Livin’ the Dolce Vita

As citizens of a culturally diverse first-world country, Canadians love to travel. In fact, according to StatsCan, we took a whopping 12.8 million trips overseas last year alone! Celebrity chef David Rocco was responsible for a few of these excursions, his Italian spirit continually gravitating toward the dolce vita “sweet life” so synonymous with exploring other cultures. In an effort to up our own adventure game, we chatted with David to discover all his savvy travel secrets. —Rachel Johnston

Hi David! What tips can you suggest to immerse in another culture?

I love going to places I’ve never been to and learning about new cultures and experiencing new things. It’s what travelling is all about. The best advice I can give is to go into it with an open mind, and try to step outside of your comfort zone and do things you wouldn’t usually do at home. It makes the trip an adventure. I also don’t like to plan too much. Having a jam-packed schedule puts too much pressure on you and makes it feel like work. Pick one area or neighbourhood in a city and give yourself lots of time to explore it. You never know what kind of gems you might discover! Lastly, take public transit. It’s a great way to get around and also see how local people live, dress and act … I know I love people watching!

When traveling with your kids, how do you cater your adventures to make them more family friendly?

Children are more open to trying new things then we give them credit for. I find my children always step up their game and surprise me with what they know and what they are willing to try. When travelling, we always let them know what we have planned for the day, and tell them they can pick something to do too. It gets them engaged in the day and they become stakeholders in the experience. Everyone’s happy, everyone wins! In Zanzibar, my daughters said they wanted to go to the fish market where they have daily auctions (a crazy scene), while my son Dante just wanted to go to the kids’ park by the pier, At the end of the day, mom and dad were able to relax and have a glass of wine while the kids got gelato and monkey bars! One thing that has been a lifesaver as a parent with young kids is the ability to relax in the comfort of an airport lounge—we always leave enough time to decompress before boarding a plane, and lucky for us our Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card provides six complimentary lounge passes per year, which is a nice perk.

How do you seek out the best in local cuisine when visiting a new country?

If you want to find the best and most authentic food, go where the locals go. I know it sounds cliché but it really makes the entire experience so much better. I always ask our cab driver or the regulars at the morning coffee shop where to go eat. Also, you can’t go wrong with outdoor food markets—there’s always great street food and, because the vendors are often foodies themselves, they can always give you an insider’s tip.

As a chef, what are your top three culinary destinations and why?

Italy, of course, it goes without saying. There is no better place to eat pizza, pasta seafood, and gelato … oh and the olive oil is out of this world! Hong Kong is next level. From dim sum at the wet markets to high-end cuisine, the city has everything. It’s like New York on steroids! So much to see and do and everyone there loves food. Lastly, I recently visited Malaysia and was blown away. In this small country, you have this unique fusion of Indian, Chinese and Malay cultures. It was probably the only place where every conversation with every person always revolved around food. They love their food!

How can we be more financially savvy when planning for and on vacation?

Eating where the locals eat will give you better prices and way better food then the tourist traps or even chain restaurants. If you know you want to go to a certain attraction or event, go online, often there will be coupons or off-hour price savings to museums or theme parks. Take public transit, it’s a fun way to visit a city and far cheaper than cabs and Ubers. And try to save money on the little things, like room service and foreign exchange fees—did you know that many credit cards charge an additional 2.5 per cent every time you use your card in a different country? Nina and I were lucky enough to learn about the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card, which is one of the only cards out there that has no FX mark-up on foreign transactions. It really helps and lets us save money which we can then put toward more family experiences.