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Andrea Martin takes a cruise in Bite TV special
By The Canadian Press, Canada.com January 25, 2013 12:06 PM
Andrea Martin
Photograph by: CNW Group/CBC/RADIO-CANADA , Canada.com
SCTV alum Andrea Martin has lived in France and Morocco, explored her
ancestral heritage in Armenia, and travelled extensively her whole
life.
`But the older I get, the more I like the comfort of my den with a TV
and the television wand, being able to go between Intervention and
Celebrity Rehab. That's my idea of travel,' the 66-year-old comedy
star in a recent phone interview from New York.
`I think it's just kind of come with getting older, my inflexibility.'
So when Martin was asked to perform on a Mediterranean cruise ship
last May, a mode of travel she'd never used before and never thought
she would, she immediately felt anxious and claustrophobic.
And then she thought of the idea of filming the experience, realizing
it could make for riotous television, not to mention an interesting
take on travel.
Viewers can watch Martin's comical cruise journey in the half-hour
special Andrea Martin: Abroad, which airs Saturday (at 8:30pm
ET/5:30pm PT) on Bite TV. On Sunday, portions of her trip will be on
Bite.ca as seven, four-minute webisodes.
`I associated (cruises) with, what do they say? They're for newlyweds,
almost-deads and over-feds. But that wasn't my experience with this
cruise, actually,' said the two-time Emmy Award winning stage and
screen actress.
`It was kind of a beautiful way to see the Mediterranean. I can't even
believe I'm saying that now.'
Martin boarded the ship with her best friend, actress Debra Monk, and
quickly felt as if she was going to have a panic attack.
`I thought, `What if I can't get out and what if I want to go
jogging,'` said Martin, noting she's very athletic and jogs all the
time.
`Of course there are gyms right on the cruise but I had all these
preconceived notions of being trapped, and the truth of it is that you
don't feel trapped. It feels quite expansive, actually.'
Martin was also struck with claustrophobia when she found out she and
Monk had been booked in one small room for their first few days of
travel.
`They wanted to put us in the same room and I said, `I'm literally
jumping off the second deck if you put us in the same room.' We snore,
we're too old, the beds are like two inches apart,' she recalled.
`I said, `That's not happening.' If we were lesbians, maybe - and
maybe in a couple of years ask us, because it seems like that's where
our life is going. But for now, give us our own rooms,' the mother of
two added jokingly.
Once Martin got over her fears, she came to realize going on a cruise
is `actually a very beautiful, peaceful way to see the world.'
`And if you're at all social - this is a small ship - you do make
friends and it does feel like a community of like-minded people you're
travelling with,' she said.
`It ended up being kind of Zen-like, to be honest with you. It's very
peaceful waking up and seeing ... Venice, for instance.'
Martin also came to appreciate the view onboard.
`If you take an airplane to Rome, all you see is the interior of the
city. But if you're on a ship, of course, you see the perimeter of the
country so you feel like you're seeing the country for the first
time,' she said.
Martin even lost weight on the cruise, although she figures that was
likely due to her getting sick.
`I think the reason I got sick is I drank the water out of the Trevi
Fountain in Rome,' she confessed.
`In Fellini's movies, people were drinking the water, and I've always
wanted to be in a Fellini movie, so I thought that was the closest I
could get.'
In the end, the experience taught Martin that flexibility is key when
it comes to travel and life in general, and `that it's never too late
for anything.'
`The moral is that the older we get, I think the more we want to
control our destiny because we realize time's running out, and that
really the more frightened we are, the more controlling we become,'
she said.
`So for people my age, I think the message is that you can surrender
to the moment, it doesn't have to be frightening. In fact, it can be -
at any time in your life - thrilling, and that's what I found out on
the ship.'
Read more: http://www.canada.com/entertainment/Andrea+Martin+takes+cruise+Bite+special/7872920/story.html#ixzz2J1IMBh3N
By The Canadian Press, Canada.com January 25, 2013 12:06 PM
Andrea Martin
Photograph by: CNW Group/CBC/RADIO-CANADA , Canada.com
SCTV alum Andrea Martin has lived in France and Morocco, explored her
ancestral heritage in Armenia, and travelled extensively her whole
life.
`But the older I get, the more I like the comfort of my den with a TV
and the television wand, being able to go between Intervention and
Celebrity Rehab. That's my idea of travel,' the 66-year-old comedy
star in a recent phone interview from New York.
`I think it's just kind of come with getting older, my inflexibility.'
So when Martin was asked to perform on a Mediterranean cruise ship
last May, a mode of travel she'd never used before and never thought
she would, she immediately felt anxious and claustrophobic.
And then she thought of the idea of filming the experience, realizing
it could make for riotous television, not to mention an interesting
take on travel.
Viewers can watch Martin's comical cruise journey in the half-hour
special Andrea Martin: Abroad, which airs Saturday (at 8:30pm
ET/5:30pm PT) on Bite TV. On Sunday, portions of her trip will be on
Bite.ca as seven, four-minute webisodes.
`I associated (cruises) with, what do they say? They're for newlyweds,
almost-deads and over-feds. But that wasn't my experience with this
cruise, actually,' said the two-time Emmy Award winning stage and
screen actress.
`It was kind of a beautiful way to see the Mediterranean. I can't even
believe I'm saying that now.'
Martin boarded the ship with her best friend, actress Debra Monk, and
quickly felt as if she was going to have a panic attack.
`I thought, `What if I can't get out and what if I want to go
jogging,'` said Martin, noting she's very athletic and jogs all the
time.
`Of course there are gyms right on the cruise but I had all these
preconceived notions of being trapped, and the truth of it is that you
don't feel trapped. It feels quite expansive, actually.'
Martin was also struck with claustrophobia when she found out she and
Monk had been booked in one small room for their first few days of
travel.
`They wanted to put us in the same room and I said, `I'm literally
jumping off the second deck if you put us in the same room.' We snore,
we're too old, the beds are like two inches apart,' she recalled.
`I said, `That's not happening.' If we were lesbians, maybe - and
maybe in a couple of years ask us, because it seems like that's where
our life is going. But for now, give us our own rooms,' the mother of
two added jokingly.
Once Martin got over her fears, she came to realize going on a cruise
is `actually a very beautiful, peaceful way to see the world.'
`And if you're at all social - this is a small ship - you do make
friends and it does feel like a community of like-minded people you're
travelling with,' she said.
`It ended up being kind of Zen-like, to be honest with you. It's very
peaceful waking up and seeing ... Venice, for instance.'
Martin also came to appreciate the view onboard.
`If you take an airplane to Rome, all you see is the interior of the
city. But if you're on a ship, of course, you see the perimeter of the
country so you feel like you're seeing the country for the first
time,' she said.
Martin even lost weight on the cruise, although she figures that was
likely due to her getting sick.
`I think the reason I got sick is I drank the water out of the Trevi
Fountain in Rome,' she confessed.
`In Fellini's movies, people were drinking the water, and I've always
wanted to be in a Fellini movie, so I thought that was the closest I
could get.'
In the end, the experience taught Martin that flexibility is key when
it comes to travel and life in general, and `that it's never too late
for anything.'
`The moral is that the older we get, I think the more we want to
control our destiny because we realize time's running out, and that
really the more frightened we are, the more controlling we become,'
she said.
`So for people my age, I think the message is that you can surrender
to the moment, it doesn't have to be frightening. In fact, it can be -
at any time in your life - thrilling, and that's what I found out on
the ship.'
Read more: http://www.canada.com/entertainment/Andrea+Martin+takes+cruise+Bite+special/7872920/story.html#ixzz2J1IMBh3N