Josh Segarra Would Be a Hotel Manager in Another Life
The actor from Apple TV+'s 'The Big Door Prize' and ABC's 'Abbott Elementary' shares his travel essentials.
In this edition, actor Josh Segarra of Apple TV+’s The Big Door Prize and ABC’s Abbott Elementary fame spoke with Opheli Garcia Lawler about how he travels, including his must-pack travel gear and his most memorable trips. Plus, he shares why Crocs are the perfect travel shoe.
For work, I'm on planes a lot. I love planes. I love hotels. I like trying new places. If I wasn't an actor, I'd probably be a hotel manager. I love hotels. I love thinking about when I arrive in a hotel room. I love thinking about the comforter, how the pillows are. I wonder how the lights are dimmed. I love the showers. I just love the experience of hotels and the manicuring of details. I think it's always fantastic and what makes each hotel different. I can go on and on. I love traveling. I love it.
I grew up going to Puerto Rico. I'm Puerto Rican, so my family was there. Whenever we'd go on family vacations, we'd pack the van up and drive from Orlando to South Carolina or North Carolina or Georgia. And my family, we loved to do the caves. My dad loves history, so we'd do historical walks. And then we'd go to Puerto Rico three times a year.
My wife and I took a two-week honeymoon in Italy after we got married. We did Rome, Florence, Venice, and Positano. I'll forever remember Venice because we were there when the tide rose, so Venice was covered in water. It was an experience to walk through and see the city all lit up at night in the water. It was just gorgeous. And Positano is picturesque. It's a postcard. I'll forever remember taking the trains through Italy and getting to Positano, and then taking the cab up the mountain and seeing the town. And you turn and all of a sudden you just see this open mountainside. And everybody was just so kind.
Honestly, my favorite thing about going to other countries is experiencing the people. Everybody is just being so warm to each other around the world. And I've had tremendous experience after tremendous experience with people accepting my wife and me, or my boys and me, in different countries and different places.
Rapid fire
Window, middle, or aisle seat?
Aisle seat. I go to the bathroom 25 times.
Do you have a strong opinion about people going barefoot on airplanes, one way or the other?
No strong opinion. To each their own. I'm usually in socks. I have no worries. I feel like socks are a good protection when I do need to go to the restroom or walk up and down the aisle. But hey, if you go barefoot, that's all you. You do you, boo-boo. That's all you.
Pack light or overpack?
I'm an overpacker. I don't even think about what I'm going to wear. I just pack my favorite things. So if I'm going to a cold location for two weeks, I'm just going to pack all my favorite cold weather stuff, and I'll figure out the outfits there. If I'm going to a warm location, I'm packing all my favorite warm stuff, and I'll figure out the outfits there.
Go-to drink order on a plane?
I'll give you all of it. When I'm there in the morning and they offer me a mimosa, I'm taking it, but I'm also drinking water. Every cocktail, you got to have a water. Then I'm ordering a bloody mary. And then when the food comes, I'm ordering a Coke Zero. And if it's a late flight, maybe after five or six, when the food comes, I'm ordering a ginger ale. And all of the flight attendants know to just keep bringing me water. If it's bottled water, great, bring me the giant one. And if it's cups of water, great, just bring me two or three at a time. You’ve got to drink your water on flights.
Must-have travel items
You always have to travel with a pair of comfy shoes. Mine are Crocs. I love Crocs. I've got numerous pairs of Crocs. Perfect flying shoe. And then when you get to a hotel, you don't always want to be putting your sneakers on to go to the vending machine or ice machine. They're comfortable. I can get them wet. I can wear them to the pool. I can wear them to work. I can wear them to the store. And I can wear them in the hotel. So you got to have a pair of Crocs.
I have a five-inch foam rolling ball. I have to travel with it. I love foam rolling. It's the best way to go to bed. You've got to get rid of all that lactic acid in your body. So I have a little five-incher. It's a light one, but it's really, really... It's hard. It doesn't really move. I love that thing.
I travel with a cold mask so that when I do get back to the hotel after a flight, I can pop the cold mask on and my eyes can just chill out. Sometimes it helps with headaches. Sometimes it just relaxes me.
I like to bring a neck massager. It has two little balls at the end. And I sit on the plane and just massage my neck and it feels fantastic. Sometimes it helps with the headaches you might get from the change of pressure.