Sophie Ellis-Bextor: “I want my kids to be intrepid!” How to make your holiday magical

0:00Fearne Cotton: I am thrilled to have been chosen as one of Apple Podcasts 2026 creators we love. Hey look, if you've just found the show, welcome. You can see all of my favourite episodes, shows and the other featured creators on Apple Podcasts. Enjoy. Hello and welcome to the Happy Place Guide to Holidays brought to you by British Airways Holidays. I'm Fern Cotton and today I'm chatting to Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

0:29Sophie Ellis-Bextor: I want my kids to be intrepid. I want them to get the same enjoyment out of traveling that I do. So, I mean, I've done some spectacular mistakes. I think the worst one we did, because I like traveling hand luggage only where possible. And we once did a week away and we managed to leave two of them at Stansted. So we sort of landed. Not only did I pack light, I'd also left behind two whole people's things. Then there was another one where we had a week away and I'd actually managed to forget to pack any. I think I had like two pairs of underwear for me and that was it.

0:57Fearne Cotton: So this is, of course, Happy Place, but it's Happy Place with a little summer glow. It's Happy Place, but with that feeling when you step off the plane into the warm air of a new country, there's nothing like it. This is the Happy Place Guide to Holidays, an exclusive mini series brought to you by British Airways Holidays. They're all about helping you take your holidays more seriously. and this series is all about making the most of our travels and I mean really getting that childlike giddy magical feeling from our holidays. That is really what I want to talk to Sophie about today. I want to know how she keeps the magic alive not only for herself but also her kids while she's traveling as well as the admin like staying chilled while packing for seven people in the family

2:11Fearne Cotton: Sophie Ellis Bexter you are I think we've both dressed for holidays today I did it intentionally

2:16Sophie Ellis-Bextor: I was like take me there wardrobe

2:19Fearne Cotton: We're going to because the weather is shocking in the UK.

2:22Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Yeah, but that's a nice time to fantasize about happier times and warmer climes.

2:27Fearne Cotton: First of all, I'm intrigued. Have you even got time for a holiday at the moment?

2:31Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Yeah, holidays aren't well. I guess it's slightly semantics, but I think you can build in a little bit of that holiday vibe a lot of times. And possibly because when I travel for work, I've often got Richard with me in the band. We can sometimes eke out extra time that's like it feels a bit of a holiday. I love that you do that.

2:49Fearne Cotton: I mean, you've got, I looked at your website today. You are doing 24 festivals this summer.

2:54Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Is it that many? Sorry to break the news to you. It's 24. Well, I have to break it down week by week because if I start going too far forward about what's coming up, I get a bit overwhelmed.

3:06Fearne Cotton: Me too.

3:07Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Yeah. So I'm a kind of day, but take it one day at a time kind of girl or, you know, maximum week really. But it's never a boring life. So that's the way I flip that. And also, I do think travel is one of the perks of what I do. And I love traveling.

3:21Fearne Cotton: Me too. I mean, you're going all over the gaff. I thought I'd written down some of the places. But you're like, you're in Europe. You're in the UK. Yeah. You're all over the shop.

3:29Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Yeah. Yeah. No, it's nice. I mean, I think, yeah, last week I was in Sweden and Hungary. Next week I've got France and Denmark. The week after that is the Netherlands. Yeah, it's nice. But how lucky am I? Come on. How many stamps have you got in your passport? Not enough. I like the stamp thing. and sometimes when they come out you're like well that just looks the same as the other ones when I was a little girl I used to really look through my passport I think I still think travel is really glamorous and I it's never lost on me that thing of when you have breakfast in your kitchen and then by lunchtime or the afternoon you're having you know something like yesterday

4:03Fearne Cotton: I was in Italy guys yeah such a weird thought it is but it's it's magic whenever I look at your Instagram I'm like always in awe and impressed with how you juggle it all but also how you navigate things like jet lag because for me that is one of the things that makes me feel slightly anxious is oh my god I know I'll be fine and it's just the first 24 hours of going I'm in a new time zone I feel a bit wobbly and then it's so so worth it do you get that because you've got the also the anticipation of you've got to get up on stage and sing true but then

4:36Sophie Ellis-Bextor: my work is not regular hours so it's not like when I travel I'm then trying to match right you know, getting up in the morning and peaking, then I've got to prepare myself for that evening time. I've had a couple where it has been very close to the wire. In fact, I think I did a gig, I think it was the year before last, where we flew to San Francisco for the first ever US date I did and we landed the day before. And honestly, the night of the show, which was the equivalent of, I think, going on stage, I think it was either four or five a.m. having not slept and it's all been up with jet lag in the morning i think it's one of the hardest gigs i've ever done and i don't know what kind of energy i presented to that poor crowd slightly manic yeah 100 % manic sort of overcompensate because you know you're screwed i knew what yeah exactly um but by and large i just choose i choose which time zone suits me best so if it's the one back home i'll be like don't worry it's only 6 p.m and if it's the one there I'll be like don't worry it's evening my

5:39Fearne Cotton: brain does the opposite like say I went to New York a few years ago and I was trying to go to sleep and in my head I was like well it's six in the morning I'm not going to go to sleep now am I my brain just goes for the worst case scenario yeah it is it's a you are basically fooling

5:54Sophie Ellis-Bextor: yourself one way the other but at least look as as people who you know we both travel sometimes with our kids when I haven't got the kids and it's just me and my fatigue I'm like come on easy

6:05Fearne Cotton: peasy there is something so delightful about walking through security without a buggy it's just me just me I go shopping I'm gonna drink loads of wine ace the it's I remember when my I mean our kids are now big enough we don't have to deal with all the paraphernalia of having a small baby I remember the first few flights did with a buggy I was just like how does how's this meant to work this is wild so the novelty of not having that yeah is ever present so you've got five boys so how how do you even start to think about how's a holiday going to work like what are they because I'm imagining they've all got different likes and interests and ways they want to do a holiday

6:41Sophie Ellis-Bextor: it's true but actually um I think I think the first thing starts with everybody just getting a bit excited about the destination and we just did a really special holiday and pure holiday as and no work attached at all. Cause I'm quite good. We're quite good at building trips around work. But this was one we'd planned for, I mean, it sounds ridiculous, but probably about a decade because my eldest had always wanted to go to Japan. And then the more kids we had, the more they were like, that sounds good. So eventually in the Easter of this year, we did a two week trip, all seven of us. And it was incredible.

7:14Sophie Ellis-Bextor: It was a lot of planning. I was really fastidious. I wanted it to really work. So it was quite, I mean, Richard and I literally had to sit down and have like meetings about it. because I was sort of planning the itinerary, booking trains, you know, everything. But I just wanted it to be, I wanted us to get the maximum out of it. And it was really good. So I think the kernel of a good family holiday first starts with everybody being excited about where we're going. Because some holidays when you're a teenager, particularly just don't sound that exciting. You want to be back home with your friends.

7:44Sophie Ellis-Bextor: You want time that's just your own to blob about. And I think as they've got older as well, I've probably got more relaxed about, you know, okay if we're going to have this day trip but if you guys want to cut off a bit earlier or you guys want to do and do something else I'm quite quite chilled yeah that's good I remember like having a

8:00Fearne Cotton: an argument with my mum in Mallorca circa 94 because she wanted to go to a castle or like somewhere in Parma and I was like I need to work on my tan like what do you not understand about this because it was the 90s and we didn't understand sun damage yeah and I remember having like a full blown like digging my heels I didn't want to go and I look back and think my poor mum

8:22Sophie Ellis-Bextor: I mean I think we still might have gone but I was like a moody teenager the whole day of course that's par for the course and I've got pictures of us on like beach holidays with either me when I was a teen or now my 14 year old in sort of full head to toe black clothing you know in the middle

8:37Fearne Cotton: of like 70 degrees family holiday there's also a quote that we have in our family from something

8:42Sophie Ellis-Bextor: that I think my stepdad saw at a service station years ago where a dad was telling off his kids and through gritted teeth was saying to his children, this is holiday and you are ruining it.

8:56Fearne Cotton: We all have these expectations.

8:58Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Expectations. And also we see it as a luxury and a treat. But we've done the classic of all traveling somewhere and all been jet laggy and sat at breakfast with like, I don't know, two thirds of us crying.

9:10Fearne Cotton: We've all been there. Sometimes it just goes really wrong.

9:14Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Really wrong. We've all had those trips. Yeah, like, come on, you're so lucky. And then nobody's just like, well, thanks, but I don't want to be here.

9:20Fearne Cotton: Yeah, absolutely. I love there was, I don't know if it was on your page or Richard's recently on Instagram where you guys had played a gig together and then you had gone, I don't know where the gig was, but you'd done that and then you went straight to a school camping trip. Oh, yeah, that was only last week. Yeah, that was quite a... That is a jarring transition.

9:40Sophie Ellis-Bextor: yeah it was a little bit and then it rained a lot as well i don't i mean i've done i'm still not sure how i feel about camping when it's good quite wholesome yes sweet kids were super excited so this is organized not by the school but it's a school camping trip in that there were i think it was 72 families from across the school had all gone to the same place about 150 kids it's full on and it was very sweet on the friday night and then we woke up in the morning to a comedic levels of rain on the tent. I think that was the picture captured.

10:14Fearne Cotton: You're sat there sort of rifling through a bag on the floor and one of your sons is sort of looking at you like, what is this? What's going on?

10:22Sophie Ellis-Bextor: And the night before you were surrounded by adoring fans, sequined catsuit on. This is the thing, fun. This is what's frustrating is that, you know how you hear stories about people becoming divas? I would love the opportunity. There's no chance. Kids are too humbling. Life is too grounding most of the time.

10:41Fearne Cotton: It really is. It's really annoying.

10:42Sophie Ellis-Bextor: I would love to take flight.

10:44Fearne Cotton: Yeah. Come on. Next year's camping trips kick off. It's like toss your tent in the air. I've had enough. I'm done. I'm out of here.

10:51Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Stop looking at me in the eyes. Exactly.

10:54Fearne Cotton: Let's drill in to family holidays because a lot of people listening to this will be either thinking about going on one.

11:01Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Yeah.

11:01Fearne Cotton: There might be nerves around it. I mean, I remember when I first had kids just thinking, I can't imagine how this is going to feel. What is this going to even be like? What do you think is the secret or the recipe to a good one?

11:12Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Yeah, well, firstly, I completely sympathize. And I think before every trip away, I get a slight tension of why we're doing this and worry as well. You know, it's a big, you know, they're expensive. You're away from home comforts. You're taking a bit of a plunge into the unknown. You don't know what you're going to be greeted with. I'm always okay, though, once we actually arrive. Once I see the edges of what it looks like, I think firstly, relax. You go into a place where there's civilization. If you've forgotten something, you can go and find it. And I think nowadays we have much more transparency about what makes for a good family holiday and what you're going to find and what will work for you.

11:54Sophie Ellis-Bextor: And it's much easier, isn't it, to find resources about what's nearby. You can get to grips with the local area, find out. I love all that. I love the fact that you can look up what's the best restaurant to go to around here. What's a good local favorite? How do I do the travel here? Like I'm all about the apps, the conversions, the language stuff, all of it. So I really enjoy that. And I think you've just got to remember that it's pretty much the same for everybody. And that in the moment of it, there'll be bits of tension, bits where you think, oh, my gosh. I mean, I often come back feeling like I've done a bit of a workout as well.

12:29Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Carrying bags, carrying things for all eventualities. the tension all of that but I'd say 90 % of the time my memories sort of erase all the bits that were like that and you come back with the really good stuff yeah and it is really nice as well to reflect as a family and sometimes the the impact of the trips comes much later down the line I know when I my eldest first went away by himself he did a month of travel on his own wow I thought maybe he would never have done that if I hadn't been doing so much travel you know for work yes but also as a family and I want my kids to be intrepid. I want them to get the same enjoyment out of traveling that I do.

13:09Sophie Ellis-Bextor: So I think you've got to be kind to yourself. You're playing a bit of a long game with the value of seeing a different world and that thing where you first leave the airport or the station and you're looking at the window and thinking, what's life like for the people who live here? Imagine living in that house. Imagine if that was my local school, all that stuff. So I think it's just, yeah, I just, I do feel ultimately quite sort of being obliqued about the whole thing. Yeah, I love it. I think there's lots of good about it.

13:35Fearne Cotton: I think especially with kids, it's, you can see in real time, it's such an amazing opportunity for them to learn stuff. Like, yes, they can sit and learn things on a screen at school or from a book or whatever, or the teacher were telling them a fact about a place or if it's geographical, but actually being there when you've got like the visuals to back it up. I know that the places my kids have been, they kind of know stuff about that area because it's attached to a memory or an experience. And I love that part of it. And I'm trying to sort of like learn on the job, too. Over the years, looking at trips that have either gone brilliantly well or haven't, what have you learned about whether it's where you go, the process, how you mentally approach a holiday to ensure that it is a good family one?

14:19Sophie Ellis-Bextor: oh well I guess it's a little bit of trial and error and it probably trickles from the top down because if you're relaxed and feeling good it's like anything isn't it it's like you can set the tone if you're feeling good about the things you've given yourself so I think I do think you need to prioritize yourself and if you're compromising yourself too much for what you think they will get out of it then when they when there is invariably a bit tension it'll it'll really pull things to stretching so I think you should go for the things that you think will make you happy so at least you can be a relaxed sort of tour guide to a manager yeah um reversing

14:56Fearne Cotton: roles yeah yeah how on earth do you and I'm gonna say Richard pack for seven people

15:06Sophie Ellis-Bextor: that's absurd I like the fact you've included Richard but you really didn't need to didn't

15:10Fearne Cotton: need to I thought I thought as much I thought as much how do you Sophia Spex to pack for seven

15:14Sophie Ellis-Bextor: people um yeah i mean i've done some spectacular mistakes same yeah turning i'm going i mean i think the worst one we did because i like traveling hand luggage only where possible what and we once did a week away where each kid had it was also it was an airline where it was like the tiniest hand luggage so we all had one each and we managed to leave two of them at stansted so we sort of landed not only had I packed light I'd also left behind two whole people's things no um so that was a good one then there was another one where we had a week away and I'd actually managed to forget to pack any I think I had like two pairs of underwear for me and that was it I always forget

15:51Fearne Cotton: the obvious underwear and toothbrush so obvious every time I forget every time because also plug adapters never remember because of the teenagers now they want they're expecting

16:01Sophie Ellis-Bextor: where are my adapters yes yes where are my chargers where are my adapters that kind of thing yeah I've done I've done lots of silly stuff like that but that being said I think I just have chilled out a lot about if something happens you know if it all goes wonky we can always find something and mostly actually no matter how light I've packed I think we still come home with things unworn because when it's a different environment and you're in and out the water or you know running out you're invariably wearing the same things every day and yeah not going through everything.

16:33Fearne Cotton: I know. I sort of imagine that I'm going to turn into Joan Collins when I arrive. And I'm going to wear

16:39Sophie Ellis-Bextor: this very glamorous outfit to dinner. dressing like a different version of yourself. And I wear shorts and a t-shirt. You get there and you go, I didn't want to wear that at home. What made me think I was going to want to wear this now? I know. I've done exactly that, like holiday me. But then do you have it where you go shopping and there's like eventualities in your mind you're shopping for that you never do in real life?

16:56Fearne Cotton: Ever. I never will. I've got several things

16:58Sophie Ellis-Bextor: thinking, this is so revealing of how odd I am. I'd be like, that'd be good for a garden party. I don't go to garden parties. I don't even know what they look like. But in my mind, I need something for that. And I've ticked that box.

17:13Fearne Cotton: I'm the same, especially actually on holiday. Not only am I thinking I'm going to turn into somebody else, but I buy things. I bought some absurd stuff last year in Ibiza. I'll always be something shell-based that will look awful back in London when it's great. Yeah, bohemian doesn't work. And I bought this blue cardigan, chunky knit, and it had 3D knitted hearts coming off it. And in a moment I thought, that is so cool and quirky. I'm going to look. And all the posters in the shop were like, you know, beachy women with a bikini and that on. Yeah.

17:45Sophie Ellis-Bextor: And I got home and was like, that is the worst thing I've ever bought. It went straight to my mum.

17:51Fearne Cotton: Mum loves it. I found a home. It's just, something happens. Definitely. Neurologically.

17:58Sophie Ellis-Bextor: It's like a different, like, hey, I can be that woman. You can be that woman. Here I am, that lady. It's so good. Yeah, I've got, I mean, I've gone crazy for toweling things as well. I've got so many artists. Yeah, terry toweling.

18:07Fearne Cotton: Terry toweling.

18:08Sophie Ellis-Bextor: And caftans.

18:10Fearne Cotton: Yes.

18:10Sophie Ellis-Bextor: I do try and involve it, but sometimes it goes a bit. I just bought a terry toweling caftan, actually. What a double whammy. So good. A terry toweling caftan. It's so much.

18:24Fearne Cotton: For a garden party.

18:25Sophie Ellis-Bextor: It's so much fabric.

18:27Fearne Cotton: but hey it's quite practical when you get out of the sea pop it straight on this is what I'm thinking yeah exactly what do you think makes a holiday magical it's like next level or even if it's like a moment on your holiday where you're like oh my god this moment right now this has got something like sparkly about it what are those moments for you and what makes that

18:47Sophie Ellis-Bextor: I think it's got to be that sort of what do they call it the golden hour the bit where you know the sun's going down the heat's the sort of dangerous heat's gone out the sun so you don't need to worry anymore about sun cream but it's still warm and everybody's relaxed and you know the kids might be all laughing together and it just feels chilled I love that and maybe we've been outdoors all day or you know been on the beach so you've got that sort of nice I wouldn't say fatigue but you know that sort of nice like sort of like happy tiredness from a day spent outdoors where you're like okay I can just settle into this bit and you don't have to worry about bedtime or anything we're all on the same time zone I really like that yeah me too I like it where we're just all together and all doing our own things side by side and

19:35Fearne Cotton: and there's no friction yeah how do you feel about screens on holiday it's a tricky one because to entertain five children or even I find two all day is impossible it's impossible I sort of my approach usually is right we'll have breakfast and then you can have an hour doing what you want on your screens and then we're going to the beach or we're going to the pool or we're going to a

20:00Sophie Ellis-Bextor: market or whatever and actually they want to do that I think they do they do yeah I mean I don't really I don't think I kind of have like a hard and fast this is how we're doing it or anything I've articulated I think it's more an instinct really yeah and and I want us to be together that and I want to share things and I want to be having conversations together and all sat around the table and playing and spending time in the pool my guys get in the water and they don't really get out for hours anyway and they like running about and yeah I think I'm quite relaxed about all that kind of thing because I think it kind of takes care of itself really and also I don't have a knee-jerk reaction to what a screen might be really I suppose you know if we're all I like it when we all watch a movie together oh yeah definitely yeah so yeah I don't I suppose is there's lots about a holiday as well we're taking uh what i still regard as like a really luxurious thing to have like an ipad i wouldn't want to take that out to a restaurant or something

20:54Fearne Cotton: no god no what about for your sanity like do you need to put your phone away so you're not looking at you know emails or whatsapp messages or whatever um that's quite a personal thing isn't

21:07Sophie Ellis-Bextor: it i do i'm someone that still struggles with a holiday that's longer than a week if i'm out of touch I don't I do I get a bit twitchy so I think I like to keep in touch with people and yeah I don't mind dipping in and out of work it doesn't stress me it just makes me feel like my brain can kind of settle more but I don't need to do it all the time I'm happy to be quiet but I I don't know if I feel the need to again make a rule for myself but then I sometimes sitting on your phone for a bit feels really nice yeah oh my god especially if you're like in a really fun whatsapp group it's the best we're sharing things like well we've got a big family one so we're always posting pictures back and forth and I mean I say that my family invariably come on holiday as well for our summer holidays we spend a lot of time with all of us they'll go up to like 12 of us oh I love spending time together yeah it's really nice so no I don't know I suppose yeah I suppose I'm just sort of happy to leave it all behind and and my work are pretty good as well knowing when I'm away and I need a break and I know for sure like with our big trip to Japan we just did I was hardly in touch with anyone at all it was like yeah there's too much to see yeah we were so busy it was lovely we want to go to japan so badly oh you know what the kids loved it yeah my 10 year old says pretty much every other day like i wish we were back in japan like it really resonated and who knows maybe it'll form part of the future you never know without a doubt without i think it's

22:23Fearne Cotton: putting yourself in that um environment where there is absolutely no familiarity the the language barrier is huge the food is different culturally things work in a different way the shops look different i think it's such a healthy thing for us to experience that to kind of you know because we're so used to whatever our surroundings are if you live in a town or in a more rural area that you just see the same stuff every day and you get so used to it so it's a real shock to the system in a positive way that I think makes you slightly more alert to what's going on around you and and how you're sort of digesting that information I love that yeah so do I Japan is on the list um so Japan is one of your magical places any other destinations that have just really stuck in your mind that that was an amazing holiday that was an amazing moment

23:08Sophie Ellis-Bextor: so italy is somewhere we go a lot as a family and when i say family i do mean the broad sense of it so since there was a particular area we used to go when i was a child that we kept going to even like when i was in my 20s and it'd be with my mom and my brother and my sister and now we've moved it more south so for the last few years we've gone to puglia every summer and it's it's one of those lovely things it's a bit like a sort of like we the way we approach christmas where every time there's like a new thing that becomes part of the like tradition of what that holiday is my brother has his birthday in August so that'll form part of it and yeah we just all spend a lot of time together and it's all yeah Negronis and pasta and swimming and massages and reading and hanging out it's lovely the best yeah and I've got a little baby niece now so she's sort of part of it too so yeah it's like I really like that and I also love letting the kids bring friends with them because I was able to do that when I was young and I think that really helps yeah and it also keeps the kids that they all seem happier together when there's a new person around yes and they become like that's a cross-generational thing of the little ones playing with the big ones and that's so nice yeah so we have quite we've gone up to quite a large number of us on

24:20Fearne Cotton: holiday like that how do your holidays now differ to your own childhood ones not that much really yeah pretty pretty similar approach I think and I'm grateful actually to my mum for setting up a

24:34Sophie Ellis-Bextor: lot of things that really worked for me then and she was probably quite similar to what I've tried to do now with let me bring a friend and being quite relaxed with me if I needed to dip out of stuff because I get it when you're teenage sometimes you do need to just sort of you don't always want to feel like you want to be social and sitting around and actually if you let them have their own space for a bit they they come back they come back yeah sounds kind of fun over there

24:56Fearne Cotton: They're all having a meal together and chatting. Definitely.

24:59Sophie Ellis-Bextor: And now, like, my 22-year-old, it's lovely that he wants to come and do that with us. But he really does.

25:04Fearne Cotton: We do it all the time. That's so great. I think just when you were talking a minute ago about Negronis, which won't now leave my head, one of my magical things is the first drink I have on that holiday. So say we've landed at, ideally, I want to land at 2 p.m. Okay, yeah. And I want to go to whatever destination it is, hotel or whatever. And I want to have that first drink. and it's probably like an early happy hour. It's a 6 p.m. drink. Something about that first drink. There's crisps, there's olives, there's nuts. Is there a better scene?

25:34Sophie Ellis-Bextor: No, I'm there. I don't think so. I'm actually thinking that's overdue. I need a bit of what you just described.

25:39Fearne Cotton: Heaven.

25:40Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Yeah, and just that feeling of like we did it and I like unpacking as well, putting the stuff, finding places for things. The only thing I've said when I said that, I've realised one thing I do, which is really odd, and I don't know if you're the same, if I've got access to washing facilities, I become obsessed with doing the washing. Really? I do laundry non-stop. I wash things all the time. I want to come home with everything clean. Wow. And I don't know why it happens to me, but it happens to me every trip.

26:06Fearne Cotton: No, I don't suppose. I'll wash the necessary things, but probably not to take home.

26:12Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Yeah, I don't know what happens to me.

26:14Fearne Cotton: I guess we've all got weird quirks, haven't we? One of my weird unpacking quirks is that I'll unpack half of the stuff. So I'll unpack the dresses that I'm not going to wear. and hang them up and I'll unpack maybe the shorts and the t-shirts. Underwear, socks, bikinis, I just leave them in the suitcase. I kind of get that though. I can't be bothered. Yeah,

26:36Sophie Ellis-Bextor: they're kind of little and they can sit in there and you just have a little rummage and get what you need. I just think, can't be arsed and then I'm going to put it all back in my suitcase at the end so I just keep it there. I know, I love unpacking because I like that feeling of like, right, we're going to bed in here. Richard hardly ever unpacks a few things in his suitcase the whole time.

26:52Fearne Cotton: I mean,

26:52Sophie Ellis-Bextor: there's a practicality to that and then there'll be a bit where if i've been shopping then i'll have to pack his stuff as well when we go home like the rolling thing the roll i do the rolling thing it really works more room is available yeah it's great i love it i will get the maximum amount

27:07Fearne Cotton: of that suitcase oh yeah do you like buying trinkets on holiday yeah i mean when i'm on

27:12Sophie Ellis-Bextor: tour it's the vintage shopping that's my big problem and it is a problem but it's such a

27:16Fearne Cotton: happy one it's not one i want to change no and good for the planet because secondhand clothes

27:22Sophie Ellis-Bextor: are the best. Yeah, and it makes me feel like, you know, I normally meet some nice people. Yes. Inverably those shops are in a nice part of town. And I like the story that comes home with me. I'm like, this old thing, bought this, you know. That is my absolute favourite. Bought this in Australia.

27:35Fearne Cotton: Oh, I love that. I love that.

27:37Sophie Ellis-Bextor: With stories or any item from holiday that has a story behind it, the best. Yes, and actually I do buy trinkets as well sometimes. Silly little things and things I just put on the side. Do you? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I like buying all the trinkets.

27:49Fearne Cotton: I love trinkets. It's fun, isn't it? It's the best. There's a market that I go to in Ibiza and I have to really restrain myself. I want all the things that I know don't go anywhere in my home. There is no place for them. But I just, I love a trinket.

28:04Sophie Ellis-Bextor: It's fun. Is that your main place that you go then?

28:07Fearne Cotton: I do love Ibiza. I do. I do. I mean, the kids are a good age now. I'm sure you'll find the same. When they're really little, you think, I'm just going to go to a place where I know how it works. It feels safe. Yeah. I mean, you're much more sort of experienced traveler with your job, but I definitely got very comfy with doing the same thing. Whereas now they're older. We've done a couple of city breaks, which have been incredible. I took them to Paris in half term and it was just us three. And I was quite nervous to sort of plan it all on my own and do it all. But it went so well. And they were so much more flexible than I thought they were going to be in terms of, OK, we planned that, but should we not do that?

28:43Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Should we do this?

28:44Fearne Cotton: And people were sort of recommending things to me while we're out there. and they loved it. A bit like your kids in Japan were just eating up the newness of that environment. Oh, nice. I talk about it constantly. Like my son, who's just banging to food, was just steaks and chicken and croissants and crepes and macarons and just like eating anything. He's like, I just want to eat the most French thing I can get my hands on. Good for him. So he was loving it. And my daughter loved the shopping and it was so brilliant. So I'm trying to be a bit more adventurous now and try new experiences, try new places.

29:19Fearne Cotton: We went on a mini break just in the UK recently and did archery,

29:23Sophie Ellis-Bextor: which was great. Wow. And we're all sort of weirdly quite good at it. And we're like, oh, that was just fun to try a new thing.

29:29Fearne Cotton: Fun and useful. I feel safer in your presence. Yes.

29:32Sophie Ellis-Bextor: You've got a bow and arrow in here now. Yeah, I have in my backpack.

29:36Fearne Cotton: If something goes down, I'm your gal. Exactly.

29:40Sophie Ellis-Bextor: On the side, my lady.

29:40Fearne Cotton: Bow to see you. In the British Airways Holiday's latest trends report, there was something that really caught my eye and it's how uninhibited people feel on a holiday but in very varied ways so it could be what they're wearing it could be just slacking on the routine not being so I'm sort of usually quite rigid at home with my routine and I definitely resonate with that that I'm like it all goes out the window I don't care and just that sense that you do feel much more relaxed which is an obvious thing to say but it it's it's a holiday that brings you that that sense that oh you can just let your shoulders go and you can sigh out do you feel

30:17Sophie Ellis-Bextor: that definitely and I think that's a sign that you've done you're doing holiday well actually isn't it you should that should be what happens um and I think for me it's probably that lovely feeling of like not caring at all what I wear actually it's probably just chucking on things and just feeling happy to just yeah just totally chill and and and I think feeling more like yeah you can sort of lose yourself in where you are and just observe. I think it kind of takes me back sometimes to just like outside of my own sense, you know, my, I don't know what the word is, my sense of who my character is in my everyday life.

30:56Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Yeah, you can be anyone you want. The roles you play. Yes. Just being able to just sit and observe and watch and see how things are happening. And I like seeing, you know, how people are on the beach or what seems to be the local routines and custom. I just love all of that feeling.

31:09Fearne Cotton: I do because I think sometimes I can tie myself in knots with going oh my god my kids aren't doing this or I put them in I put them to bed too late at home or whatever and then you go to Spain and

31:19Sophie Ellis-Bextor: they're all eating dinner at midnight and you go oh right this is just like a very British thing

31:23Fearne Cotton: that we're like this is how we have to do things and everyone has a different manner and a different culture that they're you know immersed in I love that yeah so do I and actually I was thinking

31:34Sophie Ellis-Bextor: when you're saying about tips for families where they're thinking about doing trips and you mentioned about going to the same place every time I think that's absolutely fine I think sometimes people can tie themselves in knots thinking oh we should be doing xyz but actually the point of the holiday and how you feel as a family and what you bring home the the place you went to is sort of secondary in a lot of ways when it comes to thematically what is working yeah so I think if you're looking at the fun stuff and when we spoke about a lot of it's how you're feeling so It doesn't really matter if it's, you know, somewhere on the British coast or you've gone somewhere really far flung.

32:11Sophie Ellis-Bextor: I think it's about what makes you as a family access that feeling. And if it's doing exactly the same thing year on year, then there's a lot of pleasure in that.

32:20Fearne Cotton: Yeah.

32:20Sophie Ellis-Bextor: This is where we go. This is where we like. That's the cafe we like to go to. This is where we like what they do here. That's the swim park we like, whatever it might be. I think that's all absolutely fine. Yeah, me too. No one can. It's not anyone else's business. No, not at all. how it went it's about how as a family how you all I so agree um how do you take holidays seriously

32:40Fearne Cotton: so that you do really come back going that was a great holiday I think it's probably planning

32:46Sophie Ellis-Bextor: really just like having a little itinerary about that's more me funny enough it's funny isn't it how different members of family emerge into different roles but I am the probably more the tour manager every person so I like to know the nuts and bolts of where we have to be and when for the travel bits.

33:02Fearne Cotton: Are you talking like a spreadsheet?

33:04Sophie Ellis-Bextor: No, not that far, but just having knowledge so that I can manage all the billions of questions I will be asked. Yes, invariably.

33:12Fearne Cotton: Yes, I am. This notepad is my life and I still, I can't get on board with anything being digital. I'm Victorian and I, like Paris, for instance, absolute dog shit. I mean, literally, hieroglyphics. I mean, what does it say?

33:29Sophie Ellis-Bextor: That's why I can't do that because my handwriting is...

33:32Fearne Cotton: I mean, mine is poor, but I know what it means. But for the Paris thing, I had like Monday and then I just wrote a list of stuff and wanted to tick off the list and then I was quite literally ticking it off. It makes sense to me.

33:41Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Yeah, and that made me feel much more relaxed. And so for me, when I travel and what makes me feel chilled is getting the balance right between things I've planned and things that are just loose and you can just do what we feel like. So for me, I feel like every day needs something to like hang the day around. Yes. So it can be something really dinky, like, oh, that morning is on, we'll go into town and get a coffee in that place and have a look at the toy shop or whatever. And then, or it might, you know, something gentle or it could be, that's the day where we're going to go and spend the day at the beach.

34:10Sophie Ellis-Bextor: And it's a little bit of a travel bit there and we'll spend the whole day there, but just something to like hang the day around. So I know what it is.

34:15Fearne Cotton: Love that.

34:16Sophie Ellis-Bextor: I think that makes me feel able to really, yeah, relax.

34:20Fearne Cotton: Well, there is some sort of phrase that I can't remember. That's like routine gives you the old, or not routine, but like that level of planning gives you the ultimate freedom. If you have a framework, then you really enjoy the stuff you're doing. This is quite a niche question, but I'm interested in your answer. What's the best decision you've ever made on holiday?

34:37Sophie Ellis-Bextor: I suppose when we're on holiday, if you've done the right bits with putting in the groundwork of getting the things we were talking about, the framework, then hopefully the only decision you're making is what you're going to eat that day. And that's a fun decision.

34:50Fearne Cotton: It's the best. Yeah.

34:52Sophie Ellis-Bextor: So I think that the best decision is what do we all feel like eating? because actually on the best holidays that is literally the only thing left to work out yeah

35:00Fearne Cotton: you work your whole day around breakfast lunch and dinner and where it's going to be exactly and um

35:04Sophie Ellis-Bextor: so yeah I think it's that that's what we're going to eat and then just enjoying that and what or where is your holiday happy place oh well my mind went to lots of different things because I mean as a kid we did so many like holidays in the UK and I loved all of that really happy but I think because of the fact that I've mentioned it so much I think I will pick Italy just because it's somewhere that we've had so many happy memories and they get so much of it right in terms of the climate, the food, the culture and it's not far away. We're so lucky with having all of Europe just on our doorstep like that so I feel like that's always worked for me.

35:48Fearne Cotton: Yeah, I know Europe is just a gift. I love, if I know I've only got a short flight, I love every minute from the minute we set foot into the airport, like going to get your bits from Boots, getting a magazine, grabbing a little bit of brekkie or a coffee, something from Charlotte Tilbury. Like every bit of that airport experience and the flight, I am buzzing. Can't wait. And then knowing you're stepping off only like two hours later in a completely different bit of scenery.

36:14Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Oh, it's the best. Well, for me, it's the travel home is where I've always felt like we're all so super chilled. the one there I feel like we can sometimes be a bit more tense about getting ourselves there and all the stuff but on the way home it's like we've had such a great holiday and everybody's all a little bit more loose and looking forward to coming home I do actually really like that feeling as well I've always missed my cats oh my god don't I know I think Richard forgets we have cats on

36:39Fearne Cotton: holiday but I'm like I worry about them the whole time I'm away even if I have like a friend will stay at the house sometimes or I have someone going to feed them I'm like is baby fig okay

36:46Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Yeah. Actually, when you say about best decision, I think one of them might be, I've realised now that when I go away, I have to shut all the bedroom doors so the cats can't go on and register their displeasure that we're away. Yes, which they do love to do. They do. I must run to do that. That's a good decision I've made recently.

37:04Fearne Cotton: A very good one. Practical. Sophie, thank you so much for coming back onto Happy Place. I think we just need to book a holiday ASAP. Somewhere I can wear my toweling caftan, please.

37:15Sophie Ellis-Bextor: I should have worn it here. Imagine if I dressed for that. With a sun hat and flip flops. Don't worry, it's got a matching... And a snorkel. It's got a matching toweling little turban. I can do the whole lot for you. Oh my God. You make the Negronis, I'll bring the caftans. It's a deal.

37:33Fearne Cotton: Thank you, Sophie. That was... I mean, first of all, I just want to now go on holiday, specifically to Italy or Japan. Loved getting those tips. To navigate a holiday with five kids is no mean feat. And as you can tell from Sophie's general demeanour, she's just very easy breezy about it all. When travelling, be more Sophie is my tip of the day. If you want help taking your holidays more seriously, then you know where to go. British Airways Holidays allows you to book with a low deposit and pay off your holiday in flexible instalments. They offer a 24-hour holiday helpline and all holidays include a generous baggage allowance per person.

38:15Fearne Cotton: What's more, all British Airways holidays are at all protected, so they've got you well and truly covered. Massive thanks again to the brilliant Sophie, to British Airways holidays for making today's conversation happen, and to you, you're the best.

38:45Thank you.