Father’s Day 2018 Exclusive
By: Michael G. Reel
Guy Killum has written How Will We Travel, a new book that is about much more than strange foods, security checks and frequent flier miles. Killum tells the story of the bond he shared with his son Omar and wife Stephanie on journeys through foreign cities. Killum told Reel Urban News, “I’m very excited and glad it finally has come to fruition. It’s about six months of hard work. I’m glad the book is here and ready to be shown to the world.”
Killum, an accomplished musician and actor, credits Stephanie, his wife of 23 years, as being the driving force behind How Will We Travel. “My wife has these ideas of our family taking pictures every Christmas. This one year we thought of a theme based on our travels and took this picture in front of the LAX Theme Building at the Los Angeles International Airport and the book just emanated from there.”
When Stephanie learned what Killum planned, she was all aboard. “Guy is so creative and to have him be able to put his creativity into something that is tangible was pretty cool. I was very excited about it.”
Omar, the Killums’ teenage son, recalled his first thoughts after learning about How Will We Travel. “It made me want to get more interested in traveling and it made me think about my past travels in my childhood.”
The father-and-son bond inspired Killum as he wrote. “Omar was the catalyst for the book in part because I wanted it to be seen through a child’s eye,” recalled Killum. “I wanted How Will We Travel to be drawn and told through a child’s eyes that even adults would love and enjoy.”
For Stephanie, a Southern California native, travel was at the center of her childhood. “When I grew up my family and I traveled and we still talk about those memories today. Travel has been really important for my family – I wanted to make sure Omar had those kinds of experiences.”
How Will We Travel addresses the challenges autism poses when far from home. “Omar is on the autism spectrum,” says Killum, “and far as the book is concerned it does deal with a little bit of autism – especially with sound. Sometimes Omar is a little sensitive to sound.”
Travel and exposure have been essential to Omar’s successful development. “I recall we took a trip to London and Paris for about two weeks long,” says Stephanie, “and Omar hung in like a trooper. That trip was our turning point and Omar has been amazing ever since.”
For Omar, travel has been beneficial. “As I use my imagination, I think of the memories and start having different visions from my travels.”
In the final moments of our interview, Killum told Michael Reel of Reel Urban News that without his family, writing How Will We Travel would have been impossible. “With Omar and seeing things through his eyes and through his imagination – and of course with Stephanie as a protagonist and the rock of our family – there would be no book.”
