FAIRHOPE, Ala. — If someone walked up to you and asked about your favorite place on the planet, what would be your answer? Would you tell them about your hometown, a favorite vacation spot, an exotic city you once visited, a cherished patch of forest, or the site of the ramshackle clubhouse where you and your childhood friends gathered so long ago?

Award-winning travel writer Jerry Camarillo Dunn Jr. posed the question to some of the most celebrated people of our time, ranging from the Dalai Lama to Robin Williams. Their answers are revealed in Dunn’s “My Favorite Place on Earth,” a unique portrait of the world in which we live, published by National Geographic Books.

Among the more than 70 notables who contributed to the volume are actors Will Ferrell, Morgan Freeman and Natalie Portman; former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor; astronaut Buzz Aldrin; filmmaker George Lucas; humorist Dave Barry; ocean explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau; sitar master Ravi Shankar; basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; singers James Taylor, Loretta Lynn and Josh Groban; Jeopardy host Alex Trebek; comics Jerry Seinfeld and Jeff Foxworthy; skateboarder Tony Hawk; and authors Ray Bradbury, T.C. Boyle and Fannie Flagg.

For Flagg, the answer to Dunn’s intriguing question came easy — Fairhope. She said recently, “I had to laugh. Everybody has Paris, Madrid. I was the only one who had Alabama.”

The travel discoveries detailed inside are indeed varied. From a lost city in Sri Lanka to the Emily Brontë landscape of England to a wild dog research camp in Botswana, the book offers an armchair glimpse into the world through the eyes of those who have shared with us the locales that make them happy.

“The two things I singled out were the physical beauty and the sweet people,” Flagg said. “Fairhope is sweet and gracious. It makes life easy. It’s always progressive, and it sparks my imagination.”

Flagg, who immediately precedes actress Carrie Fisher in the book, also proclaimed to Dunn her love of the Orange Street Pier and the ring of church bells heard from her home near Mobile Bay.

“I drove through when I was very small, and now live on the same street I liked when I was small,” she added.

The redhead even sings the praises of Page & Palette, an independent book and art supply store located in the heart of town. The shop hosted a party for Flagg upon the release of her book “Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven.” The gathering also served as a birthday soirée for Flagg, and the guests all wore white.

The book includes “compass points,” snippets of local flavor about each place. In the case of Fairhope, educator Marietta Johnson and background about the colony’s founding are mentioned.

But why ask the Birmingham native and part-time Fairhope resident for her input?

“She’s someone whose books I admire,” Dunn said. “I think she’s a wonderful human being. I picked people I thought had done worthwhile things. I picked accomplished people in the world who I admired. I asked them that same question.”

He added, “They’d been all over the world, so I knew their responses would be interesting. I was not interested in celebrities known for being celebrities.”

Dunn sent out hundreds of letters requesting interviews, but not everyone replied. Most who did were gracious and enthusiastic, however.

“Sometimes the phone would ring and they would say, ‘Natalie Portman would love to talk to you,’ or ‘this is Jeff Foxworthy.’” Of the replies that most surprised Dunn were “busy actors like Will Ferrell. I was pleased to hear he would talk.”

There were disappointments as well. Dunn noted, “I went after Paul McCartney, but he was involved in multiple projects and couldn’t.” Others were difficult to contact at all, and Dunn was forced to employ creative measures.

“Everyone has some degree of separation from a famous person,” he said. “A friend of my wife lives a few blocks from a famous rock and roll star. Walked over. No mailbox. No gate. Got a Baggie and threw a rock over the fence (with my request). I never heard a thing. You try everything basically.”

Dunn’s interview with singer/songwriter James Taylor was much more successful. Fifteen minutes quickly became an hour. He said Taylor is “smart and articulate.”

Dunn has himself toured extensively, written for and edited National Geographic Traveler and authored travel guides. He writes about backpacking in Bombay when he was 22 years old, and being an extra in Bollywood movies. “I saw holy men meditating in temples. Jungles.”

Dunn considers fellow travel guru Arthur Frommer’s favorite place, Bali, as a spot on the map he would most enjoy visiting.

“He’s been all over the world,” Dunn said of Frommer. “Bali is like a little collection of art villages, shadow puppets and art carvings. They’re happy to show off their culture. It struck me as the way people ought to behave in the world.”

It took two years from the time the book was conceived until it was published. Dunn said the toughest part was synching his watch with those he interviewed.

“There are people who schedule down to 15 minutes, months ahead of time,” he said. “The funny thing is when you start a book like this, you promise the publisher celebrated people, but you have no idea who’s coming to the party.”

Dunn is already considering a follow-up. He said, “A second book is a definite possibility. The thing that’s fun about it is to have conversations with fascinating people about things they care about.”

“My Favorite Place on Earth” is available now at Page & Palette, 32 S. Section St in Fairhope. For more information about the book, visit www.myfavoriteplacenatgeo.com.