The number-one travel bugbear of The Trip’s Rob Brydon
He’s the co-star of British comedy The Trip, which takes him around the globe with pal Steve Coogan, but don’t expect this Welshman to know a good souvenir when he sees one.
Where are you right now?
I’m at home in Strawberry Hill, England, sipping tea. How British of me.
And where did you go on your last trip?
My wife [TV producer Claire Holland] and I went to New York for the sole purpose of seeing Bruce Springsteen on Broadway. It was very exciting and totally worth it.
What was your typical childhood holiday like?
My family took little trips around Wales but foreign holidays were always two weeks in the sun in Spain. In the ’70s, the whole trip would be planned around a brochure, basically one colour-saturated photograph of the hotel swimming pool. If you grew up in South Wales, it seemed impossibly glamorous and exciting.
Are you a wander-the-streets kind of person or do you follow a map?
I’m happy to wander. My wife prefers to do some research and I think it’s by far the better idea. I suppose I’m essentially lazy.
Is there a destination you keep returning to?
We love the Carcassonne area of France in summer. We always have a really good time and it’s very relaxing.
Is there a destination that was a surprise to you?
When I did The Trip to Italy [part of his comedic travel series with Steve Coogan], the Amalfi Coast was far grander and more impressive than I’d ever even imagined. I’d seen pictures but hadn’t quite grasped the scale of it. I remember being totally wowed.
Have you ever taken a great road trip?
Not in the same way that we do for The Trip but I once drove from Los Angeles to San Francisco and, again, I was blown away by the size of the landscape. Every corner you turn, your eyes get wider and wider.
What has been your biggest culture shock?
I was working in Norway recently and I don’t know if it’s down to their style of government – I don’t want to be Mr Naive here – but the people seemed rather content. Kids had an openness to their faces; they didn’t seem to have been corrupted. Perhaps I was there on a good day, maybe the next they were looting and pillaging, but that made a big impression on me.
Are you more resort or rustic?
Rustic. I like to get away from things. When we go on holiday in the summer, we stay somewhere in the countryside and then visit towns.
When you travel, what are you most likely to bring home?
If I’m travelling by myself for work, some last-minute, token gift from the airport – a key ring, a baseball cap or a T-shirt. Absolutely appalling. When we went to Oman recently, the children [younger sons Tom, 11, and George, seven; he also has three adult children from a previous marriage] brought back little jewelled camels that are now cluttering up the house. But it’s nice to have a keepsake. Whenever I see those, I’m reminded of that trip.
What’s the first thing you do when you enter a hotel room?
I sit on the bed to test it out. I like a firm mattress. If I’m on a stand-up tour in Britain, the hotels I stay in usually display a selection of magazines and I like looking at the local titles such as Yorkshire Life or Devon Life. In the back pages will be photographs from recent social events and I love looking at these people all glammed up with their drinks, in little groups, posing for the camera.
Have you ever gone completely off the grid?
I did a TV show with Bear Grylls and we slept in the Snowdonia Mountains in Wales inside a lean-to tent thing that he made up. But never in a Jason Bourneyou-can’t-find-me kind of way, no.
Can you share a particularly memorable dining experience from your travels?
I could tell you about hundreds with Steve Coogan but when I was in Australia in 2005 I had lunch at Sydney’s Icebergs restaurant. I was on my own. It was a beautiful day, Bondi Beach was glistening, the surfers were bobbing in the water and I had a salt-crusted rib eye steak with a glass of wine. The waiter was from South Wales. It was kind of idyllic.
What’s your number one travel bugbear?
Jet lag. I moan about it more than anybody I know. Whenever I go on tour overseas, I arrive a week before my first show because I want a bit of time to feel human again.
If you could be anywhere else in the world right now, where would you be?
On a beach in the Maldives with all of my favourite people. With no jet lag.
“BEAR GRYLLS AND I SLEPT INSIDE A LEAN-TO TENT THING THAT HE MADE UP.”