MY TRAVELLING LIFE
Soul singer Laura Mvula’s travel tales and tips
How often do you travel? I spend a lot of time in the US, particularly in New York and Los Angeles, and travel out of London at least once a month. I was in Cape Town a few months ago. I like to add on a couple of extra days to my travels for work so I get to see more than the inside of planes and hotel rooms. What do you need for a perfect holiday? Good food is important for me so I love South Africa and Italy. I’ve spent a lot of time near Puglia, the southern region forming the heel of Italy’s “boot”, since 2014, when I played at the Locus Festival there. It’s so picturesque and I get to do all the things I love to do on holiday like riding a motorbike by the sea, dancing and going on boat rides. I don’t like travelling solo so anything that means I can spend time with like-minded people means I’ll have a great holiday. Earliest memory of travelling abroad? When I was 11 or 12, I visited my cousin in Copenhagen as she was studying there. It was my first time on a plane and I was absolutely terrified. I still have a real fear of flying. People say, “It’ll get easier the more you fly,” but it has got worse. I’m a great actress, though, so I’ve found ways of disguising how I’m really feeling. And I never travel alone.
Most adventurous travel experience?
I don’t really do adventurous travel because I suffer from anxiety and my job feels daring enough for me. I recently performed a James Bond song in front of the Broccoli family and the Duke of Edinburgh, which was the equivalent of jumping out of a plane for me. The most remote place you’ve been? My father once took me to see some of his family in a remote, rural part of Jamaica. I just remember complete stillness, greenery and humidity and driving through the mountain-top mist and not being able to understand the local patois dialect. It felt alien but strangely close to home. Your most relaxing destination? A family holiday in St Kitts in the West Indies, where my mum is from. Life runs at a different pace there. Nobody rushes around there and Jamaica feels similar. Have you ever been on safari? I went on a youth safari to Uganda with my sister and we were told to go to the toilet by 9pm before the resort’s electricity went off. The locals made up scary stories about getting eaten by lions but I needed the loo after 9pm so I found a bush and went using the light of my sister’s phone. It could have been mortifying but was actually hilarious. Favourite city? New York. It’s so rich in musical history, particularly jazz, and you can still feel the sort of musical energy of the ’50s when you wander from bar to bar watching live music in Greenwich Village. Then there’s the food and that feeling that anything can happen at any time. After New York it would have to be Cape Town for the warm people and weather. The most beautiful festival setting you’ve played in? Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Festival in Sète in the South of France was insanely beautiful. We played in this open-air amphitheatre surrounded by water and it just felt like we were a part of nature. Best holiday ever? I went to Jamaica when I was 14 to meet my family for the first time. I also had my firstever kiss there. Favourite holiday destination? Puglia. Favourite hotel? I normally hate heights but I loved the view — and the food — from the top of the Hilton in Singapore. Favourite restaurant? The food at the China Grill in New York was amazing, but I’ll never forget the night I got to meet one of my heroes, record producer Clive Davis, who was sitting at the next table. Favourite place for a drink? Miss Lily’s in Manhattan. It does fantastic Jamaican food and rum punches. Best city for nightlife? It’s hard to top New York, although eating gelato late at night on an Italian beach comes a close second. Worst travel experience? Nothing too disastrous. I’ve lost passports before and nearly made myself ill on a trip to Texas by eating too many barbecued spare ribs before one of my first-ever solo gigs, which wasn’t great. Favourite airline? Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand. Best piece of travel advice? As a performer, there’s nothing worse than not having enough outfits, so I always pack everything. Best beauty tip for travelling? I always travel with tea tree oil fresh wipes and a special moisturiser because I have dry skin. Your travel essentials? My Bose headphones, my journal for song ideas and flat shoes. What do you hate about holidays? Unexpected queues. I suffer from queue rage. Where next? Paris and Cannes to promote my new album. Everybody says Thailand is amazing so that’s at the top of my list of places I’d love to visit.