Kelly Hoppen’s Travel Secrets | Her Favourite Places, Hotels & Meals Around the World

0:00But there are pockets of Beijing and Shanghai that is like no other city in the world. And you're eaten at night through your jeans as well as in the day. But I still remember the moment that it came on the table and I thought, well, this is just mozzarella and then took one mouthful and then, you know, everyone going, see, I told you.

0:26Tanya Rose:Welcome to Travel Secrets with me, Tanya Rose. the podcast sharing wisdom for fellow travelers. Each week, I ask my guests to reveal their six travel secrets and the holidays and adventures that surround them.

0:46Tanya Rose:Today, my guest is the South African-born, British, amazing interior designer, the powerhouse that is Kelly Hoppen, famed for her signature style of perfect neutral palettes, clean lines, east meets west. I only wish that you had done my house, but if I buy a new one, I'm calling you straight away. You have written books, been a TV presenter, you do homes, restaurants, hotels, cruise ships, super yachts, private jets. There's nothing that you don't turn your hand too. You were an MBE, then a CBE, and you are an amazing mentor. You have traveled the world and I cannot wait to hear your travel secrets.

1:31Tanya Rose:Welcome, lovely Kelly. Oh, thank you. It's just so amazing to see you and be here. So nice to see you. Such a long time. I mean, our paths cross at many, many events, but to sit down and actually have an hour with you is such a great joy. I know, it's fabulous. I mean, we've known each other for years. Many, many, many years. It's sort of, well, you've had your business for a long time. I've had my business for a long time. And we've got so many mutual friends. And you've been talked a lot about on this podcast, namely by Luke Evans, who said that he hated Ibiza until you took him and showed him Ibiza.

2:03Tanya Rose:So I'm sure you've got many tales about that as well. He's not the only person, actually, because I always used to go to Ibiza for years when the kids were young. And everyone would go, I don't want to go. And I go, no, there's a special side of Ibiza. And then I'd invite friends to come and stay. and then they'd end up buying houses and I never did. Oh, that's hilarious. I know. That's so funny. Before we get into your travel secrets, can you just tell us a little bit about yourself and how travel has impacted the person you've become? Did you travel when you were younger? I know your parents came from South Africa.

2:35Tanya Rose:Just tell us a little bit about yourself. I always say I think I'm the person I am today because of travel because my parents were, I mean, first of all, I was born in South Africa, left when I was two, but I would go back every Christmas to stay with my grandparents so I had that incredible experience every Christmas and I remember coming back to school and people said you know saying what do you do for Christmas and I'm like oh my god I was at my grandmother's home in Constantia and did it and nobody kind of really understood it but for me it was all the building blocks of excitement and what travel does to you especially as a young child growing up and then every single half term every holiday.

3:18My parents would take my brother and I somewhere. As children, at half terms and things like that, it would be cities and they'd drag us around museums. And at the time, we hated it. But again, that was such an important part of who I am today. Because cultures and places and people and tastes and sounds are all things that you collect. And they sit in your brain. You know, my brain is like a filing cabinet that is thousands and thousands and thousands of square feet of memories. And I still pluck things out of it when I'm designing today or when I'm having a conversation or you'll say something and I'll go, oh my God, you know, you're like me.

4:02I'm like, I've got to introduce you to this one or that one. And it's because of experiences of travel. And also my design is all my inspiration has come from travel. So during COVID, it was, I had to find inspiration somewhere else. Oh really how interesting.

4:17Tanya Rose:Yeah and I remember listening to you talking about your grandmother and her home and it's totally different from your taste but you said it was home and that was what you wanted to create in your career. It was her and her home and my grandfather's home that is who I am today but it was the smell of the coffee in the cedar wood it was the fact we used to pick hydrangeas and lay the table for dinners and choose the the glass that she had from Venice or from France or from you know and I know I'm lucky that I had that but it was how her home felt and if I could have bottled that and it actually taught me it doesn't matter what style someone's home's in it's the way it's put together that creates the home.

5:04It's not the style. It's the feeling. It's how you feel in that space that matters. And that's why it's so important in my job to understand what a client wants, because it's not just about choosing a sofa and a cushion and a lamp. It's about how do all of those things matter? And I suppose that, you know, we're here talking about travel. It's how you create your travel itinerary and how that's going to flow when you're in that moment. Everything's about planning, isn't it? And understanding what it is that you want to achieve. Do you do the same when you do hotels? Yeah. I mean, because I've done so many residential, I feel like I know what someone wants in a hotel and hotels can feel very cold.

5:48And for me, a hotel, when you walk in, it feels like home from home, but with something you hadn't quite expected. And in your next home, you're going to recreate it. That for me is the ultimate hotel room. Yeah, absolutely.

6:01Tanya Rose:So it's better than your home. Yeah. Yeah. Not mine.

6:09Tanya Rose:I can imagine. I can imagine. Let's get into your travel secrets and then we can go all over the world. What is the number one destination you think everyone should go to once in their lifetime? Without a doubt, Asia. Without a doubt. I mean, you know, I feel like I had a past life where I lived somewhere in Asia. There's something about going to Asia where everything about it, from the minute you step off the plane, I feel like I'm transported into something that is quite difficult to explain, but it's the food, it's the way people greet you, it's the respect, it's the conversation. It's the order of everything in Asia that I love.

6:57You know, my whole world started with my first book, East Meets West, and I hadn't even traveled so much to Asia, but I'd read everything I could. But all over Asia, I mean, not just one, but China and Hong Kong and Singapore and Vietnam and I mean anywhere that's in Asia will bring you a taste that you've never experienced before and you can't explain that experience until you've experienced it.

7:27Tanya Rose:Yeah and I love that book East Meets West. Was that your first book? Yeah. Was it? Yeah. How many have you done since? I've done 11 or 12 books in total. Well I've got East Meets West. Well that was a long time ago. Yeah. Goodness me. And Japan? So Japan is where I'm going next March. Are you? Yes. So Japan is my top of, literally the top of the bucket list of places. Hugely jealous that my entire family went to the sumo wrestlers. Oh, did they at the Albert Hall? I mean, I've watched every film over and over and over again. I'm obsessed, absolutely obsessed. But I think I've saved the best till last.

8:10Have you never been? I've never been, I've nearly so many times almost been, but I'm booking it and I'm doing a big trip next year. I'll do Hong Kong, China, then I've got, and then I'm going to do Japan and then Australia.

8:24Tanya Rose:Well, I'm going to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing next year because we look after the peninsula and I've never been to Shanghai or Beijing. So I'm so excited. Two of the best cities in the world. That literally, it's not what you expect. And that's the other brilliant thing about Asia. It's the unexpected that I love. So you think you know what you're going to receive, but there are pockets of Beijing and Shanghai that is like no other city in the world. Nightlife, restaurants, clubs, and you kind of go behind closed doors and it's almost like, you know, what David Tang created in the China Club in Hong Kong was so revolutionary, so incredible.

9:12And you walk behind those doors and you were in this world, you know, from the minute you saw that, you know, ceramic fountain with fish in it. But the real part that he copied that from is in the Bejings and Shanghai. And you go behind these closed doors and there's a whole kind of diverse culture of people inside just it's almost like an um what do you call it when it's but after hours easy a speakeasy it's almost that kind of feel and you come out of it going wow

9:44Tanya Rose:did that just happen oh I can't wait yeah excited do you have friends there yeah so they take you behind friends and I've got clients because I you know I still work all the time over there and I've made some incredible contacts and friends and love it. Do you do houses there or do you just buy things from there? No, no. I mean, a huge part of my business is over there still. Oh, is it? Yeah. Is it? How interesting. For 38 years I've been working in China. Have you? Yeah. Extraordinary. Actually, that takes us beautifully on to the next question, which is what is your most unexpected travel experience?

10:18I think Bhutan. so I was lucky enough that we went to Bhutan when it first opened and again I didn't know what to expect from the minute uh we took off I think from Delhi and went into Bhutan and you come in between the mountains and land with all these incredible um army in these skirts and just extraordinary but everything about that trip was unexpected in that well first of all we booked into the amman and i couldn't move because of the altitude i was literally like it was slow motion like and i said we can't stay here so we ended up going down to christina um como paro is it i can't remember paro i think maybe and there i could move i mean literally it was like this i can't move because of the altitude so we got into the hotel it was perfect and they had gluten-free bread for me and they had this and they had that and then it was like well let's climb up this mountain didn't even think where I was going so you have your you know guide that goes up with you and there are people of about 120 passing you at speed you know and you're like going up like this thinking you're really great then you stop for lunch and they open up you know for me amazing these kind of dumpling things where they open them and all your just divine and then you start going up to where you're going to go to the tiger's nest at the very top the monastery and it's literally a sheer drop and I said to my guide I went I can't do that and he went Cameron Dyers did it last week I went I'm doing it and it's true as God it happened and I said as long as you're on my right so every time we come around you swap by the time I got up to the top my hair was straight from sweat I mean literally I mean my clothes stuck to me and there were monks up there that had been um um in solitude for like five years and you it was just extraordinary

12:28Tanya Rose:how beautiful it was have you been no I haven't been it's on my bucket list and everyone that goes unreal actually when that hotel open was quite a long time ago so you must have gone when it was just opening up literally just open but i've said to john i want to go back i want to experience it again it was incredible didn't you have tea with the king of bhutan we had tea with the king of bhutan there were people everybody's uh choose beetle um something beetle so they've they've got terrible gut problems and all their mouths are red there's marijuana growing everywhere but it's illegal so nobody smokes it or so you can smell it it's um amazing sort of witch doctors there that you go and see and monasteries and um just beautiful i mean i'm sure it's much more built up now and more hotels than when i was there but when i came down from the tiger's nest i remember thinking that is the most incredible challenge i've ever done in my life and i don't think I've ever done one since since like that do you think you'd be able to do it again oh god yeah now you'll yeah I'm fitter now actually than I was then yeah I was meaning psychologically you could do it oh yeah oh yeah yeah yeah I'm much wiser and better than I was then definitely what's your most overrated travel experience or underrated so somewhere you've been that's overrated or somewhere that's underrated you thought oh I didn't know that was going to be so fabulous Finland I thought it was really beautiful but I was expecting something else and I I think part because when I was kind of looking at what I would answer to that I really love everywhere I go and it wasn't that I didn't love Finland and the people but they have a real problem with mosquitoes and you're eaten at night through your jeans as well as in the day and so for me that was because there are not many places in the world that i've been that i've gone i hated it or it was so it was the only thing i could think of but it's put me off going back i had no idea they had a mosquito i mean i literally would not have even crossed my mind and i would go into our room and it was the most beautiful place where we were staying and we would have to put the air conditioning on so high so that we wouldn't get hot because it was in the summer and we didn't lie in bed and we were like oh my god this is freezing and then you'd go out at night like forest gump like with everything up like this and socks over your trousers and everything and you would just be bitten through your trousers how extraordinary yeah oh well that is a good thing to know because I've never been to Finland we're actually just about to take a new client on there so I shall make sure I'm wrapped up.

15:20What time of the year?

15:22Tanya Rose:Well I will go when it opens which will be spring next year. Deet. Oh de Deet. Yeah yeah no safari for Deet but Finland. Actually I think I read that you went to Antwerp and you loved it and you were very surprised about how amazing it was yeah I mean I think I went to Brussels for a second time and was disappointed mainly because I didn't buy enough I went there to buy vintage furniture and I was disappointed so I think going to Antwerp after I was really shocked at how beautiful that was and we met amazing craftsmen there and we met people in terms of buying things for for projects but I thought it was really enchanting actually Antwerp and you buy vintage vintage furniture and things yeah do you buy a lot in the far east no so mainly mainly uh Europe we buy yeah and do you buy pieces because you like them when you see them and don't know where you're going to place them sadly yes so then I end up with like you know when we moved into the barn I had something like 40 chairs you know rather than tables or something so I've kind of stopped doing that now and we tend to buy for a project but if I'm let loose somewhere well actually what I did in Antwerp was buy loads of vintage stuff and redid the studio so I can't kind of help it and you've got a new studio the studio I came to was well maybe it was even your home it was an old school or an old auction that was a home that was your home lindley's old place up in bassistsey that was a long time yeah that was madison house yeah i love that space but it took me two hours to get anywhere over the river but that was great yeah and cotswolds is now cotswolds has been 30 years we've had somewhere in the cotswolds but it's become so much more a part of my life because my daughter lives there my grandson my stepdaughter all our friends um so i can't live without it it just does something to me the cotswolds it's very special i love the color of it i love the stone i like this the calmness about it um and i'm very creative when i'm there are you yeah i love this time of year there when all the leaves are changing it's just so beautiful beautiful and you go into the pubs and you've got that lovely scent of the fires going it's just less stressful you can still run a business if you're there but it's like when when it's time to stop work it's just seems less stressful to walk to the pub or get in the car go to a friend then in London have you got a pub that you go to oh no so many I love all of Carol Bamford's I I think they're all wonderful.

18:20Tanya Rose:She's got amazing taste. Yeah, she's brilliant. She really has. And I went to the farmer's dog the other day. There was the most enormous queue, you know, Jeremy Clark's pub, because everyone wants to see if they can see Jeremy. So I couldn't get into the pub, but they've got that tent. And actually, I had the best burger I have had. The food is fantastic. It's amazing. But I went once, and I will only go once, because it's a tourist attraction. And I was with Jeremy a few weeks ago at an auction that he was doing in the country, and he just said, it's extraordinary. I mean, I love what he's doing.

18:51I love what he's done for farming. And he's such a great character. And he's part of the furniture up there now. I think he has done more for farming than anybody else has.

19:00Tanya Rose:And I used to watch when he did his car program. I'm not into cars. I now watch Clarkson's farm. It's hysterical. He does such good telly. Yeah, he's really good. His characters and everything are just brilliant. And their home is beautiful up there. He was very sweet and let me bring my grandson over there to see a Lamborghini or something. And yeah, I mean, it's divine. And all his animals, just fantastic. But you're right. For me, it was somewhere to go to see, buy these diddly squat stuff for Christmas stocking presents. But the burger was really good. I was really very surprised, very surprised.

19:36Tanya Rose:Thank you for watching Travel Secrets. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I'm enjoying doing it. Please take a second and subscribe now. Let's talk about food and drink. Food and drink is so important as part of travel. What do you like eating? Where do you eat? What's your best restaurant, your best cocktail? Let's just talk about travel and food and drink. Well, my best food that I've ever had, that's a hard thing to say. One of the best is in Capri. So I've been going to Capri since I was about 10 with my parents and then with my mother. And one of the best meals and surprises that I ever had, and I've never forgotten, and I've told it a million times, was a lump of mozzarella.

20:22And if you've ever been to Ravello or Capri and they serve mozzarella like a steak, either at the lemon tree or at the campanella, it's literally a piece, no tomato, no basil, nothing, just a bit of sprinkle of olive oil. And that for me, I mean, I'm obsessed with mozzarella anyway but it's almost like um it's not soft it's not like buffalo that it's runny it's hot it's like a meal and that was one of the best things and I always talk about it how interesting how long ago was that I mean I've been going back but the first time was a long time ago a long time ago but I still remember the moment that it came on the table and I thought, well, this is just mozzarella

21:11Tanya Rose:and then took one mouthful and then everyone going, see, I told you. Are you a vegetarian? No. So you eat everything? Everything, yeah. And when you go to China and places like that, do you do street food? No, no. I mean, I don't do street food because I don't want to get sick, not for any other reason because I'm always on a tight schedule. But for me, I love rice, I love fish and I love all the green vegetables. So I can just eat a bowl of vegetables and rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I mean, I just, yeah. And what about London? Where do you eat in London? Dorian's I love. I love Eel, which is the new place.

21:53And where's Eel? Literally across from Dorian's. It's a Japanese restaurant. We just did the design for it. The sushi is unreal. River Cafe, my complete favorite in the whole world. We were at Fat Badger last night. Canteen is great.

22:10Tanya Rose:Yeah, so smaller places. I think the River Cafe is my number one. Me too, without a doubt. And that's because of Ruthie as well. Yeah. She's the most wonderful host, isn't she? And like we were talking earlier about San Lorenzo with Mara, it's that same kind of connection, isn't it? Yeah, and actually hotels that I go to that are not clients are where they are run by the same family and that you have the same table, you have the same bedroom. they know you they know what you want it's just it's that whole cheers mentality you want to go where somebody knows your name so in Capri the Scalina Teller and the Morganas I've known them since I was a little girl they've known my mother you know like for me that was always a family holiday it sounds ridiculous because it's such a posh thing to say but in the old days going there you know my mum discovered it and said let's go but again it was kind of cultural in a way kind of And, you know, people think going to Capri is about going to the beach and shopping.

23:09But actually, there's some amazing walks and things that you can take. Do you go there every year still? So I haven't been for a couple of years, but intend to go back next year because I love it. I want to go early, like May. Yeah. Because June, July, August is just you can't move.

23:24Tanya Rose:Yeah. No, it's very, very busy. But it's beautiful. That whole coast. I mean, I love the Amalfi Coast as well. the Sirenoosa and Casa Angelina, all those wonderful hotels. Yeah, I mean, Italy for me is probably my biggest love other than Asia. We were at the Pasquale in Como in the summer. Pasalacqua. Pasalacqua. Probably one of the best hotels I've ever stayed at in my life. Yeah, it's one of our clients. Oh, is it? It's so amazing. Unreal. Beautiful. The breakfast, I've still got the video on my phone. Unreal. It is. and the owner is fantastic did you meet her no Valentina she also has the grand hotel tramezzo up the road um on the lake but Paso L 'Aqua is the most exhibit one best hotel in the world last year yeah really really beautiful oh I'd love to be there right now what is your top travel tip being organized simply being organized I'm somebody that can visualize my future and so I like I'm planning to go to New York on Thursday so for the last three days I've been visualizing what I'm going to pack but it's not just laying out clothes it's like what am I going to feel like in that and then I think about the scenario of knowing what my itinerary is and then I I kind of like I sound so silly but I try I sort of go into the dream of being in that outfit in that situation and what else would I might I could I need so I plan everything down to the last minute because I don't want to waste the trip having to go out and get something or buy something or not prepared for something so and I'm a really good packer because I've lost so many suitcases that I tend to pack in a case you can take on.

25:19Yeah. I'm a roller, extreme roller. How do you get a week's clothes in a carry-on? I can do it. I can do it because I've literally arrived in Taiwan and literally had the clothes on my body and had to give a speech and then try going. If you lose your clothes in Paris, it's slightly different or Milan. You're in Taiwan, it's slightly more difficult. So I've learned to do that. or if I'm going on a longer trip, I'll take one on the plane that's like five days closed and then I'll put one in with all the rest of the stuff. So at least you've got enough.

25:54Tanya Rose:That's amazing. And I know you're famously dyslexic as I am. And I think I was there when you got given an award. Oh God, were you there? Yes, it was the dyslexia ball, wasn't it? And I think Charles Dunstan got one the same night. I'm so glad you were there because nobody believes that we went and got an award for it. But actually, you know what? My brother has very serious dyslexia. I have slight, but I have got it. And they didn't know at school at the time. But so you visualize everything, don't you? Yeah, everything. And when you're doing cooking with the stars, didn't you find it very difficult with the recipes or something?

26:28Tanya Rose:I knew that was going to come up. No, actually. Well, no, the reading of the, sorry, I thought you meant the visualizing. Well, yes, but Michael, my chef, Michael Keynes, I sat with him and told him how I needed it to be written and actually the producers said it was really like an amazing thing to see that they think they're going to write them like that going forward because the way their recipes were was ingredients and then how to do it well for my type of dyslexia to say two eggs and then go to another paragraph I'm lost so if it says two eggs now put them in a bowl and mix them and then do that's how I managed to get through it and get to the final I might add.

27:13I know amazing.

27:14Tanya Rose:And now are a super duper cook. Well let's not let's not exaggerate. Well better than before. Better than before yeah and willing to try. That's amazing. I mean you have done so many things. When we first met I think you were doing British Airways first class cabins. God yeah that was an amazing time. So what did you do for British Airways? Well I remember Conran was doing Concord and I was doing first class and we basically redesigned everything that you know the wood the colors I remember doing a presentation to the CEO at the time I'll think of his name in a minute and I had done it all in you know neutral colors and everything and it looked amazing and we had we had a you know in those days you didn't have AI so it was about as good as you could get on a CGI of walking through and I remember speaking to Elton saying, what would you want in first class?

28:08And he went Marmite with Theo Fennell, Silver Lit, you know, and we had done the whole thing. Anyway, we got a standing ovation. I think it was Aylip was the CEO. And he said, I think it's fantastic. And somebody said, yes, but you're colorblind, which he was the CEO. And everyone else said, we love it, but it can't possibly be this. We're now going to take you into a hangar and show you what happens when a plane comes in and there were guys with big boots standing on things so of course we went to the navy the red the colors of british airways but they rolled it out into all their planes and you know to be chosen as the british designer to do it for me was one of the kind of things in my life

28:55Tanya Rose:that i'm very proud of that is amazing and yeah i remember when we had lunch and you were doing that and I think Anya was doing the little bags didn't she yeah it was all in which I've got a few of and I wasn't flying in first class but my husband was and gave them to me when he came back yeah I've still got those I think it was through Anya that the connection happened actually yes I think it was yeah absolutely she was the one that was in there first yeah yeah right you're right and M &S you're doing amazing things with M &S now I mean do you know what at the age of 66 I would say it's one of the best things I've ever done in my life I'm so enjoying it and I love the challenge of doing something different and through COVID it was very much in the forefront of my head that I you know where everyone was stuck at home and I went there's got to be a better you know high street collection for people and I would love to do that and I kind of manifested it and it just happened so we've been selling for a year and it's been phenomenal we've designed right up until the end of next year we're about to launch christmas um stewart machin and his entire team are just a dream to work with um they're pushing all the boundaries to create the best high street home division uh as they've done with food and fashion um and it's a it's just a brilliant journey actually do they sell it internationally as well because there are international ms so we sell in middle east and literally this morning um at eight o 'clock i was on the phone to australia because it will be starting to be sold there so yeah how wonderful well i love the sheets the white sheets with the cream border oh thank you and also i think i don't think it's out yet maybe it's your christmas thing i saw you on instagram with your big white fur they've just come out those faux furs are insane they're huge yeah the khaki one is beautiful is it ah should we go to look it looked like a white coat i was like what's she doing no no no it's a rug what is your most poignant travel memory i've got i mean i've had so many but i think because my father died when i was so young those early memories of my father and there was one in particular where he took me to um taormina um and it was just before he died and it was the film festival and I remember going to it with him and Tamino is just the most we stayed at the Domenico San Domenico and that's a long time ago but it's still so clear in my mind and I remember I had a white Valentino dress that my mother had got me and there was a big dinner and Jack Nicholson was there and Al Pacino and you know all of that kind of thing so it's kind of for me poignant and travel are to do with a memory for something that's special and that was a kind of last memory of a normal time that I had with my dad um so I guess I must have been 15 14 15 was he a filmmaker no but I don't know why we end I do you know I think knowing my dad it was a mistake he booked the hotel and it just happened to be and then I thought he was cool.