Five Miles Up with Curtis Stone - Yahoo! Travel http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/five-miles-up-with-curtis-stone.html YAHOO! TRAVEL Five Miles Up with Curtis Stone By Bekah Wright | Yahoo! Travel – Mon, Jun 4, 2012 7:57 PM EDT Fans of Aussie chef Curtis Stone have been following him since the days of his TLC show "Take Home Chef," right on through to his current gig as NBC’s resident chef and a regular fixture on its series "The Biggest Loser." Now starring in Bravo’s "Around the World in 80 Plates," Stone and co-host Cat Cora accompany 12 chefs on an international culinary adventure. For this first-time dad (son Hudson was born 11/11), traveling these days means a new kind of adventure – the emergency diaper change. Carry-on or check-in? I usually have my knives with me, so I check luggage. Otherwise, I’m a guy who’s used to flying by the seat of his pants. Now that I’m a dad, those days are over. We just went back to Australia for the first time as a family and there was so much stuff incorporated with traveling with our little guy. You never know when you’ll need that emergency diaper change or a quick feed. Window or aisle? Always an aisle. I’m a tad claustrophobic and have long legs, so need to stretch every now and then. Favorite way to experience a new destination? I think you really see a city by exercising in it – there are beautiful parks and cityscapes all over the world. After running into some sketchy looking dudes in Curtis Stone (Photo: Courtesy of Bravo Media) the seedy area of a park in Barcelona, I learned you have to do a bit of research before doing that. I’ve had some great experiences, too, including Green Park around Buckingham Palace. It’s beautiful and you see so much history there. Favorite hotel, resort, or yurt you've ever stayed in? I recently chartered the DescaradA (a luxury private boat) and went diving on the Whit Sundays on the Great Barrier Reef. Otherwise, the Delano in Miami. The one thing you're willing to splurge on above all else? Nice wine. When you’re traveling or on vacation you should submerge yourself with beautiful local wines. Live it up a little bit, I always think. Three songs on your travel playlist? Jack Johnson is something that gets me across. Bob Marley has some nice, relaxing songs. Tortoise Head sets a bit of a mood. You only get one more trip in your lifetime. Where will it be? I’d go back to the Greek Islands. As a kid, for four or five years, I’d go to a different part every year and remember how fun it was. Any unusual encounters during "Around the World in 80 Plates?" In Chiang Mai, Thailand, this tiger, for some reason, wouldn’t stop focusing on my foot and started hissing at it. My natural reaction was to get out of the way. Apparently, that’s the wrong thing to do with a wild cat -- straight away it causes them to prey. Our guide kept saying, “Stay still, sir.” I was like, “What do you mean stay still?!” We’d just come from an elephant sanctuary -- riding through a stream, feeding and bathing them, so we smelled of elephants and their dung. That’s the only thing we could figure. And I’ve got big feet. Now that I look back at it, it was pretty hysterical, but at the time, I was pretty bloody nervous. 1 of 2 6/11/12 12:53 PM Five Miles Up with Curtis Stone - Yahoo! Travel http://travel.yahoo.com/ideas/five-miles-up-with-curtis-stone.html 1 Cheap Flights 4 Flight and Hotel Packages 2 Travel Airline Tickets 5 Travel Tourist 3 Travel Deals 6 Los Angeles Travel Agents ads by Yahoo! Suggest a Hotel or an Attraction † Taxes & fees may apply. Click specific offer link for more details. *Terms & Conditions: Savings calculation is based on Flight + Hotel vacation package bookings for a 3 month period for 2 adults with a 2+ night length of stay compared to price of the same components if booked separately during same period. Savings will vary based on origin/destination, length of trip, travel dates and selected travel supplier(s). Savings not available on all packages. Copyright © 2012 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. - - - Deals by BookingBuddy® Portions copyright © 2012 Wcities 2 of 2 6/11/12 12:53 PM.