The thing I love about being an actor is the ability to travel and experience new cultures.

But when I really look back on my life being really honest about it and now that I've got the chance to travel the world seeing how a lot of little kids grow up - my life wasn't so bad.

When you're a kid I think you want to be a film star. And I'm not as enamoured with that any more. The reality of that life is a lot of travel and a lot of being away which is impractical because I have four children so I don't want to be away that much not the other side of the world away.

But as far as being an American and loving this country and getting a chance to travel across it every day and meeting people on the road and folks in the military I love this country on so many different levels.

If you travel around America you see different sections of highways donated by this or that person and that's a slow beginning of what may end up being a situation common in the Third World: some sections of highways in wealthy areas are beautifully maintained and other parts are just dirt-strewn potholes.

Being in Blur has allowed me to travel and hear the music that's being made all over the world.

But I want people to understand that poker's not all glamorous it's not all being on TV and making tons of money. It's a hard life. It's a lot of travel. It's a lot of weird hours.

And now I have a big house nice clothes and I travel in first class and I love it so maybe it's time to enjoy being a star.

I wrote those poems for myself as a way of being a soldier here in this country. I didn't know the poems would travel. I didn't go to Lebanon until two years ago but people told me that many Arabs had memorized these poems and translated them into Arabic.

Not only does travel give us a new system of reckoning it also brings to the fore unknown aspects of our own self. Our consciousness being broadened and enriched we shall judge ourselves more correctly.