In the smash new Broadway show Gutenberg! The Musical!, actor Josh Gad reteams with Andrew Rannells, with whom he had undeniable chemistry on stage a decade ago in The Book of Mormon. So where would they travel together, if given the chance? “We would have to go to Uganda,” Gad laughs, referring to their Mormon characters’ journey to eastern Africa. “You’d see how similar we are in real life to Elder Cunningham and Elder Price. It would potentially be both disastrous and life-changing—actually, a great documentary!”
Gad’s most frequent travel companions are actually his wife, Ida, and two tween daughters, and it’s with his family that he’s taken some of his most memorable trips. The actor spoke with Condé Nast Traveler about some of those travels, his dedication to hotel research, and the phrase his girls are never allowed to say on vacation.
His priorities when planning a trip:
Relaxation is usually at the bottom of my list and at the top of my wife’s list. I’m a Griswold family vacationer. I was brought up with those National Lampoon movies. I like active vacations, where you are getting up at the crack of dawn, taking tours, experiencing culture. I want to be immersed. I want to utilize all of the time that I have in a given place and take in as much as I can, whether it’s museums or architecture or the natural beauty and splendor of an environment. This summer we went to Italy; it’s our most frequented [destination], and we always start in Lake Como. You want to be in that lake! I rented a boat and would drive from one end of the lake to the other. We would jump in the water, and get an incredible lunch somewhere along the way. That is the kind of vacation I love to have. Sometimes you need a vacation from the vacation, the way I do it. I try to end our vacations with a couple of days of R&R, but as my family will tell you, I pack it in, to a fault.
His first experience in first class:
I didn’t fly first class until I was in my mid twenties, and it was for an audition. I was on Broadway, doing The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and I got a final callback for Avatar. James Cameron’s company Lightstorm flew me first class to Los Angeles from New York and I was like, What is this? What are all these delicious hot meals I get? And this reclining, comfortable seat? It was mind-bending.
The words he doesn’t allow on vacation:
There are no words that get under my skin more than “This is boring.” My girls know that if they say “This is boring” in a museum or something, I will double down and make sure we stay longer. I don’t think there is such a thing as “boring” when you’re taking in culture. Unfortunately, I think their generation is so used to these quick hits of social media, and I really like the slow approach and to take in life as it comes.
