Rose Ayling-Ellis | What Solo Backpacking Taught Me About Myself

0:03Welcome 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. I would just like to say thank you to Mason Rose, the sales and communication agency that represents some of the finest hotels around the world for partnering with Travel Secrets, the podcast.

0:33Today, my guest is the incredible Rose Ayling Ellis, the beautiful and talented actress, presenter, author, and now producer. She is famed for her roles in EastEnders, probably most notably for your win of Strictly Come Dancing in 2021, when you had the whole nation in tears, I was literally speechless. It was the most beautiful dance I have ever seen in my life. And I have been on the edge of my seat for the past few weeks watching you in Code of Silence, where you are just remarkable. And I think you produced that as well as acted in it. amazing thank you that's a big list yeah um that i did reduce that and we planned to make that three years before it was filmed it really was about two years beforehand well it was really amazing and i was literally sitting there like this thinking oh my god what is going to happen next that's what we wanted with cliffhanger and keeping your notes and popcorn get the popcorn out and be editing.

1:47Well, I'm not going to tell the ending in case people haven't watched till the end. So I won't say any more, but it was brilliant. Thank you. I really appreciate that. Very, very good. I can't wait to hear your travel secrets, but before we get into those, can you just tell us a little bit about yourself and how has travel impacted you? Did you grow up traveling how has travel impacted your life i love traveling i do lots of traveling i think it came from my parents they both traveled before i was born they went traveling in africa in the 80s my mom went traveling to greece and my dad gone to south america so he's done a lot of traveling both of them and i think they definitely have influenced me and my brother so we were growing up we would go to camping a lot um in the uk as well and my dad needs to take us out to place a lot of holidays in europe so we need to go away to europe a lot lovely and then when you decided to be an actress did you think oh good i'm going to travel with my job as well i did feel maybe that happened and weirdly i haven't rarely ever traveled for work it's always been in the uk has it yeah well we have to change that.

3:05I know. I want more. Every time I get an audition and it said film in, I don't know, in a forest in Norway, I'm like, I really want that job. And then, but didn't get it. But that's okay because I think something will happen in the desert and then maybe I'll get to work abroad. Exactly. But in the meantime, you love traveling anyway. Yes. I do traveling. Like this year in January, I decided to take a month off and just go and backpack for a bit. Wow. And just backpacking on my own and I met with different people in different places. Where did you go? I went to Malaysia and then to Philippines and then to Bali and then to Australia.

3:47On your own? Yeah. Well, I met with friends, different friends along with. So like in Bali, it was a person that I used to do work experience eight years ago. And we got on really well and she'd born Malaysia herself. So I thought, oh, it'd be nice to visit her. And then to Philippines, to another friend who just really got married. And then to Bali on my own for a couple of days. And then to Australia to meet up with my friend who was deaf and self, who lives in Perth. And another friend from the UK came. So it just worked out perfectly. So brave. Yeah, I suppose it is. It definitely gave me more confidence to get out and meet people.

4:30you get to meet different people and different culture and yeah I think it's really good important thing to do yeah but you are brave because you did strictly come dancing which must have been one of the most difficult things for you to do yes yes I think I'm my job is uncomfortable anyway so I become comfortable with being uncomfortable and Because I do that a lot with my work, sometimes in personal life I am too comfortable. So I think travelling is a good way for my personal growth that has nothing to do with what I do for work. Absolutely. Let's get into your travel secrets. Okay. So what is the number one destination you think everybody should go to once in their lifetime?

5:16I think everyone should go to the Amazon rainforest. because I went there and it definitely made me open my eye up to how the world is really impacting the environment. Because here in the UK, it's so easy to not think about climate change or pollution or that stuff or our rubbish as well. We put stuff in a bin and it's away. we just don't think about that it's always clean um and then we buy stuff from a shop but when I was in ambulance rain for it I was very very lucky because um my ex-boyfriend who was deaf and he was traveling there and he knew um a local person who was a tour guide through a friend but he actually loved deaf people he really loved deaf people he doesn't do touring anymore so when we um contacted him he was like oh just come and join with me and my friend in the local i know it could be dangerous like we're just joining it but it was it was proper um so we met up with him and then his local friend and and they let us stay at their family house in the amazon and it was just and they cut us out on their boat and they showed us around so it wasn't food at all it was that proper local um they shared food with the family and we we went into the forest and they really taught us like the river is shrinking there's left water and the animals that they have shown us are dying and they cooked us to the market and yes they kill a lot of animal but they have to because it's their living um so but they also trying to rescue and trying to save and there's this local guy that's going around protecting this particular tree because it's that chop down for plywood all the time um and i think everyone should go there because if everyone go there and then you can see what the what is going on Shows the impact.

7:29Shows the impact. Yeah. Because we do take it for granted. We do take it for granted. But it's also so beautiful. That was amazing the nature of what they do because they told us, so they showed us the tree that move over the year. They have the roots that come out of the ground. And every few years they take some of the root out of the ground and grow a new one and eventually the tree move. Really? That's incredible. That is incredible. And then there was another tree with the longest root ever. and you can see massive root, but you don't see the tree and it's off 20 miles away or something. And then there's another tree that literally kill other trees by wrapping around them and then strangle them and take all their light and their water.

8:13There's so much that we don't know. And we don't see that here. We don't see that. And the local was telling us about how they live in Amsterdam for so long that they've seen certain animals that they've never seen in their life. And there's so much that we don't know. And it is incredible there. That's a wonderful, wonderful tip. We must all go to the Amazon, but also we must be mindful here about the environment, turning off lights and not just taking plastic and all of those things. It's very important. It's so important. Very important. What is your most overrated or underrated travel experience?

8:53I got two, one that is overrated and one that is underrated. So my overrated, I think it's ballet. I think I went there having this idea of ballet and it was not what I expected at all. I think it's quite sad. I think ballet needs to be beautiful, but it kind of got ruined by tourists. and it being over tourists to the point that it kind of ruined it. And I find that trust out because there were plastic everywhere. There was rubbish everywhere because they had a really bad flooding a couple of years ago that went everywhere. And, yeah, I think that was slightly overrated, sadly. And I think underrated.

9:43I have to say some of the places in the UK, I think Scotland is really underrated. it's so beautiful there and it's only just up the road you know I was so surprised how pretty Scotland was have you been filming up there no I didn't film up in Scotland I just went there for a holiday that was when during the lockdown you know when we couldn't allow to go out but we can have a holiday in the UK so I thought oh let's go to Scotland it was brilliant because there was no tourists anywhere it was dead and it was camping around Scotland it was great amazing I went to school in Scotland did you? So I had five years of my life in the north of Scotland near Inverness.

10:22Inverness, gorgeous there. So beautiful, so beautiful. And it was a boarding school. And my father said to me, you're going to school in Scotland. And he showed me on a map. And it was so far away. And I thought, why am I going here? But it was so wonderful. I loved it. So I'm very pleased he sent me there. It's really, really gorgeous. And with Bali, did you think that you were going to have your eat, pray, love moment? where you would go and find yourself and then you just thought oh it's too touristy no i um i did go under like a yoga because i do like doing a bit of yoga but i'm not really into the whole um spiritual spiritual stuff and i felt i met some tourists out there some travel people who've been traveling and some people who've been out there for a long time yeah and they're very spiritual I just couldn't connect I couldn't connect but I think it's almost it comes a little bit of a hype going on in Bali and I feel like sometimes with travelling and tourists sometimes it can ruin what is local and what is what is culture is like there and sometimes it's a hard balance because sometimes you really want to see what real Bali is like and then when But I'm one of the tourists, so I'm also there to tourists on holiday.

11:49So you've kind of been in Miami. I understand. I do understand. I've been to Bali, but it was 30 years ago. So it's probably changed for the worst, actually, because it was very beautiful then. Oh, no, that's the thing. I think it was beautiful. And it probably is still beautiful, but I think tourists have definitely ruined it. And I probably contributed to that because I went there. I went there, so that's my fault. But really, I wanted to go straight to Australia from Philippine, but the flight costs more. But it's cheaper to stop over at Bali and then go to Australia. That's why I did that.

12:27Really? Yeah. Did you like Australia? I love Australia. I love Australia. It's massive. It's funny because my idea of Australia, I thought, oh, it's a bit like British, but I understand. and it's not really that much different. But I went there, and I realised, oh, actually, the nature is gorgeous, it's cute, and the animal is great. So, yeah, it's very different. Yeah, there's so many different animals with the kangaroos and the koalas and the spiders and everything. It's really on a different scale, isn't it? I love going to a different country and seeing the animal and the nature. I think that's my favourite bit of shopping.

13:05Is it? Yeah, looking at the nature. How lovely. What was your most unexpected travel experience? South Africa. And I think that that was my first trip outside of Europe. And I think South Africa, it is so rich and it's so beautiful, the nature and the animal. So really, I went down there on Tavari with my mum and her best friend who have a daughter who was working in South Africa. And she had a house, so we stayed at the house. And I really didn't. And Christine was warning me, oh, don't expect to see all the animals because sometimes they come out and sometimes they don't. Sometimes you can go on Tavari early in the morning and see nothing all day long.

13:58That can happen. So she was really lowering my expectation. But we really didn't expect, I saw all the animals. Did you? Yeah, because you know they have a big five. The big five, yeah. I saw them all. Did you? I was so lucky to see them all. I never saw a leopard. Did you never saw a leopard? We saw a leopard at night time. It was running alone. Amazing. I saw the others, but I never saw a leopard. So I have to go back just to see a leopard. Do you remember the name of the place in South Africa you went to? I remember looking at the map and then it was just like that. And I thought, oh, that might be an eight-hour drive.

14:35That's a no, it's a 20-hour drive. I'm like, oh my God, it's massive land. Massive. Massive. Yeah, but it's very, very beautiful. And the wine is wonderful. The food is wonderful. The animals are wonderful. I think it's a great country. It's a great country. Great country. We have to go back. Yeah, go and see the leopard. Yes. Let's talk about food and drink. It's so important in our lives, but it's also a very important part of travel. So what's been your favourite restaurant you've eaten in or your favourite meal you've had or what do you like eating or drinking? Let's just talk about food and drink and travel.

15:14There's this one particular dish that I had in Italy, and there's this five full pasta dish. And still to this day, I think about it every now and then. I think about that one particular dish. It was the best thing I ever tasted. It was so tasty. Really? It was so good. And then funny enough, a week later, my friend was going to Valencia, and I told her, you have to go to this restaurant and eat this pasta. and she also have a great spirit too. And she remembers it all the time as well. Yeah. You don't remember what it's called though, the restaurant. I have a favourite in my doodle map. I have a find, Torcholo.

15:56Torcholo. But honestly, that picture, and I have it on a dish and a plate. It was quite a funny plate. It was really decorated and with gold and a trifle in it. So good. It sounds delicious. and you've just shown me a photo of it and it looks absolutely amazing. It is. It's so tasty. And you remember it still from time to time. You have a flashback to it. Yes. How wonderful. One dish, yeah. I definitely will go back again just to go to that restaurant and eat that dish. When you were in the rainforest and you lived with your friend's family, what sort of food did they cook you? Well, we actually had to go fishing.

16:36Oh, did you? And then we had some fish, a lot of fish that have rice and they have a potato thing and I'm a pescetarian so I don't really eat meat. So it was quite funny because the local were proper winding me up because they were like, well, you need to eat some meat, you need some mushrooms. But they believe in a concept if you take something from a rainforest, you have to give something back. so they take the fish but then they do give it back yeah absolutely and when you're at home in england do you have favorite restaurants do you like staying at home and cooking or what do you do food and drink wise here do you have a favorite bar or drink yeah um i i do go out a lot for dinner and a lot for lunch especially.

17:33But I think my favourite, I've been quite a lot and I have often been with Hopper. Oh, Hopper. Somebody was talking about that today. Really? Before you came, saying they were going to go there and they've never been there. No, it's really good. It's just Sri Lankan food and it's not rice and curry. It's actually got so many different, they've got doza as well and they've got jackfruit. It's so tasty. I really like hopper. There's always a clue and it's always busy. So I tend to go there for lunch in the middle of the week because then it's much less busier. Oh, that's a good tip. Yeah. Good tip.

18:13I will do that. Excellent. Marvellous. What is your top travel tip? I've got a couple. I think, surprisingly, I don't really need TikTok a lot. But when I go out into a different country, TikTok is really great because you can see it visually. You just type in the best something and they always someone local that is sharing something. Because I feel like if you go on a website, you get a lot of touristy stuff. But with TikTok, you know, it's local and it's almost like supporting local business. but then at the same time sometimes they conduct those viral on tiktok and then they'll be massive cute at this restaurant and i thought poor restaurant it's like overnight gone viral and then they can't cope you know um but i think tiktok's great because it can you can see it visually yeah and my other tip when i went away for one month in january um i realized that it's so expensive to put your bath in the boot with the plane and I started to think that's a bit of rip-offs you know I feel like I'm paying a second flight just for my bath a definitely second passenger so I don't want to do that but on the plane it's seven kilograms bath you can have a small one so I managed to pack one bath seven kilograms for one month yeah and surprisingly it's so easy to do so I've realized you don't really need that much you don't need that much um I think I was quite lucky because I was going in a hot country so I don't didn't have to bring massive code or anything but um compesh pack really help it really helped to organize your bar so I have three compesh packs and then it's just fitting really well that's amazing one month I can't do it.

20:04People always tell me hand luggage only, but I find it impossible. It's quite easy to do because lots of places you have washing machines. So you just wash it. I pack one and a half week's wash of clothes and then just wash it every week. Well done. Very good. I'm very impressed. Yeah. And then when I came back, I realized I really don't need that much clothes. and I look at my wardrobe and I'm thinking it's way too much. I managed to live one month on seven kilogram worth of clothes. Why do I got too much clothes? And we still go out and buy things. I know. So I'm trying this year to buy less though I haven't bought anything all year until it was really hot last week and then I realised I didn't have enough summer tops so I bought some tops.

20:54Well done though. That's amazing. That's six months. Six months, yeah. Fantastic. And it doesn't work because a lot of the clothes. I think what I learned is to buy the basic stuff and it can match and then you have much less. When you did Strictly with Giovanni, did you go back, didn't he do a travel program and you went back to where he lived or something? Just to live. Lovely. That's where he's from, is it? Yeah. Oh, okay, fine. I remember seeing something about you going back. And when you won Strictly, do you then do the tour? Yeah, I did the tour. So how long is that afterwards? About a month.

21:30in the UK. Is it? Yeah. I've never actually done that. Is it worth going to see the tour? Because you've got all of the contestants anyway, haven't you? Yeah, yeah. So we travel a lot around on coaches. So you do the show and then you go on the coach and then you move to the next location. You were amazing. Absolutely wonderful. Thank you. Let's go on to your most poignant travel adventure or holiday or travel experience um it was really nice to be in a love of moldy and it was so relaxing and i've never been in a place where i felt like i can just do nothing yeah real holiday real holiday and because normally when you go on holiday you want to see things you want to do something but in the moldy you're on an island so there's nothing to do but look at the sea, swim in the sea, go on a boat or lie down in the sand and watch the crab all day long or read book.

22:27Which island did you go to or resort? The first island I went to was the hard rock island. Oh yeah. And I found it very interesting. It was so man-made. Everything was so perfect. And I remember being really noticing there was no insect anywhere. And I thought, oh, where's the insect going? This is a bit interesting. But I really just enjoyed it. I went on karaoke. I did karaoke, which is quite funny. Karaoke. It was thinning along. Oh, karaoke. Karaoke. So we went on karaoke one night, and that was really funny. And then when we moved over to Standard, the Standard. That was a Standard, yeah.

23:09And I really loved that more. I feel a bit more wild, a bit more plant. and um it was it was so quiet i think i went off peak so it was so quiet there was a lot of bike as well and then i went on a boat and then cut that out to see the maca raised oh yeah they're amazing that was one of the best experience i ever had there was huge there was massive and it was the most beautiful thing ever seen oh yeah and having said that i thought there was so the people their staff they're so they love the environment and they so care about their sea and they really do look after the animal and keeping it clean um and when we go on the boat and sometimes looking at animals especially with sea sometimes you can go on a boat trip and then they feed the animal and it makes them come and then it doesn't feel wild it doesn't feel normal it feels very touristy and that always doesn't sit well with me because i don't want to put my money towards something that could potentially harm animals um but with this one they said they can do the boat trip to see the macro ray but they're not guaranteed so we can't just guarantee but they call each other and they find out there's a big group swimming along the way and if they do they have a very strict rule that only a certain amount of boats can go out and only a certain amount of people can go out so you have to book quickly so we have it on a quick phone just weighing waiting and eventually um he called us and we're like it's out at the moment you have to come to the boat now so we were like running trying to get to the boat we managed to get to the boat and then they were so respectful that they keep miles away the boat miles away so and they turn off the engine for ages so it didn't disturb them and then we went in the water and we have to swim for quite a long time to get to them oh did you swim with them as well yeah swim and then you go out far far far and then you see them but you're not allowed to touch them or come near them you just watch it um and i really loved that it was felt so special because they was on their way and was just watching them beautiful but then in bali there was a it was part of the you can go on a boat and have a look i thought oh maybe i have this lovely experience again completely different it was horrible it was horrendous because um there were plastic everywhere and there was a the boat was going up really close to them a lot of people were swimming up really close to them and when i would look at them they got plastic in their mouth and i have to come out and i have to get back on a boat because I felt like I kind of really wanted to that way I said please don't swim here go to go to the Maldives it's much nicer just go swim over there and it was just it was an eye opening how you see animals in a different environment and yet completely different.

26:13They are very respectful in the Maldives and they do spend a lot of money and time trying to protect it I think yeah I know and you can really see that yeah because the coral is all dying because of the environment so they have to protect it it felt like I was putting money towards something that they was really looking after and they were really strict with that not go too close not go near them you know they really respect that you know where you should go you should go to the Galapagos. I heard about that. Apparently it's amazing. I've never done it, but they really protect the species there.

26:53And apparently you see things you would never see anywhere else. I'm definitely going to do that one day. One day, do the Galapagos. And then the other thing is the gorillas in Rwanda. Where you can actually see the gorillas in the mist. Oh, there's been a few like tourists in a way putting money towards something that can protect the animal i think i think it's important but it had to be at the right place yeah and and done for the right reason yes yeah and i i do i do believe that when i went to africa the rhino was dying at that point and i was lucky that it this was when i went about 17 18 so it was quite a long time ago yeah i was back 17 and they said they got a white rhino and a black rhino and they said the black rhino will be gone in five years time.

27:47A white rhino is dying. They'll be gone. And then five years later, I found out the number had gone so small. But there are people out there that's really trying to protect these rhinos. The approach that's out there watching them 24 hours. and it made me realise that if a tourist could put more money into protecting animals Yeah, the conservation. Yeah, conservation and they are people out there that are really trying to protect them. It's just sad to see that. Yeah, very sad to see that. I asked you to bring a photo. Can you show us the photo and tell us how that sums up travel for you? It was me sitting on a boat and I have no makeup on, my hair's messy, I'm very umus and it was on the river in the Amazon and I feel that was my favourite picture because sometimes you go travelling, you forget about what's going on at home and you're more present in the moment.

28:54I think and I think that's why I really love that photo because I am present in a moment I look I genuinely look so happy and I'm not glamorous I'm not dressed up for anything and yeah I like that it's a wonderful photograph thank you for bringing that that's and it's a great summary but before I let you go where are you going next and what is next for you work-wise what are you doing next I really really want to go to Japan that I've been like my big trip I feel Japan And just really want to go there. Because when I went to Malaysia and the Philippines, I feel like I haven't really seen a lot of Asian.

29:33So I really want to go to Japan. It's so different in every country around us. So different. Really want to go to Japan. And work-wise, what are you doing? Yeah, work-wise, because I'm talking to a lot of people, creating an idea. This is actually one of my favorite times to do a creative time and working with people, coming up with new ideas, new tricks, you know, all of that. That's my favorite bit. And then that filming it. Well, I can't wait to see what you're going to do next. Maybe we'll be in two years' time, I don't know. Whenever it is, I can't wait. And it's been such a privilege to talk to you today.

30:13as I said I haven't done a podcast with anyone who is in the signing community and the deaf community so it's been a real honor thank you so much thank you very much thank you for coming thank you