There was one question Steven Shalowitz thought to ask his many celebrity guests while hosting his radio show, Encuentro Latino, on Singapore’s Gold 90.5 FM: “If I gave you a one way ticket, where would you go?”
He never did ask.
Instead, he thought to develop a whole show around the question.
He would allow guests to use their imaginations, where destinations may be in the past, present, future, real, imaginary or a state of mind. Only caveat — no coming back!
After he moved moved to New York City, launched the show in 2012.
Since then, he’s welcomed aboard luminaries from across a variety of fields, including: Art & Design, Business, Communications, Entertainment, Travel and World Affairs.
Steven and The One Way Ticket Show audience continue to be surprised by the diversity of his guests’ one way ticket destinations. Sure, there have been actual places like Bhutan, Paris, Lake Atitlan in Guatemala, and Detroit, but many guests want to pick up and go to the past.
One wanted to be the head stone mason at Macchu Pichu when it was built in the 15th century, while another wanted to pack her bags and set up shop in early Renaissance Florence to be there when Filippo Brunelleschi Paints his two panels that demonstrate one point perspective.
Some guests have chosen the same destination but have provided a different dimension to their answers. London and its environs being a good example.
One guest wanted a one way ticket to Windsor Castle, while another wanted his one way ticket back to January 1946 London to take part in the first United Nations General Assembly meeting there.
And yet another guest, wanted to to talk throughout eternity with Oscar Wilde in London’s Savoy Hotel Dining Room or Wilde’s Favorite London Club.
Still, many guests have hopes that their one way tickets will bring self improvement – one wanted his ticket to the mind of a champion, while another wanted her ticket to peace of mind.
To be sure, many hope their one way tickets yield a better planet. One ticket was issued to a peaceful world where people limit their use of technology, with another issued to a time where race and class don’t matter.
So many tickets . . . and still so many more to issue.
Which leaves us wondering, where would you go?