My African safari – with Princess Anne
First holiday I can remember: A cottage in Snowdonia, on land owned by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, the creator of Portmeirion in North Wales. I remember wonderful days exploring famous locations such as Betws-y-Coed and the magnificent Llanberis Pass. I even learned to read Welsh from a local farmer.
Top school trip: I had too many changes of school (my dad was in the RAF) to ever have one. The honeymoon: This hasn’t happened – yet!
My best break: A trip in 1965 was the most ambitious. A friend and I drove my Morris 1000 convertible across France to Venice, down through Yugoslavia (as it was then) to Greece. What a journey. We forgot the pegs for our tents. We got lost. But the Kotor Pass was magnificent, Greece was glorious, and we returned through Italy.
Worst trip: In March 1963 a friend and I booked a two-week skiing holiday to Zermatt. Then, days before leaving, there was news of a typhoid outbreak there. We decided to risk it. Our sense of trepidation increased at the town of Brig, where boarding the mountain train to Zermatt there were no other passengers except us and the entire Swiss Medical Corps. Having the slopes to ourselves was odd, but no queues was bliss. Then notices appeared at breakfast asking us to vacate our rooms and leave town. We had only been there four days.
Dream destination: I have always wanted to go to South America. In my teens, my parents gave me a map of the world and it had illustrations of coffee, cotton, bananas, sugar and other produce, showing where they grew in the world. I always made imaginary journeys to South America but have never been there.
Perfect companion:
I’ve had lots of great company (the late John Noakes, and Princess Anne on a Blue Peter safari to Kenya in 1971, to name two). But I selfishly like to travel on my own. I meet far more people and have more adventures that way.
My favourite place: Alaska in winter. Yes, it is incredibly cold but it’s stunningly beautiful, with few tourists. The bears are hibernating but moose can be as dangerous. It is impossible not to see the Northern Lights. Essential item: Books – usually far too many.
Valerie will be lecturing on a Canary Islands cruise on October 9 with Princess Cruises (princess.com).