Travelleronline | Celebrity Travel Tips

		Twiggy I prefer the sun to be my watch and eat when my stomach dictates.

		Susan George My favourite holiday will always be to the mountains to ski. I like to drive rather than fly, visiting France and Switzerland en route to Austria.

		Jon Snow I'm not drawn to a place by books or films, but I am drawn by the absence of technological development. You have to walk or bike, there's no television to sate your children's interest, it's self-sufficiency. I can't bear the thought of a package holiday.

		Jeremy Irons I try to find somewhere right off the beaten track, which includes a little danger, a good pinch of the unknown and, by not planning, leaves open the element of surprise. To keep my health, I drink nothing but Coca Cola, which kills most tummy bugs before they have a chance to get excited.

		Jenny Agutter I never fly without ear-plugs. I drink lots of water on the flight, but no alcohol. I put lots of oil on my face to counteract dryness and to make me look so unattractive that no-one wants to talk to me.

		Colin Thubron I am happy with any mode of transport except boats and camels. Boats are wretched. You see little but water, feel miserable and are condemned to whoever else was foolish enough to embark on one - generally the senile and very rich. It is no mystery to me at all why so many people commit suicide on boats. There's nothing preferable to do.

		Colonel John Blashford-Snell My favourite mode of transport is elephants. They don't make odorous fumes - well, they do sometimes, if they've got wind. But they're so intelligent, so strong. If you push leaves in one end, they carry on and on.

		David Blunkett My worst means of transport is the London Underground. A crowded train on a busy commuter line first thing in the morning is hot, smelly and slow - with yesterday's garlic adding to those who forgot to get up early enough to have a shower.

		Lord Marshall of Knightsbridge My favourite form of transport is the escalators at Heathrow and Gatwick, from where I can get a bird's eye view of the way business is going and how our customers are being served in the busy terminals.

		A.S. Byatt I will pay any amount of money to go on an aeroplane without a film showing. I find it's a real invasion of my body and my mind. It's like being back at boarding school. What I want is space for my legs, and a neck-rest for where my head is, not where it isn't. One thing I always take apart from my books is Johnson's Baby Powder - because when you're travelling you get all hot and sticky, and often can't find a shower.

		Diana Rigg I got the best tip about how to counteract jetlag from a steward aboard British Airways - eat as little as possible and drink as much as possible, preferably non-alcoholic. Sounds dull, but it works.

		John Le Carre I walk. My walks are what teeth are to dogs. When I can't walk any more, I won't know the world any more. The best walks are in Cornwall.

		Juliet Stevenson The form of transport I have most enjoyed was camel riding in the Sahara Desert. It's a perfect speed at which to travel and you feel as high as though you were flying, but without the drawbacks of ear-popping, seat belts and turbulence trauma.

		Sir John Harvey-Jones If travelling, it is wise to speak the language of the airline on which you travel.

		Dame Barbara Cartland If you have false jewellery, it always shows when you go through the luggage control, which is an awful bore. Wrap it up in that silver foil. It won't show up then. But it doesn't seem to work with real jewellery. I always take Ginseng with me - it completely stops jetlag. I've been taking it ever since Kitchener took it. Everyone said: "How marvellous - he never seems to be tired" and it was the Ginseng.

		Frederick Forsyth I have found that the best lubricant for taxi drivers, Customs officials and various others with whom one may need to make a friendly rather than formal contact, is the ability to be able to offer a carton of English cigarettes. In many parts of the world they form a kind of currency second only to the American dollar.

		Liz McColgan I always take a packet of porridge and a bunch of bananas.

		Katie Boyle No clothes will crease if you pack with plastic as our grandparents used to pack with tissue. I use dry-cleaning bags as they're so lightweight.

		Mark Ottaway I know how much not having one tiny thing, whether it's an aspirin or a plaster or a torch, can totally ruin a trip.

		Jonathan Ross I take plenty of hardware: an Apple Mac computer, a CD Walkman, loads of classical CDs, a miniature TV and that most important item, travel insurance.

		Michael Fish An umbrella is one thing a weatherman should not be caught unexpectedly without. But due to the fact that nature has thinned my hair somewhat, I never go anywhere without one of those silly little cloth caps - a baseball cap. It's a BBC one, probably because it was a freebie, and it doesn't get blown off, which is an advantage over the panama.

		Lucy Irvine I never go anywhere without a notepad and two pens - in case one expires mid-sentence - a picture of my three children and, strange as it may seem, a nutmeg. It's a kind of lucky charm. Another thing which you must never do without when you travel is an open mind.

		Marquess of Bath When I did travel it was always necessary to carry a colourful headband, both to express my identity and also to prevent my long hair getting in my eyes or tied up into overhead branches, Absalom fashion.

		Emily LLoyd I never go anywhere without a pair of white pants from Marks and Spencer - everyone always needs a clean pair.

		Vivienne Westwood I like wearing a safari suit for shooting tigers in.

		Nick Faldo While travelling I always wear my Audemars Piguet watch and I take pairs of jeans to relax in.

		Paul Smith If you are taking a suit on holiday, cotton or linen are best for a hot climate. It's bound to arrive creased so, did you know that if you fill a bath full of hot steamy water and hang a suit on a hanger in the bathroom for as long as you can, you will have a soaking wet suit without a single crease? No, seriously, it really does work.

		Nicholas Coleridge I never go anywhere, however hot or remote, without a cashmere cardigan and tie. I find that, in the midst of roughing it, it rather raises the spirits to smarten up at the end of the day, though I don't necessarily wear the tie and the cardigan together.

		Joss Ackland I always take three luxuries with me when I travel, the first being my wife, the second being jars of green olives stuffed with anchovies, chilis and garlic. My third luxury is an espresso coffee machine. You see, I love coffee and I am a coffee snob and American coffee drives me wild. You can't get good coffee anywhere, so I take my own.

		Lord Snowdon I recommend taking a jar of Marmite as it stops you getting ill from foreign foods. It's good with hot water as well as on bread, and it's comforting.

		Imogen Stubbs I am such a hypochondriac that the mere thought of having a tummy bug without a nearby Boots makes me feel unwell.

		Terry Wogan I don't think I would ever go away on holiday if I was only allowed to take one book away with me. I've been trying to finish War and Peace for ten years. Now I've forgotten the beginning I'll have to start all over again.

		Keith Waterhouse The general assumption is that airport novels are meant to be started on the aeroplane and finished on the beach. They are not. They are intended to be ploughed through at the airport itself, to fill in the endless waiting. That's why they're called airport novels.Women travelling as a twosome, and who don't know each other that well, should agree in advance on the desirability or otherwise of chatting up ski instructors, beach boys and nice blokes at the next table.

		Jilly Cooper When I go away I always take a novel by Barbara Pym or one by Anthony Trollope because they are so wonderfully comforting in that they remind me of England.

		Paddy Ashdown The one book I would like to take with me when travelling abroad is a collection of poems by John Donne.

		Jan Morris Without doubt what I miss most is my cat. I do see the logistical disadvantages of taking him around with me, and so does he - he has heard about British quarantine regulations.

		Sally Gunnell When I travel I miss home, my husband and my two cats - not in that order!

		Ken Livingstone The things I miss most while travelling are comfort, peace and quiet, good food and sleep.

		Valerie Singleton Being careful about food is so difficult - sometimes you're safer with street food than the buffet in the grand hotel which has been sitting around for hours. And what do you do if you're hungry? It's often the spontaneous things you eat which are the best, eaten with local people.

		Maureen Lipman The only travel tip I can pass on to you was given to me by Bobby Charlton and Henry Cooper and that is to put brown wrapping paper, cut in the shape of an inner sole, inside your socks when travelling long distances. This avoids jetlag.

		Chris Bonington Staying healthy in the mountains is firstly a question of eating and particularly drinking enough. You need at least seven pints of liquid per day to avoid dehydration. It is also important to acclimatise properly, giving your body time to adjust to the altitude.

		Beryl Reid I get hiccups when I am travelling and the best cure is to fill an egg cup with half water, half vinegar, and sip slowly. I don't know why it works, but it always does.

		Lulu My travel tip for jetlag is to drink only water during the whole trip, and as little food as possible - certainly no stodge or carbohydrates. (I don't always manage to do this, but when I do it works wonders.) Try it and see.

		Len Deighton The best travel tip I can pass on to you is don't. Stay at home - it's nicer. If someone says you must travel, get them to buy the ticket. Never pay the full fare. Take a box of your own food: freshly cooked chicken or salmon, some perfect fruit and your favourite cheese. Take a calculator so you can work out how much extra you'd be paying per hour to sit somewhere up front where it is almost as hellish as it is back here.






Reproduced from WEXAS publication ‘Around the World in 80 Ways’ - now out of print Email publications editor