The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
KONNIE HUQ MY LIFE IN TRAVEL
The television presenter recalls getting lost in Japan, clubbing in Angola and feeling romantic on a houseboat in India
IN MY EARLY 20S I’d converge with other travellers at internet cafés to send emails home. They were great places to swap recommendations and actually interact with people. Travelling in the pre-technology era was so different.
NOW YOU’VE GOT ALL THE INFORMATION at your fingertips, with a smartphone, apps and Wi-Fi, and your recommendations will be coming anonymously via a website.
‘STAYCATIONS’ ARE AMAZING as there’s none of this fussing about at airports and taking forever to get somewhere. West Wittering near Chichester is perfect for a short break. If I’ve got longer, Devon and Cornwall are my favourites places in Britain.
MY IDEAL TRIP would involve renting a private villa in a resort complex with a kids club. We’re actually off shortly to CenterParcs in Bedfordshire. It’s close enough to home for Charlie [Brooker, her TV producer/presenter husband] to pop back if he needs to work.
HAVING YOUNG CHILDREN has drastically changed my travels. Prior to having Covey, six, and Huxley, four, I was constantly travelling for work and charity trips. Now our big family trip is taken over Christmas and New Year. And now that both kids are in school, I’ll be able to go on the road more.
IT’S SCARY HOW STRICT SOME SCHOOLS ARE about taking kids out during term time. We went to Los Angeles for the Emmy Awards ceremony last year. We were there for less than 48 hours, so we didn’t run foul of the school. We travelled with hand luggage only, carrying very little apart from my dress for the red carpet, to ensure we didn’t waste any time.
I’D LOVE TO
TOUR AROUND
SCOTLAND starting with Loch Lomond and taking in all the cities such as Glasgow and Edinburgh, the countryside and the islands.
BARCELONA IS MY FAVOURITE CITY BREAK destination as it has got a bit of everything – a beach, great shopping, cultural attractions and amazing food.
URBAN ROMANIA FELT GREY AND SAD to me and it was quite an eye-opener, seeing the remnants of its austere Communist past but then seeing long queues at McDonald’s. It just felt really depressing.
TRANSYLVANIA IS STUNNING and the people were welcoming and friendly, inviting you into their home and wanting you to stay for dinner.
CLUBBING IN ANGOLA WAS SURREAL as the country had been ravaged by years of civil war. I was there a while back with the Red Cross and Blue Peter, working on a reunification project. They took me to a club one evening in Luanda [the capital], which was in this massive converted shed. The speakers were blasting loud Eighties rave music and, bizarrely, next door there was a Nando’s.
COCHIN IS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE PLACES as it’s a melting pot of Jewish, Chinese and Arabic influences. It’s an old port city on the south-west coast of India and while we were there we took an amazing, leisurely trip down the backwaters in a big houseboat.
There were lots of stops along the way with markets and traders selling beautiful handicrafts and delicious fresh food. We relaxed on the deck while the crew cooked dinner for us. Charlie and I were newly engaged, so it was all very romantic.
I’VE STAYED ON A CONVERTED BANANA PLANTATION with Charlie in Kerala. It was our favourite beach holiday. Just outside our hut, there were animals – including cows – roaming freely. There was an outdoor en suite bathroom where you could have a massage. We came back feeling really healthy and relaxed.
SUNSCREEN
I have to be really careful in the sun because I tend to burn and go really dark, so I’m always applying Ambre Solaire high-factor (right), which absorbs really well. £7; boots.com CHINA IS A BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY BUT STEEPED IN RED TAPE – as I found out when I spent six weeks there filming for work. It felt like almost every other day we were about to get arrested, being watched by the officials, despite everything having been pre-arranged.
I WAS ONCE SERVED FALLOPIAN TUBES at a restaurant in rural China. They were from a frog. I became vegetarian for the rest of the trip.
I WAS TRAPPED IN AN URBAN MAZE IN KYOTO after exiting an underground shopping mall and trying to find my way back to my hotel. Everywhere I turned, it all looked the same to me. I started to panic because I couldn’t find anyone who spoke English before I eventually found my own way back.
Filming in China, it felt like almost every other day we were about to get arrested
NEXT ON OUR TRAVEL BUCKET LIST are Thailand, Cuba and Iceland. Konnie Huq is an ambassador for the Trainline app, which features a Price Prediction tool to help travellers save money on their journeys. For more information, see trainline.com