What It Was Really Like Travelling the World with The Rolling Stones | Jo Wood’s Travel Secrets

10:38Tanya:So were you just there as a wife or did you actually… No, I looked after Ronnie and I dressed him for the show. See, I like doing things like that. That's why you did the spa at the Harrington Club so well. you've got an amazing eye. Thank you. Very good eye. So most people don't like this question because they don't want to be mean. But what is your most overrated? Or you can do underrated. You can say this is actually underrated and I loved it. Or you can say no I hated this place and it's overrated. What's that for you?

11:10Jo Wood:I couldn't think of one. I can't think of one. because every time I travel, I like to have an open mind and find the best things in that place that I can find. I mean, there were some hotels on tour that weren't great, but even when I went to Tibet a few years ago, we stayed in awful, awful hotels. Well, they called them hotels. I called them squats. But that's what it was, you know, and we were in Tibet.

11:51Tanya:That's amazing. I'd love to go to Tibet. Isn't that when you went and met a wonderful guru or something? Sadguru. Was that fantastic? Yeah.

11:59Jo Wood:Well, I met Sadguru before. I did a three-day course with him in LA, and it's called Inner Engineering. and then whilst he was talking about different stuff he showed a video of the pilgrimage into Tibet and I just watched that and I thought I want to do that and it was a month in Tibet wow that's very brave it wasn't easy but it was extraordinary and the day we day we left Nepal to go into Tibet I was standing there were like 50 people I was standing in the lobby of the hotel with my suitcase and Sadhguru came over to me and said what is that Jo I said oh that's my stuff he said no he said everything you need for the next month is going to be on your back oh oh he said go and repack oh no I I said I don't I can't I don't know if I can do that Sadhguru he said yes you can so I went and repacked one pair of knickers one on one off you know

13:17Tanya:wore the same thing nearly every day actually shows you can do it doesn't it and I didn't have a bath

13:26Jo Wood:for nearly a month. Really?

13:28Tanya:Did you just wash in the...

13:29Jo Wood:Just wash your face, under your arms, you know, all the bits.

13:32Tanya:In the waterfalls and things.

13:33Jo Wood:Yeah, it was really rustic.

13:36Tanya:Amazing. Was it beautiful?

13:37Jo Wood:Yes, but it was sad at the same time

13:40Tanya:because the Chinese have taken over Tibet.

13:44Jo Wood:And so Sadhguru would say, you know, there was no rubbish or anything before when he came the time before. he said now I look around and I he said I see all this rubbish everywhere and plastic and

14:01Tanya:he was very upset about that and actually the Dalai Lama had to leave Tibet didn't he yes he did didn't he yeah I think he lives somewhere else now yeah but it was it was great and we got to

14:13Jo Wood:we got to Lake Monasarova Monasarova I think that's right because we were on our way to Mount Kailash and so we camped at Lake Monasarova and Sadhguru said to me, Joe if you get up at three o 'clock in the morning, he said you will see aliens coming out of that lake. I will? Oh my god. So at night we'd hear the wild dogs running around the tents. Anyway I got up at three, set my alarm, got up at three in the morning and stood there with all these dogs, go and waited for the aliens i didn't see any i bet it was beautiful though as a sun rose wasn't it it was absolutely stunning and going up mount kailash we climbed to 17 000 feet and then we meditated up there uh and then some people just collapsed because the altitude oh yeah And we saw yaks fighting.

15:16Jo Wood:And I tried yak tea, which was revolting.

15:19Tanya:I bet it was. Did you come away with something from that trip? Like a mantra or a thought or? Yes, I came away feeling that there was more to life than what we know.

15:33Jo Wood:Yeah. Definitely, because that's a very holy mountain mark, Kailash. I love that trip.

15:40Tanya:It sounds amazing. And actually, we're so always busy, busy, busy, busy, that actually doing something like that off track.

15:48Jo Wood:Taking right out of your comfort zone. It's a bit like when I did the island and I went and stayed on an island for 28 days. Yes, you did that.

15:59Tanya:I can't believe you did that.

16:00Jo Wood:That was great. Was it wonderful? Yeah. You see, I'd done Sadhguru, so I thought it'd be easy to do the island. It wasn't easy, but it was, I did, you know. You managed. Yeah, because I think that Sadhguru trip had sort of prepared me that you don't need anything. So when they said you only need a backpack of stuff. You were like, yeah, I've got it.

16:24Tanya:I've got my backpack. Know what to put in there. What were the other people like on that program?

16:29Jo Wood:Yeah, they were great. I actually became quite good friends with Pete Wicks, Martin Kemp.

16:35Tanya:Love.

16:38Jo Wood:And well, the boys were great. And that girl, Roxy, Roxanne, she left. She couldn't handle it. No, really. Paris Lees left. She couldn't handle it. Montana Brown left. So you were the girl that was, come on, Jo, you got this.

16:57Tanya:Actually, I had Martin and Shirley on the podcast. Oh, yeah. And he talked about it. And she said that she didn't recognize him when he came back. He was so thin. Yeah, I lost a stone. She said it was like she couldn't believe it. He loved it, though.

17:10Jo Wood:I loved it. as well. He did hurt his leg badly as well. I remember that. But it was a real adventure.

17:17Tanya:How fun. And Strictly, you loved that. You did that afterwards, didn't you? Or was that before the island? Before the island. Yeah, I did Strictly, gosh, years ago now, 2010, I think. Where did you come in?

17:30Jo Wood:I lasted six weeks.

17:32Tanya:Very good. And who was your partner?

17:34Jo Wood:Brendan.

17:35Tanya:Oh.

17:36Jo Wood:Love him.

17:37Tanya:Yeah. We're still in contact.

17:39Jo Wood:Are you?

17:39Tanya:Yeah. And could you dance before you did that? No, and I couldn't dance during either.

17:46Jo Wood:That's not true. That's not true. I mean, I loved rehearsal. I loved hanging out with Brendan. I loved the clothes and fitting of the dresses. I loved the makeup. I loved the hair. I hated the live performance.

18:05Tanya:Oh, did you?

18:05Jo Wood:It was so scary. Was it? Because suddenly your mind goes blank and you think, oh my god I can't remember one step it was scary but you did I did it and it was a really good

18:19Tanya:thing for you to do now Joe Wood Organics and your whole sustainability and everything has that come to you more recently no were you always no I well reason I started Joe Wood

18:33Jo Wood:is because I was ill in the 90s and I met a great herbalist called Gerald Green and he taught me about food. He taught me about the chemicals on the food, GMO food, how it breaks down our natural immune system. Anyway, he opened my eyes to all organic food and I was like, oh my god, why aren't we all eating all organic food because it's it's all about money in the industry and the pharmaceutical companies you know and and he told me that the food companies are always connected with the pharmaceutical company so when you get ill they have the medicine for you yes and yeah I thought oh my god anyway he was the one so I started reading about the food we eat and then somebody gave me a book called the fragrant pharmacy actually was my brother and then I read a book called what's in your makeup and I thought oh my god I need to I need to put pure stuff on my skin because it's our biggest organ so I started making up little potions with oil in the bathroom, giving them out.

19:55And my friend, gosh, Jo Farley, nearly forgot her name then.

20:01Jo Wood:She said to me, Jo, go and see my friend Colette Hayden and do it properly. So I did. And that was in 2005, I launched Jo Wood Organics. It was a much bigger range, but it's all really pure. in fact I do it now but only I'm only doing fragrance and oil at the moment and I'm not sure whether I should carry on I don't know anyway yes love love everything that's organic me I'm obsessed

20:35Tanya:still obsessed and it takes us nicely onto the food and drink question I was going to say what do you eat where do you eat you obviously eat organic oh yeah yeah a hundred percent um I very

20:49Jo Wood:rarely eat anything that's not organic and if I do I'm I'm very fussy about it when I go out to

20:59Tanya:restaurants I'm like what on your menu's organic oh they just ate me yeah did you manage to get the Rolling Stones into organic yes I did actually did you yeah especially Patty Keith's wife she

21:11Jo Wood:grows all our own food at home when I yeah when I first went organic and we were going to Paris on tour I had my very first crop of potatoes I was so proud of them and I didn't want to leave them so I packed them in a suitcase and took them to Paris and got the chef backstage to cook them and it said joe's organic potatoes and the entire lot was eaten how brilliant uh mick had became very good at what he eats i mean i just preached on about it so much and keith turned around to me and said the trouble with you darling is you're addicted to organic food yeah coming from you keith

21:55Tanya:that's really unbelievable that is really funny that is really really funny and didn't i hear you say that your son got so fed up with the word organic he said right I'm leaving home I can't

22:07Jo Wood:cope with this any longer he did and he still has a go at me if I go on about it too much and don't

22:12Tanya:you live off grid now completely yeah so you have I have my own electric which is from solar

22:19Jo Wood:and I have a generate two generators actually and then I have a color gas for my gas and then I have a borehole with my own water and it goes through filters and comes into the house that's amazing

22:34Tanya:and then obviously you love cooking yeah because you did master chef as well didn't you so do you

22:39Jo Wood:cook everything at home organic and i i love to cook even though i am on my own every evening i sit and think what shall i make myself this evening and i will always make myself something

22:52Tanya:good and nutritious and holistic and then you've got 10 grandchildren and four children so I'm sure they all come over a lot.

23:02Jo Wood:No they don't these days they're always so busy mind you Saturday I've got to look after my grandkids not that Maggie's 16 and he's looking after but I think I'm just there to make sure she doesn't get out to mischief because her parents

23:19Tanya:are away. Oh, that's so lovely. Ten grandchildren there. That's amazing, isn't it? Yeah.

23:24Jo Wood:They're all great. They're all brilliant. Well, I would say that.

23:28Tanya:Of course you would. 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. And on food and drink, do you have a favourite restaurant or a favourite meal you've ever had somewhere?

23:42Jo Wood:River Cafe. Love River Cafe.

23:45Tanya:Me too.

23:46Jo Wood:Now they know where every bit of food

23:48Tanya:has come from they're really great like that yeah Ruthie's amazing Dalesford is another one

23:54Jo Wood:love it too yeah um I don't really venture out these days more than that and when you go to

24:01Tanya:Spain you said you've been on holiday there do you have a special restaurant that you go to there

24:05Jo Wood:or is it just local there's a great restaurant called El Sordo which he's passionate about his food and so the the meat's local the vegetables he grows and it's a really cool cool restaurant

24:19Tanya:he does very well where is that in Spain it's in ricotta good tip thank you very much up in the

24:27Jo Wood:mountains you wouldn't think it was there you have to drive up through the mountains and then you come to a little town and you go down the street and there's this like modern restaurant it's like so bizarre.

24:39Tanya:Worth the visit. Yeah. Fantastic. Thank you. Top tip. In fact, taking us nicely onto, what is your top travel tip?

24:46Jo Wood:A tip. I always take my own food and I always take my longevity pills with me, which are like, they are based on mushrooms and roots. So it's got lion's mane, turkey tail uh um he chew woo which is great for longevity um maca powder things i take every day so i will always take on the plane my own food with me and that and what where are the longevity pills from are they your own brand or yes yes so um i would always take these powders in my cappuccino every day that I make with coconut milk and coffee and then I started adding years and years ago maca powder which is great for your hormones balances your hormones great as you get older gives you energy and then I discovered he chu woo which is a Chinese take for longevity then I discovered lion's mane so all so I just kept adding and adding and I was telling my son who makes supplements and he said let's do it in a supplement mum I said no no let's do it in a powder he said no no let's do it in a supplement anyway he won so we do it as a supplement we're just launching uh end of September I think oh fantastic what's it called then longevity oh it's called longevity yeah and is it by joe wood yeah yeah how exciting yes of that oh well i'm

26:21Tanya:going to hotfoot and get that is that online or is it going to be online and not in shops not yet no well i travel so much that that will be perfect because you know you always have a bit of jet lag and then you've got your hormones as you say and as you get older you need all those things and i'm always a bit scared about you know mushrooms and lion's mane and everything because I know that they're all holistic, but I don't know what to take. So the fact that it's all in one is really brilliant.

26:48Jo Wood:You see, the lion's mane is great for your brain health. The turkey tail is great for your white blood cells. Cordyceps are great for your health, I mean, for your energy. And then you've got the other roots, three roots. Ashwanga is the other one. And they are all, it sort of covers everything.

27:11Tanya:In one thing?

27:12Jo Wood:Yeah, or take a couple of pills a day.

27:14Tanya:And what do you do, night or morning? Morning. Morning. Yeah.

27:18Jo Wood:I've never taken them at night. Maybe you'd get such energy. No, no, no, no.

27:23Tanya:You need to do it in the morning, I presume. I mean, you look amazing. So I'm going to definitely be taking those. I'll have what she's having.

27:31Jo Wood:Yeah, I swear it's maca powder. I've taken it for so long and it's great for your hormones. I never had any trouble going through my change. Didn't you? But I took maca powder every single... So you didn't go on HRT or anything? Nothing. Really? Not done anything. But I think it's a combination of diet and things like maca and longevity pills, yeah.

27:57Tanya:Fantastic. Yeah.

27:58Jo Wood:What is your most poignant travel memory? Maybe it's when I went to Recife and we were on holiday with the kids and I saw a UFO, a proper proper ufo you did not tell me more it was last night and we were going back to san paulo the next day leah must have been about 17 and she was with her friend becca they'd gone to bed tired gone to bed it's my youngest and ronnie was out we we had this little we were given a little house to stay in on the beach, an artist's house. And Ronnie was outside looking at the sea and I was packing. And then he goes, Joe, get out here quick. I thought, oh no, what's he going on about?

28:53Jo Wood:So I went out to see what was going on. He said, what's that? What's that over there? And I looked and above the sea was something with the lights pointing down into the sea. I swear to God, I stood there and I went, oh, my God, what the hell's that? He ran in to get his glasses. And as I watched it, it lifted up. It went to the right and then it shot across the sky. And I stood there and I went, oh, my God, I have just seen a UFO. Unbelievable. It had such an impact on me. I became completely enthralled in anything to do with UFOs and aliens and I just read everything I just wanted to know more because up until that point I hadn't really given it any thought that is amazing we got on the plane the next day and they gave us everybody a newspaper and we picked it up and there on the front it said UFO invaders Brasilia and hundreds of people seen the same thing so we knew we weren't mad it was amazing that is incredible and you haven't seen one since yes i have have you yes we saw an orb me and ty my youngest well he's not young anymore we saw this we were flying over south america again and we looked out ty said mom what's this and he was behind me in the seat behind me uh he said what's that out the window I looked out the window and this massive orb just came up to the plane and went along like this outside like that.

30:38Jo Wood:I went, holy moly, what the hell was that? Did anyone else see it? No, we were the only two looking out the window. And Ty was about 16, 15, 16 at the time. and then I saw one in Africa and we were in Zanzibar and I saw one go across the sky it wasn't a satellite it wasn't a plane and then we looked it up on my granddaughter looked it up for me actually because she's better than me and it was seen in in South Africa so yeah that was

31:17Tanya:only a few years ago you have spotted many are they going to come and take you away that is the

31:23Jo Wood:question they're looking for me they're watching me and looking for me now i understand what the

31:28Tanya:guru was saying to you when he said get up at three and you'll see the aliens coming up yeah

31:34Jo Wood:and the weird thing is about that trip in tibet emily who was with me my friend she took a picture and the next day and there was most extraordinary lights coming out of the clouds. I must find that picture actually.

31:51Tanya:Actually, that takes us nicely onto, I asked you to bring a picture.

31:55Jo Wood:Yes.

31:55Tanya:That sums up travel for you. Have you got the picture?

31:58Jo Wood:Yes, but it's on my phone. That's fine.

32:00Tanya:So just tell us about the picture and why does that or how does that sum up travel for you? I've got two that I pulled out. One of me in Egypt by the Sphinx, which I absolutely loved Egypt. Is it wonderful? Yeah.

32:18Jo Wood:And there I also saw the carvings and there is a UFO in the carvings. Is there really? Yeah, there really is. And I took a picture of that. But I've got one by the Sphinx and I've got another one that I went on a trip with Tyrone and we went to the Seychelles. It was a PR trip. for this place, Wizard Island, just off of the Seychelles. And it used to be mainly for fishermen. And they decided they want the fishermen to bring their,

32:53Tanya:I mean, proper, you know, serious guys, you know, Americans.

32:58Jo Wood:And they wanted to open it up to the women as well. So we went there. This was a few years, four years ago, three years ago. and we went to wizard island and it was so beautiful we didn't stay in a hotel we stayed in um because they weren't allowed to build on the island uh so they got in all these um what they call them containers that are made into bedrooms so they can lift them off and take them away and there was a big tent that every night we would eat dinner in and the fish was caught that day that I've got a picture of me and Ty in the sea.

33:37Tanya:How lovely. I've never heard of Wizard Island. Wizard Island, yeah. Amazing. Well, it sounds, did you see any UFOs there?

33:44Jo Wood:No.

33:45Tanya:Any wizards? I looked for UFOs, but didn't see any. No wizards either. Oh, I love the whole wizard thing. My whole office thinks I'm completely cracked.

33:54Jo Wood:Oh, really?

33:54Tanya:There's a wonderful guy in Henley called the Modern Day Wizard. Have you heard of him? No. He's fantastic. Is he? Absolutely fantastic. and he takes no prisoners he tells you exactly what's what but he's not a therapist he just is really you know tells you what he thinks you need and he is absolutely brilliant you should go see him I would love he's really good I went to see him on behalf of one of my hotels and I said so tell me about what you do and he said why are you here and I said for one of my hotels and he said no that's not why you're here you're here because you need to be here it was very interesting oh Oh, how fascinating.

34:29Tanya:It was brilliant. Yeah, I'll send you to him. He's very interesting.

34:31Jo Wood:Oh, I would absolutely, I love things like that. Yeah, yeah.

34:33Tanya:He doesn't wear a wizard's hat, but. He's cool. He's cool. He's very cool. What's next for you? Where are you going next? And what's next for Jo?

34:43Jo Wood:I'm going to Zanzibar at Christmas. Lovely. With my eldest son and his four, and his wife, and the four grandsons. so I said I'm going to make sure I have my room separate from you lot so I can hide um so I love Zanzibar it's it's the most it we stay at a place called Pongwe Pongwe Beach Hotel it's fabulous and on my way here I just spoke to my friend Doris Doris Lafrené she's married to a guy called Ian Lafrené, who was a writer, wrote porridge like the lads and all that. Oh, fantastic. She just rang me and said, Jo, I've booked your room because I was supposed to be in India now. So because I've got my book, my novel.

35:32Jo Wood:Oh, yes. The flow. I couldn't. Yeah. Resurrection of flow. Resurrection. I couldn't go to India. But she rang me. She said, I've just booked your room for next year. You are coming next year. Have you been to India? Yes. I love India. Because I went to Sadhguru's ashram. That's great as well. In Convitore. And I've been to Karela. I've been to Goa. All those places. I was in Mumbai this year. And I was in Rajasthan this year as well. Went for a music festival, which was wonderful. But anyway, I'm going to go to Karela next year with Doris to do a cleanse.

36:15Tanya:Very good. Do you like cleansing?

36:16Jo Wood:do you like detoxing yes I went to I did a cleanse last year in another place doctor what was it what was his name I'll try and think and it was serious cleanse no I went in for a massage she said the woman said doctor said do you mind having a male masseuse I said no not at all so I went into this room and I was sitting there with my towel around me and the guy comes in and he said lay on the floor I had that little g-string thing on that they give you lay on the floor he said lay on the floor so I laid on the floor tummy down and there was a rope above him and he holds the rope and he massages you with his feet best massage I've ever had and then you take him to another room and you're given a turmeric scrub your whole body is yellow and then they wash it

37:16Tanya:off with milk yeah they're amazing those spas aren't they yeah have you ever done any of the european ones the um mayor clinic yeah i've been to the mayor clinic yes that's good i've been to the shah spa in spain we look after shah as well that's one of our clients i love i love the shah spa yeah i think you would really like booking her vilhelmie which is on lake constance because it's the original place before the mayor clinic and everything and it's got great doctors but it's it's really good fasting i mean they they know how to do it i think i went to the original one so you went to the original mayor but before the mayor clinic booking her vilhelmie is 150 years old oh really and it's really fantastic so you walk in the forests they've got one in marbert and they're opening in the south of France next year which will be really beautiful um very near the

38:07Jo Wood:Colm d 'Or actually oh really oh I'd like to go to there exactly and what's next for Jo Wood well at the moment I'm promoting my my novel which I'm very proud of I know it's fantastic it's your first novel novel my first novel yeah so I've got some signings to coming up I've got one in Essex next week. Yeah, it's good. And then hopefully I'm going to Miami with it in November. Oh, how wonderful.

38:36Tanya:Well, I'm going to finish your autobiography first. Yeah. And then I shall go on to the flow as well.

38:43Jo Wood:The resurrection of flow.

38:45Tanya:And that's a little bit autobiographical, isn't it?

38:48Jo Wood:Well, you will never know which bit is me and not. but I got stories from all sorts of places to make Flo's life.

38:58Tanya:Fantastic.

38:58Jo Wood:Well, I hope it goes really wonderfully

39:00Tanya:and it has been so lovely to see you and to hear all of your travel secrets.

39:05Jo Wood:It's been lovely to be here. Thank you so much.