‘I Always Stumble Upon Something Super Cool’

When John Krasinski travels, he lets his instincts drive his itinerary.

Case in point: One New Year’s Eve in Barcelona, the self-proclaimed “history nerd” followed the path of one of his heroes (Ernest Hemingway) to the London Bar. It was reserved for a party, so he hopped in and joined the festivities. “I believe the youngest person there was 80,” the 46-year-old actor told Travel + Leisure. “I ended up dancing the night away with 80- and 90-year-olds—it was one of my favorite nights ever!”

Another time on a road trip through South Dakota, he found himself in the midst of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. “I’m so not cool enough to be a motorcycle biker,” he said. But he was so taken by the scene that he ended up hanging with bikers for a couple of days, calling it one of the “coolest experiences of my life.”

By letting go of expectations and putting his wholehearted trust in the world, Krasinski constantly finds himself in the right place at the right time as spectacular travel experiences unravel in front of him.

“One of my friends calls me a homing pigeon because I just start walking and I always stumble upon something super cool,” the The Office and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan star said of his magnetic sense for adventure. “As soon as I land in the city, I will be inside my hotel room for 30 seconds before I turn around and just start walking around. I like getting lost. That’s my favorite thing.”

Perhaps that passion was cultivated in his hometown of Boston, where he said the storied streets truly come to life along the 2.5-mile Freedom Trail, which starts in Boston Common, winding through sites like Old North Church and Old Corner Bookstore (now a Chipotle), up to the Bunker Hill Monument. “That whole area feels like you’re walking through the 1700s, which I love,” he said of the city that is “intrinsically linked to its history.”

That strolling gene might also be inherited, as both of his parents have always had a love for “amazing walks.” One of his favorites is the loop around South Boston’s Castle Island, where his family often ventured when he was a kid. “It’s a beautiful old fort, and they have this place called Sullivan’s—I don’t know if they’re the best hot dogs, but they’re my favorite,” he reminisced fondly. 

Of course, the success of his career means that nowadays, his walks often happen in various time zones around the globe. His four seasons of Jack Ryan were filmed in Washington, D.C., Dubai, Montreal, Morocco, and Hungary, among other locations. Yet there was no place the Emmy nominee reveled in more than the French capital.  

“For a week, I got to fulfill my dream of feeling like I lived in Paris,” Krasinski said. Among his requisite visits were the bookstore Shakespeare and Company (always the history buff’s first stop) and art supply shop Magasin Sennelier. “I’m probably the worst artist everyone’s ever met, but at least I have really good tools to do bad art,” he said. 

As much as he is a connoisseur of unforgettable walks, Krasinski also loves the art of a road trip. “It was always so bonding, just the five of us on these road trips,” he said of those memories with his two older brothers. “I always looked forward to them.”

His most “pivotal road trip” came when he scored the job on The Office in 2004 and drove from New York to Los Angeles with his “dear friend” Kevin Connors. “I remember being so blown away by learning about this country, which I thought I knew so well, by seeing all these amazing places and just stumbling into experiences,” he said. (That’s also the trip where he hung out with the bikers.)

That love of the open road continues today. “I’m so lucky to be married to my favorite driving companion,” the Brooklynite said of his wife Emily Blunt, whom he married in 2010. “She’s a huge foodie, so we always find incredible restaurants.” 

There’s nothing the couple loves more than pulling off the road to enjoy a local diner or small clam shack. Krasinski admitted that perhaps because of his Bostonian roots, he tends to be drawn toward coastal towns where you can “drive by the water with boats and a marina and just sit outside and have a sandwich.”

Another crucial road trip element for Krasinski? The playlist. Despite his knack for belting out boy band songs on Lip Sync Battle, he admits his taste skews older—much older: “Oh, man, I am 94 years old, and probably found Spotify too late. Right now, my zone is either the Nat King Cole or Fleetwood Mac radio station.” And like his approach to travel, he puts his trust in the system. “I just let Spotify work its magic. I don’t tempt the gods. They tell me what I should listen to.”

That enjoyment behind the wheel is part of what drew him to team up with Hyundai again for a sequel to his viral 2020 Boston-themed Super Bowl ad, “Smaht Pahk.” This time, it was all about the car brand’s Palisade Hybrid SUV through its “Make Everyday Feel Epic” campaign, giving drivers a serious dose of main character energy—something Krasinski can relate to.

“These incredible stunt people showed me not only how to drive a car in all these scenes, but also how to get out of any situation, like skidding, so I feel very confident when I drive,” he said of defensive driving courses he took for both Jack Ryan and his 2016 film “13 Hours.” “I probably feel a little too much like Jack Ryan when I drive and am a little zippier than I should be when I don’t have my kids in the car.”

As for which movie character he channels when he’s out in the world? “In my head, I’m Indiana Jones—I’m that cool when I travel,” said the dad of two daughters. “But really, it’s more probably ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation.’ I’m probably the nerdy dad who’s like, ‘Wait, do you see this stuff, kids?’ And they’re like, ‘Dad, you’ve told us that story 100 times!’”

Nevertheless, it’s that constant curiosity that keeps Krasinski wandering. “Immersing yourself is the most important thing you can do, not only for travel, but in life,” he told T+L. “To see how other parts of the world live is the most inspiring thing.”