Joel Kim Booster Bares His Travel Secrets

Joel Kim Booster exposed himself in our cover story for the summer print edition of Out Traveler. Here he reveals to some insights he gained during his travel experiences.

My Favorite Place to Travel

Colorful Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona, Spain, is probably the top of my list. For me, Barcelona specifically is so fascinating culturally, because the mix of the Spanish culture and the Catalan culture. In Spain they’re just so ready and willing and excited to share that culture with you as a tourist. I think they’re very excited for people to learn about their culture. That is what has always struck me about traveling in that part of the world.

My Worst Travel Experience

A woman sleeps in Atlanta airport, next to image of the city

Way back in my early career, I would get these small travel stipends, and I would try to squeeze as much leftover money after travel out of that. I would be taking these insane sort of connections to make it the cheapest route possible. I remember one flight from L.A. to North Carolina, where I had a nine-hour layover, overnight in Atlanta. I was too poor to get a hotel room for the night, so I ended up sleeping on a couch outside the Coach store in the Atlanta airport and I was so nervous about my bags being stolen that I would wake up, pretty much every 20 to 30 minutes in a panic to make sure that my bags were still there. It was one of the worst nights of sleep I’ve ever had, and one of the longest stretches I’ve ever had in the airport. I do not recommend it. That was of the turning points for me, where I was finally like, You know what? I think I can spend some money to make sure that I travel a little bit more comfortably in the future.