Favourite place to visit?
I love Rome and have been there several times recently for long weekends.
Italy is a fantastic country. It’s stunning in terms of the food, wine and
people. I’ve always had a real affection for Italy. I also love New York,
Los Angeles and Munich. I spent a lot of time in Munich in the Eighties with
Spandau Ballet and enjoyed seeing the beautiful Englischer Garten and
Oktoberfest there. It’s an incredibly clean and cool place.
Your best holiday?
A sailing holiday around the Greek islands with my family to celebrate my 50th
birthday. It was spectacular. We’d stop at tiny inlets to moor and have
dinner. My daughter Zara was three at the time and it was a bit scary when
the boat was tilting, but she had a life vest on. We had a young French
skipper who was brilliant, and we all did a bit of rigging and steering. It
was like camping on the sea. We also have amazing holidays every year in
northern Majorca where we rent a rustic villa in basically the middle of
nowhere, in Alcúdia, surrounded by sheep and goats. Alcúdia is a gorgeous,
tranquil old town and at the villa we get a wonderful breeze off the
mountains. Now that I have five kids we spend most of our time jumping in
and out of the pool.
I also love waterskiing and it’s the only time I impress my youngest son,
Mackenzie. My two youngest children are aged two and seven, so I’m in the
pool and sea with them most of the time. I snorkel with my seven-year-old,
Zara, and even my two-year-old Genevieve can swim. I also love skiing and
often go with the family to Morzine in the French Alps. It’s one of the best
holidays on earth.
Most adventurous travel experience?
I’ve done some treks for the charity Action Medical Research and the last one
was through a jungle in Costa Rica, from the Pacific to the Caribbean. It
was so good to talk to the other trekkers about their own personal
experiences and challenges. I carried 60lb on my back and we slept in tents;
it was amazing. We also trekked to Machu Picchu, which was incredible, and
on another trip we followed a remote mountain trail in Venezuela, in a land
that’s supposedly portrayed in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel Lost World.
But it got hairy at times – one girl had to be airlifted off when she fell
and cut her cheek open, and I nearly fell off the mountainside when I jumped
onto a mossy, slippery rock.
Machu Picchu, Peru (Ridam / AP)
Favourite hotel?
Cliveden House in Berkshire, where I married my wife Ali. It’s so beautiful. I
remember the first time I stepped out onto the terrace at the back and was
simply wowed by the views. The grounds are spectacular. I also love the
Amari Vogue Krabi and the Amari Emerald Cove Koh Chang, both in Thailand.
They’re perfect for both families with kids and couples.
Best piece of travel advice?
Make sure you pack everything you might possibly need because you may not have
everything available at your destination. Often the one thing you forget to
bring is what you end up needing most, especially when travelling with young
children. You don’t want to get to Thailand and find you can’t get the
particular baby food, milk or nappies you want.
Worst travel experience?
I was skiing in Chamonix with Ali and the ski lift was closed due to a
blizzard. As soon as it reopened, we got on it but as we got higher it
started swaying dangerously. A small group of us got off at the highest
point and we couldn’t see a single thing. But we had to ski down and it was
terrifying. I led the way down and we all had motion sickness and were
falling over because we were off balance. I really thought we’d have to dig
into the snow for the night in order to survive. Finally, we were found by
two men who took us to a mountain station for a lift back down. They both
had icicles hanging off their moustaches. If they hadn’t helped us we could
easily have been found six months later instead, after the snow had melted.
Moscow, Russia (S_E / AP)
What do you hate about holidays?
Short haul flights. Long haul is great because you get to catch up on films
and you can chill out and relax. But with short haul travel you still spend
hours going through security, check-in and everything else despite it being
only a quick flight. If I’m doing lots of back-to-back gigs it could mean
half a dozen flights in a week, and that’s a killer.
What has travelling taught you?
That the world is an amazing place offering fantastic culture and scenery. I’m
a real foodie and I love wine too. Travelling is educational – you always
learn new things. I worry, though, that the world is becoming incredibly
corporate. Everywhere you go there are chains like Burger King and Costa
Coffee. I have nothing against them but it’s nice when places keep their own
identity. I remember when they put a McDonald’s next to the Spanish Steps in
Rome – you just don’t want to see the same chains everywhere. The French and
Italians do try to preserve their own shops and businesses and keep a sense
of national identity, and that’s important.
Where next?
My wife and I would love to go on safari together to the Masai Mara in Kenya.
She’s been there once on a hot air balloon ride, which sounds amazing. I
also want to go to Moscow. I’ve been to St Petersburg, and it was beautiful,
so I’d like to see more of Russia. I also want to go to India, China, Nepal
and Tibet. I want to see all of these places before they change too much. So
if anyone wants me to go and play in any of them, I’d be quite happy to!
Tony Hadley performs at the Rewind Festival on August 17 and 31 (rewindfestival.com).
His UK tour starts in Ipswich on October 7 (gigsandtours.com).
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