Joanna Lumley's travel tips

Publish Date
Monday, 16 October 2017, 2:03PM
Photo / Getty Images

Photo / Getty Images

For decades, Joanna Lumley has been best known - and best loved - for her role as the raucous, hard-drinking, hard-living Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous. But after turning her hand to travel documentaries, she's finally moving away from the blonde beehive and ever-present cigarette hanging from her lip. She's now become everyone's ideal travel companion.

"People are always kind and courteous and say lovely things like 'oh we loved Ab Fab', or 'my best friend is just like Eddy', but a lot more people are now saying 'we love your travel programmes'," Lumley says, on the phone with Sunday Travel from her home in London. "They say 'we never thought we'd see that place and now we're going to go and book there'."

Such are her powers of persuasion.

Lumley has made more than a handful of travel documentaries now - visiting far-flung and off-the-beaten-track places like the Nile, Siberia, Mongolia and the North Pole. In her latest series she takes on Japan.

Travelling from the top of the country to the bottom, across its four main islands, the British actress says she was "awestruck" from start to finish.

So what would Lumley suggest when it comes to jet-setting across the world? Find out below!

Joanna Lumley's tips for being an expert traveller

On different cultures:

"I always try and find what the local courtesies and customs are. For instance, in some Muslim countries, it's very rude for a woman to extend a hand to a man [to shake his hand], where in other countries it's very rude not too. Observe the local customs and do that as well as you can."

On how to dress:
"Always dress modestly. Err on the side of decency."

On meeting people:
"Listen very carefully, make eye contact and listen with all your heart and soul."

On packing:
"I've learned how to pack, because we all tend to take far too much. The answer is, if you can forget about your wardrobe, therefore have it as a basic - take a basic wardrobe of all black, all white, all beige, and brighten it up with scarves and things like that - then you're free."

On travelling in a modern world full of conflict and terror:
"I don't let it worry me. I think rather fatalistically, when your time is up, it's up. It's just miserable bad luck if you're caught in some horror and get killed and maimed. But largely we won't. Statistically, that's not going to happen to us, I can say that boldly. So don't be afraid. Just keep an eye on the news. And be brave."

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission. 

Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you