if shaved raw garlic and camembert, a ripe camembert, had a baby. That feeling of 24-7, even after a shower, of having that tight, salty skin from the ocean. That was, of course, Anthony Perovsky. You'll know Anthony as the much-loved food and wine expert from Netflix's global phenomenon, Queer Eye, where for 10 seasons he helped people transform not just the way that they cooked and ate, but the way that they saw themselves. And Anthony's own story is such a fascinating journey in itself.

6:19In today's episode, we travel through his life from childhood road trips to the North Carolina coast in the first meal that truly blew his mind, to the trip he saved up for as a young waiter in New York that made him fall completely in love with travel. And of course, we dive into his new National Geographic series, Best of the World with Anthony Porofsky. It is such a beautiful, watchable show, and Anthony, of course, is fabulous. Before we get started with Anthony, part two of my Dolomites travel diaries to share with you. Every so often, a hotel opens up and makes you think, oh man, this is going to be a game changer.

6:57So this is a new opening and it is exactly how I felt about Aki Family Resort in South Tyrol in northern Italy. So you fly into Innsbruck, you cross the border into Italy and you arrive near Brixen, which is at the foot of Mount Plossa in this extraordinary valley in the Dolomites. And it's all mountains and forests and huge skies and cinematic South Tyrolean views. And the hotel's been designed to really make the most of that. Every room faces out towards the mountains, so you wake up to this vast alpine panorama every morning. And from the moment you step inside, you know this is a children's wonderland.

7:39It is joyfully and unapologetically built around families. but, and this is an important but, it manages to do something incredibly rare which is to make the children feel like they're in paradise without the adults feeling like they're sacrificing on their own holiday and as you know guys this is now my holy grail of travel this is what I'm seeking there's an adventure park in the forest there are outdoor playgrounds a petting zoo a duck pond with a raft a children's cable car a packed activity program a huge sham pit looking out towards the snowy peaks, an ice cream bar. Yeah, that was a bit of a tricky one to navigate.

8:13And then this extraordinary indoor outdoor pool with genuinely one of the best views I've ever seen from a swimming pool on my travels. I mean, stunning. The food spectacular, huge, abundant buffet spreads, beautiful local produce, a kitchen that felt like it was constantly overflowing with food. There are so many clever touches, like there are baby corners, bottle prep facilities dotted around the place children's food stations so you can just go and take a jar of baby food and a bib and and all of it by the way is immaculate i don't know how they how it is so clean but every toy everything about it is pristine and the real game changer is a child care from naught and up yeah you had that right casper wentman he was five months old and oh they had these amazing hanging electronic hammocks from the ceiling that would bob up and down the babies to sleep it was it was incredible.

9:06I honestly don't think he's ever slept so soundly as he did in that kids club. The activities for the kids of all ages up to teens is like next level. So for example Isabella did an art class on this like huge easel where she was painting the mountains looking out outside. It was beautiful. She had a private swimming lesson in one of the pools. In winter there's skiing right there. There's a magic carpet literally like steps from breakfast. For adults There's an adults only spa tucked away in the mountains, stunning, really calm. I feel like we only just scratched the surface. And in fact, I'd love to go back as the kids get older and also to see it in the summer.

9:41We were there in March, which was a lovely time to go. But one of those real year round destinations. I've no doubt Aki is going to become one of the most sought after family hotels in Europe. So a massive thank you to them for having us and a new favourite for us for sure. OK, so let's get started with the lovely Anthony. I spoke to him last week. He was in New York, I was in London. So from Canada to the Carolinas, Montreal to Mexico, buckle up. Here we go.

10:14Antoni Porowski: Anthony, welcome to The Travel Diaries. It is so lovely to see you. How are you? I'm doing really well. I'm happy. I'm rested. I was just in the country and just got back this morning so um it's always a bit of like a shift coming back to the city from being out in the sticks um but um but I'm grateful that I get to experience both where's the sticks for you where do you um in in Pennsylvania oh nice so what drew you there very close to New York um I think just I started going out there we were actually filming Queer Eye in um in Philadelphia a long time ago and a friend of mine has a farm there or had a farm there with her family and I used to go on weekends and just there was something about the rolling hills it's very equestrian and I rode horses growing up and it's just like peaceful and calm and the complete antithesis to New York City as much as I love this city I always I've often said I I love it because I'm so excited to leave and always even more happy to come back if that makes any sense completely completely yeah and we both I think share a real mutual love of travel so I am so excited today to go on a journey through the seven chapters of your life's travel diaries Anthony and we all start at the very beginning with chapter one and that's your earliest childhood travel memory what comes to mind earliest travel memory would have to be so it's when my whole family was living in Montreal and we had this raspberry red Mercury Villager.

11:55I don't even think they make them anymore if they exist, but it was a minivan that was a big deal because it had bucket seats in the middle row. And so my sisters would of course get the bucket seats. I had the back row and my parents would be in front and we would drive to, this was more a trip from my dad but we enjoyed it as well it was to a place called cape hatteras in north carolina and we would go there we often drove because we had our dog and it's beautiful coastline of north carolina right on the atlantic and it's where kitty hawk is nearby where the wright brothers first took flight and there are these beautiful sand dunes that you can roll down um there was a crab shack called dirty dicks and they had t-shirt that was called dirty dick gave me crabs delicious crabs.

12:44And, and we would go and we would sometimes we would rent houses with, with family friends. And then when I went just with my parents, one time we stayed at this motel where fishermen would stay. And so at like five o 'clock in the morning, they would be out doing their thing and then come back and it would just reek of the insides of fish. And my dog would absolutely love it so we experienced the highs and the lows there um and got to really but it was it was beautiful because it was just these like endless beaches painfully quiet and just very serene and there was an area called Canadian Hole where all the Canadians would go windsurfing and my dad would windsurf and we would just have like cheese and fruit in our big old igloo cooler and just like sit on the beach all day long building sandcastles chasing my miniature her docks and beagy around who would be digging holes all the time and getting sand in her eyes and it was just perfection just that that feeling of 24 7 even after a shower of having that tight

13:46Antoni Porowski: salty skin from the ocean oh I so know what you mean and that's so exciting especially as a child isn't it as well to kind of feel like that sense of freedom that being on the coast gives you especially the wild coast too where it just wasn't there were tourists but it wasn't touristy it was still very peaceful and and serene I think my parents never gravitated towards like the really busy spots they always kind of wanted nature which which kind of stayed with me yeah it feels like a real hidden gem how did they discover it I have absolutely no idea because it was like at least 20 hours drive from Montreal.

14:28And I'm sure there was some windsurfing that was closer than North Carolina, but I think they just really liked it. It was, I mean, we're seafood obsessed in my family. And so it was a really nice restaurant called the Labrador that we used to go to. I mean, days that we wouldn't go to restaurants, there was a place called, I think it was probably one of the first fine dining experiences I remembered, even though it was a very casual area. It was a place called Labrador. And my memories are very food driven, which might not be much of a surprise if you know the kind of work that I do and get to know me as a person.

15:04But my whole family is like that. And I remember it was the first time I had a halibut filet crusted with crab meat and pistachios. And it was this like awakening of like, you can crust things with other things and have like multiple animals together. And it just kind of blew my mind. And And we would have that. And then other nights, we would go to the market and just get like five or six pounds of peel and eat shrimp and just boil them in Old Bay seasoning. And my parents would crack open a bottle of wine. And I would drink, they would bring from Costco this like apple and purple, like a non-alcoholic spark.

15:41It was basically soda packaged as champagne to make kids feel special. And we would just sit at a table just like tearing open shrimp and just leaving the

15:50Antoni Porowski: shells behind and yeah it was it was beautiful so you had a love of food from a young age a deep obsession since I was a child I don't think I really had a choice in the matter because if you met my family it's like everyone is exactly the same it all revolved around what are we doing for breakfast while we're having breakfast what are we doing for lunch and then dinner snacks in between like everything was planned out in regards to food I even remember in Canada we had like slight different laws and a lot of like junk food wasn't available there and so when we came to North Carolina it was like I got to have the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cereal which was just green cereal and things like Lucky Charms yes so my parents gave me a free pass at even the the easy cheese it's like cheese in a can yeah I had never looked at the ingredients but it sort of tastes like cheese but I was obsessed with it and that was like my free pass to just eat whatever the marshmallow spread what was that as well oh fluff fluff whenever i went to the u.s come back with some fluff and rice krispy treat cereal that was the other naturally so good and now there are cereal cafes here in london that just sell those specialized u.s yeah there was one in montreal too which is like yeah it's gaining traction yeah and so you moved from montreal to west virginia when you were around 12, which must have been a bit of a culture shock.

17:14Antoni Porowski: Was it going from somewhere as cosmopolitan as Montreal to somewhere? A very different environment, West Virginia. Very much so. I mean, you know, I braggingly often, you know, like to share how diverse and multicultural Montreal is. And I think a lot of how I travel and why I travel is dictated by the upbringing that I had. And moving to West Virginia was definitely very different. I mean, it was beautiful, rolling green hills, you know, but it was very kind of secluded. And the minuses were sort of lack of diversity exposure and a little more homogeny on the food front. I mean, our grocery store was Walmart.

17:58We didn't really have too many farmers markets and that kind of stuff. and then but where it made up for it was just you know being outdoors every single day and just like enjoying nature I lived in a suburb in Montreal and so I really got to enjoy that but it was

18:16Antoni Porowski: definitely definitely very different I feel like Montreal is a bit of a an unsung hero especially for us Brits because we typically would head to Vancouver or Toronto but I know that Montreal is such a beautiful and unique part of Canada. How would you spend a perfect day there for somebody who hadn't been there before? What would you tell them to do? Oh my gosh. Well, first you need to get to know my step-mom. And so you have to stay at her place because she has a beautiful condo that's in this part of the city, which when I was growing up was literally just, it was just like flat terrain. There was nothing there.

18:58And now suddenly all of these condos got built and it overlooks the entire city. So you get a beautiful perspective. Yeah. So wake up in the morning, I would probably go to September Cafe, which is literally next door to that cereal place that I had in mind when I was mentioning.

19:15Antoni Porowski: Yeah. And go there, get a matcha or a latte or whatever you want. They have beautiful breakfast sandwiches. And then I would probably walk to, I guess, oh, this is for a tourist. So not just for me. Yeah. somebody who's sipping their toe in the water yeah so hopefully you're going in the months that aren't um winter because that is just so painful and dark um I mean Londoners understand what it's like to have a lot of rain and gray days but the winters are really harsh in Montreal but where they make up for it is the springtime in the summer so I would then walk down St Catherine Street um and then by that time there's probably a restaurant open called Rotisserie Italienne which was my favorite spot.

20:01And they had this incredible, it's kind of like a cacio e pepe tortellini. And they had a shrimp pizzaiolo and a mozzarella and carota, just a piece of fried bread with mozzarella and a perfectly sweet, tangy marinara sauce. And it was a bunch of Italians that were obsessed with hockey, who had a bunch of hockey sticks as like part of the decor and you order your food and they yell at you when it's ready. And then years later, this is right after I moved, I believe a Chinese woman bought it. And the community was in like an uproar. And they were like, no, this is an Italian restaurant. And she ended up, all those chefs left because they had retired.

20:38And they were all old Italian dudes. And they trained all of her new staff how to properly make the cuisine. And so we went back after.

20:48Antoni Porowski: That feels like a movie that needs to be made. Yeah. And we went and the food, I'm not kidding, was just as good. And it was so nice that they had really honored the technique and the ingredients and everything. They didn't change a thing. Still just as sassy when you ordered your food and they yelled at you when it was ready and you picked it up on your little plastic tray and you sat down. So I would have that meal there. What a story. Yeah. And then probably take a walk to the McGill campus, which is a beautiful university right in the heart of Montreal. I did not attend there. I went to the rival school, Concordia, but I lived on the McGill campus because it was so pretty.

21:20And it's just so nice to walk around there and see some of like the old, like early 1800s, late 1800s architecture. And then I would probably take a walk up to Mount Royal, which was designed by the same architect as a landscaping architect as Central Park in New York and other parks in New York as well. And so it's such a beautiful, cause you can take a long stroll, like a nature mountain walk, and then you can walk through the streets and everyone is out there in the summer playing tam-tams and it's like the city really comes to life and everyone just flocks there with their

21:52Antoni Porowski: bottles of wine and you know what's tam-tams and tam-tams is sort of playing it's like a drum thing it's like uh so we have a really big uh I believe it's a I believe it's Lebanese um but we have a really big Lebanese community and they go there and they just play these drums and they just jam together and people bring their instruments and people just start dancing and it just goes on from like it goes on on Sundays in particular but on the weekends just everyone is out just picnicking and just chilling which is so idyllic yeah and then I think by that point you're probably hanging out outside a little bit getting a little hungry again and then I would probably go over to the Outremont area which is sort of like a slightly more affluent French Canadian and Hasidic Jewish area in Montreal that has like beautiful homes.

22:44And I would go to a restaurant called Le Meac, which is like a classic French brasserie. They have a special every night, their beef cheeks are to die for. And I would probably have like a nice frisee salad with like a little cracked poached egg and some crispy lardons and finish with some beef cheeks and some creme brulee and then um then go to um oh my gosh i'm forgetting the name right now but there's my favorite gelato place um that's uh local it's quebec and once a year it's seasonal and it always sells out they have a maple ice cream that just has this maple type taffy that's swirled in this really beautiful tahitian vanilla bean situation with the specks and i would just have a little scoop of that in the cup or a little waffle cone and then make the long way back to Sylvie's and she would make me a nice herbal tea and then call it a day.

23:40Antoni Porowski: What a day. Oh my God, my stomach is rumbling. Well, I'll include all the places that you mentioned in the episode show notes because so many great tips there. And oh, well, doesn't that make you want to go to Montreal? The ice cream place is called Bilboquet. Bilboquet. Yeah, B-I-L-B-O-Q-U-E-T. Bilboquet. Got it, got it. Delicious. Well, the second chapter in our travel diary today, is the first place that you fell in love with. Where captured your heart first? Oh my gosh. I would say it was probably one of the first trips that I ever really saved up for. I've done like all inclusives with my friends, you know, as soon as we were like at drinking age in Canada and like going to Cancun and that was all fun and lovely.

24:37But I think the first one that really hit me was probably a trip I took to Florence and then Rome. Ages ago, way before the life I have now. And I remember what a big deal it was booking my own transatlantic flight and planning the the b &b in rome and in florence as well and it was just it was so magical because i just found these like beautiful little studio lofts i took recommendations from other server friends that i was working with um at bond street sushi where i was a server at the time and i went to a place this is uh in new york yeah yeah so it was like a big deal and i remember how much i fell in love with rome and just walking i went to campo de fiori every single day for those beautiful wild strawberries and it was just it was a gorgeous trip because I again I'm I love walking and I'm not the best driver I'm working on it now that I need to drive a little more that I have a place in the country but I just I think the best way to explore a city is really by foot because you have your place that you're going to but then you find a little shop on the way and you get distracted and it's like not not having a set schedule and getting a little lost is always the best discoveries are always made that way.

25:51Antoni Porowski: Yeah, totally. It's like its own form of slow travel in a way. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so at that time when you were living in New York and you were auditioning, you were an actor. For my listeners who don't know, you know, what was the big break into Queer Eye? Like, how did that all come about? Yeah. I mean, yeah, I was in New York, like millions of others, coming from all over the world and uh I was hustling I was working at Bond Street as a server at a sushi restaurant that's a bit of like a an institution in New York as a personal assistant I was working in a gallery just trying to make ends meet and trying to not have to go back home with my tail between my legs yeah just like I was stubborn when I moved here for school and I decided like either way I'm going to figure out how to how to not only survive but to thrive in the city.

26:45And I was getting older, I graduated, I was booking parts, but I wasn't booking the type of parts that were really moving the needle. And, and a friend of mine mentioned that Queer Eye was being rebooted with Netflix, that it was going to be a lot more documentary storytelling. And I decided, you know what, I'm not getting any younger, I wanted to be in traditional film and TV, but I was very passionate about food. But it was something that up until then was very personal. and wasn't anything that I thought about, you know, doing in a professional capacity, except for one video that I did. I did like a saffron lobster herb dip with a bunch of crudités for a friend's platform just for fun.

27:26And I was so nervous. I didn't really enjoy myself because I was in my head and I was like, oh, this isn't going to happen. And then Queer Eye came about and I decided to audition. And I was invited to go to LA for the casting process where they narrowed down to a few hundred of us and then the pool got smaller and smaller and then just ended up you know my pathologic competitiveness kicked in and I decided like oh I think I really actually want this job.

27:51Antoni Porowski: So when you were first going into it were you kind of a bit ambivalent and then as it got closer did you feel that like rising sense of anticipation like this is something you really want? Yeah I mean I think also the energy of just seeing all these people coming together in these five categories that they were casting for, for culture, grooming, interior design, food and fashion, and seeing people who had gone to school, people who were self-taught, people who just started, people who'd been doing this for over a decade. And it was like, wow, this is like really impressive and intimidating. And I was terrified.

28:27But I think with fears often where I learn the most important things about myself. So I have this thing in my system where I'm scared of a lot of things but I try not to be ashamed of it and I just kind of like try to like barrel through um and yeah I'm glad I did because it really it just it literally

28:45Antoni Porowski: changed everything and was it did it feel like an overnight change in your life yes and no I think on one end you know with the show coming out I remember we had our first press hit we were driving up to Times Square to go for like a live television segment and one of my castmates suddenly started screaming saying saw us on a on a on a bus billboard and I was like holy shit like I've never seen Carrie Bradshaw like that it was so exactly I understand that reference and then we saw the next bus stop and the one after that and it was just covering Seventh Avenue and then we get to Times Square and we were on both jumbotrons just like pointing each other and it was just this like this chill down my spine of sort of like oh wow I remember that that moment I was like oh no I think I've just done something that I can't take back not in terms of regret but where it was like I've just stepped onto a stage that I can't just exit I gotta do the thing now.

29:49And so I was excited, but also terrified. So in that respect, you know, Netflix dropped Queer Eye, it was their first unscripted show. And I was told they dropped it in all 190 territories and countries simultaneously, which typically there's a rollout plan. It happens in the US, and then a few months later in Canada, and then the UK. But this was all at once. So it did feel like a flash in the pan in that respect and sort of an overnight of being recognized loss of anonymity all of that but at the same time I'd been hustling for such a long time not necessarily towards that specific goal but even now I'll contradict myself because when I look back I'm like okay my psychology major in university totally made sense working in restaurants I come from a family that is deeply obsessed with food I worked as a personal assistant for the ex food and wine expert on Queer Eye, which feels like a connection of like, that it was with Ted Allen that, you know, but not one day that I worked for him, I thought, oh, I'll do the thing that you did one day, but I was learning from him all throughout.

30:56So when it happened, I kind of had this, this skill set. It's actually, it was destiny.

31:01Antoni Porowski: It was destiny, Anthony. I mean, yeah, we can call it destiny maybe. Yeah. I mean, we would, you know, thinking about it now, it's like I, when I was growing up, my mother would cook, but I wouldn't cook with her. So I watched because she was very like in control the way I like to be in the kitchen, but I'm softening in my, in my forties and letting people help a little, especially my partner. But I realized that I've had these moments in my life where I would learn from someone and not immediately partake physically, but just kind of study and watch. And that's been like a through line where I learned from Ted, not knowing that I was going to do that, but then ended up having this path.

31:40So it's interesting how I think there's a message there, something about the importance of just like being a student and shutting up and listening and just trying to take in as much information as you can. I feel like you've just so naturally segued us through chapter three, which is the place where

31:58Antoni Porowski: you learned the most about yourself, because I mean, this is it, right? This was in New York and and everything that whole trajectory up until that point uh would you say what you that would answer that chapter for us i think i mean i definitely i feel like i mean i i look at my life when i reference if i'm speaking to childhood friends or family members or even newer friends i see my life sort of divided in two there's life before queer eye and there's life after um I remember when the show first came out an actor friend of mine um who's like well seasoned and and and and very successful I remember he came up to me and he was like wow it's like pretty insane like what's going on with like the show and everything like congratulations because we used to act together and he was like it's kind of he's like it kind of it's this like crazy overnight thing he's like how are you feeling and I was like well you know no matter what I'm not going to change.

32:57I'm going to stay exactly who I was before. And I'm still going to be the same Anthony from Montreal, who's been like hustling in New York. And I'm never going to let go of that because my dad would always tell me like, stay humble, stay humble. And my friend was like, that is the biggest delusion you can tell yourself. He's like, everything about your life has changed. The energy you bring into a room changes. The way you navigate business situations, social situations, encountering strangers, even family dynamics, like all of that is completely shifting and you can't be in denial of that. So I tried to push against it until I kind of finally just let go because I'm an extroverted person, but I can also have my pretty intensely introverted days.

33:38And it's always on the introverted days where I tend to attract the most attention. That's how the universe typically works in my book. And so I kind of learned that I was going to have to change. And so I would say definitely queer eye sort of shifted a lot of that and then um i mean i've i learned so much about myself and the things i was confident in more importantly the things i wasn't confident about and how that changed but yeah queer eye and i think every relationship romantic relationship i've ever had those two things have taught me the most about myself because i think they sort of when queer I started and when relationships typically end or when I go through a bit of a metamorphosis and figuring out who I am, what I like about myself, what I want to hold true to, things about me that I'm curious about changing or want to just kind of like put the microscope up to in therapy and kind of explore more.

34:34But yeah, I would say it's those two things.

34:37Antoni Porowski: Yeah, that kind of vulnerability. And that is what also came through on the show, wasn't it? because your role became so much about so much more than cooking and food yeah and uh and then saying goodbye to it how did what was it grief was it relief was it freedom or was it like all of those things I think it's just like everything in my life multiple things can exist at the same time and part of it was wow we did 10 seasons 11 if you count Japan because I feel like that's a really underappreciated episode that for some reason isn't under the same category on the Netflix app, but it's still available if anybody wants to check it out.

35:16Antoni Porowski: Yeah. We were jet lagged as hell and super cross eyed from not sleeping and not knowing, you know, what time it was, but it was still a beautiful season. And one for the travel lovers. Yeah, exactly. Today's episode is brought to you by Airbnb. You know, that lovely feeling when you arrive somewhere new and just feels easy, like you've landed somewhere that gives you a genuine window into local life? That's something I hear about again and again from friends that stay in Airbnbs. People love being in real homes, in real communities, experiencing a destination in a more personal way. It's those small, authentic touches that often end up being the most memorable part of a trip.

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36:31Thank you to Airbnb.

36:38The grand opening of your neighborhood Midas is here, and this is your grand invitation to experience a new kind of complete auto care. It's your grand introduction to our team of skilled technicians, ready to let you know what needs fixing now and what can wait. And with everything from routine oil changes to brand new tires, there's no grander opportunity to feel more confident in your ride. visit Midas now at 1812 Sycamore Road and get a synthetic blend oil change with tire rotation for just$29.99 Chicagoland Wayfair's Memorial Day Sale starts May 11th and you can score up to 70 % off everything home in person shop Wayfair's Memorial Day Sale May 11th through 26th at the Wayfair store in Wilmette Wayfair every style every home yeah I mean it was a mixed bag I mean typically at the end of a season the way that it goes is okay we all go back to our lives I don't hear from you know the other Muppets my cast mates for a month or two and then someone starts the group chat up again and it's like okay miss you guys like when's the next one coming up and now we don't have that and it's you know it feels like it's kind of like graduation like graduating from you know elementary school or high school or even university where it's sort of like closing a chapter and it's, I was chatting with a friend recently where it's that feeling of sometimes you feel like in life you're on the, on the ascending, like you're, you're kind of like rising up to something, building something, whether you're building a business or relationship, growing a family, whatever it is.

38:12And other times there's this hazy murky sort of like ship in the misty seas where you're, you kind of know where you're going, but you're not really sure. And there's a lot of uncertainty and all you have is your compass and the stars hopefully and that's kind of where I feel like I'm at now I there are things that I'm working on in projects that I'm really excited about but there's still uncertainty we don't know if anything is going to stick or the type of work that I'm going to do but I in moments like that I just try to focus on what I can control and I know what my direction is I know that I started Queer Eye thinking that it was just going to be me cooking for people and teaching them the basics in kitchen skills.

38:55And I realized that although I did that, and I enjoyed it, the lesson was so much greater, because I got to connect with people that otherwise, I probably never would have had, you know, the benefit or the opportunity of getting to know. And that helps me understand the world a little better. It helps me understand, not necessarily agree, but understand people who view things very differently than I do, who have a different set of values based on their own experiences. And it's kind of, I kind of get little bursts of that when I travel too, whether I'm, it's a personal travel, like when I went to Rome, as I was mentioning, or when I was in Senegal for No Taste Like Home, where I can have a lot of stuff going on internally and a lot of, you know, sadness and pain and rage and confusion and anxiety.

39:45But suddenly when you're out there in the world, you realize like there are billions of people that are just doing their best. And some of them are preparing their fishing boats in North Carolina or off the coast of St. Louis in Senegal. And other people are going to the market, like in Poland, selling smoked cheese, like this woman that I saw at a kiosk with my dad that we still talk about to, you know, wild strawberries in Rome and it's just like it just kind of travel is like I'm so grateful that I'm in a position that it's something that's important to me and it's something that I get to do personally and professionally because it just it exposes me to so much in it and it right

40:23Antoni Porowski: sizes me it puts everything in perspective and you say in the intro to your new show with Nat Geo best of the world with Anthony Frosky that you've got the best job in the world now and truly I mean right I mean getting to see these four cities and get under their skin in all these different ways it must have been so much fun chapter four is your all-time favorite destination is it one of the four cities that you you uncovered in the show my all-time favorite destination I say this now because last year was probably the year that I travel the most in my life and i was you know spent more nights in hotels than i did in my own bed wow and i think where i am now where this year the travel has slowed down a little but also i have this place in the country to escape to it really makes me appreciate new york as this sort of constant like new york is that friend that's just always going to be there a friend once told me that New York is like punk rockers and cockroaches.

41:38They're never going to go away. Throughout the decades, they're always going to exist. They are a constant. And that's how New York feels to me. It changes. The pandemic closed down so many small businesses. And yes, there's so much gentrification and big businesses coming in on like cute little streets, but like the small businesses are still coming back up again and wonderful little restaurants are popping up. And it's a city that really, it never sleeps. It's always changing. It's always evolving. It's this beautiful chaos that's somehow comforting. Yes, it's claustrophobic. But at the same time, for me, that feels like a compression blanket, like a weighted blanket, like there's just something safe there.

42:14And I have my spots. I have my parks that I go to with my dog and my friends who are here and our rituals. And in the summers, biking across the bridge to go to, you know, outdoor dance parties in Brooklyn and in Queens. And it's like all these rituals that, you know, as happy as I am in the country now in this new chapter, it's like I still it has kind of like deepened my love for the city.

42:37Antoni Porowski: And you can feel that in the show as well, right? You can really feel that. Yeah. I just finished watching the Mexico City episode. Oh, my gosh. Absolutely. Oh, my gosh. It's such a beautifully made show, obviously helmed by such a fantastic host. but it was just so nice to really see that restaurant that you went to and that yeah yeah what was your highlight of Mexico City would you say so embarrassingly Mexico City is the only city in our first season that I'd never been to before and as someone who loves architecture and food alone it's shocking that I'd never gone I tried a couple of times and then things got derailed with work but I'm glad I made it because I remember even in Roma Norte I think was one of our first stops and you're walking and it's like okay the streets are wide like North American streets where you don't feel like you're in Europe but then you have the architecture kind of nods at a little bit of that and then the food is altogether so different and so complex and then the vegetation the vegetation is such a massive character because the city was built on a lake by the Aztecs and understanding these canals that still exist when we went canoeing with my friend Ricardo who's like such a lovely contributor on the show and an architect himself and a local to Mexico City and it's like you're walking and there's just vines overgrowing everywhere and it's so intensely cosmopolitan yet you're constantly reminded that nature rules because the vines and the root systems of the trees are just breaking through the concrete in the streets and growing up buildings.

44:16And it's just this like, this beautiful lost paradise. And it's such a recognizable city, yet it still feels like a secret for some, somehow, or at least it did to me. And then ending it with this, you know, festival with the Alebrije festival was just, I mean, I snot cried maybe three times during that scene. It looks like sweat in the show, but it was tears.

44:38Antoni Porowski: It was so colorful and so exciting. I mean, what a thing to, I think that's a cultural thing that I'm going to add to my bucket list to try and attend one day like it was oh my gosh magical it was out of this world and genuinely the producers yes I am an EP on the show we have conversations about the different things we want to do but that was one where they withheld information from me because they really wanted to see that element of surprise when I like showed up and they literally they did text me sort of saying like this is the because it's just basically for anybody who hasn't seen the episode yet um it's this beautiful celebration and this I I see it as like a peaceful protest for things that you know mexicans value and the and it's it's manifested in these massive paper mache fantastical creatures made of 10 different animals and colors and textures and they told me to look for a specific one and as i'm walking i see one that had little poems on it and then you're learning that these are survivors of breast cancer and then suddenly there were statements about immigration and how the u.s and and and mexico were connected through the cornfields and it was just like once it it just kind of it hits you in in in stages and it just like gets closer and closer to your heart until you're just like welling up and your tears are just you know blobs um but it was it was so the energy is almost is really celebratory isn't so celebratory and this is something all these artists are self-funded yeah they spend months building these things and you know using their own money to to do it it's not commissioned by anybody just supported by the Folkloric Museum which was such a great partner in all of it and it was just it was such a beautiful ending to my experience there.

46:23Antoni Porowski: Gorgeous well that is in itself a bit of a hidden gem experience chapter five is one of my favorite chapters your hidden gem a place that you love that maybe my listeners might not know so much about. I would say kuching in borneo so i was there filming uh my episode with henry golding um for no tastes like home which was another show for nat geo that i did last year that is basically like family history through food where we take a celebrity to their country of origin and explore a dish that they remember from childhood and we unpack what was going on sociocultural politically and borneo was by far one of it just completely there's no comparison for anywhere else that i've ever been in the world.

47:09And Kuching itself was, that was the main city where we, in the capital, where we stayed when we were filming and we would drive out to the outskirts to see where Henry's ancestors came from in these long, beautiful indigenous Iban houses that are still inhabited. But in the city itself, they had a regatta going on in this beautiful canal that was passing in all these markets and stores. And it was very, it was like this, this wonderful melding of, of Islamic traditions and also Catholic, I believe. And it was just, I remember I was there, my groomer, Anna is a very close friend of mine. And after shoots, she knows that I have to land.

47:50So we would love to go for long walks together. And she was telling me, she's like, you know, as a woman, she was like, I feel so safe walking here at night, which is something that I never really considered as you know a cisgendered white man of what it's like to be you know any type of minority or or or a woman walking in in foreign cities you know like you have to do your research and most places are very safe but of course you want to be careful and um and so that really hit me and then they had all these like incredible food kiosks and it was just I just felt somewhere so foreign where no one spoke English in the best way kind of reminded me of Japan a little bit where it was just you had to make way with gestures and with softness and kindness and trying to just get you know communicate what my needs were at a store or my curiosity and it was just very very healing I would go on morning and evening runs because there were no gyms there that's where they're lacking but beautiful running paths and and I would go for nice long runs just to like shake off the day and it was it was just stunning I mean the sunsets there and you know very humid but but worth worth the trek you know the um iconic chef

49:00Antoni Porowski: Raymond Blanc he was one of the first guests I ever had on the podcast like six years ago and that was his hidden gem too really another culinary icon chose wow yeah yeah oh my gosh did you have amazing food there like did you as that was there like a particular like bite that you had that sticks in your memory we had a wild eggplant that was stewed that was really beautiful and we had these sauteed ferns I've never had so many ferns in my life I didn't know they were edible I don't know if I've ever eaten a fern I mean fiddle leaf fiddle leaf ferns I've had in the springtime that kind of look like little millipedes rolled up um but um so many ferns and then um one of the most interesting things that I had I'd never tried durian before And during one of our pre-production dinners with the whole crew, they served a side of durian and a lot of people shied away from it.

49:56Understandably, it's a very intense flavor, but very adored. What did you think? I tried it and on camera op, he gave the best description. He was like, basically, because it was, this was stewed durian. It wasn't fresh. And so it was very warm and very glutinous and sort of like, it was kind of like a, like an oatmeal or a grits consistency. and the scent and taste basically if shaved raw garlic and camembert a ripe camembert had a baby so you have the sharpness of sharpness of garlic so savory and then the fun of a stinky camembert and it was like where it's borderline for lack of a better word rotting i'm not sure that you're selling it for me though I mean is it something that I wake up thinking about wanting to have no not every day but it was still such a unique experience and because it's such a delicacy in that part of the world isn't it such a delicacy and there was something very animal about the taste of it that was almost very like certain awful like but at the same time it was purely vegetal so it was just completely vegetarian and it was just incredible that nature could

51:08Antoni Porowski: produce something like that yeah how fascinating to get to experience that that's like a something to kind of tick off like I've tasted that that's like a totally but the ferns I wish we could get those here like beautiful just bamboo shoots and sort of the sticky rice that's cooked in the bamboo that you just like tear away with your hands and it's just these perfect little globs just to sop up any sauce or side dish that you had it was lovely wonderful well our penultimate chapter very much in contrast is your worst travel experience or a place that you would never go back to like somewhere that you didn't connect with oh my gosh I think a place that I didn't connect to I mean it's hard I don't know if I've ever been anywhere where I was just like oh you know what it was my early 20s and I went with friends to Fire Island which uh for anybody who doesn't know it's basically um i'm pretty sure it's in the long island area of new york and it's it doesn't have any roads they're basically it's just all walking and maybe if you have a golf cart loads of deer everywhere beautiful architecture sort of like washed out wood everywhere um and has so much history in terms of uh lgbtqia plus history in New York.

52:32And it's sort of like an escape for there's, there's an area that's predominantly lesbian. There's an area that's predominantly gay family goes as well. It's one of those places where it's like, it is what you make of it. And I went in my early twenties with a group of friends and I was just chatting with a friend of mine now who goes every summer and loves it. And he actually inspired me to go back and revisit because I just did not have a good experience. and it just I wasn't there with the right people and it was just I kind of remember just leaving the island thinking like I never have to come back here again um but I think everywhere deserves a second chance you know my parents when I was a very picky eater as a kid and they yeah I mean a lot of parents say like if you don't like it once try it a second time and then you could say no my parents were just like eat it until you like it we don't care because they're just Polish so we're parents um and you you eat what you get but um I would love to give it another chance because I remember thinking like there were parts of it that I really enjoyed like there was a really cute little farmer's market um right in the hub where the ferry would arrive and drop you off um but it was just very socially overwhelming for me at the time and I also didn't fully know who I am and I was just had a lot of insecurities and it was just a lot and it was it was overwhelming but um but that's do you think it's still this is it still the same as it was back

53:47Antoni Porowski: that in that time like do you think it's kind of or has it evolved in what it stands for Yeah, I mean, I think I think places like that, it all depends on where you focus your attention. It's like, you can go to Ibiza and go on some beautiful hikes and have the most incredible grilled or raw pink shrimp with olive oil, and a little bit of chili flakes, or you can go to a club that is literally built on an airport and be out until seven o 'clock in the morning with a bunch of people raging. every place has every place has whatever you're looking for to an extent and I think it's just where you sort of focus your attention and I think to understand a place I love to see all of it even if it's things that make me uncomfortable or that I'm not particularly into just to see what it's like just to either confirm or deny my beliefs or question them yes that's such a good philosophy to go in to travel with I think always absolutely do you know Joanna Lumley Dame Joanna Lumley here she was an absolutely fabulous she's a kind of famous actress here not personally not personally but a big fan and I also saw her episodes on what's that thing in the UK that's really popular where people watch people watching TV oh yeah Gogglebox Gogglebox thank you I think she did like a few episodes of Gogglebox when I was last on my press junket and I yeah she's so entertaining to watch but please so entertaining and she was a guest on the podcast and she said you know the The way that I like to go into travel, darling, is not glass half full or glass empty, glass overflowing.

55:24Antoni Porowski: Yes. That is the way to approach things, you know. That's a really good impersonation. I say, I love it. I love it, darling. I love it. And I think if you go into it with that positive attitude, then it's going to really just help you, like you say, seek out and see it through positive eyes. And then you'll find a way to connect with it, even if you don't connect with all of it. because to quote my therapist sometimes we can't change a situation but we can change the way we look at it totally totally i need to i need to remember that sometimes when i get pissed off at traveling oh anthony it's been so fun chatting to you we are on to the final chapter chapter seven and that is the destination at the top of your travel bucket list a destination at the top of my travel bucket list does it have to be one no feel okay I've never been to Iceland and I want to learn how to take better photos and explore all the beautiful natural phenomena in Iceland I want to go to the Turkish markets in Istanbul I've never been to Turkey Northern Africa is definitely on my list Morocco Agadir Fez Casablanca my parents went and it really left a mark on them when they did and they came back with loads of Moroccan rugs which were in our childhood home and then I would definitely love to explore more of South America I haven't had the opportunity to do very much of it but Patagonia is if I have enough if I have one on my list it's Patagonia I want to go horseback riding and then camping and lighting fires and eating a whole shocking amount of grilled meats and just swim take cold plunges in the lakes and then keep on hiking but that's my dream trip, I think.

57:12Antoni Porowski: Ah, wonderful. Well, I hope you make it there sometime very soon. Oh, I will. I'm stubborn. Anthony Porofsky, those were your travel diaries. It was so much fun. Thank you. Thank you so much, Holly. This is so lovely.

57:30Oh, a huge thank you to the lovely Anthony. Best of the World with Anthony Porofsky premieres on June the 7th on National Geographic, and will be available to stream on the 8th of June on Disney Plus and Hulu. If you like this podcast, I feel quite confident in saying that you will love this show. And gosh, what a beautifully articulate guest. We really only just scratched the surface of his travel diaries. He is so very well-traveled. So Anthony, the offer is there. If you ever want to come back and join us, we'd be more than happy to have you. Thanks so much for listening today, everyone. I hope that you are all keeping well.

58:07If you want to find out who is joining me on next week's episode, you know where to find me. I'm at Holly Rubenstein on Instagram and TikTok. All the destinations mentioned by my guests are included in the episode show notes and on my website, thetraveldiariespodcast.com. I'm actually just in the process of building a map. Lots of you have asked me about that. So finally, we're going to add in all the destinations that have ever been mentioned and hopefully make it a really cool searchable map for you guys. I'll let you know when it's ready and good to go. quite a lot of entries to put in as you can imagine i'll be back of course next tuesday with a fabulous guest and in the meantime sending all my love to you and wishing you safe travels

59:16We'll see you next time. yours in their own words to their audience. The problem is you just haven't been introduced yet. We're Acast, where that introduction happens. As the world's largest podcast marketplace, we let you browse shows, see who's listening, and book host-read sponsorships or run your own ads all from one platform. Transparent pricing, real-time data, complete control. Start advertising on podcasts by visiting acast.com slash advertise.

59:48Today's episode is brought to you by Airbnb. One thing I have learned from years of travelling is that the trips you remember most aren't always about the big headline sites. It's that feeling of getting under the skin of a place. Some of my most memorable stays have been in real homes, in real neighbourhoods where you start to experience that quieter rhythm of somewhere. the morning coffee spots, the local park around the corner, the little details that make a place feel lived in. And of course, many of those homes belong to people who are simply away for a few days or heading off on their own travels.

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